Chapter 612: Let the Emperor Come

At this moment, Li Yi did not know what had happened inside the imperial palace in Jingcheng.

He now sat upon a flower boat, moored at the lake's center, utterly still as if frozen in place; beneath the blanket of starlight, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth seemed to form a storm, rushing toward him and swiftly pouring into his body.

Li Yi formed a divine seal with his hands, his entire body wrapped in threads of incense and belief power—this force he had gathered during his time in Jingcheng.

Though he had merely given a passing suggestion to passersby, his image had been seen, mistaken for a celestial immortal; less than two hours later, he had already amassed incense and belief power, and as time passed, this power grew ever greater, surging in from all corners of the capital.

The legend of the Immortal Taiyi was spreading through Jingcheng.

The more people knew, the more incense and belief power converged.

Though not enduring, it was more than sufficient for cultivation in the short term.

After all, he walked the path of borrowing illusion to cultivate truth; incense and belief power were merely borrowed, not relied upon.

"Rather than slowly filling the acupoints, it's better to first open them and leave a seed—then, after leaving this world, I can gradually accumulate more; progress won't be delayed." Though Li Yi had now opened his fifteenth acupoint, his strength had not yet transformed, for his fifteenth acupoint was still incomplete.

Neither blood and qi had been infused nor golden energy collected, nor heartfire refined—it had merely been left as a prototype.

Yet he discovered this did not hinder him from opening further acupoints.

With this thought in mind.

Li Yi closed his eyes and remained still, continuing to use incense and belief power to seek his sixteenth acupoint.

With prior experience, his attempt this time was bold and swift, unafraid of missteps—after all, incense and belief power could not harm him.

And this time,

Li Yi was stunned.

After only three attempts, his sixteenth acupoint was successfully found and opened—its speed was worlds apart from before.

"Why is this so?"

He carefully examined the cause and found only one possibility: his incense had increased. With more incense, it seemed as if his wishes could come true, aiding his cultivation and transformation.

Li Yi left a blood-and-qi seed, waiting to nurture it later, then bypassed the sixteenth acupoint and attempted to open the seventeenth.

This time, the opening speed slowed markedly.

Using his current incense and belief power, Li Yi tried over a dozen times before succeeding; yet even so, he remained deeply astonished.

"I understand now—the more incense, the faster the acupoints open; but the further I progress, the harder each acupoint becomes to open. As long as incense supply holds, nothing is an issue—even opening all three hundred and sixty-five acupoints in the body would be no great feat."

At this moment,

Li Yi gained a wholly new understanding of incense and belief power.

It was literally cheating.

No.

The path of becoming a god through incense was cheating—ordinary mortals, upon death, could fly through heaven and earth within a single day if their incense and belief were sufficient, their strength rivaling that of cultivators; though when the incense collapsed, they would fall back to mortality, this power was real, undeniable—something impossible in any world.

Li Yi felt he had truly crossed over to the right place.

A while later,

His eighteenth acupoint was opened.

Excluding the twelve heart acupoints, he now had six lung acupoints; open six more, and after absorbing the golden energy of heaven and earth, he would reach the Second Layer of the Five Qi Realm.

Yet Li Yi clearly sensed the speed at which incense aided acupoint opening was plummeting rapidly.

Fortunately, incense continued to flow in from all over Jingcheng, barely keeping pace with his cultivation.

When Li Yi reached his twentieth acupoint, the incense power began to falter.

Because the difficulty of opening subsequent acupoints had increased.

"I really want to rebel."

The thought flashed through Li Yi's mind—if he gathered all the incense of the world, how could he fail to achieve the Three Flowers Converging on the Crown and the Five Qi Facing the Origin?

He had intended to continue cultivating, to see if he could open his twenty-fourth acupoint in one go—but now, he sensed someone had boarded the painted boat.

He had purchased this painted boat with a single gemstone.

The women and guests aboard had long since been sent away; the boat was now empty.

Yet now, he sensed the aura of a cultivator.

"Commander Lu Bin of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, pays his respects to the Immortal Taiyi." Suddenly, a voice rang out, and a man appeared on the deck, bowing respectfully to Li Yi seated at the bow.

"Didn't that Embroidered Uniform Guard tell you not to disturb this Daoist?" Li Yi's voice was cold, unreadable in its emotion. Commander Lu Bin replied at once: "Your Reverence, the Emperor has ordered your presence at the palace."

"Your emperor wants to see me?" Li Yi froze in surprise.

He remembered Prince Xin had gone to find the suspected cross-worlder—how had this reached the emperor? Or did the emperor know of cross-worlders too, and was curious about him, thus inviting him to the palace?

Or perhaps the emperor himself was the cross-worlder?

But that was impossible.

Prince Xin was twenty-one years old.

The emperor had fathered him at least twenty-one years ago—when Earth's spiritual energy had yet to revive; where would a cross-worlder have come from then? So the second possibility was nearly nonexistent.

"This is likely a trap." Li Yi thought silently.

Entering the palace would hinder his magic power; his strength would no longer be at its peak, and if danger arose, he might be trapped and unable to escape.

Thinking of this,

He said calmly: "This Daoist will not go to the palace. If your emperor wishes to see me, let him come here."

No mistake, no error, no content to be seen!

"What?" Commander Lu Bin was stunned.

This Daoist was truly lawless—he demanded the emperor leave the palace to meet him.

He had wanted to draw his blade and teach this Daoist a lesson, but remembering the emperor had specifically ordered his summons, he suppressed his anger.

"Your Reverence, the Emperor is of imperial stature—how can he come in person? Please accompany me to the palace to meet His Majesty. Carriages are already prepared; if you dislike carriages, you may ride this flower boat instead," said Commander Lu Bin.

Li Yi said: "I will wait here for the emperor to come. If he truly wishes to see me, he will leave the palace. If not, I will not force him."

He believed that if the cross-worlder truly was his father, he would reveal himself; if he refused, then whether or not he was his father no longer mattered—he would leave Jingcheng at once, wander the lands, gather incense and belief power, cultivate for a time, then cross over again.

"Your Reverence, His Majesty awaits in the palace—please be reasonable. Do not make this difficult for me," said Commander Lu Bin.

Li Yi said: "Return with my message."

Commander Lu Bin hesitated briefly.

"You Daoist have audacity beyond measure—daring to demand the living emperor come to you? Do you truly fear no death?"

Yet at that moment, a small boat drifted southward along the river from northern Jingcheng; aboard sat a middle-aged man with a long beard, holding an oar—but in Li Yi's sight, it was not an oar, but a great sword, humming with divine radiance, terrifying beyond measure.

Li Yi glanced once and smiled: "So it's you—I thought who it might be. You're an incense god. What is your relationship with General Zhang Jian Gong?"

He had seen this level of incense and belief power only on Zhang Jian Gong.

Only state deities could gather such vast incense and belief power, transforming illusion into reality, walking among common folk like merchants or laborers.

"He is the Southern Guardian Deity. I am the Northern Guardian Deity, Wang Qijun. Hearing an immortal had appeared in Jingcheng, I transformed into a boatman to investigate, lest someone impersonate deities here and tarnish our Guardian Deities' reputation," said the middle-aged man, Wang Qijun, expressionless.

"Northern Guardian Deity? Where are the other three?" Li Yi asked.

Wang Qijun's eyes flickered slightly: "This region falls under the north."

"So you divide territories." Li Yi said: "I have no interest in your Guardian Deities. Leave quickly, and don't get in my way."

"Disrespectful to the sovereign, contemptuous of law, ignoring even Guardian Deities—you, this demonic Daoist, cannot be allowed to remain in Jingcheng. You deserve death." Wang Qijun erupted in fury, rising slowly, gripping his great sword, aura brimming with murderous intent.

At this sight, Commander Lu Bin of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was startled and cried out: "General, His Majesty has ordered the Immortal Taiyi to enter the palace!"

"This demonic Daoist defies the imperial decree and refuses to enter the palace—how can he be spared? I shall capture him first, then hand him over to you to escort back to the palace for an audience with His Majesty," Wang Qijun stepped forward, leaving the small boat; incense energy coiled beneath his feet, his tattered robes vanished, replaced by a dark armor, majestic and formidable.

Li Yi merely sneered: "You're angry because my immortal reputation has spread, and I've gathered incense and belief power within your territory—so you came to kill me and silence me. If you want to strike, strike. Why pretend with all that moralizing?"

"Die." His motives exposed, Wang Qijun no longer held back—he manifested his true divine form, gripping the Guardian Great Sword, and slashed downward.

Instantly, a brilliant divine light blazed across heaven and earth, like a blade's edge falling; mortals could not see it, yet wind surged violently and lightning crackled everywhere.

"Very well. Today, this Daoist shall slay you, Guardian Deity." Li Yi was utterly fearless; his Daoist robe transformed into a crimson-feathered purple-gold armor. As magic power flooded into it, the mid-grade Dao artifact glowed with crimson aura, and a red divine bird let out a piercing cry, spreading its wings to meet the falling blade-light.

BOOM!

Incense and belief power clashed with the mid-grade Dao artifact; the explosive force nearly overturned the entire lake.

"This is bad."

Commander Lu Bin of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was horrified and retreated swiftly—this battle's residual power was far beyond his capacity to endure; being caught in it would mean certain death.

"Quickly inform His Majesty of this!"

As he fled frantically, he issued his command.

(End of Chapter)