Chapter 1217: Nine-Colored Ice Coffin

Chapter 1217: The Nine-Colored Ice Coffin

Xu Qing did not believe that the excuse he had fabricated—to investigate—could actually lead him to find the nine-colored ice required by Lord Jiuan anywhere within this Huntian cosmos.

If everything were truly so simple, then Lord Jiuan’s task would be far too frivolous.

Moreover, if such a thing truly existed here, Xu Qing would first have to overturn all his previous judgments about the Poison Sovereign.

Thus, no matter how he reasoned it through, the likelihood of nine-colored ice existing in this place was virtually nonexistent.

At this thought, Xu Qing furrowed his brow, his mind churning with turbulent thoughts. He put away the Heavenly Principle artifact he had been idly handling—but he did not immediately step into the Huntian ancestral lands to investigate.

Instead, he turned his gaze toward the Huntian Emperor kneeling nearby.

The Huntian Emperor’s eyes were wide open, his expression one of utter disbelief, his entire body trembling.

He understood with perfect clarity: if this matter could not be clearly explained, his entire race would face an unimaginable catastrophe. Any pretext whatsoever would suffice to doom his people for ten thousand lifetimes.

After all, this concerned a Celestial Sovereign…

Even his own Overlord would surely dare not utter a word in their defense.

Seeing Xu Qing’s gaze sweep toward him, the Huntian Emperor hastily cried out, “My lord, this is a misunderstanding!!”

“I know what that Daoist friend referred to—it is absolutely not the nine-colored ice required by Lord Jiuan! That is an ancient relic of the Aurora Immortal Palace! My clan, in remembrance of the Aurora Immortal Palace, expended immense resources long ago to salvage that coffin from the void!!”

“It is merely an ice coffin—though it does shimmer with nine colors, it is utterly different from the true nine-colored ice!”

Anxious and desperate, the Huntian Emperor dared not conceal anything and immediately revealed all.

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing remained expressionless and spoke calmly, “Whether it is or isn’t, I shall see for myself. For now, every member of the Huntian clan—from you, the Emperor, downward—must surrender your soulblood!”

“Any who resist will be executed on the spot!”

Xu Qing’s eyes turned icy cold.

Beside him, Xing Huanzi radiated sharp killing intent. The Seaweed Spirit and the Mud Fox likewise tensed, ready for action.

The Huntian Emperor hesitated—but he was decisive by nature. He knew that at this moment, he could not afford to provoke further misunderstandings. Moreover, the other side’s actions did not seem aimed at easily exterminating his entire race.

Rather, it felt… cautious.

They feared something unexpected might occur once they entered the ancestral lands.

Thus, gritting his teeth, the Huntian Emperor pressed a finger to his forehead, extracted his soulblood, and handed it over. He then signaled his clansmen to obey the command.

Bitterness welled even deeper within his heart.

One by one, all the Huntian clanspeople fell silent and submitted their soulblood.

These droplets of essence gathered together and floated before Xu Qing. Raising his right hand with a flick, Xu Qing sent the blood soaring toward the Mud Fox.

“You remain outside. Should anything unusual occur here—even the slightest anomaly—slaughter every single Huntian without exception.”

The Mud Fox’s expression turned solemn. Nodding gravely, he accepted the soulblood, his divine aura continuously expanding to envelop every Huntian present.

Still uneasy, Xu Qing glanced toward the Seaweed Spirit…

He did not fully trust the Seaweed Spirit either. Narrowing his eyes, he suddenly transmitted a mental command: order the Seaweed Spirit to seal the Huntian Emperor, then accompany him into the Huntian ancestral lands.

The Seaweed Spirit paused briefly in contemplation—but ultimately chose to unfurl its leaves, forming a sealing array that shot straight toward the Huntian Emperor.

Daring not to resist in the slightest, the Huntian Emperor allowed himself to be sealed.

Having done this, Xu Qing’s gaze grew profound. Without further hesitation, he took the Seaweed Spirit and the sealed Huntian Emperor and headed straight for the entrance to the Huntian ancestral domain.

In an instant, Xing Huanzi led the way, with Xu Qing following close behind—they vanished into the portal.

The Huntian royal ancestral lands were a hidden star system.

From the highest vantage point, one could see countless stars within, flickering without pattern or rhythm.

Among them, one particular point of light gave Xu Qing a strange sensation. Focusing intently, he extended his divine sense—and under its scrutiny, he unfolded the star system, magnifying it outward.

Instantly, the star system expanded before Xu Qing’s eyes.

And kept expanding.

Magnifying again and again, endlessly.

Finally, after traversing innumerable stars and reaching a certain scale of enlargement, Xu Qing’s eyes snapped sharply into focus.

At the very center of the star system—the exact spot he had sensed earlier—sat five colossal, ethereal figures in meditation.

All five were Huntians.

Enormous in stature, their bodies shimmered with multiple hues, their faces bearing many aspects—and all were withered.

Corpses.

Divine corpses!

More precisely, the divine remains of the Huntian race.

And at the heart of these five corpses lay a single star—

Completely encased in ice.

No life existed upon it—only a coffin.

A coffin carved entirely from ice.

Radiating nine-colored light.

And at this very moment, scattered throughout the surrounding void of this region, numerous Ascended cultivators hovered, each gazing with gleaming eyes, observing carefully—

None dared act rashly.

“The formations there are somewhat peculiar,” Xing Huanzi murmured, seeing that Xu Qing’s attention was now fixed upon the scene.

Xu Qing stared thoughtfully at the sight.

Beside him, the Huntian Emperor hurriedly spoke up.

“My lord, though those five corpses were once our clan’s deities, ever since our surrender, we have borne the duty of using our bloodline to suppress them.”

“For countless ages, we have maintained this vigil without alteration.”

“The coffin was placed there solely to intensify the suppression—for should they ever awaken, they would never accept our current clan. They would devour the flesh and blood of every kinsman without hesitation.”

Terrified of being misunderstood, the Huntian Emperor spoke rapidly.

Hearing this, Xing Huanzi cast a glance at the Huntian Emperor. He had heard of similar arrangements before—the Fifth Star Ring had compelled many clans to suppress their own ancestral deities.

“How intriguing,” Xing Huanzi remarked. “You claim your clan has never disturbed them?”

Xu Qing spoke calmly.

The moment those words left his lips, the Huntian Emperor’s heart surged with unease.

“My lord… what do you mean by that…?”

He asked cautiously.

Beside him, Xing Huanzi also turned his gaze toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing’s eyes flickered with an unusual gleam—then realization dawned upon him.

For cultivators of the Fifth Star Ring, all deities had long been suppressed. Within the ring, anomalous essences were scarce, while immortal qi permeated the air. Every race had abandoned divine cultivation entirely.

Thus, though elders might recognize such a scene, it was only natural that younger-generation cultivators—having never witnessed it before—could not immediately identify it.

But Xu Qing was different.

Hailing from the Ninth Star Ring, he came from Wanggu Continent, where gods ran rampant. Most races there worshipped deities, and Xu Qing himself had encountered apotheosis several times—be it through the Divine Son, the Empress, or within the Ghost Abyss…

He had felt this sensation before.

Therefore, at a single glance, he saw clearly what had been arranged here:

This was unmistakably a ritual of apotheosis!

Yet to Xu Qing, this ritual felt flawed—lacking grandeur.

“It’s been concealed,” he murmured.

His eyes narrowed. Suddenly, he raised his hand—the Immortal Embryo within him flared brightly, releasing a thread of silvery light.

Silver was the hue of immortals.

When deities breathed in Source Essence, they exhaled sacred golden radiance—that was why every god Xu Qing had seen shimmered in gold.

But cultivators who absorbed Source Essence emitted silver instead.

Now, this sliver of silvery immortal light flowed across Xu Qing’s palm. With a flick of his wrist, it shot downward toward the star system below, merging with one strand of starlight—and turning it silver as well.

Then the silver spread.

Not across the entire void, but only among the stars of this system. Gradually, as more and more starlight turned silver, from their lofty vantage point, a dense silver net emerged, spanning the whole star system.

As Xu Qing adjusted his hand, the net’s luminosity pulsed—brightening, dimming—until finally, before everyone’s eyes, it revealed itself as an immense formation.

This formation matched the star system in scale, linking every star, enveloping the five divine corpses within, and harmonizing with the ice coffins inside to create a force of inward-outward opposition.

Thus, vast quantities of Source Essence were gathered.

At this sight, Hun Tian Emperor’s face instantly paled.

Xing Huanzi’s expression also shifted sharply.

And then Xu Qing’s voice echoed through the void:

“What originally existed here should have been the suppression you spoke of.”

“But someone used it as a foundation, expanding it into a grand arrangement—a ritual of apotheosis.”

“However, it has clearly been altered, ensuring the apotheosis cannot succeed.”

“Hun Tian Emperor—how do you explain this?”

Xu Qing turned his head, fixing his gaze on the already ashen-faced Hun Tian Emperor.

Trembling, Hun Tian Emperor dropped to his knees.

“My lord, my clan would never dare allow our people to ascend as gods! This arrangement was meant only to purify our bloodline…”

This time, Hun Tian Emperor dared not conceal anything further. He simply could not fathom how such a hidden ritual—one long vanished from the Fifth Star Ring—had been so directly recognized.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Xu Qing raised his right hand—and crushed it shut.

A sharp cracking sound reverberated through the starry sky.

The silver light upon the formation erupted violently, severing several critical lines. The ritual, now irreparably broken, collapsed into silence.

“Xing Huanzi,” Xu Qing commanded, “you may now descend to that star, retrieve the coffin, and prepare everyone to absorb the Source Essence the moment it is opened.”

At his words, Xing Huanzi nodded and immediately flew off.

Xu Qing waited quietly.

Not long after, under his watchful eyes, the ice-locked star suddenly trembled—then thick Source Essence surged forth from within, spreading throughout the star system.

The ritual faded into utter darkness.

Soon, Xing Huanzi returned alongside Zhou Zhengli, trailing behind them the nine-hued ice coffin, drawn by unseen force.

One look told Xu Qing exactly what it was.

Others remained ignorant—because this artifact, housed within the Aurora Immortal Palace, had never appeared in the mirrored histories.

But Xu Qing had once inhabited the body of the Aurora Young Master—and thus retained memories of it.

“This is the slumbering coffin crafted by the Aurora Young Master’s parents after his birth—so that his childhood would unfold in an age where gods served as slaves!”

“Though it appears as nine-colored ice, it is likely not the same substance sought by Lord Jiuan.”

Xu Qing raised his hand; the coffin floated toward him. After a careful inspection, he stored it away.

Then he turned and departed.

Whether or not this place truly purified bloodlines no longer mattered.

Nor did he need to personally gather the abundant Source Essence now flooding the area. With Zhou Zhengli present, Xu Qing trusted that among all the essence collected by ascended beings here, his rightful share would be delivered—and in no small measure.

“The matter here is concluded. The Source Essence quota is more than sufficient.”

“Now… that True God is the final feast awaiting us!”

With a single step, Xu Qing walked out of the Hun Tian clan’s domain.