Chapter 1193: Originally in the Immortal Capital

Chapter 1193: Within the Celestial Capital

This was the supreme, most sacred hour of every trial within the Celestial Capital!

It was the moment that countless cultivators of the Fifth Star Ring dreamed of in their deepest reveries.

Those who successfully secured their qualifications would, under the watchful gaze of all living things, ascend to the Celestial Capital as though undergoing a divine translation!

And Xu Qing’s silhouette strode upon that most vast and majestic longbow of light, pressing forward without turning, ascending step by step.

Behind him, arising from disparate corners of the four great star domains, ninety-nine other longbows bore ninety-nine cultivators who had also earned their ascent, each forging ahead.

At this very moment, they were the focal point of the four great star domains; at this very moment, they were stars beyond all dispute.

At this very moment, a relative stillness enveloped the four great star domains, as countless gazes converged upon the vault of heaven.

Though the sky in the eyes of the common masses allowed them to glimpse but a fraction, to the paragons within the four great star domains, the light shed by that grandest and most boundless rainbow was utterly unique.

Thus, beneath the collective gaze of all living creations, the figures upon the longbows climbed higher and higher, drawing ever closer to the auroras of the firmament, until finally... one by one, they submerged into the celestial glow.

They were dyed in a deep, crimson hue.

Yet above these auroras of the firmament lay no starry void; instead, there loomed a vast expanse of dense mist.

So immense was this fog that it seemed to shroud the entire starry cosmos.

Only one hundred ancient, weathered quadrilateral plinths stood resolute within the vapor, striking and unmistakable!

They were arranged in a stepped echelon, the central one rising to the absolute peak while the sides diminished in turn, forming the collective shape of the character for "Man"—and every single plinth gleamed with seven-colored light.

It was as if they had endured for countless eons, witnessing unnumbered glories and exuding an endless, solemn majesty.

The radiance they cast formed those many rivers of rainbow light.

These cascaded into the auroras below, descending into the four great star domains beneath the celestial glow, serving as the guiding manifestation before the eyes of all living things.

As for the central and highest platform, the rainbow brilliance it shed was the most dazzling of all, and upon it... Xu Qing's figure was currently stepping out from the aurora, walking along this very bow of light!

Among the hundred cultivators, he was the first to enter and emerge from the celestial glow.

With the aurora flowing past him like water and his steady, ceaseless advance, it felt as though he were climbing from the bed of a river... up onto its surface.

The instant he left the water's surface, Xu Qing beheld the boundless mist of this place, and he saw those one hundred plinths shining with septenary colors.

His pace never faltered; with a single step, he moved before the high platform, treading onto the central plinth.

He stood there.

Then he turned, casting his gaze downward.

Below lay the boundless aurora, a red expanse like a vast sea.

Within it, ninety-nine rainbows dipped low, and upon those rainbows, the figures of cultivators were now emerging one after another, making their way toward their respective high platforms.

Amidst the crowd, Xu Qing spotted Zhou Zhengli, who offered a humble, self-deprecating smile. He saw Xie Lingzi, who lowered his head slightly. He saw Yuanshan Su.

Yuanshan Su averted her gaze from Xu Qing. He saw Li Mengtu.

Li Mengtu’s expression carried a trace of agitation. He saw Qianjun Biyi.

The two brothers, naturally proud, now instinctively shrank back. Xu Qing’s gaze swept over them one by one.

The vast majority were strangers to him, yet among those few familiar figures, Jiang Fan was absent, replaced by... a youth clad in black!

That youth exuded an aura of absolute order, encircled by chains forged from starlight; when Xu Qing’s gaze fell upon him, his gaze likewise locked onto Xu Qing.

The Star-Ring Sovereign! Xu Qing's heart remained tranquil.

That these individuals appeared upon the longbows brought little surprise to Xu Qing. As for the Star-Ring Sovereign, Xu Qing had long sensed his revival; previously, the man had sat cross-legged outside the Star-Ring Tower, yet he had not approached.

Therefore, seeing him again now, Xu Qing's soul experienced not a single ripple, and after his gaze swept past, he calmly withdrew it.

Paying no further heed to the cultivators gradually ascending their respective platforms, Xu Qing lifted his head to gaze at the mist above.

He had always harbored the feeling that the Fifth Star Ring did not seem particularly vast.

This conception of size was a realization born from a comparison with the Wanggu Continent.

Even though the Fifth Star Ring comprised four great star domains, and whether one looked east, west, south, or north, each domain could be called boundless—any single one far exceeding the Wanggu Continent.

And for too many cultivators, even a lifetime of flight would make it difficult to traverse much of its span.

Yet in Xu Qing’s perception, it still felt somewhat small.

According to the celestial map of the Upper Thirty-Six Star Rings he had seen in former years, any single star ring ought to be infinitely vast. But upon arriving at the Fifth Star Ring, things were not so.

Of course, Xu Qing understood that this might be related to the flattening of the Fifth Star Ring.

After all, the starry void was a multi-layered domain, a space.

And the Fifth Star Ring, having been flattened into a continent, naturally altered one's sensory experience.

But in the final analysis, this was merely one of the reasons, and not the primary one.

So, why was it like this? This was the doubt that had lingered in the depths of Xu Qing’s heart after he finished traveling the four great star domains.

Until this very moment...

Standing upon this ancient high platform, gazing into the endless mist, Xu Qing’s thoughts slowly began to stir with waves of emotion.

He had a premonition.

The true Fifth Star Ring... was about to reveal itself before him.

He looked forward to it.

Sharing this anticipation were the other cultivators who had arrived here, and their wait was not long; the moment the final person stepped onto his platform...

The mist suddenly churned and boiled.

An indescribable pressure seemed to permeate the vapor, like an invisible hand gently waving across the sky.

Thus... the dense fog concealing the space above Xu Qing and the others dispersed in an instant like a ebbing tide, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.

The boundless, starry cosmos was revealed to their eyes!

This starry sky seemed infinite, hosting a colossal vortex that occupied ninety percent of the celestial vault.

It appeared static, yet upon careful perception, it also seemed to be rotating.

The platforms where Xu Qing and the others stood were insignificant when compared to this majestic vortex.

Furthermore, within the perception of the crowd, this staggering vortex that dominated the sky contained a vast multitude of stars, contained life, and contained a rich, dense aura of celestial immortality.

Yet at the exact moment everyone's spirits were immersed within it, suddenly... it was as if a force caused the starry sky to shrink.

That vortex, in the eyes of Xu Qing and the others, rapidly diminished in scale!

And as it shrank, an even more vast and majestic celestial vortex appeared within the starry sky.

The previous vortex was gone—not because it had vanished, but because it was too small, a mere one-in-a-billion fraction of this grand celestial vortex!

Xu Qing’s soul suffered a violent shock.

Yet it was far from over; in the next instant, this titanic celestial vortex actually shrank once more.

Thus, the crowd, including Xu Qing, beheld countless such staggering celestial vortexes, and these vortexes converged with one another to form an even grander stellar map.

To be precise, this was a Star Domain!

If one first beheld this star domain, its grandeur might not seem immediately apparent.

Yet after layer upon layer of prior contractions, gazing upon it now rendered even the word “vast” inadequate.

But… this was still not the end.

In the next instant, the star domain shrank once more, and countless similar star domains emerged around it—until these innumerable star domains coalesced into a complete universe!

Yet as this universe imprinted itself upon their vision, the starry sky blurred for a fleeting moment—and then… countless such universes flooded their senses.

Amidst the awe, these infinite universes contracted again. The heavens roared.

At last… a majestic figure appeared before their eyes.

It was no true physical form, but rather an assemblage of uncountable small galaxies, myriad great galaxies, endless star domains, and infinite universes! Its features remained indistinct, yet its supreme majesty was unmistakable.

Yet this being was not the Immortal Sovereign of the Fifth Star Ring!

For the very moment this towering figure—woven from countless universes—manifested, the starry sky shrank once more, and beside it materialized ten other equally staggering figures! Eleven in total!

Like eleven Heavens Beyond Heaven!

They were the Eleven Immortal Lords of the Fifth Star Ring—each radiant in their own right.

The moment they revealed themselves, whether it was Xu Qing or any of the others among the hundred prodigies, waves of shock surged through every heart.

Amidst the ceaseless thunder, Xu Qing, his mind churning, turned his gaze toward those eleven figures.

One among them—though faceless—was instantly recognizable to him, thanks to his experiences within the Immortal Palace.

That was… Lord Jiuan!

Lord Jiuan’s form differed subtly from the others: before him hovered a ring woven of starlight.

The moment Xu Qing saw that ring, a realization stirred within him—it was the Ring of the Epoch.

Now… was the Jiuan Epoch!

Xu Qing drew a deep breath, quelling the turbulence within, and squinting against the blinding radiance, he searched among the other Immortal Lords for… Master Bai!

At last, his eyes fell upon the ninth figure.

That immense silhouette seemed that of an old man—indistinct in detail, yet holding in his hands a medicine jar so familiar it struck Xu Qing to his core.

And that elder, lowering his head slightly, appeared to fix his gaze upon Xu Qing—and the corners of his mouth lifted into a gentle smile.

Xu Qing smiled in return and bowed deeply.

No sooner had Xu Qing completed his bow than the starry sky blurred once more, and the sensation of contraction returned.

As the Eleven Heavens Beyond Heaven dwindled ever smaller, behind them emerged a presence even vaster—a figure radiating supreme sanctity and incomparable authority, filling the entire firmament.

That was the Source of Immortals!

That was the Sovereign of the Fifth Star Ring!

That was the Immortal Sovereign who had once subdued a God Sovereign!

The Eleven Heavens Beyond Heaven orbited around his body. This—this was the true Fifth Star Ring!

After being claimed by cultivators, it had been partitioned during the process of reclamation—nearly all its regions carved into the Heavens Beyond Heaven.

What remained—the four cardinal star domains of north, south, east, and west—were the ancestral lands!

The cradle of origin.

Thus, in truth, there never truly was an “Immortal Capital,” for that place itself… was the Immortal Capital. It was the direct lineage of the Fifth Star Ring!

All the slaughter, all the suffering—had served only to nurture that direct bloodline, to secure the future of the Fifth Star Ring.

For cultivators emerging from that land were pure in root and true in vein—their futures burdened with destiny.

As for the beings dwelling within the eleven Heavens Beyond Heaven—they were, in a sense, merely collateral branches.

Indeed, the vast majority weren’t even human; at best, they bore traces of human blood granted by grace.

Now, without need for further words, everyone—including Xu Qing—gained sudden clarity the moment they witnessed this cosmic revelation.

“So it is…” murmured Xu Qing.

At that same instant, within the eleven Heavens Beyond Heaven, Lord Jiuan—the Immortal Lord presiding over this epoch—opened his eyes.

“This cycle’s Ascenders… enter My Heaven Beyond Heaven.”