Chapter 1244: Zhanlu Immortal Lord, Indeed Did Not Deceive Me

Chapter 1244: Lord Zhanlu Did Not Deceive Me After All

All of this reminded Xu Qing of the True God sealed within his Azure Heaven…

To mortals, fate exists in the unseen, unfathomable and elusive.

Even cultivators—those who tread the path of defying heaven—most often, by the end of their lives, must bow before fate.

They compromise, uttering bitter smiles…

Making peace with themselves.

Such is the helplessness of life, yet also another meaning born beneath impermanence.

Unable to resist, one can only adapt.

But… there are other beings—gods or immortals—who dwell high above, whose very existence transcends the mundane. To them, fate holds no mystery, nor is it forbidden to gaze upon.

They perceive its traces, lift its veils, and some even raise a hand to stir its currents—turning what is destined into uncertainty, and what is uncertain into inevitability.

Take, for instance, the once-renowned True God of the Fifth Star Ring—the God of Agony!

Though not a Sovereign God, the unique nature of His divine authority granted Him such glory that even Sovereigns would welcome Him as an honored guest.

For within His illusions lay profound truth!

Thus, when He awakened and returned, meeting Xu Qing and unleashing His divine authority, many things changed.

Xu Qing’s present unease felt like the flutter of fate’s wings.

And the reason he could sense it was not only due to his battles and encounters with the God of Agony—but also because of a crucial karmic thread:

He had faced a similar foe before.

His elder brother—the Purple-Blue Crown Prince.

A terrifying entity who likewise wielded the power of fate.

Therefore, Xu Qing’s counterstrike had already begun long ago.

Until, by serendipity on Wanggu Continent, he too acquired a similar divine authority—

A chisel of fate!

Capable of carving additional destinies, transforming variables into constants, manifesting new fates beyond the original weave.

Though this chisel did not reside within his current immortal body—it remained within his divine form—even left behind on Wanggu Continent, the karmic link endured.

Thus, Xu Qing grew pensive, recalling the True God now imprisoned in his Azure Heaven, and the trials and agony bestowed by that god’s authority.

His eyes grew colder still.

“Entering the battlefield, encountering the Divine Maiden, facing the Sovereign’s slaughter…”

“So next… is it the Divine Maiden?”

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes; the chill in his gaze seeped into his heart, sharpening into lethal resolve.

Then, withdrawing his distant gaze from the Fourth Star Ring, he turned and continued gathering spoils across the battlefield.

Time flowed once more amid these ripples.

A month passed.

During this month, Xu Qing carried on as usual—looting corpses, cultivating, absorbing Source Essence.

His cultivation steadily advanced, progressing firmly from early-stage Quasi-Immortal toward mid-stage.

The ominous palpitations occasionally returned, but he paid them no heed—he already possessed a means to respond. So… he waited.

He waited for fate’s ripples to deliver what was “predestined” straight into his hands.

…

The starry sky resembled an ocean, its waves mere ripples—

Ripples formed from divine chants.

Within the divine encampment of the Fourth Star Ring’s Right Flank Warzone, ceaseless undulations persisted.

For an entire month, the true name of the Right Flank Divine Army’s commander echoed unceasingly from the nine altars.

Not only were the True Gods stationed here chanting it in worship, but also the countless lives whose flesh and bones formed the nine altars—their spirits cried out together,

Uttering that sacred name!

All these divine voices converged around the Divine Maiden hovering above the floating coffin. Through her bloodline, they amplified, tugging at the void, bridging past and present.

The indulgence of the Upper Star Rings transformed into the force that tore open ancient covenants—

Lighting the path home, guiding the way, shattering boundaries—

For the True God who, after falling, would otherwise require eons to return…

Thus, the aura of return thickened gradually; the vast divine might grew increasingly dense—until this stretch of starry sky truly seemed to become an ocean.

A Divine Sea—condensed from alien essence and divine authority!

This was the first step of return!

The Right Flank Divine Commander’s revival was descending; every surrounding deity’s eyes gleamed golden.

The second step of return was about to unfold—

But at that very moment, the entire starry sky suddenly roared—disaster struck without warning!

A deafening explosion echoed abruptly, shaking the cosmos itself. The nine altars trembled on the verge of collapse; every stellar statue and temple in the vicinity quaked violently.

Even the star rivers convulsed.

The True Gods chanting the commander’s true name—and the Divine Maiden atop the coffin—all felt their minds thunderstruck.

And with this upheaval came a shift in the region’s underlying momentum!

This sector belonged to the Fourth Star Ring, saturated with dense alien essence—its inherent momentum black as night. Yet now… white appeared out of nowhere!

The momentum of Immortal Spirits!

It arrived abruptly, mingling with the area.

The starry sky’s momentum underwent drastic transformation.

And if one lifted their eyes—possessing vision capable of piercing all mysteries—they would see, in the boundless void above the battlefields spanning the Fourth and Fifth Star Rings,

Two colossal entities locked in a struggle over momentum—

And at this moment, a change occurred.

Lord Zhanlu had made his move—placing a piece directly into the Divine Right Flank Warzone!

Thus, Immortal Spirit energy surged in, instantly rendering the region like an ink-wash painting.

Black and white interwove; ink and wash blended—yet fiercely repelled each other, mutually suppressing.

Black and white churned; ink and wash swirled; the battlefield shifted!

And arriving together with this surge were figures—already prepared—within the white Immortal Spirit qi. They shattered the Star Ring’s barriers in unison, teleporting through:

Phantoms wreathed in cultivator killing intent!

Leading them was a middle-aged man of chilling severity—none other than Lord Zhanlu’s foremost disciple,

The Left Flank Warzone Commander of the Cultivators: Immortal Lord Ji Dao!

He had teleported directly from the meat-grinding hellscape of the Left Flank Warzone, bringing his entire army to descend upon this place.

At the moment of his manifestation, the first disciple of the Immortal Lord of Zhanlu burst forth with a tempestuous, murderous aura, the cold gleam in his eyes threatening to freeze the very cosmos as he charged straight... toward the Goddess!

The divine faction instantly erupted into a tumultuous roar.

It seemed this had been the grand design of the Immortal Lord of Zhanlu all along: using the left-wing theater as a beacon to draw all attention before deploying a hidden cultivator for the assassination, ultimately luring the Goddess into the open.

From the very beginning, his true target appeared to be none other than this Goddess.

For beneath her starry eyes and carriage, she was the sole divine progeny of Li Zhu, the Divine Lord currently locked in combat with the Immortal Lord of Zhanlu.

She also possessed her father god's bloodline authority; if it could be seized, then... it was highly probable that, on an entirely different level, the Immortal Lord of Zhanlu would gain a massive surge of cosmic momentum!

Thus, a grand war surpassing all previous conflicts in scale—joined by over a hundred True Gods and Lesser Immortals, and flooded by countless cultivators and divinities—abruptly commenced right here!

In an instant, the slaughter became endless, and the booming roars shook the universe.

Yet, even as this sudden raid by the cultivator faction pierced like a sharp blade into the heart of the divine theater, poised to impale the core of the battlefield... the Goddess, whom the Immortal Lord's first disciple, Immortal Monarch Ji Dao, was rapidly approaching...

Her expression did not alter in the slightest.

She continued to chant the true name of the Commander!

Furthermore, in the very next breath, a shocking mutation arose once more across this region of the battlefield!

The river of stars formed by the confluence of every temple and every celestial statue suddenly blazed with light at this exact moment, as beams of golden radiance erupted simultaneously from all corners of the battlefield.

They coalesced into a manifestation of ultimate, terrifying power!

The starry sky split open and the void collapsed, as though a veil concealing everything here had existed, and at this moment, that veil was violently torn away...

Vast and astonishing divine formations, one after another, actually manifested across the battlefield!

Their numbers were immense, totaling no fewer than a million.

At this moment, they all erupted with a earth-shattering roar at the exact same time!

And with every eruption, the divine power surged wildly and the anomalous corruption churned. The cultivator faction, caught in this sudden mutation, was violently suppressed; their minds shook, blood sprayed from their lips, and their souls felt as though they were being ripped away while their physical bodies endured immense pressure.

Conversely, every single divinity received a profound blessing, their combat strength visibly escalating.

The ebb and flow of their respective fortunes was strikingly apparent.

And the core of these million formations was precisely that fallen divine commander; with His resurgence, the power of the million divine formations steadily intensified.

This was, astoundingly, a trap!

The Immortal Lord was scheming against the Divine Lord.

And the Divine Lord, using his own daughter as bait, was likewise scheming against the Immortal Lord!

Not a single detail was amiss, absolute precision from beginning to end, entirely laid bare for all to see!

Both sides were placing their pieces, and at this moment, their strategies clashed head-on!

Consequently, an even more ferocious slaughter erupted with heaven-shaking force in this very instant.

Meanwhile, located at the dead center of the battlefield, floating above the sarcophagus, the Goddess maintained her expression as always, utterly serene.

Immortal Monarch Ji Dao, who was rapidly closing in before Her, found his figure barred outside the core zone by the sudden eruption of the divine formations.

And around this Goddess, amid the blurring void, three True Gods stepped forth, glaring coldly into the surroundings as they guarded Her left and right.

The Goddess let out a soft laugh, completely ignoring the battlefield, and closed Her eyes as the voice chanting the true name grew increasingly ethereal.

In this battle, as long as She successfully guided the return of the Right-Wing Commander, the process of resurgence would continuously empower the divine formations, ensuring that the devastation wrought upon the cultivator faction remained intensely severe.

Up until the moment the Right-Wing Commander awakened, this battle... would undoubtedly end in a catastrophic victory for the divine faction!

Therefore, while chanting the true name of the Right-Wing Commander, She raised Her right hand without the slightest hesitation and pointed at her own brow, causing Her body to tremble violently.

In a flash, Her skin withered slightly, Her life force fluctuated wildly, and Her bloodline began to burn.

She had resolutely chosen... to stimulate everything, regardless of the cost.

Even if She would temporarily fall from the realm of a True God because of this, She still accelerated the summoning.

As a result, the intent of resurgence within the Commander's corpse inside the sarcophagus beneath Her grew abruptly intense, turning thicker and heavier, and this reversal pushed the cultivator faction to the brink of absolute peril.

Over where Immortal Monarch Ji Dao stood, a piercing sharpness gleamed in his eyes as he attempted to breach the layers of obstruction to stop it.

But... the eruption of the formations, the solidity of the core zone, and the reinforcement of the three True Gods made it impossible for Immortal Monarch Ji Dao to break through in a short amount of time.

There was no time left!

Moreover, driven by the Goddess's sheer decisiveness, as Her own cultivation realm plummeted, She directly spat out a mouthful of divine blood, which transformed into an ancient imprint laden with endless mystery and the faint aura of a planetary ring.

It fell into the sarcophagus below, landing squarely on the chest of the divine commander's corpse.

The moment it touched, the voice of the Goddess echoed across the entire battlefield.

"Return!"

The moment this sound emerged, the starry sky congealed, and a viscous sensation silently materialized across all quarters of the battlefield, enveloping everyone like a wisp of wind.

This wind blew in from all directions, gathering inside the sarcophagus and pooling upon the corpse of the Commander.

And this corpse... its body gave a sudden, abrupt jolt in this split second.

Its eyes slowly opened!

It slowly stood up!

The towering physique and the terrifying aura caused the hearts of countless living beings to roar in terror.

The resurgence was a success!

The million divine formations all erupted completely, and countless divinities gave voice to divine hymns; the anomalous corruption of the battlefield churned violently, and the divine power at this moment transcended the Grand Dao itself.

The cultivators were, each and every one, struck with utter horror.

As for the Goddess standing beside this divine commander, She tilted Her chin up slightly at this moment; the nobility of Her bloodline and status, coupled with Her deed of aiding his return, meant that as She stood here, She was about to receive the obeisance of this divine commander.

Everything seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

Yet right at this moment, just as the cultivator faction was about to face a total cataclysm, the black anomalous corruption permeating the battlefield—born of the Divine Lord's momentum—suddenly churned with violent intensity.

Vaguely, a supreme will abruptly exploded from within it.

"He is not Him!"

The instant this will echoed out, the body of the resurrected divine commander suddenly moved.

In a flash, he appeared directly in front of the Goddess, raised his right hand, and brought down a fist!

With just a single punch, a massive swath of the starry sky ahead collapsed entirely, and a terrifying power infinitely close to the level of a Lord swept out like a tempest, decimating everything in its path.

The Goddess's face changed drastically, the pupils of Her eyes shrinking violently, but it was already too late to dodge.

The same was true for the three True Gods beside Her.

The truth was, this scene unfolded far too abruptly.

Thus, in a fraction of a second, the bodies of the three True Gods collapsed entirely and their divine souls were obliterated, violently blown to pieces right beneath that single fist.

As for the Goddess, Her body also blurred directly, and in the vague shadows, an ancient lamp seemed to manifest, after which the lamp extinguished and the divinity dissipated.

"A divine lamp substituting a life?"

The entire battlefield was, at this moment, completely frozen in absolute horror.

Countless gazes converged upon him—the divine commander suspended midair—his voice rumbling low.

Then he lifted his head, gazing afar across the battlefield. Amidst the bewilderment and confusion of both gods and cultivators, he suddenly smiled.

Immediately after… his entire body blazed with a blinding radiance.

Not the golden light of divinity.

But… silver!

This light flooded the starry heavens.

At that very moment, a hoarse voice echoed through the void:

“This old man is Ling Ke, a cultivator.”

The words detonated across the battlefield!

Gods trembled; cultivators surged with fervor.

And as those words rang out, he raised his hand—the million divine arrays arrayed across this realm instantly reversed themselves. The morale of the cultivators soared to heaven-shattering heights.

Had Xu Qing been present, he would surely have recognized that name.

It was inscribed upon a gravestone within the Nine Shores’ Outer Heaven, in the Burial Grounds of Immortals:

“Life is but a dream; time flows like song. Across stars and seas, parting must come.”

“I, Immortal Lord Ling Ke, slew True Gods, drank their blood, left my mark behind, seized another’s nest—now I go to glimpse the future… When He returns, will it be Him or me?”

“If it is Him, let my bones scatter golden light—descendants who see it may erase it, severing His divine will. If it is me… then silver radiance shall blaze anew, and I shall once more cleave gods asunder!”

…

On the battlefield, Ji Dao Zhenjun remained serene, unsurprised. He gave a slight nod toward Ling Ke before speaking calmly:

“How fares this vessel?”

Ling Ke grinned broadly.

“Though not the very god I once annihilated, to truly return through this commander’s divine form… Lord Zhanlu did not deceive me!”