Chapter 1157: The Essence of the Ox Gate

Heat waves surged forward.

In every direction, all was scorching fire!

Heaven and earth were a single expanse of crimson, brilliantly clear, the eyes dazzled by flashes everywhere, while the entire ground was composed of blazing flame, slowly churning, and at times, streams of molten fire shot skyward, scattering outward!

In midair, they would spontaneously explode, scattering amidst thunderous roars, transforming in the void into ancient, mysterious rune seals!

From afar, it seemed as if here, an eternal rain of runes had fallen!

Yet when these runes landed on the ground, they turned into clusters of red seaweed, attempting to grow here, but alas, in this heat, the seaweed could barely exist!

Often in an instant, they became flying ash, falling into the molten fire, becoming part of it!

Only by relying on some chance, or an extremely low probability, could one or two strands of seaweed manage to exist here, struggling to grow!

Yet even in the process of growth, they would still suffer scorching burns, so at this moment, Xu Qing's gaze swept the eight directions, and he could see only scattered, isolated strands!

And they were in a withered state, possibly turning to flying ash in an instant, ceasing to exist!

"Although this is merely a small region of this sun, if we extrapolate from this quantity, even the seaweed that has survived on the entire sun……is probably not many."

Xu Qing pondered, lifted his head to gaze into the distance, and after slightly adapting to this place's temperature, he suddenly spoke!

"Where is the place of imprisonment?"

He was asking the seaweed of the outside world!

After a moment, a blurred will echoed in his heart!

"Center……Immortal Oath, I cannot penetrate deeply, this sun's seaweed……I think, can assist……"

This will was intermittent!

Clearly, for that astonishing seaweed of the outside world, this sun made it wary!

The essence of this wariness might come from the Immortal Oath it mentioned, or perhaps something else!

"Means of balance? Or deliberate?"

Xu Qing, lost in thought, recalled previous scenes, feeling the former more likely, and of course, his vigilance against the latter naturally did not diminish!

Thus, his body flickered, and he shot forward with a whistle!

He wanted to see the full panorama of this sun!

And to find the core location sealing that deity, to make a decision!

And so, time passed!

After several days, Xu Qing's speed gradually slowed!

Even with his cultivation, here he felt increasingly uncomfortable, and now, for every distance traveled, he needed to pause, relying on the seaweed present in the ground to adjust himself, before he could continue forward!

Finally, after half a month had passed, Xu Qing also reached his limit!

He had no choice but to stop before a strand of seaweed!

Fortunately, though he had not truly stepped onto this place's core, with his divine sense he still vaguely sensed the center's location!

At the moment his sense probed past, Xu Qing's eyes narrowed!

In his sense, he saw a world-shaking great sword!

This sword was immense, piercing through this sun!

The part exposed on the ground was like a mountain peak—the sword hilt!

One could imagine, on the opposite side of this sun, there must be a sword tip, bursting from the ground, shocking and unconventional!

At the instant he sensed this scene, Xu Qing suddenly had a sudden realization in his heart!

"That deity is not imprisoned within this sun, but……this sun, is that deity."

"A true god like a lower immortal!"

Xu Qing's pupils contracted, he slowly lowered his head, gazing at the earth beneath his feet, looking at the withered seaweed beside him, his heart and spirit stirred!

"And that sword, is the source suppressing this true god, and also the main body sealing this deity."

"It pierces here, runs through this god, placing this true god in a state of seeming death yet not death, thus making it impossible to rely on its name to return!"

"As for the seaweed, to those deities on its leaves, it is indeed a prison!"

"But to this true god, it is merely a jailer."

"It wishes, more than I, to rely on this true god for cultivation, so it persists in scattering seeds, causing seaweed to take root here, for the purpose of absorption."

"Because those scattered strands of seaweed are actually attempting to absorb the source essence from this true god."

"Only, because of this environment and status, its seaweed is too few, so the absorbed source essence is also not much."

Xu Qing pondered for a moment, raised his right hand, took out the wooden slip for collecting alien essence, pressed it downward onto the ground, poured in his cultivation, and fully erupted!

Unlike when he had previously absorbed other deities.

This time, Xu Qing's collection caused no ground tremor, and the sun itself remained as usual!

Even if a few golden threads, formed from source essence, seemed to rise from the ground faintly, the quantity was truly too little!

As if a heavy obstruction hindered collection, making it not a total failure, yet the effect was not good!

After a moment, Xu Qing stopped collecting, he raised his head, gazing at the sword-hilt mountain peak in his sense, his eyes flashing with strange light!

"This ground is like a shell, collecting source essence here is very difficult!"

"The truly suitable place for collection should be where the sword pierces in!"

"That is the wound of this true god."

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, suddenly spoke!

"So, if we truly want to eat, we need you to give your all, either choose to consume all your prior preparations, I will also hold nothing back, we will go together to seize this opportunity, eat heartily, or else, we can only absorb some wandering source essence!"

Xu Qing finished speaking, silently waited!

After a moment, the withered seaweed before him suddenly swayed, as if having made some decision, in an instant, this seaweed reversed from its withered state, instantly turning crimson!

Not only was it like this, at this moment on this sun, all surviving seaweed, from their various withered states, changed instantly, turned crimson, and then rose into the air!

From afar, it looked like countless red spider lilies, coming from all directions toward where Xu Qing now stood, drifting over!

Even along the way, many seaweeds turned to flying ash in the flames' impact, yet they still surged forward, rising in full force!

In an instant, the void around Xu Qing twisted, and seaweeds appeared out of nowhere, rushing toward him at great speed!

Xu Qing did not dodge, letting the seaweeds come, layer upon layer spreading over him, the entire process lasting dozens of breaths!

Afterwards, Xu Qing, standing in place, had completely changed in appearance! Look up the book Search for Excellence Pavilion

A set of crimson grass armor made of seaweed enveloped his entire body, causing his height to swell to hundreds of zhang!

Standing there, he was like a giant!

Vast vitality burst forth from these seaweeds, surging into Xu Qing's entire body, forming an astonishing shield!

This was all the accumulation the seaweed had gathered over countless years on this sun, bit by bit, through relentless effort!

Xu Qing's pupils flashed with sharp light—he could feel that the seaweed was truly giving its all!

Thus, he hesitated not at all, performing the Five Extremes Transformation, using the mutual restraint of the Five Elements to gain ultimate resistance, then the spacetime constitution erupted, and the universe folded into illusion, thereby dispersing the pressure coming from the path ahead!

Next, the immortal embryo flashed—his whole body became like a bolt of lightning, he surged forward violently, vanishing in an instant, racing straight toward the great sword he had sensed!

The closer he got, the heavier the pressure from this place became, and the flames grew even more terrifying; even with the seaweed armor on his body, it was visibly burning, continuously turning to flying ash!

Xu Qing knew well that relying solely on himself, he could never have reached this point, and once the seaweed dispersed, he feared he would instantly be burned to ashes!

After all, this is a true god!

But these could not dispel Xu Qing's resolve!

His speed grew even faster!

In his eyes, madness flared!

If Chen Erniu were here, seeing this scene, he would surely praise it greatly, believing Xiao Aqing had mastered the true essence of the Ox Gate!

Thus, time passed!

Finally, in Xu Qing's maddened full-speed charge, with the seaweed armor giving its all, his figure crossed vast distances and appeared at the core of this sun!

In the distance, that great sword truly appeared in Xu Qing's sight!

Upon seeing that great sword, Xu Qing's breath grew ragged, his entire body trembling, spirit and flesh nearly burning!

Yet the madness in his eyes, the blazing flame, could not burn it away—instead, upon seeing the great sword, it grew even stronger!

In the next instant, Xu Qing acted without hesitation, bit his tongue tip, and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood!

Thus stimulating himself, and further using the blood escape technique, he surged forward violently!

With a roar, as the seaweed armor on his body faded to thirty percent, Xu Qing's figure finally broke through this extreme heat and rushed to before that great sword!

The moment he drew near, his entire body began to burn, and he saw clearly this place!

This is an astonishing chasm; visible at the sword's edge, the ground still had flesh and blood attempting to grow, as if trying to heal the wound and push out the great sword!

Yet the sword's penetration was steadfast and unshakable, making this healing impossible from the moment it existed!

Thus, they remained locked in this stalemate!

And the moment he drew near this place, Xu Qing's heart also surged with a sense of life and death!

He knew well that perhaps in the next instant, the seaweed would fail to hold, and all his resistance would collapse!

But...

At this moment of life-and-death crisis, he also felt a dense source essence within that flesh and blood!

The richness of this source essence, in Xu Qing's experience, was unprecedented!

If truly compared, perhaps only the unfathomable depths of the black soil he could not penetrate would possibly match this!

Such opportunity, such fortune!

Xu Qing's madness intensified, and his heart instantly transmitted a divine thought!

"Fox, be on guard!"

The fox beauty mark on his arm instantly emitted icy chill, the divine power of the fox beauty erupting fully at this moment, once again bolstering Xu Qing!

Thus, gaining time while also guarding against the seaweed's possible existence or non-existence of malice!

After doing this, Xu Qing immediately sat cross-legged, raised his right hand, holding the collected wooden slips, and pressed downward!

Instantly, the earth roared, and golden fine threads burst forth directly from this sword wound!

Like a spring, they surged, shocking the world!

At this moment, the mud fox was shocked!

The seaweed was excited!

Xu Qing was in madness!