Upon breaking through, the golden crow grew to twice its previous size. Its pitch-black body made it look like some paragonic wild beast from antiquity. The flames that covered it were hot enough to immolate the earth, and it exuded black smoke that crystallized the dirt below. Just looking at it from a distance, it was obviously intensely hot. In fact, the air around it distorted, and the mere sparks that floated off of it contained shocking heat. Its eyes were completely lifelike, and also exuded incomparable ferocity and aggression. It was as if anyone the crow looked at, whether they existed in the nine heavens or the ten earths, would find it impossible to escape being devoured.

Although that was only the feeling it imparted, it was enough that the golden crow was a shocking sight to everyone on the battlefield. That was especially true when it stretched out its wings and flapped them gracefully, causing the sea of flames on the ground to expand dramatically.

Within that sea of flames was Xu Qing, his hair whipping around him. His bewitchingly beautiful face would cause anyone who looked at him to feel stunned. And the fire around him created the perfect contrast for his fierce aggression.

Of course, there was more to the golden crow’s breakthrough than external appearance. Xu Qing’s battle prowess was improved. Now, the crow didn’t provide a one-flame boost. Instead, it blessed his fleshly body with the equivalent of six-flame power. That six-flame blessing caused cracking sounds to ring out within him, and though it didn’t change him in a way that was physically obvious, it completely transformed his bones, blood, and muscles.

He was rising to a new life level!

The flying golden crow cried out, then looked down at Xu Qing, its thirteen tails streams of flame swirling around him like wings of fire. The golden crow’s gaze caused all the fire to sweep toward Xu Qing, surrounding him, with the crow itself like an imperial crown on his head.

With his two heavenly palaces, he was very eye-catching on the battlefield. Whether it was Seven Blood Eyes disciples or the Torchlight field agents, all of them were taken aback, and didn’t dare get close to him.

Xu Qing stood there silently. He looked down at Master Shengyun’s head in his own hands, whose eyes remained unclosed and staring out blankly.

All of a sudden, Xu Qing got the sensation that something was off. Master Shengyun was definitely dead. And his death made sense, considering the vast difference between one heavenly palace and two. However, Master Shengyun’s father was nowhere to be seen. That was what didn’t make sense. After all, the Blood-Soaked Performance had been orchestrated by Chu Tianqun for the sake of Master Shengyun. Yet now, when Master Shengyun died, the father wasn’t here. There was something unusual about the situation.

What was more… Master Shengyun had acted very strangely. He hadn’t said a single thing during the entire fight, and his shouts and screams had seemed different than before. They were less piercing. That was not how Xu Qing remembered Master Shengyun acting.

Eyes narrowing, Xu Qing lifted Master Shengyun’s mangled and bloody head, then grabbed his jaw and ripped it off.

Looking at it, his eyes suddenly glittered.

There was no tongue in Master Shengyun’s mouth!

The event which had struck Xu Qing most deeply about Master Shengyun was when the Darkspirit Everwill Door had opened and a huge, noxious tongue had emerged. It was later that Xu Qing came to realize that when the door opened, it revealed what was in a person’s heart. 1

Master Shengyun’s heart had contained that tongue. He had no idea if it was coincidence or not, but here was Master Shengyun, dead and without a tongue.

.

Suddenly, an intense rumbling sound filled the dome of heaven, accompanied by terrifying fluctuations. The sound came from the giant. It was at that moment that it couldn’t stand up to Master Sevenths’ assault, and completely collapsed, sending boulders falling to the ground like rain and creating huge craters.

Meanwhile, the black coffin which had been in the giant’s chest was now fully revealed. As the sun shone down on the coffin, it seemed incredibly gruish. And then, the appalling sound of nails scraping the interior of the coffin reached the ears of everyone present.

Xu Qing’s pupils constricted. ．𝚌ｏｍ

The two Torchlight conclave agents were breathing unsteadily as they backed up. But hearing that sound, their eyes filled with determination and they rapidly performed incantation gestures.

In response, the black coffin started shaking. Animalistic howls rang out from inside the coffin. The howls were so intense that many Seven Blood Eyes disciples were physically shaken, and blood oozed out of the corners of their mouths. All of them backed away from the coffin as quickly as possible. The sound contained some indescribable power that could shake the mind and intimidate the soul. It was a higher level of life that provoked instant terror and astonishment. Rumbling sounds spread out everywhere as whatever entity was inside the coffin started banging loudly on the lid, as if trying to break free.

All Seven Blood Eyes disciples in the area were backing away. Master Seventh’s eyes narrowed, and Sir Bloodsmelter’s gaze shone brightly.

As everyone watched, the banging on the lid grew louder and louder until the lid finally exploded. Debris showered down as shocking waves of godliness rolled out from the coffin. A terrifying pressure weighed down on everyone, while at the same time, winds screamed into the shape of a huge vortex. In virtually a single instant, the sky went from being cloudless to dark and overcast. Bolts of lightning danced and thunder boomed.

Two withered arms stretched out of the coffin, seemingly human. The hands grabbed the side of the coffin, and pulled. A terrifying body appeared. It was extremely dilapidated, with so much damage to the skin that bones were visible everywhere. It looked like a male corpse that had been dead for a very long time. He had no hair, and the skin of his face was rotting and falling off. He had two empty eye sockets, and an open mouth… with a bright red tongue.

The tongue was lustrous, which didn’t match the corpse at all. It was almost as if it had been taken from a live person and added into the mouth. As the corpse rose, thunder crashed and lightning danced like silver snakes, creating stark illumination below.

Terrifying fluctuations spread out from the corpse. Within his empty eye sockets burned mysterious flames. However, what really caused Xu Qing’s eyes to narrow was the tongue.

It appeared that the red tongue in the mouth of the corpse was the same tongue that was missing from Master Shengyun. The corpse radiated horrific levels of godliness, such that the mysterious flames in his eyes had a golden tinge.

That light and the eruption of godliness caused the mutagen in the area to surge wildly, influencing the sky. Black rain started to fall. This was like the presence of a god! The key was the word ‘like,’ as this wasn’t a true god. He just had godliness, that was all.

The godliness on display was astounding, but this corpse was as different from a real god as fog was from ice! What was more, the fluctuations coming from the corpse were unstable, as if he might explode at any moment. Clearly, this corpse wasn’t capable of sustaining that level of godliness.

Xu Qing got the sensation that the corpse had been pieced together violently, creating a new, heretofore unheard-of type of life.

Just looking at him caused Xu Qing’s eyes to sting. It was as if the corpse simply couldn’t be looked at. He was very gruish.

“So this is what Torchlight can do,” Master Seventh murmured. “The power of a god? I’ve been investigating this matter for a while now. Very impressive, Torchlight. You are trying to fabricate a god… just as I suspected. You still have a long way to go, though.

“Patriarch, Torchlight isn’t going to be sending anyone else here today. We can carry out the rest of the plan. Let’s capture this experimental god body and use it as a reserve power for our sect!”

At the same time as the words left Master Seventh’s mouth, the corpse threw his head back and howled. Godliness erupted, causing the mutagen levels to soar. The power of the corpse’s life level erupted, and he took a step forward, ignoring the threat of the Seven Blood Eyes taboo treasure. In the blink of an eye, the corpse was up in midair.

However, Sir Bloodsmelter appeared right in front of the corpse. Innumerable blood-colored streams shot out from him, turning into a huge fist that smashed toward the corpse.

Golden light flared in the eyes of the corpse, causing the air to ripple and distort. Sir Bloodsmelter’s fist looked like it was about to hit the corpse. Except, it passed right through him, almost as if the corpse and Sir Bloodsmelter didn’t exist in the same dimensional space.

In the blink of an eye, Guru Eastnether appeared in midair. Obviously, she had been invisible and waiting this entire time. Right now, her eyes shone with disbelief.

“Sir Bloodsmelter, your son-in-law is right. Torchlight… is trying to fabricate a god. But they haven’t succeeded yet. This thing they’ve created isn’t strong enough, and they can’t control it. Its mind has already been melted by the godliness!” Eyes glittering, she extended her right hand and pushed down with great force.

As countless streams flowed through her eyes, the area around the corpse collapsed. At the same time, the blood threads from Sir Bloodsmelter spun wildly, boring into the air toward the dimensional space occupied by the corpse.

Booms shook everything as Guru Eastnether and Sir Bloodsmelter worked together to fight the corpse. At the same time, Master Seventh’s eyes glittered and he performed an incantation gesture that caused the dome of heaven to blur. A huge blood tree appeared, dropping down into the middle of the battlefield and locking down everything around it.

Meanwhile, in the Seazombie ancestral land, the fourteen zombie ancestor statues that made up the Seven Blood Eyes taboo treasure all erupted with full force. The ancient mirror turned as red as blood, and even more astonishing, an additional seven eyes appeared behind the existing seven eyes.

Fourteen eyes all opened, locking down onto the corpse on the battlefield. Then a red beam shot from the mirror, piercing through everything to land on the battlefield and once again seal it completely.

The power of two taboo treasures violently shook the Torchlight field agents and the two conclave agents. Blood sprayed out of their mouths as they were crushed on the spot. They were incapable of fighting back!

This had been Master Seventh’s plan all along!

He didn’t have just one goal for this fight. All of the time and painstaking effort he had spent investigating Torchlight had yielded clues. Based on those clues, he had guessed what Torchlight was planning to do in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. And that had led to this mission.

If Torchlight showed up, then the Swordsage Court would step in. But Master Seventh had come to the conclusion that if Torchlight didn’t send backup to this location, it would be because they left behind something very powerful that related to godliness. Getting that item would be a big help in understanding more about Torchlight. Going forward, it was obvious that Torchlight was going to be a mortal enemy. And thus, in the same manner that he had taken so much time to study the Seazombies, he would take plenty of time to understand more about Torchlight.

As Master Seventh had once said to Xu Qing, a great era was coming, and chosen cultivators were proliferating. However… great eras didn’t just pop into being overnight. It took hundreds of years for them to arrive. In fact, Master Seventh himself was one of the chosen cultivators.

There wouldn’t only be a handful of individuals who rose to spectacular heights.

1. The tongue emerged from the door in 👈