The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 368 A Crush on Me

Li Ye stopped because there were no steps in front.

They arrived at a large platform on the mountainside. It could hold a hundred people, at least. At this moment, there was nothing and no one on the platform. It looked especially empty and quiet when surrounded by the tall and luxuriant trees.

Li Ye didn’t stop by himself. In the process of climbing the stone steps, he had lost most of his consciousness. Moving forward without a break was the only thing he remembered. It was Feihong Bodhisattva who was beside him made him stop.

A flash of Spiritual Qi thrown by Feihong Bodhisattva waked Li Ye up from his deep dream.

Yes, Li Ye felt as though roused from a dream.

Suddenly, his mind became clear, and his eyes brightened. Though Li Ye felt a little tired, both his body and spirit had returned to their best states. But beyond the little tiredness, he felt nothing else.

The heavy shackles on his feet and the weighty load on his shoulders were all vanished in an instant so that Li Ye felt extremely relaxed at this moment.

He turned to look back and saw Feihong Bodhisattva’s bright and beautiful smile. She teased him a little, but she showed more undisguised appreciation. A little surprised, she exclaimed, “You are getting more and more interesting.”

But Li Ye could not agree with her words. Just now, if Feihong Bodhisattva threw a deadly wind blade instead of the flash of Spiritual Qi, he was afraid that he would have been beheaded.

But since he was still alive, Li Ye didn’t want to struggle with this. Greatly startled, he still showed an easy smile. “I heard that all women would be obsessed with interesting things. I don’t know if you can be an exception.”

Apparently, Feihong Bodhisattva froze for a while. She probably had never expected that Li Ye would reply like that. No one dared to speak to her in that way, even the few Bodhisattvas in Land Buddhism.

However, Feihong Bodhisattva was stunned not because of the way Li Ye spoke, but because of the word that he said: women.

No one cared about her gender, whether those ordinary persons or cultivators between heaven and earth.

Feihong Bodhisattva had an exceedingly powerful strength and a high status that could hold the four seas in awe. In addition to that, people paid homage to her divinity. Thus, all of them had neglected Feihong Bodhisattva was a woman for a long time.

A thousand years passed. Then thousands of years went by. After such a long period, even Feihong Bodhisattva herself had forgotten that she was a woman.

But soon, Feihong Bodhisattva came to her sense. She stared at Li Ye but didn’t continue this subject. Instead, she diverted her attention. “You must have noticed the problem.”

Li Ye nodded. “Just now, we must have fallen into a fairyland. I am curious about how we entered this fairyland.”

Feihong Bodhisattva said, “Since we stepped on the stone steps.”

Li Ye said, “This mountain looks like a giant magic formation.”

Feihong Bodhisattva said, “The secret region itself is a magic formation.”

Li Ye said, “In this case, you must have seen through the magic formation in the fairyland.”

Feihong Bodhisattva said, “I saw through it only on the halfway.”

Li Ye asked, “But why did you insist on finishing the other half of the way?”

Feihong Bodhisattva answered, “I wanted to see when you would give up.”

Li Ye said, “I guess you must be tired of waiting for me in the end, so you just woke me up.”

Feihong Bodhisattva said, “I didn’t wake you up.”

Li Ye said, “Oh?”

Feihong Bodhisattva said, “You woke up only because you had walked out of the magic formation in this fairyland.”

Li Ye asked, “How did I walk out?”

Feihong Bodhisattva answered, “The Tao of Heaven set the magic formation in this fairyland to test people’s intelligence and willpower.”

Li Ye said, “Unexpectedly, I made it by brute force.”

Feihong Bodhisattva said, “Willpower is not brute force.”

Li Ye asked, “Then what is that?”

Feihong Bodhisattva answered, “It is a sharp weapon that no intelligence can replace.”

Li Ye said, “I get a little dizzy with your praise.”

Feihong Bodhisattva said, “Your great willpower is worthy of any praise, because of which, I think you are more interesting.”

Li Ye blinked. “Have you become more curious about me?”

Feihong Bodhisattva said seriously, “How can you have such great willpower? None of those demon clan cultivators and Land Buddhism monks could finish half of the distance that you have walked.”

Li Ye smiled with pride. “The answer is obvious.”

Frowning slightly, Feihong Bodhisattva said, “Oh?”

Li Ye said in all seriousness, “All of this was because I am Li Ye.”

Feihong Bodhisattva chuckled a little.

Suddenly, Li Ye stared at Feihong Bodhisattva and said seriously, “I have one more problem.”

Now Li Ye was very close to Feihong Bodhisattva. It seemed that she could even feel the warmth in his eyes, but Feihong Bodhisattva didn’t look away. She remained calm and said, “Just speak out the doubt in your mind.”

Li Ye’s gaze became cold. Stressing each word, he asked, “When we were fighting for the Luck of heaven, why didn’t you kill me when you had the chance?”

Feihong Bodhisattva looked at Li Ye. “Do you want to die so badly?”

Li Ye said, “No matter I want to die or not, it is not the reason that you spared my life.”

Slightly raising her white and delicate jaw, Feihong Bodhisattva asked, “What kind of reason do you want to hear?”

Li Ye said, “In my opinion, there is only one reason for that.”

Feihong Bodhisattva chuckled. “I would like to hear the details.”

Li Ye gazed into Feihong Bodhisattva’s eyes with an extremely solemn look just like an emperor who was discussing the state affairs with a minister in the imperial court. He spoke clearly and smoothly, “You might have had a crush on me.”

Every Feihong Bodhisattva’s pore opened in great surprise. “What did you say?”

Li Ye said, “You like me.”

A gust of cold wind went through Li Ye’s feet.

Every open pore on Feihong Bodhisattva’s face restored calm.

She asked, “Did you try to disturb my state of mind?”

Li Ye shook his head. “I didn’t disturb your mind.”

Feihong Bodhisattva said, “The seven emotions and six sensory pleasures are all common things, none of which can disturb my state of mind.”

Suddenly Li Ye showed a weird smile. “You have become an immortal since thousands of years ago. But before that, did you ever fall in love with anyone?”

Feihong Bodhisattva said, “What do you think?”

Li Ye said, “One cannot rise above miseries without experiencing suffering. One can never see through the vanity of the world if he hasn’t ever lived in the secular world. One must experience the human society first before he is detached from the world of mortals. Since you are already a Bodhisattva, you must have experienced all kinds of worldly affairs.”

Feihong Bodhisattva smiled at him.

Li Ye was right.

Suddenly, Feihong Bodhisattva stopped smiling.

She didn’t smile because Li Ye continued, “Since you have experienced the feelings of the human world, you know it clear that you have a crush on me. You cannot lie to yourself because you know what love is.”

The expression in Feihong Bodhisattva’s eyes changed.

It was the first time she didn’t hide her feelings.

It was a long time ago when she felt panic inside but appeared calm outside. With her current state of mind and realm, her heart would not fluster most of the time, and there were few special cases.

But a special case happened now. Her heart flustered.

Grinding her teeth, Feihong Bodhisattva said a few words. “You must be tired of living!”

After that, she unsheathed a 1-meter-long green sword and stabbed right at Li Ye.

Feihong Bodhisattva went all out to launch this sword strike.

Li Ye faced the sword with calm.

He had already figured out the countermeasures.

It was a must.

He dared to provoke Feihong Bodhisattva because he had thought about the strategies to cope with bad conditions in advance.

His coping strategy was straightforward but effective—run away immediately!

Of course, he must run. He would not be stupid enough to fight with her to death.

...

The Immortal Court.

The atmosphere in the court was very dull. It felt like a storm was coming.

The Immortal Emperor sat high on his throne. His deep and serene eyes looked coldly down at those immortal officials who lowered their heads. He didn’t hide his anger because he wanted others to know that he was angry and dissatisfied. Then, these officials would reflect on themselves out of fear.

The Immortal Emperor had a good reason to be angry. The reason was simple.

Huang Jingyuan and Chen Jizhen were dead. The Immortal Court had sent an army of cultivators to descend to the world. This army was aimed to help the Immortal Court of the Taoist sect maintain its ruling order and assist Zhu Wen in conquering Jiuzhou. However, the whole army was nearly wiped out. Besides that, none of the 72 Earth Devils who entered the secret region of the Tao of Heaven was still alive.

This was an intolerable failure to the Immortal Court. It damaged the Immortal Court’s dignity and deteriorated the situation of the Immortal Court, which was now fighting with various gods.

This incident was no longer a secret. Everyone present knew it. However, a procedural report was still needed. Under the great pressure from the Immortal Emperor, Li Changgeng, who was God Taibai, hunched down to walk to the center of the hall while others intentionally or unintentionally landed their eyes on him.

With difficulty, he said, “The 72 Earth Devils were all killed in the secret region of the Tao of Heaven, including Chen Jizhen and Huang Jingyuan. Now there only left those Land Buddhism monks led by Feihong Bodhisattva and the demon clan cultivators led by Li Ye...”

“Waste! A bunch of waste!”

The Immortal Emperor’s angry roar interrupted Li Changgeng’s words. He looked around at the crowd with his glaring eyes. Finally, his eyes fixed on Li Changgeng. “The Immortal Court suppressed Feihong Bodhisattva’s cultivation level. In addition, they had the secret method to suppress the demon clan and a superior force. However, they were still completely annihilated! All of you are so impotent! What is the point of having all of you here?!”

Li Changgeng hurriedly bowed down. “Your Majesty, don’t get angry. We are guilty!”

All the immortal officials knelt and claimed, “We are guilty!”

The Immortal Court snorted. “It’s useless to admit that you are guilty. You tell me how Chen Jizhen failed.”

Li Changgeng said bitterly, “Feihong Bodhisattva and Li Ye joined hands. However, Chen Jizhen and Huang Jingyuan didn’t know that for the moment so that they fell into the trap...”

Speaking of this, Li Changgeng also felt ridiculous. “No one would have expected Feihong Bodhisattva to cooperate with a mortal, especially after Li Ye killed so many cultivators from Buddhism and Land Buddhism... They worked well together and trusted each other a lot, which totally took us by surprise...”

Before confronting Li Ye, neither Chen Jizhen nor Huang Jingyuan had taken Li Ye seriously. Likewise, the Immortal Court certainly didn’t pay any attention to Li Ye, who was merely a mortal.

But Feihong Bodhisattva, whose strength and status were so high that even the Immortal Court had to show her some respect on the surface, saw Li Ye as her equal partner. Besides, they cooperated well and defeated the Immortal Court monks together.

About this incident, everyone in the Immortal Court felt as disgusting as they had eaten 10,000 flies.

“Enough!” The Immortal Emperor interrupted Li Changgeng again because he got extremely impatient with the topic of an immortal. To him, Li Ye was merely an ant that he needed not to pay any attention to. “Stop talking about Li Ye. What can he do if he can never become an Immortal? Talk about the Luck of heaven!”

The Immortal Court took Jiuzhou as the blessed spot. They controlled the only way for these local cultivators to become Immortals. If Li Ye wanted to become an Immortal in Jiuzhou, he had to get the Immortal Court’s approval and permission first. Otherwise, even if his cultivation was high enough, he would not be able to cross the threshold and become an Immortal. He had no other choices but to stay in the Spiritual Master Realm as a Yang Spiritual Master for the rest of his life.

The Immortal Emperor surely would take no notice of a Yang Spiritual Master.

In a hurry, Li Changgeng said, “The Luck of heaven landed on Taiyuan. To obtain it, one has to control the altars in both the Taiyuan City and the secret region of the Tao of Heaven at the same time. One can communicate with the will of heaven and earth through sacrificial ceremonies. The heaven and earth form an integrated part. The Immortals and mortal coexist. These phenomena share the same principle.”

“That is to say, if Li Ye wants to get the Luck of heaven, he must capture Taiyuan City. But if Feihong Bodhisattva wants to obtain the Luck of heaven, she has to let Li Keyong hold Taiyuan City.”

“If these people who have Taiyuan City and the people who control the altars in the secret region are from two sides, they may not sacrifice heaven and earth at the same time together. If so, the Luck of heaven will not fall. After the certain time, the Luck of heaven will destroy itself. At that time, no one can get it.”

“To gain the recognition of the secret region and seize the control of the altars in the secret region, Feihong Bodhisattva and Li Ye are bound to fight against each other. There will surely be wars in Taiyuan City. At that time, we can get our chance there. Our cultivators cannot enter into the secret region, and so we cannot get the Luck of heaven. If so, we should make sure that the demon clan and Buddhism cannot get it either!”