Duanmu Zang had clearly been deeply affected by the poison, and his body was starting to decay. When he spotted Xu Qing, he opened his mouth as if to speak, yet didn’t seem capable of mustering the energy. Xu Qing smiled, reached out, and put his hand on Duanmu Zang. The poison inside him immediately left him and returned to Xu Qing. Xu Qing placed some daybreak light onto Duanmu Zang, creating a barrier between him and the taboo poison as well as the warding spells that had been set up to restrain him.

Duanmu Zang shivered as the poison left him and the effects of the warding spells faded. He immediately began to heal, however, his wounds were so serious that it was a struggle for him to do more than sit up. He smiled bitterly at Xu Qing.

“You shouldn’t have come.” He had seen Xu Qing’s violet moon rising, but right now, he didn’t ask any questions about that.

Xu Qing sat down next to Duanmu Zang and tried to catch his breath. Based on the fluctuations he could sense, he had an idea of what was going on. The powerful experts from both species were gathering nearby. It wouldn’t be long before they made a move. He could sense the plaintive call of his bluegreen dragon, which made it clear that it wouldn’t be long before the Spirit Trove experts broke free.

Even the violet moon and my heavenly dao working together can’t last longer than an incense stick’s worth of time. Not that impressive.

Xu Qing sighed as he looked up into the sky. Crimson Mother was sleeping, which meant that he was much freer than before to use the power of the violet moon. The main thing he needed to be on guard about was the Red Moon Cathedral. That said, with the heavenly dao and his taboo poison to cover the traces of the violet moon, as long as he didn’t use it dramatically right out in the open, he should be fine.

Xu Qing looked at Duanmu Zang. “Want a drink?”

Duanmu Zang nodded.

Xu Qing took out two jugs of alcohol, one of which he gave to Duanmu Zang. The other he put to his lips, then threw his head back and took a long drink.

Duanmu Zang took the alcohol and noted the rumbling in the sky, as well as the roars of rage that sent winds whipping about. The ground trembled, and the entire city rocked back and forth. The haze stirred as if it might spread beyond the bounds of the city.

The bluegreen dragon finally let loose a howl of grief as its body collapsed, and the six Spirit Trove experts burst out into the open.

As soon as they appeared, the curse in their blood stirred as if it might awaken. They suppressed it violently. And then they noticed the bodies littering the city, and all the other catastrophes, and their rage built. All of them unleashed various magics, causing heaven and earth to shake violently. They suppressed the heavenfire and began to disperse the poison haze. Meanwhile, Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior raced back to Xu Qing.

Hope appeared in the eyes of the surviving Twofold Alliance cultivators.

Seeing everything that was happening, Duanmu Zang’s eyes hardened with determination. After taking a long drink, he prepared to stand. Xu Qing put out a hand to stop him.

“There’s no rush,” Xu Qing said, smiling.

Duanmu Zang looked at the smile on Xu Qing’s face, and noted the bite marks all over him from the evil ghosts. Fear lingering in his heart, Duanmu Zang said, “What about all that…?”

“This isn’t even my real body,” Xu Qing replied. “It’s fine. They can bite away.”

When the words left his mouth, certain vibrations coming from D-132 went away.

Xu Qing ignored that and looked around. “Senior, I saved most of the people from the city. But there were some… who I wasn’t able to save.”

Duanmu Zang sighed softly.

The haze around them stirred as the six Spirit Trove experts appeared overhead. Because of their presence, a wind kicked up, spreading everywhere and reducing the effects of the poison haze and all the sand. The golden crow had already done all it could do, so it returned. The heavenfire in the city went out.

Finally, the city became visible again within the scattering haze. It was more than seventy percent destroyed. Most of the buildings had collapsed. Some succumbed to fire, others were destroyed by mutant beasts, and some yet were dissolved by poison. As for corpses… there actually weren’t very many. Dead people couldn’t exactly flee poison, and thus, they melted into gory pools of sludge that eventually evaporated into noxious fumes. Weeping, howls of grief, and shouts of rage drifted about.

The surviving members of the Twofold Alliance trembled as they took it all in. They couldn’t have been more enraged. The Spirit Trove experts above had bloodshot eyes as they focused on Xu Qing drinking alcohol as he sat in the square. .𝒎

“Just who exactly are you?!”

“Your godherald,” Xu Qing said coolly, looking up at them.

The six Spirit Trove experts pondered his response. It wasn’t possible to fake the awakening of the curse, which meant that they had already begun to suspect who Xu Qing was.

A godherald from another region.

That was what all of them were thinking, and it made them feel both humiliated and murderous. Their aura caused the dome of heaven to ripple, and resulted in a huge vortex spinning above them. Within it were six faces.

None of them would ever dare to kill a Moonrite godherald. However, if this was a godherald from another region, that made things a bit different. They could theoretically capture him and turn him over to the Red Moon Cathedral. For all they knew, they might be rewarded with an extremely rare medicinal pill called a painquelling lozenge, which could temporarily alleviate the pain of the Moonrite Region curse. That pain only got worse as one’s cultivation base increased, so such pills were precious.

They exchanged glances. Then, at the direction of the Mirrorling patriarch, the royal preceptor descended toward Xu Qing. He didn’t move too quickly. He could tell that this sudden interloper had many abilities, all of them incomparably gruish. Therefore, he needed to maintain caution.

Seeing that, Xu Qing got to his feet, all while reaching out to the god’s finger with divine will.

“I’ve already reduced their number with my poison. Because of my violet moon and heavenly dao, the meat is still fresh. If you don’t eat now, you’re going to be hungry later. I’m planning to stay in Moonrite for quite a while.”

“I’m sleeping!” the finger said proudly, suppressing the gnawing hunger within īt. “You don’t get hungry when you’re asleep! What, you’re going to threaten to end my life? Believe me, that won’t work. Crimson Mother is asleep and won’t wake up anytime soon. You’ve used that excuse a few too many times. I can tell that you’re afraid of dying, you little punk. So what now? If I die, you die. And I’ll die before eating!”

Hearing that, Xu Qing calmly looked up at the Mirrorling royal preceptor. Then he took out the spirit abyss talisman from Emperor Ancient Spirit.

The moment that talisman appeared, the god’s finger shivered. “What are you doing?”

“I’m getting ready to take them to Emperor Ancient Spirit as an offering.” Xu Qing took a step up into the air, his eyes flashing with resolve.

The stunned finger was starting to feel very uneasy. “Didn’t Emperor Ancient Spirit tell you that you had to bring a crippled god? These Spirit Trove cultivators definitely aren’t good enough.” 1

“Add in you, and it should be enough,” Xu Qing said coldly.

As he fixed his eyes on the royal preceptor, the god’s finger started shrieking.

“Y-y-you’re… you’re completely devoid of conscience! I’ve saved you so many times!!” The finger was furious. However, īt also realized īt had miscalculated. Then īt thought back to the terrifying gaze of Emperor Ancient Spirit, and the sound of the emperor swallowing. The finger shivered. “Why bother the exalted Emperor Ancient Spirit with something as trivial as this? I’ll handle it!”

The god’s finger burst out of D-132, looking sullen and resentful as īt started augmenting Xu Qing’s body. Godly fluctuations that surpassed anything from before erupted from Xu Qing! The dark sky rippled as a vortex appeared, rumbling loudly and emanating terrifying pressure.

The faces of the six Spirit Trove experts flickered in shock. The Mirrorling royal preceptor stopped moving and looked up.

“What’s this…?”

“Impossible!!”

As they devolved into a panic, the fluctuations coming off Xu Qing caused the sky to lose any color, and physically shook the entire city. Loud cracking sounds rang out from inside Xu Qing, each of them like thunder. The golden threads inside of him emanated golden light that spread out to completely cover him. As a result, Xu Qing’s physical body once again began to grow dramatically. In the blink of an eye, he reached a height of 90 meters. He loomed over the lands like a giant mountain peak.

As the overhead vortex spun, rifts opened up, as well as one lightning bolt after another. Then the lightning bolts focused on Xu Qing. The aura of a god was on full display. The power of mutagen raged everywhere, distorting the air and making it difficult to see clearly.

The city trembled. Buildings collapsed. More cries of anguish echoed out. Meanwhile, the six Spirit Trove experts up above felt immeasurably intense sensations of deadly crisis. It screamed at them from their flesh, blood, and even their souls. Every fiber of their being seemed to be joining forces to scream at them.

“A god!!”

Earlier, Xu Qing’s use of the taboo poison had left them suspicious, but now… they were downright terrified. Xu Qing’s current aura surpassed anything remotely mortal.

As of now, he had become hē!

A cry of rage erupted from Xu Qing’s mouth and spread out along with the cosmic fluctuations filling the sky.

The six Spirit Trove experts, whether they had real secret troves or were just in the dao begetting phase, were stunned by the howl of rage, and lost any ability to fight back. They were like mortals who had heard the roar of a tiger, and were overwhelmed with sensations of panic. It was a terror that formed because of the vast difference between them. It was the crushing pressure that mortals felt in the presence of a higher life level, a god.

Even though the god’s finger was weak, īt was still a god!

As for Xu Qing, hē was now completely golden in color. Golden light flared and godly might weighed down as hē took a step toward the six Spirit Trove cultivators! Hīs single step landed, and was right in front of the Mirrorling royal preceptor.

The royal preceptor had a high rank in his species, and had parasitized a body made of pure rock. But now he was like a mortal. The mirror on his face shone with pure terror, and he was powerless to do anything. Xu Qing’s hand reached out and latched around his neck.

The finger began to absorb. Bloodcurdling screams erupted from the royal preceptor’s mouth as his body withered. Only a moment later, he collapsed into ash, while streams of white energy streamed into the god’s finger.

“Disgusting! It’s rotten! Absolutely revolting!” The god’s finger made some retching sounds. Furious, īt decided not to eat anything further. But then īt realized how incredibly hungry īt was. Given that state of starvation, īt didn’t think that flavor was that important. “Fine, no need to be picky! I’ll eat first, then worry about everything else later!”

1. Xu Qing made the promise to Emperor Ancient Spirit in chapter 537.1. ?

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