Chapter 1335: Freedom

Erniu sent the mysterious ball of light flying right toward Xu Qing. Instantly, his proud voice faded into weakness. The blue glow immediately began to fade away from the arm of the god emperor that Erniu had possessed. At the same time, the god emperor’s godly might erupted dramatically. Clearly, Erniu was about to be suppressed and then completely erased.

It was a critical moment. That was when the illusory image of Deep Earth on Master Seventh glittered. Spreading out, it cut off the mutagen from the outside world, thus slowing down the awakening of the god emperor.

At the same time, Xu Qing lifted his right hand toward the glowing ball of light. All of a sudden, a mirror shard appeared within the flesh of his palm. It was a diamond-shaped mirror covered with flowing light capable of reflecting all things in the world. It also pulsed with a canon and statute aura that surpassed that of a Summer Immortal, and was perhaps even higher than that of an Immortal Lord. The immortal will spread further through Brilliant Heaven.

This item came from Immortal Lord Mi Ming! Before Xu Qing left the Fifth Star Ring, Mi Ming had given him a gift of his own canon! If any other person used that canon, the results would be ordinary in nature.

But Xu Qing was different. He had entered Mi Ming’s memories, and had also substituted for Mi Ming in reflected history. During that time, he had lived through the most important part of Mi Ming’s life. Because of the experience, there was probably nobody in any of the thirty-six higher star rings who could almost perfectly unleash Mi Ming’s canon the way he could.

Other than the lamp Grandmaster Bai had given him, this was the most powerful type of canon he could utilize. As the mirror shard glittered in his palm, all of Brilliant Heaven... began to tremble violently, and wild colors flashed in the sky.

Mi Ming’s canon brought a terrifying level of personhood that could suppress anything and everything. And that included the returning god emperor of Brilliant Heaven!

The moment light flashed from the mirror shard, the god emperor of Brilliant Heaven shivered. And the shivering grew more intense as golden mist rapidly gathered within the reflected world of the mirror, quickly turning into the outline of a person.

Off to the side, Master Seventh looked on, his mind and heart trembling. He could sense that the mirror shard was extraordinary, and what was more, it was obvious to him that the figure forming inside the mirror was actually the god soul of the Brilliant Heaven god emperor! The god emperor’s true name was even vaguely visible inside the reflection.

That mirror... seems to be especially effective at suppressing gods!

Master Seventh thought.

Xu Qing noted the expression on Master Seventh’s face, and could guess what he was thinking. Master Seventh had no way of knowing the special way Mi Ming had become an Immortal Lord. Mi Ming had invaded and fused with the primeval motherworld of the Fourth Star Ring, using the planet’s power to become a God Lord. He had then used his true name to convert from god to immortal. Because Mi Ming had used that method, he could be considered both god and immortal! That also provided a unique power of suppression.

Based on later analyses, Xu Qing had come to realize that Mi Ming could have reached an even more astonishing level of personhood. However, his final choice had been somewhat regretful. His fusion with the motherworld had been temporary. In the end... he did not completely devour the motherworld!

That would have resulted in even more terrifying transformations and changes. Besides, doing so... would have come with too many obstacles that could have led to failure. Maybe the God Paragon of the Fourth Star Ring would have interfered. Or maybe the primeval motherworld would have been able to reject him, and possibly even sacrifice Mi Ming himself. There were just too many risks... that could have ended in disaster. It was like walking on a thread of spider silk!

That was why Mi Ming had chosen the safest option, and the one most likely to lead to success. After using the state of fusion to succeed at the breakthrough, he took the initiative to break apart.

As thoughts of the matter flashed through Xu Qing’s mind, he looked down at the Brilliant Heaven god emperor.

The god emperor’s eyes were closed again, but hīs body was pulsing with great strength. Hē was shivering as if trying to break free, except that the force of suppression from Mi Ming’s canon and statute made such struggles useless. Even when hē was at hīs peak, hē wouldn’t have been able to fight against this version of Mi Ming, much less when hē was struggling to return and... had lost the origin light that his species worshiped! All hē could do was allow the mirror shard in Xu Qing’s hand to suppress and extract hīs god soul.

Erniu was getting extremely excited. He could sense that the force of rejection and expulsion from the possessed body was growing weak. Without any hesitation, he started the fusion process again.

The blue that had been retreating from the god emperor’s left hand once again surged and then began to spread out to the rest of the body. In an instant, the half that had been possessed... smashed into the other half like a hammer crushing an ice cube!

However, the god emperor was still fighting back. Despite the force weighing down from Mi Ming’s mirror shard, that other half... seemed willing to end things in mutual destruction! Maybe hē would be defeated, but hē was not going to just hand over hīs god body!

Upon seeing that, Master Seventh’s eyes glittered coldly, and he prepared to take action.

But then Xu Qing spoke to the god emperor below. “If you push this act of deception too far... then it will affect my Eldest Brother’s fusion. I can only assume that you’re trying to turn what is false into reality.”

The god emperor suddenly went still.

“You,” Xu Qing continued, “wanted to take advantage of my Eldest Brother’s actions to use a special catalyst, a special location, a special method, and a special ceremony... to actually return. Logically speaking, if I hadn’t unexpectedly shown up, you might have succeeded.

“But I refuse to believe you’re unaware of what’s happening on the outside. And it’s obvious that, if you go through with your original plan and actually return now, you won’t be able to escape being suppressed. Given that, why are you still struggling so hard...?”

A thoughtful expression appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes as he looked at the god emperor’s corpse. “You’re trying to use the karma of me and my Master to actually disappear from this location, then use some other method to return in another star ring....

“You were worried someone would realize your plan, so you fought as hard as you could, and put on a good front. But inside, you really just don’t want to give up. So you’re hoping to take advantage of this moment to strike a double blow!”

As Xu Qing spoke, the soul and true name of the god emperor in his mirror shard looked like they were about to combine. But by means of the canon and statute of the shard, Xu Qing could tell that there was actually a very faint force of expulsion pushing apart the soul and the name! The true name... didn’t actually belong to the god emperor!

“Senior Li Zihua is finally coming back,” Xu Qing said coolly. “I suspect that the reason he left this place for Revered Ancient, and then did everything he did, was because... he was supposed to help you break free!”

Xu Qing had not been totally certain of this earlier. But after what he had experienced in Brilliant Heaven so far, and after what happened when he revealed Mi Ming’s canon and statute, he came to a firm conclusion. Most importantly, he couldn’t believe that the once grand and dazzling god emperor of Brilliant Heaven wouldn’t have some contingency plans in place.

Down below, the god emperor’s eyes slowly opened. Golden light glimmered as hīs gaze locked onto Xu Qing.

Xu Qing turned to Master Seventh. “Master, do you mind letting me handle all of this?”

Master Seventh nodded. He could already guess what Xu Qing had decided to do.

Xu Qing bowed, then looked down at the god emperor of Brilliant Heaven. “Because of what happened in the past, I owe Senior Li Zihua a favor. Besides, he already took your true name away. Therefore... stop resisting and let my Elder Brother do what he wants. I’ll let you go. From now on, you aren’t allowed to step into the Ninth Star Ring. This place has nothing to do with you!”

Xu Qing’s voice thrummed with heavenly might. “To gain, you must first give.”

The god emperor remained silent. Xu Qing had openly revealed hīs entire plan. From the very beginning, hē had hoped to use the action of the greed of hīs opponent to completely return. Unfortunately, the dramatic events on the outside had caught hīm completely unprepared. That said, hē hadn’t been too worried.

Because there was still a plan in place. The reality was that both Li Zihua and Crimson Mother had been given hīs blessing to leave Brilliant Heaven. Hē had no idea what exactly would happen after they were gone. However, all of hīs species who left had been given one responsibility: free hīm.

The outstanding Li Zihua had done more than any of the others. Right now, all the god emperor had to do was sever all karma with Brilliant Heaven, and hē could succeed at hīs ultimate goal. Yet, deep inside, hē was still somewhat unwilling.

A few breaths of time passed. Finally, a sigh drifted out. Suppressing that final unwillingness, hē closed hīs eyes and stopped fighting back.

In the mirror in Xu Qing’s palm, the image of a god soul coalesced. The connection to the true form was severed.

Erniu’s rate of fusion increased dramatically. Over the course of a few breaths of time, he spread through all of the god emperor’s body. Then he sank into an extremely deep sleep.

Looking at his Eldest Brother, Xu Qing realized that he needed just a bit of time, so he closed his hand around the mirror shard. A moment later, the god emperor’s soul and true name were wiped out. All karma with Revered Ancient and Brilliant Heaven was severed. No evidence of their past existence remained.

All living beings in Revered Ancient and Brilliant Heaven no longer had any memories of the god emperor. They couldn’t think of hīm, even if they wanted to.

Hē was free. Just as Xu Qing had said, to gain, you must first give. Hē had given up everything, and had thus acquired freedom.

Master Seventh sighed inwardly.

Freedom? That’s fine. We fought so long, and we ended up winning, but the reality is that... we never truly conquered everything. As long as the god emperor was around, this place could never fully be part of Deep Earth.

This result put a true end to the story that had begun so long ago.

“What about the light of Brilliant Heaven...?” Master Seventh said, looking at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing extended his right hand, causing the light in front of him to coalesce above his palm. “Master, it seems Eldest Brother just needs a bit of time to awaken. This light is very fantastic.... It contains secrets of Brilliant Heaven, and beyond that, the will of Brilliant Heaven. I want to absorb it and... see to the bottom of those secrets!”