Chapter 1075: I Make a Wish……

Chapter 1080: I Wish...

This bone cauldron, forged from the bones of Er Niu's third life, was refined by the Immortal Art Emperor of that era. Its power was terrifying, capable of refining the cosmos through avarice.

As the colossal hand, formed by countless blue worms, was raised high, the cauldron burst from the sea. Amidst the churning waves, it swiftly landed directly atop the tumor where Emperor Ming Yan resided.

Emperor Ming Yan, seated cross-legged within the tumor, appeared calm. Yet, only he truly understood the immense scale of this body and the challenge of fully controlling it.

This challenge stemmed partly from the body's karmic ties, and partly from... Master Seven's restrictions!

Although he had suppressed these restrictions, he had in reality only managed to maintain a precarious balance.

At this moment, he could not fully control this body!

So, the moment a cold glint flashed in his eyes, the rapidly approaching colossal bone cauldron immediately opened its lid, encompassing the tumor within, and violently pressed down.

"Refine!!"

Countless low roars simultaneously emanated from the mouths of the countless blue worms.

The sound was earth-shattering. The colossal hand, formed by blue worms, disintegrated at that moment, transforming into a sea of worms that rapidly swirled around the bone cauldron.

Its momentum was formidable, shaking heaven and earth, as it formed a blue vortex in the sky.

As they spun in a frenzy, these worms each exhaled an intense cold mist.

The cold mist surged towards the bone cauldron, but instead of freezing it, it transformed into ice flames that integrated into the cauldron, beginning the process of refining the tumor.

A thunderous roar immediately became overwhelming.

Er Niu dared not be careless, fully dedicating all his energy to controlling and empowering the bone cauldron, refining it with all his might. However, he was well aware that the chances of ultimate success were slim.

After all, he was Emperor Ming Yan.

However, at this crucial moment, buying time was the best option.

He needed to buy enough time for both the Empress and Xu Qing.

This would allow the Empress to arrive quickly and give Xu Qing a chance to unleash his remaining trump cards.

So, he gave it his all.

Amidst continuous rumbling, the swirling sea formed by the blue worms accelerated its rotation, intensifying the refining process.

In the distance, the Empress witnessed these unfolding events, her expression grim. Golden light pulsed within her, distorting all directions and blurring the void, as if she intended to forcefully break free from all constraints.

Emperor Moyu, who was battling her, changed his expression, sensing the divine might of the Empress at that moment. A hint of retreat involuntarily arose in his heart. However, Emperor Ming Yan's clone, standing beside him, showed resolve in his eyes. His body swayed, and he directly transformed into a black lotus.

Black flames ascended, simultaneously engulfing everything and completely sealing off the fragmented space they occupied.

For a time, their location became completely blurred and indistinct. Only rumbling sounds resonated, echoing the roar of the cauldron.

Xu Qing, for his part, seized this opportunity to fully complete the final possession of the Emperor's body.

While the outside world raged intensely, fierce flames blazed within the bone cauldron that Er Niu was refining.

The tumor was burning, and the essence of various sovereigns contained within it began to boil.

Emperor Ming Yan, seated cross-legged inside, opened his eyes, revealing a grim glint.

Er Niu's intervention was the first miscalculation in his current endeavor.

A minor cultivator, whom he had not previously deemed significant, had unexpectedly delivered such a blow at this critical moment.

"What surprises me," he mused, "is that my divinations previously failed to detect any anomaly about this person, discern his true foundation, or even sense the bone cauldron's existence..."

"Either someone interfered with my divinations, or... there's a significant anomaly concerning this person."

"How interesting," he thought. "Both of these disciples are truly extraordinary."

"Which begs the question about their master..."

Emperor Ming Yan's eyes narrowed, and he let out a cold snort.

Even with these unexpected turns, he remained confident that he could suppress everything.

"For this rebirth, I have prepared for a very long time," he thought. "Especially this grotto-heaven in my secluded cultivation place; it does not originate from Wanggu."

"With this grotto-heaven here, the outside world cannot disturb me in the slightest."

"And although I temporarily altered my plans after seeing this body, everything is still within my control."

Emperor Ming Yan remained calm. Facing the refining power, he took a deep breath. Instantly, the liquid outside his body decreased by thirty percent, and then he gently exhaled.

Immediately, a second black lotus appeared above his head, emitting terrifying black flames. Numerous iron chains spread out, intertwining with the lotus beneath him.

They spun against each other, causing the iron chains to penetrate the tumor and strike the bone cauldron from within.

Accompanied by endless black flames, they suppressed the ice flames.

The appearance of the two black lotuses caused Emperor Ming Yan's aura to surge once more. While suppressing the ice flames refining from all directions, he simultaneously fought against Master Seven's restrictions within his body and extinguished the candle behind him.

This allowed the previously broken balance to be restored.

"This cauldron also has its benefits," he mused. "It can help me shield myself from the outside world to a greater extent, giving me more time to quickly master this physical body."

"In half an hour at most, I should be able to master most of this body's abilities. By then..."

Emperor Ming Yan's eyes flashed, and a flicker of purple light appeared deep within them.

The next instant, his pupils suddenly constricted.

"There's purple light in my eyes?"

Emperor Ming Yan's heart sank. For a powerful being like him, the unknown represented an unexpected turn, a variable. The purple light in his eyes was the second unforeseen event in his current endeavor.

Just as Emperor Ming Yan's mind was shaken, more purple light uncontrollably erupted from his body. The moment it spread throughout him, its source was also revealed.

The source was deep within the flesh of his chest.

There, lay something Emperor Ming Yan had previously been unable to detect.

It was a purple crystal!

The moment he perceived this crystal through its source, Emperor Ming Yan's expression changed dramatically, as it never had before.

What agitated him was that this item was entirely beyond his comprehension!

In his previous divinations, he had not sensed this item's existence. Even after taking possession of the body, despite the purple crystal clearly being within him, he hadn't perceived it in the slightest before it emitted its purple light.

It was as if the item's nature transcended imagination.

If it did not want to be perceived, it simply would not be.

Such an unexpected development shook him to his core even more profoundly than Er Niu's earlier appearance.

Especially unsettling was the faint, cross-legged black shadow without facial features seemingly seated within the purple crystal, as if it were merely a silhouette.

Almost the instant he looked, the shadow abruptly opened its eyes.

The next moment, the purple crystal seemed to be activated, erupting with an overwhelming light that formed a sea of radiance, suddenly covering the entire physical body and Emperor Ming Yan's soul.

For the first time in the millennia since his secluded cultivation, Emperor Ming Yan felt a loss of control and an intense life-or-death crisis.

His breathing immediately became rapid.

"This item is not within my domain!"

"What is it?!"

A sense of unease erupted in Emperor Ming Yan's heart. At this critical moment, he did not hesitate, immediately attempting to seal the purple crystal with all his might.

However, the spread of this purple light affected not only the light itself but also... Master Seven's restrictions.

Emperor Ming Yan's suppression of the restrictions immediately collapsed.

The candle behind him also began to burn again.

Even Er Niu's bone cauldron, under this purple light, erupted with even greater intensity.

Horrified, Emperor Ming Yan suddenly opened his mouth and powerfully inhaled, completely drawing in the remaining seventy percent of the essence within the tumor in one go. He then used this immense power to fully resist.

At the same time, he fiercely gritted his teeth, and his soul surged violently within him, directly extracting something he had hidden within it—an item as crucial to him as his very life.

This item was his greatest secret.

As his soul shone, golden light appeared.

It was a single drop of water.

A golden drop of water.

To be precise, it was a drop from a golden river.

The moment this drop of water appeared, a vast golden river materialized within Emperor Ming Yan's soul.

"Mother River..."

As his voice echoed, beyond the Moyu Sacred Land, beyond the Wanggu Continent, in the boundless starry sky, in the northern reaches of the Ninth Star Ring...

...a boundless golden river flowed.

Within this river, countless stars, all living beings, myriad things, and even lotus flowers could be seen.

Within those lotus flowers, countless figures sat cross-legged: alien races, humans, cultivators, deities...

At this moment, one of the human-like cultivators abruptly opened his eyes, revealing a sharp glint as he gazed into the starry sky.

He then rose and bowed to the long river.

"Mother River," he spoke, "One of the chess pieces dispatched to the Upper Desolation has sent out a plea for help."

The river water rippled, and after a while, an indescribably terrifying and vast will revived a trace within its depths.

Though merely a trace, it affected billions of stars within the river, causing all living beings there to experience palpitations and tremble.

"The time has not yet come..."

The cultivator lowered his head upon hearing this, sat down again, and murmured softly.

"Then, let him rely on a single drop of Mother River water to fend for himself."

In Emperor Ming Yan's secluded cultivation place, what was happening inside the cauldron remained imperceptible to other parties.

Only Xu Qing, due to his connection with the crystal, had some perception of its eruption.

And this was Xu Qing's arrangement!

Before leaving the body, he had activated Master Seven's first layer of restrictions and unsealed the candle, allowing the restrictions to erupt and the candle to ignite.

He did this to impact Emperor Ming Yan.

At the same time, he did not take the purple crystal!

Instead, he left it within the body, along with Little Shadow, to unleash the purple crystal's power at the critical moment.

He couldn't easily predict the outcome.

But throughout his journey, Xu Qing had long since noticed a crucial anomaly.

That was... it seemed no one he encountered, other than himself, had ever perceived his purple crystal in the slightest.

Master Seven hadn't, the Empress hadn't, and even the old man from the Fifth Star Ring he'd met in the outer sea seemed unaware.

Therefore, in this desperate situation, Xu Qing chose an even more extreme path.

He no longer cared about the outcome.

Because according to his plan, the moment the purple crystal erupted was when he would initiate the final part of his strategy.

Once this part of the plan was unleashed, if Emperor Ming Yan noticed, he would undoubtedly try to stop him; his adversary would never allow him to proceed.

And he could not afford to be interrupted.

That's why the purple crystal's eruption was crucial.

To stall Emperor Ming Yan!

With this thought, Xu Qing perceived his current physical body.

This body felt as if it contained incredibly rich and terrifying origins, yet for him, it was like a mortal child attempting to wear thousand-pound armor.

He could not control it.

Furthermore, this body also had a major problem: it seemed to have been forcibly sustained by a delicate balance, and now that balance was broken...

The support was gone.

It began to collapse, began to wither.

"But it's enough..."

Xu Qing muttered to himself, his eyes filled with resolve. With a hoarse whisper in his mind, he sent out a divine thought.

"I wish..."

The next instant, a bizarre mask silently and imperceptibly traversed all barriers, passed through the void, broke through space and time, and appeared before Xu Qing.

As if it had been waiting all along.

It stared at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing met its gaze.

"I wish to use this physical body as nourishment to reshape my true self!"