Covering the Sky: The Years I Was the Empress's Strictest Master

The process almost completely drained the ancient star of its accumulated essence and creative power, causing the global spiritual veins to wither and the Great Dao to fall silent.

What followed was drastic environmental change, climate deterioration, and mass extinction of species...

Under the "Great Flood," the glorious cultivation civilization collapsed overnight, its inheritance was severed, and powerful cultivators either died in despair or were forced to travel far away into the starry sky amidst the depletion of spiritual energy.

The surviving creatures struggled to survive on the ruins, and after countless years, they evolved and multiplied, forming the "primitive" situation we see today.

Human civilization, in particular, has regressed by countless millennia.

From an era of cultivation where one could fly and escape into the earth, we degenerated into a barbaric stage of eating raw meat and drinking blood. After millions of years of evolution and development, we have entered the current primitive era where we rely on simple stone tools and knotted ropes for record-keeping.

And the source of all this is the existence of that place where immortals attained enlightenment.

Tens of thousands of years ago, the Feathered Divine Dynasty came from beyond the heavens and occupied this land.

They continuously draw spiritual energy from beyond the realm and even from the Big Dipper to repair the immortal land, intending to recreate the glory of the immortal cauldron. This undoubtedly slows down the overall "spiritual energy revival" of the earth.

At this moment, the dramatic changes in the land of immortality once again stirred up the shadow of fear hidden deep in the blood and memory of all living beings—the "divine war and natural disaster" that caused the interruption of civilization.

They didn't know exactly what had happened, they only instinctively sensed it.

It seems the end of the world is coming again.

however,

The source of all this "panic" was the peerless empress, shrouded in chaotic immortal light, who had little awareness of it, or rather, didn't care.

Her mind was now completely absorbed by something else.

Right at the edge of that enormous palm print, a patch of material, rippled out by the aftershocks of the palm strike, was sealed off by layers of array patterns.

Amidst the ruins, which were originally a mixture of mud, gravel, and remnants of the former Feathered Divine Dynasty cultivators, a faint, dim bronze reflection caught her eye.

The light was so faint, mixed with dust and murky blood.

Even if an ordinary cultivator scans the area inch by inch with their divine sense, they might not be able to detect it.

But for her, that glimmer of light was like a lighthouse in the darkness, instantly piercing through the coldness and death that had shrouded her heart for three hundred years.

wow...

As her gaze froze, her figure seemed to be drawn by invisible threads, slowly falling from the void, her spotless flat shoes with black patterns gently stepping on the scorched and broken earth.

She raised her hand, her fingertips trembling slightly, and gently gestured from a distance.

Whoosh!

The bronze light broke through the dust, slowly rose, and landed in her fair, jade-like palm.

It was a... broken fragment of bronze.

It is only the size of a thumbnail, with irregular edges, covered with fine cracks and verdigris eroded by time, and even stained with bloodstains that have dried and turned black, at least a thousand years old.

It was so badly damaged that, if it weren't for its unique bronze texture and the faintly discernible, extremely rustic and rough patterns on it, it would be almost indistinguishable from ordinary bronze scrap.

But even such an insignificant fragment, which could turn into copper rust and dust at any moment,

But for the first time, a clear and intense surge of unusual emotion appeared on Li Qingjue's peerless face, which had been frozen like ice for three hundred years.

Her pupils contracted sharply the instant they came into contact with the shards!

Her stunningly beautiful body trembled uncontrollably at that moment, and the fingers holding the shard tightened so much that the knuckles turned white, as if she had to use all her strength to grasp the seemingly weightless shard.

"Yes……"

Her voice was hoarse and almost broken, with a hint of disbelief.

His lonely gaze was fixed on the fragment in his palm, as if he wanted to carefully trace and examine every line, every flaw, and every trace of verdigris.

At this moment, even though only a few fragments remained of what she held, in her eyes, the ghostly mask, like the bronze ring, involuntarily reappeared, carrying indelible memories of her childhood and a brief moment of "joyful" warmth...

It's my brother's bronze mask...

Even after more than a thousand years, how could she not recognize her?!

That was the only thing my brother took with him before he was taken away by the Feathered Divine Dynasty!

It was a "toy" that her brother made for her by hand when she was a child, using a piece of copper that he dug up from the ground, clumsily melting and hammering it.

The crooked, grotesque, and ambiguous facial markings on the mask that should have been there were actually carved onto it by her brother, who held her hand as they polished it with a stone.

Years ago, her brother took the mask, leaving her the bronze ring, and only one sentence:

"Little girl, wait for your brother to come back..."

But that parting was forever.

She had thought that everything about her brother had been reduced to ashes by the cruel blood sacrifice of the Feathered God Dynasty and the repair of the Immortal Cauldron, leaving nothing behind.

But she actually...

To my surprise, I found it here today, at the very place where my brother died!

Even if it's just a tiny, insignificant fragment!

Yes……

When my brother was taken away, although he was physically weak due to years of hunger, the Feathered God Dynasty wanted to maximize his bloodline potential for a blood sacrifice.

They will definitely teach them basic skills and provide resources. Although they are treated as "materials", they are able to embark on the path of cultivation.

Wow!

Overwhelmed by a surge of emotions, Li Qingjue was deeply saddened by the sight of familiar objects, and her eyes inexplicably welled up with tears.

Holding the fragments of the ghost mask in her hand, a hazy figure seemed to appear in her mind at that moment.

The person was far from home, and seeing the object reminded him of his loved one. Again and again, with his meager magical power and the undying true intent flowing in his blood, he continuously refined and nurtured this ordinary object that was the only companion he had and the embodiment of all his longing...

Day after day, year after year.

Perhaps it was this unwavering dedication that allowed this originally ordinary mortal to, under the long-term nourishment of the indestructible golden body's bloodline and magical power,

An indescribable change occurred, containing an extremely faint characteristic.

This is why it has survived for thousands of years and has not been completely destroyed, leaving behind such a small fragment.

For a thousand years, it remained buried beneath the dust and ruins of this place, unnoticed and forgotten.

Until today, he was blasted away by her palm and saw the light of day again.

boom……

The moment Li Qingjue's fingertips touched the cold bronze fragment, a surging torrent instantly shattered the defenses she had built up over three hundred years with loneliness, hatred, and resentment.

"elder brother……"

She stood there gracefully, calling out softly.

Her brother, who had been her only family since childhood and would always give her his clothes on cold winter nights...

The man who, though starving himself, would often give her the last half of a hardened pancake, smiling and saying, "Girl, eat this, brother isn't hungry"...

That older brother who, even though he was trembling with fear when adults came to bully her, would still stand in front of her and shout "Run!" to her...

The brother who, when forced to separate, fought back tears, placed the bronze ring on her hand, smiled, patted her head, and said, "Wait for your brother to come back"...

At this moment, scenes that Li Qingjue had long since buried deep in his memory, hidden away in his self-avoidance, scenes he dared not easily touch, all came flooding back.

Like a flood bursting its banks, it surged into my heart, so vividly clear as if it happened just yesterday.

At this moment, she didn't seem like some great emperor, but just a little girl eagerly waiting for her loved ones to fulfill their promise.

"Brother...Master..."

"Why... why have all the most important people in my life left me..."

She murmured to herself, her voice barely audible, yet it seemed as if she had used all her strength.

Yes, and... Tan Lin...

The former and she had been inseparable since childhood, bound by blood ties.

The latter was the one who pulled her out of the mud when she was at her most desperate, giving her a new life and a name.

The other party appeared stern, but in reality, they were always looking out for her and paving the way for her.

They might even eventually unearth their own true nature, sacrificing their lives to elevate her to the throne of the Great Emperor…

However, this was precisely what angered her and made her resent that person in the end...

Why... did you leave me all alone?

Why wasn't it me who left...?

Li Qingjue murmured, repeating the words "brother" and "master" intermittently.

Brother, you said you'd wait for me to come back.

I waited for you, but you are no longer here.

Will I ever get to see you again?

Master, please let me live well and watch over this world for you.

But what meaning does this world have for me without you?

wow...

th.

At that moment, immense grief, like an icy tide, instantly overwhelmed Li Qingjue.

It wasn't the kind of madness and destructive impulse she had when someone fell three hundred years ago, but a deeper, more desperate feeling of icy suffocation, as if even her soul had been frozen and emptied.

She couldn't feel the tears flowing, but her cheeks felt icy cold.

As thoughts raced through her mind, she slowly raised her other hand. A faint light shimmered in her hand, and an ancient-looking bronze ring, also bearing the marks of time, appeared in her palm.

The ring, along with a fragment of a mask in the palm, lay quietly together.

The former was a memento left to her by her brother, and also an item where her master's remnant soul had resided.

The latter, plus the mask that Master had a puppet deliver in the training tower years ago, which contained his backup plan, has now long since collapsed, leaving not a single trace...

Those three items were the only things that remained in her cold life, things that were related to warmth and connection.

rustling... rustling...

The land of immortals gradually calmed down.

Li Qingjue stared quietly at the ring and fragments in her palm for a very long time.

As time passed, the earth-shattering and mountain-cracking phenomena outside gradually subsided, the frightened roars of beasts and cries of birds gradually faded away, and the remaining imperial laws within the Immortal Land began to slowly recede.

Finally, she gently closed her palms, tightly holding the ring and the fragments, and pressed them against her cold, heaving heart.

It's as if by doing this, one can feel a trace of warmth that has long since vanished.

It seems that this makes her feel that she is not alone...

Finally, she slowly raised her head and looked at this land, stained with her brother's last years and blood, a land she loathed from the bottom of her heart.

But at this moment, as I looked at her, the unfathomable loneliness and indifference in her eyes subtly changed.

There was something new in her eyes.

Something called "obsession".

Not for immortality, but simply to struggle through this mortal world, waiting for your return...

Brother, Master...

I'll hold.

Keep waiting.

Whether it's a thousand years, ten thousand years, or a hundred thousand years...

Until the world changes and the universe returns to silence.

Once the thought was made up, her eyes regained their lonely and calm expression.

wow...

She opened her palm again, looking at the fragment of the bronze mask, then at the one she had taken out, now floating in mid-air around her.

Scattered pieces of immortal gold scraps collected from the shattered imperial weapons of various supreme beings during the previous great battle.