Chapter 988: The Shattered Supreme Divine Authority

Its speed was astonishing; in an instant, it charged into the glow of the red candle’s flame, racing forward.

Viewed from afar, it was like a shooting star, whistling through the void, its momentum suppressing the heavens and earth.

As it drew closer, his body rapidly turned crimson; endless light and heat surged toward his face.

In the blink of an eye, it enveloped Xu Qing’s entire body.

Furthermore, countless shadows from this place rushed in from all directions, while star after star continuously collapsed and exploded, attempting to block him.

It seemed as though everything, absolutely everything, was trying to prevent Xu Qing from approaching.

This point was illogical!

Because according to the assimilation of this place, if Xu Qing made such a choice, the red candle should not have obstructed him; after all, he was like a moth flying into a flame.

It should have simply let him be.

Yet this obstruction not only appeared, but intensified along with Xu Qing’s speed; more stars self-destructed, and even the red candle’s own flames swayed violently.

Xu Qing’s eyes flashed; without any hesitation, he immediately transmitted a divine sense, and in the next instant, the little shadow merged with him, his eyes turning pitch-black as everything before him collapsed and transformed directly into a scene.

He used this to avoid the self-destruction and collapse of the stars.

As for the shadows that were originally invisible, a large number of them appeared in Xu Qing’s vision, and in them, Xu Qing sensed anxiety and madness.

Their obstruction was relentless, one falling only for another to take its place.

Facing this, Xu Qing increased his speed, circulating his cultivation base within, all his divine powers erupting, the power of his authority shining, and a great sun rising within his body; regardless of his flesh turning incredibly crimson, and even his soul burning, he still charged forward fiercely.

If you will not let me pass, then I am determined to pass!

In an instant, amidst the dissipation of countless surrounding shadows and the swaying of the red candle’s firelight, Xu Qing’s figure appeared directly within a thousand feet of the red candle!

At such a close distance, Xu Qing’s physical body was fine, but his soul could no longer endure it; countless heat seeped through the hidden cracks within his flesh, infiltrating his body and gathering in his sea of consciousness, scorching his soul.

The resulting assimilation and dissolution spread over a large area.

At this critical juncture, madness filled Xu Qing’s eyes; his soul flickered and transformed into tens of millions of soul threads, spinning within his sea of consciousness to form a vortex storm, using this to resist the candle fire seeping in from outside.

Using this method, he charged once more.

He reached five hundred feet.

His soul threads shattered in large swaths, burned into fly ash, while others disappeared, turning into the shadows of this realm.

Yet Xu Qing’s speed continued to erupt.

Whistling through the air, three hundred feet, two hundred feet... until Xu Qing’s soul threads had been burned and lost by over ninety percent, leaving only a tiny fraction, Xu Qing’s body finally crossed the distance.

He appeared upon the red candle, appeared upon the flames.

There, he sat cross-legged with eyes closed, sinking fiercely toward the candle fire below!

He intended to use his own physical body to extinguish this fire!

At this moment, the candle fire also produced intense fluctuations; it seemed that with its consciousness, it had never anticipated that Xu Qing’s choice would be to approach it.

This act of voluntarily walking into death, of stepping into a desperate situation, was beyond its understanding.

And in the next instant, the red candle’s flame roared violently, burning madly, causing Xu Qing’s descent to pause; at the same time, flames many times more intense than before swept in all directions, shrouding Xu Qing’s entire body.

His physical body was fine, but the fire surging into Xu Qing’s body continuously gathered in his sea of consciousness, spreading across his ruins.

The number of his Alien Immortal flow soul threads was decreasing rapidly, and it looked as though they were about to be completely incinerated.

But just then, Xu Qing’s eyes suddenly opened, and he looked down at the red candle below.

"I do not know what relationship you have with the mask, but I know you have consciousness, so I deliberately spoke of assimilation to make you not stop me from approaching."

"Although I still did not deceive you all..."

Xu Qing’s gaze flashed.

"But you think I have no other choice besides making a wish, is that it?"

Entering the Realm Source Secret Realm this time, Xu Qing had gained a great deal.

First, he saw the map of the Thirty-Six Star Rings!

This map was vast, opening up his world.

Second, he found the reason for the appearance of white dust in the fate threads of Xue Chenzi.

That eerie wishing mask!

For unknown reasons, the red candle radiated malice, not allowing him to leave, yet making a wish was still not Xu Qing’s first choice.

Because... a conjecture had been dwelling in Xu Qing’s heart for a long time.

Everything had already been laid out on the surface.

Given the situation he faced before, no matter how he analyzed it, the method to leave seemed to be only this path of making a wish.

This was highly likely a mandatory option left for him by the red candle!

Since that was the case, Xu Qing would be even less likely to make a rash decision.

Before he had studied that mask, he did not want to use it.

After all, this object was eerie, and according to Xu Qing’s understanding, there was no such thing as something for nothing in this world, especially the concept of making a wish; a price must be paid.

And clearly, depending on the magnitude of the wish, the price paid would also differ.

Especially since that mask possessed a certain level of intelligence and was not a dead object, there was the possibility of cunning and deception.

These, including the price, were all unknowns.

And the price of a wish could be his own lifespan, or a catastrophe, or even the people and things he cared about most in his heart, or perhaps even his own memories and soul.

Everything was possible.

Therefore, he had to be clear about what price was being paid.

Otherwise, once a wish was made, it would be irreversible, and the consequences would be too great.

Only by knowing the price could one use it reasonably.

This was why Xu Qing had attracted and kept it, without ever stating a wish.

Therefore, to leave this place, without being willing to follow the arrangement and walk the path of making a wish, there was only one way to break the situation.

That was to charge toward the most dangerous source, where the red candle was!

To extinguish it with his physical body!

To seek life from death, to find a way out in a desperate land.

However, to achieve this, the first thing he had to face was the approach.

Thus, Xu Qing said the words "assimilation," attempting to make the conscious red candle let him pass.

Besides this, his choice to break the situation had another reason.

He believed in the toughness of his physical body!

In the star map of the Thirty-Six Star Rings, the Upper Desolation located in the Ninth Star Ring could pull those four terrifying marks of the East, West, South, and North; this point further confirmed the horror of the Remnant Face.

Then, this physical body, molded from Its flesh and blood, must be able to withstand the burning of the candle fire.

The only flaw was his soul!

His soul could not withstand the candle fire.

Regarding this, Xu Qing already had a decision!

"Then let us see whether you burn my soul to ashes first, or my physical body extinguishes you first!"

As he spoke, under the intense burning of the candle fire infiltrating his sea of consciousness, Xu Qing did not hesitate at all; with decisiveness in his eyes, he raised all of the nearly one hundred faint traces of divine power within his ruins.

These traces of divine power came from the flesh of the Remnant Face, and Xu Qing had not yet comprehended them one by one.

They had raised Xu Qing’s upper limit, but also limited Xu Qing’s breakthrough, so for Xu Qing, if he truly burned them, it could be considered a choice of weighing the pros and cons to some extent.

Yet Xu Qing’s judgment was both right and wrong!

Those nearly one hundred faint traces of divine power could indeed be burned to form a force to resist the candle fire, but they were not true divine powers; they were merely illusory imprints, similar to lingering shadows.

No matter how they were burned, the imprints themselves could not be erased; at most, some impurities were burned out.

As a result, under the roaring of the candle fire, the effect was lower than Xu Qing’s estimate.

Xu Qing steeled his heart; he had a second layer of preparation!

"Luck Divine Power!"

Xu Qing did not hesitate at all; he immediately sacrificed his Luck Divine Power and sent it into the candle fire.

In the next instant, the Luck Divine Power began to burn within the candle fire, erupting with a massive amount of divine might, resisting the candle fire while also indirectly protecting Xu Qing’s soul.

This approach was insane!

Burning divine power—such a thing had occurred very rarely since ancient times; on one hand, gods were unwilling to part with it, and on the other, the fire capable of burning divine power was even more precious, and one needed opportunity to encounter it.

And at this moment, by burning the Luck Divine Power, Xu Qing gained more time to persist; amidst the roaring of his physical body, he was already sitting on the candle fire.

The candle fire dipped, swaying even more violently, wanting to incinerate this physical body, but it could not do so, and could only let the crimson body continue to sink.

But the red candle’s resistance did not diminish, and more seeped into Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness.

Within Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness, flames were torrential.

Under this constant burning, the Luck Divine Power finally dissipated by ninety-nine percent, leaving only a single thread.

This thread, shining with brilliant golden light, could not be completely incinerated.

After noticing this scene, Xu Qing’s heart stirred; without time to think too much, he immediately sacrificed his Misfortune Divine Power, surrounding his body with it to resist the candle fire.

The sound of roaring echoed in his sea of consciousness, more flames merged in, increasing the burning, causing the Misfortune Divine Power to dissipate rapidly, and in the end, similarly, only a single thread remained!

After a moment of hesitation, for the next divine power Xu Qing sacrificed, he chose the Purple Moon!

The Purple Moon Divine Power circled around Xu Qing, resisting the candle fire intensely.

And Xu Qing’s physical body, at this moment in the outside world, had completely sunk into the red candle’s flame, pressing continuously toward the candle wick below!

The flames swayed even more violently, as if making a final struggle; reflected in Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness was his Purple Moon Divine Power, dissipating in large amounts.

In the end, just like the previous two divine powers, only a single golden thread remained!

Just as Xu Qing gritted his teeth, preparing to unleash the divine authority of sound as well, a bizarre scene occurred that was beyond his expectations and also had the greatest impact on the red candle!

Good luck, bad luck, Purple Moon...

These three golden threads burned from the divine authorities actually attracted each other at this instant and became entangled.

The three golden threads intertwined; although they were not merging, as they wove together, the golden light they emitted became even more brilliant.

It caused the candlelight to pause.

An astonishing aura erupted from within the intertwining of these three threads of divine authority.

This aura seemed to transcend time and space, holding dominion over all things and living beings, yet it was vaguely incomplete.

But even though it was incomplete, the aura it emitted was still terrifyingly immense, surpassing every divine authority Xu Qing had seen in his life.

As for the specifics, before Xu Qing could perceive them in detail, the aura vanished in the blink of an eye like a flash in the pan.

Because they had only intertwined by a twist of fate, they were unable to merge with each other.

At this moment, after their brief entanglement, signs of them separating appeared due to the lack of completeness...

Xu Qing’s mind shook, and he immediately sent these three intertwining threads of divine authority, which were about to separate, into the candlelight within his sea of consciousness to bear the burning of the flames in place of his own soul.

The flames surged instantly; amidst the anxiety of the external candle being about to extinguish, the red candle erupted completely, burning crazily. As the candle itself diminished, the flames merging into Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness also became unprecedented.

Under their burning, the three threads of divine authority, which originally would not have merged and were only briefly intertwined, actually showed signs of beginning to merge.