Chapter 1333: Immortals of Deep Earth

A cacophony of chewing sounds drifted up from the corpse of the god emperor. The worms were going completely crazy. All of them were going all out to take ravenous bite after bite. The blue light they emanated covered the corpse, so that the entire god emperor looked bright blue.

The sight caused Xu Qing to sigh in his heart. His Eldest Brother was about as far away from “ordinary” as was possible.

Erniu’s proud voice echoed out in all directions. “What do you think? Pretty awesome, right?”

Master Seventh looked surprised as he stared, first at the corpse, then at Erniu. Frowning, he said, “In order to stop the god emperor from returning, we dismembered him. We took the head to the Summer Immortal Palace, then cut the rest of the body into dozens of parts that we sealed in different places in Brilliant Heaven. You... found all the dismembered parts and put them back together?”

Erniu seemed to be quivering in excitement. This was the exact moment he had been waiting for. “Exactly! Listen, old man. Most of the places where you had sealed him were starting to open up. If I hadn’t realized that, it very well could have led to the old god emperor waking up sooner or later.

“It’s just the will of heaven. My foreordained fate was to find out what was going on. And that’s when I came up with my master plan! I chewed my way through the various seals you people had put in place. Then I dragged the body parts here to the ocean of god blood and put them all back together.

“With the nourishment of the god blood, the body parts showed signs of life. At the same time, I split my own fleshly body into a host of worms that have been eating that flesh day and night! What do you think, little Ah Qing? Does your Eldest Brother know how to pull off big jobs, or what?” Erniu threw his head back and laughed complacently.

Master Seventh looked thoughtfully at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing smiled and nodded. “Eldest Brother, you always come up with solid plans. I can’t believe I didn’t think of doing this. You really are just one step away from conquering Brilliant Heaven.”

Xu Qing made sure to plaster the perfect expression of admiration onto his face. His choice of words and his facial expression made Erniu feel about as wonderful as possible. He seemed like he was about to start floating.

“How else could I be the Eldest Brother?” Erniu said jovially.

Xu Qing smiled and nodded, then turned to Master Seventh. “Master, why don’t we help Eldest Brother finish his meal a bit more quickly?”

In response, Master Seventh pointed down at the ground and said, “If you want to spoil him, that’s fine. You haven’t seen my immortal dao, so I might as well take this opportunity to improve your understanding of how I view immortals! Immortal personhood is eternal, but the path to it is not fixed!”

Master Seventh’s words were like thunder booming out into Brilliant Heaven. When he started speaking, he sounded a bit sad, but as he continued, his words grew increasingly vigorous until all of the surrounding lands shook. It looked as if... the lands were collapsing, and something hidden beneath Brilliant Heaven were breaking up into the open!

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered as he looked at Master Seventh. He could sense his Master’s personhood skyrocketing along with his battle prowess. And yet, there were no signs of canon or statute! It was as if Master Seventh, despite being an immortal, didn’t have canon!

Master Seventh could tell what Xu Qing was thinking. As he powered up, he continued to explain.

“Fourth Sib, I know you’ve been to other star rings, and you’ve met many types of cultivators. You’ve become an immortal with your own dao, which the people out there call canon. Canon is similar to godly authority, and requires a source. It can be used against various gods of the higher star rings!

“In the past, the immortals of Revered Ancient, whether that was Ancient Emperor Dark Serenity or Emperor Ancient Spirit, followed a path that involved fusing with the natural laws and will of Revered Ancient!

“Actually, those two different paths are very similar.... They both involved gaining enlightenment of the natural laws of a higher star ring.”

Having said that, Master Seventh lifted the finger that was pointing down. As his fingertip rose upward, the rumbling from below grew more intense. It multiplied many times over, so that everything below was shaking violently. At the same time, the energy of a higher star ring began to rise up from Brilliant Heaven. It was full of something wild, complex, and primeval!

The moment Xu Qing sensed it, he felt shaken. “Is that...?”

Then, Master Seventh offered the complete explanation. “Your Master... walks yet another path used by the Seniors who came here from Deep Earth! I have no canon. That’s because my dream was not to acclimate to Brilliant Heaven. It was to upgrade Deep Earth! I never wanted to merge with Revered Ancient. And that was because our plan was for Revered Ancient to simply be the first part of the journey.

“That is why we never put any permanent natural or magical laws in place. We gained enlightenment of Deep Earth’s origin, and became external anchors for Deep Earth’s natural laws. We represent Deep Earth wherever we go, and can attract the foundation of Deep Earth to serve as a force of annihilation!

“That is how we became the Immortals of Deep Earth!

Master Seventh splayed his fingers and pushed his palm down toward the lands below. Everything shook wildly.

It looked like the lands of Brilliant Heaven were going to completely collapse under the weight of the palm. And yet, they did not actually shatter. Instead, as they rocked back and forth, they emitted the energy of a higher star ring. Strands of energy proliferated, growing stronger and turning into a roiling mist that was visible to the naked eye.

As Xu Qing watched, the mist created an astonishing panorama like a mirage. It was something Xu Qing had seen before in the Summer Immortal Palace. It was... the Deep Earth star ring! He could see every world, every universe, and every location!

The moment it appeared, it swept toward Master Seventh, merged into him, and caused his energy to skyrocket! Dazzling and auspicious colors swirled into a haze around him.

Yet Xu Qing could see that this power up was actually like an illusory pagoda in the sky. It didn’t truly belong to Master Seventh. It would only do that... if the image in the mirage became true and real! Without that, it was only temporary.

“Behold an Immortal of Deep Earth!” Master Seventh said softly. “Unfortunately, as our understanding became more complete, we found that the path upward is terrifying. Brilliant Heaven was only a small factor in it all. This place was a world of gods, and Deep Earth couldn’t reach it. Our path could not be walked to the end.

“That is why my Master and his fellow daoists chose to leave. They wanted to explore the path beyond, and determine where to go next. I was left behind in Revered Ancient.” Master Seventh sighed. “As of now, I could very well be the only Immortal of Deep Earth.

“Because Brilliant Heaven is close to Deep Earth, my battle prowess is more impressive here! This was where I originally planned to fight that certain person to the death! But using this on the body of the Brilliant Heaven god emperor will be worth it!”

Master Seventh’s eyes glittered as if with rivers of stars. Within them were all the worlds of Deep Earth. Then he lifted his hand before dropping it toward the corpse of the god emperor, which was still covered with Erniu in all of his worm forms.