Chapter 944: Grabbing the Lamp From the Fire
On Planet Ancient Emperor, all eyes were focused on the strange altar the emperor had prepared for godly ascension. As of this moment, that altar had become the center of all the dramatic events surrounding the ancestral sacrifices.
From a distance, it was possible to see the greenish-black pentagonal altar, pulsing with a sense of incomparable ancientness. Taken in as a whole, it looked like it had been extracted from ancient time, or taken from the depths of the underworld. It was covered with countless totemic designs, but of course, most prominent were the shrines and the coffins.
The ancient coffins emanated a sensation of profound imperial will. The corpses of the past emperors each represented the imperial bloodline, which went all the way back to Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity. And of course, that bloodline was approved by the heavenly daos of the Revered Ancient mainland.
There couldn’t be a more respected bloodline in Revered Ancient. The shrines were constructed in a very extravagant manner. Shockingly, they were crafted from the bones of gods! Naturally speaking, they could be considered reserve powers of humankind. But the emperor had taken them and used them to make five shrines. Because of the unusual construction material, the five shrines pulsed with a very prominent godly energy.
At the moment, that energy was converging on the mysterious tablets within the shrines, causing profound transformations in the area. All of it was the epitome of extravagance. Other than the imperial clan, there was no way any other cultivators could do something like this.
Godly ascension required igniting godfire. And that process required a ceremony!
Of course, there was no set requirement for exactly how the ceremony was carried out. In fact, every individual who wanted to become a god would do it differently.
Back beneath the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture, Xu Qing had seen a group of five-elements zombies. That was one such ceremony. Another was in Moonrite Region, when Crimson Mother’s godchild set up a ceremony that spanned time itself. That was the second Xu Qing had seen. The third was in the lands of the Firemoon Darkheaven people, when the grand steward replaced the spider god.
The extraordinary setup here on Planet Ancient Emperor had been orchestrated by the human emperor as another type of godly ascension ceremony. In reality, neither the coffins nor the shrines were the focus of the ceremony. Instead, it was the violet lamp. That was the true core of it all. The aura it exuded shook heaven and earth. It was the aura of an immortal!
It created a wind of the destiny aura of a species. It used the bones of gods as a furnace, the immortal aura of the ancient lamp as the fire, the past emperors as the fuel! In that manner, it burned away both that which was immortal and that which was godly! It was a level of majesty that surpassed anything Xu Qing had ever seen before. This was how the human emperor was attempting to reach godly ascension. This was his ceremony.
Within the spreading sea of flames, the figures formed from nearly complete godfire conformed to a state that was like a mystery among mysteries. It didn’t conform to immortal cultivators. It didn’t conform to the gods. It was something between immortals and gods.
Though they were incomplete, and didn’t have full battle prowess or cultivation bases, they did have shocking personhood that could suppress cultivators. Thanks to that pressure, and thanks to the burning godfire...
Any cultivator who entered this fire and interacted with those figures would experience an instant skyrocketing of mutagen. Then they would either die or become one of the figures.
But Xu Qing was different. He was no longer a cultivator. And he wasn’t a god. His was a path no one had ever walked before. In fact, he could be considered a pioneer. He had the cultivation base of a cultivator, but the authority of a god, plus the soul threads of a xeno-immortal. What was more, he had a god body. That wasn’t to mention that he had devoured the blood of the broken face, and also had more than a hundred types of godly authority in his void soil.
As for the level of his personhood, it really was comparable to that of a god. There was also the fact that the figures in the sea of flames had some sort of resonance with the Plumdark Evergreen Lamp, which kept them suppressed.
Therefore... the moment Xu Qing entered the sea of flames, a series of deafening booms echoed out, along with something like a raging tempest. Whether it was The Emperor’s Sword in his hand, or Little Shadow, or the vine. All were part of the tempest.
Wherever Xu Qing went, everything was crushed. The vine whipped about joyfully, devouring the fire and sweeping up one figure after another. It was almost as if it recognized them as food. The flames were delicious, and the figures were as sweet as candy. Little Shadow didn’t want to fall behind, and quickly scattered into a host of smaller shadows. If you put all of those smaller shadows together, they would form a huge tree covered with eyes, with coffins hanging down from it.
Meanwhile, Xu Qing himself charged forward with The Emperor’s Sword in hand. As he sped forth, the very same hunger he had experienced in the god domain reappeared. It had been suppressed thanks to the blood of the broken face. But apparently, the surrounding godfire drew it out again.
Hunger....
The sensation caused Xu Qing’s eyes to turn crimson. As he slashed left and right with The Emperor’s Sword, he inhaled sharply, causing one of the approaching figures to be sucked into his mouth. His void soil shivered as the figure made of godfire turned into a rain of fire that provided nourishment, but at the same time, just made Xu Qing feel hungrier.
Tastes pretty good.
Xu Qing licked his lips and continued onward. Reaching another figure that Little Shadow had locked in place, he again inhaled deeply. The figure vanished. Little Shadow looked stunned. Xu Qing moved on, devouring as he went.
Seeing that, Little Shadow leaped up and down excitedly. In the blink of an eye, all of the versions of Little Shadow in the fire opened their mouths and began to devour the surrounding figures. The vine looked very anxious and increased its devouring efforts.
And thus, an absolutely shocking scene developed under the eyes of everyone looking at the sea of flames. Not only were the figures in the fire growing fewer in number, but also, the sea of flames itself was shrinking.
The process didn’t even last for as long as it takes an incense stick to burn. By that point, all of the figures in the sea of flames were gone!
Little Shadow and the vine ended up fighting over the last one and ripping it to pieces.
The struggle resulted in some fiery emotions. Little Shadow called back all the smaller projections of itself, and in astonishing fashion, turned into a gigantic, gruish tree right in the middle of the sea of flames. The eyes on the tree were all open, and they stared with cold irritation at the vine.
The sageheaven god vine was an uncharacteristically rare object that originated in the starry sky. Its mature form could devour actual gods, so it was only natural that it wasn’t a timid thing. Despite being in infant form right now, it still whipped about like a dragon, sending terrifying energy toward Little Shadow. The leaves on the vine were covered with mysterious striations that flickered constantly and even created starry sky projections. It also pulsed with an incomparably vicious aura.
Everyone who was able to see what was happening was completely taken aback.
Both Little Shadow and the sageheaven godvine could be described as very gruish. However... their brutal, gruish nature transformed into charming obedience the moment Xu Qing stepped between them.
Little Shadow swayed back and forth, its eyes opened wide in a way that made it look very cute. The vine cautiously swirled around Xu Qing, looking openly servile. That scene was nothing but a profound shock.
There was Xu Qing, surrounded by violet light, his hair swaying around him, his facial features extremely good-looking. Next to him was a cute shadowy tree and a very charming vine.
Quite a few of the cultivators in the crowd instinctively gasped. As Revered Ancient cultivators, they had all lived lives of death and killing. They knew full well what was entailed in turning brutal beings into things that were cute and charming.... It required a level of brutality that surpassed them!
This Xu Qing was quite a bit different from the one they were used to seeing. It made sense considering that, even after coming to the imperial capital, Xu Qing had kept a relatively low profile. For instance, when he killed Seventh Prince, he didn’t do it in a way that revealed how brutal and ruthless he could be. But now everyone was getting a sense of what he was truly capable of. Now, people were looking at him very seriously, and some even seemed outright reverent.
Xu Qing wasn’t paying attention to the reactions of the crowd. He passed in between Little Shadow and the vine, keeping his eyes fixed on the altar. The edges of the fire were surrounded by golden flames that were even more intense than the sea of flames in general. In fact, it was astonishingly hot.
After all, that fire was being fed by the corpses in the coffins. As a result, the golden fire formed a barrier that prevented passage.
Through that barrier, Xu Qing could see more cracks spreading out on the Plumdark Evergreen Lamp. It wasn’t going to last for much longer. Eyes flashing, Xu Qing shot directly toward the flames surrounding the altar. But then, an instant later, the flames rumbled loudly, and Xu Qing backed away.
He was on fire, his skin drying up and melting, revealing blood and flesh beneath. Even with all of his assets, including his god body, he wasn’t able to pass through those flames.
But Xu Qing wasn’t ready to give up. Ignoring the pain from his burning flesh, he waved his hand to send a host of divine abilities rumbling out along with godly authority. After a dozen or so breaths of time passed, though, nothing had changed. The flames simply couldn’t be touched.
Face turning very grim, Xu Qing slashed out with The Emperor’s Sword. Rumbling sounds filled heaven and earth as a huge sword projection appeared in the air and slashed down toward the fire. The fire shivered, and an opening appeared. However, the flames then roared with more intensity, and the sword energy dissipated.
It’s really impossible to break open?
Xu Qing watched as more cracks appeared on the lamp. He was really starting to get very anxious.
Given the godly ascension ceremonies he had seen in the past, Xu Qing knew that they were impossible to disrupt unless you came at them with completely majestic and overwhelming force. The only other option was to use trickery.
Suddenly, Xu Qing’s eyes shone with a crazy light, and he sent some divine will to Little Shadow and the vine. Little Shadow hesitated briefly, but the vine didn’t at all. It shot directly toward the golden fire and tried to devour it. The force of devouring was so great that the fire just started flowing toward the vine. As a result, the flames in front of Xu Qing grew thinner.
However, there was a price to pay. The vine burst into flames, and immediately started withering. It obviously couldn’t keep this up for very long.
Seeing all of that caused Little Shadow to throw caution to the wind. Rushing forward, it burst into flames, but at the same time, became like a black waterfall that instantly caused the flames in front of Xu Qing to weaken further.
Little Shadow shrieked in agony and writhed from the pain. Yet it didn’t dare to back away. It could only ferociously endure as it felt like it would be ripped apart. Then it managed to pry open a narrow crevice!
Xu Qing rushed forward in a blur of speed, reaching the crevice just as it seemed Little Shadow wouldn’t be able to hold out any longer. His right hand became as transparent as a Gruegloom’s as he reached through that crevice and into the fire itself! Holding back nothing at all, he reached out to grab the Plumdark Evergreen Lamp!