Chapter 886: Fate

Li Huowang moved the fire in his hand a little closer to the very end of the Dragon Vein, allowing him to see the first emperor of Daliang more clearly.

It was clear that the other party's face was no longer human; it barely resembled a dragon, instead looking like a twisted, grotesque dragon face.

Slender dragon whiskers, like sutures, threaded beneath the dragon scales, twisting the golden scales on the surface into contorted shapes.

Seven dragon claws grew on its body, jointed unnaturally, with varying numbers of digits.

At this moment, Li Sui explained to Li Huowang, "Dragon Veins are passed down from generation to generation. If anyone truly knows something, they can only find it from this Dragon Vein."

Li Huowang nodded in agreement. Indeed, the Dragon Vein not only served as the current emperor's intelligence group but also allowed them to learn about everything that truly happened in the past through the mouths of every past emperor.

"Whoosh!" The scaly dragon claw suddenly swiped, moving across Li Huowang's face instantly, too fast for him to react.

The sound of flesh tearing filled the air as half of Li Huowang's face slowly drooped, revealing the bloody, indistinct skull beneath.

Li Huowang raised his right hand, bent his index finger, and slowly pushed his skin back up with the back of his finger, finally pressing his face back into place with a snap.

"Senior, are you the first emperor of Daliang?" Li Huowang lowered his hand and asked the entity.

As soon as Li Huowang finished speaking, a furious roar from the old emperor, followed by a soul-shaking dragon's cry, erupted from inside the sarcophagus.

The surging dragon qi began to affect the surroundings. Li Huowang's body became completely uncontrollable, patches of dragon scales rising and then disappearing.

"He's deaf and completely mad. You won't get anything out of him by asking."

Li Huowang looked up, following the sound, and among the stacked emperors, he found a face with disheveled hair.

Golden strands, indistinguishable as beard or hair, completely obscured the face, preventing Li Huowang from seeing his appearance.

The long-bearded emperor shook his head and turned it towards the waist token on Li Sui's belt, next to Li Huowang.

"Sitianjian? For the Sitianjian to bring you to us old-timers, your status must be extraordinary, young man."

No sooner had the long-bearded emperor spoken than a voice came from a higher position.

"I remember him. After Shai Zi seized the Dragon Vein, this red-robed young man killed Shai Zi and restored the Dragon Vein."

"So, that young man has a great kindness towards Daliang?"

"Kindness, indeed, a great kindness!"

"He is Ji Lin's blade; he used him to kill many of the Daliang imperial family."

"My surname isn't Ji! Why should I care about that!"

Hearing the voices grow increasingly noisy, Li Huowang immediately raised his voice, "Seniors!"

Seeing the voices gradually thin out, Li Huowang spoke again, "I have come today for no other reason than to ask you all to tell me some past stories about the Dragon Vein."

To add weight to his words, Li Huowang immediately added another sentence.

"As you all know, Daliang is now missing some crucial time periods, and this concerns the future of your empire. I hope you will help."

A buzzing hum of discussion rose, and soon they reached an agreement, their voices gradually subsiding.

"Since you have shown great kindness to Daliang and have been brought by the Sitianjian, we can inform you."

Li Huowang didn't seem particularly surprised to hear this, as the two sides were already allies, and there was no reason for them not to tell him.

As the other Dragon Veins fell silent, the long-bearded emperor began to speak.

"Back when the Great Qi Dynasty fell and was leaderless, among the noble families in the capital, our Ji family was considered a major clan, numbering at least several thousand, if not tens of thousands."

"For this imperial throne, we saw sons kill mothers, grandfathers kill grandsons, and brothers turn against each other. They brutally slaughtered until only one person remained, and that person became the first emperor of our Daliang Dynasty."

Li Huowang looked down at the emperor at the very bottom and said, "Senior, I already know all of this. What I want to ask about is not the succession of the Dragon Vein, but its origin."

"A thousand years before Daliang was the Great Qi Dynasty. Where did the Great Qi's Dragon Vein come from? Do any of you know?"

"Hehehe, if we're truly going to talk about it, we have to start from the beginning. In ancient times, humans were raised by the Witches to be eaten, living like pigs that consumed filth, only fit to eat dirt on the ground."

"But later, our ancestors didn't want to be pigs for generations, so they painstakingly managed to escape."

"Just escaping wasn't enough; the Witches would eventually find them. So they had to find a way to carve out a world for themselves to live, and the fortune and destiny of the Dragon Vein is what sustains this world."

"Witches?" Li Huowang couldn't help but recall the Witch Officials of the Law Sect, whose faces were completely covered. He immediately asked,

"Senior, are the Witches you speak of related to the Law Sect?"

"They have no relation. That was ancient times; there was no Law Sect then."

"Then, Senior, what exactly are Witches? Could it be... are Witches Si Ming?"

Li Huowang's words immediately caused a huge stir.

"No, not Si Ming. Si Ming doesn't exist at all."

"Yes, that's right. There is no Si Ming; it's all false."

"This is the Imperial Temple! Uttering those two words is strictly forbidden!"

Li Huowang's next sentence quieted everyone. "Then what exactly are Witches?"

After a moment, the long-bearded emperor slowly spoke, "We are emperors of Daliang. Before Daliang was Great Qi, and before Great Qi were the Three Northern Yan Kingdoms. After the Three Kingdoms was Great Chen. We only know what we've heard from previous generations."

"Everything from ancient times has been passed down through generations. We ourselves do not know what these Witches truly are."

"But surely those Witches must have been more powerful than the people of that time, otherwise how could they have enslaved everyone?"

Li Huowang paid no mind to anything else at this moment. He noticed that among the succession of dynastic names after Great Qi, there was also a Great Chen.

"Is this related to the Tianchen Kingdom? Could it be that the Tianchen Kingdom is the version of history where Great Chen never fell?"

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Li Huowang immediately began inquiring about Great Chen with the Dragon Vein.

"I don't know. There are several Dragon Veins throughout the world; why only ask us here? Go ask the Qingqiu Dragon Vein; their Dragon Vein seems to contain some emperors from the Three Northern Yan Kingdoms."

"Li Sui, I'm busy right now. Send someone to Qingqiu to investigate this for me. See if Tianchen is related to Great Chen."

"Okay, but Father, I think it's all the same whether we investigate or not. Regardless of whether Tianchen transformed from the original Great Chen, they are our sworn enemies."

"That's true, but let's investigate first. What if we discover something else?"

Having said that, Li Huowang brought his thoughts back to the main topic. "Senior, please continue. How did that fortune and destiny come about, and how did the first Dragon Vein emerge?"

"The fortune and destiny of this world were seized by the first emperor and his people from a Witch. Only with this fortune and destiny could one person support this entire world, and that person was the very first emperor."