Chapter 1296: Upper Wasteland Opens Its Eyes!

Chapter 1296: Shang Huang Opens His Eyes!

A ripple—so profound it sent tremors through the Fourth Star Ring and all thirty-six ascending rings—spread faintly in this instant.

Within the fissure, Li Zhu’s skeletal eyes, blazing crimson, flickered violently like candle flames caught in a sudden gust.

Then… it retreated—frantically, recklessly, hurtling backward without hesitation.

But it was already too late.

In that very moment, the entire expanse of the ascending rings plunged into absolute silence.

Gods, cultivators, all living beings, countless stars—everything fell into blank stillness of mind and spirit.

As if a pair of eyes, transcending dimensions, had shifted their gaze from where they once looked… and now turned toward the starry sky itself.

It was a gaze beyond time and space.

From within the Ninth Star Ring, upon the ancient continent of Wang Gu, the colossal fractured visage embedded in the heavens… lifted its head.

And opened its eyes—fully, utterly.

Thus, within the Fourth Star Ring, just outside the fissure, nestled in the creases of spacetime, a golden-hued pupil appeared soundlessly.

Within it, the entire fissure was mirrored.

The moment that gaze fell—

Li Zhu’s skeletal form froze. Unprecedented terror shook him to his core. Under that direct stare, his body shrieked with an ear-splitting wail. The remnants of his divine rings shattered one after another in rapid succession.

At the same time, the Old God Sovereign’s veil over his consciousness shattered as well, restoring Li Zhu’s awareness.

Yet the instant clarity returned, death already loomed over his mind.

His very being began to dissipate at terrifying speed—as though erased, devoured by nothingness.

Simultaneously, everything within the fissure underwent violent transformation!

A grinding roar erupted, sharp and grating. Web-like cracks spread rapidly across the fissure’s domain, each fissure resonating with the brittle chime of shattering glass.

The entire space resembled an eggshell gnawed by some primordial beast—peeling away layer by layer,

collapsing with thunderous force.

The divine chains within also trembled violently. Divine sigils etched upon their surfaces exploded sequentially, disintegrating completely.

Spacetime itself rippled, twisted by invisible forces.

Countless collapsing black holes emerged as swirling vortices within this distortion,

savagely tearing apart every fragment of spacetime present here, fusing them together without logic or order,

forming phantom echoes of worlds that never were.

This spectacle struck Xu Qing—who had not yet fully escaped the fissure’s exit—with waves of overwhelming shock.

He suddenly saw, within one such phantom world, a reflection of himself.

There, he sat drinking heartily with Er Niu—but his expression… was filled with sheer terror.

Before Xu Qing could see more clearly, the spacetime within the fissure crumpled like wrinkled rice paper. Fragments from divergent timelines began intersecting and overlapping.

Inside Xu Qing’s hair, Er Niu’s spirit churned wildly. He seemed to glimpse his childhood self floating in the void—yet in another fragment, his adult form endured excruciating soul-rending agony simultaneously.

All manner of sensations converged upon him, erupting chaotically,

shattering every notion of reality.

Xu Qing himself felt his inner constitution quake violently. His innate nature resonated strangely with this temporal chaos—and within this maelstrom of distorted time, he witnessed his past, present, and future.

Countless versions of himself made different choices, each decision subtly altering the fabric of the cosmos.

These visions caused his constitution to fluctuate wildly.

And then, something even more bizarre unfolded.

On one fragment, the divine bones composing the altar here sprouted crystalline branches that swiftly grew into fruit trees.

But the fruits they bore were miniature versions of Xu Qing and Er Niu.

Suddenly, one tiny Er Niu on a branch turned his head and grinned eerily at his original self.

The moment Xu Qing saw that smile, a gash tore open on his left ear. Blood welled forth, mingling with nearby spacetime dust—and instantly froze into ice. From that frozen sound, he faintly heard his own scream… three breaths into the future.

A lingering echo from tomorrow.

Time and space—utterly chaotic.

Even the distant bronze coffin trembled violently amidst this cascade of upheaval,

as if resisting.

Its outer carvings crumbled away, revealing a middle layer flowing with liquid divine essence.

That essence, too, began dissipating. Countless pale, withered hands—imbued with ancient will—reached out from within, struggling desperately outward.

Yet under the gaze emanating from beyond the fissure, they withered instantly into ash.

Then, in the next heartbeat, the trembling coffin erupted with blinding white radiance—followed by a deafening explosion.

The bronze coffin shattered apart!

Its fragments transformed into a million bronze falcons, scattering in all directions.

From within burst forth a decayed figure!

Its features indistinct, only the aura of rot palpable—but around it swirled ribbons of golden light like rivers, each strand shimmering with supreme divinity.

The moment it appeared, it didn’t pause or utter any divine proclamation. Instead, it fled toward the distance at maximum velocity, tearing through space itself!

In that instant, every supreme being across all thirty-six star rings felt their minds stir, their gazes drawn inexorably to this place. Within the fissure, spacetime spiraled into madness, and the void continued its relentless collapse.

Everything was vanishing.

Even though Xu Qing shared karmic ties with Shang Huang—and had survived multiple encounters beneath those opened eyes—the chaos of this spacetime posed infinite peril to him.

Escape was impossible.

Moreover, each vortex-black hole emerging here served as a source of temporal turbulence.

Xu Qing knew—if he were sucked in, escape would be hopeless; he’d be trapped forever.

Fortunately, his constitution held temporal awareness and possessed the power to overlay universes and fold dimensions. Only thus could he barely struggle through this distortion.

Yet his body and soul remained out of control, stretched and torn by warped spacetime. Er Niu’s screams grew distant and ethereal in his ears.

Already, parts of Xu Qing’s body had begun dissolving into motes of light, seemingly merging with the surrounding chaos.

Er Niu, too, faced imminent dissolution—his form unraveling, save for his teeth clamped stubbornly onto Xu Qing’s hair. Yet even that couldn’t stifle his cries of agony.

Meanwhile, one of the countless coffin fragments launched earlier now careened through the turbulent currents—and slammed into Xu Qing, piercing flesh and embedding deep within, blood spraying wildly.

Xu Qing paid it no heed. He understood this place had descended into total disorder, collapsing ceaselessly, soon to become pure void—equally deadly.

At this critical juncture, Xu Qing’s mind surged with sudden recognition.

“This scene… feels familiar!”

His thoughts jolted. He abruptly recalled that time within the Pain God’s illusion—when pursued by a god sovereign, cornered and desperate, he’d plunged into temporal turbulence… and there discovered Xia Xian’s legacy.

And now this scene, though not the same, bore a striking resemblance.

“Within illusion lies truth… Could it be…”

At this thought, Xu Qing fell silent for a breath, then his eyes hardened with resolve. He commanded his Xian, weaving it into countless fine threads that enveloped his body, spinning a cocoon around himself.

Then, without hesitation, he plunged straight toward a swirling black vortex—

into the chaotic currents of spacetime!