Chapter 1246: A Wave of Destiny Arrives

Military credits were the main ways cultivators could be promoted in the army. And they were the main currency that could be used to acquire ringsource.

Although it wasn’t hard to earn military credits on the battlefield, it would definitely be difficult to get 1,000,000 of them. Normally speaking, getting that many would involve killing ten Altar Gods, or perhaps one peak Altar God. As for 10,000,000... it would be impossible to get that many without killing a True God.

But now, even just evidence leading to the capture of the goddess could bring in 1,000,000, while capturing hēr was worth 10,000,000. The vast majority of cultivators would find such a reward extremely enticing.

That wasn’t even to mention the fact that, in addition to military credits, the reward included ringsource. Ringsource was usually categorized into ‘portions.’ When Xu Qing and the ascendees were in the Department of Acquisitions, their mission requirements usually involved getting 100 portions of ringsource!

Considering that, a reward of 10 portions of ringsource for evidence of the goddess was equivalent to ten percent of their previous mission quota. Meanwhile, capturing the goddess would bring in 100 portions, which was obviously an astonishing amount.

As these orders filtered through the front lines, it caused a big surge of excitement among the army cultivators. Given the ringsource reward, even the most outstanding figures among the cultivators were interested.

But what was most enticing to the high-level cultivators, particularly those in the great circle of Quasi-Immortal, was... the daoist title of true monarch! True monarch was a title reserved for apprentices of Immortal Lords. It was a representation of status, resources, and a bright future. In other words, anyone who captured the goddess would gain an Immortal Lord as a Master!

Add all of those factors together, and it resulted in ninety-nine percent of cultivators being worked up into a frenzy.

The one percent who weren’t very excited by those things were the leadership cultivators who were already Lower Immortals, or army vassals with extremely high cultivation base and status. Yet, even their eyes were currently glittering, and their hearts pounding. That was because of the final item mentioned in the reward for capturing the goddess.

A dao weapon forged by an Immortal Lord! It would be a precious treasure that contained the might of an Immortal Lord! It would be

easier to find a phoenix feather or a qilin horn

than a treasure as rare as that. Even Lower Immortals would find something like that exciting.

The end result was that the new orders caused a huge sensation on the front lines of the eastern theater. In the blink of an eye, a massive search effort began. All army units and all cultivators, even the Corpsedrainers, took action!

Lower Immortals personally joined in the search, but also sent orders to their subordinates to do the same, while also offering their own rewards for those who reported clues.

Xu Qing and the other ascendees were just as excited.

That was especially true of Sir Vilespirit, whose eyes were completely bloodshot. The broken sword he wielded was his greatest strength, but it was also starting to hold him back. He had to constantly control it; if he failed to do so, then the blade would quickly turn him into nothing more than a puppet. But if he could become the apprentice of an Immortal Lord... then that could all change!

Li Mengtu struggled to control his breathing. He had long since hoped to get rid of the karma of his Master, Poison Monarch. And this mission... could be just the opportunity he was looking for.

Yuanshan Su and other ascendees were thinking similar things. Everyone had their own struggles and dreams that they never talked to others about. Now was their chance to fight for those hopes and dreams!

Hordeslayer and Rampart were particularly excited. Their thoughts were more simplistic than the others. If they could get an Immortal Lord as a Master, then they could envision Xu Qing groveling in front of them as a result.

Even Sir Star Ring’s eyes glittered. This reward was simply too amazing.

Of course, the reward also confirmed their previous speculations. This goddess was very important. That much was obvious considering that it was necessary to capture hēr alive.

Zhou Zhengli was feeling excited, but when he looked over and noticed that Xu Qing didn’t seem to be reacting at all, he forced himself to cool down. But after some thought, he decided that wasn’t the best tactic.

“Everyone, we need to refrain from being impulsive!” The thunderous boom of his voice struck the ascendees to the core.

They looked over. With a solemn expression, Zhou Zhengli continued, “Considering how important this goddess is, it doesn’t matter that shē’s injured.... We cannot afford to look down on hēr! Hēr father is a god. Not just any god. Hē’s God Lord Death Departure!

“This goddess will definitely have a lot of life-saving techniques to employ, and will have no shortage of bodyguards. Granted, the war reports indicated that some of hēr bodyguards died. But I refuse to believe that shē didn’t have backup plans in place! Considering this mission has such a spectacular reward, it goes without saying that it will be very dangerous!”

Yuanshan Su and the others considered his words.

But Sir Vilespirit’s eyes flashed. “That’s absurd! We’re cultivators! We defy the heavens! Since when do things go smoothly for us? Our whole lives are about fighting. We fight people. We fight the heavens. We fight gods!”

Zhou Zhengli snorted coldly. “We’re talking about going up against a True God! If we’re not careful, we could all end up dead.”

Sir Vilespirit laughed coldly and looked at everyone else. Soon, the others began giving their own opinions. It was something they had become accustomed to doing after working together for so long. When facing a new situation, they would discuss all the possibilities and ramifications. In the end, Xu Qing would make a decision based on that.

As they discussed whether or not to participate in the hunt for the goddess, Xu Qing looked off into the starry sky. Within him, Little Shadow was sending some emotional fluctuations....

“Mil... milord... there’s strong.... Very strong perfume!” With some effort, Little Shadow was able to share what it was sensing with Xu Qing.

Within Xu Qing’s soul, he could sense the fluctuations of fate growing stronger. Back when he got the war reports, Xu Qing had already come to the conclusion that his speculations were correct. The scene shown to him by the god of pain was becoming a reality. There really was a goddess on the battlefield. Fate was like a wave, and just as he had predicted, it was bringing the goddess to him....

“Milord, not far now.... Shē’s hidden... but shadow strong, senses, locked tight!” Little Shadow was getting increasingly excited.

Meanwhile, Zhou Zhengli and everyone else were reaching the end of their debate.

“How can you practice cultivation with such fear in your heart?”

“It might be dangerous, but if we’re the ones who find hēr first, think of the military credits!”

“This is pointless, everybody. The front lines are massive. The chances of us finding the goddess are miniscule.”

“It’s like

fishing a needle from the sea

. The only way we’ll run into this goddess is if it’s foreordained.”

“Therefore....”

All eyes eventually focused on Xu Qing. Even Zhou Zhengli sighed and looked at him, his heart burning.

Xu Qing shifted his gaze away from the starry sky and looked at the companions he had been traveling with for so long now.

“I might have a way to find the goddess,” Xu Qing said calmly. “But people will die.”

Everyone looked at him curiously.

Sir Star Ring gazed at Xu Qing with great meaning. “Before Zhou Zhengli started down this line of reasoning, I didn’t think we had any chance of finding this goddess. But he thinks it’s possible... and now you think it’s possible. It’s my choice how I live and die. If we succeed... we share the reward!”

Sir Vilespirit laughed. “Same for me!”

Li Mengtu, Yuanshan Su, and all the other ascendees thought about it and then agreed to join the effort.

The foolish but seemingly intelligent Hordeslayer and Rampart had started out very excited, but Zhou Zhengli’s arguments had been very convincing to them. Now they were hesitating. But everyone else had already agreed to continue, so they quickly transmitted a conversation between the two of them.

“This Xu fellow says he can find hēr? Is he telling the truth, or lying?”

“He said he ‘might’ have a way! I bet he’s just trying to show off. He said it that way so that he’ll have a good excuse if we don’t find hēr. And if we do find hēr, then he can take all the credit! Hmph! We can play tricks like that as well!”

“That’s so smart, brother!”

The two brothers proudly agreed to face the danger with everyone else!

Seeing that everyone had agreed, Xu Qing’s eyes glittered with determination. Turning, he followed the direction provided by Little Shadow. By tuning in on the fluctuations of fate, he shot off into the starry sky. Sir Star Ring and the others followed.

Time passed. A few days later... a rather small stellar wind drifted through the starry sky of the front lines in the eastern theater. It was full of dust and other unknown particles that made something like a nebula. It was like a long, thin strip, with lightning that crackled occasionally both inside and outside of it.

Nebulae like this weren’t uncommon in the starry sky. Because of the immense weight inside of it, the inanimate objects would clump together, eventually becoming hotter and hotter until a sun formed. Such nebulae formed when suns died. To a certain extent, it was correct to say that a nebula like that was the final breath of a dying sun.

Within this particular nebula was Goddess Starryeyes, the most wanted subject of the massive search effort. The old god was also there. Thēy had withheld no effort to conceal their auras, and had even used the magic of gods to hide in this stellar nebula. Thēy were actually using that final breath of a dying sun to help recover from thēir injuries.

“This magic will conceal our auras,” the old god said. “This location will conceal our energy. It should buy us some time to recover. Unless a Lower Immortal actually came into this nebula, the cultivators shouldn’t be able to find us. Your Grace, have you tried using your bloodline abilities to get in touch with the god emperor?”

Starryeyes was in the middle of doing some breathing exercises. Not bothering to open hēr eyes, shē calmly replied, “I got no response.”

The old god thought for a moment and was about to say something, when all of a sudden, hīs eyes flashed with golden light. He looked outside of the nebula. Out in the starry sky, he saw something rippling. Circular fluctuations rolled out as, astonishingly, a host of cultivators appeared.

They stopped right outside of the nebula. There they hovered, clearly not intending to go anywhere. There were a total of nineteen of them. In the lead was Xu Qing! His eyes glittered brightly as he looked at the majestic nebula.

Inside the nebula, Goddess Starryeyes’ chest tightened. Shē opened hēr eyes and looked out. Somehow, hēr eyes met Xu Qing’s eyes.

The tugging of fate caused Xu Qing’s heart to pound like thunder.

At the same time, Little Shadow was excitedly shouting within him. “God... God Lord’s... bloodline!”