Chapter 322: Divine Trial Body

With the breakthrough, the Golden Crow's size more than doubled. Its black body resembled a supreme ancient beast, radiating a fiery heat that scorched the earth, causing wisps of black smoke to rise and turning the ground into crystal formations.

Each crystal was a shocking sight, allowing one to feel the extreme high temperature with just a glance.

Even the void distorted, and even stray sparks possessed astonishing heat.

The light in its eyes, while lifelike, also carried immense sharpness and ferocity, as if anyone it targeted, whether from the Nine Heavens or the Ten Lands, would be devoured. Although this was only a feeling and not something it could achieve yet, the Golden Crow at this moment had a profound impact on everyone on the battlefield.

Especially when its wings spread wide, soaring through the sky, the sea of fire on the ground continuously expanded. Each flap of its wings produced a rumbling sound.

Xu Qing, amidst the sea of fire, his long hair flowing, exuded an even more intense sharpness. His exquisite face, with its demonic allure, would cause a sense of daze in anyone his casual gaze fell upon.

It seemed as though the surrounding flames, the Golden Crow in the sky, and everything else existed solely to highlight him.

Beyond this superficial appearance, the second-tier Golden Crow Refining Myriad Spirits provided a fierce boost to combat power. It was no longer just one fire, but directly reached the level of six fires.

All six fires were bestowed upon Xu Qing's physical body, causing his body to emit creaking sounds. Although there were no significant visible changes, in reality, his bones, his flesh and blood, and every part of his body transformed at that moment.

It was an elevation of his life level!

At this very moment, the soaring Golden Crow, after a shriek that echoed across the sky, returned to Xu Qing. The fiery plumes from its thirteen tails revolved around Xu Qing, transforming into fiery phoenix feathers that drifted down before him. The flames that had spread around also rolled back and enveloped Xu Qing.

This made him, at this moment, wreathed in flames, with the Golden Crow above his head like an imperial crown, drawing attention from all directions.

With the appearance of two Celestial Palaces, his aura on the battlefield surged dramatically, and his combat power did the same. Even the surrounding Seven Blood Eyes disciples and the outer members of the Candlelight Sect were shocked and instinctively recoiled, unwilling to approach.

Xu Qing stood there in silence.

He lowered his head, gazing at Sheng Yunzi's wide-eyed, lifeless head clutched in his hand. A strange glint appeared in his eyes. He felt that something was amiss.

He was certain that Sheng Yunzi was indeed dead, and his death was within a reasonable scope, as the gap between one Celestial Palace and two Celestial Palaces was insurmountable. However, Sheng Yunzi's father had not appeared.

This defied common sense. After all, during the previous blood-colored trial, everything Sheng Yunzi's father did seemed to be for Sheng Yunzi. Yet now, with Sheng Yunzi dead, his father was nowhere to be found.

This was very suspicious.

Another point was Sheng Yunzi's abnormal behavior. He had not uttered a single word from beginning to end; even his roars were muffled cries. His screams, though shrill, were slightly different from usual, lacking their typical piercing quality.

This was unlike the Sheng Yunzi Xu Qing knew.

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, then suddenly raised his left hand, grabbing the chin of the bloody, mangled head of Sheng Yunzi in his hand and forcefully prying it open.

Sheng Yunzi's mouth was forced open.

Xu Qing's gaze swept over it, and a strange light instantly flared in his eyes.

Sheng Yunzi's mouth was missing its tongue!

The most unforgettable scene Xu Qing had of Sheng Yunzi was the mucus-covered tongue that lay before Sheng Yunzi after the Profound Spirit Eternal Will Gate opened. Xu Qing later learned that this gate, when opened, could reflect a person's inner self.

Sheng Yunzi's true inner self was this very object.

Whether it was a coincidence or not, the now-dead Sheng Yunzi had no tongue.

Just then, a deafening roar suddenly echoed from the sky, and a terrifying fluctuation abruptly erupted in the air.

The source of the roar was the stone giant that had been fighting with Seventh Master.

The giant had endured until now but could bear it no longer. With a wail, half of its body shattered into countless irregular stones that scattered across the earth, making thudding sounds and creating deep craters in the ground.

As it fell, the black coffin embedded within its body now largely revealed itself.

The black coffin, illuminated by the sunlight, emanated an eerie feeling. Sharp, scraping sounds, like nails dragging, emanated from within the coffin, piercing everyone's ears and causing widespread alarm.

Xu Qing's eyes narrowed.

As for the two Candlelight Sect members, they were breathing rapidly, and as they retreated, their eyes showed determination as they quickly performed hand seals. Instantly, the black coffin exposed in the giant's chest vibrated violently, emitting a roar that was not human-like but more akin to a wild beast, spreading in all directions.

The sound alone caused many Seven Blood Eyes disciples to tremble violently, blood oozing from their mouths, as they rapidly retreated in terror, unwilling to approach.

This sound contained an indescribable power that could awe the mind and shake the soul, causing one's life level to feel suppressed, thus instinctively generating fear and terror.

Soon, the rumbling reverberated, as if the entity inside the coffin was repeatedly punching its lid, intent on shattering it.

This scene made the surrounding Seven Blood Eyes disciples immediately retreat. Seventh Master narrowed his eyes, and Blood Refiner's eyes glinted strangely.

Almost as everyone watched, the coffin lid, unable to withstand a mind-shaking crash, exploded into countless fragments that shot outwards. Simultaneously, an earth-shattering divine fluctuation surged from within the coffin.

This fluctuation was incredibly astonishing and carried terrifying pressure. The moment it appeared, the expressions of the Seven Blood Eyes members changed, and the sky followed suit.

The world changed color, wind and clouds stirred. Clouds instantly formed in all directions, endlessly churning and swirling, creating a massive vortex in the sky that turned day into night. Streaks of lightning flashed, and peals of thunder roared. Immediately after, a broken, withered, non-human hand extended from the coffin, gripped its edge, and slowly pushed itself up, revealing a shocking body.

The body was incredibly dilapidated, with numerous damaged areas and exposed bones, resembling a corpse that had been dead for an unknown period.

It had no hair, and its face was decayed, leaving only hollow eye sockets and a dangling, bright red tongue from its mouth.

The color of the tongue was completely different from the corpse itself, as if it had been pieced together. As the corpse stood, thunder exploded across the sky, and lightning danced in all directions, transforming into silver serpents that cast alternating light and shadow upon the earth.

A terrifying fluctuation instantly emanated from the corpse. At the same moment, two ghostly flames ignited in its hollow eyes. However, what made Xu Qing's eyes narrow was the corpse's tongue.

This bright red tongue appeared to be the same one missing from Sheng Yunzi's head.

The divinity emanating from this corpse was terrifyingly extreme. Under its endless eruption, the ghostly flames in the corpse's eyes subtly revealed a golden light.

As this light emerged, the divinity on the corpse grew even more violent, shaking heaven and earth and causing anomalous substances to proliferate wildly all around! It affected the sky, and black rain poured down.

As if a god!

But it was merely 'as if'; it was not a true god. It possessed only divinity.

And even if there were more divine beings, even if they appeared god-like, they were not truly gods.

The difference between them was like mist and ice!

At the same time, strong unstable fluctuations emanated from the corpse, as if it could explode at any moment.

Clearly, the corpse itself could not fully control this dense divinity. To Xu Qing, it felt as though this corpse was an unknown life form created by crudely piecing things together.

Xu Qing's eyes stung intensely with just one glance, as if the corpse was too bizarre and horrifying to look at directly.

"Is this the divine power the Candlelight Sect wields? I've been studying this for a long time," Seventh Master murmured, watching everything.

"Candlelight Sect, what a grand scheme, you are actually trying to create a god! But unfortunately, just as I suspected, you are still far from success.

"Old Ancestor, the Candlelight Sect won't send more people. We can proceed with the plan to reel them in, suppress this divine experimental body of the Candlelight Sect, and make it a foundational asset for our sect!"

Almost the moment Seventh Master's words echoed, the corpse roared skyward, its internal divinity surging immensely. Anomalous substances surged wildly around it, and as heaven and earth changed color, the corpse's life level also soared. In one step, it ignored the Seven Blood Eyes' forbidden seals, appeared directly in mid-air, and was about to leave the area.

But Blood Refiner's figure instantly appeared in front of the corpse, transforming into countless blood threads that converged into a massive fist, which he sent crashing forward.

However, with a flash of golden light from the corpse's eyes, the void instantly twisted. Blood Refiner's punch appeared to strike the corpse, but it was as if they did not exist in the same space at that moment.

Thus, Blood Refiner's fist passed directly through it.

But in a blink of an eye, Superior Dongyou's figure suddenly appeared in mid-air. The old woman had clearly arrived much earlier and had been concealed. Now that she had revealed herself, her eyes showed disbelief.

"Blood Refiner, your son-in-law was right. The Candlelight Sect is indeed trying to create a god," she said. "But they failed. What they created lacks sufficient power, its intellect cannot control it, and it has been melted by divinity!"

Her eyes gleamed strangely as she raised her right hand and forcefully pressed it downwards.

As threads of light flowed from her eyes, the space around the corpse seemed to collapse in the next moment. Simultaneously, the blood threads that Blood Refiner had transformed into also rolled back, directly piercing the void and entering the space where the corpse was located.

As rumbling sounds echoed in the sky, and as Superior Dongyou and Blood Refiner made their moves, a sharp glint flashed in Seventh Master's eyes, and he swiftly performed a hand seal. Instantly, the sky blurred, and a gigantic blood tree descended directly onto the battlefield, solidifying the surroundings with its swaying, transforming into a seal.

Simultaneously, the Seven Blood Eyes' forbidden artifact in the sky above the Sea Corpse Clan, its fourteen Corpse Ancestor statues all activated and erupted with full power, causing the Seven Blood Eyes' forbidden ancient mirror to also turn blood-red. After its seven eyes, seven more eyes astonishingly appeared.

All fourteen eyes opened, locking onto the corpse on the battlefield. The giant ancient mirror also emitted dazzling red light, which shot out! It shone upon the battlefield, transforming into sealing power once more.

Under the power of these two great forbidden artifacts, whether it was the remaining outer members of the Candlelight Sect on the ground or the two masked black-robed figures, their bodies trembled violently, and they each spewed blood.

Their bodies were heavily suppressed, falling to the ground, firmly frozen in place, unable to struggle!

This was Seventh Master's plan all along!

His plan never had just one strategic objective. During this period, he had spent time and effort researching the Candlelight Sect's past, eventually meticulously uncovering a clue.

Based on this clue, Seventh Master vaguely guessed some of the Candlelight Sect's subsequent arrangements in Yinghuang Province. This was why today's battle took place. If the Candlelight Sect had sent people, the Sword Holding Court would have intervened.

If the Candlelight Sect did not send people, then according to his analysis, there would certainly be something left behind by them here. This object was highly likely related to deities, and he wanted to obtain it, as it would make it easier for him to understand the Candlelight Sect.

Since the Candlelight Sect was now a sworn enemy, he intended to thoroughly study them, just as he had studied the Sea Corpse Race years ago.

Seventh Master had once told Xu Qing that with the arrival of a Great Era, prodigies would emerge frequently. However, this Great Era had not arrived recently but centuries ago. Seventh Master himself was a preeminent prodigy of this Great Era.

Therefore, there would never be just a few astounding individuals in this world! This was what defined a Great Era!