As Xu Qing looked on in surprise, the finger tossed the thousands of screaming Smokewights into the sun’s remains by Xu Qing. The Smokewights instantly became nutrients that the flesh assimilated. By extension, Xu Qing benefited.

As for the daybreak light, the finger flicked it right toward Xu Qing….

Xu Qing stood there in silence. The moment the light neared, the golden crow snapped it up, preventing it from reaching the sun’s flesh. The light erupted inside the golden crow, causing a seven-colored glow to fill the area. From a distance, it almost looked like the sun’s remains really were going to awaken. Powerful fluctuations rolled out everywhere, and at the same time the nourishment from thousands of Smokewights bolstered the life in the flesh.

The ninety-ninth tail sprang out of the golden crow.

The one hundredth tail was just about to appear. Meanwhile, Xu Qing’s cultivation base was growing, and a Nascent Soul aura was building in the golden crow. 𝒍𝒊𝒃𝒓𝙚𝙖𝙙.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The god’s finger thrummed as īts divine will scanned the sun’s flesh. Clearly, īt didn’t care about what was happening with Xu Qing’s golden crow. Instead, the finger turned and pointed directly at Sir Inkwell’s forehead. The explosive nature of the finger made it seem like īt was already vexed beyond measure. It was as if the fact that a body had not been painted made the finger so enraged that īt wanted to lay waste to everything in the area.

Sir Inkwell trembled as he sensed death looming over him.

“That’s no problem at all, heaven-favored one. Your humble servant will start painting your body immediately!”

Sir Inkwell quickly took out a paintbrush and waved it in the direction of the sun’s flesh. In response, some energy and blood emerged from inside and converged in front of him. Next, he dipped the tip of the brush into it a few times, then began to paint something. With only a few brush strokes, he completed the basic outline of the body.

Seeing that, the finger’s impatience seemed to fade a bit, to be replaced by deep-seated longing. Ignoring everything in the area, the finger’s divine will became fully focused on Sir Inkwell’s work.

“Oh heaven-favored one, you can insert your divine will into the body if you wish, sir. That will ensure that you’re fused with the body from the beginning. It’s an idea your humble servant came up with specifically for you. This will increase the likelihood of success, and reduce the chances that the body will reject you.”

It was hard to say if it was because Sir Inkwell was working so hard or because of his efforts to sell the act, but either way, he no longer seemed scholarly and refined like before. Instead he seemed crazed, with his hair disheveled.

The god’s finger sent divine will into the outline of the body, and as Sir Inkwell continued to paint, the finger fused more and more deeply. At the same time, the body became clearer and clearer.

When Xu Qing saw what was happening, he felt more anxious than ever. He knew he didn’t have much time to work with. If Sir Inkwell finished that painting, then Xu Qing wouldn’t have any control over what happened. That wasn’t to mention that he didn’t trust Sir Inkwell. Although they were working together, he was still convinced the Paintedfolk man had some malicious ulterior motives.

I need the golden crow to reach the next stage before he finishes…. Xu Qing gritted his teeth and checked the golden crow’s progress on the one hundredth tail.

That was going to be the key to everything. Unfortunately, it wasn’t forming very quickly. Right now, it was only about half finished.

Must go faster! he howled inwardly.

The golden crow could sense his anxiety and tried to speed up. It madly absorbed the sun’s flesh, and even started assimilating some of the Smokewights that were still present.

In that manner, an incense stick’s worth of time passed.

From a distance, the scene playing out was very gruish.

A completely deranged old man with bloodshot eyes and disheveled hair was madly painting a 300-meter-tall body. The body’s skull was already completely painted, and its flesh was starting to take shape. It looked very shocking and ghastly. The body emanated sun-like fluctuations, and as the divine will of the god’s finger fused with it, godly might pulsed out, along with a feeling of awakening.

Some distance away on the sun’s flesh, Xu Qing closed his eyes and sat in place. The flesh around him was already withering up dramatically. One reason was because of Xu Qing absorbing it, the other was because of Sir Inkwell using it as paint.

The stone lion and the head were cautiously inching away, until they reached the warding spell, which made it impossible for them to move any further.

The head had been hoping to look more closely at what was happening, but was now moaning inwardly. The two of them are trying to one-up each other. Each one is trying to turn the other into a scapegoat. Based on what I can see… my god! This is terrifying. We’re dead. Dead….

The head couldn’t understand why it was so unlucky. In fact, it was already starting to think back fondly to the Corrections Division.

That was when Xu Qing’s golden crow finished with its one hundredth tail. The golden crow was obviously excited, and wanted to erupt with flames, spread its wings, and fly high into the sky. However, Xu Qing restrained it!

It was almost as if he clamped his hand around its throat. The golden crow could do nothing other than meekly re-enter Xu Qing and go back to his fifth heavenly palace. That palace had been created by Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits. Once back inside, the golden crow changed. Instead of looking like a crow, it looked like a young man.

He wore an imperial gown and an emperor’s crown. His facial features were the same as Xu Qing’s, except he didn’t have a flesh-and-blood body. Countless streams of dharma force and the dao of the golden crow made… a dao soul! 1

It was a bit blurry, making it obvious it was in an embryonic state. But the moment it appeared, fluctuations that vastly surpassed the Gold Core level erupted from Xu Qing’s fifth heavenly palace. As they spread through his sea of consciousness, the golden crow rose to the third stage. And at that point, his fifth heavenly palace couldn’t really be called a heavenly palace anymore.

It was now an incubator for a dao soul!

This was a unique position. One of his palaces was in the Nascent Soul level, while the others hadn’t progressed. Because of that, Xu Qing’s level was actually… pseudo-Nascent Soul!

As his battle prowess rose with heaven-shaking, earth-toppling force, Xu Qing sensed the shapeless warding spell, which was made from innumerable transparent chains. He felt god power fluctuations in the area, almost like countless incredibly tiny worms wriggling.

And he could sense an aura of new life coming from the body Sir Inkwell was painting. He hadn’t been able to sense that before, but now it was very clear. That was because he was changing on a substructural level, and had now developed divine sense!

Divine sense was something unique to Nascent Soul cultivators, and it was a power formed by the combination of his dao soul and regular soul. It was also the foundation of divine abilities.

Before Nascent Soul, magical techniques were magical techniques. After reaching Nascent Soul, there weren’t just magical techniques, there were also divine abilities.

Beyond that, now that the golden crow had reached the third stage, a powerful nourishing force flowed out of his fifth heavenly palace to replenish Xu Qing. That was from Golden Crow Assimilates Myriad Spirits; whenever it devoured something, it could help Xu Qing in return. That said, this particular instance was providing an astonishing level of replenishment that surpassed anything from before.

Rumbling sounds filled Xu Qing as his fleshly body was further refined. The replenishment was so astonishing that it affected his heavenly palaces; his ninth heavenly palace was now getting very close to being fully materialized.

His current heavenly palaces had been formed in the following order: the first was a black umbrella; the second was a seven-colored wind-chanting lamp; the third was a taboo poison core; the fourth was a violet moon palace; the fifth was an imperial-class technique; the sixth was a heavenly dao bluegreen dragon; the seventh was occupied by the Ghost Emperor mountain; and the eighth was the hellspirit bloodwing lamp.

As for the ninth, Xu Qing had completed it by half thanks to the Ten Entrails Tree. But with the replenishment power coursing through him, it reached seventy percent. Then eighty percent. Ninety percent! After an incense stick’s worth of time, his ninth heavenly palace reached a state of ninety-nine percent completion. All it needed was something inserted inside to complete it.

“And that item will be… golden crow, spit out that light!”

Xu Qing’s mind raced as he sent divine sense to his fifth heavenly palace. Inside, the golden crow dao soul opened its eyes, causing a seven-colored glow to spring out of its mouth.

It was daybreak light. As that light flashed, it flowed toward the ninth heavenly palace.

When it entered, the ninth heavenly palace became a seven-colored palace that was crystalline and semitransparent. It glowed like the sunrise. The daybreak light became a sphere of light, within which was some immense living creature that resembled a phoenix, except asleep.

The perished sun here was not a golden crow. Instead, it was a different type of living being. The reason Xu Qing’s golden crow had been able to devour it was that they were similar on a substructural level. When the ninth heavenly palace materialized, and the daybreak light settled inside, Xu Qing’s cultivation base experienced a breakthrough!

His battle prowess skyrocketed, and at the same time, the replenishment from his golden crow continued, causing his tenth heavenly palace to start forming!

Xu Qing was shaken, but also felt keen anticipation. Then he opened his eyes and looked at Sir Inkwell and the god’s finger. To Xu Qing, the changes that had occurred to him felt heaven-shaking and earth-toppling. But they were all internal. To the god’s finger, the most important thing was the body being painted, and therefore, the finger didn’t bother paying attention to Xu Qing.

However, Sir Inkwell did notice, and his eyes glittered. Pretending that nothing had happened, he continued painting. The painted body was now about half complete, and the godly might within it was astonishing. It pulsed out, causing everything to twist and ripple.

Seeing that, Xu Qing’s heart grew more determined.

If I fled now, the old man would have to stop painting. He wouldn’t have any more paint to work with. And then he could send the finger after me. Therefore, now’s not the time to make my escape. I need to wait until the finger is fully fused!

Calming himself, he sat by waiting, while simultaneously using the replenishment from the golden crow to further complete his tenth heavenly palace.

As for what object he would place inside that tenth palace, he already had a plan.

This time, I’m going to try out my violet crystal!

1. This “soul” is a “Nascent Soul” not the ordinary word for “soul.” Please keep this in mind whenever dealing with the Nascent Soul stuff. ?

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