My Journey to Immortality Begins with Hunting-Chapter 586 – Ghost Emperor, Empress Yuan, Five Years - Part 1

Chapter 586 – Ghost Emperor, Empress Yuan, Five Years - Part 1

The lotus throne beneath him was pitch-black and ominous. Its 138,000 petals weren’t ordinary. They each bore the face of a ghost, radiating a chilling, malevolent energy. The whole thing loomed tall and menacing, like a nightmare carved into reality.

Li Yuan only needed a moment to understand what he was looking at. Ghosts were born from a mixture of obsession and Yin energy. A dead person’s unresolved desires, combined with the essence of a region of extreme Yin, could give rise to a ghost.

Ordinarily, a person, no matter how many thoughts and emotions they might harbor, would still coalesce into one singular, driving obsession after death.

But Li Yuan was different. All the ancestral seal seeds within him had come from others.

All 138,000 ancestral seal seeds contained a distinct will. And through his deliberate Earth Soul cultivation, each of those individual thoughts had crystallized into its own obsession.

In truth, this meant the black lotus he now sat on was made up of 138,000 dormant ghosts. They hadn't awakened yet. They merely clustered together, exuding an oppressive, spine-chilling aura. Their eyes were tightly shut, slumbering still.

Perhaps this was the only reason this terrifying lotus was still classified as the second stage of the Earth Soul Realm.

But what did he look like now?

Li Yuan couldn’t tell. He raised his hands and paused. His skin was a sickly, unnatural white. He shifted slightly, sensing something resting atop his head, and noticed a curtain of bead-like strands swaying in front of his face.

He waved toward a distant sixth rank direwolf.

The direwolf stared at him, then whimpered in fright and backed away. Not just that one. The other direwolves, some with two heads, others with three, all began retreating. Step by step, farther and farther, leaving only the lone youth seated atop the pitch-black lotus.

Li Yuan dismissed the lotus, and only then did a sixth rank direwolf cautiously approach. He seized control of it with practiced ease through a soul link, reformed the lotus throne, and used the wolf’s eyes to view himself.

A black lotus. A ghostly white figure.

But this ghost...there was something different about it.

On its head was a strange hat.

Li Yuan stared for a while before he finally recognized it. It was a ceremonial crown, the kind worn by emperors and nobility.

The strands hanging down front and back were tassels, rows of jade beads meant to shield the wearer’s thoughts and expressions from prying eyes.

A Son of Heaven, after all, had to carry himself with gravity. His thoughts could not be exposed so easily.

The Emperor’s crown bore twelve tassels. The lesser rulers had fewer.

Li Yuan counted his own, twelve exactly.

“A Ghost Emperor?”

He never imagined that cultivating the Earth Soul technique would lead him to this.

He reached out and pressed down on the lotus, but the ghosts remained asleep. He couldn’t command them.

He tested his own strength. Aside from the overwhelming pressure he exuded, there wasn’t much else.

“Probably won’t be useful until I reach the third stage,” Li Yuan muttered.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

A while later.

Li Yuan called over the little black crow, who’d been waiting nearby, and got a quick update on what was happening outside.

First up was the Eastern Sea’s Immortal Domain.

The Eastern Sea had already caught wind of the upheaval in the Central Plains. After a brief spell of panic, something strange happened. Rather than depleting, the spiritual energy in the region actually surged, forming an unnatural wave of power.

The Arcane Supreme Sect and Five Spirits Institute declared this a divine blessing, a sign that the heavens favored the Immortal Domain. But Ping'an believed this was just a dying flash, like the last glow before a candle went out. The higher-ups were simply trying to lure more people in as canon fodder.

Then came something even more unsettling.

A second ancient hall suddenly emerged from the void.

Unlike the first, which had merely been overwhelming in power, this one was steeped in death. It reeked of stillness, of finality.

Ping'an had sent a clone to investigate and it vanished. Not destroyed by some tremendous force. No. It was eaten. Quite literally.

He could feel it, first the hands and feet, then the limbs, then the body, and finally the head. One bite at a time.

Even though it was just a clone, inside that ancient hall, it had been devoured piece by piece, as if the act itself had to be ritualistically complete.

And yet, he never once caught a glimpse of what had done it.

Because this second hall was nothing like the first. That one had been blindingly bright. This one was nothing but pitch black. The higher-ups discussed it and all agreed: this had to be the Lunar Yin Hall, an ancient place steeped in the deepest Yin energy.

Next came news from the Great Zhou.

The meat fields were shrinking fast.

Fourth and fifth rank cultivators were abandoning ship.

These powerhouses, men and women who had once stood above all others in the Great Zhou, were now desperate to flee to the Eastern Sea, even if it meant starting from scratch in the Immortal Domain. Status, prestige, comfort, they didn’t care. They just wanted out.

And the Eastern Sea was more than happy to take them. They needed fodder.

The two sides came to a quiet, unspoken agreement.

The Eastern Sea changed its immigration policy, from picking up new recruits every two years, to once every six months.

Barely had one flying ship unloaded people before it was already turning around for another run.

This exodus brought with it consequences.

The Central Capital, which had flourished for over 30 years under the rule of the Human Emperor, was now entering a decline in martial strength.

And yet, the fields surrounding the city were rich and fertile, sown with grain and heavy with crops.

For those who no longer cared about the fate of the people a hundred years from now, this was a good thing.

Inside the Central Capital, many of the high-ranking martial cultivators of the Myriad Lineages Academy had already left. But curiously, the disciples from the former Bladeseekers remained.

That mattered a lot.

After all, Li Yuan had collected 138,000 ancestral seal seeds over the years. That meant the Bladeseekers had produced at least 138,000 clear-headed sixth rank martial artists. And that were still many more disciples that hadn’t been harvested yet.

Of course, that tally included the original 3,000 ghost cavalry from the Lotus Cult, as well as those who died midway through their cultivation. But even so, the number was staggering, saying they made up half the strength of the entire academy wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

While the elite cultivators of other sects had packed up and gone, the Bladeseekers remained.

Emperor Ji He, though wise and capable, lacked the absolute power of his father, the kind of strength that could keep the Empire in check.

Instead, it was Princess Zhen’er, whose influence had grown immensely. By now, her authority in the capital surpassed even that of the Emperor.

When Zhen’er was a child, she had a reputation for being wild, arrogant, and a little mean-spirited. But behind the scenes, the Human Emperor had quietly redirected all of that.

Every time Zhen’er tried to do something bad, it somehow turned into a great deed. Every petty, spiteful act she carried out ended up being met with gratitude and admiration. And over time, those small turns of fate reshaped her.

Now, nearing 40 years old, Zhen’er was no longer just the Bodhisattva Princess, she had become the Bodhisattva in the eyes of the people.

Only by looking back now did she truly understand the care and effort the Human Emperor had poured into shaping her path.

She had no hunger for power or ambition for the throne.

Most days, she simply wandered the outskirts of the Central Capital, checking in on people, watching the land.

She used the strength left to her by her late father and elder brother to maintain order and protect the common folk.

The people adored her. They called her the Great Bodhisattva and revered her like a living saintess.

But the local aristocrats and wealthy clans? They were not pleased.

To them, more food and more people meant more profit, meat dangling at their lips. And now, some woman, neither the Emperor nor even a ninth rank official, was snatching it all away. Sure, they could politely call her a Great Bodhisattva...but behind closed doors, she was nothing more than a meddlesome woman.

Behind the landlords stood the nobles.

Behind the nobles stood the Emperor.

And the Emperor? He no longer had control over the court.

Even the powerful experts of the He Clan had mostly fled to the Eastern Sea.

In just over seven years, the political landscape of the Great Zhou’s capital had begun to shift quietly but profoundly.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Sheng’er watched it all unfold in silence and reported everything back to her father, but never interfered.

She moved like a ghost across the vast territory of the Great Zhou, detached and observing.

She had once been naive. But now? Now she had over 6,000 teachers.

Though not all of them had awakened, those who had were anything but ordinary. They were the most cunning, ruthless, brilliant, devious, and monstrous minds the land had ever seen.

Each of them, taken alone, had once commanded an era. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

And now they were all instructing Sheng'er.

She was no longer some ignorant young girl.

That was why she could see so clearly through the undercurrents in the capital, could calmly track the shift in power, and quietly watch over the little sister she had never truly met. She could do nothing and feel no guilt.

“Can you help your sister?” Li Yuan asked.

The little black crow replied, “No one can touch her right now. She’s got the deathsworn the Human Emperor raised for her. And Papa, you made your own arrangements too. Zhen’er...she’s genuinely happy. She has everything. It’s only one lifetime, but it’s a complete one.”

There was a faint, almost imperceptible bitterness in her voice.

Li Yuan tucked the crow gently into his robes and asked softly, “How’s the Deathless Tomb?”

The crow replied, “At least half of the gods in those coffins are awake now. The greatest upheaval yet is coming. They can’t sleep through it anymore.”

Li Yuan chuckled. “Anyone who can still sleep must have nerves of steel.”

The little black crow said nothing. She was no longer the kind of girl who could be cheered up with a joke.

“I’m sorry,” Li Yuan said softly.

“You don’t have to say that, Papa. This...is my fate. Only I can anchor the Deathless Tomb. Only I can command it. But the truth is, my real body is weak. And the beings I’m exposed to are growing more terrifying by the day. That’s why I can never leave,” she replied.

“No matter how powerful the crows outside may become, my true self must stay inside. If I die, the crows die. But if I live, even if the crows fall in battle, they can always cultivate again, rise from the ashes, stronger than before. Hair will grow back. Crows will return. We always come back.”

She paused, then said quietly, “I’m like a snail, and the Deathless Tomb is my heavy shell. Without it, I’d just wither and die.

“The ones in the coffins, they’re constantly whispering to me, trying to deceive me, to manipulate me. But that’s fine. The more they speak, the more I learn. They know far more than what a single secret art stele can offer.

“Yang flame can create a Heaven Soul. Meat fields can create a Heaven Soul. Even the sky itself can create a Heaven Soul.

“While you were cultivating, Papa, I had the Nine Flames Tribe carry a coffin filled with crows to the highest mountain outside. We gave it an empty burial and set up a secret lightning-drawing array. If it works...you might end up with more daughters.”

The crow’s eyes glimmered with a human smile. Then she shifted the topic to the new Khagan, Har’gal Altankhar.

Her grand-nephew, like his father, grandfather, and all his brothers before him, made the trip every year to visit his great-aunt. He’d chatter about family, gossip a bit, and very thoughtfully bring real food to the offerings. Not just ceremonial pigs and cows, but something that could actually be eaten.

“He brought a kind of sweet fruit. I told him it was delicious, so he brought more this year. I think the boy’s hoping for a spot in the Deathless Tomb too. After all, those born of the sacred flame don’t live long.

“Two years ago, Meng Xingxian tried to seduce the Nine Flames Tribe by revealing everything. Once out, a secret like that can’t be buried again easily. I expect there’ll be a long line of people waiting outside the Deathless Tomb.

“And in a way...I guess that’s not so bad. I get to meet different people. Hear different stories. And my crows get to live all kinds of lives out in the world. For a fate like this...your daughter is content.”

Li Yuan gently rubbed the little tuft of feathers on her head.

Neither of them said aloud the truth they both knew. The Deathless Tomb only held 6,974 coffins.

What would happen when too many people came? Where would they all lie?

And though Sheng'er shared the lifespan of the crows, that didn’t mean she had the lifespan of all of them combined. Even if two of her crows reached the second stage of the Heaven Soul Realm, her life wouldn’t double.

In the end, one day, Sheng'er herself would have to lie down in one of those coffins too.

What would happen to the crows if she were to lie down in one of the coffins?

Sheng'er had wondered this herself.

She was the trunk. The little black crows, her extensions, her branches. And if a branch fell from the tree but managed to take root, it might one day grow into a tree of its own.

When she finally lay down, when her powers were sealed within the coffin, that would be like the branches breaking off and being planted in the earth, left to grow independently.

However, would these new Sheng'ers still be able to summon crows the way she could?

She didn’t know.

If they couldn’t, then the very moment she entered the coffin, the Deathless Tomb would collapse.

The monsters sealed inside would rise again. They’d break free of their coffins, leave the tomb behind and perhaps even open her coffin and kill her.

She didn’t know. She didn’t even know whether the crows would survive after her body was sealed away.

It was all just guesswork.

She hadn’t dared to test it.

So yes, she had a mission too.

Aside from her mother, she was the only one who knew that her father had eternal youth.

That meant she had to solve all these problems.

So that one day, she could walk beside her father and mother. Together. All the way to the end of the world.