Chapter 985: The Ninth Star Ring

Xu Qing’s mind surged with waves.

This scene, in the memories of Xue Chenzi, naturally did not exist.

And having searched until now, staring at that starry face at this moment, he understood completely in his heart...

This must be the reason why white dust appeared in the soul of Xue Chenzi!

Although he did not know what the white dust was, Xu Qing did not hesitate at all; his right hand lifted abruptly, and in the next instant, a vast hand manifested before him.

It reached out and grabbed toward the face emerging on that star.

Drawing closer and growing larger, by the time it finally neared the collapsing star, the giant hand Xu Qing had manifested had expanded to a degree sufficient to cover the star.

But the moment this hand shrouded that face and descended... a strange change occurred!

Whether it was a coincidence or not, the degree of collapse of this star reached a critical point at this instant, and then the entire star suddenly crumbled, breaking into pieces.

It shattered with a rumble in all directions.

Included in the shattering was that face.

The mountain range that formed the nose was wiped away in an instant.

The lakes that formed the eyes were filled in in a flash.

The canyons that composed the mouth... collapsed directly.

The giant face was no more!

And with the collapse of the star, a world-destroying force erupted from it, exploding with a terrifying aura.

The giant hand Xu Qing had manifested bore the brunt of it, touched by this storm of destruction.

The next moment, a heaven-shaking roar erupted here, the rumbling sound deafening, the aura of destruction sweeping over everything; the giant hand Xu Qing had manifested could not block it and shattered directly.

He himself was also knocked back in an instant, and only after retreating one hundred thousand zhang did he barely avoid the destructive force of the star's collapse.

Looking into the distance once more...

That star had become dust...

This dust was white.

It was exactly the same as the one on the thread of fate of Xue Chenzi.

Xu Qing’s mind shook, and he raised his hand to immediately attempt to collect it.

It was just that while this white dust appeared, it was also vanishing at high speed.

Moreover, many methods were ineffective for collecting this object; after all, Xu Qing had tried many times to collect the white dust within the fate thread of Xue Chenzi, and all had failed without exception.

But he was unwilling to leave it at that.

And perhaps because this white dust was currently in a different state as it had not yet merged into the thread of fate, after Xu Qing tried various methods, he finally managed to collect a little using a jade bottle reinforced by both divine source and authority.

At this moment, he lowered his head, gazing at the jade bottle in his hand, thoughts rising in his heart.

He knew the origin of the white dust in the fate of Xue Chenzi.

Previously, he had seen the collapse of other stars and worlds here, but none had featured the appearance of this white dust; yet, the destruction of this particular star had produced this substance.

The difference here was obvious.

"Only stars or worlds where that face has appeared will produce white dust at the moment of their collapse!"

"It is a pity that I already tried my best to collect it, but this mysterious substance dissipates too quickly, and the amount I collected is too small..."

Xu Qing inspected the jade bottle, noticing that despite the reinforcement of his own authority and divine source, the white dust inside the jade bottle was still disappearing irreversibly.

Although the speed had slowed, it would all disappear in at most a day's time.

"One day..."

Xu Qing frowned.

There was not enough time.

And his caution also meant he would not merge this mysterious dust into his own thread of fate without experimentation and research.

"So the point is actually not this white dust, but that face..."

Xu Qing looked up, gazing into the distance.

"Is there a second one of those faces?"

Xu Qing pondered for a moment and sent a divine thought to the Little Shadow; soon, the Little Shadow merged with Xu Qing at high speed, causing Xu Qing’s eyes to turn pitch-black once again.

He prepared to rely on the Shadow Eyes to explore this secret realm carefully, looking to see if a second face existed.

After the fusion, Xu Qing did not waste time; he sped forward in this secret realm that had turned into a series of paintings, relying on the Shadow Eyes to search carefully.

Time passed.

Although this World Source Secret Realm had become a series of paintings, it was not static, but dynamic, and vast in number.

Most importantly, because that red candle was still burning, the light, the heat, and the risk of being assimilated all increased as Xu Qing continued his exploration.

Two days later, Xu Qing had to retreat some distance, moving away from the firelight area of the red candle; after looking from afar, a gloominess rose in his heart.

"Two days, and I have only searched thirty percent of the area, mostly the outer parts."

"If I want to explore it all, I fear it will be impossible without ten days, and the closer I get to the red candle, the greater the risk of being assimilated."

"If this continues, it won't work."

Xu Qing was silent; after a long while, a decisive thought rose in his heart—he still had one trump card he could deploy.

"Then..."

Xu Qing closed his eyes, his internal divine source roaring; as it churned, a seed of divine authority shone with brilliant golden light upon his ruins.

This light grew more intense, eventually illuminating the entire ruins, spreading out from within Xu Qing's body, and finally gathering together to form a golden thread that wrapped around Xu Qing's finger.

Gazing at this golden thread, expectation appeared in Xu Qing's eyes.

Because the divine authority this golden thread belonged to was the Luck Divine Authority he had obtained from the Long-surnamed cultivator of the North Fate Royal Clan!

At this moment, with a pinch, that golden thread of luck began to burn.

Yet everything around remained as usual.

Xu Qing’s gaze swept over, seeing nothing unusual, but this was his first time deploying this divine authority, so he was exploring it himself.

After a while, he took a deep breath and rushed into the range of the red candle's firelight and heat, searching again.

And this time... after the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Xu Qing felt something different.

He saw traces of rules and laws.

One must know that for a Spirit-Nurturing cultivator, the benefit of this World Source Secret Realm lies primarily in rules and laws.

There are too many worlds and stars here; they are constantly collapsing and constantly reforming, which provides sufficient reference and insight for a Spirit-Nurturing cultivator to shape their own new world.

But rules and laws, apart from some basic ones, are different in every star and world.

Some within are suitable, some are not, and depending on the different Spirit-Nurturing worlds of cultivators, the requirements are also different; furthermore, the timing of one's observation also matters.

Being able to see the complete change of a rule from its appearance to its destruction is best.

If one only sees part of the change, one must search for similar rules multiple times to gain insight.

And because one cannot stay too long, there is an element of luck involved.

Although Xu Qing’s focus along the way had been on finding that face, he had occasionally observed the power of rules and laws appearing during the destruction and rebirth of worlds.

However, on one hand, he was just skimming, and on the other, what he saw was mostly incomplete, with only occasional complete ones.

But now... a strange scene appeared.

A complete thread of law unexpectedly appeared before him, taking the initiative to display its own evolutionary process.

And it was not just once...

As Xu Qing moved forward, similar things happened frequently; a large number of rules and laws, the moment Xu Qing neared, displayed themselves infinitely, like a peacock spreading its tail.

It was as if they were scrambling to be first!

If an outsider were to see this scene, they would surely be extremely shocked and find it unbelievable.

And this was not the most exaggerated part; what made even Xu Qing feel shaken was that some stars that were clearly collapsing, after his gaze fell upon them, would either collapse slowly or expose their rules and laws with unusual clarity due to some inexplicable accident.

Everything was to let him see more comprehensively and carefully.

As for the shadows within this secret realm, they were also affected; they would often discover Xu Qing at the first moment and instinctively rush toward him, but each time, upon nearing, they would suddenly be attracted by other things and then roar away.

Even more astonishing was that whether it was the collapse of stars or the departure of shadows, they were indirectly shielding Xu Qing from the firelight of the red candle...

This made Xu Qing’s journey incredibly smooth.

And the second face he wanted to find also appeared in Xu Qing’s sight after several hours.

Xu Qing’s mind surged, suppressing the heart shaken by the Luck Divine Authority, his body pausing as he looked into the distance.

There was a collapsing star there.

Within the star, there was a continent that had remained mostly intact despite the star's fragmentation.

The mountains and lakes upon it formed a face.

Originally, with the shattering of the star, this continent would have been hard to keep intact, and even if it were, it would have been obscured, making it difficult for passersby to see.

Yet, Xu Qing saw it.

But almost the instant he looked, that face actually blurred, and in a flash, the mountains and lakes upon it collapsed, and the face disappeared.

And the storm of the star's collapse permeated the surroundings at this moment, within which a blurry outline of a human face was revealed, fleeing into the distance.

Xu Qing’s gaze sharpened, and he sped at full velocity, chasing after it.

The speed of that human face outline was astonishing; although Xu Qing was moving at full speed, he was still a bit short, and after chasing for the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the human face outline suddenly vanished.

Three breaths later, Xu Qing roared into the place where the face had disappeared, and after quickly checking the surroundings, his gaze locked onto a tiny spatial rift.

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed; compared to searching aimlessly, his choice was to explore this rift that most likely hid the face, so with a dash, he flew directly into the rift.

The moment he entered, a scene that caused Xu Qing’s mind to shake violently entered his eyes.

Inside this rift was a void realm; there was no red candlelight within, but... it was also a projection!

The jade slip containing the World Origin Secret Realm did not just have one layer of recorded imagery, but two!

Beneath the layer where the red candle flame resided, the second layer of imagery that now entered Xu Qing’s eyes was, shockingly, a star map that shook the soul!

It was a magnificent map composed of thirty-six star rings of varying sizes!

Each star ring was made up of multiple star domains and countless stars; it was incomparably brilliant, its vastness impossible to describe in words.

The first star ring was blurry, but the others were incredibly clear; within the fifth star ring, right in the center, was the silhouette of an old man sitting cross-legged.

That was a marker.

Xu Qing recognized it at a glance; this old man... was exactly the old fellow he and his Senior Brother had encountered in the Outer Seas!

And what caused Xu Qing’s mind to fluctuate the most was the ninth star ring.

Because, in the very center of the ninth star ring, he saw a marker of a broken face!

The moment he looked at it, a realization surfaced in his heart.

This was... the God of the Upper Desolation! Then the place where it resided must naturally be the Wanggu Continent!

And within the ninth star ring, surrounding the Wanggu Continent... there actually existed other terrifying markers!

To the east of the star ring, a giant beast lay in slumber.

To the north of the star ring, a golden river flowed.

To the south of the star ring, a black tower stood tall.

To the west of the star ring, a paper figure sat cross-legged.