A Knight Errant's Desire to Teach

"The Path of the Great Emperor is different from that of mortal emperors."

Li Yu smiled faintly at Zhou Yi, then walked over to the corpses of the monsters. With a wave of his hand, he collected the broken weapons and the bodies, which had been cut in half, into the System.

Turning back to Zhou Yi, Li Yu continued, "Mortal emperors can rule with benevolence and righteousness. But it's different among cultivators. How can you command respect without dominance? If you want to be unrivaled in the world, you can only conquer with strength."

He pointed to the shattered ruins before them, shaking his head with a smile. "This was the capital city of the Demon Emperor back then. With the body of a demon, he conquered all directions, became unrivaled in the world, and ultimately achieved his imperial career. If he hadn't conquered with dominance, would other races have submitted?"

"Disciple understands!"

Zhou Yi bowed, accepting the lesson.

"It's good that you understand."

Li Yu nodded with a smile. "Next, you will begin your cultivation. I have already passed the Wheel Sea Chapter of the Daoist Scripture to you. You have the Supreme Heavenly Book, and I know a little about its functions. I will also give you two demon corpses."

He waved his hand, releasing the corpses of two demon cultivators who had taken human form. Li Yu said to Zhou Yi, "Start with these. Once your cultivation improves, go out for practical experience. Kill demon beasts, gather spiritual herbs. Forge your Path of the Great Emperor through life and death, through blood and fire."

"Yes!"

Zhou Yi nodded heavily.

"I need to go out for a bit. If you need anything, just call me."

Li Yu paused here. "However, unless it's a matter of life and death, try not to call me lightly. If you develop a habit of relying on my protection, how can you achieve your imperial ambitions?"

"Yes."

Zhou Yi agreed with a nod, then looked up and asked, "Is Grandmaster leaving?"

"Not leaving for now. At least not until you've swept through the Yan Region."

Li Yu smiled. "I can only teach you for one year. After a year, I will truly leave. The path ahead will be up to you."

"Grandmaster..."

Zhou Yi suddenly felt a lump in his throat, unsure how to speak.

"Grow diligently! I await the day you achieve the position of Great Emperor."

Li Yu nodded with a smile, a beam of light shot up, and he vanished into the sky.

"Your Majesty, what the Dao Ancestor said is truly golden advice. The Path of the Great Emperor requires fearless courage and invincible confidence. If you develop a dependence on the Dao Ancestor, it will be difficult for you to achieve anything. Your Majesty, your path lies beneath your own feet."

The Heavenly Book Spirit reminded Zhou Yi in a timely manner.

"Yes! My path lies beneath my own feet."

Zhou Yi clenched his fist tightly. "Heavenly Book Spirit, reclaim the demon corpses."

An invisible wave swept out, and the two demon corpses instantly disappeared.

"Your Majesty, two demon corpses from the Spirit Bridge Realm have been reclaimed. You can refine the life essence of the demon bodies for your cultivation."

"Good. Extract the life force from one demon body. Transmit the Wheel Sea Chapter of the Daoist Scripture to me. I am going to begin my cultivation."

Zhou Yi sat down cross-legged, giving the command to the Heavenly Book Spirit in his heart.

Within the beam of light, Li Yu saw this scene and nodded. "I was worried this kid might aim too high, but I didn't expect him to know how to be down-to-earth and advance step by step. Hmm, not bad."

Leaving Zhou Yi to cultivate on his own, Li Yu steered his beam of light and flew away.

"System, show me the location of the remnant soul of the Azure Emperor's descendant."

The System instantly marked the location, and Li Yu set off towards his destination.

The purpose of this trip was this remnant soul.

The remnant soul that, in the original work, failed to possess Pang Bo but instead helped him achieve his goals was Li Yu's target.

The remnant soul itself wasn't particularly significant, but it was the remnant soul of a direct descendant of a Great Emperor. From it, Li Yu could extract secret cultivation techniques, comprehension of cultivation, and combat experience. These were all very useful to him.

A moment later, Li Yu landed beside a patch of scorched, dead land.

"Is this the place?"

He glanced around the desolate land, frowning slightly. The vast expanse was utterly lifeless, with no sign of vitality. A sinister and terrifying aura permeated the air, making Li Yu feel uncomfortable all over.

He stepped into the scorched, dead land.

Li Yu discovered that this area seemed to have once been a building, destroyed into dust by some unknown force, even turning a large area of land into scorched wasteland.

"Such immense power."

Seeing the destruction caused by the attack before him, Li Yu couldn't help but gasp.

"Boom!"

A powerful tremor suddenly erupted from the scorched ruins. A massive cloud of black smoke surged violently from the ground.

Li Yu felt a violent tremor beneath his feet, almost losing his balance.

"They're here?"

A cold smile played on Li Yu's lips, but his face displayed fear and panic as he cried out, "Oh no! What's going on?"

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

Black shadows shot out from the black smoke, whistling down from the sky.

"Ah? What is this?"

Corpse after corpse fell from the sky, smashing down towards Li Yu. Although Li Yu could shatter these desiccated bodies with a casual sword qi strike, he couldn't act. He could only dodge in a clumsy manner.

He wanted to lure out the remnant soul. Naturally, he couldn't appear too powerful, or the remnant soul would flee, and Li Yu wouldn't have the time to search for it slowly.

Clumsily dodging the falling corpses, Li Yu feigned fear, trembling.

"Swish!"

At this moment, two eerie green lights shot out from the black clouds, intending to possess and seize Li Yu's body.

"Heh heh. I've been waiting for you."

Watching the two rushing green lights, Li Yu sneered inwardly and activated the System's resource collection function.

"Whoosh!"

With a flash of light, the two green lights completely entered Li Yu's body. Instantly, Li Yu felt an icy chill all over, as if he had been frozen.

"Hahahahaha! It's actually the Innate Sacred Body Dao Embryo, this is truly heaven-sent! Hahahahaha!"

A laugh of extreme delight echoed in his mind. "Kid, thank you for providing such a good body. I'll let you die quickly!"

"Um... excuse me for a moment."

Li Yu chuckled, "Did you ever consider that this might be a trap when you just rushed in like that?"

"A trap?"

The voice in his mind paused, then burst into laughter again. "A mere cultivator in the Sea of Bitterness realm, and you talk of a trap? Show me what trap you have! Let's see if it can do anything to me!"

"As you wish!"

Li Yu smiled and inwardly issued a command to the System, "Target remnant soul, recycle."

"Ah..."

A shrill scream echoed in his mind, then it vanished without a trace.

"One remnant soul recycled."

"Directly decompose. Extract cultivation techniques, extract cultivation insights, extract combat experience. Refine the rest into pure mental energy."

Li Yu smiled. "Azure Emperor Longevity Scripture, Eight Forms of the Heavenly Demon, Nine Slashes of the Demon Emperor – these are all peerless divine arts! By absorbing this remnant soul, I not only obtained cultivation techniques directly without consuming energy, but I also gained cultivation insights and combat experience. Not bad, not bad, a small harvest."

He looked up at the distant volcano and smiled again.

"Next is the Tomb of the Demon Emperor. The Azure Lotus Emperor Weapon, the Heart of the Demon Emperor – these are all good things! Hahahaha!"