Emperor’s Domination

"Buzz." Space vibrated a bit as Li Qiye caught something between two fingers.

This was a sword ray ten times smaller than a strand of hair, virtually imperceptible to the naked eye.

Its size didn't diminish its sharpness. It pierced through the air and could instantly penetrate anyone's forehead.

This was the reason why many victims have fallen without realizing why. Few managed to avoid or survive the ambush.

The princess gasped after seeing the ray caught by Li Qiye. She could have dodged the ray earlier since she did notice. However, she wouldn't have been able to catch it like he did.

He didn't bother to take a look and crushed it into nothingness.

"What a terrible ray." She thought about how dangerous and imperceptible it was.

"This is a resting place for swords, intruders are disturbing them so some will get angry." He said.

She agreed with this because if this was a burial ground for people, some zombies might return out of rage if their sanctified ground was being rudely disturbed.

"Right, the swords here have their own sentience." She said: "Hmm, so the divine swords in the cemetery are stronger than those in the river and the abyss."

"Not necessarily, sentience and awareness don't always imply strength. An emotionless sword might be more frightening." He smiled.

"I see." She murmured before asking: "How do the swords here compare with dao lord weapons?"

"That's a wide range." He shook his head: "There are regular dao lord weapons, then progenitorial weapons, and even paragon weapons."

"Paragon weapons of the dao lord level." The princess took a deep breath. She heard of them but had never seen one before.

"This is the case for the grave as well. There are plenty of classifications, not just a single lab as 'divine'. Li Qiye smiled and glanced at the number one peak and said: "One of them can overshadow even the paragon weapons."

"That place?" She followed the direction of his gaze - the undefeated number one grave.

In history, most believed that the swords found in the cemetery were stronger than those in the outer regions. After all, they were smart enough to bury themselves.

As for the number one grave, speculations of it holding a heavenly sword or the immortal sword were common. Top masters exercised patience over the eras while vying for success. It remained unopened.

"Boom!" As the two crossed a mountain stream, they heard continuous explosions. This area had several hundred cultivators.

The majority came from the same sect given their uniform. The others were neutral spectators. This sect has been experimenting with a stone cave here and finally got a reaction.

The loud explosions resembled the marching of a great army.

"It's really a sword grave!" The sect's ancestor became ecstatic.

They initially noticed visual phenomena happening at this stream. Thus, they searched and attempted several methods. Their effort was rewarded since the grave reacted.

"Clank!" The cave's entrance suddenly lit up and sword rays rushed out.

"Shit!" The ancestor sensed something was amiss and immediately tried to flee.

Alas, it was already too late. The sword rays engulfed the entire stream to the sect members'' horror.

Some tried to run, others summoned defensive treasures. It ended with screams; all of them were massacred by the sword rays including the ancestor.

Even some neutral spectators were turned into sieves. Corpses and blood took over the stream.

"…" The lucky survivors' knees trembled uncontrollably.

The rays then returned to the cave just like bees returning to their nest.

"Well, at least there's really a grave here." One survivor said, realizing the futility of the situation.

The divine sword in there seemed to be too strong and sensitive. It didn't allow anyone to get near.

***

"Where are you going?!" On another side, a group of cultivators was chasing a rock rolling down the hill at a rapid speed.

It was obvious that this rock wasn't simple. Thus, it didn't take long before a thousand or so cultivators started chasing it. More and more people joined in along the way.

"Don't let it escape! There's absolutely a top divine sword in there!" A king shouted.

This was a needless reminder since everyone could tell that there was something sentient in the rock - either a top sword or an amazing artifact.

"Surround it!" Once the rock made it to the base of a mountain, it was fully surrounded by cultivators.

"It's ours!" An ancestor from a sacred ground shouted.

"Clank!" A fiery beam suddenly shot upward and incinerated the sky. A hymn from a divine sword sounded as it unleashed a sweeping horizontal slash.

"Pluff!" Cultivators were as helpless as scarecrows, unable to react before being decapitated.

The eyes on the falling heads were widened in disbelief. They still saw the rock rolling into the forest and disappearing from sight.

In reality, finding sword graves wasn't difficult in the slightest. When one noted a strange spot, they could just provoke it and wake up the divine swords.

However, obtaining them required enough power to subdue the divine swords. Otherwise, it would end in a gruesome death.

Some actually had no idea what was going on before it was too late. A group led by their ancestor entered a stone forest shrouded in mist. Visibility was awfully low.

"Ahh!" The group disappeared one by one. Each screamed once before going quiet as if they were eaten by something.

Those standing outside became frightened and didn't dare to set one foot in this stone forest.