Chapter 1342: Earth Becomes a Book, Tributary of Fate

Chapter 1342: The Earth Becomes a Book, Branches of Fate

“Our family’s wealth is vast.”

Prince Zi Qing smiled faintly, raised his right hand, and with a gentle wave toward the palace gates, unleashed something extraordinary.

At that gesture, the entire Devouring Heaven Domain roared—louder than before—as if heaven itself trembled in awe.

Then, without warning, an impossible sight unfolded!

The earth… transformed instantly. Mountains, rivers, buildings—even the imperial palace—all turned into pages of a book in a single breath.

The land had become a tome!

Above, the Mirror of Ancient Gaze in the sky continued siphoning the nation’s fortune, already draining more than half, rendering all things increasingly indistinct.

Yet at this very moment, the book formed from the earth flipped open one page!

As it turned, mountains and rivers reappeared, all creation restored—the capital reborn, its people returned!

Within that page lay another Zi Qing Sovereign State—

And it was utterly complete!

No matter how relentlessly the Mirror of Ancient Gaze above plundered, nor how fiercely Xu Qing’s reversed vortex absorbed, even as clarity surged within the mirror through stolen fortune… the pages of the earth-born book still resurrected everything anew.

Even stranger still: though the contents of that first page soon grew hazy again under the mirror’s theft, the Book of Earth simply turned to a second page!

And on that second page—again—stood the Zi Qing Sovereign State!

Unchanged in the slightest.

“Little brother,” Zi Qing chuckled softly, “however much you desire, I shall give you however much.”

“For I have carved every single breath of the Zi Qing Sovereign State’s existence into individual pages of fate—until they gained life of their own, endlessly regenerating…”

“As for how many there truly are—even I no longer know.”

This was precisely the divine authority he had once revealed:

Fate itself!

Yet clearly, the power Zi Qing now wielded was far more sinister than before—and its reach unfathomably wider!

As he spoke, the book born from the Devouring Heaven Domain began flipping pages at blinding speed—not waiting for the Mirror of Ancient Gaze to blur each page through plunder, but turning them rapidly of its own accord.

Every page bore the Zi Qing Sovereign State!

Thus, the mirror’s theft was forced to accelerate in response.

And amid this frenzied turning, the nation’s fortune became… infinite!

A sense of utter helplessness gripped every heart.

Even the Mirror of Ancient Gaze reflected that despair.

It could not steal endlessly. Nor could Xu Qing’s reversed vortex spin forever.

Then came a sharp *crack*.

A fissure split across the mirror’s surface.

More cracks followed, multiplying with a chorus of shattering sounds until the entire mirror fractured—then exploded into countless shards, scattering across the heavens.

At that same instant, on Wang Gu Continent, the Human Empress spat blood, her body collapsing in sudden frailty as she gazed weakly toward Devouring Heaven.

All those who had aided her ritual suffered likewise.

And among the myriad races, countless other powerful beings met the same fate.

Blood spurted from the mouths of cultivators across the Ten Thousand Races.

For a moment, all of Wang Gu fell into silence.

Only the pages of the earth-born book continued flipping wildly, replaying scene after scene, moment after moment—

As if time and space themselves were shifting.

Xu Qing sighed inwardly.

Prince Zi Qing had failed earlier in seizing the divine body.

And now, Xu Qing himself had likewise failed to plunder the fortune of the Zi Qing Sovereign State.

But in that instant of failure, standing outside the palace square, Xu Qing’s eyes flashed with cold resolve. His body shot forward like an arrow—straight toward the imperial hall ahead.

If plunder would not succeed, then victory must be decided by his own hands!

Inside the hall, Prince Zi Qing tapped lightly with a finger.

A ripple of fate spread from where his fingertip struck empty air, forming waves that blocked Xu Qing’s charge from outside.

“Your true opponent,” Zi Qing said, “is another possible version of me—one woven into the threads of fate.”

As his words echoed, the flipping pages of the earth-book suddenly halted.

A branch of destiny emerged—

Replacing reality itself, or rather, coexisting with the real palace!

Within the hall, Prince Zi Qing remained seated upon the dragon throne.

Outside, however, heaven and earth twisted violently!

Upon the plaza stood a second Prince Zi Qing!

He stood atop the statue of Shang Huang’s shattered visage, arms outstretched, his expression both eerie and chillingly indifferent. Around him lingered the fading echoes of his earlier proclamation from the river of fate:

“…Sacrifice!”

At that single word, countless fervent cries erupted from the Zi Qing Sovereign State within this branch of fate:

“We die willingly for the prince!”

“We die willingly for the prince!!”

Voices poured forth from every citizen of this alternate realm—cultivators and commoners alike, men and women, young and old—all faces alight with fanatical devotion.

At Prince Zi Qing’s command, they ignited themselves—offering up their very lives in sacrifice!

To him—their Prince Zi Qing!

This version of the prince, existing alongside reality, had chosen to sacrifice his entire sovereign state—to draw its essence into himself!

In the next heartbeat, countless sacrificed souls surged like a tidal wave from all directions, rushing toward the Shang Huang statue and flooding into Prince Zi Qing’s body.

Their number was boundless, endless.

Yet Xu Qing made no move to stop it.

For it was meaningless. His Law of Judgment perceived clearly: what he witnessed had already occurred.

Altering this scene would change nothing of the final outcome.

But altering the final outcome could reverse cause and effect.

Thus, Xu Qing gazed intently, observing every detail.

At that moment, Zi Qing, the Crown Prince upon the Shang Huang statue, saw his body rapidly melt into blood under the ceaseless flood of sacrifices—drop by drop falling onto the statue below.

The entire process lasted mere breaths…

Before Xu Qing’s very eyes, within this tributary of fate, the Zi Qing Upper Kingdom had lost every last subject; even the Crown Prince himself had fully dissolved, his blood now coating the entirety of the Shang Huang statue.

Immediately afterward, a terrifying aura erupted from within the Shang Huang statue, surging skyward in an overwhelming wave.

It formed an immense divine might!

Heaven and earth shifted hue; wind and clouds reversed course. At that instant, alien essence flooded the world.

Even the laws of reality began to dissipate; even cosmic principles threatened to vanish entirely.

Only divine sovereignty remained—absolute and singular!

This was the aura of a Sovereign God!

Amidst this overwhelming presence, the form of the Shang Huang statue began to change, its stone flesh awakening as if reborn—transforming into living tissue!

As the flesh writhed and reshaped itself, even its visage altered,

coalescing into the figure of a man!

And in the blink of an eye, the face that swiftly formed bore unmistakably… the features of Zi Qing!

With a single step, it vanished—shattering emptiness—and reappeared directly before Xu Qing. Amidst the eruption of alien essence and Sovereign Godly pressure, it raised its right hand and pressed down toward him.

Xu Qing unleashed his own Constitutional Law outward, meeting Zi Qing’s strike.

Heaven and earth roared!

The very world trembled, shaken by a colossal shockwave.

Xu Qing allowed himself to be pushed back, halting calmly a hundred zhang away, his gaze steady upon the Zi Qing standing outside the great hall.

And at that moment, the Zi Qing outside the hall looked back at Xu Qing.

Behind him, the Zi Qing within the hall also fixed his eyes upon Xu Qing.

Both Zi Qings spoke in unison:

“Younger brother, if you are not ready this time… you will die.”

Their voices intertwined across two streams of fate, echoing together through the present moment—lingering long without fading.

Zi Qing’s divine authority was over destiny itself!

This method—plucking a single tributary from the river of fate, materializing another possibility alongside reality—was something Xu Qing himself had once experienced,

back in the Fourth Star Ring, amidst the chaotic currents of spacetime.

At the ultimate convergence point of Unity, Xu Qing had appeared beside the old painter.

That painter was another possibility of Xu Qing from a different timeline.

Yet their paths to such power differed.

Zi Qing relied upon destiny.

Xu Qing, however, wielded his own Constitutional Law, forging dimensions that pierced through all spacetimes.

But equally… reaching this stage meant attaining the rank of a Sovereign.

As a god—one becomes a God Sovereign; as an immortal—one becomes an Immortal Sovereign.