Chapter 1331: True, Just One Step Away

He felt a growing anticipation for his journey to Huangtian.

"When members of the Huangtian God Clan die, they emit this kind of light."

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and clenched his right hand. Back then, he had used the opponent's divine authority, combined with his own innate laws, to trace the origins of his various divine abilities. Instantly, the light cones in his palm shattered into dust. The light contained within them flowed through Xu Qing's palm, integrating into his body and merging with his Morning Glow Light.

Gazing at the light in his hand, Xu Qing recalled his battle against the God Lord from the Mother River outside Wanggu.

Er Niu approached Xu Qing. As he watched Master Seven's receding figure, his voice carried a rare note of solemnity. "Most things in this world are like that." Er Niu sighed, seeming dispirited, as if lost in thought.

Xu Qing remained silent, remembering Er Niu crying amidst the ruins within the temporal turbulence. "The mists around Master's past have cleared, but as for Eldest Senior Brother..."

Xu Qing looked at Er Niu, but he didn't ask why Eldest Senior Brother had acted that way in the temporal turbulence. Everyone is an independent individual, each with their own secrets and attachments. Master had them, Er Niu had them, and Xu Qing, reflecting on his own life, realized he did too.

In silence, Xu Qing stepped forward, walking beside Er Niu, and together they followed Master Seven, strolling through Huangtian. As they walked, the scene felt like a return to the underground palace of years past.

Time flowed on. Half an hour later, as Zhou Zhengli and his companions continued to dismantle temples and annihilate gods across the land, causing the anomalous substances throughout Huangtian to churn even more violently, Xu Qing and the two others finally reached their destination.

It was an endless sea! It roared like a furious beast. The seawater was pitch black, exuding a pungent, bloody scent. It was as if time itself, no matter how much passed, could not erode this place, unable to dispel the sea's dark hue or its crimson stench. Furthermore, a potent divine might and immortal essence permeated the air, clashing invisibly, like water and fire, repelling each other. This constant conflict stirred up ripples in the heavens and ceaseless storms in the sea.

Er Niu's main body was located on an island within this very sea.

"This is the only place my divine sense couldn't penetrate earlier, as it was shrouded in brilliant light." Xu Qing gazed thoughtfully at the vast sea before them.

At that moment, Master Seven's voice resonated. "Fourth, Eldest, both of you remember this place." Master Seven's expression was solemn. "This sea is where Hou Tu's First Immortal battled the Huangtian God Emperor back then! That battle lasted a long time. In the end, the God Emperor was beheaded, and his body was shattered. His head was taken by the Xia Immortal Palace, while his body fell and became this black sea. As for Hou Tu's First Immortal... he perished here, with only his remnant soul preserved, which later became Wanggu's first Heavenly Dao. One could say, without him, there would be no Wanggu as it exists today."

As Master Seven spoke, he bowed deeply towards the sea. Xu Qing and Er Niu also bowed. With their collective bow, the sea instantly roared, its waves growing more turbulent. The immortal essence within it surged dramatically, emitting radiant rainbow light from the black waters, illuminating the sky.

The rainbow light persisted for a long time before finally fading. As the rainbow light dissipated, an island faintly appeared in the distance.

"Master, Eldest Senior Brother's true form is there." Xu Qing's gaze fell on the island.

Hearing this, Master Seven glanced over. "He certainly knows how to pick a spot."

Er Niu, now recovered from his earlier solemn mood, was about to speak, but Master Seven had already taken a step and moved away. Er Niu blinked, then turned to look at Xu Qing. "Little A Qing, next, you'll see that your Eldest Senior Brother here wasn't just bragging!"

Xu Qing smiled, then with Er Niu, crossed the sea in a single step. They appeared on the island with Master Seven, standing before a dilapidated temple. The temple must have once been immense, but now it was merely crumbling walls and rubble, its main doors shattered. From outside, they could see directly into its interior.

Inside the temple, beside the shattered remnants of a collapsed divine statue, a large head rested in a corner. It was Er Niu's head! Beside it lay a mangy mouse, its fur sparse. It was lazily sprawled, occasionally flicking its tail to toss some dried meat, procured from who-knew-where, into the head's mouth.

Xu Qing and his companions' appearance, however, caught the mouse's attention. Its eyes suddenly constricted, and it instantly leaped up, expertly scooping up the head and preparing to flee.

"Little Qing, don't run, it's me!" The moment the mouse was about to escape, Er Niu, who was still outside the temple, quickly shouted.

Xu Qing raised an eyebrow. The mangy mouse paused, then looked at Er Niu with suspicion. Er Niu quickly walked over, his expression excited as his body transformed into a blue light and directly merged into the head, which had remained closed-eyed until now. His true form and his avatar merged. The next instant, the head vibrated, and its closed eyes slowly opened.

Seeing this, the mouse was immediately filled with surprise and joy.

"Where's the rest of your body?" Master Seven also entered the temple at this moment, looking at the head on the ground with a sigh.

Er Niu coughed, about to speak. Suddenly, the sound of surging waves intensified outside the island, accompanied by a world-shattering roar, like countless bolts of heavenly thunder exploding simultaneously. The entire island trembled, and the sea outside roared endlessly, unleashing waves even more astonishing than before.

Then... the boundless sea began to sink! The seawater rapidly receded at an astonishing speed amidst the unprecedented turmoil, as if being sucked away! In just a dozen breaths, the entire sea dried up! Revealing the entire seabed and the mountain ranges beneath.

The island where Xu Qing and his companions stood was, in fact, the peak of a colossal mountain amidst a vast mountain range. And beneath this mountain range lay a colossal, astonishing corpse! The corpse was headless, and its body appeared to be pieced together. The mountain range had grown upon its form. And the seawater had indeed been absorbed by it. Divine might surged tempestuously from its body. It drew forth endless anomalous substances, which churned in the sky.

But none of this was the most astonishing... The most astonishing sight was that the corpse was entirely covered in a layer of blue worms! These worms were densely packed and innumerable; some had even burrowed through wounds into the corpse's interior. All of them were... frantically tearing and biting!

Master Seven stared at the scene, stunned. Xu Qing's eyes narrowed. Meanwhile, Er Niu's head on the ground leaped up and landed on Xu Qing's shoulder, laughing wildly and arrogantly.

"Old man, you asked where my body went? Well, it's all right there. And Little A Qing, see? Your Eldest Senior Brother wasn't exaggerating, was he! Give me enough time, and I can completely devour this Huangtian God Emperor who is preparing to revive! Then, wouldn't I unify Huangtian? This is just one step away!"

"Even when Huangtian ultimately failed and was sealed by Hou Tu, that light was still preserved by them. Our victory, however, was also devastating, so we chose not to push the Huangtian God Clan to their absolute limit, and thus didn't forcefully seize it."

Master Seven's voice, imbued with the mottled hues of history, drifted like dust in the light of the heavens. Master Seven composed himself and looked at Xu Qing. "The particular light you possess has persisted to this day. In reality, the light left behind by deceased Huangtian clan members is only a tiny fraction—one hundred-millionth—of its true source. The actual source has always been revered by the Huangtian God Clan. At least, that was their behavior when Hou Tu arrived. And according to some investigations from that era, this clan appears to have been born from that very light. They refer to that light as... Source Light. We studied these lights back then and found them peculiar. Most didn't last long, but occasionally, some were successfully preserved when we attempted to merge them with Wanggu's rising sun."

After completing this, Xu Qing looked up, gazing into the distance at the Huangtian world, a peculiar expression in his eyes. Then, he cast one last glance at the plain before him, as if severing emotional ties, lifted his foot, and departed.

"The old man is missing his Master. He's been waiting and waiting for so long, only to find that when the time finally came, the one who returned wasn't the same person."

This mysterious light could be traced back to the first wisp of light that appeared when Wanggu was formed. Within it, he gained a deeper perception of the Morning Glow Light. He realized that the Morning Glow Light was merely one ten-thousandth of a mysterious light worshipped by the Huangtian God Clan!

"Now, looking back, the Huangtian God Clan's reverence for this Wanggu Light has its reasons. After all, their bodies exhibit crystallization, especially their heads, which contain light cones. What remains unknown is whether they were originally like this, or if their forms were altered due to their worship of Wanggu's first wisp of light."