Emperor’s Domination

Xiaoxiao stared at him and demanded: "What is my bloodline? You surely know the answer, just tell me already."

Li Qiye only responded with a smile: "It's not that I don't want to tell you, but the time isn't ripe. After a couple more days, I'll take you to a place. At that time, you will find out your bloodline even if I don't say anything. A few things can't be expressed with words, you will need to feel it." Having said that, he pointed at his heart.

"Only with that will you be able to know what your bloodline is as well as its true mysteries. Otherwise, you won't be able to understand what your bloodline is carrying even if I speak one thousand or ten thousand phrases. It is all useless." He spoke with sincerity and didn't lie to her at all.

"Hmph, whatever." She glared at him and stepped on his foot again.

Li Qiye cheerfully spoke: "Okay, little girl, get ready, we're going in."

With that, he grabbed her tiny hand and rushed into the valley with incredible speed. The Soaring Immortal Physique had no equal in terms of speed. Even Xiaoxiao couldn't react in time.

"Whoosh! Buzz!" His intrusion was met with attacks from all the treecorpses. Some roots flew like arrows while others used their signature fire and ice elements.

However, Li Qiye's speed was countless times faster than them as he invaded the valley. Not to mention harming him, they couldn't even touch his sleeve. In one moment, Xiaoxiao could still see herself standing outside of the valley, but in the next, the scene changed completely. It only took the blink of an eye due to a speed that surpassed time and everything else.

Deep in the valley was a small flat ground with a boulder in the middle surrounded by many treecorpses. The ones that were able to sit here were clearly older than the other corpses and much more powerful as well.

There were more than ten of them sitting near this seemingly common stone that looked like a table in this flat area. Perhaps the treecorpses didn't know what a table was and used this boulder as one by chance.

It was quite strange. They weren't protecting any alchemy ingredients at all. Judging by their expressions, this seemed to be a debate. This was quite an unbelievable scene because they didn't have souls or intelligence and only relied on their instinct the majority of the time.

Moreover, this looked like a high-level meeting as well. Even Li Qiye found this surprising.

While looking at the dozen corpses, Xiaoxiao curiously asked: "What are they doing?"

He looked as well and murmured: "Until now, I have only been researching with a great emphasis on the withered while overlooking the treecorpses. Along the years, they have undergone changes as well and have obtained a certain level of intelligence."

This scene made one thing clear, the treecorpses weren't soulless creatures like before. Regardless of what this meeting was about, they have evolved as well.

Until now, Li Qiye thought that only the withered had a chance to become a new race. His research was lacking for the treecorpses because of their inferior characteristics. A soulless creature had no chance to develop intelligence. In terms of turning into a new race, the withered were a hundred times more likely compared to these corpses.

According to his study, if the second generation withered can't successfully produce a third generation, they wouldn't be able to become a new race. If that was the case, it was simply impossible for these corpses. The dead can't become a new race.

Thus, this scene took him by surprise. He didn't expect for some corpses to have a little intelligence. Although it looked quite limited, this was still a good start.

The corpses stood up and stared at the intruding duo. Li Qiye noticed and smiled: "A bit interesting, do you want to fight?"

They were far stronger than the ones outside. Moreover, the rest of the corpses surrounded this area completely and seemed to be ready to pounce at any moment.

Anyone else would be scared out of their minds under this perilous situation. However, Li Qiye was still calm and could speak normally.

In a short amount of time, countless gazes were on them. Xiaoxiao felt a bit frightened from all the unwanted attention. This wasn't due to her being timid, it was because this scene was too bizarre and creepy.

It was one thing to be stared at by the living, but staring at her were countless eyes from the dead. It was a completely different sensation. Their hollow eyes carried a ghastly energy. There was nothing but death.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" Right when Xiaoxiao thought that these corpses were about to attack them, they dug into the ground and disappeared from sight.

"What's wrong with them?" She found this astonishing and didn't know why they didn't attack.

"They fled." He chuckled and walked towards the boulder that they were sitting around.

"Fled?" This took her by surprise: "Why did they flee? Are they afraid of us?"

However, she felt that this wasn't plausible since they attacked all the other cultivators that entered the valley.

"Soulless they might be, their instincts are quite keen. They know who they can and can't mess with." Li Qiye understood what she was thinking and smiled.

He was suddenly attracted by something on the boulder and carefully observed it as if it was a supreme artifact.

"What is it?" She found it strange to see his focus and quickly looked over as well.

There was nothing on the boulder outside of a few shallow traces. These traces had been carved by a small stone. Moreover, they were quite new, so it was apparent that the corpses from earlier drew them.

It was completely indiscernible and abstract. They weren't dao runes or magical runes and were very few in number as if the corpses just drew them randomly.

Ye Xiaoxiao failed to understand them while Li Qiye relished this moment as if it was an earth-shattering mystery. He circled around the boulder, seemingly turning a deaf ear to Xiaoxiao.

She found his current expression incredible. These faint marks were nothing, a drawing from a child would be much more interesting in comparison.

"Just what is it?" After a good while, she couldn't help but ask again while Li Qiye was still immersed in his observation.

He eventually regained his wits. However, he didn't turn his gaze away from the marks as he replied: "They're writings."

"Writings? The corpses' writings?" She was a bit startled to hear this.

"You can put it that way." He continued to study them carefully: "In fact, it is still a bit early to call them text. However, in addition to instinctive expressions, these corpses have another way of communicating. These words are still very simplistic. This is only the inception and it still hasn't fully formed yet, but maybe a real system will come out from this."

The withered also had writings. However, their system came from the other races in the nine worlds. They studied and used the common texts like the others. Alas, it was different for the treecorpses. They started from scratch, and so did this particular writing system. These shallow markings on the rock were the corpses trying to express something.

"What is written here?" She simply couldn't decipher the intent.

Li Qiye gently shook his head: "I don't know. This type of text is still in its early stages, it's not even finished yet. I'm afraid no one can truly understand what they are trying to say."