Chapter 1232: Lighting a Blood-Colored Lantern

Thanks to Zhou Zhengli, everyone gave up on the idea of turning the tables on the gods, and using their status as bait to create their own ambushes. Ringsource was good, but living was better.

If they ended up being targeted by a True God and a host of Altar Gods, then they would definitely be killed. They had been fortunate on their journey so far. The best thing to do going forward was to stay cautious and remain hidden.

And thus, Xu Qing and his squadron disappeared into the universe.

***

In the eastern theater, there were quite a few more god squadrons similar to the one Xu Qing had encountered. Apparently, thēy had been able to remain in hiding this long thanks to outside help. As a result, the cultivators had a very hard time identifying thēm. And if things had gone along as normal, there wouldn’t have been any way to root thēm out easily.

What was more, these gods had godhood, which was a new development. They were not ordinary gods. Thēy had powerful godly authority, and that was evident from the results of their ambushes.

The staging areas of the eastern theater were already descending into disorder. The cultivator army stationed there had no choice but to split up to suppress and contain the incidents.

Before long, the staging areas in the eastern theater were in complete chaos. Within that chaos, and amidst the numerous universes in the eastern theater, there was one universe called the Gracesource Universe. It contained innumerable galaxies, and among those was an unremarkable little galaxy, within which was a very ordinary planet.

The planet was yellow. Looking down at the planet from the starry sky, it was possible to see the earth seething as a huge rift opened up on it. The rift grew wider and wider, and then it started to open up.

It was an eye! Put precisely, this was no planet. It was actually the eye of a god, disguised as a planet, and now it was opening up! Within the golden pupil, it was possible to see an army of gods that numbered no fewer than 10,000!

Perhaps thēy had been there all along, or perhaps thēy had used some special teleportation method to go there. Regardless of how, thēy were there now. Astonishingly, they included gods in the Godfire level, a large number of Altar Gods, many in the peak of that level, and serving as high commanders... there were three True Gods!

One of thēm had a fog obscuring hīs facial features, but hīs godly might caused the surrounding starry sky to ripple and distort. Another was covered from head to toe with fire, and pulsed with an incomparably holy aura. The last was about the same size as a human. Hē was clad in black armor that included a helmet covering hīs entire head. Hē seemed infinitely mysterious.

As soon as the god army thēy commanded arrived... the entire battlefield changed!

The war between the Fourth and Fifth Star Rings was a war of momentum. The scope of the war was like a black and white ink painting, and right now, the black was flowing and the white was seething. They were devouring each other while simultaneously pushing each other away.

Previously, if one could look down on the eastern theater from above, it was full of the white that represented immortal energy. But right now, the conflict between the God Lord and the Immortal Lord, which no one could directly perceive, was changing.

In one small area of the battlefield, the black god energy suddenly became very weak. The mutagen vanished, and the white immortal energy rushed into the area. Meanwhile, an area filled with the white immortal energy was suddenly driven away, to be replaced by the pitch-black of mutagen.

That area was... in the staging areas of the eastern theater! It was a dramatic change!

Because of it, all of the staging areas in the eastern theater suddenly filled with mutagen. Countless cultivator armies were suddenly struck with mutagen, weakening their cultivation bases and infecting them severely.

Godly energy surged, and mutagen went wild. All of the dao flags planted in the universes of the staging areas began to rock back and forth wildly. Cracking sounds rang out. It seemed like the dao flags would start crumbling at any moment. If they did, then it would mean that the cultivators had lost control of the area. And if the eastern theater suffered such a grievous loss, the armies on the front lines would be isolated.

But the cultivator forces rallied. They went all out to protect the dao flags, all in the hopes of buying time.

The gods attacking the Transporter squadrons no longer remained in hiding. They emerged into the open, taking advantage of the mutagen to release an intense tempest of godly might. And they all shot directly toward the nearest dao flags.

At the same time, in many universes, other entities similar to the yellow planet from earlier all opened thēir eyes to reveal armies of gods. Battle raged.

It was impossible to say if the god armies had been lying in wait, or if thēy had taken advantage of the chaos to slip behind enemy lines unnoticed. From the large number of troops involved, the latter seemed like the most likely possibility. Regardless, from the way thēy were taking advantage of the situation, it seemed clear that the gods were the ones taking the initiative to attack. There was no way thēy could have attacked with such precision at the exact moment that there was a change in momentum between the God Lord and the Immortal Lord.

The goal of the attack was obvious: to destroy the dao flags in the universes of the eastern theater’s staging areas, and to turn the entire region into god territory!

***

As the gods appeared everywhere in the staging areas of the eastern theater, there was a spot in the very middle, in a place called the Cloudwatching Universe... where cultivator armies were arrayed in formation.

Every single galaxy there contained a huge army. Every single planet had an army banner on it. The somber and desolate atmosphere grew stronger. This was the location in staging areas of the eastern theater where the high commander banner flew!

All military orders in the eastern theater came from this location. In the middle of that starry sky was an enormous immortal altar that shone with boundless immortal light. And at that spot... an enormous figure sat cross-legged.

He was the highest-ranking high commander, and he was none other than the Fifth Star Ring’s extremely famous Immortal Monarch Silent Dao! He was the second-in-command to Immortal Lord Deepgloom! His cultivation base was at the peak of Lower Immortal! He was an experienced killer, and was known to be the strongest expert among peak Lower Immortals.

In the pursuit of his dao, he had come very close to the great circle. As his eyes opened, they glittered with killing intent.

“They took the bait,” he murmured quietly.

During this war, both gods and immortals had set up very complicated and wide-ranging plans!

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The squadrons weren’t the only bait. The dao flags, the cultivators guarding the dao flags, the staging areas of the eastern theater... and even Immortal Monarch Silent Dao himself. They were all bait! The goal was to turn the eastern theater into a massive vortex of flesh and blood. Like a bright lantern on a dark night, it would grab the attention of the army of gods. And it would also be a cover to hide the true plan....

A cultivator with a mysterious origin, an assassin, was heading to the front lines in the Fourth Star Ring to secretly kill the commander of the gods’ eastern army, a peak True God.

Let’s see what happens first. Will you manage to isolate me here and kill me, or... will my mysterious assassin take you out?

Silent Dao’s eyes narrowed as he looked off into the distance.

Who is that mysterious cultivator...? Master picked him and trusts him. And he’s strong enough to kill a True God? There aren’t many people like that...

***

Mutagen raged in the staging areas of the eastern theater. It was getting stronger and stronger. The Transporter squadrons were shaken by all the developments. Of the more than one hundred squadrons that had come, most had suffered casualties.

Within the mutagen-filled starry sky, Xu Qing and his squadron all had very serious looks on their faces.

Sounding very grim, Zhou Zhengli said, “Based on what I can tell, about seventy percent of the squadrons... have been wiped out! Those who survived have moved in the direction of the nearest dao flags. What’s coming next is going to be a major offensive by the gods. That means we have a decision to make as well. Do we try to make it to the nearest dao flag? Or... do we keep going?”

Zhou Zhengli looked at Xu Qing. He wasn’t the only one. The other ascendees were all looking at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing surveyed the surroundings quietly. The sudden development had been surprising even to him. Things in the starry sky had changed in an instant. The immortal energy was gone, and mutagen was everywhere. He actually felt somewhat stunned.

Truth be told, he was used to being in places with a lot of mutagen. In fact, it felt familiar. It was very much like the Revered Ancient mainland. He knew that cultivators with powerful cultivation bases could resist mutagen for a time. But if they stayed in such an environment for too long, they would gradually be invaded by it.

What was more... the cultivation base required replenishment after use. And when you absorbed the energy of heaven and earth, and it contained mutagen, then eventually you would show signs of mutation.

Given all that, it seemed that searching for a dao flag wasn’t the best option. Besides, failure to find one could mean death, and he would have no control over that.

As for continuing onward.... Getting out of the staging areas and to the front lines also came with a lot of unknowns. For one thing, he had no idea what they might encounter along the way. What was more, he didn’t know how badly the front lines were infected with mutagen. There was also the possibility of getting lost.

But at least there’s a chance for survival amidst those unknowns. And I’ll have some measure of control! If I stay here, and really do find a dao flag, then it will just mean getting stuck there. And that will be an even more passive position.

After some consideration, his eyes shone with determination. His voice echoed out.

“I want to keep going. I want to reach the front lines of the eastern theater. But if the rest of you want to do something else... I won’t stop you.”

With that, he started moving onward. Li Mengtu and Zhou Zhengli followed immediately. Sir Vilespirit and Yuanshan Su hesitated briefly, during which time Sir Star Ring followed Xu Qing. Hordeslayer and Rampart gritted their teeth and did the same. Finally, Yuanshan Su joined them. Sir Vilespirit sighed inwardly and made the same choice.

As for the other ascendees, the majority made the decision to continue with Xu Qing. Some of them chose not to. Over eighty people had been with Xu Qing during the journey. For the first time, they split up.

Fifty continued on. Thirty went their own way.

It was currently impossible to say which group made the right choice.