Chapter 614: The Kingdom of the Gods

Or perhaps, using the word "as if" is inappropriate.

Because at this moment, those memories of the past were truly emerging from the illusory, gradually transforming into reality.

And once these realistic scenes formed, they could replace the present.

Time, at this moment, seemed to become elusive; it was no longer flowing forward, nor was it flowing backward, but had turned into a vortex.

In this vortex, there was Xu Qing's past, his present, and also his future.

It was just that the images of the future were blurry, not clear in the slightest, and after merging together now, they were even more so.

And the word "time" also became strange, as if it no longer possessed the concepts it originally held!

Perhaps the two words "time" were merely defined by sentient beings for their own convenience of understanding.

The true nature of it, in reality, requires no definition; "all definitions may not necessarily be able to fully express it."

Xu Qing's mind churned; this strange realization surged into his brain just like that.

It overturned everything.

And in this world, before Xu Qing's eyes, changes appeared once again.

In his blurriness, he saw indescribable gods walking in the void, fiddling with one vortex after another that had been defined as time.

Their appearances were all different; Xu Qing could see them, but he could not piece them together with language, as if describing this behavior was not permitted.

But in the end, they were taken down and placed upon their bodies to become patterns.

Others turned into implements Xu Qing could not understand, forming things and colors beyond his comprehension.

And the starry sky was the same; Xu Qing saw a god holding a brush made of stars, painting.

Wherever it painted, the starry sky grew larger.

This scene was inconceivable and extremely unreal, yet the next instant, all of this vanished, becoming hazy and changing its appearance, as if everything before was just what Xu Qing himself had imagined, and thus it formed something incomprehensible and incredible.

Xu Qing's sea of consciousness trembled at this moment, roaring; all these images made it impossible for him to believe, and he even saw emperors wearing imperial robes wailing in pain, struggling and attempting to resist, but before the gods, everything seemed meaningless.

That whisper from the god's remnant face, that incantation, seemed to have opened up a bizarre and grotesque world.

Here... the time you perceive does not have that meaning in the hearts of the gods.

The space you understand does not have that implication in the perception of the gods.

The knowledge you possess may not be correct in the eyes of the gods.

Even what you see is only what the gods intended for you to see.

The reason it is "intent" is because they would not do so deliberately.

All of this made Xu Qing's consciousness on the verge of collapse, until the next instant, a figure appeared before him, like a massive mountain peak, blocking everything from the outside world for him, shielding all the chaos, and cutting off all gazes.

And Xu Qing's perception finally recovered at this moment.

His body landed with a boom, and the waves and cognitive turmoil within his heart turned into surging tides, continuously battering his mind, making him unable to stand steady.

Stumbling backward, Xu Qing could not suppress it and spat out a mouthful of blood; his expression changed constantly, and he suddenly raised his head to look at Princess Mingmei, who was blocking his front.

Did you perceive it?

Princess Mingmei turned around, her eyes deep as she gazed at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing's breathing was rapid, and a storm roared in his heart; countless bolts of lightning seemed to be exploding, and a strong sense of horror appeared in his eyes until, after a long while, he barely managed to recover somewhat.

He nodded heavily.

"What did he say? Also, I feel like I saw it, but it seems I didn't. I clearly remember it, yet it feels like I've forgotten."

All the images, everything, seemed to have been overturned.

Xu Qing's body trembled; the coldness from his childhood surfaced on his body again following this experience. He felt very cold, cold to the bone, freezing his soul...

"He is counting down."

Princess Mingmei spoke softly.

Cultivation, after the arrival of the god's remnant face, is actually a helpless pain and a path of no return.

In this world, there are heterogeneities everywhere; some can be perceived, others cannot be glimpsed.

They invade all things in the world, changing their forms and inner nature; some turn into fly ash, others become sources of evil.

And for the common people... it is even more so; the process of life is also changed, and they are forced to adapt.

For cultivators, this phenomenon is even more severe; low-level ones will undergo alienation, and upon reaching a critical point, they will either die or become one of the alien beasts.

Only the mid-level ones are the happiest; at this time, most believe they can suppress the heterogeneity and can ignore it, but in reality, it is only because of cognitive barriers and lack of understanding that they are happy.

"Until, when cultivation reaches a high level, the expansion of cognition will change everything."

Like us, everything you just saw is something we must endure at every moment.

Princess Mingmei's tone was calm, but her voice carried exhaustion; beside her, the Heir sighed softly, looked at Xu Qing, and shook his head.

But what else can be done?

And those things, in fact, may not necessarily be the truth; one can only say that it was just a corner of it.

Even my father, the King, once said something back then.

"We think they are outsiders, but is that really the case? Perhaps in their understanding, we are the ones who are."

Is it possible that this place has always been the kingdom of the gods?

The answer, I do not know either.

The Heir shook his head.

Xu Qing was silent.

These questions are not for you to consider at present; it is good for you to experience them, as it will help you understand this world more clearly.

The Heir patted Xu Qing on the shoulder. "Remember, in the future, before you are prepared, do not use your Poison Prohibition Eye to look at the remnant face; he is supreme and cannot be looked at directly."

Let's go, we are going home.

Xu Qing nodded silently, followed the Heir and Princess Mingmei out of the valley, and returned to the medicine shop.

And the events he experienced this time, even after half a month had passed, still surfaced in the depths of his heart, eventually affecting his thoughts.

He could not help but ponder, could not help but try to understand.

Until this day, the "oil" that the Captain spoke of appeared.

In the firmament, the Red Moon star was closer to the Jiyue Great Domain, so looking up, one could see this star becoming larger and clearer.

And the red in the sky became increasingly dazzling, reflecting onto the earth, turning the entire Jiyue Great Domain into a red domain.

The tidal reaction was equally intense; at every moment, mountains collapsed and the earth cracked, the sound of roaring continued from all directions, and the cultivation power possessed by all cultivators who believed in the Red Mother Temple was bolstered, appearing with varying degrees of surge, and the divine arts they displayed were even more shocking to the mind.

Thus, with the five Vice Hall Masters of the Niyue Temple as the source, the five resistance armies formed, and under the suppression of the Red Moon Temple, the stalemate was broken.

They began to collapse and flee in all directions. And adding insult to injury, the Red Moon star drew so close that the tidal reaction turned...

... the world upside down, and throughout the entire Jiyue Great Domain, a bizarre event occurred.

It grew larger.

The original continent, in this fragmentation, split apart, and new plates rose from the depths of the earth, where deep pits existed.

The former mountain peaks were the same; after collapsing, new mountain bodies appeared, and the aura of gods continuously surged from these newly appeared places.

And from these deep pits, from these mountain bodies, and from all the newly formed land, a group of special existences awakened.

They were ugly in appearance, like demons, without consciousness, filled with madness, like insects and beasts, and their numbers were numerous, bursting forth.

Each one contained the fluctuations of a god; the small ones were several zhang in size, and there were even those of several tens or even a hundred zhang.

The sense of cruelty was extremely intense, and the feeling of madness permeated all directions.

There was even hunger; it was expressed more intensely on their bodies, so wherever they passed, all things in heaven and earth, even the soil and rocks, were their food, not to mention the flesh and blood of sentient beings.

There was nothing they did not eat, nothing they did not devour; they rushed out from multiple regions, spreading across the entire Jiyue Great Domain.

It was as if this were a feast for them, and death, as all this progressed, appeared every single second.

The Niyue Temple also became more desolate; one temple after another became completely deserted, and the masters within them fell.

Elixirs, at this moment, became even more important.

Although Xu Qing was in this pure land of the Kusheng Mountain Range, he still transported elixirs, and he no longer required any payment.

But it was still impossible to satisfy the demand; Xu Qing had intended to refine them in large batches, but an accident occurred nonetheless.

On this day, the Kusheng Mountain Range shook, a large amount of rock fell off, mountain peaks collapsed one after another, and a deep pit, following the collapse of the mountain range, tore open from within; its location was precisely beneath the Red Moon Temple of the Kusheng Mountain Range.

Looking at the entire Great Domain, one could discover that every such place actually had a Red Moon Temple nearby. And although the wind of the desert could prevent outsiders from entering, for those who were already here, it could not stop them.

Thus, countless ferocious existences rushed out like a tide.

In an instant, the frantic roaring became a sound that shook the soul, aside from the wind, in this place.

As for the cultivators of the desert, facing this scene, if they did not want to die, they had to resist, especially the Wind-Guarding Clan, which mobilized the entire clan, together with other large and small forces, to fight against these mad demons.

The Heir and Princess Mingmei also walked out at the moment the earth shook and the mountains swayed; it seemed that what they were waiting for was the appearance of this event.

Xu Qing followed behind.

"Xu Qing, look clearly at these existences that are like demons."

"Their appearance is not accidental; they are the offspring of the Red Mother that have not yet formed consciousness, the representation of chaos, and the unnecessary substances released by the Red Mother during her process of becoming a god."

The Heir walked between heaven and earth, approaching the deep pit where all this was erupting, and spoke calmly, "These are actually the true god-children."

Xu Qing lowered his head and looked at the mountain range below.

It was not the first time he had known about this; when he left the highest hall of the Niyue Temple, the Captain had also told him, and this was the "oil" the Captain had spoken of.