Chapter 326: Divine Powers

Chapter 326: The Power of God

Xu Qing lifted his head and gazed at the vast sky.

To outsiders, the subtle developments here might have gone unnoticed, but Xu Qing, who understood the Seventh Peak and the Seventh Lord intimately, had already discerned the truth of today’s events—all of this lay within his master’s calculations.

The death of the Sixth Lord, his master’s guilt—Xu Qing had witnessed all of this.

Today’s events also revealed to Xu Qing that his master had already begun delving into profound research on the Candle Illumination.

In an instant, Xu Qing observed the Seventh Lord’s movement.

He soared swiftly toward the sky, joining the Blood-Forged Ancestor and the East Void Master, harnessing the power of the Seven-Blood Eye’s forbidden artifact and the Blood Tree of the Lingyun Sword Sect, weaving a celestial net and earthly web to seal the dense divine essence surrounding the corpse.

His intent was to seize the Candle Illumination, study it through the Seven-Blood Eye’s power, and deepen his understanding further, laying the foundation for its eventual destruction.

At that moment, the Blood-Forged Ancestor suddenly raised his head toward the sky in a bow.

“Thank you, Sword Court. I, the Seven-Blood Eye, can subdue this corpse. After the battle, I will deliver sixty percent of its flesh and blood to the Sword Court and announce our subsequent research.”

As the Blood-Forged Ancestor spoke, thunder rumbled across the sky, and a tranquil voice echoed down.

“Agreed!”

This marked the Eight Clans’ alliance acting in tandem with the Sword Court, requiring the Seven-Blood Eye’s independent subjugation to receive the Sword Court’s approval here.

Clearly, the Seven-Blood Eye’s methods, especially the meticulous orchestration of every detail, earned the Sword Court’s admiration.

More importantly, the Sword Court valued the Seven-Blood Eye’s rare virtue of not coveting wealth.

Meanwhile, similar scenes unfolded at the other three strongholds.

In those locations, identical corpses emerged, radiating explosive divine fluctuations.

Like this place, they were all artifacts of the Candle Illumination’s god-creation ritual.

These constructs, still in gestation, were abruptly interrupted by the Eight Clans’ sudden arrival.

Thus, the incomplete divine might erupted into battle.

The corpses encountered at the other three strongholds—whether composed of what materials remained unknown to the Seven-Blood Eye’s disciples.

But at the Lesser Court of Souls, they immediately discerned that the corpse’s intelligent foundation lay in that tongue.

“That is the tongue of the Holy Sun Sub!” Xu Qing gazed at the sky, suddenly speaking.

His words unraveled the last mystery in the Seventh Lord’s heart, and clarity gleamed in his eyes.

“Then it’s confirmed. This corpse was assembled from fragments—the body of an ancient corpse, limbs and legs from other races, the head a peculiar plant race, its blood infused with divine essence.

No internal organs, but filled with dense alien substance.

The head bore a depression, as if something were to be born within…

It resembled a ritual.”

“The tongue’s purpose was to grant the divine corpse intelligence.

The Candle Illumination’s will, after being transformed, aligned with this intent.

If successful… this would be the Holy Sun Sub’s rebirth!”

“An attempt to forge a new god?”

“Alas, the intelligence was too fragile, subsumed by divine essence, losing self and will.”

As the Seventh Lord pondered, the subdued corpse let out a sky-rending howl.

He sensed the binding force, causing his divine essence to erupt in a wild, chaotic surge that echoed through heaven and earth.

Though not a deity, the dense divine essence amplified the corpse’s life essence, granting it inexplicable powers.

The life essence’s disparity allowed the corpse to possess incomprehensible abilities.

For instance, with but a howl, the very heavens and earth twisted, obscuring not only the world but the minds of all present.

The seven blood disciples of the Sect, and the Lesser Court’s disciples who had fled afar, all convulsed, their instincts driving them to prostrate and worship.

Uncontrollable, unsealable, like mortals confronting a horror, their every motion paralyzed, shivering in primal fear, losing all resistance.

In that instant, the Sect’s disciples on the ground, and the Lesser Court’s disciples afar, all convulsed and knelt.

Only by kneeling could their thoughts find clarity.

Though prostrate, they still trembled, their bodies undergoing strange transformations, subtly resembling the corpse’s form.

As if the corpse became the source, compelling all things to change toward its image.

Only the Blood-Forged Ancestor, East Void Master, and the Seventh Lord, along with Xu Qing, remained unaffected by the divine might.

Xu Qing’s body trembled, yet he did not kneel but raised his head, staring at the corpse with murderous intent.

Having witnessed the awakening of two divine remnants, this mere assembled divine corpse held no right to make him bow.

As for the transformation, though it occurred, even in great measure, with black tendrils sprouting from his body, Xu Qing’s form began to dissipate as his purple crystal suddenly flashed, scattering shadows that greedily absorbed the essence.

This caused the changes in Xu Qing’s body to recede.

Yet the corpse’s divine essence wielded more than these effects.

Under the surge of divine essence, amidst the disciples’ resistance, the corpse let out a silent howl, its body exploded free of all restraints, ascending into the void.

In midair, it suddenly lowered its head, gazing down at the earth, and pressed its right hand upon the ground.

With that press, the earth roared, and countless overlapping images materialized on the bodies of all present—Seventh Lord, Blood-Forged Ancestor, East Void Master, and every disciple.

These images, upon closer inspection, resembled the past and future of each individual.

Layered atop one another, they transformed each person into a scroll, allowing others to read their every moment.

This was an extraordinarily bizarre scene.

In each scroll, the past was clear, while the future remained vague, brimming with countless possibilities and changes.

Yet among these infinite shifts, one image was singular.

That image was today, this place—the death of every soul.

Each scroll bore this image, overlapping and corroborating, including Xu Qing’s.

Xu Qing’s mind thundered; his body convulsed as he saw his past, his countless futures, and one future where he appeared to be drained of form, petrified into reality by an indescribable force.

That image was his death here, consumed by the corpse’s divine essence, his body transformed to perish.

This power transcended Xu Qing’s understanding.

In crisis, Xu Qing’s breath came in ragged pants, his expression twisting with resolve as he struggled to raise his right hand, wielding the black worms containing his poison, which flew toward himself.

In the next instant, the worms landed on Xu Qing, tearing fiercely, merging the poison into his body.

Xu Qing’s form convulsed, his body began to rot, and this rotting death future immediately disrupted the divine essence’s future image, creating opposition.

These two images incessantly interwoven, alternating.

“So this is divinity!”

The Seventh Lord, enlightened, glowed with intense light.

Similarly, he bore such an image, adopting another controllable death to counter the divine essence’s future.

“Ancestor, I’ve gathered enough divine essence samples; we can begin sealing!”

Speaking thus, the Seventh Lord gestured a code, and clouds and mists poured forth, forming a multitude of ferocious beasts, each brimming with sealing power.

Thousands upon thousands, they dispersed in all directions, intertwining until they coalesced into a single massive black cat.

This cat bore no past or future, its vast form enveloping the corpse instantly.

The Blood-Forged Ancestor’s body flickered, instantly transforming into countless blood threads that bound it, each thread radiating an awe-inspiring fluctuation, devoid of past or future.

The Dongyou elder nearby also showed peculiar insight, lifting his hand with a wave, and suddenly a massive flag appeared in the sky.

It was none other than the Human Race Battle Flag.

This flag was thought by outsiders to be a product of the Alliance, but in fact, it was not. It belonged to the Dongyou elder, and had previously been lent to the Seven Blood Eye as a war treasure.

At this moment, the Human Race Battle Flag was unveiled, causing the heavens and earth to change color, with the Seven Blood Eye's taboos fully unleashed, the Blood Tree suddenly erupted, and the sealing power reached its peak, suddenly pressing down upon the corpse.

In the countless blotched blood upon it, that single drop of golden blood scattered brilliant light, and moreover, a finger within it suddenly plunged deep, pointing toward the corpse.

The corpse convulsed violently, letting out a piercing wail, its raised right hand unable to support itself, and had to withdraw.

Attempts to escape were impossible; it could only be subdued by the Seven Lord's Black Cat, bound by the Blood Forged Son's blood threads, have its divine soul sealed by the Seven Blood Eye's taboos, its flesh body locked by the Blood Tree, and be suppressed by the Human Race Battle Flag... subduing the divine nature.

Totally sealed!

With its body sealed, the heavens and earth returned to normal. All the disciples on the ground mostly spat out fresh blood, though their expressions were limp, suffering heavy injuries, yet their lives were not in danger; all the overlapping images upon them vanished in an instant.

Only the fluctuation in their hearts and minds from this battle was immense.

Here, Xu Qing, the external images on his body had also dispersed. As for the poison within his body, with the arrival of the little black worm absorbing it, under the suppression of the purple crystal, and with his own resistance diffusing, it was quickly brought under control.

Gazing at the sealed corpse, a surge rose in Xu Qing's heart. "This is... a god?"