Chapter 1353: Upper Wasteland Complete

The light of the morning glow fell from the sky, spilling over the ruins of Wushuang City and enveloping this human realm.

In this light, the young Xu Qing stood motionless, as if time had frozen for him.

Before him, the adult Xu Qing, from the future, gradually appeared within the brilliant morning glow.

Clad in a long black robe, he swayed with the wind, the fabric fluttering.

His long purple hair billowed, each strand seemingly imbued with the primal power of a star ring.

As he walked, the Wanggu Continent stirred.

The earth trembled, the sky churned, and the entirety of Wanggu seemed to awaken at that instant, radiating a sense of welcome.

Not only Wanggu, but Huangtian, beneath Wanggu, was also affected in the same way!

It was as if the figure emerging from the light possessed a status that made him the origin of Wanggu and the genesis of Huangtian!

Auspicious signs appeared in all directions, and propitious hues formed within the morning glow.

All were welcoming him!

Until the moment the figure fully revealed himself from within the light, the heavens and earth roared.

A world-shaking power erupted from him, accompanied by the resonance of Wanggu and Huangtian, and an aura that surpassed even Xia Xian—that was the Immortal Lord!

And not just any Immortal Lord, but one at the pinnacle of that level!

Even more astonishingly, behind Xu Qing, another adult version of himself seemed faintly visible.

Just like the Original Twin Mother Star!

He stood there, glanced back at his childhood, frozen in time, then looked towards Ziqing, who was watching him from afar.

After a moment, he took a step and walked towards Ziqing.

Step by step, he crossed the frozen time, walked through the viscous blood, and arrived before Ziqing amidst the bloody rain within the light.

Looking at Ziqing, Xu Qing spoke calmly.

"Why did Shanghuang not come to stop my advancement?"

Ziqing smiled.

At this moment, he had just awakened, so he possessed neither the cultivation of his previous life nor the divine realm he would later attain in the Swallowing Heavens Domain.

Currently, only potent divinity flowed within him.

Before Xu Qing, he was fragile.

But he didn’t care.

He smiled as he looked at Xu Qing, his eyes showing admiration and relief, and a deep sense of anticipation.

"Before I tell you the answer, my brother, I want to ask you, do you—know who you are?”

Xu Qing remained silent, gazing coldly at Ziqing without speaking.

Ziqing’s smile widened.

"You don’t know—"

"And you couldn’t possibly know!"

Ziqing’s eyes shone brightly as he looked at Xu Qing.

"My brother, I’ve been looking for you for many years—and I never believed it was you—"

"Until I repeatedly entered the destiny of this current life, experiencing various outcomes in different fates, including the day Wushuang City was sacrificed. In some destinies, I ignored you; in others, I took you away.

And in still other destinies, I annihilated you.”

"This is also why your memories of Wushuang City are confused!"

"And after doing this, I finally discovered a clue—"

"But I was still uncertain, so I let you live and die on your own, letting you grow along your path—I saw your entire first half of life clearly within destiny.

Including your killings, your apprenticeship, all your different choices and actions, and the different destinies they spawned, all were clear to me.

I examined them frame by frame.

Originally, I intended to bring you back and sacrifice you after the Ziqing Imperial Nation returned.”

"It wasn’t until the Human Imperial Capital that I finally saw the seat deep within your soul—

My brother, do you know, on that day, at that moment, I saw your true destiny, and it resolved the confusion that had plagued me for a long time. It also showed me the true turning point in the destiny I had been planning for—”

Ziqing spoke with a smile, revealing everything!

"Therefore, I naturally did everything in my power to influence Shanghuang’s remnant face, to prevent it from appearing and interfering with your assimilation of the Original Mother Star.”

"I wish for your success even more than you do.”

Ziqing burst into laughter, the anticipation in his eyes intensifying.

After listening to these words, Xu Qing remained silent for a long time, then, looking at the anticipation in Ziqing’s eyes, he slowly spoke.

"Who exactly are you?”

Hearing this, Ziqing laughed even louder.

"Who am I….”

As he laughed, a deep complexity appeared in his expression.

"I have many identities: I am Crown Prince Ziqing from history, I am the human race’s self-salvation of its destiny, I am the hope of Wanggu, and I am a wisp of Huangtian’s will reincarnated!”

"But I have another identity, one I only learned after sacrificing myself—”

"Shanghuang’s remnant face, is also me!"

Ziqing’s voice echoed, shaking heaven and earth.

Although this answer was within Xu Qing’s conjectures, hearing it still deepened his gaze.

And Ziqing’s voice continued.

"Or to be precise, my brother, I am a possibility that Shanghuang released the moment he advanced to a half-step god after entering the Divine Umbilical Cord!

He sent this possibility out of the Divine Umbilical Cord, integrating it into the star ring where he was born, within Huangtian’s Original Mother Star.

This was the hope he left for himself!

If he were to die during the process of ascending to godhood, then this possibility he released would replace him and become the new one!”

"But an unexpected turn of events occurred because of this—”

Ziqing raised his hand, pointing at the sky.

"After failing, he didn’t truly die, but instead came here to search!”

"And I, in turn, was born from the Original Mother Star combining with destiny for its own self-salvation!”

"So, I can be me, and I can also be him!”

Hearing this, Xu Qing suddenly spoke.

"He didn’t come here looking for you!”

Ziqing looked at Xu Qing, the light in his eyes growing brighter.

"Of course he wasn’t looking for me; he, like me, was—looking for you, my brother!”

"It’s just that our goals are different, and his consciousness is mostly gone, leaving only instinct, so he can only sleep more. That’s why I found you first, and under my influence, he consistently overlooked you.”

"Thus, you were able to pass by unseen multiple times.”

"Now that I’ve cleared your confusion, my brother—it’s your turn!”

"With the power of the Original Twin Mother Star that you have assimilated, on the third door to the right of the seat within the corridor deep in your soul,

carve my name!”

"In return, once I succeed, I will guide the remnant face away, giving you back a pure and peaceful Wanggu, free from any anomalous entities!”

"At the same time, I will sweep through the entire Ninth Star Ring for you, ensuring that there are no more Divine Venerables in the Ninth Star Ring, and no more threats to you!”

"Making the Ninth Star Ring a realm for cultivators, becoming your Star Ring!

Additionally, after I succeed, I will tell you who you truly are!! This is an absolute secret known only to me!”

"And, after I succeed, I will bring back Wushuang City from destiny, including your parents, resurrecting them and allowing you to reunite!”

"My brother, what do you think of this bargain!”

The anticipation in Ziqing’s eyes reached its peak after he finished speaking.

He had seen the outcome in all destinies; he knew Xu Qing would agree!

His voice, moreover, had become a divine pact, part of the Ninth Star Ring’s rules. Xu Qing could clearly perceive this, understanding that the other party was not lying about this point.

He truly intended to fulfill it.

Xu Qing looked at Ziqing, then raised his gaze to the remnant face in the sky.

After a moment, he spoke softly.

"I refuse!”

The moment these three words were uttered, his right hand was already raised and immediately descended.

As Ziqing momentarily froze, terrifying power erupted from Xu Qing’s palm, forming a destructive force that swept over everything, pouring into Ziqing’s body with overwhelming might.

It shattered his divinity and severed his karma.

Ziqing’s flesh and blood scattered.

And Xu Qing’s voice murmured and echoed.

"Everything you spoke of, I choose to achieve myself.”

"As for whether your attempt to possess Shanghuang will succeed, that depends on your fortune.”

After speaking, Xu Qing raised his hand and waved, sending Ziqing’s flesh and blood towards the sky, towards the remnant face, while uttering a world-shaking sound.

"Sacrifice!”

At this moment, heaven and earth roared!

Ziqing’s flesh and blood were ascending.

Xu Qing raised his head, his gaze piercing through the ascending flesh and blood towards the remnant face.

Ziqing’s goal was to replace the other!

Xu Qing now understood this completely.

And the other party’s request, to have him carve a name on the third door—

Clearly, this was the path most aligned with the other party’s objective.

This would make the possession easier and reduce the risk.

Therefore, Xu Qing chose to refuse.

Although he knew that, according to Ziqing’s calculations, his refusal might itself be within his scope, at least this was the path Xu Qing chose to offer him.

And indeed, that was the case.

The moment Ziqing’s flesh and blood ascended, a sudden change occurred!

Within this temporal space, a pillar of black mist, spanning a million li, surged skyward!

Straight towards the sky!

The mist was intensely black, and the moment it appeared, a dense eerie aura erupted within it, accompanied by chilling cries akin to ghosts wailing and wolves howling.

Echoing throughout the human realm.

And it wasn’t just this one pillar—at this moment, within this temporal space, the entirety of Wanggu was roaring.

Identical colossal pillars of black mist appeared one after another in various locations, all ascending!

Their sheer number permeated the entire Wanggu.

A total of ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine pillars!

Their appearance caused the sky to roar, startling everyone.

And as the black mist converged, the sky above Wanggu was instantly transformed!

The black mist covered everything, submerging all, turning the sky of Wanggu into a sky of black mist!

Watching all this, Xu Qing’s eyes gleamed with a profound light; he recognized this as the power of the Eerie Realm!

Before this battle with Ziqing, Yu Liuchen had warned him that the aura of the Eerie Realm had been sensed in countless of the opponent’s stories.

Clearly, the Eerie Realm was Ziqing’s setup!

And at this moment, Ziqing’s voice echoed between heaven and earth!

"If I succeed, there will once again be an Eerie God in the world!”

This voice, filled with strangeness, reverberated in all directions, and instantly, the sky of black mist roared, churning violently. Then, the black mist erupted, as if the Eerie Realm itself had opened!

Amidst this churning and eruption, countless black shadows abruptly surged out from within the black mist.

Converging abruptly towards Wushuang City!

Gathering fiercely towards Ziqing’s ascending flesh and blood!

In an instant, they enveloped the flesh and blood, which then decayed and rapidly dissolved. The moment they completely vanished, countless black shadows had fully enveloped the area where Ziqing’s flesh and blood had been.

And beneath this pervasive presence, they writhed amongst themselves, shockingly forming a—

—remnant face!!

The remnant face was massive; in outline, it bore an uncanny resemblance to Shanghuang’s remnant face.

To be precise, it was the missing half of Shanghuang’s remnant face!

However, it was not formed from flesh and blood, but rather coalesced from black shadows, forming a shadow remnant face!

Extremely dark, both existent and non-existent!

And under Xu Qing’s gaze, the eye of this shadow remnant face suddenly opened, revealing a crimson glow.

He was Ziqing!

Now, with his crimson eye open, he looked at Xu Qing on the ground, a hint of complexity in his gaze.

Xu Qing’s choice had surprised him, forcing him to unveil his second contingency plan!

Opening the Eerie Realm, and borrowing its power!

However, this was a choice he would avoid if any other possibility existed.

But now, it had still come to pass.

He could only borrow from the Eerie Realm, create karma, and form this shadow face.

"Very well, I schemed against you first—now, our karma ends here.”

So, after gazing at Xu Qing, the shadow face that Ziqing had become, its eyes now hardened from complexity to determination, flickered and then shot straight towards the sky!

Directly towards Shanghuang’s remnant face.

He was going to piece together a complete face with Shanghuang’s remnant face.

To possess it!

This perfectly echoed the words of the Eerie Realm: “Like a shadow, existing with a god.”

As he ascended, the Eerie Realm’s black mist released more black shadows, which continuously converged towards the remnant face Ziqing had become, making the shadow remnant face grow larger and larger.

And ever more vast.

Until, under Xu Qing’s gaze, the shadow face finally reached the edge of the sky, next to Shanghuang’s remnant face, and then—it directly pieced itself together with Shanghuang’s remnant face!

A complete face abruptly appeared in the celestial canopy!

Only, one half was shadow, the other half flesh and blood. Ziqing was the reincarnation of the remnant face, but it was almost impossible for him to make his own will dominant. That was why he wanted Xu Qing to carve his name on the door. Now, after the failure of his first plan, he could only rely on the Eerie Realm, choosing to replace the remnant face as an eerie entity.

Becoming an Eerie God, just like a true god!

However, the risk of this was immense. The moment Shanghuang’s face was pieced together, Shanghuang’s surviving will abruptly awakened, and it fiercely repelled the Eerie Realm’s power that Ziqing had merged with!

Consequently, Shanghuang’s face in the celestial canopy momentarily separated, then reattached.

Falling into disarray and collapse!

And it was at the most critical juncture!

It affected the world, affected Wanggu, affected the Ninth Star Ring, and even affected destiny!

At the same time, it presented an unprecedented opportunity to external forces!

"You, will surely come!”

Xu Qing, on the ground, narrowed his eyes as he watched all this.

Almost the instant these words echoed in his heart, outside Wanggu, the starry sky roared!

A black tower, symbolizing endless imprisonment and soul annihilation, suddenly traversed the starry sky, opening a path, tearing through space-time, and entering Wanggu!

Appearing in… the sky!

Suddenly descending towards Shanghuang, who was at a critical juncture!

Not just the black tower; at the same time, a colossal beast exuding an incredibly terrifying aura, writhing like a mountain range and radiating primordial hunger, and an immense paper figure, seemingly cut from netherworld paper money, rapidly arrived from space-time.

The former, with indifference, abruptly headed towards Shanghuang.

The latter, licking its lips, burst apart into countless paper figures, all lunging forth!

Three of the four Divine Venerables of the Ninth Star Ring had strikingly arrived!

All their previous schemes and arrangements were for the sake of plundering the remnant face.

For this, they had waited cautiously for a long time.

Now, encountering this opportunity, how could they let it pass?

Naturally, they seized this chance to plunder!

However, it was clear that not all four Divine Venerables of the Ninth Star Ring acted this way—

The Mother River had not arrived!

Seemingly observing.

Thus, the next instant, the black tower, the colossal beast, and the army of bizarre, fluttering paper figures tore through the void, lunging straight for Shanghuang!

Taking advantage of the fatal window when Shanghuang and Ziqing’s Eerie Realm were locked in mutual conflict, unable to attend to anything else, the three precisely landed around the remnant face.

The black tower, like an inverted tombstone, slammed onto Shanghuang’s forehead!

The tower body glowed with a faint light, emitting soul-freezing wails, and an invisible, incredibly greedy suction force suddenly erupted!

What it sought to claim was Shanghuang’s vast and ancient divine soul!

The colossal beast, meanwhile, coiled in the shadows behind, opening its massive maw that seemed capable of devouring the universe. Thick, foul-smelling drool dripped like a waterfall, and each swallow was accompanied by a crunching sound as if space itself were being chewed.

It was frantically devouring Shanghuang’s vital energy, which contained endless life!

And the dense, silent army of paper figures, like an overwhelming swarm of white maggots, instantly enveloped Shanghuang’s entire face.

Their delicate paper arms waved, and countless nearly invisible paper threads, emitting a moldy, decaying scent, extended out, precisely parasitizing the nodal points of Shanghuang’s destiny!

Greedily pulling and drawing away its profound and unfathomable divine authority of destiny!

These three Divine Venerables held nothing back, their statuses erupting fully!

The black tower’s cold stillness, the colossal beast’s savage hunger, and the paper figures’ eerie pilfering—three distinctly different yet equally terrifying supreme divine authorities spread like a plague, beginning their greedy and tyrannical plunder!

And the timing of their arrival and attack was cunning and precise to the extreme, seizing the exact moment when Shanghuang was beset by internal and external troubles, its power severely depleted by its own conflict!

This allowed their plunder to yield unprecedentedly rich rewards!

But—Shanghuang’s own terrifying half-step god-level might, combined with the eerie power from the Eerie Realm capable of corroding everything, meant this plunder was not without cost.

As these three Divine Venerables plundered, they also suffered terrible erosion, their forms continuously blurring!

The colossal beast’s immense outline was distorting and fading at a visible rate, as if being erased by an unseen hand.

The black tower’s indestructible body also became indistinct, like a reflection in water, capable of vanishing completely at any moment.

Even the seemingly most fragile army of paper figures saw a significant portion of their edges ignite with eerie, pale flames, instantly turning into sparks of ash that silently drifted into the starry void.

Witnessing this scene, the divine thoughts of these three Divine Venerables fluctuated violently. Through this brief plunder and observation, they had initially determined that Shanghuang truly seemed to be at the end of its tether.

This was not an elaborate trap!

Thus, the next instant….

Rumble!!

The starry sky shook violently, space-time barriers shattered inch by inch like fragile glass, and the void was brutally torn open by three forces far more vast and heart-stopping than before!

Three supreme figures, embodying their true wills and radiating destructive might, descended with a roar!

Their forms were still the colossal beast, the black tower, and the paper figure.

But now, their brilliance was dazzling, far surpassing their previous state, and their intense divine might made the Wanggu Continent wail and tremble, while the vast starry sky boiled under their pressure!

This time, it seemed to be their true forms descending!

Disregarding all obstacles, they came from the depths of nothingness, instantly piercing through all dimensions, and precisely merging into their previously descended avatar projections.

Instantaneous fusion!

Causing their already terrifying aura to surge like a volcanic eruption, and their plunder of the dying Shanghuang to suddenly intensify!

Amidst the roar, Shanghuang’s colossal face convulsed violently.

Deep, bone-visible black cracks furiously spread across its surface, like shattered porcelain!

Its divine soul origin was torn and devoured to a greater extent by the black tower; similarly, its vital essence of flesh and blood was more savagely chewed and swallowed by the colossal beast.

The entire face was visibly withering, drying, losing its luster, and emitting a strong aura of death and decay!

And behind it, in the colossal beast’s crimson eyes, the light of greed intensified, as if it had discovered an unparalleled delicacy.

The plunder by the countless paper figures also intensified; the invisible threads of destiny wound ever tighter, and the plundered divine authority of destiny integrated into their paper forms,

causing the pale paper figures to writhe eerily, with vague facial features and skin textures appearing on their surfaces,

and even, faintly, strands of destiny, twisted like snakes and emitting ominous auras, could be seen forming and extending within their bodies!

They were transforming from 'paper' into 'living beings'!

Seemingly sensing the immense risk posed by continuing this, the Shanghuang face, which was currently repelling itself, saw the rift between its shadow half and flesh half rapidly widen.

They chose to temporarily separate.

But just then, from the depths of the void, came a deep groan that chilled one’s bones to the marrow!

A river, composed of viscous, foul, dark golden liquid, traversed the starry sky without warning, descending upon the battlefield!

It was the Mother River!

He had endured until now, finally confirming that there was no danger, and at this moment, he appeared without hesitation!

The turbid river water, like billions of greedy tentacles, with a viscous stickiness capable of corroding divinity, instantly coiled around Shanghuang, which was on the verge of separating!

The momentum of separation instantly ceased!

Immediately after, the Mother River’s turbid, viscous surface churned violently, and a colossal monstrous face, formed from countless twisted, tormented visages, abruptly emerged!

This face opened its gargantuan mouth, seemingly connected to an endless abyss, and aimed at the tightly bound Shanghuang—

—and ruthlessly swallowed!

A large amount of divine blood, shimmering with eerie divine light and emitting a strong, foul stench, was immediately forcibly drawn from Shanghuang’s withered face, pouring like a waterfall into the Mother River’s filthy waters.

After absorbing the divine blood, the Mother River’s currents instantly became even more turbulent and surging.

And Shanghuang, already weakened, became as fragile as a flickering candle in the wind under this fatal blow, its aura of death and decay now too thick to dissipate!

Seeing the Mother River succeed, and Shanghuang’s weakness undeniable, inside the black tower, a cold, ancient divine will, devoid of any emotion, suddenly boiled!

Behind it, space-time was once again brutally torn open by an even more terrifying force!

An ancient bronze tower, covered in verdigris and adorned with countless tiny, twisted shrines that seemed to wail silently, slowly descended from the depths of the shattered space-time!

This was the black tower’s true form!

Its previous appearances had all been tests!

Now, the moment its true form descended, the suction force targeting the divine soul abruptly intensified by hundreds, even thousands, of times!

As if it intended to drain the divine souls of the entire starry sky!

And the colossal beast, witnessing this, its eyes blazing with ferocity, waited for another moment before abruptly raising its contorted head and letting out a terrifying roar capable of shattering stars!

Behind it, the void completely collapsed, and a monstrous beast head, formed from countless writhing stars, shattered planes, and unspeakable dark matter, manifested out of thin air!