Chapter 1266: Appetite Has Become Picky

Chapter 1266: Palate Already Spoiled

Golden radiance flared intensely in the eyes of the Black Lotus Dwarf.

He was not born a deity. Though his race had True Gods, they were not truly divine by nature—merely ascended through evolution.

This was dictated by the divine hierarchy of the Fourth Star Ring.

While deities could draw primordial essence from the star rings, there existed a far superior method:

drawing power directly from faith.

Thus, for a god to grow stronger, it required worshippers’ offerings, its people’s sustenance, and their sacrifices.

This was the very essence of divine incursions across the myriad realms—

to enslave more beings, to demand absolute devotion from all living things!

Just as Xu Qing had previously possessed that butterfly—the Eternal Abyssal Morpho—it bore no bloodline connection whatsoever to the Scale-Cattle Clan. Yet their worship formed the bedrock of its cultivation.

Indeed, those who venerated it were not limited to the Scale-Cattle Clan on the star Xu Qing had visited; similar tribes across countless other stars and minor worlds also offered their devotion.

Had it not perished, and should fortune someday grant it entry into True Godhood, every tribe that worshipped it would reap immense blessings.

Including the Scale-Cattle Clan, all such tribes would ascend, gaining the honorific “True” before their names, becoming recognized as divine races.

At that point, each tribe’s domain would expand within their respective regions, establishing themselves as local overlords.

Yet fundamentally, the beings within these tribes remained ordinary mortals—not gods themselves.

Only because they worshipped a True God and bore the title “True” could they more readily coalesce divine energy into nascent divinity, receive spiritual boons from their patron deity, ignite their own divine flames, and ultimately ascend to godhood.

Upon achieving divinity, these new gods would serve both as subordinate deities to their patron and gain the right to seek out new tribes of their own, harvesting fresh faith.

Like roots spreading beneath the earth, their networks would branch outward endlessly.

The Zhenyi Clan exemplified this path.

They were not the sole worshippers of their ancestral True God, yet even so, after earning the prefix “True,” their influence burst beyond their native nebula, at their zenith stretching across multiple universes.

Yet despite such apparent glory, within the framework of the Fourth Star Ring, they ranked among the lowest tier of divine clans.

To ascend further… the entire clan must, over eons of time and through deep refinement, transform their very bloodlines until every member became divine—that alone would constitute a true god-race.

Most divine clans throughout the Fourth Star Domain fell into one of these two categories.

And if the latter continued evolving, steadily increasing their number of True Gods until one emerged as a Sovereign Deity capable of unifying all affiliated tribes into a single lineage…

Then… their clan’s status would leap once more.

Becoming a Divine Imperial House!

This process was unimaginably arduous—through countless ages, only a handful had succeeded.

Thus, in this moment, within this world, the artificially ascended dwarf-god—upon realizing Xu Qing was the very fugitive wanted by Li Zhu, the Divine Emperor—felt golden light blaze violently in his eyes, his mind roiling with turbulent waves of awe and greed.

He knew with crystal clarity: this might well be the greatest fortune and divine opportunity of his entire existence!

After all, Li Zhu’s bounty was staggering beyond belief.

Merely reporting the fugitive’s whereabouts earned one hundred units of Primordial Essence.

But capturing him alive… would grant a Sovereign God’s artifact!

In the next instant, the dwarf abruptly raised his hand and slashed toward the heavens, his voice booming with divine resonance:

“All my subordinate deities—change of orders! Seize this cultivator at once!”

His words twisted heaven and earth.

Every god upon the land—who moments before had been felling trees and cleaving mountains—lifted their heads as one and surged skyward, charging straight for Xu Qing.

Above, around the colossal tumor hanging in the firmament, numerous divine thrones sat cross-legged—but though their divine bodies trembled and their gazes locked onto Xu Qing, they could not move.

The True God forbade it!

Yet the dwarf paid no heed. Though aiding his ancestral True God remained paramount, compared to claiming Li Zhu’s reward and obtaining a Sovereign God’s artifact… he might himself ascend to True Godhood through this merit!

Besides, his ancestral True God already held the advantage, supported by the collective strength of the divine thrones—the situation still favored them. He could always return to assist after securing the fugitive.

With this thought, the dwarf blurred forward, stepping off his black lotus, dragging behind him three hundred and sixty ancient corpses. Unleashing the full might of his peak Divine Throne realm, he charged at Xu Qing.

Wherever he passed, decay bloomed spontaneously, warping reality itself. Behind him, every corpse opened its mouth, howling eerie cries that summoned gales of death, spreading corruption in all directions.

This was his divine authority:

the power of decay, winds of death, and… soul-rending utterances.

Together, they wove a terrifying dirge that echoed through heaven and earth—

a melody so tangible it struck directly at Xu Qing!

Xu Qing’s eyes flashed with icy resolve. He knew full well that hiding within the Fourth Star Ring relied purely on luck—and deep inside, he’d long prepared for exposure.

“Better to be revealed here than discovered outside. But the key to this battle is escape.”

Narrowing his eyes, Xu Qing blurred instantly.

Time warped around him, as if severed from this world, creating distortions mirroring those surrounding the dwarf. The approaching dirge faltered, its notes scattering into dissonance.

Simultaneously, within the fractured flow of time, an iron skewer pierced through the void, gleaming with immortal qi, accompanied by crisp chimes of bells.

At that sound, the world fell utterly silent—all spells froze mid-cast.

Even the dwarf, surging toward Xu Qing with murderous intent, recoiled in shock—he felt his divine essence suddenly severed from his control.

And the iron skewer shot toward him at terrifying speed.

A surge of life-or-death dread exploded in his heart.

In desperation, the dwarf bit off his own tongue and spat it out.

That severed tongue, dripping golden divine blood, began growing grotesquely the moment it appeared—transforming instantly into a massive tumor.

It resonated mysteriously with the colossal tumor formed by his ancestral True God in the heavens.

In the next heartbeat, the two tumors connected invisibly.

True God power flooded in, erupting within the tongue-born mass—

which then split open like an eye, glaring wide.

Its gaze enveloped the incoming iron skewer, sealing it away with isolating force.

It also struck Xu Qing’s distorted temporal field, restoring normalcy and forcing his form back into visibility.

At the same moment, the dwarf regained control of his divine essence. His eyes blazed with killing intent as he unleashed his ultimate technique—his three hundred and sixty withered corpses ignited simultaneously, dissolving into ash.

Beneath Xu Qing’s feet, the void suddenly cracked open with dozens of golden fissures!

From these rifts emerged thirty-six three-eyed effigies, each sculpted from desiccated flesh. They stepped forth on beams of golden light—these were precisely the forms taken by the dwarf’s three hundred and sixty corpses.

The instant their toes touched empty space, the air shattered like glass in every direction.

Then, the vertical pupils on their foreheads snapped open—torrents of dark-golden divine light cascaded forth, engulfing Xu Qing.

Everything the light touched turned instantly to amber.

Xu Qing’s black robes billowed. Just before the divine radiance struck him, he raised his right hand and pressed forward.

Instantly, spatial laws converged, merging with the lingering fragments of time around them to form spacetime edicts, unleashing a chaotic tempest of distorted space and time.

This storm erupted in an instant—earth-shattering and heaven-rending—as it swept simultaneously toward the dwarf deity above and the divine radiance below.

Within the maelstrom swirled countless immortal spirit sigils, indistinct yet countless.

In a flash—they detonated!

A world-shaking roar thundered through existence at that very moment.

The divine light shattered; all thirty-six divine statues exploded in unison, spewing thick black mist that churned violently outward. Above, the dwarf’s expression shifted—he retreated at blinding speed.

Yet in the blink of an eye, Xu Qing’s true body had already appeared soundlessly behind him, his hand pressing down upon the dwarf god’s skull.

At the same moment, not far away, the iron skewer—previously frozen by the gaze of the fleshy orbs—suddenly blazed with light. Its bells rang out deafeningly as it broke free, transforming into a long, searing trail that tore through the void to arrive beside Xu Qing.

It pierced instantly through the dwarf’s heart, emerging on the other side to hover near Xu Qing.

But Xu Qing’s brow furrowed slightly.

Before him, the dwarf god’s trembling form abruptly transformed into a black lotus.

The black lotus shattered—as if serving as a sacrificial substitute for death.

Far off, the dwarf god’s figure reassembled from the void, his eyes filled with dread, though not entirely surprised.

He understood well: anyone worthy of being hunted by Li Zhu, the God-Emperor of Slaughter, and capable of evading the divine senses of Outer Realm True Gods, could never be weak.

“But this,” the dwarf declared, “is the divine domain of my clan’s True God!”

As he spoke, nine blazing fleshy orbs materialized above Xu Qing’s head, weaving together into a cage that descended to crush him.

Simultaneously, the host of deities below arrived, each unleashing divine arts aimed at Xu Qing’s annihilation.

Yet the very instant the gods struck and the nine burning orbs formed their cage—

Xu Qing’s body dissolved abruptly, scattering into tens of thousands of crimson butterflies that fluttered in all directions.

These eerie red butterflies bore wing patterns resembling countless eyes; with every beat of their wings, a divine art was drawn deep into those ocular depths.

Even more unnerving: the moment Xu Qing fragmented into myriad butterflies, the eye sockets of nearly half the attacking gods below began oozing dense swarms of blood-red butterfly larvae.

Within three heartbeats, those gods shrieked in agony as their bodies twisted into writhing insect nests, birthing even more crimson butterflies!

This was precisely the divine art of the Eternal Abyssal Butterfly—a technique Xu Qing had mimicked from the Butterfly Deity himself!

Yet wielded by Xu Qing, its scale and terror far surpassed the original.

Now, crimson butterflies filled the sky: half surged toward the nine burning orbs, while the other half scattered among the surrounding gods.

Those mere Flame-God-tier deities panicked, scattering in fear—but Xu Qing’s form had already appeared eerily behind a goddess, suspended upside-down.

His right hand plunged five fingers deep into her spine; his left gripped a luminous memory-core torn from her divine essence.

He crushed it in one motion—

then inhaled sharply.

Beneath her blue skin, spiderweb-like black veins surfaced as her scant reservoir of Source Essence was instantly devoured.

It flooded into Xu Qing, who trembled once before her body withered into a desiccated husk.

“Too impure… and far too little.”

After tasting the refined Source Essence of the Star-Eyed Goddess, all others… Xu Qing now found somewhat beneath his regard.

His palate had grown discerning…

With a flick of his wrist, he flung the dry corpse aside. At that same moment, dozens more husks rained down from midair—

each the remnant of a Xu Qing who had emerged from within a crimson butterfly!

One after another, they appeared in the sky, each having siphoned Source Essence before converging back into Xu Qing’s true form, standing alone in the void.

Expressionless, he gazed around, then reached out and seized a crystal-structured deity hiding in nearby emptiness.

Before the god could utter a word, Xu Qing crushed him into drifting crystalline shards—

each fragment now reflecting the terrified faces of the remaining gods.

Among those reflected visages was the dwarf in midair, his expression grim beyond measure.

“Open the portal now,” Xu Qing said slowly, “and let me leave. It’s still not too late.”