Chapter 1281: Umbilical Cord of the Divine

Chapter 1281: The Divine Umbilical Cord

“This matter… unprecedented in all time!”

Xu Qing gazed upward at the turbulent firmament, where the Aurora Young Lord stood radiating the very might of heaven and earth.

As clarity dawned within him, a profound sense of awe stirred in his heart toward the Celestial Sovereign’s grand design—inscrutable, unfathomable.

“In truth,” he murmured inwardly, “there was another who once attempted something similar—but I did not witness it myself.”

He thought of Li Zihua!

That one had seemingly walked a comparable path, yet compared to the Aurora Young Lord before him now, the scale of influence was incomparable.

Moreover, countless unknown details remained shrouded in mystery.

Xu Qing’s silent contemplation rippled outward as the mists parted, revealing insight just as the fortune of the Fifth Star Ring arrived—casting concentric waves through the fabric of fate.

The sky was turning silver!

It was the collective fortune of all beings within the Fifth Star Ring—now descending into this memory-laden spacetime of the Fourth Star Ring, slipping through the rift, spreading beyond the Primordial Mother Star.

It dyed the void itself silver, transforming utterly the heavens above the Primordial Mother Star.

At last, it coalesced into a river of fortune, cascading from the horizon!

Coming to claim sun and moon, coming to empower the Aurora Young Lord!

From afar, this silver river of fortune stretched boundless and infinite—a sight that shook heaven and earth.

Within its currents flickered phantoms of all life from the Fifth Star Ring, illusions of countless cultivators, vistas of cosmic starfields, and celestial realms beyond reckoning.

They were calling out—to Aurora!

Their soundless invocation took form as luminous fish swimming through the river, leaving trails behind them etched with fragments of immortal script.

These descended upon the Aurora Young Lord.

Centered on him, they spiraled into a colossal vortex of silver light.

The vortex roared, expanding rapidly until, in an instant, it enveloped the entire Primordial Mother Star—wrapping both its interior and exterior in its embrace.

Thus did it enter the memories of the gods of the Fourth Star Ring.

Immediately, tremors of upheaval surged throughout the Fourth Star Ring.

In the next moment, the souls of its deities churned like storm-tossed seas; statues of gods quaked one after another; cracks spiderwebbed across the endless starry expanse.

From those fissures seeped forth streams of crimson essence—like divine blood—spreading through the stellar ocean.

And the cause of all this, the Aurora Young Lord, now standing upon the Primordial Mother Star amidst the vortex formed by the descending fortune of the Fifth Star Ring, spoke softly:

“Divine essence is born of Heaven; the Immortal Path seeks only the self.”

As his words echoed, the countless immortal inscriptions swirling within the vortex flared brilliantly, purifying on their own the alien essence and divine source emanating from the Aurora Young Lord.

During this purification, sounds like snapped zither strings resonated faintly.

These tones, too, took shape—imbued with traces of divine essence—and wove themselves into countless burning lamps of sacred flame.

This was the source belonging to the Aurora God-Lord!

So numerous they were, densely packed without end or edge.

The moment they formed—they began to shatter!

In the blink of an eye, ten million divine lamps crumbled into dust.

This fracturing was like a severance—

as if an invisible blade had slashed through the unseen tether linking the Fourth Star Ring to the Aurora Young Lord!

Thus did the fortune of the Fifth Star Ring pierce straight into the spine of the Aurora Young Lord.

That spine bore the divine meridian bestowed upon him by the Fourth Star Ring when he ascended to godhood here.

Now, under the force of the Fifth Star Ring’s fortune, that meridian tore apart, cutting off resonance with the divine Dao of the Fourth Star Ring.

Manifesting upon the Aurora Young Lord’s body, the divine runes covering him dimmed visibly, fading before the eyes.

At that very instant, deep within the starry void of the Fourth Star Ring came a mournful roar.

It was the collective will of the divine beings of this ring—the Divine Dao itself—howling in fury.

It would not permit such a thing!

Thus, within that bellow rang countless divine voices:

“Not allowed!”

“Not allowed!”

“Not allowed!”

These divine pronouncements descended along the threads of divine memory, surging into the Primordial Mother Star and crashing against the river of fortune arriving from the Fifth Star Ring.

Instantly, the river of fortune twisted as though gripped by an invisible giant hand, compressing into amber suffused with bloody radiance.

This transformation began in the void beyond the Primordial Mother Star and raced swiftly across the sky.

Gazing outward, one saw the heavens turned to amber—and this petrification spread further still, tracing back along the river of fortune until it reached the vicinity of the Aurora Young Lord.

There, it solidified the vortex of fortune—and awakened the will of the Mother Star itself, causing the Primordial Mother Star to thunder aloud.

The will—awoke!

As the earth heaved violently, the Aurora Young Lord’s reversal was abruptly severed!

His expression contorted instantly. Clearly visible now were the divine runes upon his body, which had been fading moments before—now blazing anew.

And within each rune shimmered divine thoughts drifting amid the Divine Dao of the Fourth Star Ring.

Those thoughts gathered strength, preparing to expel the fortune of the Fifth Star Ring entirely.

But how could the fortune of the Fifth Star Ring yield? In the next heartbeat, the amber shattered—and fortune returned!

Clashing against the Divine Dao of the Fourth Star Ring in a confrontation never before seen.

Neither side gave ground. The Divine Dao extended its reach, manifesting as laws of the Fourth Star Ring, descending into every divine dynasty.

In the next instant, all the God-Lords of the Fourth Star Ring emerged from their respective realms.

When Aurora ascended to godhood, they could afford to watch idly.

But now—abandoning divinity for immortality—this threatened the very foundation of the Divine Dao of the Fourth Star Ring. They had no choice but to intervene.

Yet just as these God-Lords prepared to step onto the Primordial Mother Star… figures appeared before them, blocking their path!

Those figures radiated power equal to that of God-Lords—forged instead by immortal might.

They were the Immortal Lords of the Fifth Star Ring!

Meanwhile, outside the Supreme Divine Court of the Fourth Star Ring, the old man wearing straw sandals had also arrived. He stood there gazing silently at the court.

And the court… remained silent as well.

…

Upon the Primordial Mother Star.

The Young Lord of Aurora gazed up at the firmament, his eyes shimmering with interwoven gold and silver.

“You won’t let me leave?”

He raised his right hand and pressed downward toward the Primal Mother Star beneath him.

At that press, the Primal Mother Star roared, and heaven and earth underwent cataclysmic transformation.

A phantom river emerged from deep within the star—ethereal, vast, and flowing with True Names.

Among countless True Names inscribed in its current, one name blazed brighter than all others at this very moment—unmistakably radiant!

It was the True Name once left behind by the Young Lord of Aurora himself.

Mi Ming!

“Mi”—to seek, yet never find.

“Ming”—sun and moon!

Long ago, the Sovereign of Aurora had taken the sun and moon of the Fifth Stellar Ring and sealed them into his son’s name. And not long before this, his son… had placed those very sun and moon—not as celestial bodies, but as a True Name—into…

…the Divine River of the Fourth Stellar Ring!

Like driving a nail deep into its heart!

And now, beneath his pressing hand, that nail… began to erupt!

Sun and moon manifested!

This spectacle was as if a grand gate had been flung open—linking the fortune of the Fifth Stellar Ring directly into the profound depths of the Fourth Stellar Ring’s Divine Path!

Amid thunderous upheaval, the fortune of the Fifth Stellar Ring surged through the gateway opened by that True Name—the portal of sun and moon—and poured straight inward!

It transformed into boundless Immortal Thunder, churning the River of True Names into tempestuous waves!

Each bolt of lightning carried within it tangible strands of fortune—and spirits of heroes from the Fifth Stellar Ring!

These were the very Immortals whom Xu Qing had once honored at the Nine Shores’ Outer Heaven Immortal Stele—those who fell in battle. Their imprints, etched into the fabric of fortune, now rode upon the thunderbolts,

rushing forth to strike down True Names!

This—this was the true return of sun and moon!

Instantly, the Divine Path of the Fourth Stellar Ring twisted violently, unleashing a change so immense it shook the heavens.

As one waned, the other waxed—the fortune of the Fifth Stellar Ring surged with unprecedented intensity!

The amber-like condensation around the Young Lord shattered instantly, and once more, a vortex of fortune whirled about him,

continuing the transformation—from godhood to immortality.

In an instant, millions upon millions of divine lanterns scattered across the eight directions extinguished.

Threads of divine essence swiftly peeled away from the Young Lord’s body—even the black crystalline shards coating his form grew indistinct.

The aura of divinity weakened; the Sovereign’s oppressive might erupted anew.

Moreover, as the fortune of the Fifth Stellar Ring continuously flooded into his spine, profound changes unfolded within his very being.

His divine bones shattered segment by segment,

replaced by newly grown bones—translucent as jade, luminous as pearls.

Upon their surfaces coiled intricate Immortal Runes—upon closer inspection, unmistakably miniature star charts of the Fifth Stellar Ring—radiating awe-inspiring majesty, infinite and overwhelming.

These were Stellar Ring Bones.

Reserved only for the Exalted!

Only an Immortal Sovereign or Divine Sovereign could, at the moment of ascension, imprint the chart of their native Stellar Ring onto their very frame.

Yet now, within the Young Lord of Aurora’s body, such bones were forming!

But his method differed from that of the Exalted—he forged them using the fortune of the Fifth Stellar Ring as fire, the Divine Path of the Fourth Stellar Ring as fuel, guided by the Supreme Divine Spark, melding the powers of two Stellar Rings into one!

In essence, he siphoned the strength of both rings into a single vessel—

and chiefly drew from the Fourth!

Thus, the Divine Path of the Fourth Stellar Ring wailed once more, its lament echoing throughout the cosmos.

Indeed, the calamity befalling it now was unparalleled—the fortune of the Fifth Stellar Ring was infiltrating it from within and without.

And the Young Lord of Aurora stood as a colossal breach, tearing apart its very laws.

Its struggle grew more desperate than ever before!

In the next instant, beyond the Primal Mother Star, a colossal star-gate steeped in ancient time suddenly yawned open.

An indescribable aura seeped forth—

similar to divinity, yet fundamentally distinct.

As if… far more primordial!

Behind that gate loomed row upon row of ancient statues shrouded in gray mist.

Their origins stretched back unfathomably far—as though they belonged not to this age,

or perhaps even predated the first deity ever born upon the Primal Mother Star!

Gazing deeper through the gate, past those statues, one could barely discern amidst the fog the ruins of long-extinct ancient stars.

Beyond that—nothing could be seen.

Only strange sigils, crawling outward from the depths.

These symbols glowed with a dull gray light, exuding mystery beyond compare—

markings neither gods nor cultivators had ever beheld!

Now emerging, they assembled into a broken iron chain, stretching toward the Primal Mother Star.

Wherever it passed, the starry void itself seemed unable to endure—and collapsed.

Even the memory-void surrounding the Primal Mother Star strained under its weight…

and began to fracture!

Even the opposing Sovereigns—Divine and Immortal—stood stunned.

This was the Fourth Stellar Ring’s Divine Path, in its extremity, unleashing its final act of self-preservation!

It had opened… a certain gate!

And at that very moment, within the Fourth Stellar Ring, the Supreme Divine Court—which from beginning to end had issued no decree, shown no reaction to the Aurora Sovereign’s apotheosis, ascension, or conversion from immortal to god—

suddenly thundered forth, blazing with endless divine radiance.

From that brilliance, the Divine Sovereign stepped forth!

“The Umbilical Cord of Divinity… the Infinite End… has finally opened!”