Chapter 899: Ending the Return to Emptiness

The Grand Arbiter was ascending to godhood, the Three Gods were making a breakthrough, and there were five divine domain authorities.

Inside the divine domain vortex, the opportunity for the domain's elevation, using the Emperor's corpse as a vessel, was also unfolding, accompanied by the captain's wild laughter.

"Little Ah Qing, what do you think of this opportunity?"

The captain's voice was excited, and his inner pride resonated within Xu Qing's mind.

"Let me tell you, everything in heaven and earth, everything in the universe, can be utilized by us, even that cursed Remnant Face!"

"Back when the Crimson Mother's moon ascended, I was incredibly envious. But conditions didn't allow for it then, especially since it happened so suddenly. I hadn't anticipated such a transformation."

"However, this time..."

The captain's heart rate accelerated significantly, and his inner turmoil was even more intense.

"This time, it's our turn to get on board and witness the spectacle."

A sharp glint appeared in Xu Qing's eyes.

"Little Junior Brother, the Senior Brother will now reveal a secret of Wanggu to you!"

"This is connected to your path, to my path, and to Master's path!"

The captain's impassioned voice resonated in Xu Qing's mind. Upon hearing the word "Master," Xu Qing's heart trembled.

"Having cultivated until now, you should be aware of the major realms of the divine. Before the Divine Flame, there is Divinity. After the Divine Flame achieves flawlessness, it's the Grand Realm of Divine Pedestal. But what comes after the Divine Pedestal?"

"Today, I will tell you, it is a True God... a rank equivalent to that of a Xia Immortal."

As the captain spoke, Xu Qing's mind rumbled as if struck by thunder. The captain's voice continued, each word like a peal of heavenly thunder, echoing within his consciousness.

"After True God comes Divine Lord; above Divine Lord is Divine Venerable; and above Divine Venerable is God!"

"This is a clear and traceable path. Both the Crimson Mother in the past and the current Three Gods are progressing along this very path."

"Among them, Li Zihua advanced the quickest. From the peak of the cultivator's Dominator Realm back then, he merged with the Crimson Mother to transform cause and effect, spanning tens of thousands of years with his schemes, finally stepping into the peak of the Divine Pedestal in one stride!"

Some of these matters Xu Qing had known before, and some he had guessed, but most he was hearing for the first time. Regarding the system of deities, he finally gained a truly earth-shattering understanding.

After speaking, the captain controlled the Emperor's corpse to look up, its gaze seemingly piercing through the vortex and the divine domain, towards the Remnant Face in the sky.

"Little Junior Brother, look at that Remnant Face. Do you know why the Sun God's sacrificial verse 'Sigu Bukong, Youming Shanghuang' exists?"

"Why can its origin scatter time? Why, upon its arrival, did Xuan You, the last Xia Immortal of Wanggu, have to flee in fear?"

"Because its name is Desolation!"

"Because its realm is that of a half-step God!"

"To be precise, it failed in its attempt to become a God and has been dormant ever since!"

"And why are cultivators inferior to deities..."

The captain's voice paused.

Xu Qing remained silent, an answer already forming in his heart.

"Little Junior Brother, do you know what the Remnant Face did first when it arrived back then?"

"It devoured the foremost Ancient Heavenly Dao!"

The captain's voice was low.

"That was Wanggu's strongest Heavenly Dao. Its original form was one of the Xia Immortals who descended from the lower realms back then and eradicated the Huangtian God Clan of Wanggu... specifically, the strongest among them!"

"After this Immortal suppressed the native gods of Wanggu, it once gazed at the starry sky and wept, proclaiming that it was fated for Immortals to be forsaken. Thus, the path of the gods began, and Immortals lost their standing."

"Therefore, this Immortal closed its eyes, leaving behind an Immortal husk, and transformed its Immortal soul into Wanggu's foremost Heavenly Dao, seeking to reverse the universe."

"And that foremost Ancient Heavenly Dao recorded the legacy of Immortals within our cultivation system!"

"But it was devoured and merged with the Remnant Face."

"This is why the Immortal Path was severed after the Dominator realm!"

The captain's tone was heavy with an undeniable despondency, carrying an inexplicable meaning.

Xu Qing's mind reeled. He had always believed that the Immortal Path was severed, as he learned in the Human Imperial Capital Great Region, due to the disappearance of the Xia Immortals. Now, he realized that, beyond that, the most critical reason was that the very Heavenly Dao containing the Immortal Path's legacy had been the first thing devoured by the Remnant Face.

"This is also why there have been no Great Emperors in Wanggu's later generations, and why all races have attempted to restore the path."

The captain continued.

"Since then, the path beyond Soul Incubation has been severed. The cultivation system stops at the nine realms of Soul Incubation; there is no further way forward."

"Therefore, after Xuan You, no cultivator of any race could again reach the Quasi-Immortal Great Emperor realm, a rank similar to Divine Pedestal, let alone a Xia Immortal."

"In reality, even if that foremost Heavenly Dao hadn't been devoured, cultivators would at most have progressed a few more steps than they do now. Ultimately, they would still inevitably have nowhere left to go."

"Because the Xia Immortal was once the pinnacle for cultivators."

The captain sighed softly.

Xu Qing remained silent.

"However, some people firmly believe that the Xia Immortal is not the end of the cultivation system."

The captain's voice resumed.

"Do you know why they are called Xia Immortals? 'Xia' means 'lower'!"

"Immortals from the lower realms are indeed Lower Immortals!"

"Above Lower Immortals, there should be Upper Immortals. Yet, throughout history, no cultivator of any race has been able to achieve the Upper Immortal realm. Gradually, no one believed this anymore, and the Lower Immortal became the accepted peak of cultivation."

"Eventually, because the character '下' (lower) was deemed inauspicious, it was changed to '夏'."

"But I firmly believe that above Lower Immortals exist Upper Immortals, at the pinnacle of Upper Immortals exist Immortal Venerables, and at the very end of Immortal Venerables... there must still be a path!"

"I walk this path from one direction, Master from another, and many races across the Wanggu Continent also have those who walk different paths."

"All are exploring, all are attempting to forge a new way!"

"Today, you will join us in this endeavor!"

"This is also why I told you to temporarily delay your breakthrough earlier: Guixu is a crucial turning point!"

"Actually, before we set off for Yan Yue, Master had visited the Imperial Capital Great Region. I met with the old man."

"Master came?" Xu Qing was startled but quickly understood. He had long realized that both the captain and Master had incredibly mysterious origins.

Or, to be precise, they were both progressing along their own distinct paths.

The Senior Brother's path was undoubtedly connected to his successive past lives.

As for Master, Xu Qing couldn't fully grasp it, but he could surmise it was related to restoration.

To Xu Qing's question, the captain replied softly.

"He came. He also told me to instruct you to delay at the crucial moment. The reason he didn't tell you beforehand was to avoid influencing your path."

As he spoke, his mind merged with Xu Qing's, his words filled with profound meaning.

"From now on, Little Junior Brother, the choice is yours whether to embark on an exploratory path that belongs to you. If you prefer not to, you can sever the divine domain's authority and continue your breakthrough as before."

"If you wish to explore, then the power of this divine domain's elevation will be the wind propelling you forward. However, this path is undoubtedly perilous; whether it leads to life or death, how far you can go, all of it is unknown. You... must weigh this carefully."

Xu Qing said nothing, nor did the captain speak further. The captain was using this opportunity to walk his own path, seeking the destined dao that belonged to him.

"My path..."

Xu Qing murmured, closing his eyes in contemplation. He didn't need to think.

Because several years ago, he had already known and clearly defined his own path!

It was a path decided after he began cultivating the Heretic Immortal stream within the Grand Academy of the Human Imperial Capital Great Region.

This path... would use deities as fuel, burning them entirely to retain divine authority and transform it into divine source.

Then, using the divine source as kindling, burn it completely to form his own Heretic Immortal soul strands.

Next, using the soul strands to transform into all things and form all divine bodies. The peak of imagination would be the peak of this path.

Moreover, it could gather all divine authority, earning it the title of God among Gods.

Finally, with his own will as paramount, he would forge a path of cultivating Immortality by utilizing the divine!

This was the Heretic Immortal.

"Then my Guixu will truly become a ruin... a ruin for refining deities!"

Xu Qing's eyes snapped open.

The five hidden gates within his body immediately restarted from their paused state, roaring once more. Like five colossal, earth-shaking volcanoes, they erupted simultaneously.

The sound of creation roared within Xu Qing's mind. The volcanoes erupted, and vast amounts of volcanic ash swept across his entire sea of consciousness.

This volcanic ash appeared similar to what ordinary cultivators produced when advancing to Guixu, but its composition was distinct.

Xu Qing possessed divine treasures and divine source, so his original Guixu was already somewhat different from others.

The volcanic ash within him contained the aura of deities.

Yet now, for the path he intended to walk, this divine aura was clearly still insufficient.

Without hesitation, Xu Qing acted. The next moment, a wail echoed from Dingsan-2 as the divine finger disintegrated, broken down by Xu Qing into nutrients and absorbed into the five volcanic hidden gates.

After combustion, the ejected volcanic ash carried an even denser divine aura.

Immediately after, his divine domain authority allowed the terrifying power generated by the domain's elevation to surge into the Emperor's corpse with each breath. This power then split in two, flowing into Xu Qing and Er Niu.

The portion that flowed into Xu Qing directly surged into the Guixu ash.

This was the power of the divine realm, which corresponded to the Divine Pedestal. In other words... this was the power of the Divine Pedestal!

Using this power to transform the Guixu ash, he could create a Guixu capable of burying and refining deities!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sounds within Xu Qing's sea of consciousness grew progressively louder, becoming earth-shattering. Then, in the next instant, his entire sea of consciousness was filled with Guixu ash.

There was no longer a sea within his sea of consciousness.

It was all Guixu soil, formed after the ash settled.

It was boundless and astonishingly vast.

If any other Guixu cultivator could see the Guixu within Xu Qing's body at this moment, they would undoubtedly be stunned, as the scope of Xu Qing's Guixu soil was tens of times larger than that of a normal Guixu.

And its composition was even more astonishing.

The moment the Guixu ash transformed into soil, forming a foundation, Xu Qing's Heavenly Palace, along with the five hidden gates above it, settled onto the Guixu soil.

The instant they merged with the Guixu soil, becoming one, Xu Qing's cultivation abruptly broke through.

He had entered Guixu!

To be precise, this Guixu was unlike any other. This was Xu Qing's unique path, his very own Dao, which could be called the Divine Ruin.

Terrifying fluctuations continuously surged from Xu Qing. This advancement was a breakthrough to a major realm, bringing an unprecedented increase in Xu Qing's combat power.

However, the Guixu realm was not yet complete at this moment. While the Guixu soil was present, the next step was to form the Dao imprints.

Because his Guixu soil was so extraordinary, Xu Qing's Dao imprints were naturally vastly different from those of ordinary cultivators. This difference, if traced back, was one of fundamental essence!

Whether it was Xu Qing, the captain, the Grand Arbiter ascending to godhood, or the Three Gods poised to cross the tribulation fire in a single step to achieve flawlessness... all of them were now seeking something immense.

Therefore, some entities would inevitably seek to prevent all of this from coming to pass!

Consequently, outside the vortex, resistance descended with a roar!