In the shortest of moments, countless gazes and countless streams of divine sense locked onto the half-peak Imperial Sovereign above the three gods, who was currently blocking the enormous black hand. The cultivator arrived at exactly the right moment, just before the three gods were about to achieve success.

In fact, it was no exaggeration to say that, without the mysterious cultivator, the three gods’ efforts, despite all of the work thēy put into preparation, would have resulted in thēir success being as unrealistic as flowers in a mirror or the moon in the water. Even if thēy still had some tricks up thēir sleeves, using them would have been counterproductive and probably would not have resulted in an overall success. In the end, thēy would have been forced to abandon their destined opportunity.

Clearly, the arrival of this mysterious cultivator must have been part of the three gods’ plan! What was more, it was very thought-provoking to consider the ramifications of a cultivator providing assistance to gods. Perhaps if it had been a low-level cultivator, it would have made sense. But given the high levels involved, it seemed to indicate that there was some very profound karma at play.

Whether it was the countless species looking on or the other gods, no one had any idea who this cultivator was. That was especially true because the cultivator’s clothing had the miraculous capacity to prevent anyone from deducing clues about the wearer’s identity. The best explanation that anyone could come up with was that this was a cultivator from ancient times.

And the cultivator’s arrival bought exactly the amount of time the three gods needed. The three gods’ auras skyrocketed as thēir tribulation fire began to turn flawless. Everything was coming together!

Meanwhile, in the black hole in the god domain, Xu Qing was just on the verge of being able to carve his dao lineaments. To do that required a deep understanding of one’s personal dao, not just a cursory bit of knowledge.

That was why Xu Qing had needed time after the forming of his void soil. He needed to be clear about his dao to be able to understand his lineaments. That was the way to walk his path. But to actually carve them, he needed to make use of the power of the god domain’s upgrade.

The power released by the god domain’s rise to a god world had formed his void soil, so it only made sense that it would help him carve the lineaments. Xu Qing was fully aware that the first stage of Void Returning for ordinary cultivators was called Space-Shattering 1,000 Daos.

When a cultivator broke through from Spirit Trove to Void Returning, all of the techniques they had cultivated would affect that cultivator’s dao. They would materialize and form dao lineaments in the void soil. On the outside, they would look like shooting stars. That was the case with all first-stage Void Returning cultivators Xu Qing had encountered. There were no exceptions.

One needed 1,000 magical laws to be considered in the great circle and then break out of first-stage Void Returning. That was why that stage was called Space-Shattering 1,000 Daos.

As Xu Qing considered that, he remained calm both inside and out. He knew that the path of cultivators conformed to his own dao, but also didn’t. The reason it did conform was that his first lineament was formed with a thought in his void soil.

A heaven-rending, earth-crushing sound rang out as the lineament appeared in his sea of consciousness. It contained traces of the dao of mages, the dao of emperors, and all of the cultivation techniques Xu Qing had used. The Xeno-Immortal School techniques were the most dominant.

As the carving proceeded, it went around all of the void soil, eventually returning to its starting point to create a huge circle. This was Xu Qing’s first dao lineament, and it was his life essence lineament. Having been carved, it created the border of the void soil world, and could also be considered a Xeno-Immortal lineament!

Meanwhile, to say that ordinary Void Returning didn’t conform to Xu Qing’s dao was because this lineament already contained everything. That was because he didn’t plan to form his second lineament in the same way as ordinary cultivators. He was going to use godly authority!

All of a sudden, his void soil emitted loud rumbling sounds as well as blinding violet light. In fact, it was that violet light that began to carve a moon-shaped lineament. And it emanated terrifying fluctuations. This lineament was formed from his violet moon godly authority!

“Next…” he murmured. The void soil in his sea of consciousness started rumbling again.

After the violet moon, he unleashed his taboo poison on the void soil. It created a poison miasma that spread out and radiated terrifying might. Ultimately, the poison miasma gathered together, entered the void soil, and formed a vicious face. This was his third lineament, a lineament of a godly curse!

Next, the power of misfortune spread into the void soil, taking all the remnants of the god’s finger. That was his fourth lineament, created by the godly authority of misfortune.

He started with a life essence lineament, then created three more based on godly authority. From ancient times until now, there had never been a cultivator who used godly authority on void soil. That was because their void soil couldn’t sustain something like that, nor could their daos.

From this point forward, Xu Qing couldn’t be considered like them.

The moment the fourth god lineament appeared, Xu Qing’s eyes snapped open, and it was possible to see the lineaments within them like shooting stars. Though he only had four lineaments, they were completely beyond the comparison of the lineaments of ordinary cultivators.

Next, Xu Qing exercised a thought, and the four lineaments rumbled loudly as a massive amount of soul threads shot out from them.

In total… there were 40,000,000! The soul threads spread out through the void soil, unleashing a terrifyingly powerful aura.

Despite being mentally prepared, Xu Qing was still visibly taken aback.

One god lineament can form millions upon millions of soul threads! In the past, I only had a few million soul threads, and it got harder and harder to get more, until I eventually thought I had reached my limit. But now I’ve completely blown past that limit!

Xu Qing breathed heavily as he felt unprecedented strength flowing through him.

Soul threads could be used to make any and all things, therefore, his divine sense, fleshly body, his magical techniques, and everything else about him was rising to a higher level.

I guess that means my god states… will no longer have the same limitations.

His eyes shone with bright light, and his heart surged with passion as he studied his void soil. However, that was when a sudden sensation of hunger exploded within him. He shivered as he suddenly felt like he was completely empty. Madness began to build within him. His eyes became bloodshot and he struggled to control his breathing as he looked left and right. He wanted to devour gods, godsource, and everything!

If an ordinary Void Returning cultivator could look into his eyes right now, they would be shaken to the core, and their cultivation would instantly destabilize. There wouldn’t even be a need to wonder if a person like that could stand up to him in a fight. In fact, not even someone in the great circle of Void Returning could match up to Xu Qing right now.

Before, Sir Firedark had such terrifying battle prowess that Xu Qing and the Captain had to work together to have a chance at surviving. But right now, Xu Qing would simply devour Sir Firedark. The same would happen if he faced a Smoldering God opponent.

The source of the hunger within him was the void soil. The godly void soil in his sea of consciousness was writhing with indescribable longing.

Hungry!

Hungry!!

Hungry!!!

The sensation only grew increasingly intense.

In his youth, Xu Qing had experienced situations in which he was so hungry he would eat just about anything, even dirt. And then there was what he had experienced in the Greenhair Badlands. Thanks to those experiences, he was able to take a deep breath and violently suppress the hunger. However, the hunger also gave him clear insight into his path.

My void soil needs gods for food, godsource for nutrients, and godly authority for the lineaments. I wonder how much godly authority, exactly….

He wasn’t sure. However, the hunger within him made it clear that his path was going to be about… slaying gods!

That is my personal dao!

Of course, the power of the upgraded god domain didn’t bring only these benefits. As Xu Qing’s void soil seethed, a god talisman was forming, filled with the terrifying power of the upgrade.

That was the upgrade power that he hadn’t used. It was the same as how the grand steward formed a talisman upon dying. Although Xu Qing’s wasn’t as dazzling, to the gods in Revered Ancient, it would be considered a precious treasure!

When he reached the right time, he could fuse with it to do the same thing the three god’s had done, and gain a destined opportunity to pass by the tribulation fire level.

Xu Qing took a deep breath as he examined the god talisman with his divine will. Around then, he heard the Captain.

“Hungry, little Ah Qing? I’ve got something good to eat. Want it?”

Xu Qing looked up. Thanks to the Captain’s words, the hunger he had been suppressing seemed like it might explode out of control. After all, he was hungry. Incomparably hungry.

“Heh heh, you really look a lot like me right now. That hunger… is something I’m familiar with. Don’t worry, little Junior Brother. I’m going to take you to a big feast!” The Captain swallowed. “Do you remember I mentioned taking you on a super big job?

“Well, going into a god domain, winning some authority over it, then snatching food from the tiger’s mouth by taking some of the power of the god domain’s upgrade to a god world… none of those things count as ‘super.’

“Do you know why I borrowed that destiny, got the Wordless words, and those hairs? Do you know why I used the upgrade power to improve the words and the hairs? Do you know why I added in so much of Crimson Mother’s flesh?

“It was all for the sake of the super big job! The Wordless words provide concealment, while the hairs provide escape!”

Xu Qing struggled to control his breathing as he started to realize what the Captain was talking about. It seemed absolutely crazy.

“Little Ah Qing, this time, my plan… is to get the number one treasure in all of Revered Ancient! And that is… that son-of-a-bitch broken face!”

By this point, the Captain’s craziness had reached such a high level that not even he could control his breathing. He actually looked nervous.

“Let me tell you, I’ve been paying attention over my past several lives. Only about half of the broken face is left, but all of those wounds are surrounded by flesh! There’s also the fine hair and the head hair…. Therefore, our goal is to get the blood, flesh, fine hair, and head hair of the broken face of the god! 1

“That’s a half-step Living God! Hīs flesh and blood doesn’t really count as flesh and blood anymore. It’s a precious treasure! And it contains hīs essence!

“It’s definitely delicious! And that is the super big plan I told you about! Everything before this was a mere appetizer. Those little sparrows out there aren’t even worth paying attention to. Skipping right to Flawless God? Who the hell cares about that crap?

“What I want is the flesh of a Living God! Are you in, little Junior Brother?”

The Captain’s crazy words battered at Xu Qing’s mind like tidal waves. However, crazy though they might be, Xu Qing’s hunger was only getting more intense.

Gritting his teeth, and his eyes crimson, Xu Qing said, “I’m in!”

1. In Chinese, ‘fine hair’ basically refers to body hair and potentially facial hair as well. It’s a completely different set of characters than the word for ‘head hair.’ So although in English it’s not common to differentiate between different types of hair that grow on the body, it is common in Chinese, so I’m going to use the terms fine hair and head hair to distinguish between them. ☜