Chapter 1197: Rising Fame in the Starry Universe

With this pinch, a crisp cracking sound rang out.

Under the force of Xu Qing's five fingers, the Jade Neck of the Starry-Eyed Divine Maiden turned purplish-red, her bones suddenly shattered, and divine blood even spilled from her mouth.

The light in her eyes dimmed, and her entire aura seemed on the verge of extinction, finally fainting away.

However, the Starry-Eyed Maiden was after all a divine maiden; whether it was her bloodline or her cultivation at its peak, it would not allow her to fall so easily.

And for Xu Qing, a living divine maiden held the greatest value.

Thus, while crushing her neck, the sealing power that had previously permeated the Starry-Eyed Maiden's body also erupted fully at this moment, surging into her fractured neck, becoming part of her bones and flesh.

Moreover, the surrounding Nether God Realm, as well as that terrifying Netherworld, due to the lack of a descent support point, blurred and dissipated at this moment.

As it dissipated, Xu Qing's immortal embryo was no longer isolated, and as it surged within his body, it also joined the seal.

Making this seal extremely solid.

After doing these, Xu Qing's mind and spirit relaxed somewhat.

And the voice of the Mud Fox sweetly echoed in Xu Qing's heart at this moment.

"Oh my, this is a divine maiden, indeed a divine maiden with a broken neck is a good divine maiden."

"Young Master, look, she let you ravage and pluck her all along the way without a single complaint, so could you... give this divine maiden to me, so I can train and discipline her?"

The Mud Fox was clearly moved; evidently, for her, training a divine maiden could strongly arouse her excitement.

Xiao Ying also experienced emotional turbulence, restless and eager.

She wanted to eat...

Xu Qing ignored these two, his gaze sweeping over the divine maiden before him, and the hand gripping her neck suddenly emitted a drawing force.

Transforming into active harvesting of source essence!!

In an instant, the unconscious divine maiden trembled all over, her body shaking, waves of source essence being forcibly drawn from within her, surging into her neck, then along Xu Qing's arm, gathering into himself.

The purity of this source essence was unparalleled, especially since it still carried a trace of divine emperor bloodline aura, making the concentration of the source essence astonishing.

And such a divine maiden, who had once been a True God, was for Xu Qing an incomparably precious source essence stone.

He planned to absorb it thoroughly before handing it over.

Thus, while absorbing, he flicked his sleeve, rolling up the unconscious Star Ring Child.

And sent part of the source essence he had absorbed to it.

So that after the severely wounded Star Ring Child's injuries stabilized, Xu Qing stepped forward, taking the Star Ring Child with him as he left.

His figure vanished in an instant.

Several days later, in the Fifth Star Ring Left Wing War Zone, several pieces of information spread like a storm across the eight directions, reaching all legions, causing countless cultivators' hearts to surge violently.

The divine maiden has been captured!

The captors, the Corpse-Probing Team of the Nianlin Army, Xu Qing's squad!

Now, this squad of theirs is being fully escorted by the Nianlin Army, transporting the divine maiden to the frontline headquarters where the Giant Red Star is located.

This news is extremely explosive; if the captors were lower immortals or even legion commanders, it might still be acceptable and would not shock the countless cultivators of the Left Wing War Zone.

But... it was actually the Corpse-Probing Team that captured her!

Thus, the resulting waves were enormous.

After all, the Corpse-Probing Team has a poor reputation on the front lines and a status lower than that of army cultivators, yet now they have actually achieved such a great feat.

Thus, bewilderment and disbelief filled the hearts and minds of cultivators across the frontline legions, followed by investigations into this Corpse-Probing Team.

And the information gathered from the Nianlin Army again caused a sensation.

"A squad formed by ascenders?"

"The first, and also the only, batch escorting source essence, having traversed the Flesh Grinding Disk's central region, arriving at the frontline?"

"Along the way, they experienced numerous life-and-death trials, from originally nearly a hundred people, finally only nineteen remained?"

"And they even captured alive a Divine Platform Peak?"

"After arriving at the frontline, becoming the Corpse-Probing Team, yet on the battlefield they forcibly probed corpses?"

"Participating in war, they are more adept at slaughter than we army cultivators?"

"Called the Funeral Squad?"

These scenes made all who heard them feel solemn, and they also saw this squad's ferocity and terror.

Especially knowing that this squad, to complete this mission, had almost all been severely wounded, and after seven deaths, amidst the shock and solemnity, all the legions also arose with respect.

And within this rising respect, more information was also uncovered.

"According to the information from team member Zhou Zhengli of this squad, in the battle to capture the divine maiden, they bore the brunt of a True God's self-detonation!

And their team captain Xu Qing, seeing his teammates each severely wounded, his heart filled with surging killing intent, because each member of their squad shared a bond where they could entrust life and death to each other as comrades-in-arms!

Therefore, their team captain Xu Qing, at that time his eyes were already blood-red, his expression grim and tragic, his words not for reward, but sworn to avenge his teammates!

This is righteousness, and also taking responsibility!

Thus, even while severely wounded, Xu Qing charged forward with ten thousand stars, sparing no cost, pursuing and slaying the divine maiden, finally capturing her alive, tears telling the fallen, making his teammates' sacrifices possess value and meaning!"

"Moreover, this Zhou Zhengli also informed the inquirers about some shocking past of their team captain Xu Qing..."

"This Xu Qing possesses outstanding talent, transcendent demeanor, full of the Dao of Immortals, moreover lofty and majestic, he was the first among the previous generation's ascenders from the Immortal Capital, with no one daring to disobey!"

"And he also received recognition from the Silent Immortal Palace, which had been silent for countless years!"

"Furthermore, in carrying out the supply mission, relying on his near-immortal cultivation, he once quelled the Divine Prison Rebellion, suppressed a True God in the midst of recovery!"

"All kinds of battle achievements, none not astonishing; against enemies, cold-blooded and ruthless; toward teammates, gentle as kin!"

The following information was even more explosive.

Pushing this already sensational event to climb again to a new height.

Thus, during this period, the entire frontline of the Left Wing War Zone, regarding this squad, especially its captain Xu Qing, was almost universally known, with no one unaware.

Almost all cultivators, after confirming the truth of the matter with their own methods, regardless of their inner thoughts, must say one sentence.

"This Xu Qing is worthy of being bestowed the title of True Lord!"

Thus, at the cosmic teleportation array that must be passed through on the way to Giant Red Star, countless cultivators have gathered, wanting to see the goddess's appearance and even more eager to catch a glimpse of that small team's demeanor.

And the teleportation array, surrounded and watched by cultivators from all these armies, when viewed from afar, resembles a magnificent immortal palace floating in interstellar space, standing proudly in the endless darkness, radiating an awe-inspiring aura.

Crystal pillars flashing with mysterious light, like heaven-supporting giant pillars, uphold the firmament of the entire teleportation array.

At this moment, it is rumbling.

All the surrounding cultivators have strange light flashing in their eyes.

Not a single mistake, not a single error, not a single shot, not a single inner, not a single container, not a single existence, not a single one looking!

They know, the Nianlin Army is coming.

And soon, this rumbling grows louder and louder, the space around the array as if stones had been thrown into a lake, rippling with layer upon layer of undulations.

Beams of light shoot out from all directions of the starry sky out of nowhere, rushing like meteors, carrying the momentum to split the darkness, precisely aiming at the teleportation array.

And they intertwine and merge above, instantly forming a colossal immortal spirit vortex!

Within the vortex, lightning flashes, and the rumbling sound it emits is like ten thousand horses galloping, deafening.

Until the next instant, when this sound echoes through the universe and the light within the array reaches extreme brilliance, figures suddenly appear from within the array.

Tens of thousands!

All of them are the Nianlin Army.

Their expressions are solemn; upon manifestation, they immediately fly out in the first moment, guarding the four directions, while within the array, a line of cultivators wearing corpse-handling Dao robes, protected layer upon layer by them...

... finally comes into view of all those gathered outside the array.

A total of twelve!

Although their faces are all pale and they exude weakness, each of them, in this instant, gives off a feeling of iron-blooded resoluteness, the killing intent on their bodies almost instinctual.

Drawing attention.

And the most eye-catching... is their leader!

He is a youth, tall and straight, with long hair flowing freely, his features so beautiful they can be called peerless, enough to make the majority of female cultivators lose their color, his demeanor even more icy and cold, his gaze containing a terrifying light.

And in his hand, he is indeed holding a deity on the verge of death.

This deity, judged by human aesthetics, is also beautiful, and that eerie style is extremely visually impactful, though the skin is somewhat withered and the divine radiance is very dim.

Appearing as if about to be drained dry...

It is the Star-Eyed Goddess!

On her body, source substance fluctuations continuously emanate, steadily flowing out along the hand gripping her neck.

During the process, the unconscious her, her body trembles, her expression twisted, suffused with pain.

And this scene, falling into the eyes of the gathered parties outside the teleportation array, brings about ripples, which are also immense.

"Is that Xu Qing?"

"Is he... harvesting source substance?"

"Looking like this, it seems he... harvested all the way? So ruthless!"

"This... no wonder it's the corpse-handling team!"

Most of the concerned parties have strange expressions, but they cannot deny that Xu Qing's cruel image of harvesting while moving forward has already been deeply imprinted in everyone's minds.

"This person is absolutely not to be provoked!"

"Their small team is indeed extraordinary!"

The thoughts and gazes of everyone now fall upon the sensory perception of Zhou Zhengli, who follows behind Xu Qing.

Although he is blind, on one hand due to timely rescue, and on the other hand due to the source substance from the goddess, he has reassembled his constitution.

And because misfortune brought fortune, his constitution has advanced another level.

At this moment, sensing all directions, Zhou Zhengli's mouth corners reveal a smile.

"It seems the messages I previously spread had good effect; thus, no one dares to risk stealing merit, and at the same time, the young master's influence has also risen because of this!"

"In that case, the rewards given from above will absolutely not be lacking, and should even be more..."

"After all, in war, all sides need to establish a model."

"The young master here perfectly fits!"

Zhou Zhengli is satisfied, gazing forward at Xu Qing, especially at the goddess whose neck Xu Qing has been gripping all the way.

"I must say, the young master's thoughts are also astonishing..."

"His harvesting under the gaze of ten thousand eyes not only obtained source substance, but also indirectly informed everyone that this is his captive!"

"In this way, my efforts to build momentum to cooperate with him will achieve such perfect effect."

"It's just a pity that, if not for worrying about being too exaggerated and causing a backlash, I would have wanted to spread the news that the Immortal Lord values him, the Immortal Venerable expects him..."