Chapter 1244: Immortal Lord Deepgloom Wasn’t Lying

All of it made Xu Qing think about the True God he had imprisoned in the Green Heaven....

To mortals, fate was a mysterious thing that could hardly be comprehended. But to most cultivators who walked a path that defied heaven, there was a point in life in which they had to bow their head to fate. When that happened, they would smile bitterly... and admit that they accepted fate. That was just the helplessness of life. It was a way to add meaning to fickle reality. There was no point in fighting it. It was better to just acclimate to how things worked.

Unfortunately... some living things, for instance gods or immortals, were higher forms of existence. To them, fate was not something mysterious. Nor was it something unperceivable. They could see the evidence of fate, and could even lift the veil covering it. Some could even tamper with it, making certain things uncertain, or uncertain things certain.

Back in the Fifth Star Ring, there had been a very famous god known as the god of pain! Bimo Si! Though hē was not a God Lord, hīs godly authority was special. In fact, it was so special that, if hē encountered a God Lord in hīs heyday, that God Lord would treat hīm with honor.

That was because hīs illusions contained truth! That was why, when hē encountered Xu Qing during hīs attempted return, the unleashing of hīs godly authority caused certain things to change.

Right now, the fear within Xu Qing was like the wings of fate flapping. What he had sensed just now, other than something similar to what he had experienced when fighting the god of pain, was an even more important karma. It was... An old enemy he was very familiar with. It was his older brother, the Crown Prince of Violet and Cyan. It was another terrifying entity who also commanded the power of fate.

Xu Qing had long since been fighting back against him. In fact, due to a destined opportunity in Revered Ancient, he had acquired a very similar godly authority!

That was his carving knife of fate! It could carve out additional fates, and make outside variables become the main reality. It could make fates appear beyond ordinary fate. He didn’t have that carving knife with him. He had left it behind with his god clone, back in Revered Ancient. But the karma was still connected to him.

That was the reason for the thoughtful look on Xu Qing’s face. He was thinking about the True God imprisoned in the Green Heaven, and the pain he had experienced thanks to hīs godly authority. His eyes became very cold.

I went to the front lines and ran into the daughter of a god. The God Lord eventually killed everyone.... Is that what happens next? I run into this goddess?

His eyes narrowed as a fierce coldness filled his heart. Eventually, he looked away from the Fourth Star Ring and focused on the work at hand on the battlefield. Occasionally, the same sensation would strike him.

A month went by.

During that time, Xu Qing went about his usual routine. He drained gods, he worked on cultivation, and he absorbed ringsource. His cultivation base continued to climb. He was now very stable in early Quasi-Immortal.

The lingering sense of fear appeared now and then, but he ignored it. He already knew what he would do about the situation. And so... he waited. He was waiting for ripples in fate. He was waiting for that which was foreordained to present itself to him.

***

The starry sky was like a sea, with waves rippling through it. They were caused by godly voices.

In the eastern theater of the Fourth Star Ring, important things were still happening in the garrison of the gods. The true name of the commander of the army of gods was repeatedly being uttered from the area of the nine altars.

It wasn’t just the prostrating True Gods who were saying the name. The life force of all the countless corpses and bones that made up the nine altars were also calling out. They were all chanting that true name! All of those godly voices gathered around the goddess who hovered above the coffin, whose bloodline power spread out into the void, connecting the ancient to the modern.

The higher star ring cherished the ancient agreement, and thus gave the blessing of power that would call the True God back after death. It lit the path, becoming the guide, and opening the barriers! The aura of returning grew stronger. Godly might grew more majestic, slowly becoming viscous, turning into an actual sea in the starry sky.

Mutagen and godly authority were turning into a god sea! This was the first step of returning.

The commander-in-chief of the gods in the eastern theater was truly on the way to awakening. The eyes of all the other gods present were shining. Clearly, it was time to start the second step of the return.

However, that was when something very dramatic happened! An ear-splitting boom shook the starry sky. The nine god altars looked like they might collapse. All of the statue planets and the temples shook violently. It was the same with the river of stars.

The True Gods chanting the true name of their commander-in-chief, plus the goddess above the coffin, were all stunned. The entire area was part of the Fourth Star Ring, and it was full of dense mutagen. It originally was a swath of pitch black. But now... the color white had appeared!

It was the momentum of the immortals! It was a sudden invasion.

The starry sky was transforming. Anyone who looked up with eyes profound enough to see would be able to spot, high in the void, was something that stretched out over both the Fourth and the Fifth Star Ring. Two magnificent entities were there, fighting a battle of momentum.

Immortal Lord Deepgloom had played a game piece in the eastern theater of the gods! Because of this immortal invasion, the entire area became like an ink painting.

Black and white crisscrossed. Ink flowed. Both sides were fighting back and trying to get the upper hand. As the black and white moved, the ink moved, and the battle status changed! Clearly, this incursion of white immortal energy was the result of a lot of preparation. The instant the barriers of the star ring were broken, numerous cultivators started teleporting, pulsing with baleful auras!

In the lead was a grim, middle-aged man who was Immortal Lord Deepgloom’s second-in-command. He was the commander-in-chief of the eastern theater, Immortal Monarch Silent Dao! Astonishingly, he had come straight from the grindstone of flesh and blood to this spot, teleported along with his subordinates. The moment he appeared, pulsing with a baleful aura, his eyes shining so coldly they could freeze universes, he shot... toward the goddess!

The gods were so stunned thēy couldn’t react.

From the look of it, this had been Immortal Lord Deepgloom’s plan all along. The lantern that had been lit in the eastern theater was the distraction. And then the mysterious cultivator assassinated the True God, which drew out the goddess. From beginning to end, the goal had been the goddess!

Goddess Starryeyes was the only child of the God Lord opposed by Immortal Lord Deepgloom. She had hēr father’s bloodline godly authority. If he could capture hēr... then he would gain massive momentum in the war!

This was a battle that surpassed any of the previous battles. Over a hundred True Gods and Lower Immortals participated, along with countless other cultivators and gods. And things... were just getting started! Boundless slaughter spread, shaking universes.

As the cultivators launched their incisive sneak attack, a blow to the gut of the gods’ army... the subject of the attack, the goddess that Immortal Monarch Silent Dao was after... didn’t react at all. Shē just kept chanting the name of the True God!

An instant later, more dramatic things occurred! All of the temples, and all of the statue planets, plus the entire star river, began to glitter, sending out beams of golden light.

Terrifying pressure built up! The starry sky seemed to shatter, as if some veil were suddenly being forcefully lifted away.... A host of spectacular god formations suddenly appeared on the battlefield! There were no less than 1,000,000 of them. And they all erupted at the same time!

Godly might swelled. Mutagen swept out. The cultivators who bore the brunt of it were suppressed. Their minds and hearts trembled as blood sprayed from their mouths. Their souls felt like they were being extracted, and massive weight crushed onto their fleshly bodies. In contrast, the gods were bolstered, and their battle prowess improved. The decline of one side and the improvement to the other was obvious.

At the core of the 1,000,000 formations was the fallen commander-in-chief of the gods. As hē returned, the power of the god formations built up.

This entire thing was a trap! The Immortal Lord had been plotting against the God Lord. But the God Lord had used hīs daughter as bait to plot against the Immortal Lord! Both sides had played game pieces. And now those pieces were clashing!

The slaughter instantly intensified. In the very middle of the battlefield was the goddess, hovering above the coffin, wearing an expression of pure calm.

Immortal Monarch Silent Dao was racing toward hēr. But the god formations were blocking his path and preventing him from entering the very middle of the battlefield.

Then, the void around the goddess blurred as three True Gods stepped out. After surveying the area coldly, thēy stood guard all around hēr.

Starryeyes smiled faintly. Not even looking at the battlefield, shē closed hēr eyes and continued to chant the true name, hēr voice growing continuously ethereal. All shē had to do was successfully call back the commander-in-chief of the eastern theater. The process of awakening would bolster the god formations, and the cultivators would continue to be slaughtered. And then, when the commander-in-chief woke up, the battle... would end in victory for the gods.

As the chanting continued, shē lifted her right hand to hēr forehead. Suddenly, shē shivered from head to toe. Then hēr skin withered, and hēr life force rippled. Hēr blood seemed to burn. Astonishingly, shē... was paying a steep price to speed up the process. Even if shē hērself dropped from the True God level temporarily as a result, it was worth it to speed up the return.

The sense of awakening from the corpse in the coffin grew more intense. This sudden twist put the cultivator force in imminent danger.

Immortal Monarch Silent Dao’s gaze turned razor sharp as he tried to break through the barriers. Unfortunately... the god formations surged, and the lockdown in the central area only grew stronger. What was more, the three True Gods standing guard were bolstering the defenses as well, making it impossible for Immortal Monarch Silent Dao to get in anytime soon. There wasn’t enough time!

In hēr determination, the goddess let hēr cultivation level drop. Then shē spat out a mouthful of god blood, which shē turned into a boundlessly mysterious symbol that pulsed with the aura of the star ring itself. It dropped down into the coffin, where it landed on the chest of the commander-in-chief.

The moment it landed, the goddess’s voice echoed across the battlefield. “Return!”

The starry sky seemed to congeal. Everything turned slow and sluggish, all while a tempest of soundlessness seemed to fill the area. Wind swept from all directions toward the coffin, where it converged on the corpse.

The corpse... suddenly twitched. The eyes slowly opened! The corpse stood! Hīs massive frame pulsed with a terrifying aura, causing countless life forms to tremble. The awakening was complete!

1,000,000 god formations erupted. Countless gods chanted in godly voices. Mutagen swept across the battlefield, and godly voices overwhelmed everything.

The cultivators were completely taken aback.

As for Starryeyes, shē stuck up hēr chin. Hēr bloodline and status, as well as the help shē had provided in the return, ensured that, as shē stood there, the commander-in-chief immediately bowed.

It seemed that everything was over. But then, just as it appeared that the cultivators were going to experience a huge catastrophe, the black mutagen of the gods seethed. A boundless will then erupted from inside.

“He’s not a hē!”[1]

All of a sudden, the gods’ commander-in-chief shivered. Then hē swiveled and thrust hīs fist out toward the goddess! It was only a single fist, but it caused the starry sky to collapse. Boundless and terrifying power very close to that of a God Lord swept forth destructively.

The goddess’s face fell, and hēr pupils constricted. But there was no time for hēr to evade.

It was the same with the three True Gods! The development was simply too unexpected. In the blink of an eye, the three True Gods were ripped to shreds. That single fist caused all of them to explode, even their god souls.

As for Starryeyes, hēr entire body blurred. And then it was just barely possible to see an ancient lamp. The lamp went out, and shē disappeared.

The entire battlefield was thrown into an uproar.

Countless gazes locked onto the commander-in-chief up in midair as hē murmured, “God Lamp Life Substitution?”

Hē looked up. Both gods and cultivators on the battlefield were too stunned to react as hē began laughing. Then... hē began to shine with dazzling light. It wasn’t the gold of the gods. It was... silver!

The light swept out to fill the starry sky. Then a hoarse voice could be heard.

“I am the cultivator Spirit Jade.”

The words struck the battlefield like an earthquake! The gods were stunned, but the cultivators were exuberant. As the words left his mouth, he waved his hand, and the 1,000,000 god formations inverted. Cultivator morale went through the roof.

If Xu Qing had been present, he would have recognized that name. It was the name inscribed on one of the gravestones in the Heroic Immortal Tombs in the Nineshores heaven beyond heaven.[2]

“Life is like a dream, and time is like a song. And the starry sea eventually comes to an end.

“I am Immortal Monarch Spirit Jade. I eradicated a True God and drank hīs blood. I wiped out hīs mark like the turtledove occupying the magpie’s nest. Let’s see what happens in the future.... Will it be hē who returns, or me?

“If hē returns, my corpse will emanate golden light, and later generations can erase the True God from existence. But if it’s me... then silver light will shine, and I will slay gods again!”

***

Immortal Monarch Silent Dao’s expression was calm, as if this wasn’t a surprise at all. Nodding at Spirit Jade, he said, “How’s that body feel for you?”

Spirit Jade grinned. “This isn’t the god I slayed. But to bring me back in the body of this commander-in-chief.... Well, Immortal Lord Deepgloom really wasn’t lying when he said he could make it happen!”

1. Just like in English, the pronouns are pronounced exactly the same. So in reality, this dialogue wouldn’t work when spoken. It only works when you can see the characters. (Actually, in Chinese, he and she are pronounced exactly the same as well, as is the other common pronoun “it” that’s usually used for animals.) ☜

2. The name Spirit Jade was previously mentioned in

chapter 1202

. ☜