He has been reincarnated through countless worlds, adorned with billions of mythological terms!

Yun Yi walked to the edge of the sand table and took a look—sure enough, several new flags had appeared on the northern and western borders, marking the movements of the enemy forces that had just been repelled.

Now those flags have been marked with a diagonal line, which means the problem has been resolved.

Yun Yi nodded slightly, turned and walked out of the imperial study, heading deeper into the palace along the path.

He passed through several courtyard gates and arrived at that secluded courtyard.

He had come here a year ago when he was six years old, when the emperor lived here.

The person living there now is the retired emperor who has abdicated the throne.

The scene in the courtyard is almost exactly the same as it was a year ago.

The old tree is still there, and the water ladle for watering the flowers is still in the corner, only the moss in the corner is thicker than before.

The retired emperor sat at the stone table, a pot of wine in front of him, the dishes untouched.

He looked up and saw Yun Yi walk in. His gaze lingered on him for a moment before he pushed the wine pot to the opposite side.

"sit."

Yunyi sat down opposite him.

The retired emperor picked up the wine pot, poured him a cup, and then poured one for himself.

"The Dark Moon Palace is gone?" the Emperor Emeritus asked, his tone calm, as if asking about the weather.

"That's all."

The retired emperor picked up his wine cup, took a sip, put it down, and remained silent for a long time.

“That Dark Moon Palace… I went there once back then,” he said. “I was young then, hadn’t met that person yet, and was full of ambition, thinking there was no place in the world I couldn’t go.”

"I broke through two layers of the Dark Moon Palace's protective formation before being stopped. Moon Granny stepped in and fought with me, and I beat her so badly that she became depressed."

He looked down at the remaining wine in his cup and chuckled self-deprecatingly: "Back then, I challenged every single power in the Southern Region. I was so glorious, so arrogant, thinking there was no place in this world I couldn't go."

"But at that time, I encountered a true monster who shattered my Dao heart with one punch and my invincible heart with one punch."

Yun Yi listened quietly without saying a word.

The retired emperor spoke slowly, and as he spoke, he became secretly saddened again.

He remained silent for a long time, his fingers slowly tracing the rim of the wine glass, his gaze fixed on the liquid inside.

"Your talent is extraordinary, beyond my comprehension."

"Perhaps only that person can rival you."

As he spoke, he took out the white jade box from his pocket, placed it on the stone table, and pushed it in front of Yun Yi.

The surface of the jade box still shimmered with a warm glow, and the drop of amber liquid inside moved slowly in the morning light.

"I have no use for the Heavenly Martial Origin."

"Take it."

"Back when I conquered Zhongzhou, besides believing myself to be invincible, the most important reason was for this thing."

"Legend has it that using it allows one to see realms beyond the Martial Emperor level, a rare feat even in the entire Central Continent."

The retired emperor said, "It's not that I haven't thought about using it myself."

"But I know that even if the Heavenly Martial Origin were placed in front of me, it would be useless—my Dao Heart is shattered, and nothing can fill it."

He looked up at Yun Yi: "But you are different."

"You have a long road ahead of you. This thing is more useful to you than to me."

Yun Yi looked at the jade box, remained silent for a moment, and without refusing, reached out and put the jade box into his pocket.

The retired emperor saw that he had accepted the money and did not say anything more.

He poured himself another glass of wine, tilted his head back and drank it all, then turned the glass upside down on the table, as if to end a long wait.

He paused, gazing at the sunlight streaming over the distant wall: "Your talent is the strongest I've ever seen, perhaps even surpassing that guy's."

"I hope that when the time comes, you can beat that guy up for me and avenge me for what happened back then."

"Alright, I've said my piece. Go on with your work."

Yun Yi nodded, stood up, and turned to walk towards the courtyard gate.

He paused at the door but didn't turn around.

"Yes, I will."

There was a moment of silence behind him, followed by a soft chuckle from the retired emperor, tinged with alcohol: "Let's go, let's stop being so sentimental."

Yun Yi pushed open the door and went out.

In the following years, the territory of the Yunming Empire expanded at a rate that exceeded everyone's expectations.

After its defeat, the Northern Empire never recovered, with its remaining troops holed up in a few isolated cities in the north, and never again able to mount a proper counterattack.

The main force of the Divine Wind Empire was completely defeated within half a year, and the king submitted a letter of surrender, ceding the three western states to the Cloud Nether Empire.

Those second-rate forces that had launched attacks during the chaos were wiped out in droves.

Under Yunling's command, the Yunming Empire's army advanced swiftly and accurately, each attack striking at the heart of the enemy, like a precisely controlled scalpel, peeling away and cutting off piece by piece the separatist forces entrenched in various parts of the Southern Region.

In three years, the territory of the Yunming Empire has expanded nearly fifty times.

Five years later, the Yunming Empire had become the undisputed number one power in the Southern Region.

In the sixth year, when Yun Yi was thirteen years old, envoys began to come from the Central Plains.

An elderly man in a greyish-white robe arrived. He had a long beard, a gaunt face, and was polite and cautious.

He submitted a document signed "Zhongzhou Martial Alliance," with extremely appropriate wording. The gist of it was, "I have long admired the wisdom of the new emperor of the Yunming Empire and have come to offer my greetings." The words conveyed a sense of probing.

Yunling sat behind her desk, read the letter, put it aside, and neither replied nor received the messenger.

She simply instructed the Imperial Household Department to arrange for the envoy to stay at the post station, providing him with good food and drink, and then said:

"Just let it sit. They're not in a hurry, and neither are we."

During these six years, Yun Yi did not encounter any direct provocations from any reincarnators.

He knew those people were still there, they had just changed their tactics.

Instead of hiding and burning their lifespans waiting for an opportunity, they formed a loose hunting party, each fighting their own battles.

The focus shifted from Yun Yi to other privileged individuals in this world.

After all, there are twelve authorized users in this world.

Yun Yi's group of three was too strong when they got together, and they couldn't defeat them head-on, so they went to find others.

When Yunling tracked the movements of the reincarnated individuals, she discovered that their activity patterns were completely different from those of six years ago.

They seemed to be searching for something, spreading out from the Southern Region to the other four continents, groping along lines, like a pack of wolves scattered out to search for prey.

They actually found a few.

But those with authority are still those with authority; no one who has reached this point is simple.

Those who were locked into the area displayed astonishing survival skills when faced with the siege—some used uncanny movement techniques to slip away at the last moment when the encirclement closed in, some escaped by taking someone else's place, and some simply blew the entire area into ruins and disappeared in the chaos.

The Reincarnators lost a lot of manpower, but failed to truly capture any of the privileged individuals.

Upon learning this news, Yun Yi couldn't help but mutter a complaint:

"This access controller is too weak. They beat them to a pulp with only two hundred or so reincarnators."

"It seems that this world has not only pulled in reincarnators, but also those with authority."

Yunling chimed in, "Indeed, the most important thing is that they only managed to kill a few, and were still being chased around. It's a disgrace to us privileged individuals."

Ji Wujiu listened without interrupting, but the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.

My two ancestors, although you are both authorized users, there are still differences between authorized users, you know.

Not to mention that we are still in the early stages. Which authority holder would easily set aside their arrogance and burn their lifespan just to advance a few realms?

Moreover, if you burn too much of your lifespan, your cultivation level will become unstable later on. If you can't defeat the destiny of this world and can't accumulate enough points, then you're truly doomed.

What's more, that was over two hundred hunters who were frantically burning through their lifespans, working together.

Aside from you two ancestors, which authority would choose to confront you head-on?

We'll just wait until later to slowly wipe them out.

Besides, not everyone has ancestors as good as yours.

The other people's backgrounds weren't exactly privileged.

Just to get rid of the troubles caused by one's background, one might have to waste several years.