My Longevity Simulation Chapter 1218: The Holy Emperor Receives the Mandate of Heaven
Previously on My Longevity Simulation...
Even amidst the tight encirclement, Li Ping betrayed no hint of panic whatsoever.
All the puppets had been forged via the Vital Essence Technique of All Living Beings, powered by siphoned source power.
The Enlightenment Spirit Origin Technique, now practiced by folks in the Holy Dynasty of Great Qi, was exactly the elevated form of the Vital Essence Technique of All Living Beings.
In a single look, he pierced the mechanism by which source power manipulated the puppets. Ripples of unseen waves pulsed from the golden source power network inside Li Ping's body.
Its energy purity neared the utmost boundary of source power essence, creating an innate dominance over Qiao Gong's puppet minions.
Within mere breaths, the scores of puppets in the hidden chamber, previously staring down with menace, wobbled unsteadily and failed to stay upright.
This encompassed even the Shangguan female puppet.
Qiao Gong's face twisted into a ghastly pallor at once. A lifetime immersed in source power left him no chance to miss the technique this enigmatic figure employed to disrupt the puppets.
He'd forsaken any notion of battling to the end and started scheming his getaway, or ditching this flesh to revive via memory archive.
Li Ping caught the shifting looks on Qiao Gong's visage and easily discerned his petty plots.Leisurely, he revealed the secret spots of Qiao Gong's multiple memory backups, one after another.
Qiao Gong's thoughts jolted fiercely, raw terror spilling uncontrollably across his features.
"Who exactly are you!" His voice cracked faintly with dread.
Fight he couldn't, flee he couldn't.
Ever since arriving in the Xuanhuang Realm, Qiao Gong hadn't tasted such profound hopelessness, not for an instant.
"Fellow Daoist Qiao Gong, don't get the wrong idea. I've come solely to deliver you immense fortune." Li Ping stated unhurriedly.
Yet his somewhat somber voice, paired with his indistinct face, held zero convincing power.
Qiao Gong refused to buy it; instead, dread swelled fiercer in his chest.
For he'd never uttered "Qiao Gong" to a soul in the Xuanhuang Realm.
To the world, he was solely the enigmatic, bottomless Master of the Lingyuan Sect.
But here stood a maskless stranger who unveiled his true roots in one phrase and grasped his every secret!
Qiao Gong even wondered if other Heavenly Mechanism Realm survivors lurked besides him.
Chaos reigned in Qiao Gong's mind for that instant. Yet all turmoil evaporated as a globe of radiant golden light bloomed in Li Ping's palm.
"Source power... essence?!"
"How is this possible!"
Qiao Gong exclaimed once more, disbelief etched deep on his face.
Even as he leaned in for a better view, Li Ping tucked the golden orb away.
"Fellow Daoist, weren't you chasing source power essence in vain? I can impart it to you." Li Ping's declaration left Qiao Gong reeling yet again.
"Fellow Daoist, weren't you aiming to rebuild the immortal-grade puppet [Ancestor]? I can assist there too." Li Ping pressed on, steady and composed.
By now, shock had dulled Qiao Gong somewhat. Li Ping's knowledge of the Ancestor barely fazed him.
Beneath waves of sheer ridiculousness, a sliver of hope flickered to life.
What if the man spoke truth?
"What terms do you demand?" Qiao Gong cut straight to it.
Li Ping let out a soft chuckle: "Hearing deceives, sight proves true. Fellow Daoist, come with me first."
Tailing Li Ping, Qiao Gong journeyed east from Jiushan Prefecture into the Congyun Sea's profound depths.
Beside a submerged volcano.
"Hmm?"
Qiao Gong scanned the landscape. Faintly, he detected a creature dormant amid the subsurface earth-vein fire.
Li Ping's following words validated his hunch.
“You mean, a puppet possessing full self-awareness?” Qiao Gong queried dubiously.
“Not forged outright as a puppet, rather one morphed into puppetry by arcane marvels. It's soaked up earth vein energies over thousands of years, transformation still unfinished. Rude awakening risks crippling flaws in its frame. I led fellow Daoist here to check your ideas for fixes.” Li Ping explained evenly.
“Transforming the embodiment into an object?” Qiao Gong mulled over those words intently.
A golden gleam burst from his gaze, scouring the sprawling earth veins beneath.
Long moments passed before the glow dimmed. Qiao Gong nodded: “That underground puppet has endured ceaseless earth fire forging for a millennium. Its might has ballooned beyond former limits. Still, earth fire's ferocity caps out naturally. Another millennium of soaking won't push past Soul Transformation peak. Further progress? Utterly out of reach.”
“Plus, he arrayed this earth fire setup pre-sleep. Ages on, they're fusing subtly. Tampering risks rousing him too.”
“Unless…”
Qiao Gong mused briefly, then voiced pensively: “Unless the tempering Earth Fire itself evolves.”
“You know the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao plays tricks, sparking wild upheavals. Earth fire embodies Heavenly Dao law might…”
“Yet such chances come by fate alone, unsummonable.” Qiao Gong admitted frankly.
Li Ping replied measuredly: “I get it.”
“Worthy of Heavenly Mechanism Realm lineage. I'd meant heavenly treasures to revamp the Earth Fire Return to Origin Formation. But your notion shines brighter. Harnessing heaven-earth forces to rebirth cosmos…”
Qiao Gong blinked in surprise, reiterating: “I said, fate's gift only, no forcing.”
“Really now?” Li Ping smiled faintly.
“Fellow Daoist, behold my technique.”
With such grand vows, Li Ping shut his eyes, rooted still in place.
Qiao Gong figured power-gathering for a mighty art, snapping focus to watch.
Yet half a day dragged with zero stir.
Were it not for source power essence's subtle, unyielding lock on him, Qiao Gong might've bolted then.
Man powerless against tide. With silence reigning, he waited too.
The vigil stretched near half a month.
Only Qiao Gong's artificer mastery and iron will let him hold out.
Hidden from Qiao Gong's sight, within Great Qi Holy Dynasty's minor realm.
Captured You Clan masses and flesh-factory spawn resumed Dark Sea prayers.
Maybe their birth purpose—fueling the Sea of Dark—made it innate.
Scarce guidance needed; prayer yields dwarfed Faceless Holy Emperor rites manyfold.
Xuanhuang Realm stirred with faint, creeping shifts.
Great Qi's Faceless Holy Emperor, poised at Congyun Sea floor, quietly tracked the world's building tides.
Some shifts brew slow, not in a flash.
Half-month on, Li Ping sensed the buildup crest a vital line…
“Twist and reverse heaven-earth axioms!”
The Faceless Holy Emperor whispered. His grand form tapped lightly at the earth-vein fire expanse below.
A mere frolic poke—yet instants later, sidelines watcher Qiao Gong reeled in stark horror and dread.