Chapter 898: True Fire, Karma Fire, Tribulation Fire, Flawless
Of the five portions of authority over the god domain, four were already accounted for.
High Gods Sunfire, Moonfire, and Starfire all looked away from the black hole and toward the Mountain and Sea Region. Next, the final bit of authority determined the direction of thēir gazes. It was the same as how thēy didn’t interfere when the emperor’s corpse fell into the abyss. Whether Xu Qing and the Captain succeeded or failed, lived or died, was up to fate. When fighting against fate, one had to accept what fate would bring.
To the three gods, the fight over the emperor’s corpse constituted the opportunity thēy had been waiting for. It was the lock that would allow the curtain to open.
The fight in the Mountain and Sea Region passed through time, connecting the North Immortal Emperor World with the Revered Ancient mainland, by means of karma. The shape and connection had already formed. Therefore, if failure occurred in the Mountains and Sea Region right now, they likewise wouldn’t provide assistance.
Regardless of karma or fate, and regardless of the promise from within time, thēy would need to see if the promisee’s providence could be sustained.
If the party from the Mountain and Sea Region had sufficient providence, then thēy would be happy to keep the promise. They would add flowers to the brocade and provide the chance for godly ascension. If that party could not sustain the providence or the karma, then the fifth portion of authority would bless the three gods. The promise would become kindling, to pierce through the fate of tens upon tens of thousands of years, and provide a personal dao of the gods. It could also be considered god karma.
If that happened, the party in the Mountain and Sea Region would have no recourse. There would be no one else to blame except for fate itself. Therefore, there really was no foreordained destiny. There was only... the fact that the spider god would definitely die.
If not in the Mountain and Sea Region, then at the hands of the three gods.
Time passed.
The party in the Mountain and Sea Region had yet to decide. In the god domain, the destiny aura fell into the providence of those with the authority. Thus, the auras of High Gods Sunfire, Moonfire, and Starfire all rose dramatically. In fact, a god shrine vortex appeared, which rapidly became more and more majestic. Thēir personhood also began to oscillate, and thēir respective golden godfire burned brightly. Eventually, it reached a peak level in which a hidden black flame opened a sealing mark within the gold.
It was strongest with Sunfire, with Moonfire in the middle and Starfire the weakest.
“Finally. Tribulation fire.”
Sunfire’s eyes closed. Moonfire said nothing. Starfire waited with anticipation.
***
Those with authority included those in the emperor’s corpse deep in the abyss.
Thus, destiny slowly converged in the corpse’s river of fate. Because hīs fleshly body was under the Captain’s control, while the soul was under Xu Qing’s control, the two of them stood at the ends of the river, and could thus control the direction of that fate. As a result, the destiny aura belonged to both of them.
The Captain chose to take the god domain’s destiny and turn it into a furnace to burn the words from the Wordless Book of Stone. He also took out two hairs to burn as well. It was a type of forging. This type of forging was extremely rare, to the point where, if word spread, it would shake all of Revered Ancient. All in all, of all the cultivators in Revered Ancient, there were few who could have the good fortune to use an emperor’s corpse as the fire and the destiny aura of a god domain as fuel. Forging things in that way was definitely a luxury. And of course, whatever was forged by that process would be extraordinary. Wordless words were like the one thing that escapes notice when practicing divination. The fact that two people were able to rely on such a thing on such a long journey went to show how extraordinary it was. An item from a teleportation portal that came alive. A wonder of creation, typifying the changes wrought to Revered Ancient. It was fundamentally miraculous. Its hairs were, of course, astonishing. Ordinary materials can be used to forge extraordinary things, so there was little need to mention what could be done with extraordinary materials.[2]
As the Captain forged, a crazy feeling built within him, and he muttered via divine will:
“Come on, burn! Faster! Work! Oh lovely spirits of heaven and lovely spirits of earth, with the blessing and protection of the Summer Immortals, Dark Serenity, Master, myself, my little Junior Brother... this has to work!”
Xu Qing picked up on what the Captain was saying via divine will. He didn’t want to see or hear what the Captain was doing or saying, but he had no choice. Based on how well he knew the Captain, he had an idea of what was going to happen after the Captain finished.
The Captain’s ambitions weren’t limited to what was happening here. He had acquired this corpse. He had authority over a god domain. But... the Captain had plainly said that he had a ‘super’ big job. Clearly, what had happened so far really didn’t match up to the craziness you would expect with something like that. All in all, what they had acquired wasn’t the complete destiny aura of the god domain.
By now, Xu Qing could sense through the destiny aura that authority over the god domain was split into five parts.
He and the Captain had jointly acquired one of those portions.
Perhaps other people would consider that a shocking destined opportunity or an extreme level of good fortune. But based on what Xu Qing knew, his crazy Eldest Brother definitely wouldn’t be satisfied with something like that. Considering the Captain was using the destiny aura to forge something... Xu Qing knew that his speculations were correct.
Yet he wasn’t paying very close attention to that. What was most important to him now wasn’t his Eldest Brother’s crazy actions, but rather, the chance he had for a cultivation base breakthrough.
His life essence trove gate was already open. Within it, the bluegreen dragon was the heavenly dao, swirling about and roaring. His taboo poison trove gate was also open. Hellfei was there with its solitary eye and its Sixth Filths sealing marks. The violet moon trove gate had long since opened, as it had absorbed the supreme yin power and gained the netherglimmer as its heavenly dao. The Emperor trove had also reached the highest level. Thanks to The Emperor’s Sword, the discarnate soul inside had become the heavenly dao, as well as a unique spirit automaton for the sword.
Of his five trove gates, four were open. There was only one that had not yet been completely opened. And that was... the gate of his mage trove.
That one didn’t need something from the outside to serve as a heavenly dao, as it had an actual Darkheaven Archmage inside to fill that role.
What it needed was a convergence of Darkheaven Archmage power to open the trove gate. And Xu Qing knew that he could substitute the destiny aura of a god domain for that power! It was not a transient solution. Authority over a god domain was something eternal, so all he had to do was guide it into him to provide the blessing. Next, as the formless destiny aura entered his fate, he directed it with divine will toward the mage trove!
The mage trove rumbled as the form of the antemage filled in, growing taller and larger.
The Ninedawns skulls howled as they entered as well, creating a figure that could prop up heaven and earth, while simultaneously releasing an aura that spanned countless years of ancient time. It loomed like a giant within the mage trove.
RUMBLE!
The half-opened mage trove gate then swung all the way open!
In that instant, the five trove gates erupted with dazzling light that filled Xu Qing’s entire sea of consciousness. All five gates were open!
A majestic power flowed out from the five trove gates, filling Xu Qing. His cultivation base began to climb, and his soul flourished. His battle prowess rose without cease, and his personhood became like the carp that leaped over the dragon gate!
Above the five gates, the bluegreen dragon threw its head back and roared, the eye of Hellfei looked down with cruel disdain, the netherglimmer ascended on high, the soul of an emperor wielded a sword, and the antemage’s eyes shone like the sun and moon! The heavenly daos were all out in full force!
Heaven-shaking, earth-toppling transformations were underway in Xu Qing. With all five heavenly daos out, his five trove gates were like burning furnaces. Rumbling booms became as loud as heavenly thunder. Volcanic ash fell like snow as the five furnaces roared. The volcanic ash was really dust formed from daos and fate. They were the lineaments of everything Xu Qing had experienced in life. It was actually called... void soil!
As it piled up in Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness, it became void soil filled with dao lineaments. This was the hallmark of the foundation of Void Returning!
Xu Qing’s eyes glittered as he realized that there were now no obstacles preventing him from breaking through from Spirit Trove into Void Returning. He could do it with ease. However, given what he knew about how the Captain’s big jobs usually went... Xu Qing decided to calm his sea of consciousness and settle the five furnaces. He could now break through at any time, but wasn’t in a hurry.
That was around the time he heard the Captain’s voice drifting to him.
“Little Junior Brother....”
The Captain was actually feeling disappointed. His plan had been to interrupt Xu Qing in the moment of his breakthrough, thus asserting his position as the Eldest Brother. He had even planned exactly what he was going to say, and had worked everything out to be able to use this situation to blackmail Xu Qing later on. How could he ever have guessed that Xu Qing would take the initiative to delay his breakthrough....
It doesn’t matter. Maybe he’s slowed down, but I still have all the big pieces in place!
With that thought in mind, the Captain cleared his throat. As the two of them absorbed the emperor’s body from different positions, he continued communicating via divine will.
“Little Junior Brother, don’t be anxious to break through. I can see that you have a wondrous physical makeup and a cultivation that can only be considered unique and amazing. As it happens, I have an ancient, spectacular bit of good fortune here. Want it?”
Xu Qing could tell what the Captain was thinking, so he nodded in agreement.
The Captain looked pleased.
“Remember what I said earlier, little Junior Brother? Our time has come! Your Void Returning can’t be as simplistic as that! Becoming the lords of a god domain is only the appetizer to the big job I’ve planned. Consider that the mere qualifications to move to the next step....
“Just wait a bit. In short order, your sister-in-law on the outside, as well as that little lover of yours, plus that dog-fucking, pig-fucking, bastard-fucking Sunfire, are going to put on a big show, and we can sweep in and benefit from the process! Just remember, this time, your Eldest Brother had been preparing for a really long time, and has paid a huge price. So, you have to promise me that—”
“Alright.” Xu Qing interrupted with a nod.
“Huh? I didn’t finish saying what I wanted you to promise me....”
“Eldest Brother, as far as I’m concerned, as long as I’m capable of doing something, I’ll promise to do it for you.”
The Captain could sense the determination in Xu Qing’s words, and it filled his heart with unprecedented warmth. All of a sudden, he felt a bit guilty about the blackmail plan he’d come up with earlier. Then he felt his sense of duty and responsibility as the Eldest Brother rising within him.
“This is going to help you too, Junior Brother. There’s no need to negotiate anything. Your Eldest Brother was just joking around with you! Alright, let’s move on from that.
“Let me explain my plan to you.
“First, little Junior Brother, you need to understand that you can categorize gods based on godfire. Anything that doesn’t have godfire is nothing more than a godly entity. But once you have godfire, you can properly be called an actual god.
“The Godfire level is broken into three levels. They are: true fire, karma fire, and tribulation fire. [1]
Xu Qing’s heart thumped. This was the first time he had heard any explanation about gods and what happened after igniting godfire.
“Remember that fish in Forbidden by the Immortal in Sea-Sealing County? That was the true fire level, so you could call that fish a Low God. When true fire turns into karma fire, it’s the mark of a High God. Now, ‘High God’ is actually a very encompassing level. It includes karma fire as well as tribulation fire. If you can push tribulation fire to the great circle, that’s the mark of a Flawless God. That brings with it the possibility of forming a god altar. Li Zihua is currently an Altar God.”
Xu Qing was listening very attentively. As he listened to this explanation from the Captain, he felt like he was hearing information from the ancient past.
“The tribulation fire level involves an unbounded improvement to omniscience. However, it’s also incomparably dangerous, as you have to undergo a personal tribulation.
“That tribulation exists outside of the omniscience of the god in question. A god that fails to pass the tribulation is wiped out of existence. The path to godhood is over. Everything becomes dust. Only by becoming a Flawless God can you reach the point where you don’t have to worry about tribulation, and can then focus fully on breaking through to Altar God.
“That spider god is in the third level, and very far along in that level. But the spider god is not a Flawless God, and thus, still has to deal with tribulation.
“The three gods, plus you and I, are īts tribulation.
“Years ago, it was the same with Crimson Mother. Shē was a High God who had reached the highest point of the tribulation fire level. In other words, hēr personhood was the same as that of the spider god. Unfortunately, shē was not quite at the Flawless level.
“Back then Li Zihua, you, and I were hēr tribulation. Even further back in Li Zihua’s life, Crimson Mother was his tribulation.”
Feeling quite shaken, Xu Qing asked, “What about the three gods?”
“Based on what I know from past lives, thēy stopped caring about getting stronger once thēy reached the tribulation fire level. They sealed thēir tribulation fire, and thus, despite the fact that thēy are High Gods, thēy were actually weaker than Crimson Mother.
“As for right now, I think... that the three gods’ ultimate goal is probably to skip the danger of the tribulation fire level and directly become Flawless Gods. By directly opening that path, they could have to hope to become Altar Gods!”
The Captain was going to continue, but his voice faltered. Xu Qing sensed why. The corpse of the emperor looked up. Within the eyes of the corpse, godlight flickered, piercing through the black hole... to the outside world. Something dramatic was unfolding!
“The wind is coming!” the Captain said madly.
1. The character ‘karma’ here is actually completely different from the one I normally render as karma. However, it definitely is, without a doubt, karma, at least in the Buddhist sense. I toyed with the idea of using a different word, but in the end, I’m rapidly running out of words relating to karma, fate, destiny etc. Given how this word is used going forward, in this case I’m just going to keep the same English word even though the Chinese characters are different. ☜
2. The hairs mentioned here are the hairs taken from the living teleportation portal in chapters 743-744. The author mistakenly called them feathers in this chapter, which confused me. I originally translated them as feathers, only to realize something like 100+ chapters later that the author meant the things taken from that portal. I have edited this part (and future references) to maintain continuity. ☜