Emperor's Domination

“Close enough.” Li Qiye said while staring at the white string.

“The real thing is a complete grand dao.” Coiling Moon True Emperor took a deep breath and said: “So it can absorb just pretty much anything.”

“Given its rarity, it doesn’t care about ordinary cultivators. Only you would absorb others using this tiny piece.” Li Qiye gave him the side eye.

“Only immortals.” He took a deep breath and recalled the past.

His piece was insignificant compared to the real thing, utterly inconsequential. Nevertheless, it paved the way for his future.

Although his grand dao wasn’t one of parasitic absorption, it was still derived from the white string’s dao. Moreover, it allowed him to survive and take over the previous temple lord’s body.

He imagined the capabilities of the actual worm combined with a supreme dao and couldn’t help being overwhelmed.

“Someone used it as a parasite against an immortal?” He turned pale.

“No need to be surprised. You used it against a grand ghost, someone else perfected it and used it on a supreme terror.” Li Qiye said.

“Think about your case.” Li Qiye said.

“I, I’ve never eaten anyone, or a ghost before.” He turned red and smiled wryly: “I did gestate these things but only used them to secretly take over, there’s no power absorption, only puppetry.”

“Just another way to say parasite.” Li Qiye said.

“Well…” He had no response because it was not a flattering matter. If the world were to hear of this, he would be spurned or be considered a fiend.

“You only kept it as a puppet because you couldn’t use the white strings to fully absorb his power. Otherwise, I think we both know the answer.” Li Qiye said.

He fell into silence.

“It’s a matter of inability, not choice.” Li Qiye continued.

After a brief silence, he said: “You are right, Sir. I would have if I could.”

“Someone could, so they did.” Li Qiye said.

“A dao-infused worm absorbing all of an immortal’s power and channeling it to the master…” He thought this was a wondrous yet frightening existence.

“The question is, when you picked this thing up, was it a battle between the three immortals and other supreme terrors or something else?” Li Qiye asked.

“Hmm… I was sure there was an immortal here.” He said with uncertainty.

“Yes, an absorption process was underway before being interrupted.” Li Qiye glanced at the tiny string in his hand.

“Who could it be?” He thought carefully and it might not have been a battle but rather, a secret that shouldn’t have been seen.

“Evil Transformation and Fiendish Ground were the two likeliest candidates in possession of an Immortal Corpseworm.” Li Qiye said: “Looks like there was an exchange though.”

“I came to the same conclusion so I went there, Soulcast Land.” He said: “But how did someone perform a transaction at the previous Soulcast Land or the current major ghost market and leave? The larger the transaction, the greater the length of the imprisonment. Redemption should have been impossible.”

“A loophole.” Li Qiye said: “Baihui did copy someone then.”

“An existence leaving with the worm, must have been awfully powerful and intelligent.” He said: “No one knows this person’s identity, that’s for sure.”

“We’ll see about that.” Li Qiye smiled and summoned primordial laws that wrapped around the tiny piece.

Space and time trembled as his primordial laws analyzed the worm’s dao laws, fully removing it.

With that done, the worm was found to be made of two separate parts - a pure white string and another brimming with divinity and grand dao.

The former was the worm itself while the other was the dao created specifically for it. The fusion was virtually flawless and indiscernible.

“I see.” He understood how he was able to learn from the worm and become an emperor.

“Trace!” Li Qiye shouted and examined the removed grand dao, performing a temporal reversal.

The dao laws disintegrated, leaving behind floating inscrutable runes in their most primal form.