Chapter 1188: Useless Thing

Chapter 1188: Worthless Scum

The Celestial Capital Trial unfolds in three stages.

The first stage presents ten thousand tokens,

contested by billions of cultivators across the Four Star Realms.

This phase is brutally merciless; tokens change hands most frequently.

Yet, cultivators retain a choice—they may abstain, decline participation.

Until the second stage commences,

when the Four Celestial Sovereigns bestow their legacies,

open for all to comprehend,

sounding the horn that accelerates the trial.

Here, advantages magnify the strong,

while the weak are naturally diminished.

Killing yields tokens and the victim’s legacy,

fueling the victor’s relentless ascent.

This incentive intensifies the trial’s ferocity.

Finally, the third stage arrives—the present moment.

This phase demands final elimination and choice,

centered on hunting and plunder.

Within the Fifth Star Ring now,

the number of Quasi-Celestial Capital Token bearers,

once ten thousand, dwindles daily

through ceaseless slaughter.

Only those possessing the complete Constitution

can separate the token from their flesh.

Otherwise, extraction is impossible;

losing the token means losing life itself.

This is inevitable.

Each time the Celestial Capital Trial begins,

the moment one steps onto this path,

there is no return.

Either succeed in entering the Celestial Capital,

or be utterly annihilated, becoming mere sustenance.

Though with extraordinary luck, survival is possible—

yet such existence betrays the trial’s very purpose.

Thus, in the Southern Star Realm,

Quasi-Celestial Capital Token counts diminish almost daily,

now fewer than five hundred remain.

Among these Southern Token bearers,

most feel a sudden tremor in spirit,

sensing the shift,

and channel their consciousness into their tokens,

scanning the star map.

Upon the Southern star chart,

Jiang Fan’s star—once blazing fiercely from Great Immortal Mountain—

plunges from brilliance into sudden darkness,

swallowed by another star’s light.

Across the Southern Realm,

a single resplendent star now outshines all others,

its radiance unmatched.

Only the star above Yuan Shan Family

dare rival its splendor.

None else can contest its glory.

This sight ignites turmoil in every Token bearer’s heart.

“Has Jiang Fan fallen?”

“He, the Southern Realm’s brightest star—who could defeat him?”

“Not Yuan Shan Su… then has a star from another realm arrived?”

Amidst the rising clamor,

the luminous star they watch

hurtles toward Yuan Shan Family at astonishing speed!

This sight instantly shakes the Yuan Shan clan.

As the Southern Realm’s foremost family,

Yuan Shan boasts no shortage of power,

yet the Trial’s rules bar them from participation.

Anxious, Yuan Shan Su emerges from her home.

Clad in a white gown,

she stands atop Spirit Mountain beyond the clan’s borders,

gazing into the distance.

Around her, clan cultivators stand grim-faced.

If uncertainty lingered about the third star’s identity,

it vanished when she saw it visit Great Immortal Mountain

and absorb Jiang Fan’s star.

She knew who it was.

“Only two could achieve this… Star Ring Master, or *him*.”

“Star Ring Master’s star has fallen, news from the East confirms.”

“Then this one must be *him*.”

Yuan Shan Su’s expression turns complex.

After leaving the Fourth World,

she was among the first to exit the Celestial Palace.

In the time since,

whenever she recalls that journey,

one figure dominates her thoughts.

Though she gained much—advancement, benefits—

that figure looms like a mountain,

crushing her with immense pressure.

And the complexity remains.

After all, they once stood together at the altar.

Though merely a transaction within historical mirrors,

its ripples disturb the present world.

As Yuan Shan Su’s thoughts churn,

thunder cracks the distant sky.

Winds howl across heaven and earth,

wailing through the churning clouds.

From the horizon, a figure approaches.

Dressed in black, hair as dark as night,

he walks the heavens as if traversing time itself,

stirring waves of bygone eras.

It is Xu Qing.

At his appearance,

Yuan Shan cultivators shift uneasily.

Several quasi-immortal elders radiate power,

warping space around them, poised for battle.

Yet Xu Qing ignores their oppressive aura.

Unfazed, he continues forward,

passing the Yuan Shan ranks,

unmoved by the elders’ icy stares,

until he stands before Yuan Shan Su on Spirit Mountain.

He raises his hand.

“Hand it over.”

Xu Qing speaks simply,

yet the command brooks no refusal.

Yuan Shan Su falls silent.

Her clan elders bristle with restrained fury.

A soft sigh escapes her lips.

As her clan gasps in shock,

her right hand rises,

striking her own brow.

A sharp crack echoes.

Her Quasi-Celestial Capital Token

is forcibly torn from her body.

With a flick of her wrist,

the token blazes with searing light,

flying straight into Xu Qing’s palm.

Xu Qing does not glance at the token.

His gaze holds Yuan Shan Su,

probing, deliberate.

“Is there a third way into the Celestial Capital?”

Her decisive surrender hints at such a path.

“During the Trial,” she answers, drawing a slow breath,

“ascending to quasi-immortal status—

this is the special method granted to the Eighth Stars of the Fifth Star Ring.”

Xu Qing nods.

He senses her cultivation,

a hair’s breadth from quasi-immortality.

Her gains in the Celestial Palace must have been vast.

But it matters not to him.

Clasping the token,

he vanishes it within his palm.

The heavens churn.

Radiance erupts from his form,

piercing the sky.

Instantly, the heavens roar.

The Southern star chart reappears upon the firmament.

Xu Qing’s star blazes with unparalleled intensity—

the brightest in the South.

A profound awareness emanates from the Token,

revealing his rank across the Fifth Star Ring.

Fifth!

The identities of the four above him mean nothing.

For if his plan holds,

none shall contest his claim to first.

“Then… we’ll meet at the Celestial Capital.”

Xu Qing glances once at Yuan Shan Su,

turns, and walks toward the horizon,

fading from sight as Yuan Shan cultivators watch helplessly.

Only after a long while did the figures of several Yuan Shan clan Elders descend, coming to stand beside Yuan Shan Su.

"Little Su has disappointed the Elders," she murmured, head bowed. "Before this man, I did not even attempt to raise a hand."

The Elders remained silent. After several measured breaths, one sighed.

"Clenched."

"This one... not even you could claim certain victory, should we face him."

"How does he compare to that Star Ring Master?"

Yuan Shan Su shook her head.

"The Star Ring Master has fallen. Though whether it was true death remains unclear, I believe his demise was this man’s doing."

The Yuan Shan Elders sighed among themselves.

"To share an era with such a being... difficult..."

Hearing this, Yuan Shan Su smiled.

"That is precisely what makes it interesting."

Fifth Star Ring, Northern Star Domain—Sword Immortal Sect!

Unlike the endless peaks of the Southern Star Domain’s Grand Immortal Mountain, unlike the vast expanse of the Eastern Star Domain’s Star Ring Tower, this orthodox sect of the North was built upon a colossal meteorite.

All around it, storms of sword-qi raged, the sword’s song carrying through the nine heavens.

Within that tempest lay the meteorite itself, immense beyond measure, mountainous—so vast that gazing up from its base revealed only a peak vanishing into the clouds, endless.

Many legends surrounded this stone.

Some claimed it was not of the Fifth Star Ring, but a visitor from distant star realms, seized by the Sword Immortal Lan Fu, who used it to grasp enlightenment and thus founded his sect.

Others whispered it was a remnant fill-star stone left behind when the Fifth Star Ring’s sky was leveled long ago.

Countless tales existed; its true origin remained unknown.

And indeed, the Sword Immortal Sect was built upon this titanic meteorite.

Now, upon the meteorite’s surface, within the Sword Immortal Sect’s central plaza, Qian Jun and Pi Yi moved with careful precision, weaving layers of forbidden seals.

As they worked, their thoughts intertwined.

"The Star Ring Master was killed by him!"

"Han Fan’s token was seized!"

"That Yuan Shan wench had no spine—didn’t even lift a finger!"

"Now that man travels northward..."

"I suspect his coming isn’t merely for our Quasi-Immortal Capital token..."

"Exactly. I believe he comes to subdue us!"

"To be claimed in the Fourth Layer World—that is the deepest shame of our lives!"

"Never!"

"Never!"

"Follow our plan—he arrives, we make him suffer!"

Qian Jun and Pi Yi, teeth gritted, swiftly embedded the seals into the plaza’s heart.

Only after days of labor did they finally ease their tension, sinking cross-legged to the ground.

"Let him come."

Above them now, within the Sword Immortal Sect’s sky, amidst the boundless storm of sword-qi, a figure reclined.

Clad in blue, hair silvered with age, a cerulean ancient sword danced beside him.

The sword was named Lan Fu—thus the world called him the Lan Fu Sword Immortal.

He lay upon the currents of sword-qi, sipping wine as he watched his two disciples toil below.

After a long silence, he sighed.

"My eyes failed me then—how could I have taken such worthless disciples?"

"Unable to overcome one opponent between them, now setting traps? Planning an ambush?"