Xu Qing moved with stupefying speed, flitting through the light cast by the red candle. He was like a meteor shattering the void and shaking the cosmos. As he neared, he was moving so fast his entire body started glowing red. Boundless light and heat battered his face.
In the blink of an eye, he was completely enveloped. Countless grieves charged in his directions, all while planets and worlds exploded to block his path. From the look of it, everything in the entire pocket realm was trying to stop him.
It didn’t seem to make sense! If this candle really wanted to absorb him, why was it blocking his path? After all, he was literally acting like a moth rushing toward the flame. It should have welcomed him. Yet, not only was it very clear that he was being blocked, but also, as Xu Qing sped forward, the effects grew even more pronounced. Planets blew up constantly. And the candle’s flame danced more violently.
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered, and without any hesitation, he sent his divine will out. An instant later, he and Little Shadow fused, causing his eyes to turn pitch black. As a result, all of the explosions transformed into a painting. That allowed him to avoid their effects.
Also, the previously invisible grieves were now visible en masse to Xu Qing. He could sense their anxiety and madness. They were trying to block his path, all while ganging up on him from behind.
Seeing all that, Xu Qing just accelerated. He tapped into his cultivation base, godly authority, and cultivator authority. The sun rose within him, and regardless of how red his fleshly body glowed, or his soul burned, he viciously charged forward.
You don’t want me to go forward? Then I’m gonna go forward!
All of a sudden, the shadows surrounding him began dissipating. As the candle flame flickered, Xu Qing reached a point only 3,000 meters away from the candle itself! At that point, his fleshly body was doing well, but his soul was having trouble. Countless flames seeped through the cracks in his skin, converging in his sea of consciousness and burning his soul.
The effects of absorption and melting spread dramatically. In that moment of crisis, a crazy look flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes. Then, his soul flickered, transforming into millions upon millions of soul threads that swept through his sea of consciousness, becoming a vortex that fought back against the candle flames.
Relying on that, he continued onward. He was now only 1,500 meters away.Soul threads were being wiped out of existence with every moment that passed, either turning into ash that disappeared, or becoming grieves. Yet Xu Qing was only accelerating. Screaming onward, he reached 900 meters. Then 600 meters.... About ninety percent of his soul threads had disappeared. With only a small portion left, he finally bridged the gap.
He was now right above the red candle, directly over its flame. There, he settled down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and then dropped into the fire. He was planning to use his own fleshly body to extinguish the flame!
The flame flickered dramatically, almost as if it had a will of its own, and had been caught completely by surprise by this action. It simply couldn’t understand why someone would rush headlong right into death.
The flame of the red candle burned wildly, forcing Xu Qing to a halt. Then it burned many times hotter than before, causing the flames to spread out and completely cover him. His fleshly body dealt with the onslaught. But the flames seeped into him, filling his sea of consciousness and spreading out over his void soil. What remaining xeno-immortal soul threads he had left were being rapidly wiped out.
But then, Xu Qing’s eyes opened, and he looked down at the red candle.
“I don’t know if you have a connection to the mask. But I know you have your own will. That’s why I mentioned absorbing you. I was hoping you would let me approach you. And though I wasn’t lying...” his eyes glittered. “... do the two of you really think I was only thinking about a wish?”
Xu Qing had benefited greatly on this trip into the World Origin Pocket Realm.
First, he encountered the star chart of the thirty-six star rings. The majestic map had really opened his eyes about the world he lived in.
Next, he found the true origin of the white dust he’d found on Sir Blood Dust. It came from the Mask of Wishes!
For unknown reasons, the candle maliciously prevented him from leaving. And yet, Xu Qing still wasn’t inclined to use that wish. And that was because... he had a speculation that had been turning around in his mind for a while now.
Now, things had been made clear. When analyzing previous events from every possible angle, the only explanation seemed to be pointing to the wish as the only way out. Or at least, that seemed to be what the red candle was forcing him to do! That was why Xu Qing was even less inclined to do it.
Before fully studying the mask, he didn’t want to casually use it. After all, it was a gruish thing, and based on Xu Qing’s understanding, there was nothing in the world that came easily and didn’t have consequences. That was especially true when it came to things like wishes. A wish would definitely come with a cost. And it made sense that, the greater the wish, the greater the price to be paid.
That was especially true considering that the mask had a certain level of consciousness. It wasn’t inanimate. And therefore, it was highly likely it could resort to schemes and trickery.
All of those things, including the price to be paid for using the mask, were unknowns.
Perhaps the price to be paid for the wish was longevity. Maybe it would come with some sort of tribulation. Maybe you would have to give up a person or object that you cared deeply about. Maybe you would lose memories or even your soul. All of those things were within the realm of possibility. Therefore, he wanted to know the precise details of the price to be paid.
If he made a wish, and was then forced to pay the price no matter what, it could lead to very dire consequences. That was why he had just put the mask away without stating his wish. Logically speaking, if he wanted to leave this place without making the wish, there was only one option.
And that was to charge right into the source of all the danger, which was the candle itself! He would use his fleshly body to extinguish the flame! He would use death to seek life. He would make an opportunity in the moment of most extreme danger. Of course, doing that required coming to the candle itself.
When Xu Qing spoke the word ‘absorb’ out loud, he was hoping to convince the candle to let him get near it. There was another reason for his decision. He believed in the strength of his fleshly body!
In the star chart depicting the thirty-six star rings, the Ninth Star Ring featured Eminent Desolation, which exerted a force of attraction on the symbols to the east, west, south and north. That alone went to show how terrifying the broken face was. Considering that hīs flesh and blood had been used to make Xu Qing’s fleshly body, it could definitely stand up to the flame of this candle.
The only weakness in the plan was his own soul! His soul couldn’t stand up to the flame. But Xu Qing had already made his decision!
“We’re going to see which will be extinguished first. My soul, my fleshly body, or your flame!”
Even as the words left his mouth, and as the flames burned in his sea of consciousness, Xu Qing unhesitatingly activated all of the one hundred faint godly authority lineaments in his void soil. Those lineaments came from the flesh and blood of the broken face, and Xu Qing had not yet gained enlightenment of them all. Although they increased the upper limits he could reach in terms of strength and power, they also created an obstacle that he had to break through. Therefore, if he could burn them away, it would be a good way to achieve a level of balance.
Xu Qing was partly correct in this line of thinking. But he was also partly incorrect!
The nearly one hundred lineaments of godly authority really could be ignited and used to fight back against the candle flame. However, they were not true godly authority. They were just illusory sealing marks that were similar to snapshots. No matter how they burned, such sealing marks were fundamentally impossible to erase. At the very most, any impurities within them would be removed. As a result, the flames did not achieve the result Xu Qing had anticipated.
Although that was disheartening, he had a backup plan!
“Godly authority of good luck!”
Without any hesitation, he sacrificed the godly authority of good luck by throwing it into the flames. The godly authority ignited, sending out massive amounts of godliness, which fought back against the candle fire and protected Xu Qing’s soul.
It was a crazy plan!
It could well be said that, whether in ancient times or modern, it was a very rare thing to burn godly authority. For one thing, no god would be willing to give up godly authority. Furthermore, any flame that could actually burn godly authority would be extremely precious, and running into it would require a destined opportunity.
Thanks to burning the godly authority of good luck, Xu Qing was able to buy some time. Rumbling sounds echoed out as his fleshly body came into a sitting position atop the candle flame.
The flame flickered wildly as it sank down. It wanted to immolate this fleshly body, but it couldn’t. All it could do was sink down under its weight. That said, the candle still fought back just as hard as before, by sending more fire into Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness.
Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness was full of towering flames. The godly authority of good luck continued to burn until about ninety-nine percent of it was gone. Only a scrap remained. That scrap glittered with golden light; apparently, it wasn’t possible to completely wipe it out.
Upon seeing this, Xu Qing’s thoughts raced. However, there wasn’t time for contemplation. Next, he tossed out the godly authority of misfortune as a sacrifice, causing it to spread out and resist the flames. Rumbling sounds filled his sea of consciousness as more flames entered it, adding to the conflagration. The godly authority of misfortune rapidly disappeared until there was only a scrap left!
Without any hesitation, Xu Qing sacrificed his next portion of godly authority. That was the violet moon! The godly authority of the violet moon surrounded him and fought against the candle flames.
Xu Qing’s fleshly body had now completely sunk down into the flame of the red candle. Now, the wick was right underneath him! As the candle flickered violently, the godly authority of the violet moon in Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness dissipated rapidly. In the end, it ended up just like the previous two types of godly authority. It was only a golden thread!
Xu Qing gritted his teeth as he prepared to sacrifice more godly authority. But then something gruish happened to the candle that completely surpassed anything Xu Qing had predicted would happen.
Luck. Misfortune. Violet moon.... The three golden threads of godly authority suddenly spun into motion and began to interweave with each other. Thēy didn’t fuse. It was more like a braid, and it emanated dazzling golden light.
As a result, the candle flame was halted.
A terrifying aura erupted from the interwoven threads of three types of godly authority. The aura seemed to exist on a higher level than space-time, as if it could control all living beings. Yet it didn’t seem complete. Despite being incomplete, the aura it emanated was immeasurably terrifying, and surpassed any and all godly authorities that Xu Qing had ever encountered.
Before Xu Qing could perceive any details about it, the aura began to dissipate as surely as the night queen flower that only blooms for an instant. They had only formed because of a freak combination of factors, and could not fuse permanently. Because they weren’t complete, they were apparently going to unravel.[1]
Before they could, the shaken Xu Qing pulled them back into his sea of consciousness, and the candle flame there, so that they could sustain the force of the flame instead of his soul. The fire raged. Outside, the candle was just on the verge of being extinguished. At that point, the candle went all out, sending flames shooting out madly into Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness. This effort surpassed anything from before.
As they burned, the three portions of godly authority that had been just about to unravel... suddenly started fusing together.
1. The ‘queen of the night,’ which I’m rendering in a slightly nonstandard way as ‘night queen flower,’ is a species of cactus that blooms in the night and wilts before dawn. More information here. ☜