"Your Majesty, you have not visited the imperial harem for three months..."
"Hmm?" A ferocious gleam flashed through Li Fan's eyes.
"...As you wish."
Watching the Chief Eunuch retreat in fear, Li Fan snorted coldly.
Perhaps being Emperor isn't worth it. The thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
He had drained the empire's resources to fuel his cultivation.
Outwardly, he still appeared mortal, but in truth, he now had one foot firmly on the threshold of the Golden Core realm.
These mundane, worldly affairs were utterly tedious!
Three months later, during a morning court session, Li Fan pierced through the clouds in front of all his civil and military officials and departed.
Two hundred and sixteen years later, while exploring an ancient cave dwelling, Li Fan fell victim to a treacherous ambush.
His body perished, and his Dao dispersed.
***
Lingyun Peak.
"The tribulation cloud has been gathering for so long. Why hasn’t it struck yet?"
"The power of this heavenly tribulation... it feels stronger than when the sect leader ascended all those years ago, doesn't it?"
"Naturally! In terms of pure combat strength, Junior Uncle is arguably the number one talent our Li Mountain Sword Sect has seen in a millennium!"
As Li Fan watched the tribulation clouds roil with increasing might above him, a surge of heroic spirit swelled within his chest.
Three hundred years of cultivation. What did he have to fear from a mere heavenly tribulation?
A beam of sword light shot skyward from Lingyun Peak, cleaving the endless tribulation clouds clean in two!
Sunlight poured through the fissure in the clouds, bathing Li Mountain's Lingyun Peak in its radiance.
Divine flowers cascaded from the sky, and the gates to the immortal realm swung open.
Li Fan soared into the immortal gates without a moment's hesitation.
Upon entering the immortal realm, Li Fan was furious to discover that all his seniors from Li Mountain who had ascended before him had been mysteriously killed by some unknown enemy.
He cultivated while searching for the mastermind behind the murders.
A century passed in his quest, yet he found no answers.
While exploring an ancient secret realm, he was ambushed by a sworn brother who was traveling with him. He died, filled with utter shock and bitter resentment.
***
The Northern Immortal Domain.
Ever since Heavenly Imperator Fan unified the Azure Heaven Immortal Domain two thousand years prior, he had embarked on a bloody campaign of conquest.
Over the years, he had taken the heads of five Immortal Imperators and sixteen Immortal Kings, cementing his reputation for unparalleled ferocity.
Finally, the entire immortal realm was subdued, leaving only the Northern Immortal Domain clinging to a desperate, final breath.
Now, his armies were at their borders, and he vowed to eradicate the Northern Immortal Domain within a year.
At the center of the vast army, Qin Tang looked at Heavenly Imperator Fan, who sat with his eyes closed in repose.
He wanted to speak, but was hesitating.
Li Fan opened his eyes and looked at this trusted general who had fought by his side all this time, offering a rare smile.
"Qin Tang, you seem to have a question for me?"
"I will not hide it from you, Your Majesty. There is indeed one matter I do not understand."
"Speak freely."
"From your humble mortal beginnings, you endured untold hardships before finally achieving the status of Heavenly Imperator.
“Your power is overwhelming, and all immortals in the realm tremble at the mention of your name.
“Yet, why have you never shown any intention of stopping? What is it, exactly, that you are so desperately pursuing?”
“After exterminating Heavenly Imperator Zhuan and fully unifying the immortal world, what plans does Your Majesty have then?” Qin Tang stared at Li Fan, voicing the questions in his mind.
“Haha,” Li Fan let out a light laugh.
“What I seek is nothing more than eternal life,” he said plainly.
Qin Tang was stunned, as if he couldn’t believe his ears.
“Eternal life? With Your Majesty’s current cultivation, can your lifespan not already be considered eternal? Barring unforeseen circumstances, it wouldn’t be difficult for you to live several million years more, would it?” he asked, his face a mask of shock and incomprehension.
“Can a lifespan of a few million years truly be called eternal?” Li Fan smiled faintly, merely posing the question in return.
“Within the Barren Heavenly Tomb, over a hundred ancient Immortal Imperators have long since turned to dry bones in their graves.
“Even those legendary ancient immortals who supposedly opened the immortal realm and possessed peerless divine power—are their bodies not now transformed into mountain ranges, suppressed beneath my very palace?
“This time, I intend to unify the immortal world, gathering the strength of all its immortals to construct a grand array that envelops the entire realm. With it, I will shatter that so-called Prison of Immortals that has existed since ancient times.