An incense stick of time passed. Xu Qing and the Captain were just barely visible making their way toward the edge of the thousands of meters of barren land that had been carved out by the power of teleportation.

The three gods silently watched them leave. Thēy knew that the flesh and blood of the broken face could be considered a precious treasure, and would be very useful to thēm. But thēy also came to the same conclusion as Xu Qing that it would come with catastrophic karma. It was good fortune, but also something taboo.

Considering thēy had just succeeded at becoming Flawless Gods, and now had hope of reaching the Altar God level, thēy didn’t want to stain themselves with such karma. All in all, thēy were gods. The Revered Ancient mainland was nutrients for the broken face, and everyone there was doomed to be devoured. But not thēm.

What was more, when thēir last connection to North Emperor was severed, thēy truly became gods. Even after Revered Ancient disappeared, thēy could continue on as subservient gods to the broken face.

Of course, there had been other options for them. For instance… thēy could have killed Xu Qing and the Captain. Or thēy could have taken the Father God’s blood and offered it back as a sacrifice.

Thus, as Xu Qing and the Captain made their way off into the distance, Sunfire’s expression remained icy and grim. Hēr killing intent was still there.

“What do you two think of that crazy ox?” Sunfire asked coolly, looking over at Starfire and Moonfire, but primarily Moonfire.

Moonfire said nothing, making it impossible to tell what shē was thinking. Shē hardly seemed to have even looked at the phoenix hairpin floating in front of hēr.

In contrast, Starfire was already fiddling with the other hairpin. Shē smiled. “In the end, the two of them helped us a lot. What’s more, though their arrival was within the scope of our omniscience, we can’t see what happens later, thanks to that crazy ox. I think it’s all very interesting. Why not allow some good karma to be sown with them?”

Sunfire frowned. “I can deal with Moonfire’s attitude. But as for you, Starfire, you and that idiot asshole are—”

Before shē could finish speaking, Starfire’s eyes turned cold, and shē interrupted in a sharp tone. “His name is Xu Qing. He’s not an idiot and he’s not an asshole!”

Sunfire’s eyes narrowed, but before shē could say anything else, Moonfire spoke up. “Cut the crap. If you want to kill the scumbag, then do it. Given your omniscience, you know what could happen if you do.”

Having said that, Moonfire vanished into thin air. The hairpin vanished as well.

Seeing that, Sunfire held back from speaking. Given her omniscience, shē could see what might happen. But there were too many variables in that result. Moonfire and Sunfire were involved, and shē couldn’t see thēm with hēr omniscience. What was more, the golden hand that had shown up earlier was also unclear in hēr omniscience, as if it were being blocked by some mysterious shielding screen. Because of that, shē wasn’t completely sure of what would happen.

Meanwhile, Starfire was looking deeply at the reticent Sunfire. “Weren’t things decided once that person came to help? Besides, that person’s Master is on the way.” With that, Starfire faded away, leaving behind a few words as shē did. “By the way, I’m going to say it one more time. He’s not an idiot, and he’s not an asshole. His name is Xu Qing.”

Now Sunfire was left alone. After a moment passed, shē shook hēr head. “Gods are supposed to be emotionless. But you two….”

Shē sighed. As shē well knew, though the three of thēm were walking the way of the gods, the reality was that thēy hadn’t started out as natural-born gods. As a result, thēy were very nearly as emotional as Crimson Mother.

“Omniscience. Is there anyone that can truly have omniscience?” Sunfire closed hēr eyes and faded into thin air.

***

Some 30,000 meters away, Xu Qing and the Captain were hurrying away at top speed. They raced along as blurs of light for three days before stopping at a low-lying mountain.

Xu Qing immediately scanned the area, then looked up into the sky. The anxiety within him was only just starting to loosen.

Although the broken face’s blood came with karma, he was confident that his Master hadn’t just thrown them into enemy territory for no reason. Besides, he and the Captain had already done everything they could do in terms of Moonfire and Starfire. There were still a lot of unknowns, but by now, he was fairly certain the three gods had actually let them go.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” the Captain said with a sigh. “It was really irresponsible for the old man to toss us here. Thanks to my innate skills, plus your relationship with the slutty fox, we actually made it out fine!” The Captain was actually worried inside, but he wasn’t showing it. Sticking his chin up proudly, he continued, “What do you think, little Junior Brother? Am I right, or am I right?

“By the way, I need to give you some constructive criticism. Your wording when you offered that phoenix hairpin was simply too blunt. Especially how you addressed hēr. You sounded like a lump on a log! I guess you just need some more practice. You need to put some emotion into your words! Make sure shē knows you’re a hot-blooded young man who’ll travel to the ends of the earth for the sake of love!

“Come on, I’ll teach you. You need to say something like, ‘Oh little Starry, my true love and soulmate….’ Come on, say it with me a few times so you’ll have it ready to go next time.”

Xu Qing couldn’t help but think back to how the Captain had called himself Niuniu. An odd expression appeared on his face, and he felt like he was going to get goosebumps.

The Captain wasn’t very pleased to see Xu Qing refusing to cooperate. “Little Ah Qing! You’re still just too inexperienced, sort of like me back in the day when I was dealing with your sister-in-law. I called hēr Little Moonie, and shē called me hēr precious Niuniu. Ah, good times. Good times….”

Xu Qing cleared his throat. He really, really wasn’t interested in continuing this line of conversation, and seeing that the Captain was probably going to keep going, he decided to interrupt. “Eldest Brother, it looked to me like Master got two chunks of the broken face’s flesh….”

The way Xu Qing changed topics worked well on the Captain. The Captain suddenly seemed to wake up. Eyes shining, he said, “That’s right. I noticed the same thing. We can’t stand for it! We need to get back to human territory immediately, track down the old man, and throw a tantrum until he agrees to share.”

Xu Qing blinked a few times. “I doubt throwing a tantrum will do much good. It would be better to suck up to him.”

The Captain had to admit it made sense. After some thought, he started thinking of ways to suck up to Master Seventh.

Seeing that the Captain was back to normal, Xu Qing finally started to feel calm. Looking off in the direction of human territory, he thought about Plumdark and everyone else he knew back in the Imperial Region.

“We need to get back,” he murmured. He and the Captain hadn’t been gone for very long, but a lot had happened during that time. Now that everything was over, he wanted to get back more than ever.

However, before returning, there was something to take care of. In fact, it was the entire reason he had come to Firemoon Darkheaven territory to begin with. After taking the flesh and blood of the broken face, it had seemed unlikely he would succeed at that. But the attitude of the three gods had given him new hope. With that thought in mind, his eyes shone.

Grand Darkheaven!

In the final analysis, he had come here to participate in the Firemoon Darkheaven’s Great Hunt. In the first round of moving mountains, Xu Qing took first place. In the second round in the Mountain and Sea Region, he acquired Ninedawns, while simultaneously crushing the other competitors and taking first place. As for the third round, the hunting in the god domain, although things eventually got out of hand… whether it was Sir Heavenink, Tuo Shishan, or Fan Shishuang, it didn’t seem likely that any of them would disagree that Xu Qing had taken first place.

The only one who might not be willing to concede to that was Sir Firedark.

That’s fine. If she has a problem, I’ll beat her into giving in.

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered coldly. He hadn’t really been paying much attention to Sir Firedark, so he wasn’t sure if she’d ultimately succeeded at becoming a Smoldering God.

If she wasn’t a Smoldering God, then Xu Qing was completely confident that he could crush her. And even if she was a Smoldering God, as long as she only had one world, he was certain that, given his current battle prowess, he would still come out on top.

With that, he explained his plan to the Captain. The Captain thought about it and then gave his wholehearted approval.

What Xu Qing wanted to do was going to be dangerous, but it was necessary. In order to forestall any mistakes, the two of them discussed the plan and prepared some contingencies in case they needed to flee for their lives. That included preparing a few teleportation hairs. Though those hairs hadn’t been ensorcelled, given that the two of them had the blood of the broken face, it wasn’t hard to give them a big boost. Furthermore, they had the emperor’s corpse as a trump card. Although the corpse was completely mangled, it was still the fleshly body of North Emperor!

That said, considering what they had just accomplished, even further preparations weren’t going to be enough to completely guarantee their safety.

Luckily, as long as they were in the territory of the Firemoon Darkheaven people, and the three gods didn’t want to kill them, then other gods wouldn’t dare to get greedy and make a move on them.

***

A month passed. During that time, various species in Revered Ancient stayed on guard against the Firemoon Darkheavens. Some prepared for war. Everyone was waiting to see how the status quo would change.

There had already been an announcement regarding the banquet set to mark the end of the Great Hunt. The same thing happened at the end of every Great Hunt. Rewards were given to all cultivators who had earned a place in the rankings. What was more, considering how all three gods had risen to a higher level, the banquet was going to be even more amazing than usual.

It was to be held in Heavenfire City at God Mountain! The three stewards were all coming, as were all the powerful experts among the species. When the banquet started with a display of magical techniques and divine abilities that filled the sky with auspicious colors, Xu Qing and the Captain quietly arrived.

Rumbling booms echoed out like heavenly thunder. The auspicious images in the sky included holy beasts, dazzling flowers, and battle gods. It was truly an amazing sight.

***

Little did anyone realize that, at the same time, outside of the godwarding in the starry sky… the hundreds of motes of starlight that Xu Qing had observed were getting very close! They were actually a host of asteroids covered in magical symbols and pulsing with ancient and terrifying auras.

As they neared Revered Ancient, they avoided the broken face. Using various concealment techniques, they prevented their auras from spreading, ensuring that no one could observe them, either with divine sense or the naked eye.

Then they pierced through the godwarding, which was a one-way trip. Without any fanfare, they headed to different locations in Revered Ancient….

One of them crash-landed on a barren mountain that existed roughly in between Firemoon and human territory. The mountain was reduced to ash, and there was nothing left behind other than a gaping crater. Cold energy seeped out of the crater, freezing everything in the area. At the same time, a voice could be heard speaking.

“Finally here. A barren world with hardly any spirit energy. And there are signs of god invasion everywhere…. According to the legends, this is the wasteland we from the holy lands abandoned back in the day.”