Chapter 1090: Departing Revered Ancient, Striding Toward the Immortal Capital
The vortexes caused crackling, electric light to fill the sky of Revered Ancient’s outer sea. Red lightning bolts danced about like writhing red snakes. It looked almost as if the canopy of heaven had been filled with innumerable red rifts, and was now hovering on the verge of collapse. The rifts eventually seemed to organize into something like an ancient sealing mark that constantly transformed and shifted. It was almost like some unimaginable entity performing an incantation gesture.
Thunderous booms shook the world, as if the fabric of heaven and earth were being sundered.
Boom. Boom! BOOM!
An immense wind blew, endless and chaotic. In addition to all that, the waters of the Primeval Sea began to churn wildly. Water sprayed everywhere as huge waves rolled out in all directions. The deafening sound made it seem like the entire sea itself was howling.
In many places in the outer sea, gods stirred in thēir dwelling places, eventually opening thēir eyes. None did anything to stop what was happening. In fact, thēy instinctively retracted thēir auras. As far as thēy were concerned, the majesty of the outer sea surpassed all other levels of life. And what was happening right now was the paramount godly authority of the Primeval Sea. Any who interfered would be hit by the power of a star ring.
The dramatic event wasn’t just affecting the outer sea. The inner sea, and in fact, all of Revered Ancient, was trembling. And if one could look down at Revered Ancient as a whole, they would clearly see... lands quaking, mountains shaking, and rivers seething. Countless living beings from innumerable species were shaken to the core. It had been far too many years since a passageway in the Primeval Sea was opened.
The first method Starfire had mentioned wouldn’t result in something like this. Only the burning of star ring hemp would cause the godly authority of the Primeval Sea to erupt. Star ring hemp was exceedingly rare, and as a result, Starfire could only look on, eyes wide with shock and heart pounding in astonishment.
Xu Qing himself had not been aware that something like this would happen. However, his attention was not focused on all of the side effects. He was looking closely at the thirty-five huge vortexes. His heart was racing.
Each and every vortex was the size of an entire city. They all looked exactly the same, be it in size, aura, or the speed with which they spun. In other words, there was no way to tell which vortex led to which star ring.
As Xu Qing’s heart raced, the thirty-five vortexes all surged with the power of both time and space. Other ordinary cultivators wouldn’t pick up on such nuance. But Xu Qing was not ordinary.
He had an immortal body and cultivated the Ten Extreme Daos. The first five of the extremes were the five elements. The sixth extreme was the substructure power of Fishing the Moon in the Well. And that was space. The seventh extreme came from the sundial of time.
Because of that, Xu Qing was sensitive to both space and time, in a way that surpassed ordinary people by a large margin. And thus, he could clearly sense that space and time were surging within the thirty-five vortexes. Slowly but surely, a resonance was forming with the sixth and seventh extremes. Because of that resonance, the time and space within Xu Qing began to pulse in response to the vortexes.
Xu Qing struggled to control his breathing. He was now getting the feeling that these thirty-five vortexes all contained secrets of time and space. As he stood there lost in thought, Starfire took a deep breath and looked at him.
“Not bad, you little rogue. You even have some star ring hemp up your sleeve. That’s definitely not something I could have predicted. That said, star ring hemp can only open the passageways, and your travel medallion will only provide you some direction so you don’t get lost.
“Sadly, once you enter a passageway, you have to worry about more than just getting lost. You also have to deal with the ripping force you experience when entering a new star ring. If you truly want safe passage, you need some sort of treasure from the starry sky. Maybe you have that godvine, but—”
Before Starfire could finish speaking, Xu Qing produced his Sageheaven Pagoda. As soon as it appeared he waved his finger at it. The pagoda trembled and then pulsed with a starry sky aura.
Starfire’s eyes went wide. “That’s a very interesting pagoda. It actually prevented me from sensing what’s inside of it... that thing... has an extraordinary origin.”
Starfire was shocked. However, all shē did was blink a few times as shē studied the pagoda. Then shē looked cool and apathetic as she continued, “Forget about what I said earlier. The most important thing about using the Primeval Sea to get to another star ring is making the right choice of passageway. I doubt you’re just planning to go somewhere randomly. You surely had a destination star ring in mind.
“Unfortunately, the thirty-five passageways are all random. They aren’t lined up in a specific sequence. If you want to pick one in particular, you have to make a deduction based on a host of clues. It can be very taxing on the mind and heart. Now, I can help you, you little rogue, on one condition....”
Starfire licked hēr lips and somehow looked even more flirtatious than before.
Looking back at hēr, Xu Qing pulled a golden rat out of his bag of holding. “I happen to have this very rare creature, and the place I’m going has others of its kind.”
Xu Qing sent out some divine will to the golden rat, which immediately looked at the thirty-five vortexes. Its nose twitched, and then it became a golden beam of light that shot toward the vortexes. It stopped at the first one, checked it, then looked back at Xu Qing in confusion.
Starfire chuckled. “Doesn’t seem very smart.”
Xu Qing sent it another message via divine will.
The golden hair on the rat all stood on end, and the power of its bloodline surged. As a result, the area around it rippled and distorted, as if both space and time were changing.
Starfire’s gaze hardened.
After a moment of thought, Xu Qing sent out the dao of extreme space and the dao of extreme time to help. The golden rat shivered, and its eyes shone with unprecedented amounts of golden light as it peered at the other vortexes. It burst into motion.
It stopped briefly at the third, fifth, twenty-third, and thirtieth vortex. Then it squeaked excitedly at Xu Qing. After that, it hurried back into Xu Qing’s arms, where it sagged in exhaustion
“Which was the strongest?” he asked.
The golden rat thought, looked at the thirty-five vortexes, and then pointed its paw at the twenty-third vortex. It issued a few more squeaks.
Starfire’s eyes shone coldly as shē looked at the golden rat.
The golden rat shivered and then burrowed back into the bag of holding.
Xu Qing, meanwhile, looked at the twenty-third vortex with a gaze of determination. He had met all the requirements. Although he couldn’t be absolutely confident that the twenty-third vortex would take him to the Fifth Star Ring, at the very least... it was the most likely option. After all, that old man’s golden rat had been extremely powerful.
Xu Qing took a deep breath and prepared to say farewell to Starfire.
However, that was when Starfire chuckled again. “Aiya, you cute little whore. Ah, fine, whatever....”
Continuing to chuckle, shē softly exhaled, all while emanating golden light. Hēr breath swirled out in front of hēr, ultimately turning into a hand-sized little fox. It was a clone of hēr.
Before Xu Qing could object, it shot over and landed on his shoulder, where it stuck out its little tongue and licked his neck. Looking intoxicated, it flirtatiously said, “What are you staring at, you little devil? Let’s go!”
But Xu Qing was as stiff as a board. He turned to look at the fox on his shoulder. “Senior....”
“Senior? Don’t call me Senior. Call me Big Sis.” The little fox once again licked his neck, then laughed coquettishly. “I wasn’t planning to come along, but since you wanted to keep me away, I made the decision to stay in Revered Ancient with my true form and send a clone with you.
“I guarantee that at some point on this trip, little buddy, I’ll figure out a way to get your primal yang with no objections. What are you still staring for? Let’s go!”
Xu Qing frowned. “Senior,” he said quietly, “the place I’m going isn’t very friendly toward gods.”
The little fox chuckled. “Are you trying to tell me the species of Revered Ancient are friendly toward gods? I don’t care. As long as you come with friendly intentions, and given that I’m just a clone, it won’t matter.”
Xu Qing considered the situation for a few breaths of time before sighing again inside. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to get out of this situation. The only thing he wasn’t sure about was how the people in the Fifth Star Ring would treat a god. But now wasn’t the time to sit around contemplating things. Besides, having Starfire’s clone along on the journey might make things easier.
With that thought in mind, Xu Qing stepped into the Sageheaven Pagoda and had the god vine send glittering starlight out to bolster it. The pagoda rumbled loudly and shot toward the twenty-third vortex. It flew inside.
The power of time erupted. The tearing sensation inside the vortex grew intense. Time also flowed chaotically inside the spinning vortex. Both space and time felt like they were being stretched out.
Then a voice spoke from outside, burrowing into space and flowing through time. It avoided all outside senses and entered directly into Xu Qing’s mind.
“You owe me the price of a wish.... The price you have to pay... is one specific thing, and nothing else. I want the statue of Eminent Desolation held in the imperial capital of the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan.... At some point in the future, you will give it to me. Consider it karma between us.” [1]
1. It wasn’t very long ago, but it seems like a lot has happened since the mask was cut off in the middle of stating its price for the wish inchapter 1078 . ☜