Chapter 1326: Bitter Emperor

In response to Xu Qing’s words, the huge snake trembled violently, and let loose a howl that could pierce the soul. It echoed in the darkness of the Spirit Abyss, spiraling out like enormous waves.

At the same time, within the world atop the snake’s head, Emperor Ancient Spirit’s eyes went wide, and he began to tremble inwardly. His instinct was to flee. At the same time, fluctuations sprang up around all of the eyes. As soon as the fluctuations erupted, the eyes all vanished.

Xu Qing’s expression remained calm as he said, “Get back here.”

The reality was that all space-time in this area had been locked down as soon as Xu Qing arrived. Only someone at a higher cultivation level than him could leave freely.

And thus, as soon as he spoke, Emperor Ancient Spirit’s eyes all reappeared. This time, they weren’t inside the world. Instead... they were on the snake. One by one, eyes opened on the decomposing snake, inside of its flesh. They were unable to leave. Terror was visible within each of the opened eyes.

But Emperor Ancient Spirit didn’t dare to fight back. Hē had no choice but to let Zhou Zhengli and the others do as they wished in the world above.

“I never did anything to offend you, Xu Qing!”

Divine will emerged from all of the eyes, converging into a godly voice that spoke to Xu Qing. The voice sounded anxious, even scared, and lacked any majesty that it had contained in the past.

As Xu Qing hovered there, he reached out to grab the snake. The huge snake trembled violently, body blurring. A wail of agony rang out.

The snake’s body was melting. The eyes screamed as they popped out of the flesh and gathered in front of Xu Qing. A sensation of death grew strong.

Emperor Ancient Spirit instinctively began to scream and beg.

“I helped you in the past, Xu Qing! Back when you were weak, you provoked me over and over again, but I never harmed you!”

Xu Qing said nothing in response. All of his dealings with Emperor Ancient Spirit in the past had involved very dangerous transactions. The only reason Emperor Ancient Spirit had not killed him was because of fear, and also because Xu Qing brought value. And the only reason Xu Qing had brought food was because he needed help fighting Crimson Mother.

He squeezed down harder. A ripping sound rang out, and Emperor Ancient Spirit screamed more. The many eyes on the snake were popping off one after another. Soon, a total of ninety-nine eyes hovered in front of Xu Qing. And then, immense pressure crushed down on them, mashing them together into a ball of flesh made of eyes. But the pressure didn’t stop.

“Xu Qing, I helped your daoist partner! I can still help you! With me around, she won’t suffer the effects of the curse! I know what you’re capable of but, I can... I can substitute for her in tribulations! You know that Ancient Spirits have bloodline tribulations. I can stand in for her!!”

Emperor Ancient Spirit’s eye shivered as the pressure crushed down. For a moment, it seemed that his line of reasoning was working, as the pressure eased up slightly.

But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, Xu Qing’s other hand shot out. To Emperor Ancient Spirit’s astonishment, Xu Qing’s hand latched down onto a spot right in front of the eye. The pupil of the eye constricted.

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered with cold light. As his hand clenched down, a golden thread appeared that no one had noticed before. Bizarrely, it both existed and didn’t exist, at the same time. One end was attached to Emperor Ancient Spirit’s eyes, while the other... stretched off into the darkness and gloom.

So, it’s just as I predicted.

Xu Qing had guessed that the reason Emperor Ancient Spirit had survived for so long wasn’t just due to his own unique nature. He had outside help. Perhaps Emperor Ancient Spirit’s personhood was what made him a good choice of a pawn.

This hair makes it clear who the backer really is.

As Xu Qing gripped the thread, he sent divine will through it and into the darkness. The gloom of the Spirit Abyss became illuminated as if with heavenly fire, allowing him to see everything clearly. It was easy to lock down on what was at the other end of the thread.

In the shortest of moments, Xu Qing’s divine will saw what existed in the depths of the Spirit Abyss. There was a beast lurking in the mist there. It was a beast that looked somewhat like a golden lizard. And the beast was asleep.

However, when Xu Qing’s divine will approached, the beast’s eyes opened. The gaze made contact with Xu Qing’s divine will. Formless fluctuations erupted in the Spirit Abyss. Boundless curse power emerged from the awakened beast.

Īt was actually the fourth God Paragon that existed outside of Revered Ancient! Of course, what was manifested here was only a stream of divine will. Even still, when īt and Xu Qing faced off, the void shattered, causing rifts to fly out through the Spirit Abyss.

Xu Qing ignored that, and instead looked coldly at the beast. The golden beast looked back just as coldly.

“Give me that Ancient Spirit behind you and I’ll leave.”

The golden beast’s godly voice caused all wills, souls, and everything else to tremble. The words even caused Xu Qing’s canon and statute to tremble. After all, this was the divine will of a God Paragon!

That said, Xu Qing was by no means unfamiliar with God Paragons. Despite how his canon and statute were affected, the fire of a lamp ignited in front of him.

Then came the lampshade. Xu Qing grasped the lamp and held it aloft. The lamp had been crafted from the eye of a God Paragon, and that eye now opened. Boundless golden light turned into a vast sea that rushed toward the beast. That one glance caused the void to shatter, and brought signs of destruction from every direction.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The golden beast shook violently as cracks spread out over hīm. The beast even backed up, gaze cold. Īt looked at the lamp, then at Xu Qing. As the beast backed up, the surrounding air collapsed. In the end, īt chose to give up on the idea of probing for further information, and instead decided to leave Revered Ancient and go back to hīs true form.

But....

Before Xu Qing drew that line of demarcation, he would have let the beast leave without interfering. But he had made that line, and the beast had chosen to stay. Therefore, īt was not going to leave casually.... If īt succeeded, it would obviously cause irreparable damage to the credibility of Xu Qing’s earlier ultimatum! Regardless of which angle he looked at it, Xu Qing knew he had to act. He needed the outsiders to understand the ramifications of choosing to stay.

Therefore, he lifted the lamp, looked at the departing golden beast, and calmly said, “Entropy!”

The lamp vibrated, and it was just barely possible to hear something like labored breathing from the ancient past. It was the departing breath of the former God Paragon of the Fifth Star Ring.

When the sound echoed into the void, the eye in the lamp emitted a golden light that was vastly superior to anything from before. In the blink of an eye, the entire surrounding void turned golden!

Next, the entire world turned golden. That breath affected the void. The mist. All things... including the beast that was trying to leave.

The beast shivered. Hē could sense... the godly authority of a God Paragon!

So-called entropy was the process all things went through, a transformation from order into chaos. But by tapping into that godly authority and using the bolstering aspect of it, any and all things could be transformed.