Chapter 1245: Great Fool Occasionally Has Wisdom

Chapter 1245: Even Fools Have Moments of Wisdom

At the very moment the battle erupted fiercely in the divine right-wing sector.

Between the Fourth and Fifth Stellar Rings, within the boundless star-sea, the cosmos suddenly twisted.

A colossal fissure tore open with a resounding crack, materializing abruptly in the void.

As if an unseen hand had violently slashed outward from within.

From the churning rift, two figures emerged.

Externally, these figures were one male, one female.

The female form was deathly pale, her robes rumpled; what was once blue now a ghastly white.

As though the vast ocean within her had utterly dried.

Though she wore a phoenix crown upon her head, the phoenix and fenghuang within it lay extinguished; even the beads that formed its eyes had turned ashen.

Beside her stood an ancient deity radiating decay, his cultivation unstable, his body crisscrossed with countless fine cracks.

As if barely mended.

The instant they appeared, both spat forth great gouts of blood.

This blood was golden; as it surged, a potent alien essence bled from it, threatening to spread in all directions. Yet the old god’s eyes flashed gold, and he abruptly raised his hand.

Clamping down hard.

Instantly, the alien essence vanished, and even their very breath and traces were completely masked in that single moment.

Having done this, the old god turned to the woman beside him, his voice a hoarse rasp.

“Star-Eyed Phoenix… this is not your fault. Clearly, all of this was the cultivators’ plan!”

These two were none other than the Divine Sovereign’s heir, Star-Eyes, and her final guardian.

Earlier, in the right-wing battle, when Ling Ke struck, her three visible guardians had suffered ultimate wounds.

All perished.

Only she, using the life-saving method bestowed by her divine father—the divine lamp as life-substitute—had escaped death.

But the overexertion to hasten the commander’s return had drained her, causing her cultivation to plummet; though she had evaded death, wounds were inevitable.

Had she not secretly possessed another True God guardian who intervened at the critical moment to save her, even the divine lamp might not have shielded her from the subsequent calamity.

Thus, escaping here was already a stroke of luck.

Yet… compared to the weakness of her cultivation and divine essence, what the goddess found hardest to accept was the image seared into her memory.

That image: Ling Ke opening her eyes!

“Why had the returned one not been the commander, but a cultivator…”

This event had shaken her profoundly; even far from the battlefield, her eyes remained clouded with confusion.

“And the situation in the right-wing sector…”

Seeing the Phoenix so distraught, the old god spoke in a low, somber tone.

“Phoenix, that Lower Immortal is herself a peak Lower Immortal, possessing a True God’s body at Perfect Completion. Her terrifying might places her among the absolute strongest beneath the Divine Sovereign’s rank!”

“Such a powerhouse appearing unexpectedly on the battlefield… the outcome of the right-wing battle was inevitable.”

“Therefore, you must not let your focus waver.”

“My injuries are grave, death’s shadow strong. I can barely sustain True Godhood now, and cannot shield you for long.”

“Moreover, this… is not the Fourth Stellar Ring. It lies on the border, clearly leaning toward the cultivators’ left-wing sector. The dense immortal essence here creates oppressive pressure, making our recovery difficult.”

“Worse, we risk encountering cultivator search parties!”

“Thus, Phoenix, danger surrounds us at every step. We must conceal ourselves utterly and proceed with utmost caution.”

“We must return to the Fourth Ring without revealing the slightest trace of our presence!”

“This concerns not only you, but the Divine Sovereign himself. So, Phoenix… I implore you, rally your spirit!”

The old god’s hoarse voice echoed around them.

Hearing this, the Star-Eyed goddess fell silent for a moment; the confusion in her eyes faded, replaced by icy resolve.

“I vow to you: should you fall, my father shall personally guide your revival.”

As her words fell, the old god nodded. Closing his eyes, he reopened them to a flash of golden light across his entire form, which then turned translucent.

This translucence spread, enveloping the goddess.

Then the two deities vanished.

…

Time flowed; days passed.

Days prior, the battle in the Fourth Ring’s right-wing sector, ignited by the return of Immortal Lord Ling Ke, had instantly propelled the massive war to its zenith.

Like a tidal wave cresting, it had fully broken.

The elation this victory brought the cultivators was unparalleled.

Likewise… that scene had inflicted an indelible shock upon the divine host.

For until then… revival had been the sole privilege of the divine, a boon from the upper stellar rings.

It was the very foundation of why they were gods!

True Gods did not truly die; so long as their true name was remembered, they would eventually return.

Yet what transpired in the Fourth Ring’s right-wing sector shattered divine understanding!

Clearly… their goddess had revived their commander, but the one who awakened was a cultivator!

This meant fundamental rules, the bedrock itself, had been shaken by cultivators!

And once it happened once, it would inevitably happen again… should cultivators master this ability, it would mean they truly possessed, within their fate-patterns, the substance to stand as equals with gods!

The implications were immense!

Indeed, in any future revival of a True God, such an event might recur.

Usurped, becoming mere wedding robes for another.

Thus, for the deities in the right-wing sector, the inner turmoil was unprecedented.

For this also signified… the eternal law of the True God’s immortality had been altered!

Since the returned one was a cultivator, what then had become of the original owner of that divine body—the right-wing commander?

Her path to return had been stolen; could she ever come back?

All remained unknown.

And the divine… loathed the unknown above all.

Hence, though the battle in the divine right-wing sector served only to decide that sector’s fate, its meaning was profoundly far-reaching.

One could imagine that as news of this spread, it would unleash a vast, soul-shaking hurricane across all sectors and the entire Fourth Stellar Ring!

The strategic significance of this tempest would rival even the birth of a Divine Sovereign-tier being!

And to onlookers, this was precisely the Zhanlu Immortal Lord’s design!

The beacon was the first step, the assassination the second, luring the Goddess the third—then, using the Goddess’s hand to revive the True Deity, all while masking it beneath the chaos of war.

Every single thread, viewed now, seemed woven for that final moment of revival!

“Now I see!”

At this moment, on the left-wing frontline of the Fifth Stellar Ring’s forces, Xu Qing’s group had just finished corpse-looting. They hadn’t departed immediately, stunned by the battle report they’d received.

The report from days prior had reached the left-wing frontline.

Its contents laid bare everything, electrifying the cultivator forces.

To Xu Qing and his companions, it unraveled their deepest confusion.

“No wonder the Zhanlu Immortal Lord—beings like him, even if not famed for strategy, still possess astonishing cunning. And that Lingke Immortal Monarch… though I’ve never heard of this elder.”

Li Mengtu sighed.

Beside him, Stellar Ring Zi and the others gleamed with wonder, each pondering the mind-bending, reality-shattering act of the cuckoo in the sparrow’s nest.

Xu Qing recalled the stele within the Burial Grounds of Immortals, the inscription left by the Lingke Immortal Monarch.

“He… succeeded.”

A whisper stirred in Xu Qing’s heart, waves of turmoil rising. Yet knowing deities as he did, he harbored his own suspicions about this triumph.

He doubted it was replicable—a fluke born of extraordinary circumstances.

Zhou Zhengli spoke now.

“Within our Fifth Stellar Ring, the strategist is truly Jiuan the Immortal Lord… Perhaps his shadow shaped this plan too.”

“Moreover, such a feat… success must have faced countless obstacles. Likely, it remains an exception.”

“Otherwise, if it could be widely achieved, why would only Lingke return from this battle?”

“If it were possible, I’d have sent legions of cultivators back in borrowed shells long before, lying dormant—then erupting all at once.”

“To overturn everything!”

“Not merely one figure emerging, securing victory yet alerting the deities, drawing their scrutiny, inviting study.”

Zhou Zhengli’s words drew all eyes.

Xu Qing lifted his gaze, meeting Zhou Zhengli’s.

Their judgments aligned.

As for this cuckoo’s success… recalling the report, Xu Qing seized a crucial detail.

“The Goddess…”

His eyes narrowed.

Simultaneously, Zhou Zhengli’s voice echoed.

“Why… lure the Goddess?”

Stellar Ring Zi and the others pondered, but the brothers Qianjun Biyi, ever blunt, shrugged it off.

“You’re makin’ it too complicated, all jumbled up. Us brothers? We’d say it’s simple—maybe the big shots like Zhanlu Immortal Lord wanted Fourth Stellar Ring’s attention.

Ain’t the left-wing frontline like a beacon? This here? Makes the light burn brighter.”

The brothers rarely seemed sharp, but their words struck Xu Qing like lightning. Zhou Zhengli and the rest felt their minds jolt, turning as one.

Under the group’s stare, Qianjun Biyi flinched.

They’d only spoken offhand…

“If so… then the war’s ultimate plan must be… earth-shattering!”

Zhou Zhengli gasped, instinctively glancing at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing’s eyes blazed with insight, about to speak.

But then—suddenly—their mission jade slips shuddered in unison.

A decree, blanketing the entire left-wing frontline, swept through every legion and cultivator squad.

“All units heed: disperse immediately, spread to the utmost, scour every inch of the frontline—spirit-beasts, alien zones…

Seek… the descendant of the Queen Who Slew Deities, the Goddess Star-Eyes!

Do not kill!

Report her trace: one million battle merits and ten Primordial Essences!

Capture her alive: ten million battle merits and one hundred Primordial Essences, a True Lord title, and… an Immortal Lord’s divine artifact!”