Chapter 1240: Jungle Clearing

Chapter 1240: Jungle Hunting

That strange glint flickered in the eyes of Xu Qing and his companions.

Truly, this time’s battlefield cleanup had yielded them far too little. And according to their scavenger squad’s orders, they still had to hand over a portion of what they’d gathered. Thus, what remained for themselves was barely a crumb—nowhere near enough to sustain their cultivation.

Gradually, the gazes of these Ascendants all settled upon Xu Qing, awaiting his final decision.

Xu Qing surveyed the thoroughly stripped battlefield around them, then cast his eyes toward the distant starry void. After a long silence, he spoke slowly.

“Entering the battlefield ahead of schedule is indeed one option—but timing matters, as does the balance of power between us and our enemies.”

“Battlefields shift like tides; if we misjudge even slightly during this period, we’ll face mortal peril.”

“After all, our strength hasn’t yet reached the point where we can act without restraint.”

Suppressing the rising impulse within him, Xu Qing weighed reality carefully—and ultimately concluded this matter shouldn’t be decided rashly.

As his words rang out, the group fell silent, and the strange gleam in their eyes gradually faded.

But just then, Xie Lingzi licked his lips and suddenly spoke.

“Captain… truthfully, compared to harvesting corpses, we’re far better at live extraction!”

“Live extraction yields far more Source Essence…”

At Xie Lingzi’s words, the nearly vanished glint in everyone’s eyes surged anew. They understood his implication—he was proposing independent hunting.

Memories surfaced of those divine prisons they’d once visited.

And that title—"Captain"—left Xu Qing momentarily disoriented.

This was the first time anyone beside him had addressed him so.

“I wonder how Senior Brother is faring now…” Xu Qing murmured inwardly.

Beside him, Xing Huanzi spoke calmly.

“Without rules, there is no order. Our duty now is no longer gathering resources—it is corpse-scavenging.”

Xie Lingzi’s eyes flashed as a cold voice escaped his lips.

“Can you really compete with those collection squads? Six-tenths of every god-corpse gets stripped by them before we even arrive! Your precious ‘order,’ Xing Huanzi, holds no weight in scavenging!”

Hearing this, Xing Huanzi glanced at Xie Lingzi, his gaze sharp as blades.

Unyielding, Xie Lingzi let loose an aura of killing intent—so potent it faintly radiated quasi-immortal fluctuations.

Everyone had grown stronger in varying degrees over recent days. Xie Lingzi was no exception; he’d broken through upon leaving Ti Ling Star, stepping into the quasi-immortal realm.

Tension crackled between them, swords nearly drawn—until Xu Qing turned his gaze toward Zhou Zhengli.

Zhou Zhengli cleared his throat, stepped forward between Xing Huanzi and Xie Lingzi, and bowed deeply to Xu Qing.

“My Lord, we know you worry for our lives—that your caution stems from care for us. But having come this far into the battlefield, endured so much… who among us doesn’t understand that fortune favors the bold?”

“If the reward is great enough, nothing is unworthy of risk—the key lies in maximizing gain.”

“So Xie Lingzi is right—we excel at live extraction. Yet Xing Huanzi also speaks truth—rules matter.”

“Therefore… perhaps we can find a middle path.”

Zhou Zhengli licked his lips and whispered softly,

“We are indeed a corpse-scavenging squad. But if we hunt living gods ourselves, slay them, and then harvest their remains… isn’t that perfectly consistent?”

“No battlefield? We create one. No corpses? We make them ourselves.”

Having spoken, Zhou Zhengli bowed once more to Xu Qing.

Xie Lingzi’s eyes gleamed with dark fire as he too knelt in obeisance.

The other Ascendants pondered briefly—then their eyes blazed brighter than ever, and one by one, they bowed to Xu Qing.

Even Xing Huanzi, after thoughtful consideration, gave a nod and looked to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing studied these companions before him. He knew each harbored their own thoughts—they were no sheltered blooms, but warriors forged through blood and storm.

Now, starved of Source Essence, their hunger to devour gods burned fiercely.

If so…

Xu Qing’s eyes hardened with resolve. He nodded.

The moment he did, every Ascendant broke into wolfish grins—as if a pack had been unleashed. Under Zhou Zhengli’s direction, they scattered in all directions, vanishing into the void.

They would use every means to locate targets and relay intelligence back, while Zhou Zhengli and Xing Huanzi served as reviewers.

Xu Qing himself chose a meteoroid, sat cross-legged upon it, and waited.

Time slipped by—half a month passed.

One report after another streamed in from the dispersed Ascendants, all concerning movements of gods.

Yet most Xu Qing deemed unsuitable—either too numerous or too perilous.

Then, seven or eight days later, an Ascendant named Bloodcloud Daoist finally sent word of a target Xu Qing judged viable.

“Captain, I’ve scouted a divine reconnaissance patrol—about thirty strong. Their strongest is a mid-stage Divine Platform cultivator, seemingly of a divine race. I’ve secretly trailed them for two days. Their varied sizes and builds make them perfect prey for our live-hunt extraction!”

Accompanying this message were confirmations from both Xing Huanzi and Zhou Zhengli, verifying its authenticity.

After brief deliberation, Xu Qing’s aura erupted with killing intent. He issued his command instantly—and in a blur, vanished into the void.

Simultaneously, his decree reached every scattered Ascendant. Their eyes lit with predatory fire; like hunters, like wolves, they raced toward the designated coordinates at full speed.

Several days later, Xu Qing’s group reconvened beyond a star called Grey Ling.

Awaiting them stood Bloodcloud Daoist, flanked by Xing Huanzi and Zhou Zhengli, who immediately bowed to Xu Qing.

“Captain, those gods are exceedingly stealthy. Only through my unique methods could I sense and trail them. They’ve hidden themselves on this star for several days now.”

“To avoid detection, I didn’t enter—but I’m certain they remain.”

Xing Huanzi nodded. “This region is indeed chaotic.”

Zhou Zhengli licked his lips and grinned at Xu Qing. “My Constitution also confirms—they’re still inside.”

Had only Bloodcloud reported this, verification would’ve been needed. But with corroboration from both Xing Huanzi and Zhou Zhengli, its credibility soared.

Thus, Xu Qing gazed at the star before him, activated his Immortal Embryo power, and let his Space-Time Constitution ripple outward—finally confirming the truth.

His voice turned glacial.

“Gather Source Essence as swiftly as possible. Everyone… move out!”

At his command, every Ascendant around him erupted with terrifying killing intent and shot downward toward the star like falling comets.

So swift was their speed that in an instant they transformed into more than ten radiant arcs of light, plunging into the star, weaving through clouds and mist, tearing through barriers, racing toward the place where the gods had gathered.

Xu Qing was among them. At this moment, his speed erupted to its utmost limit as he crossed the celestial expanse, already nearing his destination.

With a single glance, he saw the thirty-odd deities, saw the divine dais among them, and saw clearly what they were doing.

They were constructing an octagonal altar. The arrangements around it suggested they were preparing a ritual.

At the very center of the ritual, atop the highest point of the octagonal altar, sat unmistakably a black bowl.

Within the bowl churned blood, boiling violently.

Thick, alien essence formed within the swirling blood—but it did not yet disperse outward. Instead, it continued to accumulate, seemingly awaiting a precise moment to erupt in full force.

The sudden arrival of Xu Qing and his companions caused every one of the deities present to snap their heads upward in evident surprise. The deity upon the divine dais narrowed his divine eyes sharply.

“The altar isn’t yet complete! The ritual hasn’t even begun! The alien essence hasn’t burst forth, and the focal point hasn’t formed—how could the cultivators have arrived so swiftly!”

Though startled, the dais-god acted decisively. He immediately activated his divine authority, forcing the incomplete altar to ignite prematurely and setting the ritual into motion. Instantly, the black blood-bowl shattered.

A torrent of alien essence exploded outward like billowing black smoke, surging skyward—

intent on contaminating the surroundings.

Yet the concentration was still insufficient; the pollution’s effect fell short of expectations. Whether or not a new battlefield could be established here remained uncertain…

But he had no other choice.

Almost at the very instant the deities’ auras rippled, the ascended beings descending from the heavens unleashed the greed they’d long suppressed.

Like blades of piercing light, they struck directly.

Among them, Xu Qing raised his hand—and behind him, his nascent immortal form materialized, vast enough to blot out sun and moon. With a single palm strike downward—

the blow carried overwhelming momentum, its aura causing every deity present to tremble in soul-deep terror. His palm descended squarely upon the shattered blood-bowl,

engulfing the black smoke of alien essence that had begun to spread.

He clenched his fist fiercely.

Crack!

The black smoke of alien essence seemed to solidify—and snapped clean in two!

At the same moment, Zhou Zhengli’s Eye of Constitution flared open, crimson and blazing.

Yuan Shan Su’s Mountain of Weight descended in crushing force.

Xie Lingzi’s cackling laughter rang out—laden with murderous intent and demonic madness—as he charged straight for the site.

Li Mengtu’s venomous miasma swirled about him, while Qian Jun’s swordlight surged heavenward, scattering legions before it.

Thus began the slaughter!

...

Meanwhile, far out in the starry void beyond Grayling Star, a patrol of military cultivators advanced steadily through space.

They belonged to the Nianlin Army—one of the nine great vanguard legions of the Left Flank Front. In wartime, they served as shock troops; in peacetime, they patrolled their assigned sectors, hunting hidden deities and eradicating all alien essence focal points.

Over a thousand strong, organized into squads of one hundred, they sat cross-legged upon enormous azure war-junks.

Ten such junks sailed in formation, bearing the Nianlin banner high, cleaving through the void and sending vast ripples cascading across the cosmos.

Precisely at the moment the black blood-bowl shattered on Grayling Star, a deep, muffled drumbeat suddenly echoed from the lead junk among the ten.

The sound was abrupt, deafening—shaking the very fabric of space and resonating in all directions. Every meditating cultivator aboard snapped their eyes open, sharp glints flashing within.

Immediately after, a stern voice boomed across the fleet:

“A deity has erected an altar, establishing a new focal point of alien essence—triggering the God-Sealing Drum!”

“Squads Xuan, Lin, Mo, Ling, and Feng—you five are hereby ordered: follow the drum’s resonance, conduct a full sweep of the forward sector, locate the altar site, and annihilate everything!”

At these words, five of the junks peeled away from formation, accelerating ahead in divergent directions with roaring haste.

A low, unified chorus followed:

“Orders acknowledged!”

Leave of Absence

I’ve received notice to return to Heilongjiang Province to attend the Two Sessions. I’ll be back on the 17th and resume updates then. As for the chapters I’ll fall behind on, I’ll do my best to make them up after the Spring Festival.