That ‘power of hope’ was the power of expectation and longing. It was also the power of emotion. It was an instinctual drive to resist. Under normal circumstances, it might appear in moments of excitement or piety. However, the former lacked purity, and the latter lacked frequency.

Now, after the two acts of the play they’d witnessed, and especially after memories from antiquity revealed Crimson Mother being beheaded… The living beings in Moonrite felt unprecedentedly excited. The desire to live and be free now exploded within them. And it contained the will to resist and fight back! Resentment that had been building for generation after generation had now been ignited, and it contained a terrifying power of hope.

As the power of hope continued to build, the sky over Moonrite, which up until now contained only the crimson light of the red moon, now saw another type of light. It was pure white. Countless motes of light shone in the canopy of heaven, visible to anyone in the Moonrite Region. There were even places that never saw light during any time of the year that were now being illuminated. The motes of light resembled stars, and they glittered resplendently as they pierced through the air toward a specific destination.

And that was… the God Decapitation Altar atop which Xu Qing sat. In the blink of an eye, innumerable white motes of light appeared there, proliferating rapidly and bringing shock to everyone at the site of the recording.

The Captain looked excited. He had picked this spot specifically because of how it related to the power of hope within the people.

There’s not enough yet. Just a bit longer….

As the Captain forced himself to remain patient, his heart swelled as he looked at the dramatic power of hope.

Ning Yan and Wu Jianwu were both breathing heavily as they looked around at the motes of light, moved by the mere sensation of what was happening. They could sense the struggle and hope contained in those motes. It was a struggle against fate, laced with deep anticipation and longing.

Nethersprite licked her lips, looked at the Heir Apparent and his siblings, then looked at Xu Qing. Finally, she suppressed the impulses in her heart. That power of hope would have been incredibly nourishing to her, and the sight of so much of it lit a fire inside of her. But she didn’t dare to try to take it. For one thing, she feared the Heir Apparent. But also, she could sense that it contained karma, and that consuming it wouldn’t be beneficial to her.

Li Youfei looked on, stunned. However, it didn’t take long for him to calm down. He was getting used to this sort of thing.

As the power of hope converged, Xu Qing looked around at the white motes of light. He could sense that they weren’t here for him. The motes had come because of hope, and they contained karma from all living beings.

Xu Qing didn’t say anything.

However, right then, the Heir Apparent suddenly said, “Xu Qing, take out that Spirit Trove fruit and eat it!

“Take what’s left of the energy here and use it to provoke a lightning tribulation from antiquity! You can push your nascent souls to the four-tribulations level! A baptism of tribulation from antiquity will contain the power of time. That’s a rare chance for you! And this time, I’ll once again activate the Duskmurmur Extirpation Command for you. Just remember, this is an opportunity! It’s… an opportunity to create that trump card!

“You might have gained enlightenment from the God Decapitation Altar, but once you leave here, you won’t be able to use it outside of very specific circumstances. You have to come up with some other way of using it!

“Change it into a trump card that truly belongs to you! The tribulation will be limited by the Duskmurmur Extirpation Command, but the burden cannot be shared like before. You need to turn the God Decapitation Altar into your trump card. Use it to destroy the heavenly tribulation. Only then will you be able to share the burden.

“If you succeed, then the power of hope will converge on the tip of the blade, and henceforth… will be a host of karma for your godly guillotine!”

A tremor passed through Xu Qing as he looked at the Heir Apparent. His eyes gleamed as he thought for a moment. Then he took out the Spirit Trove fruit Princess Brightblossom had given him. He put it in his mouth. The fruit dissolved, turning into a wave of heat that swept through him like the eruption of a volcano. That Spirit Trove fruit contained the power of an entire secret trove.

At the same time, Xu Qing heard a howl of rage coming from inside the fruit. It was the howl of a heavenly dao.

Instantly, all of Xu Qing’s nascent souls opened their eyes. The golden crow danced in flight. The Ghost Emperor mountain trembled. The daybreak light glittered. The timescape bottle trembled….

All of his nascent souls, with the exception of the violet moon nascent soul, became like twelve black holes that devoured the heat flowing through Xu Qing. The golden crow nascent soul was the first to finish, and it erupted with a tribulation summons. Xu Qing’s heavenly dao nascent soul awoke. The bluegreen dragon roared and shot toward the secret trove’s heavenly dao. With the help of the violet moon, it viciously devoured it, pushing it to the great circle of three tribulations. Next came the nascent souls of taboo poison, daybreak light, timescape bottle, and Ghost Emperor mountain.

One after another, they soared to higher heights. Taboo poison spread around Xu Qing, creating something like a haze.

Daybreak light glittered, creating projections of countless living things. The timescape bottle emanated the feeling of time. And the Ghost Emperor mountain’s eyes opened and its majesty surged.

The final one was D-132. Inside D-132, the god’s finger didn’t dare to even move. The head and the other prisoners all trembled. All of them could see Xu Qing’s nascent soul, which sat cross-legged in D-132 just like the boy made from destiny aura. The nascent soul was currently performing an incantation gesture, and was surrounded by the broken fragments of a host of bamboo slips.

Rumbling sounds echoed out as eight of Xu Qing’s nascent souls emanated terrifying fluctuations. However, things weren’t over yet.

Next, his five sundial life lamps shivered and transformed into five vortexes. As they spun madly, they absorbed the power of the Spirit Trove fruit rushing through Xu Qing.

As the process continued, the gnomons seemed to be rotating rapidly. As they spun, the power of time bolstered Xu Qing from within. Soon… the five life lamps turned into five sun nascent souls, which pulsed with the fluctuations of the great circle of three tribulations. As of now, all of Xu Qing’s nascent souls, with the exception of the violet moon nascent soul, had all reached the great circle of three tribulations.

The summoned tribulation power was at a peak.

Rumbling sounds filled heaven and earth in this isolated world. The ancient wind once again sprang up, stirring the dust. The huge vortex in the sky emitted thunderous booms. It seemed like a sound that contained many ancient years.

It was at that moment that… the Heir Apparent turned and looked at Fifth Sister.

She waved her hand, causing a flock of little chickens to fly out. They were only some of Fifth Sister’s chickens. The moment they appeared, they clucked with terror and despair.

The Heir Apparent waved his hand, and instantly, a connection sprang into being between the chickens and Xu Qing.

Thanks to that, the heavenly tribulation’s assessment of Xu Qing changed. He was no longer a Nascent Soul cultivator in the great circle of three tribulations. He was actually a combination of a whole host of top experts!

Thunder rumbled with even more shocking intensity. Meanwhile, the Heir Apparent looked deeply at Xu Qing, then suddenly bit the tip of his tongue and spat out some blood. Princess Brightblossom, Eighth Sib, and Fifth Sister all did the same. The blood from the four of them turned into a screen that swept over the blade in the sky and the altar on the ground. It also covered Xu Qing and the chickens.

It wrapped all of them up and turned into a blood cocoon! From a distance, it looked almost like an egg!

Having accomplished that, the four of them stepped forward and took positions around the blood-colored cocoon. Sitting down cross-legged, they performed incantation gestures and then pointed out. Then they spoke in unison, their voices thrumming with the passage of time, rumbling like thunder as they uttered what seemed to be an oath.

“The blood of a Smoldering God verifies that this child is permitted to learn our father’s divine ability.

“Tribulation from primordial times certifies the method to absorb all lives and assimilate the cosmos.”

The gigantic blood cocoon shivered. Thunder rumbled even more loudly from the vortex in the sky as sparks of electricity built up within it. The lightning bolts were green, and as they multiplied and converged, they created a huge magical symbol. The deafening nature of the lightning caused everyone to react with shock.

Ning Yan’s thoughts were chaotic. This is a fourth tribulation? This is a freaking fourth tribulation? What exactly is going on here?

The destiny aura of Sea-Sealing County forced the first tribulation to retreat. He passed the second tribulation thanks to the fluctuations of magical laws. In the third tribulation, he used the Greenhair Badlands as his body. And this fourth tribulation… is a tribulation from ancient times, and he has Smoldering Gods helping him train?

In that case, what’s the fifth tribulation going to be like? What could possibly surpass this fourth tribulation? Don’t tell me a god’s going to help him pass it?

Ning Yan shivered from head to toe. Wu Jianwu was doing the same. Li Youfei smiled proudly, and looked as calm as ever, although he was actually trembling. Nethersprite looked at the blood cocoon with mixed feelings. Given her experience, she could guess what the Heir Apparent and the others were trying to do.

The Captain looked up and smiled. “Become a cocoon and turn into a butterfly…. Little Ah Qing, the Moonrite Region is where we fly to new heights…. Crimson Mother is going to be your fifth tribulation!”

As everyone looked on with various emotions, the vortex above grew louder. Then a bolt of lightning appeared that pulsed with an ancient aura. And it dropped right toward Xu Qing!

The moment it was about to hit….

The Heir Apparent performed an incantation gesture and touched his forehead. “Let heaven and earth in this world now belong to this child!”

Eighth Sib placed his palms together to make a hand sign, then shouted, “Let all desires in this world now belong to this child!”

Princess Brightblossom waved her hand, causing a river of time to appear. “Let time in this world now belong to this child!”

Fifth Sister spoke in a soft voice. “Let all new life in this world belong to this child!”

Thunder crashed, like a dragon from primeval times. The lightning hit the blood cocoon, causing a deafening boom as innumerable sparks showered everywhere. Next, the vortex above spun, and ancient lightning fell.

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