Chapter 1269: Mother Star Chronicles

Inside the spatial rift, above the black glaciers, Xu Qing's expression darkened after hearing the Goddess Stareye's choked words. He suddenly raised his right hand and grabbed at the air.

Immediately, the Goddess's figure appeared. Xu Qing pulled her out by the neck, placed her in front of him, and slightly loosened his grip, allowing her to speak normally. "Tell me everything you know, truthfully," Xu Qing said calmly.

Faced with Xu Qing's indifferent gaze, her experiences since being captured, and the methods used by the Mud Fox, the Goddess Stareye's inner defenses had been completely shattered.

She understood that concealing information would bring her no benefit. So, after a brief silence, she spoke in a low voice.

"Everything here matches a mysterious place I know of… the Primordial Homeworld of the Fourth Star Ring."

"Continue," Xu Qing said with an indifferent expression.

The Goddess's voice continued to echo.

"The so-called Primordial Homeworld is rumored to be the birthplace of the very first deity within the entire Fourth Star Ring, from ancient times."

"Legend says that before this primordial deity, there were no deities in the Fourth Star Ring; it was through its formation that deities came into existence."

A dark glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes.

The Goddess trembled inwardly as his gaze swept over her. After a moment of hesitation, she continued to speak.

"This claim is too ancient. I only heard bits and pieces about it from my father, the God, and the deities of the Fourth Star Ring do not fully acknowledge it."

"This concerns the origin of deities; it can only be said that the Primordial Homeworld is one theory of deity origins," the Goddess quickly explained.

"Tell me something you can confirm!" Xu Qing's voice turned cold.

The Goddess nodded quickly.

"One thing I can confirm is that deities experiencing divine decay, before their divine bodies wither away, will sense the call of the homeworld. They then drift through the starry sky, following a specific trajectory, like falling leaves returning to their roots, until they arrive at the homeworld."

"However, this return process cannot be observed or known, so for countless years, very few deities have known the homeworld's location."

"Only death will lead here."

Hearing this, Xu Qing suddenly spoke.

"Divine decay?"

The Goddess hesitated but still revealed the secret belonging to deities.

"Below True Gods, deities do not possess true immortality. Only after becoming a True God and obtaining a true name can they achieve immortality."

"But this immortality refers only to the true name and does not include the divine body. All divine bodies, whether of True Gods or not, will experience natural divine decay after enduring long ages."

"Eventually withering..."

"And when they are guided back to the homeworld, after dying here, deities without true names become nutrients. For deities with true names, the homeworld acts like a womb, giving birth to new divine bodies, thereby attracting the true name, like a re-forging, completing their resurrection."

"This process is slow, and it is also one of the rules for a True God's revival."

Hearing this, Xu Qing frowned.

"This doesn't align with the revival I'm aware of!"

The Goddess quickly explained.

"That's because there are two other ways for deities to revive: one is returning within their own deceased body, and the other is by the divine lord's summons. However, both of these methods can only revive deities not in divine decay, such as those who died in battle..."

"As for those in divine decay, the only path is to be drawn to the homeworld," Goddess Stareye said softly.

Xu Qing was thoughtful. This was the first time he had ever heard the Goddess Stareye's description, but recalling the True God revivals he had witnessed, they were indeed all those who had died in battle.

However, Xu Qing harbored doubts about the truth of this matter and mentally inquired of the Mud Fox.

But the Mud Fox, as a post-natal deity, had not reached the True God cultivation level nor possessed the noble status of the Goddess, so it was ignorant of such matters.

It could not provide a correct answer.

So, after pondering, Xu Qing pointed his left hand at the black glaciers below.

"What are those strange entities beneath the glaciers?"

"They are Source Blights..." Goddess Stareye immediately replied.

"Source Blights are unique life forms on the homeworld. They are born by devouring divine corpses, are a part of the homeworld, born here, die here, and eventually form new divine bodies."

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and spoke in a low voice.

"Can Source Blights leave the homeworld?"

The Goddess shook her head.

"In my understanding of the homeworld, I have never heard of Source Blights leaving, nor have I ever seen one outside."

Xu Qing fell silent. After a while, he suddenly spoke.

"Does only the Fourth Star Ring have a Primordial Homeworld, or is this the case for all thirty-six ascending Star Rings?"

"It's like this for all of them," the Goddess whispered. She had nothing left to hide. Although this information was a secret among deities, rarely known by those below True Gods—only True Gods could vaguely perceive it through their bloodline—she spoke freely. And she, because her father was a Divine Emperor, knew even more comprehensively.

"Then how does one leave this place?" Xu Qing's eyes narrowed with a cold glint as he looked into the Goddess's eyes.

The Goddess trembled all over and shook her head rapidly.

"I don't know... I only know that this is not a place for the living to come..."

There was one thing the Goddess didn't say: her boundless confusion about how Xu Qing could be here.

Xu Qing frowned, about to continue his questioning.

But just then, a scene that startled him appeared.

He saw that the Goddess in front of him, perhaps having been here a little too long, was gradually showing signs of aging, and a sense of decay was emerging from her skin.

At the same time, the Mud Fox's startled cry also echoed in Xu Qing's mind.

"Young Master, I feel my body weakening, and my divine source is disappearing!!"

And the Goddess, sensing her own changes, trembled with terror in her eyes.

"It's this Primordial Homeworld, absorbing and decomposing all life that comes here!"

Xu Qing immediately checked himself and found no abnormality. So, he glanced at the terrified Goddess and asked again.

"Are you sure there's no way to leave?"

The Goddess trembled even more, recalling everything she knew with all her might, but ultimately found no answer.

Seeing this, Xu Qing waved his hand, put the Goddess away, and looked around, monitoring his own divine source while analyzing the gathered information in his mind.

"The Primordial Homeworld..."

"Likely the birthplace of the first deity in the Fourth Star Ring."

"The return point for all deities undergoing divine decay..."

"The living cannot come here... So what was the Immortal Venerable's purpose in teleporting me here?"

"Also... those so-called Source Blights are extremely similar to what's inside Captain. If what's inside Captain is truly a Source Blight..."

Xu Qing fell silent. He had speculated about the secrets surrounding the Captain long ago, but even now, he still knew little.

And now was not the time to ponder this. So Xu Qing looked up, towards the sky.

"Regardless of why the Immortal Venerable teleported me here, for me, finding a way to leave is the key!"

"And the bronze door of that temple, I tried it before, but I couldn't leave through it."

"So, I'll see if there's a way to leave in the sky above."

Thinking of this, Xu Qing's body blurred as he headed straight for the sky.

His speed was astonishing; he whistled through the void, steadily ascending towards the heights.

Time passed.

But the sky here seemed infinitely vast; no matter how high Xu Qing ascended, he still seemed to be in mid-air.

He could not reach the end.

As for the ground, even as Xu Qing ascended, all he could see were black glaciers, seemingly truly boundless.

This sight made Xu Qing's heart sink.

"At my speed, under normal circumstances, I should have flown out of a universe by now."

"But here, I'm still in mid-air!" Xu Qing muttered inwardly, simultaneously noticing that the sense of weakness emanating from the Mud Fox and Goddess Stareye was becoming more intense.

As for Stareye, Xu Qing paid her no mind, but for the Mud Fox, Xu Qing transferred some of his own source essence to alleviate its condition.

Then he pondered.

"It's not about height; the longer one stays here, the stronger the weakening becomes."

After making this judgment, Xu Qing increased his speed and sped off again.

But this time, not long after, Xu Qing's body suddenly stopped, and his pupils contracted.

A chilling sensation erupted in his heart like a tidal wave, and at the same time, waves of bone-chilling coldness surged throughout his body.

It was as if every inch of his flesh and blood, every wisp of his divine sense, was signaling danger.

This feeling came from the infinitely vast sky above, whose end was unseen.

It was as if, should he continue to ascend, he would encounter an unimaginable horror.

"Cannot continue!"

Thoughts raced through Xu Qing's mind, and his body suddenly descended. Only after reaching a certain height did the terrifying sensation begin to dissipate.

However, his mind could not relax even slightly, because a new crisis had emerged within him at that moment.

Following the Goddess and the Mud Fox, Xu Qing's own source essence also began to disappear!

Upon discovering this, Xu Qing's expression darkened.

Although the speed of disappearance was not fast, and Xu Qing's source essence was quite abundant after absorbing the black flesh orb from that secret realm. Yet this depletion, no matter how he tried to seal it, could not be stopped in the slightest.

And when the Mud Fox realized Xu Qing was also experiencing source essence loss, it too felt anxious.

"Young Master, the depletion is getting faster and faster. At this rate..."

"I know," Xu Qing replied, his body blurring as he whistled down towards the glaciers below, moving at extreme speed, causing sonic booms that echoed in all directions.

The place he was headed was precisely where the True God's corpse he had seen falling from the sky had landed.

It didn't take long. On the ground, a massive, half-sunken divine corpse came into Xu Qing's view.

This corpse was indeed the one Xu Qing had just seen; now half submerged beneath the glacier, half above it, and slowly sinking.

This sinking did not cause the glacier to break; it seemed to merge with it, strangely permeating downwards.

Furthermore, beneath the glacier, a large number of Source Blights could vaguely be seen devouring it.

The moment he neared, Xu Qing didn't hesitate. He raised his hand and pressed down, and silver light immediately shone in his eyes.

The next instant, a faint source essence was extracted from the True God's corpse, flowing towards him and replenishing his and the Mud Fox's diminishing source essence.

This method of refining source essence was precisely the Profound Nether Deity Refining Art!

"Indeed..." A silver glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes as he murmured.