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nThe grand steward was experiencing godly ascension and the three gods were skipping an entire stage of cultivation.

nHowever, there were five portions of authority over the god domain.

nInside the black hole in the god domain, the Captain laughed madly; the opportunity he had been waiting for was finally here now that this god domain was rising to a higher level.

n“What do you think about this destined opportunity, little Ah Qing? Believe me, everything in heaven and earth, in fact, everything in the universe, exists for us to use. Even that son-of-a-bitch broken face!

n“Back when Crimson Mother’s moon rose to a higher level, I was so jealous it’s impossible to describe. But I wasn’t fully prepared, and also, things happened so suddenly that I couldn’t possibly have predicted how they would turn out.

n“But this time…” The Captain’s heart raced with excitement. “This time, we need to get on board and enjoy the scenery!”

nXu Qing’s eyes glittered.

n“And now, little Junior Brother, the time has come for me to tell you one of Revered Ancient’s biggest secrets! It has to do with you, and with me, and with Master!”

nWhen Xu Qing heard the Captain mention their Master, his heart pounded.

n“Given your path of cultivation, you surely realize that in the cultivation realm of the gods, you start with godliness, then move to godfire. After you become a Flawless God in the Godfire level, you reach the Altar God level. But do you know what’s after that?

n“Well, I’m going to tell you. It’s something equivalent to the personhood of a Summer Immortal. It’s… a True God!”

nThe Captain’s words slammed into Xu Qing’s mind like lightning bolts.

n“After True God is God Lord. After God Lord is God Paragon. And after God Paragon is Living God! 1

n“It’s a very neat and orderly progression. And whether you talk about Crimson Mother or the three gods, all are walking the same path.

n“Li Zihua was first in line. Back in the day, he reached the Imperial Sovereign level of the cultivator path. By converting Crimson Mother’s flesh into karma, he leaped tens of thousands of years from the past to the present and reached the peak of the Altar God level in a single step!”

nSome of these things Xu Qing knew already. Some conformed to speculations of his. But most of it was new information. At long last he had an understanding of the cultivation system of the gods.

nHaving finished his explanation, the Captain took control of the emperor’s head and turned it up to look out of the black hole, past the god domain, and at the broken face.

n“See the broken face, little Junior Brother? Do you know why Sunfire’s sacrificial chant included the line: He who commands the Ancient is not empty; he is the Living Desolation. Why did hīs essence cause time to scatter? Why did hīs arrival cause Dark Serenity, the last Summer Immortal in Revered Ancient, to turn tail and run?

n“It’s because hīs name is Desolation! And hīs level? He’s half a step into Living God! Put precisely, after failing to break into Living God, hē went to sleep until now!

n“Now, why aren’t cultivators able to compete with gods…?”

nThe Captain stopped talking for a moment.

nXu Qing didn’t respond, though he already had an idea of the answer.

n“Little Junior Brother, do you know what the first thing the broken face did upon arriving? Hē devoured the number one ancient heavenly dao! That was the most powerful heavenly dao in Revered Ancient, who was originally… the strongest of the Summer Immortals who came from the lower worlds to slaughter the Brilliant Heaven Godfolk in Revered Ancient!

n“After that immortal conquered the local Godfolk, he looked up into the starry sky and wept, saying that fate had abandoned immortals, that gods were on the rise and immortals had fallen.

n“Therefore, that immortal closed his eyes and cast off his immortal husk, transforming his immortal soul into the first heavenly dao of Revered Ancient, all in the hopes of changing the universe. That very first ancient heavenly dao had all the information about the cultivation system of cultivators like us. He had the legacy of the immortals!

n“But he ended up being devoured by the broken face. And that’s why the path of the immortals ends with Imperial Sovereign!”

nThe Captain couldn’t prevent his tone from turning a bit gloomy.

nMeanwhile, Xu Qing felt quite shaken. Based on what he had learned in the Imperial Region about the immortal path being severed, he had always assumed it was just because the Summer Immortals had vanished. But now he knew the real reason: the legacy of the dao of immortals lay with the very first heavenly dao the broken face devoured!

n“That’s why later generations in Revered Ancient never produced any Grand Emperors, and it’s also why everyone wants to restore the path. From that time on, the path of the Smoldering God was also severed, and the cultivation path of forming nine Smoldering God worlds became pointless.

n“After Dark Serenity, there weren’t any species that could even become a quasi-Grand Emperor, which is a personhood similar to the Altar God level. And of course, there’s no need to even mention anyone becoming a Summer Immortal.

n“But the truth is that even if the first heavenly dao hadn’t been devoured, cultivators wouldn’t have been able to make much more progress than now. And that’s because… there’s nowhere to go. Summer Immortal was always the highest level cultivators could reach.”

nThe Captain sighed. Xu Qing stood there in silence.

n“That said, there are some stubborn people who believe that Summer Immortal isn’t the end of the line with cultivation.” The Captain’s tone of voice had perked up. “Do you know why they’re called Summer Immortals? Because ‘summer’ and ‘lower’ are pronounced the same! 2

n“Immortals from the lower worlds were called Lower Immortals! And if there are Lower Immortals, it makes sense that there would be Higher Immortals, right? But from ancient times until now, no cultivator from any species ever reached a Higher Immortal level.

n“Eventually, people stopped believing that there was anything after the Lower Immortal level.

n“And because the word ‘lower’ sounds inauspicious, people started calling them Summer Immortals instead. But I’ve believed all along that if you have Lower Immortal as a level, then there has to be a Higher Immortal level. The peak of that level would be an Immortal Paragon, and after that… there’s probably even more!

n“I’ve been walking that path from one direction, and Master has been walking it from another. And of course, there are people from all sorts of species in the Revered Ancient mainland who are also walking it.

n“All of them are probing. Testing! And now you’re joining the mix! That’s why I told you to hold off on your breakthrough. Because Void Returning is a very important watershed point!

n“Actually, before we left for Firemoon territory, Master actually came to the Imperial Region to meet with me.”

n“Master came?” Xu Qing asked, clearly surprised. Of course, he had long since come to the realization that both the Captain and his Master had mysterious histories. Or perhaps it was most accurate to say that they were both pursuing paths unique to them. The Captain’s path had something to do with all the lives he had lived in the past. As for his Master’s path, Xu Qing wasn’t sure, but he got the feeling it had something to do with recovery.

nIn response to Xu Qing’s question, the Captain said, “Yeah, he came. And he’s the one who wanted me to tell you to wait a bit when you reached the critical moment. The reason he didn’t want to tell you personally in advance is that he worried it would affect your path.”

nHis words seemed to carry deep meaning.

n“Next, little Junior Brother, you have to choose whether or not you want to follow a path of your own. If you don’t, then relinquish your authority from the god domain, and continue with your breakthrough.

n“But if you do want to explore that unique path, then use the power of the god domain upgrade as wind to propel you forward. The path will be dangerous, from now and into the future. And who knows how far you’ll make it. You… need to think about it and make your own decision.”

nXu Qing said nothing, and the Captain didn’t add anything further. Should he take this destined opportunity to start walking his own path, and reach out in the hopes of finding his own dao?

nA path of my own….

nXu Qing closed his eyes to gather his thoughts. There wasn’t really any need for a lot of consideration. It had been years since he knew that he wanted to walk his own path! His time in the Imperial University with the Xeno-Immortal School had made that absolutely clear. His path… was to use gods as kindling. By burning gods, he could strip out their godly authority and turn it into godsource.

nThen, he could burn godsource as kindling to form Xeno-Immortal soul threads. Soul threads could be used to create just about any god body imaginable. In fact, the imagination was the only limit to this dao.

nWhat was more, by gathering godly authority, it was possible to become like a god among gods. Thus, his decision was to use his own ideas to create a path that borrowed elements from both gods and cultivators!

nThat was what it meant to be a Xeno-Immortal!

nIn that case, my Void Returning really is going to involve a void… by assimilating gods into nothing!3

nXu Qing’s eyes widened.

nHis five trove gates, which had been immobilized, suddenly came back to life, rumbling loudly and erupting like massive volcanoes. A heaven-rending, earth-crushing rumbling filled Xu Qing as volcanic ash started filling his sea of consciousness.

nThough that volcanic ash seemed to be the same as the ash that ordinary cultivators would generate when stepping into Void Returning, the reality was that it was different. Xu Qing had god troves and godsource, therefore, his Void Returning was going to be fundamentally different. The volcanic void ash he was generating had a godly aura. But right now… the godly aura he had wasn’t sufficient for the path he wanted to walk.

nXu Qing didn’t hesitate for an instant. A wail of grief echoed out from D-132 as the god’s finger exploded, turning into nutrients that Xu Qing quickly absorbed and sent into the five volcanic trove gates. After it was ignited, more volcanic void ash spewed out, filled with an even stronger godly aura.

nNext, he used his god domain authority over the emperor’s corpse to start absorbing terrifying power from the outside. As it entered the corpse, it was split into two parts, one of which went to Xu Qing and the other to the Captain. Xu Qing’s portion went right into the void ash.

nIt was god world power. And since god worlds corresponded to god altars, it was correct to say that it was… Altar God power! That power turned into void ash, which was a void where it was possible to bury assimilated gods!

nRUUUUUUUMMMMBLE!

nIntense rumbling filled every inch of Xu Qing, reaching heaven-shaking, earth-toppling proportions as his entire sea of consciousness filled up with void ash. In fact, his sea of consciousness was no longer a sea. It was so full of void ash that it had become… void soil!

nIt was boundless, never-ending, majestic, and spectacular!

nIf another Void Returning cultivator could see the void within Xu Qing, they would be astonished, and that was because the extent of Xu Qing’s void soil was many tens of times larger than that of ordinary Void Returning cultivators.

nAnd the quality was astounding. When the void ash became soil, it formed a foundation that Xu Qing’s heavenly palaces and five trove gates could drop down and occupy. The moment they connected to the void soil, Xu Qing’s cultivation base experienced a breakthrough!

nHe was stepping into Void Returning! Put precisely, his Void Returning featured a completely unique void that conformed to his path. It could even be called Void God!

nTerrifying fluctuations rose up from Xu Qing as he reached a higher level, and his battle prowess increased dramatically. That said, his Void Returning wasn’t complete. He had void soil, but still didn’t have dao lineaments.

nBecause his void soil was so astonishing, his dao lineaments would be different from those of ordinary cultivators. And the reason for it all was the substructural difference. Whether it was Xu Qing or the Captain, the grand steward going through godly ascension, or the three gods skipping tribulation fire and going right to Flawless God… they were all trying to do something incredibly dramatic.

nAnd when things like that happened, it was a given that something would try to stop them. That was when a powerful force of resistance rumbled outside the black hole!

n1. Hundreds of chapters ago, Xu Qing’s brother mentioned the term ‘living god.’ Back then, it wasn’t clear what that meant, either in the setting itself, or to me the translator. Chapter 901 didn’t even exist at that time. That’s why I didn’t capitalize it back then. Even still, I’m not going to go back to capitalize it, as I think it would be too much of a hint that it’s a cultivation level, which the author obviously wanted to keep vague until this point. ☜

n2. Just to reiterate what I mentioned in the footnote in chapter 807, the words I’m rendering as ‘summer’ and ‘lower’ are pronounced exactly the same in Chinese, but are completely different characters. For more details, see the 807 footnote. ☜

n3. This is the point where the author really goes in on the Void Returning terminology situation that I mentioned a while back. Whether it was an oversight or intentional, he switches from the character that means ‘void’ to the one that means ‘ruins.’ In other words, if I followed the same naming pattern, the level would actually be Ruins Returning. That said, at least ruins and void are similar enough that virtually all of the explanations still make sense. The reality is that, though I think Er Gen is amazing, he does make a lot of mistakes (no knock on him, I do the same in my original writing). In many cases I can fix the mistakes without anyone realizing it. For instance, if this chapter had been in existence when I first coined the cultivation levels, I could have planned ahead. In this case, it didn’t work out, and I don’t feel like going back to change the hundreds of previous instances of Void Returning, especially after the name has already become part of the lexicon of the translation. So… Void Returning it is. Just know that in most instances in this chapter as well as in many subsequent chapters, the actual character means ‘ruins.’ And to further complicate things (or perhaps… uncomplicate them?)… he actually does go back to using the ‘void’ character later, so take that for what it’s worth…. ☜

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