Imperial God Emperor (Web Novel)

Ye Qingyu was greatly surprised to hear that.

He searched through all the major star systems but could not find any trace of Hu Bugui and Nan Tieyi. How did Liu Shaji manage to gather any leads on them?

"Both Brother Hu Bugui and Brother Nan Tieyi went missing in the Reincarnation Hall of the Chaos Demon Emperor. The hall was built by the Martial Chaos Demon Emperor of Vast Thousand Star Domains. Later on, it was used by one of the Divine Light Emperor's reincarnations as an opportunity to spread his martial philosophy. In this aspect, even if they were drawn away by some enchantment or power in the hall, they should still be within the Vast Thousand Star Domains. This is because both the Chaos Demon and Divine Light Emperor are from our star system. Most likely, they didn't possess the power to leave the Vast Thousand Star Domains during their peaks," Liu Shaji said.

Ye Qingyu's eyes gleamed as he listened and nodded thoughtfully.

This method of reasoning was extremely persuasive.

Liu Shaji continued, "Based on this theory, I could funnel my search in a certain direction. If Hu Bugui and Nan Tieyi are still in the Vast Thousand Star Domains, logically speaking, you should be able to sense their presence, Your Majesty. Even if they're in a restricted or forbidden zone, it'll still be hard for them to evade your search. However, why have you been unable to find traces of them? I guess that they're probably in an extremely isolated location within the Vast Thousand Star Domains, or somewhere that's not known to anyone. Only areas like that can possibly be blocked from your sensory abilities. Of course, my own abilities are not at your level, Your Majesty. These are my assumptions."

"You're very right," Ye Qingyu replied. His thoughts had gradually become clearer after listening to Liu Shaji.

Liu Shaji continued explaining, "From what I see, a lost place that cannot be sensed by you, Your Majesty, should not be completely obscure. At the very least, they should have been extremely famous in the Vast Thousand Star Domains once, or perhaps there was some corresponding record of them. I've been browsing through old texts in ancient places of the major star systems and eventually locked onto a target. Seems to me like the most possible place where they could be is the second city of the legendary Twenty-four Cities of Chaos."

Ye Qingyu felt emotional as he heard this.

"Right. Why didn't I think of that before?"

The Alliance of Domains once ruled the entire Vast Thousand Star Domains. Legend had it that there were a total of Twenty-four Cities of Chaos, not only one like in later times. Of these Twenty-four, three of them vanished from the face of the world for some reason. It was said that they were lost in the flow of space-time, and the Unmoving City of Darkness was later proven to be one of them. No one knew where the other two lost cities were.

When the Sky Emperor's syndicate attacked the Alliance of Domains' divine temple, it destroyed many secret ancient texts within. As such, many ancient secrets and legends of the era when Ye Qingyu reigned supreme were lost over the course of two millennia. The two lost cities had also been forgotten and no one could find any leads on them.

For a while, Ye Qingyu had once been interested in both lost ancient cities.

However, he could not sense their presence.

Later on, as he became preoccupied with more mundane matters, he had no spare time left to investigate further on the cities.

Now that he thought about it, Ye Qingyu suddenly realized that Liu Shaji's logic was really very good.

Ye Qingyu could not sense the two lost ancient Cities of Chaos at all. If Hu Bugui and Nan Tieyi were trapped in them, it was only natural that he would be unable to sense their presence... This could be the only possible explanation because Ye Qingyu found it impossible to believe that both of them could be in a place beyond the Alliance of Star Domains under the Imperial God Empire's control, and there was no way they could have traveled out of the alliance's boundaries.

Why did he not think about this before?

Ye Qingyu felt a little guilty.

He felt that he had believed too much in his own abilities all this time, and he had been overconfident. He believed that nothing in the Vast Thousand Domains could escape from his sensory abilities and had thus fallen into the wrong line of thought. It led him to believe that both Nan Tieyi and Hu Bugui could not be in the Vast Thousand Star Domains and focused on finding them in other star systems that were once connected to the Vast Thousand Star Domains, like the Blood Spear, Ghostly Purple, and Destructive Star Domains. He believed that the emergence of the Fiendgod Sovereigns caused these star systems to somehow be connected to the Vast Thousand Star Domains. As such, both of them could have entered a gap within space-time by mistake into other domains.

It could be considered that he had been somewhat unthoughtful.

In comparison, Liu Shaji had paid more attention to the matter.

To him, who had just regained part of his memories, perhaps locating his two stranded and missing brothers was the only thing that could make his life whole and meaningful again.

"Brother Liu Shaji, the leads you're talking about refer to..." Ye Qingyu asked.

Obviously, Liu Shaji had most likely discovered some more promising leads. He would not have come looking for Ye Qingyu after just making some guesses.

"Please look, Your Majesty," Liu Shaji said as he took out a palm-sized grey tile.

Upon seeing it, Ye Qingyu's heart trembled greatly.

"It's Hu Bugui's Emperor Weapon-level tile... No, it's not entirely similar, but it's definitely made of the same material." Ye Qingyu's eyes were incredibly discerning and could tell with a single glance that the tile was similar to Hu Bugui's. They were shards of the same Emperor Weapon that was once whole. However, the Emperor qi on this tile was so weak that it was nearly indiscernible. Without close observation, one would completely be unable to detect it.

"I found this in the rubble of an old city belonging to the Alliance of Domains. Legend has it that it was one of the two lost cities, and I asked some elders to observe and analyze it before coming to the probable conclusion that this tile from an Emperor-level weapon originated from a lost ancient city," Liu Shaji said. "This helps explain some of our problems. Brother Hu Bugui had a tile like this which was inscribed with real Emperor formations. Both shards should have come from a lost City of Chaos. I believe that it's very possible something happened in the Chaos Demon Emperor's Reincarnation Hall. This is because Brother Hu Bugui's tile caused him to be summoned back to the ancient city."

He looked at Ye Qingyu after speaking.

He had spent the past few years traveling far and wide, eating and living off the land and sleeping under the stars. This was all the information he had managed to get.

To prove his deductions were correct, he could only rely on Ye Qingyu next.

Ye Qingyu received the tile. Strange ancient formation words appeared on his palm as he channeled his Light Emperor Detection Technique. Mysterious magical power circled around the tile, and he determined the location of the lost ancient City of Chaos with it. With a physical object as a medium, the technique was able to determine anything.

After a moment, an expression of joy appeared on Ye Qingyu's face.

"So, this is it. I think I found the answer... Brother Liu Shaji, we'll set off immediately to the lost ancient City of Chaos."