The Peacock Bright Monarch had never seen an Immortal Emperor before but she could imagine their wondrous strength. Just think about it, these were the existences who won after battling the entire nine worlds. They were matchless during their own generation.

Matriarch Yu’s strength was indeed enough to walk proudly across the nine worlds. The monarch eventually calmed down and said: “Then what about Senior Yu?” She glanced back at the pub after saying this.

Li Qiye said that Zhengfeng was much stronger than Matriarch Yu.

“Zhengfeng.” Li Qiye said: “If we were to separate the levels, he is considered an Emperor Contender.” 

“Emperor Contender? What's the differentiation?” She was puzzled.

“You think there are only Emperor Assailants around? Ordinary people can only make contact with this level. The truth is that the real powerful beings at the top can be divided into three levels. They consist of top Godkings and Emperor Candidates in the following order: Assailant, Contender, Rival.”  He chuckled after clarifying.

The world only talked about assailants. In the eyes of cultivators, assailants were the strongest below Immortal Emperors.

This wasn’t the case. People at this level understood that there were dividers with great disparities.

Because of this, the existences further classified themselves into the three levels.

“What’s a contender?” She asked.

Whenever people talked about Emperor Assailants, they were full of reverence. In fact, being exposed to characters of this level alone was already amazing and worthy of pride. On the other hand, she rarely heard about contenders so she had no understanding of this concept.

“Very simple, if you can last one thousand moves against an emperor using the power of the Heaven’s Will, then you’re a contender. Of course, there’s another standard. If you can survive against a true Imperial Massacre, then you’re also a contender regardless of whether you used your own power or relied on a treasure.” Li Qiye said flatly.

If an emperor was already invincible? Just how powerful would they be with the Heaven’s Will? She wasn’t aware of the latter but knew just how impressive it was to last one thousand moves under these conditions.

“It still counts when you use a treasure to survive the true massacre?” She had to ask.

“It’s not that easy. You think you don’t need strength just because of some treasures?” Li Qiye smiled and shook his head: “You think the Heaven’s Will is a joke? If you’re not strong enough, the treasures won’t do. Even if the treasures can survive the blow, just the impact and shockwave alone could render you to a mist of blood. Only top existences could actually resist this.”

“Excuse my short-sightedness.” The monarch felt that she had underestimated the power of the Heaven’s Will.

“It’s not surprising because you haven’t seen the Heaven’s Will yet. Even if you do, you won’t think much of it, not until it truly erupts. That’s when you’ll come to realize how frightening it is. It’s the condensation of the energy and essence of an entire generation!” Li Qiye smiled and said.

She finally had a clear concept about an Emperor Contender.

“Then how many moves did Senior Yu last against Immortal Emperor Qian Li?” This prompted her next question.

“The two of them fought for a long time for the Heaven’s Will before his eventual defeat. After she became emperor, Zhengfeng wanted a final fight before she left. He still lost in this battle, resulting in his bad choice in the future despite creating a supreme grand dao for himself.”

Li Qiye became dejected after saying this. The guy gave up his own dao and maintained Immortal Emperor Mu Zhuo’s World-weary Dao instead. He could have escaped from it instead of hiding in the pub. Alas, he had no intention of doing so.

The monarch quietly listened to this old tale. Despite not hearing the exact details, she could faintly guess that they were tragedies of sorts.

Li Qiye eventually smiled wryly: “The emperor prepared for the battle because Zhengfeng was her greatest rival. She used the Heaven’s Will right away in that world-destroying bout. He lost after more than two thousand moves.”

“More than two thousand moves!” The monarch shouted after being indescribably shocked.

Matriarch Yu lasting more than one thousand moves against Immortal Emperor Yin Tian was impressive enough but Zhengfeng lasted two thousand moves against the Heaven’s Will. Only one word could describe his power - invincibility!

“It’s to be expected.” Li Qiye gently shook his head: “He has been on this dark path for a long time. Didn’t you see his current appearance? Completely cursed and loathed, even the high heaven doesn’t want to look at him. That’s why he can only wait for death.”

“There is a price for everything. Waiting is even more agonizing than death itself.” He finished.

“Waiting for death?” She glanced back at the pub again.

“You may not understand the meaning behind this. Let me give you an analogy. For example, even the most delicious meal tastes like wax. Your heart is a dead tree, no love nor hatred towards anyone. You’re basically living like a piece of rock. That’s the meaning behind waiting for death.”

The monarch was slightly stunned after hearing this. Living in life without any emotions, that’s just a walking corpse.

“That’s why waiting for death is very painful.” Li Qiye lightly said: “He hoped that the emperor could kill him, that would be a meaningful death so he asked her to go all out with a true Imperial Massacre. He used his most brilliant strike to fight against it. That move was his pride so he could die with dignity, going out in a blaze of glory. The massacre rendered his body to ashes instantly. However, being loathed by everything like him allowed him to live under the attack. Afterward, the emperor couldn’t bear to attack again, not that she couldn’t kill him.”

Li Qiye sighed again. The World-weary Dao was a path towards despair.

In Zhengfeng’s mind, to be killed by his crush’s true massacre was a good death. That would be the perfect ending for him. Alas, he still survived the ultimate attack and the emperor found it tasteless to continue aiding someone in suicide.

“Since he has grown tired of the world, he doesn’t want to do anything anymore. Otherwise, even if it is a sea god with the Trident, he could still take them on.” Li Qiye softly said.

She finally understood why Li Qiye entrusted her and Heaven Suppression to Zhengfeng. Someone of his level was indeed qualified to be the backing of Heaven Suppression.