Chapter 1340: Seizing the Body, Seizing the Fate

Inside and outside the Imperial Palace of the Ziqing Superior Nation.

Ziqing sat on the dragon throne, while Xu Qing stood in the square outside the hall. Their gazes met.

Xu Qing remembered that their last encounter of gazes was in the human capital, at the moment of his death. The time before that was in the dense forest, on a rainy night, in Yinghuang Prefecture. Back then, Crown Prince Ziqing held Sixth Master's head in his hand. These scenes flashed through Xu Qing's mind as their eyes met again. However, unlike before, Xu Qing's gaze was calm this time.

He looked at Crown Prince Ziqing. From such a close distance, he could clearly sense the other's cultivation level: merely Divine Platform. Years ago, in the human capital, Crown Prince Ziqing had ascended to the Divine Platform realm, using the Empress's promotion as his own ritual. But it seemed that in the intervening years, he had made no further progress. He was still at the Divine Platform realm. However, Xu Qing felt no complacency because of this. He knew very well that since the statue of the Desolate Remains was here, cultivation level was, in fact, no longer the most crucial factor. Crown Prince Ziqing's cunning, his methods, and his repeated stratagems all indicated that his ambitions were vast!

So, in response to Crown Prince Ziqing's words, Xu Qing calmly spoke. "Whether my divine body merges with me or is brought here, as long as it appears before you—it is uncertain whether a body sculpted from the flesh and blood of the Desolate Remains would still belong to me."

Inside the grand hall, Crown Prince Ziqing, seated on the dragon throne, heard this and his smile grew even gentler. "My clever little brother, let me see if your preparations are sufficient." As he spoke softly, Crown Prince Ziqing raised his right hand and gently summoned something towards the sky.

With that summons, the sky rumbled, and a massive vortex suddenly appeared, spinning violently with a deafening roar. It swept away all the black mist in the Heaven-Devouring region. Within the vortex, a scene coalesced! The image depicted was of Chaoxia Mountain! Everything inside was clearly reflected; a figure could be seen seated cross-legged within Chaoxia Mountain. It exuded a potent divine aura, and it was indeed Xu Qing's divine body. Surrounding this body were dense and complex formations, all activated and exerting a terrifying suppressive force. Outside the formations, outside Chaoxia Mountain, several figures could also be seen encircling it. These were Zhou Zhengli, Xing Huanzi, and others. All of them, seated cross-legged, performed hand seals, fully unleashing their powers to bolster the formations within Chaoxia Mountain. This instantly amplified the formations' suppressive might.

However, these were not the main point. The one truly suppressing Xu Qing's divine body was—Seventh Master! Seventh Master sat cross-legged atop Chaoxia Mountain, using his own power to shroud Xu Qing's divine body. Everything had been normal, but the moment Crown Prince Ziqing raised his hand to summon, Xu Qing's divine body, seated cross-legged at the center of the formation, suddenly trembled. Its eyes abruptly opened! They gleamed with golden light, and its gaze also held an unsettling malevolence. It seemed no longer to be Xu Qing! Immediately afterward, a terrifying force emanated from the divine body, attempting to destroy the formations and burst forth, breaking through the mountain to head towards the summoning location. This power was astonishing; the moment it touched the formations, they instantly showed signs of decay and collapse. Zhou Zhengli and the others, who were bolstering the formations, shook violently. Zhou Zhengli spat out large mouthfuls of blood, and Xing Huanzi did the same. Xielingzi, Li Mengtu, Yuanshan Su, and the rest also felt their minds reeling, blood gushing from their seven orifices. Just as it seemed they could no longer suppress it, at the crucial moment, Seventh Master snorted coldly, raised his right hand, and pressed it onto the mountain. With that press, the power of thick earth surged in, sealing off the mountain! Then, he raised his left hand and took out an item. It was a mirror shard! This was precisely the gift that Immortal Lord Muming had given Xu Qing, containing the power of his own fundamental law. Using this item, combined with Seventh Master's thick earth power, Chaoxia Mountain was finally sealed, preventing the divine body within from breaking free. Although it was uncertain if this method could last long, for now, it had at least withstood Crown Prince Ziqing's first wave of summoning.

This was one of the many preparations Xu Qing had made before deciding to come to the Ziqing Superior Nation. He had long ago deduced a key fact. Given Crown Prince Ziqing's close relationship with the Desolate Remains, a body sculpted from the flesh and blood of the Desolate Remains—when in the Crown Prince's presence—would surely exhibit anomalies! Therefore, Xu Qing clearly understood that he had to suppress his divine body before going to the Ziqing Superior Nation to prevent any unforeseen issues. At the same time, because he couldn't allow his divine body to appear, he couldn't merge with it, thus preventing him from achieving that peak, formidable Immortal-God state. Consequently, the only body he could use was his immortal body. This was also why he had remained in seclusion! He wanted to break through his cultivation! However, even after decades of secluded cultivation, and despite his full efforts to absorb the light offered by the Huangtian God Clan, the final result was still insufficient to truly elevate him to an Immortal Lord! Although his fundamental laws were sufficient, the primordial essence required for a Summer Immortal to advance to an Immortal Lord was simply too vast. As for the mysterious light offered by the Huangtian God Clan, he had absorbed it for decades and had reached the limit of what the light could offer. While there was still primordial essence within the light, Xu Qing could not continue to absorb it; the remaining essence was the very foundation of that light, serving as a key. It could not be plundered by external forces. Thus, Xu Qing emerged from seclusion and chose to come to the Ziqing Superior Nation.

At this moment, within the vortex image summoned by Crown Prince Ziqing in the sky, the instant Chaoxia Mountain stabilized, Xu Qing, standing in the palace square, suddenly looked up. Intense light emanated from him as he raised his hand and waved it towards the sky. Immediately, the roar of the sky vortex intensified again, and then the entire vortex trembled as it was forced to rotate in reverse. At the same instant, Xu Qing's cultivation surged, rising to the heavens. The fluctuations belonging to a late-stage Summer Immortal instantly filled the heavens and earth, encompassing the entire Heaven-Devouring Greater Domain, transforming into an external force that caused the vortex to reverse immediately. At the same time, Xu Qing looked at Crown Prince Ziqing inside the grand hall, and a resonant Daoist sound echoed from his mouth. "Seize!"

The moment this sound emerged, a grand ritual had already been set up in the human capital on the Wanggu Continent. This ritual gathered all the human race's powerful figures, using the human race's destiny as a guide and the Empress's command, and it abruptly began. As the ritual commenced, a powerful beam of light ascended from the human capital, heading directly towards—the Heaven-Devouring Greater Domain. At the same time, sensing the activation of the human race's ritual, all the factions within every greater domain of the Wanggu Continent, at this very moment, successively activated their pre-prepared rituals. Each one involved the combined strength of their entire clan. These formed beams of intense light, soaring into the sky and whistling towards the Heaven-Devouring Greater Domain where Xu Qing was located. Though lengthy to describe, all of this happened in an instant.

Those beams of light from the myriad races, along with the human race's light, broke through the void and appeared directly in the sky above the Heaven-Devouring Greater Domain, like shooting stars. There, they merged. Furthermore, the figures of the Wanggu Heavenly Dao materialized within this light. Within them, the Ancient Spirit Emperor could be seen, as could Xu Qing's Son of Heavenly Dao. The moment they appeared, interwoven with the light, they unfurled in the sky above the Heaven-Devouring Greater Domain, forming a colossal mirror that covered the entire domain! The mirror faced the Heaven-Devouring Greater Domain, reflecting its mountains, rivers, and everything within it, including the Ziqing Nation and its Imperial Palace! Under this reflection and the vortex's reverse suction, the entire Heaven-Devouring Greater Domain immediately blurred, and strands of destiny were actualized into wisps of gray qi, rising into the sky and being absorbed by the mirror! As the Heaven-Devouring Greater Domain blurred, everything within the mirror rapidly became clearer! This was precisely the Heavenly Dao manifesting to seize national destiny! Xu Qing had gathered the power of the myriad races to form a Wanggu Mirror above the Heaven-Devouring Greater Domain, a mirror designed to plunder national destiny. This was one of Xu Qing's plans. Crown Prince Ziqing intended to seize Xu Qing's divine body, while Xu Qing's choice was to use half of the Ziqing Superior Nation's destiny as a catalyst to seize the other half of the Ziqing Superior Nation's destiny.

Inside the Heaven-Devouring Greater Domain, within the Imperial Palace hall, Crown Prince Ziqing, seated on the dragon throne, watched the scene unfolding outside. His smile deepened as he nodded slightly towards Xu Qing. "Interesting. My little brother has indeed grown up. You even know to plunder our family inheritance from your elder brother. But do you know how much our family inheritance truly is?" Ziqing smiled gently.