Chapter 1254: One Party Breaches Contract

The moment Xu Qing stepped out of the Fire Tower, the gods, engulfed in black anomalous matter, rippled through the cosmos, their presence shaking the stars. On the battlefield, the gazes of all immortals and gods converged on the scarlet giant star.

The star trembled. Then, these gazes shifted, finally settling on Xu Qing and the cage he dragged behind him. Gazes carry weight, and the gazes of gods are impossibly heavy, capable of suppressing both body and soul. The instant they fell, they seemed to crush Xu Qing's physical form and spirit. However, the gazes of the immortals countered this, quickly converging to dispel the oppressive divine gazes.

As Xu Qing advanced, thunder roared around him, the void fracturing, twisting, swaying, then clearing, then collapsing. Yet Xu Qing remained expressionless, continuing to drag the cage forward until he reached the edge of the star. Under the collective gaze of all, he paused, his eyes sharp as he surveyed his surroundings.

This region, situated between the Fourth and Fifth Star Rings, was once a battlefield. It earned its name, the Azure Shattered Void, from the blue star mist that permeated it. Looking out, one could see a black and white starry sky, filled with blue mist, within which countless fragmented stars drifted. These fragments intertwined, resembling the ridged scales of colossal beasts, stretching for trillions of miles within the azure mist.

The surfaces of these broken stars were strangely covered in vein-like networks. The invisible standoff between gods and immortals seemed to create a pulsation, causing these stellar veins to glow and the surrounding starry sky to ripple with a blood-red hue. Brilliance and vastness coexisted in that moment.

This was the backdrop. Against it, the cultivators' armies formed dense formations, like countless specks. They appeared to follow the orbital paths of the Fifth Star Ring's stars, forming a celestial array. Their momentum was immense, and their numbers stretched endlessly. One could only see these dense formations, each composed of ten thousand soldiers. At the center of each formation, a battle drum hovered, emblazoned with a gluttonous beast devouring the heavens. As Xu Qing paused, the drums reverberated like heavenly music.

On the other side of this backdrop, within the God Race army shrouded in black anomalous matter, shrunken stars could be seen. Their interiors were mutated, flesh emerging as they exhaled and inhaled the anomalous matter. Each star hosted countless gods. They, too, were dense and boundless. Behind them, innumerable mutated fleshy masses formed colossal, ancient longbows, their bowstrings made of star rivers. As these strings were drawn, the vibrations emanating from them caused the battlefield's atmosphere to freeze. Golden meteors flew through the gods' ranks, tracing profound trajectories to form a divine barrier that spanned the battlefield. Each time the cultivators' war drums unleashed their sound waves, black hole vortices appeared on the barrier, swallowing the sound and transforming it into distorted spectral rays. Their might was formidable.

But what truly astonished both immortals and gods was the infinite expanse above them. There, a scroll and a divine river stood in opposition. On the scroll's side stood the majestic figure of Zhan Lu Immortal Lord. He had opened up the Eight Desolations and Six Harmonies, and golden cloud patterns extended behind him into a scroll that covered half a starfield. Every stroke within it was a manifestation of the laws of heaven and earth.

Opposite him, within the black divine river, was the phantom of Li Zhu God Lord, seated on a throne forged from countless shattered universes. His fingertips drooped, and the divine river slowly froze. Few could clearly discern their exact forms, yet their palpable pressure and presence were clearly perceived by all living beings. And they were watching.

Their gaze was fixed upon the core of this ancient battlefield, the exchange point. There, the mist receded with their self-generated light, revealing a vast, suspended altar! This altar was composed of three hundred and sixty colossal coffins and three hundred and sixty massive wooden pillars. The coffins were crafted from demonic bronze. The green rust covering their surfaces was peeling away, revealing dark red blood-sacrificial inscriptions beneath. Whenever a star mist storm swept by, the coffin lids trembled, overflowing with black mist that condensed into terrifying and grotesque shadows. The wooden pillars were agglomerations of immortal crystals. Immortal patterns flowed across their surfaces, shining with silver light and emitting incomparable vitality. Whenever the black mist from the coffins appeared, the immortal wood would suppress it, manifesting wisps of immortal spirits to fight against the shadows. This altar, composed of both, was the designated exchange point for this trade!

Observing all this, even Xu Qing, who had participated in many wars, was still awestruck. His eyes deepened, and after a brief pause, he took a step. He walked out of the scarlet giant star and into the starry sky, dragging the cage behind him. It left a dark red trail across the void as he moved towards the altar ahead.

At the same time, on the side of the gods, the massive golden barrier fluctuated intensely. Under the gaze of countless cultivators, a god emerged from within the barrier. This god resembled a human male in appearance, like a middle-aged man, but his body was much larger, about seven or eight zhang tall. His face, however, was exquisitely beautiful, with purple hair that reached his feet, flowing freely as he walked. Golden divine armor highlighted his perfect proportions, giving him a resolute appearance. As for his cultivation realm, it was clearly constrained by the agreement for this exchange; he was at the peak of the God Platform realm. As he emerged, five withered, emaciated old men, their faces expressionless and their clothes tattered, were tethered to him as if they were dogs. Each of these five old men bore countless wounds; they were battered beyond recognition, extremely haggard, and their life-fires were incredibly dim, clearly having endured immense torment in the years since their capture. They were the human cultivators to be exchanged, each of whom had achieved glorious military exploits for the Fifth Star Ring.

This scene, visible to the cultivators, immediately stirred their emotions, and the war drums intensified. The jade-faced god, sensing this, showed cold indifference in his eyes. He raised his hand and pulled, instantly tightening the ropes around the necks of the five human cultivators. Their bodies trembled in agonizing pain, as if their necks were about to be severed. Then, he gazed at Xu Qing. Instantly, the atmosphere on the battlefield grew tense.

Xu Qing's eyes, too, gleamed with cold light. Although he did not recognize these five lower immortals, he knew of their military achievements through the Commander. He also perceived that the jade-faced god's actions were a deliberate provocation. With a raise of his hand, the cage holding the Goddess disintegrated, transforming into chains coiling around her limbs. Then, with a grab, the Goddess's body was pulled towards him, and he seized her by the throat. In front of all the gods and even the God Emperor, he began to absorb her essence! The Goddess trembled all over, waking from her coma with a pained expression.

The divine side instantly roared, their killing intent reaching an extreme. Xu Qing's act of publicly absorbing the Goddess's essence was an immense provocation to the gods! The jade-faced god gazed at Xu Qing, then expressionlessly loosened the ropes around the five human cultivators' necks. Xu Qing likewise released his grip, ceasing the absorption. Instead, he gripped the chains, forcing the Goddess to walk ahead of him. Both sides advanced towards the central altar.

As Xu Qing walked, each step beneath him blossomed with a splendid light-lotus, his cultivation circulating at its peak. The void where the Goddess's bare feet touched continuously contracted, and drops of divine blood fell but did not dissipate, floating along her path. Within them, blood and flesh stars seemed to be birthed from nothingness. However, as she proceeded, the Goddess became extremely weak, her steps growing increasingly difficult. With each step, the shackles wrapped around her ankles would grow sharp, stinging barbs. The sounds they made were like chilling whispers from the netherworld, reminding her of the pain she had endured. Her withered hair, seemingly narrating her grievances, continuously dissipated, turning into stardust that fell.

As for Xu Qing behind her, his expression appeared calm, but his internal vigilance was at its peak. He was ready for any unexpected event. He felt a sense of unease. Although he could feel the protection of countless gazes behind him and the booming of the drums, he and his team had discussed many possibilities for why he was chosen to escort the exchange. One such possibility included: "If the Goddess knows about the exchange, will her hatred for me lead her to make additional demands?" Xu Qing's gaze fell on the Goddess walking ahead, and he narrowed his eyes.

Thus, time passed little by little. Xu Qing, escorting the Goddess, and the jade-faced god from the divine side, drew closer and closer to the central altar, entering the asteroid belt. Until, within this asteroid belt, with less than ten thousand zhang remaining to the altar, the Goddess suddenly turned. "Every ounce of essence you consume from me will become a star piercing your destiny, the greatest regret and curse of your life!" The anomalous matter in this place rekindled the extinguished star rivers in her pupils with golden flames.

Xu Qing said nothing. With a pull of the God-Imprisoning Chain in his hand, the immortal spirit inscriptions on the chain glowed, creating a force that drew in essence. The Goddess grunted, her essence seeping out through her wounds, as she stumbled and knelt on a small, floating asteroid. The black rock surface of the asteroid seemed to come alive, wriggling, further staining her rust-marked robe. Xu Qing's daoist robe billowed without wind, forming a counter-clockwise swirling nebula vortex around him, drawing the essence leaking from the Goddess's wounds into the vortex, where it transformed into moonlit specks of light within it.

Then, he spoke faintly, "Noise."

The Goddess stared at Xu Qing, gritting her teeth and continuing to move forward. She wanted to quicken her pace, but the ropes constrained her, her speed controlled by Xu Qing. Thus, at Xu Qing's pace, the distance to the altar closed to three thousand zhang. From this position, he could clearly see the jade-faced god's full appearance and the precise condition of the five human cultivators. And the unease in his heart grew stronger.

Xu Qing's eyes flashed. Suddenly, he reached out with his right hand and grabbed the Goddess, who was struggling forward. Ignoring her struggles, he seized her by the throat again and fiercely absorbed her essence! This time, the degree of absorption was far greater than before. Previously, Xu Qing would pause after emptying her, but this time, the Goddess, whose essence had not regenerated much, was instantly emptied and yet he continued to absorb. It was as if he intended to completely deplete her, as if he was about to be released and thus didn't care about sustainability. This absorption caused the Goddess pain far exceeding anything before, pushing her to the brink of mental collapse.

This scene caused a commotion among the divine side. Innumerable low roars echoed, and countless pressures thundered. Even the jade-faced god's expression hardened, and he accelerated his pace. The cultivators' side, too, was stirred by Xu Qing's sudden actions, vibrating with emotion. Just as the exchange between the two sides began to falter, the Goddess's struggles reached their peak. Perhaps it was the anomalous matter of the place, or perhaps it was some unseen aid. In her extreme agony, the Goddess suddenly unleashed a terrifying force. Her desperate scream actually shook Xu Qing's hand away. At the same time, all the chains binding Xu Qing to her shattered.

Instant freedom!

The feeling of freedom was so overwhelming that the weakened Goddess had no time to consider its rationality. She swiftly moved forward, transforming into a streak of light that merged behind the rapidly approaching jade-faced god, rejoining the divine ranks!

Xu Qing's expression darkened as he stared at the Goddess's figure. Then, he spoke, "You won't escape. We will meet again!"

As Xu Qing's words echoed, the Star-Eyed Goddess's figure, amidst the starlight that the gods projected forward, turned back. She stared fixedly at Xu Qing, golden light in her eyes tinged with blood. Unable to suppress her emotions any longer, she gritted her teeth and uttered words she had long suppressed: "Yes, we will meet again soon! Xu Qing, I tolerated you all this way. Do you really think everything is under your control? It's utterly ridiculous. Did you know that you are the true target of this exchange, the one I proposed in the agreement between my Father God and your Immortal Lord?!"

In this peculiar state, Xu Qing could discern the truth from falsehood in her words. All emotion vanished from his face instantly, and he calmly replied, "So that's how it is." As he spoke, he waved his hand, and everything before the Goddess shattered like a bubble. She was still beside Xu Qing, still held by his throat, and still three thousand zhang from the altar!

This scene stunned her, sending colossal waves through her mind. Her pupils contracted sharply, and an incredulous voice escaped her lips, "True God Illusion! How could you have a True God Illusion?!"

Xu Qing did not respond. He sealed the Goddess with a raise of his hand, and his body suddenly moved away. At the same time, from the depths of the void, an ancient voice suddenly resonated. The divine river, frozen by Li Zhu God Lord's fingertips, shattered into countless colossal ice shards that rained down across the entire starry sky. A presence beyond time and space descended into each ice shard, transforming into the eyes of gods, gazing upon all.

"Zhan Lu, your side has broken the agreement."