Chapter 1352: Upper Wasteland Complete! (4/5)

Chapter 1352: Shanghuang Complete! (4/5)

The figure was obscured, only an indescribably anguished roar rising and falling amidst the churning miasmic fog—yet swiftly drowned out by something far more bone-chilling.

Crack—Snap—Gurgle…

The crisp sound of divine bones being crushed!

The muffled tearing of a god’s flesh!

The wet, ravenous swallowing as divine essence was devoured with frenzied hunger!

These sounds lingered briefly within the fog.

Then gradually faded—until at last… utter silence reigned.

Only the fog itself remained, swirling soundlessly yet contentedly through the shattered firmament, as though alive.

Xu Qing watched it all, his gaze profound.

He did not believe those Sovereigns had truly perished.

After all, they were Sovereigns. Even if their true forms had arrived here, Xu Qing was certain each must have left behind hidden contingencies!

“Yet even so,” he murmured, narrowing his eyes, “this time they’ve paid a price unlike any before. Whether they can still retain their Sovereign status… remains uncertain.”

His eyes shifted from the murky heavens down to his own palm.

There lay a scrap of paper—

One fragment salvaged from the countless paper effigies that had earlier disintegrated.

At the same moment, deep within the Seventh Star Ring, amid the boundless stellar sea, an unremarkable ochre-hued star suddenly trembled.

Its surface cracked instantly, then exploded with a thunderous boom, revealing at its core—a single egg!

That egg, too, began to fracture.

Finally, a small creature crawled forth.

The instant it emerged, an aura of peak Divine Lord surged around it. It whipped its head toward the Ninth Star Ring, eyes blazing.

“There *was* a trick—but what I truly sought wasn’t your flesh or blood. It was the memory you carried along the Godly Umbilical Cord!”

“So… this is how the Godly Umbilical Cord truly works…”

Simultaneously, in the Thirteenth Star Ring, a deity ascended into the sky.

Having reached the apex of power upon his divine star as a Divine Throne, all thanks to a peerless treasure acquired long ago—

A black bronze tower!

This artifact had accelerated his growth and rendered him invincible in battle.

Now, standing at his peak, he prepared to leave his native divine star for higher celestial realms.

He was confident the mysterious black tower would carry him to True Godhood.

But—just as his form neared departure from his star, the black tower within him abruptly shuddered, then violently sucked outward.

Before the Divine Throne could react, his body convulsed—and in an instant, was drained utterly dry, leaving not even a trace behind.

The entire process lasted less than a heartbeat.

He hadn’t even realized what happened—

Only the black tower remained, hovering midair before plummeting heavily onto the surface of the divine star.

In the next breath, the star roared. Every deity, every living being upon it withered instantly into ash.

All life, all essence, poured into the black tower.

At last, a low, divine hum resonated from within:

“Godly Umbilical Cord…”

The same scene unfolded elsewhere—in two other secret places.

One was where the paper effigies had hidden, nestled within a peculiar spacetime inside an ancient scroll, quietly recuperating to restore their cultivation as swiftly as possible.

The other was even more enigmatic—the contingency laid by Mother River herself. She had transformed into written characters, concealing herself within her world.

Specifically, the character for “water.”

Truly speaking, among all hidden measures, Mother River’s was the most extraordinary.

Alas—for on Wanggu Continent, there existed one who refused to let her hide.

Thus, above Wushuang City, as the fog churned, ripples tore through the void. Within this spacetime, the Wish-Granting Mask Xu Qing had brought suddenly manifested!

Its sole purpose: to destroy Mother River!

Now seeing her flee, the mask’s expression twisted grotesquely, radiating madness.

The moment it appeared, it unleashed its full aura without restraint—and began to burn!

Using its mysterious link to Mother River, it guided Shanghuang straight to her!

Hence, in the next instant, as it burned, thunder erupted where it stood. The void split open, revealing a vision—

Inside that vision lay precisely the place where Mother River’s contingency had concealed itself!

Immediately after, a single strand of hair descended abruptly from the fog-shrouded heavens, plunging straight into that vision!

Amid echoing shrieks of agony, the hair returned.

And in that world, the character for “water” was erased.

The very moment it vanished, ripples stirred across the sky of that hidden realm. Buried deep within Mother River’s silt, a golden mask broke free from an age-old seal—finally liberated.

“Mother River,” the mask intoned, voice cold and ancient, “long ago you used my wish against me, sealing me away, stealing my divine authority, usurping my godhood. Today—the karmic debt is settled. This… is the price of wishing.”

Back in the spacetime of Wushuang City on Wanggu Continent,

Above, the fog still churned in the sky, obscuring Shanghuang’s face.

But the spacetime itself… had already begun to dissolve.

Xu Qing knew that his karmic entanglement with Zi Qing had, by now, effectively reached its end.

Whether Zi Qing would succeed remained unknown.

Xu Qing no longer cared to watch.

He lowered his head, gazing as this dissolving spacetime slowly resumed its natural flow—

Blood rain began to fall.

The timeline of that bygone era, fractured as it was, seemed now to hasten its tale.

Xu Qing saw his younger self awaken beneath the crimson downpour.

Saw himself struggle to rise, dazed and lost, staggering away.

Saw his seven-year-old self, bullied and robbed in the wilds.

Saw the childhood steeped in helplessness.

Until at last—he saw his younger self, standing amid ruins, pulling free an iron skewer.

With his frail body trembling, he pressed the sharp tip against his own throat.

His gaze was numb, filled with the weight of parting, and he closed his eyes.

He saw again his childhood self at the very moment of choosing farewell—

A ragged little girl approached and handed him a candied hawthorn skewer.

Her eyes, in this sullied world, shone brightly.

And that skewer stirred deep within his younger self long-buried ripples of memory.

Xu Qing’s heart turned bitter.

These scenes—he would never forget them.

He watched as his younger self, staring at the candied hawthorn, slowly loosened his grip on the iron stick, sank onto the ground, and finally wept.

This was childhood.

Xu Qing sighed softly. As time and space dissolved, as this fragment of past began to shatter, he gazed upon everything within the vision—

He saw himself grow strong.

And he saw another image, one that still stirred his soul even now.

In it, the little girl who had given him the candied hawthorn lay sprawled in a pool of blood.

And his younger self drove the iron skewer into a villain’s throat.

Slowly withdrew it, letting blood splash across his body.

After a long while, young Xu Qing walked slowly to the girl’s corpse and stood there in silence for a long time.

Then, bending down gently, he closed her wide-open eyes with his hand.

“I’ve avenged you.”

With those words, time and space shattered.

The era of Wushuang City fractured like broken glass, splintering into countless shards that tore through the fabric of reality, restoring the present!

Thus, the cosmos shed its veil of history.

The heavens returned to the current age.

The earth revealed itself as the Swallowing Heaven Domain.

And Xu Qing still stood before the imperial palace of the Zi-Qing Upper Kingdom.

But within the palace, Zi-Qing was no more.

Xu Qing lifted his head quietly,

gazing at the sky.

The mists had vanished.

Shang Huang still hung high above—

only now, it bore no longer a broken face.