Chapter 1292: Lying in the Coffin, Misfortune Comes from Outside

Er Niu went utterly mad.

Xu Qing's words were more tempting to him than anything else, arguably second only to when he stole the Desolate God's flesh. Stealing the Desolate God's flesh back then was a stroke of luck, aided by the power of the divine realm's ascension, and he only took a tiny bit of fragmented flesh. But now, it was half a God Lord!

Especially stimulated by the immense change in Xu Qing's cultivation, this half-corpse of a God Lord was Er Niu's greatest desire.

"The power within the Desolate God's flesh can only be slowly consumed by me, absorbed bit by bit. If I take too much, I'll explode and perish on the spot.""As for the God Lord, although I can't fully digest it either, it should at least be relatively easier than the Desolate God's flesh.""Plus, with the True God's corpse Little A'Qing gave me, I've practically assembled a complete set of deities!""Good days are coming!"

Er Niu's eyes were bloodshot and constantly glowing. Like a ravenous dog, he charged into the mist within the rift, heading towards the perceived direction. At this moment, he cared about nothing else. Food was the most important thing in the world.

"Big treasure, I'm coming!!"

Almost the instant Er Niu charged, the countless divine chains binding the bronze coffin within the rift began to sway violently. As they swayed, divine talismans shimmered on the chains, emanating an inexplicable power. For some reason, this power remained entirely contained within the divine chains, not spreading outward. It seemed to be a warning to intruders that as long as they didn't touch the chains themselves, they would be safe.

As for Er Niu, in this life and all his previous ones, he was best at undertaking major endeavors. So, although he wasn't familiar with the Fourth Star Ring, his experience in undertaking major tasks was incredibly rich. This was because in his previous lives, every failure had come at the cost of death. Naturally, his experience grew richer with such accumulation.

Based on this, the moment he entered the rift, Er Niu instinctively sensed what he could touch and what would lead to instant death. Thus, in Xu Qing's eyes, Er Niu, though unable to see his surroundings clearly within the mist, possessed an astonishing instinct. He galloped at full speed without hitting a single divine chain. Like a rat, he darted swiftly through the gaps in the iron chains, heading straight for God Lord Li Zhu's corpse!

Seeing this, Xu Qing, worried about Er Niu's safety, lifted his foot and stepped forward, instantly entering the vast rift and the world within it.

The moment he arrived, the divine chains of this realm shimmered again, and Xu Qing felt an intense danger emanating from them, rising from the bronze coffin they bound. This caused Xu Qing to pause. All the hairs on his body stood on end at this moment, and a dense, alien essence emanated from the coffin, the chains, and even the half-corpse of God Lord Li Zhu. This alien essence gathered, pervading the rift world, becoming a terrifying divine aura that caused Xu Qing's flesh to show signs of mutation. An overwhelming pressure also surged forth, thundering towards him like crashing mountains and seas. It seemed as if it wanted to crush all intruders into dust!

Fortunately, at this critical moment, the Fifth Star Ring's fortune, contained within Xu Qing, blessed him, counteracting the pressure and divine aura of the place. Simultaneously, a true name shimmered within his soul. The opportunity on the original mother star, where Young Lord Aurora had taken Xu Qing to leave his mark, now fully manifested. Amidst the shimmering of that true name, the invasion of alien essence dissipated somewhat. This allowed Xu Qing to breathe a sigh of relief while also making him more curious about his senior brother's origins.

Because under such immense pressure, Er Niu was still darting through the mist. His entire body glowed with blue light, enabling him, despite being only at the Sovereign cultivation level, to counteract the alien essence of the place.

"Senior brother's origins hold too many mysteries. Is he truly a Source Calamity?" Xu Qing pondered this, but according to his understanding of Source Calamities, these strange beings could not leave their respective mother stars. "Based on my experience, it seems only Source Calamities can ignore the aura and alien essence of deities—because the birth of deities is inextricably linked to Source Calamities.""Could it be that Wanggu Continent is the Ninth Star Ring's original mother star?" Xu Qing's mind reeled, and this outlandish conjecture rose in his thoughts, but he quickly dismissed it. "Still, something isn't quite right. If he truly were a Source Calamity and the Ninth Star Ring was an original mother star, why could Senior Brother leave?" Xu Qing still harbored doubts about his senior brother's origins. He also knew it wasn't the time for deep contemplation, for in his profound gaze, Er Niu, in his frenzy, had already navigated the gaps between the divine chains, finding the correct path, and was nearing God Lord Li Zhu's corpse.

But the next instant, an unexpected change occurred. Almost the moment Er Niu found the correct path and tried to approach, he exploded with a bang, breaking into countless blue worms. Xu Qing's gaze narrowed, about to move closer, but in the blink of an eye, the worms, each with Er Niu's face, their eyes filled with frenzy, lunged again towards God Lord Li Zhu's corpse. They wanted to get even closer. But the rumbling continued. In this process, the worms constantly crumbled, disintegrating in large numbers into dust. Er Niu's madness also continued to erupt. As blue light shimmered, the dust transformed into even more, finer blue worms, which still lunged forward. In this way, over and over, through repeated destruction and collapse, the blue worms that Er Niu transformed into became more numerous, surging forward in endless waves. Incredibly, he managed to approach the corpse using this method!

Then, all the blue worms emitted a sharp sound. "Little A'Qing, help me!!"

As his voice echoed, Xu Qing's attack had already begun. The power of the Immortal Embryo erupted, the Cosmic Overlapping Law ascended, and the Dao Artifact fingernail, emanating astonishing power, was flung out by Xu Qing. It shot towards the corpse, aiming to suppress it. Immediately after, the swarm of blue worms that Er Niu had transformed into lunged fiercely at the corpse from all directions. Just as they were about to reach it, a pale golden light suddenly flashed on God Lord Li Zhu's corpse.

As this light flickered, a terrifying pressure erupted from within. Although Xu Qing counteracted it, his Immortal Embryo dissipated, his Law trembled, and the power of the God Lord's remains was equally astonishing. However, the power from the Dao Artifact was ultimately effective, causing the golden light around the corpse to waver. Even so, with Er Niu's cultivation, he couldn't withstand it. In the blink of an eye, all the blue worms he had transformed into disintegrated again in the golden light. This time, not even dust remained, as if they had been erased from existence.

But... Er Niu hadn't truly disappeared. Forced to such an extent, and filled with an endless greed for the God Lord's flesh, Er Niu somehow unleashed a special technique, and his body underwent a new transformation!

Blue threads of light, one after another, shimmered out from where the blue worms had shattered, rapidly converging to form a blue ice hand. The hand was entirely made of blue ice, covered in ice spikes. The moment it appeared, a primal sensation spread boundlessly. An ancient, primordial aura also diffused with it. Simultaneously, a slit opened in its palm, like a gaping maw, and it lunged to grasp God Lord Li Zhu's corpse!

It instantly touched the golden light surrounding the corpse. The next instant, the blue ice hand melted, transforming back into countless fine blue threads. These threads, combined with Xu Qing's Dao Artifact power, desperately drilled into the golden light. Even though 99% of them perished during the drilling process, a few still successfully burrowed in. Filled with greed and madness, they rapidly spread towards the corpse. They intended to envelop the corpse.

This scene, though seemingly difficult, was only so for Er Niu. In Xu Qing's mind, his judgment was different. His eyes flickered, and a strange feeling arose in his mind. "Although it's just a corpse, he was a God Lord in life, and God Lord Li Zhu's divine persona is special. Logically, it shouldn't be this smooth—even if Senior Brother is special."

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, suddenly looking up, his gaze falling upon the void above the corpse. Although there was nothing but void where he looked, Xu Qing, relying on the perception enhanced by the Fifth Star Ring's fortune, felt that the direction he was looking in likely held a clue. So, he immediately spoke. "Senior Brother, quickly!"

Within the golden light, the blue threads rapidly covering the corpse hummed their response. And Xu Qing's feeling was correct. At this moment, in the void where he gazed, there was indeed a figure that Xu Qing could not see! The figure's mode of existence was extremely peculiar; its form was illusory. Its appearance was none other than God Lord Li Zhu! He was in the process of returning!

After being severely wounded, he had fled to this place, relying on his karma with the being inside the coffin, intending to use this place to conceal himself and heal his injuries. However, his healing method was very special. It involved using death as a catalyst to initiate a return method, allowing his severe injuries, which would normally take a long time to recover from, to be directly restored to their peak state during this process. This was his innate power, the might of his divine persona! As for the corpse, it was the anchor point and the fusion body prepared for his return. If the corpse were taken, and the anchor point shifted, it would affect his return. He had originally planned everything well, and the chosen location was very suitable. But plans rarely go as expected. His omniscience did not encompass Xu Qing, who possessed a divine persona of destiny, nor did it include the bizarrely formed Er Niu.

So, at this critical moment, seeing his corpse about to be taken right in front of him, God Lord Li Zhu's consciousness turned to the distant bronze coffin. "Please, Honored Deity, assist me."

The coffin remained motionless."Honored Deity..."

"Silence!" From inside the coffin came a voice of higher authority, unheard by Xu Qing and Er Niu, which created a violent storm in the returning consciousness of God Lord Li Zhu. "This kind of karma, this deity is unwilling to be entangled in. You need not chatter on!""It's just half a body, let it go!"

Li Zhu fell silent.

Meanwhile, the being inside the coffin was also experiencing fluctuations in thought, remaining in a state of high alert. "One karma with the Desolate God is already troublesome enough, and now two have appeared!""The Desolate God, starved until now, can now use these two to gaze upon this place at any time—""And that Immortal Venerable of the Fifth Star Ring is also making arrangements!""Therefore, allowing Li Zhu's body to be taken, and having these two depart as quickly as possible, is the safest option!"

As the Honored Deity inside the coffin pondered, the blue threads that Er Niu had transformed into, urged by Xu Qing's reminder, accelerated to their limit, finally completely enveloping God Lord Li Zhu's half-body. Then, they rolled up, forming a sea of blue light, and swept outwards. From within came Er Niu's incredibly excited voice. "It's done, Little A'Qing, let's go!"

Hearing this, Xu Qing's body swayed, about to leave, but an inexplicable movement in his heart made him pause. He turned his head, his gaze falling upon the bronze coffin bound by countless iron chains! The moment he looked, the old Honored Deity inside the coffin, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly felt a jolt in his heart.

At the same time, in the Ninth Star Ring, above Wanggu Continent, the enormous residual face—a catastrophic presence to all living beings—whose eyes were currently closed, suddenly stirred. It seemed about to open!