Chapter 1102: Source of Authority

Chapter 1107: The Source of Authority

Inside and outside the city, Xu Qing and the middle-aged cultivator faced each other.

Rain hung suspended in the air, radiating sharp killing intent.

The two figures in the rain curtain formed a stark contrast. One was incomparably handsome, suspended in the rain with his long hair flowing, his eyes gleaming with an unusual light. The other had graying hair and a dignified face, but his expression was deeply troubled.

Between them lay the city gate.

With a raise of Xu Qing's hand, all the raindrops, like sharp blades, pointed at the middle-aged cultivator inside the city.

Time, at this moment, seemed to freeze, with only killing intent rising from both sides.

Neither side chose to strike first. Xu Qing observed; this was his first attempt to control the opponent's authority dao marks, and he needed more actions from the opponent to verify his thoughts. The middle-aged cultivator was also observing, not just Xu Qing, but also the surrounding rain.

The authority over rain originated from his transformed dao marks. Before becoming a Dominator, he lived in the Fifth Star Ring and was naturally a brave and skilled warrior. He had engaged in numerous battles and had ascended through constant combat. However, after finally breaking through and becoming a Dominator, he encountered a powerful enemy before he could even consolidate his cultivation. In that battle, he was severely wounded and barely escaped, but the gravity of his injuries ended his path forward. Afterwards, disheartened, he settled in this corner of the world. This time, it took him a long time to decide to fight for something. But he hadn't expected to encounter such a situation in his very first battle.

Although he hadn't fought much since becoming a Dominator and hadn't personally experienced such a loss of control over authority dao marks before, he had heard of similar incidents. Generally, when such a loss of control over dao mark authority occurs, it's usually because one has encountered an enemy who shares the same authority, and that opponent's understanding of that authority surpasses one's own.

"Authority stems from the immortal path accompanying the immortal embryo," the middle-aged cultivator mused. "The immortal path is similar to the Heavenly Dao, but it's not substantial; rather, it's ethereal, a way for cultivators to harness the star-ring power that originally belonged to deities. Every star ring possesses unique, ethereal traces that originally belong solely to deities. When perceived by deities, these traces become divine authority. Cultivators normally cannot grasp them, but during the process of forming an immortal embryo, they naturally absorb these traces, making them their own origin. Thus, there's a significant chance of encountering someone with the same authority."

As the middle-aged cultivator pondered, his mind stabilized, and a sharp glint appeared in his eyes. "Though I haven't experienced it, this situation... isn't insurmountable! After all, this person is only at the Spirit Concealment stage, not a Dominator! Even if they are a prodigy, there are limits!"

The next instant, as the two gazed at each other, the middle-aged cultivator moved first. He abruptly raised his right hand and slapped his chest forcefully. As a thunderous roar echoed, his entire body trembled, and blood instantly burst forth from all his pores.

The moment the blood appeared, it immediately merged into the surrounding rainwater, instantly transforming the rain curtain into a downpour of blood. Simultaneously, his will, infused with the blood mist, strengthened his own dao marks. Using the blood mist as a medium, he manipulated the blood rain, attempting to dispel Xu Qing's control and regain authority.

But he couldn't fully succeed. Xu Qing's Five Elements Water seemed even more special; even with the middle-aged cultivator's burst of will to reinforce, he only regained half of the control.

The next moment, the rain curtain between Xu Qing and the middle-aged cultivator split into two, with the city gate serving as the boundary. Inside the city gate, blood rain permeated the air, spreading a腥smell. Outside the city gate, the rainwater was crystal clear and exceptionally pure.

In a blink, these two rain curtains abruptly erupted, each transforming into sharp swords, rain puppets, and water-based spells. From a distance, it looked like two armies clashing, thousands of troops charging at each other. The roaring sounds shook heaven and earth. The sky changed color, the earth rumbled, countless cultivators in the city felt their hearts tremble, and the city gate, bearing the brunt of the impact, instantly shattered into pieces and disintegrated into dust.

As for Xu Qing and the middle-aged cultivator, both suffered backlash and impact from their respective bursts of power. Both retreated, but their expressions were different. The middle-aged cultivator's face was even more grim. Xu Qing, on the other hand, had a gleam in his eyes.

The reason he hadn't acted immediately earlier was to gather more information for verification and judgment. And now, he had generally discerned some clues. He could feel that the idea of considering his Seven Extremes Dao as authority was, at least for now, correct. Furthermore, from the previous rain charge, he sensed an instinctive yearning emanating from his Five Elements Water.

"I can devour this person's authority over rain to strengthen my Five Elements Water!" A sharp glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes.

In addition, he judged that this middle-aged cultivator was clearly weaker than the Dominator he had encountered emerging from the spiritual mine. The Dominator guarding the spiritual mine, in Xu Qing's estimation, should have been infinitely close to the mid-Dominator stage, arguably the peak of the early Dominator stage. This one, however, seemed to have old injuries, and the combat power he displayed was significantly weaker.

"Either this person had only recently entered the Dominator realm, or it was due to his old injuries. Then this person... I can kill him even without Grand-Uncle Nine's sword energy!"

Thinking this, Xu Qing's killing intent intensified. His body flickered, and he rushed directly toward the middle-aged cultivator. The Dao of Five Elements within him instantly erupted. In an instant, strange phenomena appeared all around him.

The earth churned, and the power of earth surged wildly, as if the ground had awakened at that moment, causing earthquakes and mountains to sway. Plants swayed, and vegetation in all directions seemed to transform into grotesque figures. All plant life was stimulated, growing frantically, causing the power of wood to rise astonishingly in an instant. The city rumbled. All metallic power within it was affected; whether it was artifacts, magic treasures, or other metallic objects, they instantly trembled, became controlled, and rose from their positions. Viewed from afar, this scene in mid-air was incredibly shocking, suddenly converging.

The sky rippled, and vast celestial flames appeared out of nowhere, crimson and obscuring the aurora, burning furiously like a flowing sea of fire pressing down. The momentum was magnificent. At the same time, the surroundings twisted. From the air, from the bodies of countless cultivators, and even from all things... everything related to water seeped out, enveloping everything, like a swamp appearing in the world.

These phenomena no longer manifested simply as aspects of the Heavenly Dao, as in Xu Qing's battle with Ling Feng. Instead, under Xu Qing's will, they erupted as authority dao marks. The moment they appeared, heaven and earth changed color, and winds surged.

In the eyes of the middle-aged cultivator, this transformed into an internal roar, and a greater degree of shock and horror than when his authority had been controlled before.

"Five authorities!!"

"This is impossible!!"

The middle-aged cultivator's mind was already reeling with overwhelming waves, as if millions of bolts of lightning were erupting simultaneously. In his understanding, five authorities were enough to rank among the Eight Great Stars. Most importantly, he had never heard of anyone at the Spirit Concealment stage possessing five authorities.

"Who exactly are you!" The middle-aged cultivator's heart was in turmoil, but his words clearly wouldn't receive an answer; Xu Qing was already close.

The next instant, a thunderous roar erupted near the city gate. Chaos spread in all directions, making it impossible for outsiders to discern anything. If one's cultivation was insufficient, even a single glance would cause their mind to collapse. Even if their cultivation was decent but not at that level, what they saw would be an abstract painting, because they couldn't comprehend it. Lack of cognitive understanding would lead to mental confusion, making it difficult to form a coherent image.

Thus, they couldn't see that within this blurry and distorted abstract scene, besides the Five Elements, space was shifting, and time was freezing.

Until a while later, with the flash of a sword light, the chaotic and distorted abstract scene returned to normal.

In the restored scene, the middle-aged cultivator stood there, blood on his lips and his hair dishevelled. A sword had pierced through his head, directly through his body. Blood flowed across the ground. Xu Qing was in mid-air, gazing at the middle-aged cultivator. The middle-aged cultivator now struggled to raise his head, looking back at Xu Qing. He seemed to want to say something, but as he opened his mouth, blood choked his words.

Xu Qing had no intention of hearing him speak. With a raise of his hand, he pulled out the Emperor's Sword. The middle-aged cultivator's body trembled, the light in his eyes dimmed, and his soul was extinguished. With Xu Qing's raised hand, the opponent's authority over rain transformed into sparkling drops of water, flew out from his body, and merged into Xu Qing's Five Elements. The Five Elements Water instantly surged, which also caused Xu Qing's aura to become somewhat stronger than before the battle. Additionally, the middle-aged cultivator's storage ring also came into his possession. Furthermore, Xu Qing clearly perceived that his sensing range for other tokens had increased tenfold at this moment.

At the same time, a new ranking appeared in Xu Qing's mind: South Domain: One thousand one hundred and forty-fifth place!

All around, there was silence. Xu Qing glanced at the corpse standing there. With a wave of his hand, everything disintegrated, and even the traces of the battlefield were erased by his authority.

"If I had had this shift in thinking when I fought the guardian of the spiritual mine, then perhaps I wouldn't have wasted a charge of Grand-Uncle Nine's sword energy." After thinking, Xu Qing still felt that even if he had gained this insight at the time, he would most likely still have needed to use the sword energy. When the external situation was unclear, seizing the opportunity for a fatal strike was the optimal choice.

Thinking of this, Xu Qing stopped dwelling on the past and gazed into the distance. "This is not a place to linger." His body flickered, and he instantly vanished into the distance.

Crimson auroras flowed across the sky. Between heaven and earth, Xu Qing, transformed into an arc of light, was speeding away at an extremely high velocity. While remaining vigilant, he also pondered this battle. Ultimately, the key takeaways from this battle were the manifestation of his Five Elements as authority and his ability to control the opponent's authority. This greatly helped Xu Qing's understanding. It allowed Xu Qing to verify his previous judgments and, as a result, generated more thoughts about the Dominator realm.

Before this, Xu Qing knew that the Void Return realm in the cultivation system was a process of comprehending the rules and laws of heaven and earth. Each of its four minor stages followed this pattern, progressively enabling a Void Return cultivator to grasp all the rules necessary to form their own Great World from the Heavenly Dao of their current world. Xu Qing understood that this "mastery" didn't mean becoming the source, but merely understanding and having the right to use them. Or rather, it was about comprehending the world they were in to weave their own Great World. Overall, it was a process of accumulation, stitch by stitch.

Xu Qing's ability to leap from Void Return directly to Spirit Concealment also fell within this scope. On one hand, his accumulation at the time was already sufficient. On the other hand, the primordial essence transformed from the flesh of the Underworld Flame contained everything and was incredibly pure. Therefore, after comprehending the Ten Extremes Dao from Hou Tu, Xu Qing utilized these accumulations and the nourishment from the primordial essence to break through and become a Spirit Concealment cultivator. He formed his own Seven Realms.

Spirit Concealment is the term used in Wanggu. This realm is also called Immortal Concealment in other places. The names differ, but the meaning is the same, because the 'spirit' being concealed is not a deity, but a primordial spirit. As for the essence of the Spirit Concealment realm, Xu Qing had explored it before leaving Wanggu. He understood that the core of this realm was, after comprehending enough rules and laws, to gradually form one's own Great Worlds. Ultimately, this meant nine Great Worlds. These nine Great Worlds could be consistent or inconsistent, depending on the cultivator's own thoughts and experiences. But no matter what kind of worlds they were, they ultimately served as nourishment—nourishment to propel oneself into the Dominator realm.

However, the path to Dominator had been severed on the Wanggu continent. Unless one possessed a special bloodline that could bridge the gap during the breakthrough, it was extremely difficult to enter. One reason was that the Heavenly Dao created by the Xia Immortals on the Wanggu continent back then had issues. But fundamentally, the biggest reason was the influence of the Primordial Remnant Face on the Wanggu continent. The aura of deities was too strong, making it difficult for immortals to emerge.

Because... the Dominator realm was very special. It was the process of fusing nine Great Worlds to form one's own immortal embryo. It was also a watershed moment in the transformation from cultivator to immortal. Once the immortal embryo was formed, one became a quasi-immortal, also known as a Great Emperor. For example, the Human Empress of old, though she inherited Xuan Zhan's bloodline and received the human race's karmic fortune with the help of the Sword Wielder, allowing her to step into the Dominator realm, that was her limit. She could take one step further, but ultimately could not continue; she could never become a Great Emperor in this life. Furthermore, after the arrival of the deity remnant face, no new Great Emperors appeared on the Wanggu continent. Therefore, she had no choice but to convert to the divine path, using a ritual to ignite divine flames, fueled by the immortal embryo she could never fully form, causing the divine fire to erupt and burn ever more fiercely, ultimately stepping onto the divine platform. From then on, she was cut off from the immortal path. This was what Xu Qing had learned about the path to Dominator, Quasi-Immortal, and Great Emperor, within the Xia Immortal Palace, before he left the Wanggu continent.

As for authority, according to the records in the Xia Immortal Palace, this phenomenon had never appeared in Hou Tu. It only appeared after coming to Wanggu. Initially, the Xia Immortal Palace believed it to be primordial essence, but primordial essence had actually been manifested among Hou Tu cultivators much earlier. And there were also differences between the two; authority dao marks were clearly much stronger. Its appearance was the manifestation of the immortal path that accompanied the formation of the immortal embryo in the Dominator realm. The so-called immortal path was an ethereal existence transcending the Heavenly Dao, manifesting as authority and dao marks. Why it appeared was also something the Xia Immortal Palace didn't understand.

However, generally speaking, authority dao marks only appeared in the Dominator realm. But there were exceptions; some prodigies often manifested them early, while still at the Spirit Concealment stage. Furthermore, the timing of this manifestation became the standard by which Wanggu measured prodigies before the remnant face arrived.

As for Xia Immortal, also known as Lower Immortal... that was an immortal born from the transformation of the embryo after the immortal embryo was formed and cultivated to its peak, finally breaking through. The Xia Immortal realm, according to the Xia Immortal Palace's records, was the limit of the Hou Tu Star Ring. In Hou Tu, it was also called the Ninth Step. However, the display of Xia Immortal's combat power differed greatly between Hou Tu and Wanggu. A Xia Immortal in the Hou Tu Star Ring could, with a single thought, envelop the entire star ring and was practically omnipotent, except for being unable to collapse the star ring itself. But in Wanggu, they could not do that. This point was also explained in the Xia Immortal Palace's analysis.

They knew that Wanggu was located in the Ninth Star Ring, and they also discovered that there were a total of thirty-six supreme celestial bodies like the Ninth Star Ring. The Ninth Star Ring, or Huangtian Star Ring, was just one of them. These thirty-six star rings, in the Xia Immortal Palace's understanding, belonged to the "upper ascent" or "upper realm." To some extent, they could also be seen as the Upper Realm. Hou Tu, on the other hand, was a "lower descent" star ring, or a Lower Realm. The Xia Immortal Palace believed that there couldn't be only Hou Tu among these lower-descending star rings; there should correspond to thirty-six or more such star rings. It just so happened that above Hou Tu was Huangtian. This was merely the Xia Immortal Palace's judgment, without conclusive proof. But it was also based on this judgment that they found an answer for the change in Xia Immortal's combat power. The suppressive forces of the upper and lower realms differed, thus leading to differences in demonstrated combat power. It was similar to the difference between a Great World and a Lesser World. Within a Lesser World, without suppression, one could naturally call upon wind and rain. But in a Great World, they could not. The fundamental reason, according to the Xia Immortal Palace's research, was that the thirty-six "upper ascent" star rings were the lands of deities. The source of divine authority, those ethereal traces, exerted immense suppressive force across all thirty-six "upper ascent" star rings. This applied to both deities and cultivators.

Xu Qing didn't feel this point as strongly because he had never been to Hou Tu, so he didn't know what terrifying power his current cultivation would display there. For him, his entire life thus far had been spent in the "upper ascent" star rings.

"As for why my Five Elements, transformed into authority, are special..." Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and instinctively touched his chest. There, a purple crystal was shining. "What exactly is it... In the totem I saw while comprehending the Ten Extremes Dao, there was a complete crystal that had shattered into ten pieces. But this one of mine is not shattered; it is whole."