Chapter 1194: Battle of the True God

This is not Xu Qing's first time seeing a true god!

But this is his first time encountering a true god in the genuine sense!

The previous suffering god, Bimos, was in the process of returning and was not complete, so many details were never fully manifested.

Like the temple, like the deity within the temple, like the divine essence...

"The deity within the temple is this one's true form, nearly bent at the waist, clearly the result of an attack by the Immortal Lord Lingke, this god... has been severely wounded!"

Xu Qing's body suddenly retreated, his eyes flashing with sharp light, locking onto the temple.

The other ascended beings beside him also each erupted with their cultivation, all doing the same.

At this moment, the temple rumbled, emitting a brilliant golden light.

Though overall dilapidated, the divine might emanating from the deity within the temple was vast as the sea, and as the inner divine spirit stepped out, it erupted toward the outside world with thunderous booms.

This might swept like mountains and seas, carrying the intent to destroy the dry and rotten, becoming a storm of divine breath.

Sweeping across the eight directions.

The starry sky twisted, the void shattered, and Xu Qing and his companions each experienced violent turmoil in their hearts and minds.

A sensation seemingly arising from life's instinct, from the soul's tremor, uncontrollably sprouting, became seeds of fear, deeply planted in their consciousness.

Then, as the divine sound echoed back.

"Fear!"

With the divine sound, the seeds instantly sprouted, bloomed and bore fruit, spreading fear throughout everyone's entire body.

In the next instant, each person spat out fresh blood, and indeed underwent a transformation.

Their bodies grew scales, arms became slender and elongated, faces twisted, and fangs grew from their mouths...

Their appearance was forcibly altered to resemble that of the divine spirit!

And in their hearts and minds, as the fear blossomed and bore fruit, the sensation of fear, like a raging flood, surged and churned.

As if seeking to corrupt their souls as well.

And once completed, though not quite the annihilation of both form and spirit, it was nearly indistinguishable.

For what remained was no longer them.

But rather, the true god's followers and vessels!

This is the formidable power of the true god!

But obviously, the severe wound inflicted by the Immortal Lord Lingke, along with the suppression of the immortal spirit, has left this true god in an extremely poor state, now barely maintaining itself.

If it were suppressing an ordinary cultivator, it would still be fine; weakness would not be so clearly manifested.

But Xu Qing and his companions are no ordinary individuals.

Therefore, in the moment this true god's power spread and erupted, Xu Qing and the others each unleashed their killing techniques.

Whether it was Li Mengtu's deadly poison after his promotion to quasi-immortal, or the mysterious broken blade in the hands of the Evil Spirit Child, or Zhou Zhengli's prophetic eye...

At this moment, they all displayed their utmost in defensive methods.

Also, Xinghuanzi, Yuanshan Su, and Qianjun Piyi, all exerted themselves fully.

To suppress the transformation.

And... their formation did not descend into chaos, but instead orderly encircled Xu Qing on all sides.

Each person's killing technique-formed protection was not merely for self-defense.

But spread outward, stacking upon everyone, nearly merging into one, and completely enveloping Xu Qing, who was guarded at the center!

As if, outside Xu Qing's body, they formed layer upon layer of barriers!

This made it so that Xu Qing within the barrier did not need to worry about defense; his only task was... to attack!

This is the combat method they had discussed on the road.

Xu Qing is the strongest among them, so the core of the battle is to empower Xu Qing.

Thus, in the next instant, as each person's body mutated, their souls faced contamination, and their consciousness was flooded with fear, yet they still gave their all to defense, Xu Qing here, his immortal embryo suddenly transformed.

The massive immortal embryo form instantly covered the eight directions, standing tall in the starry sky.

Within it, the Immortal Light Immortal Palace was shining brightly.

The immortal embryo's hand, moreover, rose up, and suddenly descended toward the temple...

The starry sky trembled, and the pressure rose again.

The colossal immortal embryo's hand, with astonishing force, fell in an instant, but just as it was about to touch the temple, the true god within had already stepped out.

Its twisted, nearly waist-bent body was eerie to the extreme; its slender arms rose, pointing toward the approaching immortal embryo's hand, and suddenly jabbed forward.

The true god's power erupted once more.

Under this finger, Xu Qing's immortal embryo rumbled, became blurred, and foreign matter began to grow within, rapidly decomposing, and before it could even fall, it had already collapsed.

The resulting backlash and severe injury surged into Xu Qing instantly, but was then shared among everyone.

Thus, each person spat out fresh blood, and their breath flared violently.

Xu Qing's eyes filled with blood threads, spreading again, as he once more gathered his immortal embryo.

And that true god, moreover, trembled in body, actually vanishing directly, reappearing suddenly before everyone, its slender finger pressing forward.

The sense of fear rose again, and with the true god's might, like a mountain toppling from the heavens, it descended invisibly.

The booming sound echoed back in an instant.

Xu Qing and the others, each one, turned pale as blood spread, their bodies withered, souls twisted, and were being strongly contaminated.

All protections were dissolving.

Li Mengtu's poison continued to thin out.

Zhou Zhengli's eye had already shattered.

Xinghuanzi's iron chain continued to collapse.

A thousand troops scattered, even more wailing in sorrow.

Even two ascended beings, having reached the extreme, their life fires nearly extinguished.

Yet they, without regard for cost, even activated secret arts to stimulate, forcibly persisting.

This sight caused even that true god to furrow their brow.

Their state was extremely poor; previous engagements had been forced, and though these people before them were not lesser immortals, they were each quasi-immortals and extraordinary in their own right.

Especially the one they protected, displaying the power of an immortal embryo, which in their prime could be ignored, but now, in their weakened state, they could sense danger.

Moreover, time was another point they valued immensely.

This battle must be swift and decisive.

Thus, the true god swept their gaze, looking toward the distant goddess who had been observing this battle all along.

No mistake, no error, no omission, no inner, no outer, no presence, no one—look!

"Luan below, together!"

Upon hearing, Star Pupil lifted their foot, but just as it was about to land, their eyes flashed with a deep light; though they still stepped down, it was not forward, but backward some distance.

Beneath their feet, a faint transmission divine array appeared.

This array was even more activated!

And their gaze fell upon Xu Qing, the one who made their heart race, and they suddenly spoke.

"This array will be completed in twenty breaths!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing suddenly raised his head, narrowed his eyes, and saw the goddess's resolve.

Not only him here, but Zhou Zhengli and Xing Huanzi and others, in this anomaly, in this pain, with their souls polluted, in this utmost persistence, also raised their heads, each frowning.

Xu Qing softly sighed; among the crowd, aside from Qian Jun Piyi, most felt regret.

For on the way here, they had already planned; through mutual cooperation, they could form a strike worthy of being their strongest killing nail!

This is a killing move, but only one chance!

Thus, for them, the best course of this battle is for the goddess to join as well, standing with that true god.

Thus, this killing move would not be wasted.

Yet that goddess, so decisive, even if their current state only required her to cooperate with the true god, they could instantly be slain.

But…… she still would not come!

And their current state is not false; now, they truly cannot persist further……

Xu Qing's heart instantly resolved.

Killing intent suddenly erupted in their eyes.

The previously collapsed immortal embryo, as their cultivation surged, reformed once more; and this time…… it contained not only the radiance of the Aurora Immortal Palace, but also an iron nail!

From within that immortal palace, sharpness radiated!

Furthermore, there was the constitution of the crowd!

Xing Huanzi's order and balance, plus heavenly principle, all settled upon this iron nail.

Zhou Zhengli's prophetic eye became flowing light, coiling around the iron nail.

Also Li Mengtu, Yuan Shan Su, and all the ascended beings like Xie Lingzi, each with their own constitution, in this instant became flowing light, all coiling together.

And Qian Jun Piyi also transformed into an immortal sword, merging with the iron nail.

Gathering the might of all quasi-immortals, causing this iron nail to flash with radiance that brightened even the starry sky.

Moreover, Xu Qing's immortal embryo nurtured it, making this iron nail's power heaven-shaking.

And not yet ended…… in the next moment, within the immortal embryo, the Azure Heaven descended!!

As that Azure Heaven appeared, the starry sky roared, and the true god also changed color.

And vaguely, one could see that Azure Heaven had a vortex, within which a coffin suddenly rose!

Inside the coffin lay precisely that suffering god!

Their divine power was also drawn out, merged into this iron nail; for a moment, the iron nail appearing on the battlefield erupted with earth-shaking might.

And even here, it had not ended.

In the next moment, Xu Qing's spacetime constitution overlapped and emerged, rumbling with booms as scenes from various spacetimes all reflected this moment of the iron nail gathering power.

Thus, looking around, Xu Qing's surroundings, across many spacetimes, each spacetime clearly showed an iron nail!

Hundreds of iron nails, as Xu Qing's killing intent intensified in their eyes, raised hand and swept.

Instantly piercing through their respective spacetimes, on this battlefield, they converged together!

Hundreds of iron nails, became a single nail!

Then, this nail, bearing utmost might, gathered from all, with nineteen constitutions, with auroral power, with the momentum of Azure Heaven, shot toward the true god—suddenly!

Cannot be described by speed, for the moment this nail rushed forth, what those present actually saw in their eyes was merely the afterimage of what had happened in the past.

What occurred in the present and future was this nail, already driven into that true god's body!

Driven into the very part already severely wounded, their near-broken waist!

Viciously pierced!

A mournful sound rose to the heavens.

The true god trembled; all their divine power within their body instantly fell into chaos, the divine temple collapsed, and their divine nature instantly dimmed.

Divine blood surged forth.

But after all, they are a true god; the killing nail gathered by Xu Qing and others, wanting to slay a true god—even one extremely weak and gravely wounded—is extremely difficult to achieve.

Unless, like the Suffering God, they are in the process of returning, for only by breaking the return can victory be won.

Therefore, this nail's eruption did not cause this true god to fall.

But…… their true god state was directly shattered!

At this moment, the aura sharply diminished, and the realm fell!

Thus, the fear of its divine technique also greatly diminished in power, causing the abnormalities on everyone's bodies to instantly reverse.

All this may sound lengthy when spoken, but in reality it all happened in the blink of an eye; now, as the mournful sound echoed, the old god whose realm had fallen revealed intense killing intent in his eyes, preparing to counterattack.

But just then, its pupils suddenly contracted, and its body abruptly retreated.

Because... in the distant starry sky, at this very moment, there suddenly appeared the auras of cultivators rapidly approaching.

These were the Nianlin Army that had received the earlier message from Xu Qing and the others.

They are arriving!

Seeing this, the old god rushed toward the teleportation array where the goddess was located, but... almost the instant it retreated back, the goddess Xingmu standing within the teleportation array suddenly spoke coldly.

"Self-destruct, annihilate this person!"

"Your rebirth must be by yourself, and shall be personally guided by my Father God!"

"This is my promise to you given by my own bloodline!"

Xingmu raised her hand and pointed at Xu Qing!

The old god's body suddenly stalled.