Chapter 1676: Ren Xians Imperial Princes
Immortal Emperor Ren Xian’s four children had the following title: Azure Dragon Prince, White Tiger Prince, Black Tortoise Prince, and Vermillion Bird Princess. They were also known as the Four Symbols Imperial Children and greatly resemble their parents.
They were showered with love and granted great authority even before their father became an emperor. This played a great part in their fame during that generation.
However, they disappeared and sealed themselves. Though they sporadically showed up every once in a while, they stopped doing so after Immortal Emperor Qian Li’s generation. The disciples from Soaring Immortal had no clue of their whereabouts.
Of course, the ancestors couldn’t tell their disciples that they have escaped to the Immortal Confinement. When they came out again recently, they garnered the support from the majority of ancestors.
Under the arrangement of the mastermind behind Soaring Immortal, the princes were able to defeat the dissenters and put these ancestors under house arrest. This gave them complete control over Soaring Immortal and laid a foundation for their invasion of Mortal Emperor.
It was a matter of course for them to be welcomed so much. After all, imperial princes had an innate advantage compared to others.
Moreover, the young faction had been suppressed for a long time. A five emperors lineage didn’t aim for hegemony? How could the young ones stand for this? They had early wanted to return to the nine worlds and vie for supremacy.
Thus, their return coincided with the youthful ambition. Moreover, the mastermind has always been strengthening their faction.
Even though the Can Long, Ba Mie, and Tun Ri branches opposed this decision, just the strength of the Ren Xian branch alone was enough. No one could change the will of the new faction.
Li Qiye simply chuckled after seeing them: “Only Immortal Emperor Can Long had returned from the Immortal Confinement. It looks like your father had left you some good stuff, allowing all of you to last inside.”
This prison had an earth-shattering origin. It was an ominous ground from an ancient epoch, rumored to be a prison for a ferocious devil. Immortal Emperor Fei obtained it later and the sect treated it as a training adventure later. However, only Immortal Emperor Can Long during his youth was able to return.
There were several reasons why the siblings were able to return alive. Outside of their own personal strength and solidarity, the biggest reason was their incredible resources compared to others in the form of treasures and medicines.
The four were not happy to hear Li Qiye’s comment. The four became as cold as ice. Not to mention the pain they suffered in the prison, it was the humiliation of being forced to run inside like a dog that had lost its master. They would never forget this humiliation and even swore for vengeance.
They were imperial children with an extremely noble bloodline coursing through their veins yet the Dark Crow forced them to run for their lives. How could they stand for this?
“The humiliation of past shall be washed away with your blood!” Vermillion Bird Princess gritted her teeth as even her beautiful face twisted with anger.
Li Qiye shook his head and laughed: “You should be feeling grateful instead, it is the blessing of the heavens that Immortal Emperor Qian Li and the Black Dragon King didn’t chase after you. Plus, aren’t you all living quite well right now? Not to mention all the fortunes and positive meditation, allowing you to fortify your dao heart. You didn’t grow older in the prison, still as vigorous as before and able to cultivate your Soaring Immortal Physique to perfection…”
“... The suffering in the prison is not pain but rather a type of wealth! Reflect on who you used to be in the past, only little juniors relying on your father’s prestige. Now, you have a perfect physique with a pure bloodline and a cultivation polished by training, much stronger than that Ancestor Long earlier…”
“...Even if your father was around and not showing any mercy, you can still last up to two thousand moves against him. Isn’t this an amazing thing? Perhaps you will even feel pride in it. Thus, instead of feeling grateful, all you feel is hatred. What a shame.”
“Grateful?” The Azure Dragon Prince shouted: “We will never let this go until we break your bones and turn you to ashes! I swear on it!”
The prince felt responsible because he was the oldest of the four. He was the one who took his younger siblings inside to suffer all the torments. After escaping, he swore to kill the Dark Crow and all of his underlings!
Li Qiye didn’t mind at all and continued on: “You four are too disappointing compared to your father who showed great self-restraint and vision. He took pride in his human bloodline, because of that, he worked his whole life to establish a respectable reputation. But as his children, instead of bolstering your own reputation, you are besmirching his with your action. Don’t you feel shame about letting down your real bloodline and your father’s lifelong effort?!”
The princess uttered coldly back: “Do not speak of my father! If it wasn’t for the Dark Crow’s pressure, would my father have suffered like this? During that period, next to his side and seeing everything…” [1]
“Enough.” The calm Black Tortoise Prince interrupted her at this point.
“Why not keep going? I want to hear who told you all of this.” Li Qiye smirked and said.
But the princess kept her mouth shut this time, realizing that she had fallen into his trap because certain thing shouldn’t be said. The group simply glared at Li Qiye instead of talking.
Li Qiye continued: “Does it really matter now who told you all of this? The situation has escalated to this level, nothing else matters in your eyes, not even the imperial bloodline in your body! There is only vengeance left and of course, a desire for hegemony! An ambition to unite the nine worlds, a will to have emperors for generations.”
The White Tiger Prince retorted with a sneer: “Hmph, so what? Why is only your group allowed to do so and not us? It is because we challenge your position and prestige!”
Li Qiye couldn’t help but smile: “Fool. Just a little bit of authority in the nine worlds, it is meaningless. All of you know full well that you are inviting a sect-destruction calamity! You think you can rule the nine worlds but in my eyes, you’re nothing but ants. Even the mastermind is only a puppet, used as a meat shield by the Ancient Ming!”
“You’ll find out soon enough!” The Black Tortoise Prince said chillingly: “It doesn’t matter how strong you are, don’t think about living past today. We’ll settle both old and new scores today and herald in a new epoch for the nine worlds!”
Li Qiye chuckled: “With what? You or the mastermind? Really now, that’s not enough to warm me up, too weak.”
The four siblings were livid to be treated with such disdain. At this moment, they were indescribably strong. Their combined effort could sweep through all enemies but Li Qiye spoke as if they weren’t worth a single coin.
“You’re doing this alone or with the Azure Dragon Legion?” The Azure Dragon Prince uttered.
“You think too highly of yourself.” Li Qiye smiled: “The four of you are indeed powerful Emperor Assailants. However, you really think that your combined effort can oppose the power of an emperor? It’s not that simple to reach the Emperor Rival level. All of your wondrous fortunes and achievements in the prison only allow you to take the first step to this level. Your current power level isn’t enough.”
The siblings nearly vomited blood from anger. A murderous bloodthirst appeared in their eyes. At this moment, old and new grievances overwhelmed them. Only by tearing Li Qiye apart would their rage subside.
1. The last sentence is a bit strange to translate. In Chinese, the subject isn’t always apparent. It is situational and an omission can still sound fine. You can assume that the speaker is the subject in this case. However, for this context, she wasn’t the one experiencing the last sentence, at least in my opinion given the next lines. This is a problem translating to English