Chapter 1267: Traces of the Overall Situation

Chapter 1267 Traces of the Grand Design

Xu Qing knew his purpose now was not slaughter, but escape.

Should this Zhenyi Clan dwarf choose flight, activating the portal, even Xu Qing’s ruthless nature would weigh the cost and prioritize departure.

After all, it had been his earliest plan, the most suitable path back to the Fifth Star Ring.

Another reason lay in this world: the Zhenyi True God was fusing, poised to awaken at any moment. For Xu Qing, time stretched thin, fraught with peril.

Earlier, he had covertly tested spatial arts, but the realm was sealed—no self-directed passage possible.

Leaving demanded the dwarf open the gate.

Yet with the True God’s tether, Xu Qing knew subduing the dwarf offered no guarantee of successfully soul-searching the exit’s secret.

Thus, the dwarf’s retreat was the perfect outcome.

His words aimed not only at the dwarf, but also… the obsidian flesh-globe above!

Yet judgment of events often diverges wildly between lives—neither wise nor foolish, merely perspectives shifting with the angle.

So in the next heartbeat, the flesh-globe shuddered. Instantly, a vortex bloomed in the void beside it.

The vortex exhaled the scent of outer space…

An exit!

Among all beings here, the Zhenyi True God clearly desired this chaos end most urgently!

To Him, Xu Qing held value, yet if His kin could not swiftly conclude matters, His current state demanded Xu Qing’s departure.

This would erase variables, smoothing His path of consumption and fusion.

“Ancestral God!”

The dwarf deity’s heart clenched midair. He did not want Xu Qing gone. In his mind, Xu Qing… held greater worth!

Xu Qing’s gaze flickered now, doubting the exit’s truth, yet hesitation was death. Gritting his teeth, he surged forward, racing toward the vortex.

But… as Xu Qing neared the exit’s swirling maw at blinding speed, calamity struck anew!

Mountain ranges groaned. Countless withered trees shuddered. The Earth God, unleashing divine wrath, summoned tempests that engulfed the exit.

Shattering it into fragments, erasing it utterly.

The backlash hurled Xu Qing backward, his face darkening. Its echoes boomed as divine thought:

“Fellow Daoist! This exit is treacherous—He seeks your death!

Come aid me. Once I seal this enemy god, I shall grant you passage!”

While the Zhenyi God most desired Xu Qing’s departure, the one most desperate to keep him… was not the dwarf, but the Earth God locked in eons-long battle with the Zhenyi True God, now facing absorption.

The greater the chaos here, the brighter His chance. Xu Qing’s arrival offered hope of reversal!

Thus He intervened, clashing fully with the celestial Zhenyi God.

The world erupted in turmoil—blood rain thickened, thunder intensified.

Through the crimson downpour, a hoarse divine thought rasped:

“He bars your flight. Aid me. Subdue this foe, and I shall reopen the gate.”

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes midair, thoughts churning.

The earth thundered, divine thoughts urgent.

“He lies! Step through that gate, and death is certain. His advantage over me now forbids drawing outer attention—you are but a variable; outside forces multiply variables!”

“Trust not Him! Another time, I’d never let you leave. Now, your departure serves me best. I swear by my True Name—no betrayal. Doubt me? See if He dares swear by His!”

Two True God voices erupted across the realm.

The Earth God… dared not swear by His True Name!

Nearby, the dwarf’s eyes flashed. He called out to Xu Qing:

“Fellow Daoist, my earlier rashness stands. No need for blood between us. Aid my clan! The True God’s pledge binds us!”

He bowed toward the heavens, voice low.

“Ancestral God, sever those divine pedestals! Grant me strength to assist this Daoist—crush the enemy god before… variables multiply!”

The words hinted: releasing the pedestals offered attack or retreat, securing invincibility.

Thus, the obsidian flesh-globe above convulsed. The seven or eight pedestals linked to it snapped open their eyes.

Their divine thoughts returned, bonds severed. They swayed, plunging earthward.

Seemingly, to aid Xu Qing in suppressing the Earth God.

Among them, three pedestals drew Xu Qing’s prior focus:

One, a corroded, sinister eye strung with bronze chimes.

One, a desiccated crone resembling humankind.

Last, the Semi-Deity of Withered Blossoms and Ashen Decay.

Watching them descend, Xu Qing’s eyes gleamed with shadowed light.

He knew his Celestial Lord Dao-artifact required Fifth Star Ring fortune as catalyst—a peril here in the Fourth. Activating it would expose him utterly.

In this moment of choice, he decided…

“Good. Follow me!”

As he spoke, Xu Qing blurred, darting toward the glowing toadstool canopies sprouting from withered trees below.

Each canopy bristled with crystals—within every crystal, a ruined microcosm.

They seemed real, yet existed betwixt illusion and truth.

And could not be entered!

Yet Xu Qing plunged toward those microcosms!

Vanishing instantly within!

Not by his will, as if… the microcosms had willingly opened.

Xu Qing’s expression remained calm, unsurprised. Behind him, the dwarf watched, eyes alight with cunning. Silently, he sent divine thought to all gods:

“These microcosms are the enemy god’s core—normally impregnable. Now opened… follow me! Destroy all!

As for the cultivator—capture if possible. If not… slay him!”

Then, with the descending pedestals and scattered gods, he surged into the microcosm Xu Qing entered.

All passed through smoothly.

As they vanished, the world outside the toadstools held only heaven and earth locked in battle, divine thoughts clashing.

“You dared not swear by True Name before, fearing I’d trace your hidden name within your Memory God-Kingdom. Now, you willingly open your Kingdom!”

“Each shattered fragment of your Kingdom strips your True Name of concealment. Shatter enough, and I’ll seize it instantly—devour it, completing fusion in a breath!”

“Thus, this is your final gambit—betting all on that cultivator.”

“You gamble—he chooses to aid you, and that he perishes first at Their hands within my Memory Divine Realm, before the Divine General shatters it and I find you!”

“Thus, buying time to oppose me further!”

“But… that cultivator is shrewd. I invoked the True Name Covenant—you did not. How shall he trust you?”

Celestial divine thoughts reverberated, seeking to shatter the enemy god’s resolve, yet the earth’s mountains and withered trees trembled in that instant.

“Because within my Memory Divine Realm lies a place whose value to him outweighs trusting your True Name Covenant!”

“I did not grasp it before—but the moment I saw him, I knew the cause. And now… you witness it.”

The celestial black orb contracted; crimson downpour thickened.

“You see my words ring true—hence your haste!”

The earth’s mountains resonated. He desired precisely this: his foe’s panic.

Only thus could fissures appear.

…

Within the microcosm, the sky wrinkled, the land withered, all life extinguished.

Only boundless ruins remained, chronicling past glory.

And through heaven and earth, a lightning bolt now tore the void—Xu Qing’s form materialized within it. The instant he appeared, wind surged from nothingness.

It struck Xu Qing’s body, delivering a vision to his eyes.

A world-map, shattered into countless fragments yet clumsily reassembled—a whole Divine Realm.

Marked within it was Xu Qing’s location, precisely one fragment!

Beyond this, an inexplicable pull emanated from another fragment nearby in the scattered mosaic!

The moment it touched Xu Qing’s senses, his pupils narrowed. The star-tower within him—hidden, capable of returning to the Ninth Stellar Ring—shuddered violently.

This tremor did not originate from the tower itself, nor the slumbering Sacred Heaven Divine Vine coiled upon it…

But from the tiny golden mouse Xu Qing had placed inside the tower. Exhausted from the Fifth Ring’s trials, it had slept until now!

Seemingly awakened by this pull!

As it stirred, a *ji-ji* chirp echoed through Xu Qing’s spirit.

This sight made Xu Qing’s pupils contract, then blaze with fierce light—a preposterous suspicion igniting within him.

His breath quickened; resolve crystallized in an instant.

His form blurred, hurtling toward the source of the pull!

Yet as he flew, divine forms descended one by one.

Each arrival blurred the pull further. When all gods manifested, the pull vanished entirely. Simultaneously, the shattered Divine Realm fragments spun into chaos.

Xu Qing could no longer pinpoint his target!

A shadow flickered in Xu Qing’s eyes. Clearly… that earth god demanded he slay every True Yì Divine Clan subordinate here.

A bargain!

“Agreed!”

Xu Qing’s heart surged with glacial resolve—explosive.

Meanwhile, within a fractured shard of this ruined Divine Realm, amidst rubble… a colossal golden mouse gnawed a grass shoe.

As it chewed, it cast wary glances around, as if fearing sudden capture by some lurking force.

And as it ate, it failed to notice: grass-shoe shavings falling from its mouth, scattered fragments faintly forming a transmission array!