Chapter 1205: Reception Universe

All of the new ascendees were given universes after entering the heaven beyond heaven, as well as a year to rest. That year was intended to give the new ascendees time to get familiar with the heaven beyond heaven, as well as their personal universe. They also had time to get their rewards.

When the rest period ended, they were then summoned to the Nineshores Heavens’ Reception Universe. There, they would be told about the assignment that had been arranged for them.

By the time Xu Qing got the message, he was already back at the Inksun Universe’s immortal hall. Without any hesitation, he stepped onto the immortal hall’s teleportation portal and began the teleportation. Starfire was now a special symbol sealed onto his arm.

The immortal hall trembled as terrifying teleportation fluctuations rolled out through it. This teleportation took much longer than any Xu Qing had experienced before. Clearly, the Reception Universe was a great distance away from the Inksun Universe. He wasn’t sure exactly how long it took, as the process was like a mottled dream. Within that dream, everything was blurry and colorful.

Eventually, the distorted glow faded away, and he could see clearly again. Stretching out in front of him was a vast golden river. The river was made of innumerable star domains, countless star whirlpools, and uncountable planets.

The planets all emanated a unique golden light. They didn’t move. Rather, starlight flowed around them, which made it seem like they were in motion. It was Xu Qing’s first time seeing a golden river of stars like this.

This place was the Reception Universe!

It was also one of the seventy-two centers of government in the Nineshores Heaven, which were second only to the immortal palace in terms of power and authority. It controlled general operations in the Nineshores Heaven, and during this epoch, it was the headquarters that oversaw the reception of visitors from other heavens beyond heaven.

It didn’t just receive new ascendees. It provided direction to the minor worlds under the Fifth Star Ring, as well as the nonhumans in all the star ring’s various universes. It was like a military command center, and at the same time, a personnel coordination department. It went without saying that a lot of Lower Immortals were stationed there.

As Xu Qing looked in astonishment at the majestic golden river, a stream of starlight emerged from it and shot toward him. The golden light was insignificant in comparison to the river as a whole, but as they neared, they seemed similarly majestic. The stream swirled around him and began to draw him toward the river.

The golden starlight that had come out to receive Xu Qing originated in... a location in the lower reaches of the golden river, to a specific planet in a star whirlpool in a star domain.

Streams of starlight were drawing people in from all over the Reception Universe. It happened to all cultivators who had teleported there. And depending on why they had come here, the light would lead them to different places.

As the light tugged at Xu Qing, he shot toward the planet. He was moving so fast that he felt like he was being stretched out like a shooting star.

In the shortest of moments, he was pulled from outside the star river to its interior. He entered a group of planets, and eventually neared the one that he was being pulled toward. His view rapidly transformed. Everything started rumbling.

And then he dropped onto a huge sea on the planet. The sea was black and viscous, almost like gelatin. And he had been tugged toward it at such incredible speed that he hit it with a great amount of force.

Given the level of Xu Qing’s cultivation base, he could deal with the force. However, a lower-level cultivator who experienced that impact would lose their soul and find their fleshly body crumbling. Of course, though his cultivation base was sufficient to avoid injury, when he hit the surface of the sea, he slammed down into it, all while creating a huge crater above him.

A short time later, he struggled out of the crater and looked around. The sky was golden, and the black, viscous sea around him stretched on forever.

Up in midair were other beams of golden starlight bringing other cultivators. Booms rang out on the surface of the sea. Soon, there were dozens of craters. Some of the cultivators slammed into the sea and then emerged looking bedraggled. A few even had to wipe blood from their mouths, and had looks of lingering fear in their eyes.

Xu Qing spotted Zhou Zhengli in the crowd, as well as Sir Vilespirit, Li Mengtu, Yuanshan Su, Hordeslayer, and Rampart.

Sir Star Ring was also there, who looked to be in much better shape than the other fellow ascendees. Almost as soon as Xu Qing looked at him, he turned and looked back. Their gazes met. Both remained expressionless.

Time passed as more people arrived. Some people stuck to themselves, while others gathered in groups. People had obviously begun to form into factions over the past year, based on their experiences.

Sir Vilespirit was still operating alone. Yuanshan Su had originally planned to stick to herself, but had been unable to avoid some of the other female ascendees, who had chosen to ally themselves with her. Hordeslayer and Rampart were sticking close to Sir Star Ring, as were a group of a few dozen other cultivators.

The biggest group had gathered around Xu Qing. He had taken 1st place, so many people, upon spotting him, came over and cheerfully offered greetings. Zhou Zhengli and Li Mengtu were among them.

The former was acting like usual. Smiling, he offered an obsequious bow.

The latter had a serious look on his face. Keeping his voice low, he said, “Brother Xu, it looks like eleven from our group have gone missing. I just counted, and there are only eighty-nine people present!”

Xu Qing nodded.

Zhou Zhengli chuckled. “Dead, I suppose. We were given a year to rest and acclimate. But our star ring has always focused on raising venomous bugs in a jar. And thus....”

Zhou Zhengli looked at Xu Qing. The truth was that Zhou Zhengli had learned a lot about this heaven beyond heaven in the past year, and was on guard about what was to come. More than ever, he felt that it was important to maintain a good relationship with Xu Qing.

Therefore, he opened his mouth and said, “Things aren’t just brutal in the four great planetary systems. This entire heaven beyond heaven is very intense. To the higher-ups, only people who are truly important are those who have, at the very least, Quasi-Immortal battle prowess. In other words, you, Young Lord, as well as Sir Star Ring and Yuanshan Su. But that’s it. Just you three. Imperial Sovereigns... well, the higher-ups don’t care much about them. So, unless you have very good connections, advancing to a better position requires having a lot of resources and allying with a Quasi-Immortal.”

Zhou Zhengli didn’t bother to lower his voice when he said these things. The other ascendees in the area all heard him very clearly. All of them suddenly seemed very thoughtful.

Xu Qing looked at Zhou Zhengli. Zhou Zhengli smiled back obsequiously.

Xu Qing looked away and thought back to what Zhou Zhengli had said to him the previous year.

“My guess... is that a year from now, the whole lot of us are going to get the same assignment...”

Xu Qing thought about it for a moment. Time passed as everyone waited. There were no other cultivators atop the vast sea. No one had come to receive them.

But these were all extraordinary individuals, so none of them were going to get impatient being asked to wait. One by one, many of them sat down cross-legged.

Another two hours went by.

Eventually, a loud wind picked up, whereupon Xu Qing and Sir Star Ring both seemed to sense something. They looked up into the sky. Yuanshan Su was the third to notice what was happening. Everyone else, noticing the reaction of those three, did the same.

The sky was rippling, and golden light had appeared. It was the same type of light that had drawn them to this planet. There were a total of seventy or eighty streams of it, with a handful of them in front of the others. Heaven and earth began to tremble.

Only some of the cultivators in the group slammed into the surface of the sea and made craters. Most of them alighted stably on the water. They had been to this place before, and had the skill to maintain control.

All of these people were dressed the same way. They had on the same clothes that Xu Qing had first seen in the Daoforge Universe.... Each wore a gray hundred-pocket robe! Those robes were the signature clothing of the notorious Acquisitioners!

There were eight who were Quasi-Immortals, and they were obviously the leaders.

After they landed, Xu Qing’s expression didn’t change, but many of the other ascendees suddenly looked very serious.

The new arrivals looked at the gathered ascendees, particularly Xu Qing and the people surrounding him. Their gazes were like those of jackals. They seemed indifferent to life and full of unfeeling callousness. None of them said a word. Then their leaders shot off into the distance, followed by the others.

“Young Lord,” Zhou Zhengli said in a low voice, “they’re Acquisitioners.... Presumably, we’ve been drawn to this planet because of them.”

Xu Qing nodded.

However, things weren’t over yet. After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, more golden light appeared in the sky. Again, dozens of cultivators arrived in hundred-pocket robes. After landing on the sea, they raced away.

In that manner, time passed. Group after group of Acquisitioners arrived. None of them paid any attention to Xu Qing and the other ascendees.

After observing them, Xu Qing realized that they all had cold, greedy auras. And the higher their cultivation base, the more obvious it was that they had corpse energy and death auras. The reek of gore was especially prominent. Clearly, these people had long-term contact with corpses and death.

Eventually, when the golden light in the sky started to dim, another several dozen beams of light shot down and resolved into figures in front of them.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The one in the lead had an extremely terrifying aura. He was an old man who resembled a vulture, and his immortal embryo was at the great circle. He was just a step away from being an immortal! Upon landing, he turned to lead everyone away. But then....

A middle-aged cultivator in the group behind the old man stopped in place. Turning, he looked at Xu Qing and the others. And then... he looked behind Sir Star Ring, Hordeslayer, and Rampart. He smiled.

Xu Qing had seen this person before. He was the very same Quasi-Immortal cultivator who had caused trouble for Hordeslayer and Rampart back in the Daoforge Universe! His gaze came to rest on Sir Star Ring. Meanwhile, some of his fellows had stopped in place just like him.

Hurrying over to the terrifying old man, the middle-aged cultivator said a few words. The old man frowned, but eventually nodded. With the old man’s approval, the middle-aged Quasi-Immortal looked at Sir Star Ring and smiled.

“I’ve lost a few members of my squadron in the war. I need to make up some numbers, so as of this moment, you three are conscripted!”