Chapter 94

Meng Su and Shi Xiaoxiao had just sat down when suddenly a voice announced: "The Emperor has arrived." Meng Su and Shi Xiaoxiao were full of confusion. Once a demon cultivator in the Demon Realm entered the path of the demon, they would not walk in the secular world and basically had no intersection with the secular world, and naturally no intersection with any emperors or officials. There were many principalities in the Demon Realm, and emperors were not very valuable. But an emperor was heaven in his own principality, managing the order and taxes of the entire principality.

The land and population possessed by a principality were about the same size as several large countries in the world where Meng Su was, so the power of a principality's emperor was not small.

Meng Su looked at Li Bai with inquiring eyes, and Li Bai shook his head, meaning that the emperor was not called by him.

Meng Su and Shi Xiaoxiao hesitated whether to avoid them, after all, they were just outsiders. But the emperor arrived very quickly and had already reached the hall.

Seeing that it was impossible to avoid, Meng Su simply went out to meet him with Shi Xiaoxiao.

Li Bai and Li Mo knelt and bowed to the middle-aged man coming toward them. Although the emperor was their cousin, he was both a brother and a monarch. The etiquette could not be less.

Meng Su and Shi Xiaoxiao only bowed.

Meng Su looked at the approaching emperor. This person looked to be in his forties, walking with the stride of a dragon and the pace of a tiger, wearing a yellow brocade robe. As this person walked over, the surrounding space actually underwent slight distortion. This was not space distortion caused by demon power. This was distortion caused by the Li family's supernatural ability, the "Phantom Demon Scripture."

A dragon with bared fangs and brandished claws was embroidered on the brocade robe. Meng Su watched as the dragon seemed to be slowly swimming on the emperor's body. There were faint colorful whirlpools in the emperor's eyes. Once one made contact with his eyes, their consciousness would become briefly confused.

That slight space distortion was a Demon Domain that could only be produced after practicing the Phantom Demon Scripture to the Demon Saint level.

A Demon Domain was a realm. In this realm, the demon cultivator was the master and could traverse space at will, hide in the Demon Domain, and even change the time in the Demon Domain, which was quite powerful.

This emperor's Demon Domain was related to illusions; it was an Illusion Domain. Casting illusion arts in the Illusion Domain could have a tenfold strengthening effect.

The emperor was not an ordinary emperor, but a demon cultivator at the Demon Saint level. It seemed that this place was very important to the Li family.

"Paying respects to the Imperial Brother." Li Bai and Li Mo performed the bowing ceremony.

"Both Imperial Brothers, please rise." The emperor said to Li Bai and Li Mo, then looked at Meng Su and asked: "May I ask who these two are?"

Meng Su stepped forward: "This humble citizen is Meng Su, and this is my sister, Shi Xiaoxiao."

"The famous Sect Master Shi visiting our country makes our humble dwelling shine. Are these two friends of my Imperial Brothers?"

Li Bai hurriedly stood up and said: "Exactly, Brother Meng and I got to know each other through a fight."

The emperor looked at Meng Su: "Although my brother likes wine, his aptitude is superior and his spirit is extremely high. Master Meng being able to defeat my brother must mean you have extraordinary skills, a dragon among men."

Meng Su smiled: "The Emperor flatters me, it was just luck."

After looking at Meng Su, the emperor looked at Li Bai and Li Mo and pondered: "Since there are brothers from the Jianghu present, let us speak according to the rules of the Jianghu. I am Li Xiu, the head of the Tang Principality, guarding an important mineral field here for the Li family. Since Brother Meng and Sect Master Shi could enter my brother's mansion, you must be friends. It just so happens that I have a matter to trouble you two with, and I hope for your righteous assistance."

Seeing that Li Xiu spoke quite seriously, Meng Su did not know what matter could make an emperor at the Demon Saint level so troubled, and he did not dare to take the bait, because his and Shi Xiaoxiao's current biggest goal was to return to Xuanwu Island safely.

Seeing that Meng Su did not make a sound, Li Xiu did not care and continued: "Everyone here is a demon cultivator of the Demon Realm. You should know that there is a strange sect in the Demon Realm called the Miaoshou Sect. This Miaoshou Sect is not a 'Miaoshou' (skilled hand) that heals people, but a 'Miaoshou' that is empty-handed. Legend has it that the Sect Master is a Stealing Saint. Under his command are two great fierce generals: Dao Yi You Dao and Dao Yi Wu Dao. Among them, it is said that Dao Yi Wu Dao has the power to steal heaven, and Dao Yi You Dao has the power to steal hearts."

Meng Su was full of curiosity. This Demon Realm really had all kinds of people; there were Killing Saints and Stealing Saints. They could even steal hearts. What kind of demon art was this?

Li Xiu continued: "The foundation of our Li family is the Phantom Demon Scripture, and practicing the Phantom Demon Scripture requires a kind of hallucinogenic demon power. This demon power cannot be obtained through Gathering Spirit Pills; it requires a kind of mineral. This mineral is called Phantom Crystal. Thousands of years ago, the Li family head discovered a Phantom Crystal mine here, so he began to operate this place until he turned it into a principality, reaching its current scale."

Li Xiu paused and continued: "After thousands of years of mining, the mine has been dug deeper and deeper. In the last hundred years, strange things have been dug out of the mine, such as: coffins, weapons, and finally even people were dug out. Of course, these were all people who had already died, but the eerie thing is that these corpses would disappear after being placed for a few days after being dug out. Later, after verification, it was found that the corpses had revived and walked away on their own. Which clan these corpses buried deep in the ground belong to, no one knows."

"Just a few years ago, a huge Daoist field was dug out underground. The main building of this Daoist field is an altar. As for who it is for, no one knows. The most bizarre thing is that there are offerings on this altar. This offering is a scroll. Our people opened this scroll, and inside is a map. The characters on the map are quite strange and are not the characters commonly used in the modern Demon Realm. Later, we invited several seniors of the Li family to identify it, and they believed it was Demon Script."

"Although we know it is Demon Script, we cannot crack it. This map was placed in the archives of my Imperial Palace. The archives are an important place in the Tang Principality, so we added several illusion arrays. Without authorization, even if you go in, you won't find the treasury."

Speaking of this, Li Xiu actually felt a bit shy and embarrassed as he continued: "Two years ago, I took a concubine in the Tang Principality and took a fancy to a dancing girl who sold her art. This girl was naturally spiritual and charming. After this girl entered the palace, at first I was still on guard against her. I mainly practice Small Illusion Like Truth, which has already reached the seventh realm: True and False. So to be detrimental to me, one must break my illusion body."

"Who knew that this girl was the Saintess of the Miaoshou Sect, specializing in the Stealing Heart Great Method. She broke my illusion body, obtained the token, opened the archives, and stole that map. Originally, we didn't care much about that map, but Dao Yi You Dao didn't take anything else when sneaking into the archives, but specifically took that map. We felt that the map must be very important."

"Just the year before last, it was rumored in the Jianghu that an important treasure had appeared, requiring a treasure map for guidance. Only then did we know that the treasure map was the guide to this treasure. However, what makes me feel strange is that this was originally a matter within our Li family. No matter how powerful their Miaoshou Sect is, how could they know that we had obtained the treasure map?"

After Li Xiu finished speaking, he glanced at Li Mo.

Li Mo trembled, knelt down with a 'plop', and cried: "Two brothers, I didn't do it on purpose. I was also hit by Dao Yi You Dao's Stealing Heart Path. Brother, please forgive me. For the sake of the fact that I have managed the Phantom Crystal mine for these years, even if there is no credit, there is hard work. Don't report it. I will definitely watch the Phantom Crystal mine well in the future."

Li Xiu sighed: "This matter can be big or small. Although you and I are brothers, I am much older than you, and you grew up watching me. So, when this item was stolen, you were the first one I thought of. With your lustful character, it is normal to be used by others. Originally, this matter was nothing, but Dao Yi You Dao stole the map and told our Li family's upper echelon the information that the map had been stolen. This is clearly borrowing a knife to kill someone."

"The person they want to kill is me. I have never dealt with the Miaoshou Sect and have no grudges. I can't figure out why they want to target me. Later, I understood that what they want is the Phantom Crystal mine. Their Miaoshou Sect also needs Phantom Crystals to practice illusion bodies for Dao Yi You Dao."