The Holy Emperor had ample reason for his arrogance. He was a Nascent Soul cultivator, vastly more powerful than Ye Qin. What truly fueled his pride, however, was his absolute control over every situation.
The sword thrust by the Armored Guard had wounded Ye Qin in the abdomen, causing him to miss the window to leave the passage, thereby ensuring Ye Qin would be trapped within the imperial tomb for the next forty to fifty years. The few insignificant morsels of food involved in the body-snatching attempt were irrelevant to the grand scheme.
Because of this, he paid no mind to Ye Qin ransacking the palace, or even Ye Qin attacking the Armored Guard with his magical tools, attempting to pry the Sumeru Ring from the guard's finger. He was even prepared to offer supplies from within the Sumeru Ring so Ye Qin wouldn't starve in the tomb.
Ye Qin’s magical tool couldn't scratch the Sumeru Ring. He abandoned that notion. But at that moment, he suddenly donned a peculiar expression. "Your Highness, this Armored Guard is the only intact high-tier puppet in this palace, and it is capable of being manipulated by you. For your successful body snatching, you rely entirely on this Armored Guard puppet, correct? If you didn't have this puppet, what could Wan Bei do? Would His Majesty personally have his Nascent Soul leave the ice coffin to catch me? That might prove difficult. Previously, when His Majesty tried to rush out of the ice coffin, he was suppressed back in by the Soul Suppressing Pillars. Clearly, His Majesty cannot complete the body snatching using only his own strength."
The Holy Emperor remained undisturbed, choosing silence. He could not answer Ye Qin’s question. His previous attempts at body snatching had already revealed that this young man, despite his outwardly silent and low-key demeanor, possessed a deeply hidden mind and immense endurance, causing the Emperor to misjudge him initially.
Whether he answered yes or no would provide Ye Qin with information, allowing the youth to uncover some subtle clues. He did not want to give Ye Qin any opportunity to find his weak points.
“Based on previous deductions, the Holy Emperor can only rely on this Armored Guard, because in front of this ninth-tier puppet, Wan Bei possesses no power to resist; submission is the only option.”
Ye Qin ignored the Holy Emperor’s silence and continued his speculations.
“But what surprises Wan Bei is that after I left the palace once and returned, spanning five or six hours, there has still been no movement from your side; the Armored Guard has not awakened. Also, I recall something: after I destroyed that sliver of divine sense on the Armored Guard, you were furious and immediately wanted to rush out of the ice coffin to devour me.
So, I surmise that you are currently unable to command this Armored Guard to capture me. From what I know, the higher the tier of the puppet, the more divine sense is required to operate it. A top-grade ninth-tier Armored Guard puppet demands an immense amount of divine sense—so vast that even you, Your Majesty, cannot gather it in a short period. Especially since you are currently suppressed by the Soul Suppressing Pillars, your strength is greatly restricted, making it even harder.”
Ye Qin looked at the ice coffin. The coffin remained silent, as if it had not heard him speak, offering no reaction. The aura emanating from the Holy Emperor was utterly devoid of joy, sorrow, anger, or rage, leaving Ye Qin unable to fathom what the Emperor was thinking.
“Since Your Majesty does not deny it, very well. I shall make two small guesses: First, you have completely lost control of this Armored Guard. Second, you need some more time to regain control of it. As for the first guess, I am highly confident that you will be able to possess my body within the next forty to fifty years, suggesting you expect to regain control of the Armored Guard within that time frame to capture me. Thus, this guess is likely wrong. The second guess is probably what Your Majesty is currently doing”—Ye Qin tossed the Armored Guard, along with the Sumeru Ring it held, directly into his own storage bag.
An Armored Guard puppet is about the size of a human body; a single storage bag was enough to contain it and carry it away. Once the Armored Guard puppet entered Ye Qin’s storage bag, Ye Qin immediately overlaid it with a layer of his divine sense, isolating it from the outside world. The Holy Emperor’s divine sense could no longer establish any connection with the Armored Guard inside the bag. This method was an idea Ye Qin stumbled upon accidentally while trying to pry open the Sumeru Ring.
The altar ice coffin erupted in a wave of incomparably furious, piercing screams; the entire subterranean palace trembled. This fit of rage was even more intense than the previous one. “Insolent brat! How dare you take my puppet! When I get out, I will make you taste the agony of ten thousand ghosts devouring your soul!”
Ye Qin was prepared. Before the Holy Emperor’s fury peaked, he darted out of the palace passage in the blink of an eye, fleeing to the great hall outside. Outside the palace, he could still feel the Holy Emperor’s overwhelming wrath, a fury powerful enough to shock any cultivator.
Ye Qin trembled in fear for a while, but then a surge of ecstasy followed. Because the more provoked the Holy Emperor became, the more certain Ye Qin was that his actions were correct. This Armored Guard puppet absolutely could not be left in the inner sanctum for the Holy Emperor to regain control. Without this puppet, what good was the Holy Emperor, a Nascent Soul cultivator? He was still lying obediently in his sealed ice coffin.
Ye Qin swiftly distanced himself from the palace, reaching a ruined area within the underground imperial tomb. This location was far from the palace, where the Holy Emperor’s divine sense could not easily reach, leaving him helpless. In these ruins, he found a spacious and hidden basement chamber, where he began refining pills and entering secluded cultivation.
As long as he had enough Spirit Stones, Ye Qin cared little about where he cultivated. When the subterranean magma passage reopened in forty or fifty years, he would immediately flee. By then, who cared about the Holy Emperor or not; he would flee as far as possible.
In the sunless underworld, time slipped by unnoticed.
Initially, Ye Qin worried that the Holy Emperor might employ other unexpected tactics. But as the Emperor remained silent for so long, Ye Qin finally relaxed.
Occasionally, when he had free time, Ye Qin tried to use his divine sense to control the Armored Guard, testing if he could manipulate it.
Yet, every attempt ended in failure.
Ye Qin didn't pay it much mind; this was within his expectations. With his weak divine sense, he couldn't even awaken the Armored Guard, let alone control such a high-tier Golden Core puppet.
After failing multiple times, Ye Qin lost interest in this Armored Guard puppet and stopped scheming for it, focusing instead on his own cultivation, which was the foundation of everything. Perhaps when he reached the Core Formation stage later, he might have a chance to control such a powerful puppet.
Thinking of this, Ye Qin felt invigorated.
And so, Ye Qin began his single-minded secluded cultivation deep within the imperial tomb, ten thousand feet underground, without any disturbances.
His cultivation speed was astonishingly fast; in just one year, he was nearing the fourth layer of the Foundation Establishment stage, on the verge of another small breakthrough in strength. Even the most talented and core Foundation Establishment disciples of the Azure Pill Sect, with the sect's full support, likely could not cultivate faster than Ye Qin.
Ye Qin even thought that remaining here in the underground imperial tomb indefinitely might actually be quite pleasant. He wouldn't have to worry about the conflicts of the Four Great Cultivation Realms or fear being accidentally dragged into them.
Alas, good times never lasted long.
About a year later, Ye Qin opened his personal storage bag, shook it, and only a few low-grade Spirit Stones rattled out.
Ye Qin pouted gloomily, his face etched with helplessness.
Even the Spirit Stones in the Treasure Gathering Gourd had been used, planted within his Dantian to grow spiritual herbs, which were then transformed into pellets of spiritual elixirs. Ultimately, these elixirs converted into vital energy, nurturing his Nascent Soul.
Ye Qin frowned bitterly. Even though he had managed to secure the Armored Guard in his storage bag, it hadn't solved his problem of insufficient Spirit Stones.
Only a year had passed, and the Spirit Stones in his possession were depleted. In the remaining long years, he wouldn't be able to refine a single elixir, relying solely on the Sitting in Oblivion Scripture cultivation method.
But he couldn't even meditate for a month without feeling restless. Relying only on the Sitting in Oblivion Scripture was too slow. Cultivating this way for forty or fifty years would probably only allow him to creep slowly toward the fourth or fifth layer of the Foundation Establishment stage. His dream of long life would become remote.
He needed Spirit Stones.
And there were vast quantities of mid-grade Spirit Stones within the Sumeru Ring.
Ye Qin’s expression shifted. To guard a pile of Spirit Stones yet be unable to use them—this was something he simply could not tolerate.
After deep contemplation, he finally gritted his teeth and floated toward the inner palace of the imperial tomb, intending to meet the Holy Emperor to see if they could devise some solution.
The inner palace was exactly as he had left it a year prior, unchanged in every aspect.
Ye Qin said nothing. He approached the altar, stopping at a safe distance of thirty feet from the ice coffin. He was certain the Holy Emperor already knew he had arrived and would be interested in his presence.
Indeed, after Ye Qin stood there for an hour, the Holy Emperor spoke in an indifferent tone.
“Brat, why are you back again? Have you finally seen sense and decided to offer me this body of yours willingly? ...Oh, wait, you must be hungry, aren't you? Foundation Establishment cultivators cannot achieve true abstinence from grains; eventually, you must eat something. Your provisions must be gone. Did you come here for me to grant you sustenance?”
The Holy Emperor’s rage had subsided over the past year.
He had suffered two setbacks against Ye Qin consecutively, leaving him deeply frustrated. But reflecting on it later, it was entirely due to his own miscalculations, and he couldn't blame Ye Qin. He had allowed a sliver of his divine sense to float out of the Armored Guard and invade Ye Qin’s body, only for it to be unexpectedly destroyed by a hidden Nascent Soul artifact Ye Qin possessed.
Though the Holy Emperor was furious, he was not without reason.
In the past, he had condensed and distributed four strands of powerful divine sense, each stored in the Iron Armored Guard, Bronze Armored Guard, Silver Armored Guard, and Gold Armored Guard—all Golden Core tier puppets—giving these four puppets a very high degree of autonomy.
However, the divine senses residing in the Iron, Bronze, and Silver Armored Guards had all been destroyed when the underground imperial tomb fell. Only the sliver of powerful divine sense within the Gold Armored Guard could control that puppet.
After Ye Qin shattered the divine sense on the Gold Armored Guard with one sword strike, he surprisingly dared to return shortly after and even took the puppet away in his storage bag. For the past year, confined within the ice coffin sealed by the four Soul Suppressing Pillars, the Emperor could do nothing.
His anger was understandable.
Anger aside, having lost the Gold Armored Guard puppet, the Holy Emperor had to face a brutal reality—he could not touch Ye Qin. Ye Qin had eliminated his strongest asset. Even if this little ant, possessing only early Foundation Establishment strength, jumped around near him, he was helpless.
Now, the Holy Emperor felt a strange sense of pleasure. After suffering two losses in a row, Ye Qin’s sudden arrival in the palace today let him realize there was still a minor advantage—the underground imperial tomb lacked food, and Ye Qin was likely in dire straits because of this. Only the Sumeru Ring contained vast amounts of edible supplies. Moreover, only the Holy Emperor could open this Sumeru Ring.
The Holy Emperor felt an exhilarating satisfaction: You (you brat) finally have to come begging me. You deserve your misfortune.
“Since Your Majesty has already guessed my purpose, I shall speak plainly. The Gold Armored Guard’s sword strike trapped me here in the underground imperial tomb. I am currently short of food and hope Your Majesty can erase the divine sense you left on this Sumeru Ring artifact. What do you say? Your Majesty can name the conditions. Let us make this trade. Besides my body, I will agree to absolutely nothing else.”
Ye Qin’s expression remained normal. Someone unfamiliar might think Ye Qin hadn't experienced any unpleasantness with the Holy Emperor. But Ye Qin knew the possibility of the Emperor agreeing was extremely slim. He had come forward merely as a last attempt.
“Brat, you have nothing else I need besides this body. A year ago, when I intended to take your body, I naturally would have helped you avoid starvation. But now that I lack the means to take your body, your life or death is of no concern to me. Why should I help you for no reason? Furthermore, this Sumeru Ring of mine harbors countless rare treasures, especially those easily taken. Stop dreaming! Who other than a Nascent Soul cultivator can erase the divine sense I imprinted on the ring?
Moreover, if you starve to death in this underground tomb, consider yourself lucky, kid. If you don't die, then in forty or fifty years, Ma Dongyan will definitely return here. If he can bring me a suitable body, then you are doomed. No matter where you flee, I will make you regret ever being born.”
The Holy Emperor’s indifferent voice faded, and the ice coffin fell into profound silence.
Ye Qin paused, his heart sinking. He had almost forgotten about Ma Dongyan—this late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator would certainly return in forty or fifty years to help the Holy Emperor escape his confinement, posing a significant threat. Although the chances of Ma Dongyan returning with a body possessing a single spiritual root rating over eighty were minuscule, nothing was absolute. Who knew if Ma Dongyan possessed such capability? The Holy Emperor didn't strictly need this body for the snatching.