Chapter 1005: He Should Be a True God
As Timeruins faded away from the Primeval Sea, the surface of the water went calm. But at the same time, an indescribable sensation of danger began to build up, seemingly out of nowhere. It pulsed through the darkness and gloom, causing ripples to distort the air, and creating a pressure that weighed down on the heart and mind. Chanting drifted faintly from within the water, a sound that could drive someone into madness. It was as if death itself was approaching. This was the Primeval Sea, a location in which danger constantly loomed everywhere.
Xu Qing and Erniu both had very serious expressions on their faces. After traversing this sea for more than a month, and experiencing one strange situation after another, they had personally experienced what that danger was like.
One of them controlled a dharmaship as it sped along, the other sent his senses into the surroundings, while simultaneously performing an incantation gesture that made the ship becoming almost invisible within the surrounding darkness.
The dreadnaught had not survived the process of being devoured by Timeruins. Now, they were forced to switch to a dharmaship to travel. Thankfully, Xu Qing’s godsource provided a bolstering effect that pushed the dharmaship to astonishing levels of speed.
After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, something happened. Perhaps it was luck, or perhaps it was because Timeruins’ aura was disappearing, or maybe it was Erniu’s invisibility magic. Regardless, the end effect was that ‘death’ didn’t come around after all.
As the two of them made their way forward at top speed, they gradually left the Primeval Sea. After about two more hours passed, the sense of danger grew so weak it disappeared.
Xu Qing and Erniu breathed long sighs of relief. However, upon exchanging a glance, they could each see that the other was frowning deeply.
“I have no idea where we are...” Xu Qing said grimly. Previously, they had been paying close attention to their position to make sure they didn’t get lost in the outer sea. But after being devoured by Timeruins, their senses were cut off from the outside. And right now, they were unsure of their current location. All they could see around them was endless darkness.
Erniu sighed. “I wonder how Ol’ Pappy Yu is doing. He didn’t get eaten by Timeruins, but I get the feeling he’s still in the outer sea. And I also get the sense he isn’t doing that well. We really miscalculated. If we’d known things would go like this, we could have come up with a good excuse to not come along.”
Xu Qing thought for a moment, then replied, “I have an idea about how to figure out where we are. The downside is that it’ll probably attract unwanted attention.”
Xu Qing looked at Erniu.
Erniu considered what he’d just said. “How much time will it take, little Ah Qing?”
Xu Qing did a quick calculation. “About the time it takes an incense stick to burn.”
“In that case, no problem! Just give me a moment to make some preparations.” But then Erniu looked at the dharmaship and hesitated. “Any chance you have a smaller boat?”
Xu Qing immediately took out a very small dharmaboat and then put away the dharmaship. Erniu gritted his teeth then punched himself hard in the pit of the stomach, which forced sprays of blood out of his lips as he paced back and forth on the dharmaboat.
Xu Qing wasn’t taken aback at all by this behavior. Over their years together, he had come to realize that his Eldest Brother usually had unlimited supplies of blood to work with.
Before long, the dharmaboat was covered inside and out with Erniu’s blood. Erniu looked a bit pale in the face as he sat down and beckoned at Xu Qing.
“I’m using my own blood to unleash the same invisibility effect as the Wordless words. For an incense stick’s worth of time, we should be totally fine!”
Without a moment of hesitation, Xu Qing closed his eyes, sent his god perception out and activated his godly authority of sound. Ripples spread out as... Xu Qing’s god perception detected sound on the quiet outer sea. It was the sound of the water, flowing through the darkness. It was the unknown chanting coming from the ruins that dotted the surface of the sea.
Countless sounds exploded, all at the same time. As time passed, and as the sounds spread, terrifying entities sent out streams of divine will. There was laughter. There was crying. There were polite inquiries. There were enraged shouts.
The many sounds caused Xu Qing to tremble. All he could do was work as hard as possible to screen them out, and send his godly authority further and further out, hoping to identify his position and find the way back. As the process continued, pressure built up, until the dharmaboat started shaking. Erniu felt incomparably nervous, and began spitting out more and more blood to bolster the invisibility effect. Before long, an incense stick’s worth of time had passed.
Xu Qing’s eyes shot open, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. After, his eyes glittered as he pointed in a specific direction.
“That’s the way to the inner sea!”
Without a moment’s pause, Erniu helped Xu Qing bolster the dharmaboat and send it racing in that direction.
Time slipped by slowly but surely. Half a month.
More time passed. Soon it was a full month since they had been devoured by Timeruins.
They were now about 40,000,000 kilometers to the east of where they had encountered Timeruins. As Xu Qing’s dharmaboat zipped along, the sea water suddenly erupted upward in a huge geyser. The water seemed to fly all the way up into heaven, as if it came from the seafloor itself. In fact, the dharmaboat was carried by the water high into the sky.
Xu Qing and Erniu hadn’t even recovered from their shock when a voice like flowing waves reached their ears.
“Have the two of you been having fun?”
A red mist sprang up, surrounding Xu Qing and Erniu. Then it disappeared into the distance.
Inside the red mist, a figure appeared in front of the dharmaboat, facing away from Xu Qing and Erniu. The figure was tall and straight as a pine tree, with a crimson robe and an extraordinary disposition. This person was Yu Liuchen, who also... had ceased to show any signs of being anxious.
The moment Xu Qing saw Yu Liuchen, he relaxed a bit inwardly. Clasping hands, he bowed.
“Well met, Senior.”
Erniu actually looked excited. “Senior! You finally came!”
Yu Liuchen slowly turned around, revealing a face as handsome as before the moment they had all gone out to sea. Yu Liuchen was also smiling mysteriously, as if everything that had played out had been orchestrated by hīm.
“Did you have fun playing around in my story?”
Xu Qing blinked a few times. He didn’t see how Yu Liuchen’s story could possibly have touched on the mysterious Fifth Star Ring, or the old man from there. As a result, he came to the conclusion that Yu Liuchen was exaggerating a bit. That said, considering that Yu Liuchen had found them, it did seem to imply that they were part of the story. Therefore, he made sure to plaster a dazed and incredulous look onto his face.
It didn’t take any communication for Erniu to pick up on Xu Qing’s train of thought, and thus, he also revealed a dazzled expression, which quickly turned into a display of astonishment and shock.
“Wait a second, sir!” he said loudly. “Senior, are you telling me that everything we went through was actually part of your story? Senior, your words are orders to hordes of gods! Countless grues can be sucked into one of your stories and not even realize what’s happening! Godly might like that... well, Senior, it’s no wonder you’re worshiped by so many other gods. You can make heaven and earth lose their luster. You can make the starry sky glitter brightly for the most consummately powerful god imaginable!” After finishing with his brown-nosing, Erniu immediately asked, “In that case... are we going to continue the fishing expedition?”
When Yu Liuchen heard the words ‘continue the fishing expedition,’ hīs heart flip-flopped. However, hē didn’t reveal that in hīs facial expression, which remained the same as ever. It was almost as if hē had forgotten the instances along the way in which hē had served tea. Looking Xu Qing and Erniu up and down, hē said, “That won’t be necessary. Hē showed up already. Your task is complete.”
With that, Yu Liuchen turned around, faced the vast sea, and stepped up toward the canopy of heaven. High in the sky, hē flicked hīs sleeve, giving the dharmaboat a blessing of godly power that sent it racing away. At the same time, hīs voice echoed out, carrying with it some sort of karma.
“Brilliant Heaven had a god who perished at the hands of the Summer Immortals, whose true body collapsed, whose god perception went dark, and whose true name returned to the starry sky.
“After ten thousand years, that name reappeared. After another ten thousand years, that god perception returned. After another ten thousand years, the true body was restored... call it a cycle. After many cycles, the true name shone brightly in the desire to return from the void.
“The journey was difficult. Unknown beings appeared and were devoured, one after another. More dangers appeared. More were devoured. After many bitter experiences, and many collapses, godsource once again overflowed! The limit was surpassed. Due to incomparable weakness, the True God could not be, and struggled on the verge of Altar God!”
As Yu Liuchen spoke, hīs godly authority spread, fusing with the dome of heaven, imprinting on the sea below, and making true words that described a true name.
“And now, as the fire of rebirth burns above the Primeval Sea, the god longs for rest, to recuperate for hundreds of thousands of years.... But there is tribulation in that god’s life, and that tribulation is in the form of a god. Yu Liuchen!
“Yu Liuchen used the karma of the Summer Immortals to throw out two humans as bait. They experienced two months of time, pulling the True God out of the Primeval Sea... to appear in the open! The god appeared, with weak godly might, god power at the lower limit, a true name blurred, hardly able to remember anything.”
As hīs words echoed out, they caused rumbling sounds to fill heaven and earth. Angry waves surged across the sea, and howls spread everywhere. But Yu Liuchen stood tall in the canopy of heaven, voice crashing like heavenly thunder, growing larger and more influential by the moment.
“And then, as Yu Liuchen looked down, the god collapsed, never to exist again!”
The next instant, wild colors flashed and intense rumbling sounds echoed out as hīs true words showed signs of shattering. Yu Liuchen frowned, then continued speaking, having made a slight correction to his story. “But the god’s prestige still existed, and the god struggled to break free from Yu Liuchen’s gaze. Yet Yu Liuchen had prepared long for this moment, and had a gaze of utmost mightiness. Thus, the returned god was devoured!”
The true words rumbled loudly and the sealing cracked. Clearly, this wasn’t enough. “Although the devouring failed, the returned god’s true name became even more unclear. Hardly any was left. Flight was sought, but Yu Liuchen’s plan had considered all possibilities. He was simply waiting for the right moment to give chase!”
This time, though the sealing rumbled loudly, it didn’t crumble. Seeing that, Yu Liuchen continued speaking. “A pursuit... of 137 days would ensure that the returned god’s true name was absorbed, and replaced forever! And because Yu Liuchen recounted this story, and spoke it to completion, hē should be a True God!”
The true words once again showed signs of crumbling. Yu Liuchen’s eyes glittered, and blood-red light shone off hīm to bolster the true words. “And because Yu Liuchen recounted this story, and spoke it to completion, he should be a peak Altar God, with a chance to rise to True God!”
The moment the words were spoken, heavenly thunder rumbled, and the sea surged. Sealing marks glittered brightly, forming truth and reality.
Off in the distance, Xu Qing and Erniu felt their hearts racing. Behind them, the sea was seething, and the sound of endless chanting rose high. It formed an immense pressure which weighed down on the world. The chanting was like an ancient sound echoing about. A pressure like a reconvergence of time began to gather.
High in the dome of heaven, Yu Liuchen’s eyes glittered as hīs plan of tens of thousands of years began to unfold. The protagonist hē had selected for hīs carefully crafted story... was about to appear!