Chapter 1351: The Earth Becomes a Book, Branches of Destiny

“Our family assets are extensive.”

Crown Prince Ziqing smiled, raising his right hand and gently waving it towards the outside of the hall. With that wave, the entire Heaven-Devouring Domain roared, the sound even more intense than before, shaking the heavens.

Immediately afterward, an unbelievable scene suddenly appeared!

The land… instantly transformed. Mountains, rivers, buildings, and even the imperial palace, in that very moment, all turned into a book!

The land had become a book!

At that moment, in the Heaven-Devouring Domain, the Mirror of Hope in the sky was plundering the nation’s destiny. It had already seized more than half, causing everything to become increasingly blurry. Yet, the book formed by the land, at that very moment, opened a page!

As this page turned, mountains and rivers reappeared, as did all things, the capital, and its citizens! Astonishingly, that page also depicted the Purple-Green Upper Kingdom! And it was remarkably complete!

Despite the Mirror of Hope in the sky continuing its plunder, and the vortex reversed by Xu Qing continuing its absorption, even as the scenes within the Mirror of Hope became incredibly clear with the ongoing plundering of the nation’s destiny, the pages of the land-turned-book still reproduced everything.

Even stranger, even if everything on this page quickly blurred and was seized by the Mirror of Hope, the Book of Earth… opened a second page! This second page still depicted the Purple-Green Upper Kingdom! Without the slightest change.

“Little brother, however much you desire, your elder brother will give it to you.” Ziqing smiled. “Because I transformed every single moment of the Purple-Green Upper Kingdom’s existence into a unique page of destiny. Eventually, these pages gained life and began to endlessly proliferate… Even I am not entirely clear on the exact number.”

This was precisely the divine authority he had demonstrated years ago! Destiny!

However, it was clear that the divine authority Ziqing now wielded was far more eerie and unfathomably vaster than what he had demonstrated years ago!

As he spoke, the book formed by the Heaven-Devouring Land suddenly accelerated its page-turning. Instead of waiting for the Mirror of Hope in the sky to plunder a page until it blurred before turning, the pages now rapidly flipped on their own, even before the Mirror of Hope could finish absorbing them.

Every page depicted the Purple-Green Upper Kingdom! Consequently, the Mirror of Hope’s plundering in the sky was also passively accelerated. As for the Purple-Green Upper Kingdom’s destiny, with this rapid page-turning, it became… boundless! It instilled an inevitable sense of powerlessness in one’s heart.

The Mirror of Hope in the sky also manifested this powerlessness. It could not plunder indefinitely, nor could the reversed vortex spin endlessly. Then, with a cracking sound, a fissure appeared on the Mirror of Hope. These fissures multiplied rapidly, spreading across the entire mirror surface with a series of shattering sounds, until finally… it shattered into countless pieces and collapsed! It fractured into countless shards, scattering in all directions.

Simultaneously, on the Ancient Hope Continent, the Human Empress spat out blood, her body instantly weakened, and she gazed powerlessly towards Heaven-Devouring. All the humans around her participating in the ritual suffered the same fate. And strong individuals like her were abundant among the myriad races. Cultivators from all races spurted blood, one after another.

For a moment, the entire Ancient Hope fell silent. Only the pages formed by the Heaven-Devouring Domain continued to flip rapidly, recreating scene after scene, over and over again. It seemed as if space and time themselves were shifting.

Xu Qing sighed softly. Crown Prince Ziqing had previously failed to plunder the divine body. And his own attempt to plunder the Purple-Green Upper Kingdom’s destiny had similarly failed. However, at the moment of failure, a cold glint flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes as he stood on the square outside the Purple-Green Upper Kingdom’s imperial palace. His body suddenly moved, heading straight for the imperial palace’s main hall.

Since the plunder was unsuccessful, he would ultimately have to engage in a direct battle to determine the outcome!

Inside the main hall, Crown Prince Ziqing gently tapped his finger. A ripple of destiny, emanating from where his finger tapped into the void, spread out, creating a barrier to prevent Xu Qing’s intrusion from outside.

“Your opponent is another version of myself, from a different fate.”

As these words echoed, the Earth Book’s pages suddenly paused their turning, manifesting a branching path of destiny. The appearance of this branch replaced reality, or more precisely, co-existed with the main hall of reality!

Thus, inside the main hall, Crown Prince Ziqing remained seated on the dragon throne. But outside the main hall, heaven and earth underwent a drastic change! On the square, a second Crown Prince Ziqing appeared!

He stood atop the statue of the Half-Desolate Remnant Face, arms outstretched, his expression eerie and aloof, surrounded by the lingering echoes of the words he had just spoken within the branch of destiny.

“…Sacrifice!”

As this word was uttered, countless fervent shouts erupted from the Purple-Green Upper Kingdom within this branch of destiny: “We are willing to die for the Crown Prince!” “We are willing to die for the Crown Prince!!” These voices erupted from the mouths of every citizen of the Purple-Green Upper Kingdom within this branch of destiny: cultivators, mortals, men, women, old, and young alike. But without exception, their expressions were all fervent. With a single word from Crown Prince Ziqing, they all began to burn, began… to self-sacrifice! Sacrificing themselves to… their Crown Prince Ziqing!

This Crown Prince Ziqing, from the branch of destiny that appeared alongside reality, had astonishingly chosen to sacrifice the entire Purple-Green Upper Kingdom, absorbing it into himself! In the next instant, countless sacrificed lives transformed into a torrent, rushing from all directions towards the Half-Desolate statue and pouring into Crown Prince Ziqing’s body. Their numbers were boundless.

During this influx, Xu Qing did not try to intervene. Because it was meaningless; his Constitution clearly perceived that what he was witnessing had already occurred. Altering this scene could not change the outcome. But altering the final outcome could reverse cause and effect. So Xu Qing gazed intently, focusing on every detail.

At this moment, atop the Half-Desolate statue, Crown Prince Ziqing’s body, with the influx of countless sacrifices, rapidly melted into blood, dripping onto the statue below, drop by drop. The entire process took only a few breaths… Under Xu Qing’s direct observation, the Purple-Green Upper Kingdom within this branch of destiny was now devoid of citizens; even Crown Prince Ziqing had completely melted, his blood… covering the entirety of the Half-Desolate statue.

Immediately afterward, a terrifying aura emanated from within the Half-Desolate statue, then surged skyward, forming an immense divine might! Causing heaven and earth to change hue, winds and clouds to reverse, and exotic matter to permeate the world at that moment. Even rules were on the verge of dissipation, and laws were poised to cease existence. Only divine authority remained singular at this moment! That was the aura of a God Lord!

Within this aura, the Half-Desolate statue’s form began to change, as if resurrecting, astonishingly transforming into a body of flesh and blood! And as the flesh and blood writhed, its very appearance transformed, taking on a humanoid form! And the rapidly forming face, in the blink of an eye, took on… Ziqing’s likeness!

Then, it vanished in a single step, collapsing into nothingness. When it reappeared, it was astonishingly before Xu Qing. Amidst the eruption of exotic matter and the God Lord’s pressure, it raised its right hand and pressed it towards Xu Qing.

Xu Qing’s own Constitution diffused outwards, making contact with Crown Prince Ziqing. Heaven and earth roared! The world trembled, unleashing a massive impact. Xu Qing retreated with the momentum, stopping a hundred zhang away, and calmly looked at Crown Prince Ziqing standing outside the main hall.

At this moment, the Ziqing outside the main hall also looked at Xu Qing. Behind it, the Ziqing inside the hall also looked at Xu Qing. The two Ziqings spoke simultaneously.

“Little brother, this time, if you are not ready… you will die.”

Their voices intertwined through the two destinies, echoing together in the current space-time, lingering long. Ziqing’s divine authority was Destiny!

This method of intercepting a branch from destiny, materializing another possibility, and co-existing with reality… to some extent, Xu Qing had also experienced. That was in the Fourth Star Ring, amidst the space-time turbulence. At the final point of unification, Xu Qing had appeared beside the old painter. The old painter was another possibility of Xu Qing from a different timeline.

However, the method by which he and Ziqing achieved this differed. Ziqing relied on Destiny. While Xu Qing relied on his own Constitution, transforming into a dimension that penetrated all space-time. But similarly… reaching this stage meant attaining the level of a Lord. A God becomes a God Lord, an Immortal becomes an Immortal Lord.