Chapter 1077: My Wish Is....
The bone cauldron was made from Erniu’s third life by Grand Emperor Immortal Skill from that time. It was terrifyingly mighty and could use a will of greed to refine the dome of heaven. As the huge hand made of blue worms broke out of the sea, spraying water everywhere, it closed in on the tumor that contained Netherflame.
Netherflame sat cross-legged within it looking calm. However, the truth was that he knew how amazing this body was, and also how difficult it was going to be to fully control it.
The source of difficulty was the karma, but also... Master Seventh’s warding spells! Although he had suppressed the warding spells, the truth was that all he had done was barely manage to reach a level of balance. At the moment, he could not fully control the body.
All he could do was look on with a cold gleam in his eyes as the huge bone cauldron raced toward him. The cauldron’s top then opened, scooped the tumor inside, then slammed shut.
“Be refined!!” countless blue worms howled simultaneously.
The huge hand collapsed, turning into a writhing sea of worms that started swarming around the cauldron. Their momentum increased exponentially, causing heaven and earth to shake violently, and turning the sky into a blue vortex. As it spun madly, the blue worms spat out intense frigid energy. The frigid energy poured into the cauldron, but it didn’t turn into ice. Instead, it became a blue fire that started refining the tumor inside of it. Intense rumbling sounds grew louder and louder.
Erniu didn’t dare to get careless. He poured all of his effort into controlling and bolstering the bone cauldron. He held nothing back to refine the tumor. In the end, he knew that he didn’t even have a good shot of succeeding. This was Grand Emperor Netherflame he was dealing with, after all.
However, this was a critical moment, and time was of the essence, so this was the best option. He needed to buy as much time as possible for the empress and Xu Qing.
Hopefully that would enable the empress to come help as quickly as possible, and also give Xu Qing the opportunity to do whatever else he had planned. And thus, Erniu was going all out. Rumbling sounds echoed out constantly as the vortex of blue worms spun faster and faster.
Off in the distance, the empress could see what was happening, and had a grim expression on hēr face. Then golden light flickered around hēr, blurring everything; apparently, shē was trying to break free.
Hēr opponent, Grand Emperor Devilbird, looked surprised. Seeing that the empress was tapping into godly might, he had no choice but to back away. However, on the other side of the empress was Netherflame’s clone. His eyes shone with determination as he shot forward and turned into a black lotus. Black fire surged, sweeping out everywhere, and completely sealing the fragment of space. Everything in that area blurred, making it impossible to see inside. However, the rumbling from inside quickly formed a resonance with the rumbling from the bone cauldron.
Meanwhile, Xu Qing took advantage of the moment to finish possessing the Grand Emperor’s fleshly body. The world around him was being slowly refined inside of Erniu’s cauldron. The tumor was on fire, and the Imperial Sovereigns’ quintessence was bubbling and boiling.
As for Netherflame, he remained seated in a cross-legged position as he opened his eyes. They glittered grimly.
Erniu was his first slip-up. He had previously overlooked this seemingly inconsequential cultivator, only for that cultivator to pull off a completely unexpected move at a critical moment.
It’s a bit of a surprise that I failed to predict this person’s interference or even existence. How could I not tell what sort of reserve powers he had in place, nor sense the existence of this bone cauldron...? Either someone is interfering, or... there is something seriously suspicious about this person. Very interesting. Both the Elder and Junior Brother are very unusual. In that case, what about their Master...?
Grand Emperor Netherflame’s eyes narrowed as he gave a cold harrumph. Although there had been some unexpected twists, he was still confident that he could come out on top.
I’ve been preparing for this rebirth for a long time. And that’s especially true of my secluded meditation facilities, this grotto-heaven that isn’t part of Revered Ancient. As long as this grotto-heaven exists, then no one from the outside can interfere with me. Though I did change my plans upon seeing this particular fleshly body, in the end... everything is under control. My control.
Netherflame remained calm in the face of the refining power. He took a deep breath, which immediately resulted in him absorbing more than thirty percent of the liquid.
A second black lotus appeared over his head. It pulsed with terrifying black flames, and it sent out a host of chains that connected it with the flower beneath his feet. As they spun, the chain pierced out of the tumor and rocketed toward the bone cauldron. And the boundless black fire suppressed the other fire within the cauldron.
The two lotuses caused Netherflame’s aura to surge, and as the refining fires were suppressed, he fought Master Seventh’s warding spells and also began to extinguish the candle on his back. The balance that had been lost was now regained.
There are some upsides to being in this cauldron. It’s helping to screen me away from the outside. And that buys me time to get control over this fleshly body. I’d say it’ll be an hour at the most before I’m strong enough to exercise control. And when that happens....
Netherflame opened his eyes, and deep inside there was a gleam of violet. His pupils suddenly constricted.
My eyes have violet light in them?
For an almighty individual like Netherflame, the unknown was always a surprise, and was an indication of many possible variables. The violet light in his eyes was the second unexpected twist. Even as Netherflame trembled inside, more violet light erupted. He couldn’t control it. And as it filled him head to toe, he realized where it was coming from.
It was coming from the flesh in his chest. Right there in the chest was some object that Grand Emperor Netherflame hadn’t noticed up to this point. It was a violet-colored crystal! [1]
Upon noticing it, his face flickered with dramatic emotion, the reason being that this object existed outside of his perception! None of his previous deductions had revealed its existence. And even after the possession was complete, he had been completely unaware of it until it emitted violet light. It was almost as if it had an unimaginably high personhood. If it didn’t want him to sense it, then he would never possibly notice it.
This was an unexpected twist that shook him far deeper than what just happened with Erniu.
What was more, within the depths of the violet crystal was a figure with no facial features, seated cross-legged. It looked like little more than a shadow. At almost exactly the same moment that he looked at the shadow, it opened its eyes. Then, it was almost as if the violet crystal had been activated. It erupted with dazzling brightness, like a sea of light that enveloped the entire fleshly body, as well as Netherflame’s soul.
In the thousand years that Netherflame had been in seclusion, he had never felt like he had lost control. But right now, that was how he felt, and it filled him with an intense sensation of deadly crisis. He was actually struggling to control his breathing.
This thing is completely beyond me! What is it??
A deep sense of unease erupted within Netherflame. However, it was a critical moment, so he didn’t hesitate at all to try to seal the crystal with every ounce of strength he possessed. But the spread of the violet light had a widespread influence. It also affected... Master Seventh’s warding spells. Netherflame’s control over the warding spells collapsed. And then the candle on his back erupted into flame.
Thanks to the violet light, Erniu’s bone cauldron erupted with greater force.
Astonished, Netherflame opened his mouth and inhaled as deeply as possible. All of the remaining seventy percent of the quintessence in the tumor surged into him, and he borrowed its power to fight back. He gritted his teeth, and fluctuations rolled out of his soul, revealing something that had been concealed within, something that he considered as valuable as his own life.
This item was his greatest secret. Golden light glittered in his soul. It was a drop of water. A drop of golden water. Put most precisely, it was a golden drop of river water.
The moment the water drop appeared, a majestic golden river materialized in Netherflame’s soul.
“Mother River...” called Netherflame.
***
Deep rumbling sounds echoed out as a boundless golden river flowed, not in the Devilbird holy land, not in the Revered Ancient mainland, but in the north of the Ninth Star Ring in the boundless starry sky.... Within that river were countless heavenly bodies as well as innumerable living things. And there were lotuses.
Seated cross-legged on the lotuses were innumerable figures, including humans, nonhumans, cultivators, and gods.... On one lotus was a cultivator who looked like a human. Suddenly, his eyes opened, and they shone sharply as he looked out into the starry sky. Rising to his feet, he clasped hands and bowed to the river.
“Mother River, a game piece deployed to Eminent Desolation’s location has sent a distress signal.”
The river water rippled. A moment passed, and a tiny fragment of a terrifying, indescribable will awoke.
It was only a fragment, but it was enough to affect millions upon millions of heavenly bodies in the river. The hearts of countless living beings trembled.
“It’s not time yet....”
Upon hearing that, the cultivator bowed his head and sat back down. “In that case, he will either live or die based on that single drop of Mother River water.”
***
No one in the secluded meditation facilities had any idea what was happening inside the cauldron.
No one but Xu Qing, that is. When the violet crystal erupted, his connection with it allowed him to sense what was happening. And that was exactly how Xu Qing had planned it! He had left his body to activate Master Seventh’s first warding spell. He had also unsealed the candle to ensure that, when the warding spell activated, the candle would ignite. He knew that it would affect Netherflame.
At the same time, he had left the violet crystal behind! He had left it in his fleshly body. What was more, he had left Little Shadow inside of it, with instructions to unleash the power of the violet crystal when the critical moment arrived. He wasn’t really sure how it would turn out.
But over the years, he had come to realize something. And that was... that no one knew about the violet crystal except him. Not Master Seventh. Not the empress. Not even that old man from the Fifth Star Ring he had encountered in the outer sea had noticed it. Therefore, in this most desperate of situations, he had chosen a path of no return.
To be honest, he didn’t care what the violet crystal did. The reason was that the eruption of the violet crystal was just a cover for the last part of his overarching plan.
If Netherflame noticed what he was really doing, he would stop him. And Xu Qing couldn’t afford to be interrupted.
That was the real purpose of the violet crystal eruption. It was to be a delay and a distraction to Netherflame.
Xu Qing took a moment to check his current fleshly body. Based on what he could sense, this body contained a terrifying essence. Unfortunately, he was currently like a child trapped in a thousand-pound suit of armor. He couldn’t control it. There was something wrong with this body, as if it had previously existed in a state of balance, which had since been broken....
It wasn’t going to last for much longer. It was already crumbling and withering.
But this is enough....
Eyes shining with determination, he spoke in a raspy voice. “I wish for....”
A gruish mask appeared out of nowhere. It pierced through all obstacles, even the void itself, and even space-time, to appear in front of Xu Qing. It was as if it had been waiting. It looked at Xu Qing.
He looked back. “I wish that I could use this body as nutrients to reconstruct my original body!”
1. The violet crystal was first mentioned inchapter 2 . Okay did I really need to include this as a footnote? Nope. Just thought it would be funny. ☜