Chapter 1268: Under the Deep Marsh
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
What entered Xu Qing’s mind through Little Shadow was an incredibly shocking scene.)
Below this marsh, there was a vast cavern with an astonishing range.
To the cavern, the mire was the sky curtain, and the cavern itself was like an isolated world.
As for the land of this world, it was a pitch-black void. One could see countless gray fog spreading out from the void, lingering in this world.
However, these weren’t the source of Xu Qing’s shock.
What shocked him was that there was a huge shrine floating in this world!
The size of this shrine occupied one-tenth of this world’s s.p.a.ce, with a rectangular shape that looked like a coffin standing upright in mid-air.
Rotten tendrils drifted from its edges, resembling tentacles swaying with the flow of fog.
The long ones drooped into the void, while the short ones were thousands of feet long and winding.
The entire shrine was a dark golden color, devoid of any gloss, exuding a sense of decay.
It was as though he had experienced countless years, giving off an endless feeling of vicissitudes.
As for the interior, it housed a terrifying presence.
It resembled a spider with dark golden spots all over its body, and it had a man’s head.
A tree branch was nailed into the center of its forehead, piercing through the head. The tree branch was dull, but it gave Xu Qing a piercing feeling as though he was looking at the sun.
At the same time, four ice-formed long spears penetrated the spider’s body, firmly anchoring it to the shrine.
On these four spears, Xu Qing keenly sensed the fluctuation of the moon’s power.
This wasn’t the end, on the eight legs of this terrifying ent.i.ty, there were eight clay jars, each emitting the aura of Star Flame.
This terrifying existence had been sealed to death, and the shrine itself was like a coffin!
It had both the effect of storage and the might of a seal.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that there were countless marks engraved outside the shrine. Every mark exuded the aura of a G.o.d.
Xu Qing’s heart was filled with endless waves. However, this wasn’t all that shocked him.
At most, it could only be considered half.
The remaining half of the shock came from… under the shrine.
Under the shrine, in the void of this world, as the fog flowed, some rare scenes were revealed. There… was a huge mountain formed by ashes!
Although it was slightly inferior in size compared to the shrine, the difference wasn’t much.
This mountain formed by ashes kept emitting gray fog. Clearly, it was the source of the gray fog of the Jiuli.
It was hard to imagine what kind of existence could transform into so much ashes after death. And around this huge mountain of ashes, there were nine relatively smaller mountains.
Or rather, they weren’t mountains but nine skulls!
They were like dragon heads, sinister and emitting a primordial intent.
Although they no longer had flesh and blood, one could faintly sense their anger and madness when they were alive from the gaping mouths of these skulls.
The ancient sensation emitted by them was extremely dense and the sealing intent was extremely intense.
The scene ended with that.
On the marsh of the Jiuli Forbidden, Xu Qing’s body trembled and he couldn’t control himself as he spat out seven to eight mouthfuls of blood. His body was unstable and he had to retreat for a bit. Even though he only indirectly saw this scene through Little Shadow, it was still a little unbearable for him.
As for Little Shadow… there were no more fluctuations. It was unknown if it was dead or alive.
However, Xu Qing was no longer in the mood to consider Little Shadow. His expression changed as he stared at the ground. The scene in his mind brought him too many guesses.
“That shrine itself is a seal. The spider-like existence inside is clearly a G.o.d!”
“There is the presence of the Sun, Moon, and Star Flame G.o.ds on It. To be suppressed by these three at the same time and needing external objects to a.s.sist in the seal, It must not be a simple G.o.d.”
“As for the mountain of ashes under this shrine…”
Xu Qing drew in a deep breath. He didn’t know who it belonged to but those nine heads caused a name to appear in his mind.
“Jiuli?”
Xu Qing wasn’t sure. According to the information he had checked, Jiuli should have been nine lantern-like shapes, which did not match what he was seeing.
However, Xu Qing had noticed that there was a certain level of fabrication regarding the Jiuli Forbidden. Hence, he couldn’t judge the truth.
“Regardless of whether it’s the Jiuli or not, to be able to exist here, there must be some connection. However, if it is, as the national beast with special significance to the Flame Moon, why would the Jiuli have a shrine suppressing it?”
It’s clearly dead but it’s still being suppressed.”
Xu Qing fell silent. This was clearly a series of suppressions. The three G.o.ds suppressed the unfamiliar G.o.d, and the unfamiliar G.o.d suppressed the mountain of ashes and the nine heads.
Xu Qing found it difficult to understand the story behind this.
Xu Qing frowned and sensed the bronze incense burner above his head.
“It’s about to burn out…”
Compared to the empty s.p.a.ce above the marsh, the scene below 10,000 feet was clearly the main focus of this Jiuli Forbidden through Little Shadow’s scouting.
This was especially so since Xu Qing now knew the source of the gray fog.
In that case, Xu Qing had no other choice.
If I want to leave the Jiuli, the source might be the key. If I can get some of that ashes… or if 1 can think of a way to get one of those nine heads…”
This thought was very crazy.
Xu Qing fell silent and checked his storage bag.
“Actually, there’s another way that can allow me to hold on for a little longer…”
Xu Qing lifted his hand and took out a piece of the Crimson G.o.ddess’ flesh and threw it into the incense burner.
At the next instant, the incense burner trembled and emitted even more smoke rings. However, in this environment, it only slowed the speed of the incense burner’s consumption. There were also side effects, which was that more fog crowded over.
“In the end, it’s not a long-term solution. The more G.o.d power is used here, the more severe the consequences.”
Xu Qing stared at the incense burner and sighed inwardly.
After that, he sensed that due to the isolation from the bronze incense burner, he had recovered quite a bit of the power of the divine source.
Finally, he calculated the time and the scene below appeared in his mind.
“The mountain of ashes is directly under the shrine. It’s not easy to move it, but the nine heads beside it are a little far away…”
At the thought of this, a hint of determination appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes and there was even madness. He lowered his head and looked at the marsh under his feet. He no longer hesitated and directly kept the bronze incense burner that wasn’t finished burning.
The instant the surrounding gray fog invaded, the G.o.d power in his body erupted, driving his body to sink rapidly into the mud.
The moment his body completely entered the mud, intense pain immediately spread throughout his body.
It was a sensation of corrosion. Regardless of whether it was the marsh itself or the gray fog in the surroundings, they were all corroding his body and soul at the same time.
Xu Qing forcefully endured it and borrowed the help of his cultivation and the divine source to resist as he rapidly moved down.
In the blink of an eye, he reached 1000 feet. The corrosion and invasion here were even more terrifying. In fact, many parts of Xu Qing’s body had already disappeared.
However, his speed continued to increase. Very soon, he reached 2000 feet, 3000 feet…
When he reached 4000 feet, his body was already like a skeleton. Xu Qing gritted his teeth and sank another 1000 feet.
He reached a depth of 5000 feet.
Limit.
His body began to melt and his soul appeared to be dimming. At the critical moment, Xu Qing took out a piece of Crimson G.o.ddess’ flesh and directly swallowed it.
The flesh of the Crimson G.o.ddess was like fire entering his mouth, exploding in his body. A large amount of divine source power spread out from Xu Qing’s entire body.
This caused him, who was already in a melting state, to almost collapse.
In reality, if it weren’t for this environment, directly devouring the flesh of the Crimson G.o.ddess would probably be much more destructive for Xu Qing. This was also the reason why he didn’t use it in his battle with Ji Dongzi.
But here, the divine power was rejected, abhorred, and dissipated. The gray fog and mud from the surroundings indirectly helped Xu Qing.
It was like putting an inflating balloon in water. There was a certain level of counteraction.
This allowed his body to barely hold on after swallowing the flesh of Crimson G.o.ddess.
Relying on this violent force, Xu Qing rushed downward again.
6000 feet, 7000 feet, 8000 feet. During this time, the power brought about by Crimson G.o.ddess’ flesh rapidly melted.
He continued until he reached 9,000 feet. He was at his limit again.
Xu Qing was aware that he couldn’t continue to devour the flesh of the Crimson G.o.ddess. Even though he was in this environment, his body wouldn’t be able to hold on.
Hence, he lifted his melting right hand and grabbed downwards with the location of the skull closest to him in his memory.
With this grab, the world seemed to have transformed into a well. Regardless of whether it was illusory or real, it should have appeared inside.
However… the seal here and the limitation of distance blurred everything. What Fishing the Moon From the Well reflected was also distorted and indistinct.
He grabbed, but there was nothing.
The fishing failed!
At the next instant, Xu Qing’s body began to melt, as though it was about to be devoured by the marsh. However, very soon, life lanterns flew out of his broken body, forming Sundials.
They each rotated and the power of time erupted from his body.
Time reversed.
At the next moment, Xu Qing’s figure disappeared. When he reappeared, he wasn’t outside the marsh. He was still in the mud. However, he wasn’t 9,000 feet down but 1,000 feet.
The environment here affected everything. Even the time power of the Sundial was weakened.
After he appeared, Xu Qing immediately rushed up. The moment he broke through the mud and rushed out, he spat out a mouthful of blood. His body was covered in rot and his injuries were serious.
He immediately took out the bronze incense burner and let it float above his head.
With the help of the incense burner’s smoke rings, Xu Qing sat cross-legged and did his best to recover.
Time flowed by. Every time the incense burner was about to be extinguished, Xu Qing would throw out a piece of Crimson G.o.ddess’s flesh into it, slowing its extinguishing. This consumption was extremely extravagant and as the divine power continued to appear, the fog in the surroundings became extremely dense.
That sense of karma had already seeped into his bones.
However… there was no other way.
Even if it was drinking poison to quench his thirst.
Half a day later, Xu Qing opened his eyes. His injuries were still there but his divine sources had somewhat recovered. His soul threads also showed activity because of the absorption of the Crimson G.o.ddess’s flesh.
His heart ached because of such extravagant consumption. However, he could only suppress this heartache now and close his eyes to continue recovering.
The day slowly pa.s.sed.
When Xu Qing opened his eyes again, his divine sources had mostly recovered. Hence, he lowered his head and looked at the mud under him, recalling his failure earlier.
“There’s another way… In theory, it should work!”