Chapter 1337: The Teacher's Kindness, the Filial Piety of the Disciple

In this moment when human cultivators were stirred and the myriad races of Eastern Wanggu were exhilarated, Xu Qing stood in the firmament above the human imperial capital, gazing into the distance at the Swallow Heaven Domain.

He slightly lifted his right foot, yet still did not set it down.

Before, there had been an instant when his divine sense within the Swallow Heaven Domain made contact with Prince Ziqing, stirring a strong impulse in his heart.

To step into the Swallow Heaven, to step into Ziqing's Upper Realm, and battle the brother of his memories, that Prince Ziqing.

To settle all karmic ties.

Yet in the end, Xu Qing still withdrew his foot.

"Not yet the time."

Xu Qing lowered his gaze slightly; he knew his current state could not be sustained indefinitely.

The fusion of immortal and divine was merely allowing him to temporarily reach this terrifying condition.

Before long, the divine body and immortal soul would fall into an irreconcilable state.

At that point, separation would be necessary, otherwise the soul would face assimilation.

Xu Qing also understood this was because his fusion lacked certain essential and supreme rites, thus it could not be considered perfect.

Most importantly, the Upper Wasteland still existed.

His divine body was formed from its flesh and blood, and the source of his divinity likewise came from the Upper Wasteland.

Thus, a short-term fusion with his immortal soul was acceptable, but once prolonged, assimilation would inevitably occur—this too was part of the karmic bond with the Upper Wasteland.

"Once such assimilation occurs, it cannot be reversed."

"Therefore—though this fused form has elevated my realm and combat power, it cannot be used deeply."

"Before this problem is resolved, it is unsuitable to battle Prince Ziqing."

Xu Qing withdrew his gaze; even though his cultivation had reached this level, he still harbored no slight resentment toward the young Prince Ziqing in his heart.

On the contrary, as his cultivation and experience increased, he saw more deeply and thoroughly.

"Prince Ziqing is the Upper Wasteland's chosen one, the one who walks Eastern Wanggu on its behalf."

"I simply do not know what entanglements exist between him and me, nor why I must wait for him to grow—"

Many things, when Xu Qing now looks back, reveal numerous clues and indications.

For instance, why Prince Ziqing repeatedly provoked him.

And how, when the Empress attained divinity years ago, he obtained the fortune of Ziqing's Upper Realm upon his return—though this was aided by his master, without a foundation it would have been difficult to obtain smoothly.

Then why is his own foundation connected to Ziqing's Upper Realm?

And the flesh and blood of the Upper Wasteland, along with its karma—his capacity to endure them seems to exceed the ordinary.

Regarding Ziqing's Upper Realm, regarding Prince Ziqing, Xu Qing's doubts in his heart have not diminished in the slightest with his growth; on the contrary, they have increased.

Especially buried deep in his heart is a guess he does not wish to ponder further.

"Upper Wasteland, Prince Ziqing, and myself—what exactly is our relationship—"

Xu Qing recalled the corridor within his soul, and the mysterious seat at its end.

He also recalled Prince Ziqing's strange reaction upon sensing this scene years ago.

"Everything, soon—will not take long; the moment I step into the Swallow Heaven, it shall surely be revealed!"

Xu Qing drew a deep breath, a resolve forming in his heart.

He suppressed his thoughts of Prince Ziqing, once again gazing into the distance at Eastern Wanggu's mainland; there were some matters he intended to resolve before battling Prince Ziqing.

"Eastern Wanggu's mainland has just endured a great calamity and needs stability."

"But with so many external forces, I will borrow this fusion state that can barely persist for a few hours to root them out one by one, severing their layouts that have plagued Eastern Wanggu for years."

"Make Eastern Wanggu purer."

Xu Qing's eyes flashed with a dark light as he gazed toward Feng Haijun, toward the Wood Spirit Clan!

His first stop for cleansing would be the Ancient Spirit Emperor!

As a ruler from an era even more ancient than Emperor Xuanyou, who once unified Eastern Wanggu's mainland, the Ancient Spirit Clan's emperor.

Clinging to life to this day, Xu Qing does not believe there is no other external force supporting him behind the scenes.

"If there is, I will sever it!"

"If not—the existence of the Ancient Spirit Emperor is also not conducive to Eastern Wanggu's stability."

Xu Qing thought of this, bowed toward Seventh Grandfather in the firmament, and swept his gaze over the Empress and Chen Erniu and others.

"Wait a moment, I will first go attend to some matters."

Having spoken, he lifted his head, a chill appearing in his eyes, and spoke lightly.

"Zhou Zhengli!"

Not far away, Zhou Zhengli, who had closely monitored Xu Qing's every word and deed, immediately stepped forward and bowed.

"My lord!"

"You, follow me together."

As Xu Qing's words fell, his body suddenly took a step downward; amidst the ripples of the firmament, he shifted away.

Zhou Zhengli, Xing Huanzi, Xie Lingzi, Li Mengtu, and Yuan Shan Su also rose in succession, following Xu Qing's shift.

With their cultivation, to the lowly cultivators' eyes, Eastern Wanggu's mainland—almost infinite in size—was merely a somewhat larger star.

Thus, in an instant, outside Feng Haijun, in the midair where the Wood Spirit Clan resided, heavenly thunder rolled.

The booming sound shattered the eight directions as the heavenly canopy opened and closed.

The Wood Spirit Clan trembled; all trees opened their eyes, taking human form, kneeling and trembling in worship before the Wood Spirit Clan's elder, as Xu Qing's figure stepped forth from the rift in the heavenly canopy.

Behind him stood Zhou Zhengli and the others.

At the moment of manifestation, Xu Qing did not pause, taking another step.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared at the entrance to the Wood Spirit Clan's underground forbidden ground, the Spirit Abyss!

The entrance to the Spirit Abyss was a giant cavern, like a heavenly pit, its interior pitch black, with waves of cold air seeping out,

as if it wanted to freeze all things.

This was not Xu Qing's first time coming here; now he stood at the edge of the Spirit Abyss of the Wood Spirit Tribe, his gaze falling.

Beside him, Zhou Zhengli and others stepped forward one after another; Zhou Zhengli's third eye on his forehead suddenly opened wide, and after staring intently, he suddenly spoke.

"Master, below—there is a rotting, struggling giant serpent!"

Xinghuanzi also swept his gaze over and spoke lightly.

"The power of order within has completely collapsed."

"It also contains poison—" Limutu smiled.

"Not only these, my sword tells me that below there still exists evil intent." Xielingzi licked his lips.

"Master, where does this place lead to? I do not know what it is." Zhou Zhengli looked toward Xu Qing.

"In the Eastern Wanggu Continent, before the Upper Wilderness descended, there once was a tribe that unified heaven and earth; this tribe was called the Ancient Spirits."

Xu Qing slowly spoke.

"And this tribe's Spirit Emperor, his cultivation was that of an Immortal; at the end of the dynasty, he gathered the strength of the entire tribe, collected the qi of fortune, wishing to do something related to the Heavenly Dao."

"He wished to seize the Heavenly Dao with his own body, to become the sole Heavenly Dao of Eastern Wanggu."

"Now, going to see, he wishes to merge the rules of Eastern Wanggu, thereby entering the Dao, to become an Immortal Sovereign!"

As Xu Qing spoke, he lifted his foot and directly walked into the Spirit Abyss.

Zhou Zhengli and the others immediately followed, and Xu Qing's voice, in the tumbling darkness of the Spirit Abyss, echoed in their ears.

"In the end, the Spirit Emperor's seizure of the Heavenly Dao failed, suffering backlash from all the Heavenly Dao of Eastern Wanggu; but clearly he chose to let his clansmen share the burden, so that in one night, the Ancient Spirit Tribe withered, the nation became a dead realm, and most of the tribesmen became wailing, suffering ghosts day and night."

"Eternally bearing the torment of the Ancient Spirit Emperor's backlash."

"This Spirit Abyss of the Wood Spirit Tribe is one of the entrances to the Ancient Spirit Dead Realm."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhengli and the others all had their minds stirred.

Their cultivation was only that of a near-Immortal, but hearing Xu Qing's words, it was clear this Ancient Spirit Emperor had once been an Immortal, and this method of seizing the Heavenly Dao to obtain rules for ascension was also transmitted within the Fifth Star Ring.

However, this is merely one way to become an Immortal, and compared to comprehending the Constitution, this method is niche.

The drawbacks are too many.

But to use this method to ascend to Immortal Sovereign, this is unheard of even in the Fifth Star Ring.

"This Spirit Emperor"

Xinghuanzi wanted to say something, but in the end shook his head; no matter what, the other had once reached the Immortal realm and deserved respect.

Xu Qing also merely gave a simple reply, then said no more, stepping forward within the Spirit Abyss.

The repulsion emanating from the Spirit Abyss itself, though continuously transmitted and seemingly strong, before Xu Qing amounted to no more than a breeze.

In just a moment, Xu Qing had already entered the depths.

In this darkness, there appeared before him a colossal being!

It was a rotting giant serpent, its entire body entwined with a thick intent of death.

A world was being carried on its head,

this world was hazy, with waves of wailing sounds seeping out from within, the voices heart-rending, in the void and mist, falling into the ears of Xu Qing and the others.

Once, this giant serpent in Xu Qing's eyes was vast and boundless; merely its pressure made his body and soul tremble.

But now, everything had reversed.

Xu Qing stood in the void, his gaze sweeping.

At a glance, the rotting giant serpent suddenly trembled, its very body shuddering, even beginning to retreat, wanting to flee.

But Xinghuanzi's eyes flashed with cold light, his body surged forward, and he charged straight at the giant serpent.

Zhou Zhengli and the others also each stepped forward; in an instant, besides Xu Qing, everyone else's figures flew toward the giant serpent.

Within that great world, like meteors, they smashed into the rotting earth!

The booming sound echoed within that great world, the kicked-up storm sweeping all directions, causing countless ghosts to instantly shatter into fragments.

Even being entwined by mist, with no sun or moon, only ghost fires like stars in the heavenly canopy, in this moment the mist was torn apart.

Even more, in the next instant, heaven and earth were transformed into a hazy, pallid starlight; the figures of Xinghuanzi and others instantly shifted, revealing their power, like heavenly generals, charging swiftly in all directions.

Wherever they passed, the Nether River flowed backward, flesh-and-blood mountains shattered and vanished, the entire world trembled,

and each and every eye of the Ancient Spirit Emperor, at this moment, opened wide in unison.

As if having slept for an eternity, now awakened by disturbance, they roared from their mouths.

"You—"

This roar only uttered two words before abruptly stopping.

Those opened eyes suddenly contracted.

They felt in the void of the Outside, that figure with flowing hair!

All the previous shock and fear transformed into surging waves within their hearts and minds, further containing disbelief; these emotional fluctuations and manifestations, in all those opened eyes, instantly became intensely concentrated.

"You·you are the giant serpent outside, Xu Qing stood there, and did not at first look toward the awakened eyes of the Ancient Spirits within the giant serpent's world, but instead let his gaze fall upon the distant black mist deep in the distance.

Gazing in that direction, Xu Qing's eyes grew deeper with coldness.

Then he withdrew his gaze, looking toward the front, atop the giant serpent's head, that rotting world.

He spoke lightly.

"Long time no see, Ancient Spirit Emperor."