Li Qiye smiled and responded to the old man’s question: “Yes, nothing is free in this world. I can give you the things that you absolutely crave. Ready? Wait until I come back triumphantly from the final battle, I shall pardon all of you and remove your punishments, allowing you to see the light again to stay in the nine worlds with the myriad races!”

The old ghost’s breath paused for a moment after hearing this.

There was no doubt that this comment was truly tempting to the burial ground. This was their desire and longing.

However, his blood didn’t boil just yet with excitement. He calmly mused it through before speaking: “What if you fail?”

“You can only pray for my success then. If I were to fail, then all of you will stay in this dark river of time for virtually an eternity of bleak loneliness.”

“You’re only describing an illusionary oasis in the desert, not anything tangible.” The old man said coldly.

“I won’t deny that.” Li Qiye shrugged: “Nevertheless, who else but I can even offer this so-called illusionary oasis?! No one else is even qualified to do so! At the very least, my condition gives you a sliver of hope for the future. Otherwise, you all will continue to suffer in a pit of despair, even hope would be an unreachable luxury!”

The old man had no response. Li Qiye’s words have struck his weak spot.

“What are you looking forward to? As long as the villainous heaven is around, you all will continue to be moving corpses, buried and rotting away in this place. No one remembers you anymore as time passed. As you can see, not even a strand of hope can be found in this place. That’s why, I bring hope, such a precious emotion, priceless, even. My strand of hope can illuminate your dejected burial ground and your lightless heart.”

The old ghost continued to be quiet.

“Thus, you can pick my side and I shall pardon your burial ground if I were to be successful in the future.” Li Qiye said solemnly: “Otherwise, you all can keep on this hopeless path. In case of my victory in the future, all of you will continue to be trapped in despair, never seeing the sunlight again!”

The old ghost finally responded in an unruffled manner: “Even if I were to agree to take action for the nine worlds, there is only one opportunity for me to go outside. I won’t be able to handle coming out several times.”

“That’s why you need to wait for the right moment and seize it all while delivering the fatal blow towards the Ancient Ming.” Li Qiye elaborated: “If they come out, there will be legions sweeping through the weaklings. However, if their overlords climb out too, I’m sure your avatar can handle them! Keep doing that and force the Ancient Ming to go all out. When their old geezers arrive, the Corporeal Zone will come too. That’s when you attack!”

The old man contemplated before finally answering: “Very well, I accept. I shall appear at the perfect moment to settle it all!”

The old ghost chose to work together with Li Qiye since he had no other choice. Joining Li Qiye gave their burial ground a sliver of hope.

Li Qiye was right. Hope was all too precious and hard-to-come-by for their burial ground.

“One battle to settle it all. Perhaps your burial ground can even obtain the Corporeal Zone afterward. That would be incredible.” Li Qiye smiled and told the old ghost.

There was no response because the old man didn’t care about this. If he were to fight, he must pay a monstrous price since he couldn’t leave the burial ground. The worst case scenario would be his death in the battle.

But ultimately, the sliver of hope trumped all of the sacrifices. They could only pray for Li Qiye to win at the final battle so they could see the sun again.

After finishing the arrangements, Li Qiye didn’t wish to linger around. He said with a smile: “I enjoyed our conversation today.”

The old ghost had no response. It wasn’t enjoyable at all. This was a one-sided threat from Li Qiye. However, he was willing to accept the deal instead of worrying about trivial details.

Li Qiye took two steps before turning back and said: “Oh right, that brat on the cliff is not bad. Perhaps you should let him exchange for an entire generation.”

“An exchange is necessary, there is no exception. I can’t break the rule either.” The old ghost said.

“I understand.” Li Qiye shrugged: “You just need to give him an opportunity. As for the particular price, that’s up to him and his effort.”

“He can wait for the underworld boat.” The old ghost didn’t make an exception because of Li Qiye.

“That’s fine, I have created a red string for him with this. What happens next doesn’t matter. How should I put this, even though eonic geniuses are a bit questionable, if you could have a capable one, he will be very useful in the future war against the Ancient Ming. This is beneficial for your burial ground.” Li Qiye smiled and said.

The old man didn’t agree or refuse him. The abyss was silent.

Li Qiye was too lazy to dwell on this matter. He turned and left coolly. In his eyes, he had done all he could. The world and its bullshits no longer had anything to do with him.

***

During his trip, the grand dao strands flowing down from the sky were gathering. In the last several days, they were quite conspicuous in the night sky. However, after their awakening, this magnificent scene disappeared.

“Buzz!” All of the world portals lit up after being abandoned for several tens of thousand years!

The Black Dragon King had torn the Heaven’s Will apart after his fight with Immortal Emperor Ta Kong. This started the Difficult Dao Era and the isolation of the nine worlds.

Everyone in the nine worlds was excited to see the bright portals again. This meant that the nine worlds were about to be reconnected and they were able to see a brilliant age again.

Though this didn’t mean that everyone was capable of interworld traveling, this gave all cultivators hope. As long as they worked hard and gathered enough refined jades, they could go on an adventure in a different world.

Godkings would no longer need to risk their lives by forcefully attacking the world walls. It was simply too risky.

“Yes! Stone Medicine World, brace yourself, I am coming to see whether your alchemists are better or me!” An alchemist from Mortal Emperor laughed cheerfully. His eyes lit up thinking about an opportunity to compete against those from Stone Medicine.

“It is time for us Charming Spirits to show that myriad races that we are the favorite children of the heaven.” A spirit from Heaven Spirit was eager to try while staring at the nearly-opened gates.

“It is time to see the grand world.” A genius from the ghost race felt his ambition burning in Sacred Nether.

Of course, not everyone was optimistic. One from the last generation became worried: “The nine worlds are connected again. This might bring out an age of plundering. The experts and imperial lineages will take all the resources, the smaller sects have no chance at all.”

This particular sentiment was reasonable. For the smaller sects, they might not be able to gather enough refined jade for traveling, let alone thinking about plundering for resources in a different world.

Only experts were able to travel as they please. As that point, imperial lineages would seize everything while the fire of war would spread to the smaller sects.

Nevertheless, the young generation was excited and eager to try because it wasn’t only about the world portals. The Heaven’s Will was about to take form as well!