The Captain’s words reached Xu Qing mind.

Xu Qing smiled. Apparently he hadn’t arrived too late.

That said, though it was no surprise to see Sir Firedark and the Captain here, he hadn’t expected to see Sir Heavenink, Tuo Shishan, or Fan Shishuang. After all, this wasn’t the first time the Firemoon Darkheavens opened this god domain. And it was a given that the top five chosen from the Firemoon echelon would have impressive backing. They would surely have been preparing for this event for a long time.

The fact that these people were all here went to show… that this spot was where the best good fortune and destined opportunities were in this god domain! And it also proved that the Captain really had a nose for sniffing out big jobs.

After nodding in response to the Captain, Xu Qing looked around at everyone else. Sir Firedark snorted coldly, Sir Heavenink looked surprised, Tuo Shishan looked annoyed, and Fan Shishuang averted his gaze.

No one spoke. Apparently, Xu Qing’s arrival wasn’t an unexpected turn of events to them. In fact, it was almost as if they had expected to see him, and would have found it unusual if he didn’t show up.

Looking around, Xu Qing already had a sense of how this place worked. For example, the 108 planets in the starry sky above the mausoleum all had invisible barriers surrounding them. They couldn’t be seen with the naked eye, but touching them with divine sense imparted a sense of incredible might. They were like sealing marks that prevented anyone from leaving the planets.

Though the divine abilities built into those barriers could keep people like Sir Heavenink restrained, Xu Qing could sense that both the Captain and Sir Firedark could break through without much effort. And yet… both of those two were still waiting on the planets.

They don’t want to move? Or has the right time not arrived yet?

He soon got an explanation.

Beneath the planets were the much larger sun and moon, endlessly orbiting on their tracks. The moon was just now shifting away while the sun was approaching. The canopy of heaven was in motion.

Scorching, domineering, and wild power emanated out, filled with terrifying mightiness. The incoming sun was like a burning ball of fire that cast glittering light into the starry sky. The closer it got, the more intense its power. The barriers around the other planets filtered the terrifying heat, converting it into pure sun power that passed through the barrier.

Sir Heavenink, Tuo Shishan, and Sir Firedark shivered as they absorbed the sun power to refine their fleshly bodies and souls. As they did, their auras climbed.

This was why Sir Firedark hadn’t broken through the barrier! And this was why everyone was seated cross-legged on one of the planets. The barriers sealed them in, but were also a defense for them. They made the planets like dao altars, where it was possible to safely absorb the power.

“This is supreme yang power!” the Captain said to Xu Qing via divine will projection. “When the moon comes, it will emanate supreme yin power. Like I said to you before, little Junior Brother, there’s treasure in this emperor’s tomb. You didn’t believe me, so you risked your life for those statues outside. But look. Don’t you agree there’s far more supreme yin power here?”

The Captain shook his head, sighed, and looked at Xu Qing with great pity.

Xu Qing looked over at the moon. Because the sun was approaching, he couldn’t sense much about the moon. But given the level of supreme yang power coming off the sun, he got the feeling the Captain was right. It really did seem like that fight with the statues was essentially meaningless.

The Captain seemed very pleased at Xu Qing’s reaction, and was about to continue the conversation.

But then, Tuo Shishan shivered, and a bright light appeared near his dantian region. It looked almost like the glow of a planet. As that planet appeared, a host of dao lineaments became visible around it…. The dao lineaments rapidly turned into a bubble that grew larger and larger, until it was like an illusory major world. The starlight coming from his dantian region formed an illusory major world, and then that major world started to seem true and real. It was as if it had life force filling it up.

Next, an astonishing aura spread out that shook everything in a way that surpassed the Void-Returning level. It was… a Smoldering God aura.

Tuo Shishan was using the supreme yang power to complete his dao, illuminate his path, and form his own major world. If he succeeded, he would be a Smoldering God!

This was his true reason for coming to this god domain. As a top chosen among the Firemoon Darkheaven people, the Void-Returning level wasn’t the end of the line for him. He had long since planned out things beyond that. He knew that he wasn’t on the same level as everyone else, and therefore, instead of trying to vie with them for equality, he sought to push himself to his own limit.

Now, he had reached that limit, and therefore… it was without hesitation that he proceeded with the breakthrough! And there was no better place than here to illuminate a major world. Supreme yang power represented life and limitless possibility. What was more, he knew that this sun in this emperor’s tomb… was actually the original sun in this world! It was the origin of everything, the supreme yang, and though it was weaker than the ancestral sun of Revered Ancient, its personhood was the same type.

Tuo Shishan wasn’t the only one who chose this path.

Sir Heavenink did the same. As a second flare of starlight appeared on Tuo Shishan, the planet upon which Sir Heavenink sat also flared with light, and a terrifying aura and mightiness spread out from it. He was also rising to a higher level.

In the blink of an eye, both of those planets were rumbling loudly.

As Xu Qing realized what was happening, he looked over at Sir Firedark.

Sir Firedark wasn’t a Smoldering God, but Xu Qing had personally experienced how strong she was. The fact that Tuo Shishan and Sir Heavenink were the first to achieve their dao didn’t mean that they were the strongest. Rather, it was because they had limited potential. Among the Firemoon Darkheaven chosen, the only one who seemed to have nearly limitless potential was Sir Firedark. That was why she needed much more supreme yang power.

Almost exactly as Xu Qing looked over, rumbling sounds echoed out from Sir Firedark’s head as five extremely ancient but luxurious trove gates appeared. All five were open, and they exerted immense gravitational forces. Massive amounts of supreme yang power flowed into Sir Firedark, entering the five gates. Almost immediately, dao lineaments, bubbles, and void soil appeared.

The dao lineaments expanded constantly. The bubble got larger. And the void soil… accumulated rapidly, and surpassed the limitations of the major world. It was starting to form a supersized major world! Although there was a limit to the extent of the lands in the supersized major world, its corresponding heaven… couldn’t quite cover it all.

However… if a heaven appeared that corresponded perfectly to the lands in the major world, then in the moment of Sir Firedark’s breakthrough to the first stage of Smoldering God, she would reach the peak instantly. That was because her world surpassed all others by far. It was something rarely seen even in ancient times. All of this went to show how talented and determined she was.

Seeing these three Firemoon chosen heading toward breakthroughs suddenly made Xu Qing think back to something someone once said to him in Seven Blood Eyes.

“An era of great struggle is coming in which chosen proliferate. And it might be the last chance for the heavenly daos of Revered Ancient to save themselves.” 1

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered.

An instant later, the sun passed and the moon began its return. Supreme yin power drove away the supreme yang power.

Fan Shishuang looked up, determination in his eyes and firmness in his heart. After watching Xu Qing kill Master Stillwinter, he had come to realize he wasn’t a match for Xu Qing, much less Sir Firedark. But that was the past. He was firmly convinced that a wonderful, eternal future awaited him. There was nothing guaranteeing who would be strong and who would be weak in the future! With that conviction bolstering him, he went crazy absorbing as much supreme yin power as possible. As moonlight gathered on his forehead, it turned into a planet that spread light in all directions. He was also starting to break through.

The other person absorbing supreme yin power was the Captain, who was actually a bit more domineering than Fan Shishuang. It was as if he wanted to surpass Sir Firedark’s absorption style. A moment later, a swath of mist appeared above the Captain’s head. The mist seethed as the head of a huge dog emerged from it, which also started to absorb the supreme yin power.

It was… the immortal skill named Heavenly Dog. And it could devour heaven and earth. In an instant, massive amounts of supreme yin power flowed toward the Captain, which he ravenously devoured.

Fan Shishuang shivered, and as he realized he wasn’t going to be able to proceed, his expression turned very grim.

The Captain, meanwhile, looked very pleased with himself, as if to say ‘if I can’t do it, who can?’ He cast a derisive look at Sir Firedark, then sent a very smug message to Xu Qing via divine will.

“Little Junior Brother, all you have to do is ask me very, very nicely, and also give me a thousand promissory notes, and I’ll save twenty percent for you. What do you say?”

Xu Qing ignored the message and focused on the approaching moon. Inside of himself, he could sense the same gravitational force that had been attracted to the statues outside, causing his third trove gate to crack open. On the other side of that trove gate was a power that had the same origin as this moon. It also had supreme yin power, and it was also an ancestral moon!

Intense longing rushed into Xu Qing’s mind. Who said that fight outside the tomb was pointless? He had acquired something during that fight. A seed! Looking at this incoming moon, Xu Qing understood it all. Standing, he took a step forward. As he did, his second trove gate emitted a deafening sound.

Inside of it was Hellfei’s eye. It opened, and the Six Filths of the Gods erupted from Xu Qing’s eyes and slammed into the barrier.

The Six Filths of the Gods could taint gods! Almost instantly, the barrier began to decay. The invisible obstacle became visible, and then it exploded like a balloon that had been inflated too much.

Xu Qing’s foot landed, and he disappeared from the planet to appear outside in the starry sky.

Power from the emperor’s mausoleum rushed in from all directions, crushing down onto Xu Qing. However, his facial expression was the same as ever as he unleashed the power of Ninedawns and his god states. The six filths grew more intense.

As everyone looked on in surprise, he moved in the direction of the approaching moon. Then he stepped onto its surface… and sat down cross-legged. The violet moon trove gate within him burst open, and unleashed an unheard-of gravitational force.

1. This quote does not appear in any previous chapter, but it does combine a few different things that were mentioned earlier in the story, mostly by Master Seventh, but also echoed by other characters. The further we get into the story, the more I’m finding mistaken references on the part of the author, tiny mistakes, or continuity errors. I’ll do my best to edit them, but in some cases I don’t think it’s appropriate, such as here. ☜