Chapter 1353: My Name is Xu!

The void was boundless and as silent as a tomb.

This was the same Ninth Star Ring as ever. But nowadays, the Ninth Star Ring had no God Paragons other than Eminent Desolation. The places which had once belonged to the black pagoda, the huge beast, the paper person, and the mother river, were now empty.

Sensing that, Xu Qing strode through the starry sky, and through time itself, passing in between the spaces within the shattered ontology. Using the shattered fragment within his palm, he proceeded forward one step at a time. Each footfall of his caused countless worlds to fill with daybreak.

A pulsing sense of somberness became an endless frigid coldness that accompanied his forward progress. It dribbled out through space-time, such that wherever his foot touched, space rippled and then froze.

His tranquil gaze seemed to contain a darkness and a light that could pulverize millions upon millions of heavenly bodies. Onward he advanced, piercing through countless layers of the chaotic flow of space-time.... Eventually, he spotted a vague location that seemed to have been assimilated by the void itself.

“Found you,” he said softly, his gaze coming to rest on that specific spot.

It was a mortal world. Somewhere in that world was a city, and inside the city was a school. Scrolls were piled everywhere there.

Xu Qing’s gaze pierced through space-time to fall upon one of the scrolls there! It was an ancient scroll made of mundane materials. It looked completely ordinary. It really seemed like any old object from the mortal world, such that it fit in perfectly with its surroundings. In fact, if Xu Qing didn’t have the scrap of paper in his hand, as well as extraordinary canon and statute, he would never have noticed it.

“You hid very well, Master Righteous Veil.”

Xu Qing’s voice contained no hint of emotion. Stepping forward, he pierced through myriad worlds until he was inside that one specific one. There he appeared, inside the school, right in front of the scroll. Without even an instant of hesitation, he reached out with his right hand to grab the scroll!

It was not an ordinary action. Rather, he directly tapped into the will of the world that the scroll sustained. A terrifying rumbling echoed out, as if the membrane that connected heaven and earth were being ripped apart. The ground heaved, causing all living beings to lose their senses.

The scroll opened! A painting was revealed!

It was a painting of a sprawling, luxurious immortal palace complex! Bejeweled structures hovered above a sea of clouds. Daybreak shone endlessly. Auspicious energy swirled about, all while immortal cranes soared and goddesses danced. It was a magnificent image of pure joy.

However, that amazing scene was enveloped in a deathly gray gaze. That color infected everything. All colors became bizarrely empty, as if they had been washed away by the timescape. The immortal cranes seemed to have empty eyes, the dancing goddesses seemed like marionettes, all of them full of a stifling sense of deathly emptiness. It was as if this world had been intentionally and meticulously filled with an aura that could corrode the bones and marrow.

Astonishingly, in the very middle of the painting, above the magnificent sea of clouds, a huge figure sat cross-legged! It was a paper person! It was none other than Master Righteous Veil!

Hē was no longer made of thin paper, but rather, had a three-dimensional form. Hē wore a magnificent imperial robe that pulsed with an aura of death, as well as a crown of pearls. Hē looked both comical and terrifying, like an emperor made of paper mache. Countless semitransparent threads of fate spread out from all the living things in the painting, and they pierced through the shining clouds to connect to hīm. In that manner, hē created a resonance with the surrounding world to gain nutrients.

Almost as soon as Xu Qing’s gaze landed on the huge paper person, hīs eyes opened. Those eyes glittered with crimson light as they focused on Xu Qing’s gaze.

“Xu Qing!”

Master Righteous Veil’s spirits sank, and hīs heart started pounding. Hē knew hē had karma with Xu Qing. However, based on hīs omniscience, hē had believed there was no way Xu Qing could find hīm. Hē was hiding so well that, unless Eminent Desolation woke up, nobody could ever detect hīm. That was also why hē had not been able to detect the scrap of paper on the outside. Hē had long since severed karma with all of hīs clones.

Something’s not right here!

Master Righteous Veil’s mind and heart were in chaos as a deep sense of unease built within hīm. The timing here couldn’t have been worse!

As long as hē had enough time, hē was confident that hē could once again become a God Paragon. With the memories of the Living God Umbilical Cord that hē had acquired, hē would eventually be able to tread his own future Living God Umbilical Cord, and with a lot more confidence. Except... everything got turned upside-down the moment Xu Qing arrived.

“So,” Xu Qing said, “your personhood dropped. You’re not a God Paragon anymore.”

He entered the painting. When he did, the fake world reacted like a tranquil, dead pond that had been hit by a boulder! The gray membrane of light stirred wildly and tried to reject Xu Qing. Countless goddesses, immortal cranes, and spirit creatures reacted like puppets that had just been activated. Stiff, bizarre smiles appeared on their faces as they surged as one toward Xu Qing! They were not corporeal. They were curses and rancorous wills made from the natural laws in the painting itself, and they had the ability to invade souls and taint essence.

Xu Qing’s face remained completely expressionless. His canon and statute of ontology turned into threads of black and white, which spread out around him in all directions. It was like a tide that could destroy entire worlds. It swept out everywhere, and when it hit the puppets, they were shredded into scraps of paper before they could even scream!

The gray membrane emitted a soul-piercing wail as the black-and-white tempest assailed it. It rippled violently as it was infected, which resulted in all of the color in the world to rapidly retreat!

Xu Qing disregarded all obstacles. Taking a step forward in astonishing fashion, he spanned the sea of clouds and appeared directly in front of the paper emperor, Master Righteous Veil. He launched a punch with his right fist! The black-and-white tempest swirled, smashing through all obstructions toward the rippling imperial robe that covered Master Righteous Veil’s chest! This was a tempest that did not rip apart space, but rather, annihilated entire concepts!

Time. Color. Shape. Natural law.... All elements that made up the fake world were smashed by the tempest and reduced to ruins!

And then, the tempest smashed into the imperial robe of Master Righteous Veil! There was no heaven-shaking, earth-shattering explosion. There was just a wave of annihilation that caused everything to go silent!

As if starting from Xu Qing’s fist, the imperial robe collapsed like a sandcastle falling into a black hole. The magnificent imperial robe turned into ashes. The crown collapsed, releasing the godly might that it held. Hīs body fell into pieces, becoming innumerable pieces of paper ritual money that flew out everywhere.

And yet, hīs counterattack was now made manifest. The innumerable scraps of paper that had made up hīs body reconverged, turning into the enormous head of a paper person, whose mouth opened wide and lunged toward Xu Qing. There were also countless threads of fate that spread from the paper head, becoming a river of fate that encircled Xu Qing. The peak level of God Lord power erupted.

Xu Qing’s face still remained expressionless. He did not retract his fist. And then ripples spread out from behind him as a second version of himself stepped out. After devouring the primeval motherworld, Xu Qing’s cultivation base reached the level of a peak God Lord. However... he also had two true forms!

He was like a binary planetary system! His second true form came from the black planet, and it was here, also launching a fist strike!

The blow slammed into the head of the paper person. A destructive shockwave exploded out! Rumbling echoed out as destructive power spread everywhere.

The entire world started collapsing. The beautiful immortal palace complex turned into white dust that billowed out. The sea of clouds evaporated. The goddesses and immortal cranes, now lacking any color in the painting, fell one after another. Deathly silence spread out, turning everything into emptiness.

Master Righteous Veil trembled and yet again collapsed into scraps of paper that spun away in all directions. As for the millions upon millions of threads of fate that surrounded Xu Qing, the fist blow from just now wiped them out like a destroyed spider web.

Then, the white planet version of Xu Qing replaced the black planet, taking a step forward and unhesitatingly launching another fist strike! However, this time, something very unusual happened! The moment the painted world collapsed completely, it turned into a drop of indissolvable, corrosive ink full of rancorous will!

The ink did not attack Xu Qing. Seemingly possessed of a life of its own, it quickly wrapped up one of the scraps of paper of Master Righteous Veil that were spreading out! Taking advantage of the gaps of chaos created by the destruction of the world and the collapse of the natural laws, it used pure essence, paying a heavy price to enact a bizarre escape magic to pierce through the void! The speed involved surpassed all senses!

Xu Qing’s fist hit nothing. His eyes narrowed. As he stood there in the wreckage of the painted world, his gaze turned cold as he looked at the spot where the ink had just disappeared. The only thing left behind was a rotten bit of paper pulp mixed with some noxious, toxic ink. He slowly retracted his fist. And yet, the killing intent in his pupils only grew stronger.

“Running away again?” he said calmly, his voice echoing out with bone-chilling coldness into the void.

Stepping forward through the annihilated world, he entered the vast void again, where he pursued the silent scraps of corrosive, rancorous will. He was not going to give up on this pursuit. Ever.

***

Time did not have any meaning as Xu Qing pursued Master Righteous Veil with killing intent.

Both Xu Qing and Master Righteous Veil had the ability to slip through time, to enter different times and planes of existence. The chase was not limited to the higher star rings. They went to the lower ones as well.

At a certain point, after Xu Qing caught up over and over again, Master Righteous Veil finally took a dangerous risk. Hē split apart! Hē created a million or possibly even more clones that entered different space-times and different instances of time. This was hīs life-saving magic.

Hē had so many clones they were almost impossible to count. And any of them could become the true form. So as long as just one of them survived, hē wouldn’t die. As long as hē had enough time, any of those clones could eventually recover God Paragon personhood. If that happened, all the other clones would crumble into ash, while the remaining one became the only version of hīm.

There were some downsides. Although hē had an advantage with so many clones, in the end, none of them were as strong as hīs true form. Because of unleashing this technique at hīs current level, the clones weren’t God Lords. All were at the lower True God level. And yet, that was the only way that Master Righteous Veil could buy time!

To deal with this god magic, Xu Qing used a corresponding dao. He also made clones! His canon and statute of ontology was fundamentally about unification, so all he had to do was just split apart. Unfortunately, he had to deal with the same flaw as Master Righteous Veil. His scattered clones could not maintain the same level as his true form. And so, all of them... were Summer Immortals!

And thus, the chase continued. But this time, instead of one pursuing the other through various space-times and planes of existence, it was a case.... of endless versions chasing endless versions!

***

The nation trembled. Everything smelled like rust, soot, and oil. In the distance, huge steam pipelines coiled like serpents, feeding steam into the huge buildings that climbed up into the clouds. The sound of gears was deafening, a never-ending roar like a dirge of death. This was a small world, and it had no cultivators on it.

A shadowy figure appeared in this city of metal, high on a bridge of iron. He wore a long black robe and had violet hair; he didn’t seem to fit into this world of oil and machinery. He was none other than Xu Qing.

His gaze pierced through the steam and spinning flywheels to a massive differentiator off in the distance. In that spot, billions of tiny gears whirred constantly as they calculated each breath of this metallic city. There was one gear among them that was covered with a network of white marks that looked like dust. It spun very smoothly, with an efficiency that was strangely superior to the surrounding machinery.

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered coldly as he looked at the white marks. Then, like a weightless specter, he made his way across the iron bridge using a method that made him completely undetectable to the patrolling guards.

He landed on the surface of the finely crafted differentiator, and then used a delicate finger to poke a small hole. With that, he produced a drop of black oil that was pure canon and statute, he let it drop through the hole.

SIZZLE!

𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

A faint, piercing sound cut through the din. The gear covered with the white marks suddenly slowed down! And then the ‘dust’ covering it stirred as if trying to escape. But the black oil quickly covered it and seeped into it.

The white marks writhed like a bug caught in tree sap. The blackness slowly covered it, and the gear moved slower and slower. It even started to let loose sounds like gurgles of pain. In the end, the struggles turned into calm. The gear stopped moving, and there were no white marks on it. There was only a faint moan of godliness that was wiped away by the oil and the steam.

Outside, Xu Qing retracted his finger, and the metal exterior of the differentiator repaired itself. He turned and disappeared into the steam. The only thing left behind was the whir and rumble of machinery.

***

The depths of the abyss were as silent as a graveyard. The darkness and gloom was absolute, and endless seawater covered everything. This was an abandoned abyss that existed between the lower and higher star rings.

Xu Qing was suspended in the bone-chilling water, a short distance above the decaying wreckage of an enormous sea cruiser. It looked like the skeleton of some enormous beast, slowly sinking down into the seafloor.

Time seemed to be frozen here. The only light came from the phosphorescent sea creatures that occupied these depths. It cast a pale blue glow onto the designs carved into the wood of the ship, as well as the tools and utensils that had scattered when the ship sank.

Xu Qing scanned the wreckage visually, then entered. He moved toward the captain’s cabin.

Sitting on the corner of the captain’s wooden table was a parchment map. The parchment was yellow with age, and a bit tattered. At a glance, it was obviously as old as the shipwreck itself. But in the dim light that filtered into the cabin, the lines of the parchment which represented reefs and navigation routes... suddenly started to wriggle, almost like the blood vessels in a living being.

As soon as Xu Qing arrived, the parchment suddenly moved. Then it suddenly started melting, as if it were attempting to flee! It was too late. Xu Qing’s right hand shot out! An iron skewer flew forth, slamming into the wood with thousands of pounds of force. It pierced through the parchment map, impaling it into the wooden planks of the hull!

Ink flowed into the shape of a distorted face, which bulged from the parchment, mouth gaping unnaturally wide in an expression of pain and terror.

Thanks to Xu Qing’s unique canon and statute, seawater was able to pour into the parchment through the gap torn open by the iron skewer.

The face made of ink writhed. The islands made of ink blurred, and the navigation routes distorted. Eventually, all that remained was a chaotic blur of ink. And as the icy seawater continued its work, the ink became an eternal part of the surrounding darkness.

Xu Qing’s face was completely expressionless as he turned and left this silent coffin and disappeared into the stillness of the sea.

***

Spirit energy swirled around Immortal Mount Skycloud. A peak towered above the never-ending sea of clouds, and it was constantly covered with a hazy mist filled with spirit energy. The song of immortal cranes echoed out. Fantastic flowers bloomed everywhere. Jade palaces could be seen within the mists. The daoist rite center there was the very center of this lower star ring. It was a grotto-heaven, a blessed land that countless cultivators dreamed of finding.

Xu Qing stood atop the windy peak of the mountain underneath a clear sky. His long black robe flapped in the wind, and his violet hair danced behind him. It was an image that seemed incongruous with the sunny environment full of immortal energy. He looked more like a devil.

His gaze pierced the cloud cover below until it reached a daoist temple in the grotto-heaven. In the depths of the daoist temple was a secret chamber protected with warding spells. In that chamber were three darkheaven dharma protection amulets, covered with dense magical symbols and flowing light.

The talismans were made from neither gold nor jade, and they seemed full of spirit light. In the corner of one of the amulets was a tiny magical symbol that had a bit of gray color on the edge of one of the brush strokes. Xu Qing was looking for that specific amulet.

“Your hiding spots are getting better. This time you’re hiding in the actual natural laws. In other words, you can’t be destroyed unless this entire world is destroyed.”

Xu Qing stepped off the lonely peak, and the sea of clouds stirred, becoming like a solid path for him to walk. In the blink of an eye, he reached the jade door that led into the secret chamber in the daoist temple. He ignored the complicated warding spells protecting the chamber, walking through them like stepping through a tranquil waterfall.

Incense smoke filled the chamber, and the spirit energy was so dense it was almost liquid. Xu Qing didn’t hesitate for an instant. He waved his index finger, and light leapt from the tip. It was like a tiny needle, pulsing with an energy of destruction that threw the spirit energy in the chamber into chaos.

The attack didn’t target the talisman itself. It disturbed the spirit power itself, like a stone thrown into a still lake.

KABANG!

Nobody fled!

A blazing white lightning bolt, like a pillar from heaven, destroyed the domed roof of the daoist temple. Ignoring all protective warding spells, it brought the wrath of heaven to strike the dharmic protection amulet with incredible precision! To be precise, it struck the magical symbol with a bit of gray color on the edge.

Time seemed to solidify.

The talisman suddenly erupted with blinding white light! In an instant, the talisman turned into a carbonized black color, then collapsed! Countless scraps of paper drifted out like fiery moths! They fluttered desperately in the cramped chamber as they attempted to avoid the fiery, destructive lightning.

In the haze, Master Righteous Veil’s face appeared, distorted in a glare of pain.

“I curse you, Xu Qing!”

Xu Qing looked on coldly as the face disappeared. The magical symbols all turned into black ash that fell onto the cold floor. The smell of incense had been replaced with the odor of burned paper and the aftermath of a lightning strike.

Xu Qing retracted his finger, and the glow from the tip went away. After glancing at the ash on the floor, he turned and vanished from the chamber. The lightning strike that had devastated the daoist temple’s spell formations had completely shattered the peace on the immortal mountain.

***

Over and over again, scenes of destruction and eradication played out. In some worlds, dramatic events unfolded. In other worlds, things remained peaceful. The only common point among them all was... death.

Master Righteous Veil’s clones didn’t end up buying time for hīm. Instead, they became the end of hīs final destiny. It had something to do with hīm being caught at the most disadvantageous moment possible, as well as Xu Qing’s canon and statute. To a certain extent, Xu Qing’s canon and statute... was the perfect counter to Master Righteous Veil’s godly authority!

Three months passed from the perspective of where things had started. Out in the vast starry sky was a desolate little world where the last scrap of paper lay hidden in the cold shadow of a rocky crag. Xu Qing flicked his finger, causing black-and-white fire to sweep over it. The paper burned, curling up and turning black, until it became an insignificant wisp of smoke....

In all the many heavens and all the countless worlds, places that had previously been infected by white scraps of paper filled with something like an overlapping of millions of screams originating from the same soul! The screams contained pain that could shake kingdoms, despair that could penetrate the deepest depths of the sea, and terror that could destroy all grotto-heavens and blessed lands.... They contained all the various pains and horrors that had been experienced in all those many worlds. It became a grand-scale death by horrifying torture!

Xu Qing stood in the void, in the spot where the final execution had occurred. Underfoot was that desolate crag, and surrounding him were nine burning lamps of violet.

The lamps were not connected to his earlier lamp made from the eye of a God Paragon. Rather, during his pursuit of Master Righteous Veil, he made the lamps from the essence fire of his enemy’s clones. Within the light of the fire, Xu Qing’s face didn’t show any expression whatsoever. It was as if he had merely reached out to wipe some dust off the edge of his sleeve.

However, in the depths of his eyes, in the abyss of his violet pupils, the cold killing intent had not dissipated. In fact, it was growing stronger. He could clearly ‘see’ the source of the combined scream within the depths of the endless ontological flows.... Because all the clones had been destroyed, inflicting a serious mental blow, a tunnel that had been hidden before was now revealed.

“How interesting...”

Xu Qing murmured. Waving his hand, he summoned a bronze lamp and stepped forward.

***

It was a hidden tunnel. Within it fled a desperate Master Righteous Veil, who was now incredibly weak and had become nothing more than a face. Hē was scared. Not only had hīs cultivation level dropped, but also, hē could sense death looming over hīm.

I still have a chance! I originally built this tunnel as part of my plan to deal with Revered Ancient. At the end of the tunnel is the future of the Deep Earth star ring. If I can just get there, I can buy some time to work with!

Master Righteous Veil sped up. Hē was currently a True God, so it only took an instant to reach the end of the tunnel.

At that spot was a sealing mark that resembled the surface of a mirror. Through that sealing mark, hē could see the outside world, as well as the terrified face of a pudgy young man.

Ignoring that, Master Righteous Veil’s eyes shone with golden light. The huge face shot directly toward the sealing mark. The mirror-like sealing mark didn’t seem like it could sustain the force, and cracks started to spread out over it. From the other side, the mirror-like sealing mark seemed to have a huge face bulging out from beneath! The mirror was like a membrane, and the face seemed to be pure evil as it tried to break out.

“This is my chance, right now!” Master Righteous Veil howled, surging forward with all the strength possible. To hīm, the sealing mark was like paper mache that could easily be burst through. Hīs plan was simply to gather all of hīs strength to break free in one moment.

However, just when hē was about to hit the sealing mark... a vortex of starlight appeared in front of the terrified, pudgy youth outside. A finger made of starlight emerged from within it! It touched the sealing mark. The aura of a Summer Immortal seemed to surpass the will of heaven in that world. The finger landed on the forehead of the face!

Master Righteous Veil shivered and screamed as hīs aura collapsed.

Summer Immortal?? How could there be a Summer Immortal there? And this person is not an ordinary immortal....

Blood sprayed out of Master Righteous Veil’s mouth. The face withered, and though hē wanted to struggle, given hīs current level, all such efforts against this finger were completely futile! Hē held out for three breaths of time. After that, hē was sent tumbling back, having failed to get through the sealing mark. Hē was preparing for one final desperate attempt when... an icy will swept over hīm, so cold that it could freeze hīs soul.

It became a hand... that grabbed hīm by the head!

“Found you.”

Master Righteous Veil’s soul trembled as the canon and statute of ontology swept through hīm and sealed hīm.

Xu Qing appeared in the tunnel. He held Master Righteous Veil tightly in one hand, and had nine violet lamps swirling around him. He looked at the mirror-like sealing mark that Master Righteous Veil had nearly escaped through. The cracks in the mirror were already being repaired by the power of the starlight on the other side.

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed as he stepped closer to the sealing mark. As he did, the sealing mark trembled, and powerful fluctuations rolled across its surface. It seemed that all Xu Qing had to do was walk closer, and the sealing mark would reach its limit.

On the other side of the sealing mark, a finger had stretched out of a vortex, but it was now fading away. Just before it did, the starlight suddenly stopped fading. In fact, it reformed and turned into a pair of cold eyes.

“Stop right there!” a cold voice said, drifting from the vortex and into the sealing mark.

Xu Qing stopped where he was and looked through the sealing mark to the world beyond. He looked at the pudgy young man, then looked into the eyes of starlight within the vortex. He saw a cultivator with white hair who emanated a will of slaughter. His cultivation base was at the Summer Immortal level!

“Interesting,” Xu Qing said calmly. “I chased Master Righteous Veil for three months and cut down a million of his clones. It’s hard to believe that he actually set up a secret tunnel that his true form could use to escape! Even more interesting... is that I actually ran into someone here who seems like a fellow daoist very similar to me!”

With that, he turned and dragged Master Righteous Veil away. After all, this other world was not his world. That said, after taking a few steps, he spoke.

“Xu is my name.”

“Wang is mine,” came the reply from the vortex beyond the sealing mark.[1]

1. This is the exact scene that played out in chapter 955 of

A World Worth Protecting

. The ‘pudgy young man’ is Wang Baole and the white-haired cultivator is Wang Lin. ☜