Chapter 1250: Got You!

Chapter 1250: Caught You!

And there was Xing Huanzi. As the erstwhile peerless genius among the Ascendants, his combat experience was inherently profound. Moreover, since journeying with Xu Qing and his companions, much of his pride had been tempered into inner restraint.

He had learned to observe, and he had learned to study the strengths of others. On the whole, his growth could be described as staggering among the group.

Thus… the very instant he manifested, even though he felt this scenario of appearing directly before the Divine Goddess was far too absurd,

he did not hesitate in the slightest. After all, this was not his first time; he had grown somewhat accustomed to the bizarre occurrences that centered around Xu Qing along their journey.

So, the moment he beheld the Divine Goddess, he charged straight out!

Seizing the opportunity while the Goddess’s divinity was in tumultuous flux and her mind was shaken, his opening move unleashed over a hundred iron chains of order.

A clattering, clanking din instantly reverberated throughout the starry sky.

Though they pierced through the void, they became invisibly yet inextricably linked to the Divine Goddess.

Furthermore, at the exact instant of connection, a fierce murderous intent erupted within Xing Huanzi’s eyes. His hands formed incantation gestures, and he let out a low roar.

“Equilibrium!”

His Edict was order before the quasi-immortal stage, and equilibrium after it. It possessed the power to forcibly bring the strengths and weaknesses of both sides into balance. If the opponent was strong, they would be weakened because of it.

It also granted him empowerment within this state of balance.

And this time, he had staked absolutely everything, disregarding all costs, even drawing forth the heavenly principles to serve as the weight for his equilibrium.

By this means… he would weaken the Divine Goddess!

The reason he did not apply this empowerment to Xu Qing was that he knew Xu Qing was stronger than himself. Therefore, if he balanced Xu Qing with the Divine Goddess, the weakening effect on her would be limited.

Thus, he chose to balance himself against the Divine Goddess.

In doing so, as he ascended in power, the Goddess would bound to be diminished.

If his Edict were to be viewed as a curse, then this was him using his own body as the vessel to curse the Divine Goddess!

And indeed, the reality proved so. The moment the equilibrium was forged, a rumbling roar echoed through the starry skies. The Divine Goddess’s entire form shuddered violently, as she felt herself entwined from head to toe by an invisible force.

Her own aura began to plummet drastically.

It was as though shackles had been cast upon her person.

The overall effect presented a bizarre and bound aesthetic.

This sensation forced Her to suppress all the inner turmoil in Her heart. Raising Her hand, She prepared to erupt with Her full divine might, attempting to shatter the equilibrium.

For Her, had She been in Her prime, a single sound would have severed it. Even now, with Her realm fallen and her wounds persisting, wishing to destroy it… was still not difficult!

Yet how could Xu Qing possibly give Her that chance!

Almost at the exact breath that Xing Huanzi risked his life to enforce the equilibrium, Xu Qing moved.

Stepping forward, a golden intent painted the starry sky around him. Colossal trees materialized in all directions, accompanied by a vast sea that flooded the void, as if a sea of stars followed in his wake.

Beneath his feet, dark fires swirled, radiating a world-ending heat that coalesced into a black sun.

In the distance, khaki-colored planets manifested one after another.

Together, they formed a magnificent, sweeping tapestry of the starry cosmos.

Within it was contained Xu Qing’s metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Simultaneously, this stellar chart itself radiated spatial ripples, and the process of its rotation… erupted with the power of time.

Converging at this moment, it formed a devastating might of eradication, abruptly descending upon the Divine Goddess.

At this critical juncture, a cold gleam flashed within the Divine Goddess’s eyes. She had no time to sever Xing Huanzi’s equilibrium; Xu Qing’s current strike filled Her heart with a powerful sense of crisis.

Consequently, Her entire body flashed with golden light in an instant. Raising Her right hand, She pointed a finger toward Xu Qing.

From Her mouth, a divine tone burst forth!

“Underworld Mastery!”

Her divine authority was, astonishingly, the Underworld!

This was also the divine authority of Her father, Divine Emperor Lizhu. However, in Her case, She was clearly constrained by Her cultivation realm, making it difficult to display its full glory. Yet its sheer bizarre nature remained staggering.

As Her finger descended, the surrounding starry sky seemed to have its skin peeled away. All light and all dust were swept up in this single instant, allowing an ultimate darkness to become the sole existence in this cosmos.

And within this darkness, whispers transformed into a funeral dirge, seemingly wafting from the netherworld, becoming a melody of reincarnation in the lands of the living.

This melody fluttered, taking physical shape within its rhythm, turning into sheets of black paper money.

That was the manifestation of Her divine authority… it could buy divine abilities, it could buy magical arts, it could buy stars, it could buy all things, and it could even buy lives!

Drifting and scattering at this moment, it blocked the path ahead of Xu Qing.

The instant they touched, Xu Qing’s metal, wood, water, fire, and earth bizarrely dissipated, as though they had been bought away.

Even space and time could not escape this astounding power of divine authority; they likewise dissolved, completely bought out.

A few more sheets flew straight toward Xu Qing, while several others fell toward Xing Huanzi and the path of equilibrium forged by his Edict.

As it drew near, the pupils of Xu Qing’s eyes contracted. A sense of the bizarre regarding this divine authority rose within his heart, but as he raised his hand, the tolling of a bell abruptly echoed out.

If the enemy were a True God, the effect of this bell would be negligible. But if it were a Divine Platform…

Then the sound of this bell would become a heavenly chime.

Thus, in a flash, all the life-buying money that was about to fall shuddered violently. In that briefest interval, Xu Qing’s iron awl flashed forth into the light.

The Divine Goddess’s face darkened, and She was just about to counterattack.

Yet right at this moment, Xing Huanzi let out a low roar. The veins all over his body bulged, and blood seeped from the seven orifices of his face. Staring fixedly at the Divine Goddess, he vibrated his Edict of Equilibrium to its absolute limit.

Instantly, an invisible force followed the Edict of Equilibrium, mysteriously drawing away from the Divine Goddess and pouring into Xing Huanzi.

This caused Xing Huanzi’s aura to surge wildly.

As for the Divine Goddess, under the brunt of this suction, Her face instantly paled a fraction. Her aura plummeted sharply; with a body already injured, a sense of Her cultivation realm collapsing actually manifested at this moment.

Previously, She could barely maintain Herself at the peak of the Divine Platform realm. Now, within this equilibrium, because Xing Huanzi was simply too weak, She found it somewhat strained to even hold onto that peak.

“Damn it!”

The expression of the Star-Eyed Goddess shifted. She was about to strike, but the tolling of the bell echoed in rapid succession, accompanied by a sharp, piercing whistle that tore through the void.

That was Xu Qing’s iron awl!

Trailed by fragments of time and space, it arrived before the Goddess in an instant.

Behind the iron awl came Xu Qing’s form. As he raised his right hand, a long spear was conjured out of thin air, containing within it the spirit of the Golden Crow. Gripping it firmly in his hand, he charged straight for the Goddess.

All of this takes long to describe, but it actually transpired in the span of a spark striking flint. In a flash, the iron awl had already appeared right before the space between the Goddess’s brows.

The Goddess’s expression distorted. Her divine arts were obstructed by the bell and could not be formed immediately. However, She was the daughter of a Divine Emperor after all, and possessed divine treasures upon Her person.

At this moment, the dim eyes set upon the phoenix crown atop Her head began to flash one after another, all materializing outward to block the iron awl.

A deafening roar erupted.

The iron awl advanced with irresistible force, directly piercing through all the eyes, causing all the eyeballs upon that phoenix crown—which had barely survived through the hands of Ling Ke—to crack and shatter, exploding completely.

Furthermore, the mournful wail of the Sea-Sealing County echoed, raising a phantom blue sea to block the path once more.

It finally brought the iron awl to a halt!

Yet Xu Qing, following right behind the iron awl, had already charged through. His figure—with long hair fluttering, clad in a black robe, and holding a black long spear—manifested clearly within the pupils of the Divine Goddess.

In the next instant, the spear shot forth like a dragon, piercing abruptly—

straight into the goddess’s chest.

Just as it was about to pierce through… her face contorted grotesquely, countless divine runes—like wriggling tadpoles—surfaced beneath her skin, flooding her entire body in a flash before surging all at once into her crimson lips.

Then—

a shrill, soul-shattering cry erupted from her mouth, so piercing it seemed capable of shattering stars and dissolving spirits alike.

This sound possessed terrifying penetrative force.

Wherever it passed, Xu Qing’s black spear disintegrated. His whole body trembled; even his nascent immortal core could not fully shield him. Blood burst from his mouth as his form was flung backward—

wounded anew atop existing injuries!

Even Xing Huanzi’s iron chains shattered inch by inch in that moment.

His Balance Edict collapsed instantly.

Blood gushed forth as he suffered grievous backlash.

Yet the goddess herself was in utter disarray. The eruption of that divine shriek was a desperate manifestation of her true godly might—

a technique that, in her current state, inflicted eight hundred wounds upon herself to kill a thousand foes.

Now she staggered backward, her phoenix crown reduced to ash, her azure gown torn into fluttering fragments that scattered into nothingness,

exposing vast swaths of bare skin.

Her cultivation plummeted—from the peak of the Divine Platform down to its mid-stage.

This sudden fall plunged her into profound insecurity and an overwhelming sense of mortal peril.

She tried calling out to her Father God—but received not the slightest reply.

Her golden eyes flickered. Even as she retreated in weakness, resolve hardened within her.

Raising her right hand, she slammed it fiercely against her own chest.

At that touch, her whole body convulsed—she ripped out her own divine source!

Her cultivation dropped again, now to the early stage of the Divine Platform.

Though weakened further, this sacrifice granted her enough power to unleash a final, devastating trump card.

“Fall… Nether!”

A mournful divine cry rang out.

In the next breath, behind the goddess appeared a phantom Nether Palace—ornate with carved beams and painted rafters, upturned eaves and interlocking brackets, etched everywhere with strange sigils and grotesque demon faces. Yet not a trace of life lingered within—only boundless chill and dread.

The surrounding anomalous essence surged stronger than ever before.

Within the palace, eerie shadows began to spawn—

their eyes hollow and cold, still bearing echoes of past grudges and hatreds, staring indifferently outward.

Though they could not step beyond its bounds, their very presence transformed this stretch of starry sky into a realm of the dead.

This art—Fallen Nether—manifested the Nether God Realm!

It suppressed all celestial and spiritual beings.

Only the highest anomaly remained unbound.

Xing Huanzi’s body instantly turned mortal, his cultivation stripped away entirely. Already grievously wounded, he collapsed unconscious on the spot.

Xu Qing’s face paled—he too felt his inner celestial-spiritual power sealed and severed.

Relying solely on his physical body, he barely managed to retreat, raising his hand repeatedly as if struggling to regain control.

Meanwhile, the goddess—though utterly exhausted and profoundly weakened—still retained the early Divine Platform stage. Compared to Xu Qing and Xing Huanzi, she now stood at the absolute pinnacle of combat prowess.

“Insignificant vermin!”

Her eyes flashed with icy fury. In an instant, she lunged straight toward Xu Qing.

She would kill him with her own hands—this man who made her heart race with dread, whose very existence repulsed her divine nature. She would annihilate him utterly before her eyes.

But—

just as she closed in at full speed, her expression twisting with triumph, her right hand raised to deliver the killing blow…

disaster struck!

The alarm on Xu Qing’s face vanished in an instant, replaced by chilling calm. His eyes gleamed with cold detachment.

From his body erupted a surge of anomalous essence—

the anomaly borrowed from Mud Fox, unleashed now in this moment when celestial power was sealed. It roared upward, flooding into his right hand, which snapped up in a flash.

“You—”

The goddess’s expression shattered in shock. Her mind reeled, instinct screaming for retreat—

but she had drawn too near, and her strength was no longer what it once was.

Caught completely off guard, she had no time to resist.

In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing’s right hand clamped around her throat like an iron vise—

fingers digging deep into her flesh, crushing with relentless force.

Simultaneously, Divine Authority seals activated, Little Shadow bindings coiled tight, and the faint, mocking laughter of Mud Fox echoed as a cloak of mud enveloped her.

Having done this, Xu Qing spoke softly:

“Got you.”

“My Father God…”

Trapped beneath layers of suppression, the goddess’s face turned deathly pale—but her eyes burned with fierce intensity as she locked gazes with Xu Qing.

Her voice rasped hoarsely—

But before she could finish…

“Noisy.”

Expressionless, Xu Qing squeezed hard.