He had seen this door before, at the God Decapitation Altar, when the Captain converged hope power to open a path to a High God. It was the same door! Even the scratch marks on it were exactly the same.1

This was Xu Qing’s second time seeing it. The atmosphere and energy inside of this rift also seemed familiar to Xu Qing. It was very obvious… that this was the same place the Captain went to that day.

I can’t believe the clay fox wanted to come here!

Xu Qing very clearly remembered what the Heir Apparent had said that day. Behind this door was a High God of the Firemoon Darkheaven people.

The appellation ‘High God’ referred to paramount and terrifying entities.

Crimson Mother was a High God, as was Flawless Hell, Lord of the Nine Serenities.2

Of course, even High Gods could be weak or strong. Yet the weakest of High Gods still possessed astonishing levels of might that surpassed anything mortals could imagine. That was why Xu Qing was feeling very taken aback. He clearly remembered how the Captain had stood in front of that door and made an agreement with whatever was on the other side. She had even offered a gift in the form of a gray strand of hair. The gray wind in the desert had come about because of that hair.

Reading into the situation, it seems that the High God behind this door made a deal with Eldest Brother in a past life…. With hēr help, Eldest Brother was able to use his sacrificial dance techniques to hide the pieces of his body. And the Greenhair Badlands was part of that deal. It’s a trump card that Eldest Brother prepared years ago to target Crimson Mother!

As those thoughts entered his mind, he reeled as various puzzle pieces clicked together.

When I was in the clay fox’s shrine, I saw countless species bowing to a six-pointed star…. The Firemoon Darkheavens have three High Gods of the sun, moon, and star….

Xu Qing turned to look at the clay fox. He was now starting to come up with an idea of who this clay fox might be. The clay fox smiled sweetly at Xu Qing, hēr eyes flirtatious. Then shē swayed into the rift, walked through the void, and right up to the door.

“Big sister,” shē said, “I’ve finally found where you’re sealed.”

Hēr voice would enter the ears and stir the mind, becoming like a vortex that would suck in all thoughts and leave behind nothing but blankness.

The door didn’t react. It wasn’t like when the Captain came and all the banging started. However, the sinister atmosphere grew more intense. The mutagen also proliferated, making everything turn as blurry as if a fog had sprang up.

Those things would have posed a major obstacle to ordinary cultivators. But it didn’t do anything to the clay fox. Smiling, shē walked right up to the door.

“So, sister, it seems you were planning to come back sometime in the future, so you left behind this soul door. Interesting. I could tell something was off about you back in the day. You were very shifty, like you were planning to stuff yourself alone. Am I right? All these years I’ve been wondering what it was that my big sister wanted to eat.”

The clay fox licked her lips, and her eyes glowed with pink light as she stood in front of the door.

The moment she stopped moving, blood started oozing out of the cracks on the sides and bottom of the door.

Xu Qing, meanwhile, stood at the very edge of the rift. He didn’t go inside.

The clay fox ignored the blood and spoke just as tenderly as before.

“Big sister, things have been rough for me these years. I finally found a kidney that smelled like you. Although the smell was faint, there was no way I could miss it. That was when I started to get an idea of what you were up to. However, you really went all-out in your effort to stay hidden and stuff yourself alone, sister. You even hid from me! It’s been so hard! That said, there are a lot of amusing things in the world.”

The clay fox laughed and turned to look at Xu Qing. As her laughter shook her shoulders, her gauzy garment slipped further down, making her look even more seductive.

“And then, completely unexpectedly, I felt karma on this naughty little boy, and my godliness told me that it wouldn’t be long before I found you, sister. He was to be my guide, to lead me to you. See? That’s how all of this happened. I haven’t deceived you in the least bit, big sister. And now, I know exactly what you wanted to eat.”

At that point, something banged against the door, as if someone had furiously punched it. Everything trembled.

The blood on the ground rose into the air, transforming into the shape of a moon, the light of which shone down with godly might to illuminate everything.

Even being on the edge of the rift, not inside, Xu Qing’s heart pounded, and his flesh quivered.

“You useless piece of trash!” Xu Qing snapped inwardly at the god’s finger. īt was only a clone, but īt was made from a god, and therefore, was a god, yet īt wasn’t helping him at all.

The god’s finger was furious, yet didn’t dare to react, and just pretended to continue sleeping.

Xu Qing ignored it and fought back against the aura with everything he had, including the power of the violet moon. He also released some authority to help sustain himself. Despite all of that, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could endure.

“Such a temper, sister!” the clay fox said with a soft chuckle. The air behind her rippled and distorted as suns, moons, stars, and heavenly bodies appeared. They became a starry sky, the light of which converged into a totem of a six-pointed star. The moment the totem appeared, everything in the area began to tremble as though two powerful forces were clashing.

At the same time, much of the pressure weighing down on Xu Qing disappeared. The clash didn’t last for long. A moment later, both sides backed down and everything went calm. At the same time, a voice spoke for the first time from the other side of the door. It was the voice of a woman, and it dripped with loathing.

“Watch your tongue, you slutty fox!”

The clay fox didn’t seem to mind the use of the word ‘slutty.’ In fact, it almost seemed like the word was a confirmation of hēr alluring powers, and it caused hēr to smile even more broadly.

“That’s fine, big sister. However, it’s not okay to go around eating alone. It’s Crimson Mother we’re talking about….” When the clay fox mentioned Crimson Mother, a flicker of dread could be seen in hēr eyes. “As you yourself said, if you’re not careful, you might miss out on eating and even worse, pay a horrific price. Therefore, big sister… why not do it together?”

A cold snort echoed out from behind the door, and then the scratch marks on the door flowed together into the shape of a closed eye. The eye opened. Mutagen erupted out, causing everything to ripple and distort, and filling the area with a sound like chanting. That was the eye of a god. It was golden colored, with double pupils, full of apathy as it first looked at the clay fox and then Xu Qing.

When the eye looked at him, Xu Qing shivered. The authority within him exploded out, yet not even that was enough to negate the effects he was feeling. Black energy abounded within him, which was the evidence of a mutagen invasion.

A deadly sense of crisis arose within him. Every inch of his flesh screamed and trembled as a profound level of decay and rot spread through him.

Xu Qing ignored all of that and focused on keeping his soul independent. At long last, the god’s finger could no longer pretend to be asleep. Spitting out the most foul-mouthed curses, īt started restoring īts body…. Seeing that, Xu Qing felt a bit more calm. Looking at the door, he clasped hands and bowed.

“Well met, Senior!”

The eye of the god glittered brightly. “I remember you. You were here last time with that damned traitor. And now you’ve come again with the slutty fox.”

Before Xu Qing could respond, the clay fox stepped forward daintily to stand between Xu Qing and the door, blocking the eye’s line of sight. The pressure on Xu Qing faded.

The clay fox looked over hēr shoulder at him sympathetically. “Don’t fear, little boy. I’m here for you.” Shē turned back to look at the door, chuckling softly. “Big sister, you’re talking to your little sister’s husband! Don’t even think about coveting his primal yang. It’s mine.”

The god’s eye on the door focused on the clay fox for a long moment. Then another cold snort echoed out. No more words were spoken. Instead, the eye closed and transformed back into a host of scratch marks. Clearly, High God Moonfire had chosen to tacitly agree to the clay fox’s suggestion.

“Thank you, big sister,” the clay fox said, smiling dazzlingly. Truth be told, even if the clay fox didn’t try at all to be enticing, shē would still be incomparably alluring. Shē was certainly a rarity among beautiful women. As shē smiled, the clay fox waved hēr hand, causing the surrounding void to contract. Cracking sounds echoed out as a clay door rose up right next to the wooden door. “I’ll leave for now, big sister.”

The clay fox walked over to the door, then looked back at Xu Qing and blinked seductively a few times. “Want to come to my place for a visit, naughty boy?”

Maintaining a very sincere facial expression, Xu Qing politely refused.

Laughter rang out as the clay fox beckoned at him with hēr finger. “In that case, take care of your primal yang for me. I’ll say farewell for now. Remember to call for me when the food is ready to serve.”

She waved hēr hand in his direction, and a patch of mist carried a silver bone over to him. Before he could do anything, the mist spread out and covered him. Next, everything around him rippled, as though space and time were being manipulated. Everything blurred as he left the place of a god and shot back through the void.

A moment later, the mist disappeared, and Xu Qing found himself back in the valley. The sky was still red. A sinister wind still blew. Weeds choked the valley, stirring slightly. No one was around.

He was standing on the exact spot where he had stepped into the shrine. It was almost as if everything that he’d just experienced was a dream. It was hard not to feel dazed. After a moment passed, he opened his hand.

Resting on his palm was a silver bone. Back when he met the clay fox for the first time, she had shown that silver bone to him and mentioned that it was an Ancient Spirit bone pill that could be a huge help to the cultivation of any Ancient Spirit. Taking a deep breath, he turned to the depths of the valley, clasped hands, and bowed.

“Many thanks, Senior.”

1. The Captain opened the door in chapter 646. ☜

2. In this passage, the author only mentions “the Lord of Nine Serenities,” but does not use the name Flawless Hell. I was initially confused by this and thought it was a reference I had forgotten. Later on, other contextual evidence makes it obvious that it’s referring to the High God that Crimson Mother devoured in the Land of Cruelmurk. I’m editing this passage to reflect the name we already know for this entity. The fact that the author also calls him the Lord of the Nine Serenities just further emphasizes the connection to the underworld

/hell. As I’m sure most of you know, the Nine Serenities is one of many poetic names referring to hell or the underworld. Flawless Hell was mentioned in chapters 524.2 and 525.1 ☜

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