Xu Changqing's feeling at this moment was strange. His consciousness gradually began to awaken, yet it remained hazy, like an embryo being nurtured. It was the same feeling he had experienced when he reincarnated years ago.
Back then, he had reincarnated inside a woman's womb, wrapped in amniotic fluid. It felt exactly like this, as though he were now a living being nurtured by heaven and earth.
Flesh, bones, and Nascent Soul all floated within the white water, washed over as clouds of white mist rose from them.
"Buzz!"
The shattered fragments of the Bone Saber glowed faintly, trying to isolate the white water and allow Xu Changqing to escape. But it had still underestimated the water's power.
The moment it approached, the black hole in the heavens directly hurled down vast numbers of weapons evolved from laws.
That black hole hovered above the brilliant river of stars, standing amid the Ten Thousand Paths. Endless lightning crashed down in sheets, submerging the white water.
Yet at that very instant, his consciousness fully awakened. Feeling that he could control his body, he hurriedly stuffed every pill he had been reluctant to use into his mouth and took out countless treasures.
The moment he finished all that, a thunderous boom rang out. The terrifying Heavenly Tribulation instantly blasted Xu Changqing's physical body into Blood Mist, while his bones turned to powder and drifted through the white river, swallowed by the endless Sea of Lightning.
His Nascent Soul fell silent, and his entire being entered a state of death.
No one knew how long passed before the pouring Heavenly Tribulation began to fade. The white water did not disappear, but turned illusory, as though it had never existed.
"Changqing, Changqing!" On the other side, Mu Miaomiao cried out tearfully. Her bright eyes had already reddened, and tears streamed down without pause.
Like a madwoman, she ran toward where the Heavenly Tribulation had descended, shouting there in utter collapse.
There was nothing left there. Not even ashes remained, and Xu Changqing's broken weapon had vanished as well.
A blurry shadow appeared beside Mu Miaomiao. After a long silence, it said, "Xu Changqing's life aura has already disappeared. It seems he did not succeed. His body and Dao have perished."
It was also the first time It had seen Mu Miaomiao display such emotions. Had It known, It would never have let this girl go out to gain experience. Then Xu Changqing would never have appeared, and things would not have become like this.
"Dead... he's dead..." Elsewhere, Lin Siyu, dressed in a green robe, also revealed a pained expression. Guilt and regret filled her eyes.
As Xu Changqing's first wife, it was impossible for her to have felt no love for him. If not for Xu Changqing, she would have long since been captured as a slave, or perhaps reduced to a beggar living a life where her survival was never assured.
It was Xu Changqing who married her and gave her a stable home.
"I'm sorry. I didn't keep my promise back then," Lin Siyu murmured, staring blankly at Xu Changqing's tattered battle robes drifting through the Starry Sky.
Then she saw that exquisite woman carefully gather up the bloodstained black garments.
Mu Miaomiao wiped away the tears in her eyes, then turned and met Lin Siyu's gaze. Neither woman spoke. They simply walked away in silence.
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, everyone saw Xu Changqing's weapon fragments erupt with an incomparably brilliant light before tearing through the void of the universe and fleeing away.
"His Dao Artifact spirit has not perished!" Everyone was astonished. It had clearly already been reduced to fragments, and there was not even a trace of the spirit's aura left. Yet it could still escape.
Several hundred white fragments flew off in one direction. Some tried to chase after them, but a terrifying force imprisoned them.
No one knew what that force was. They could not move, not even Saints.
Mu Miaomiao's master had acted. As a top-tier powerhouse, It imprisoned everyone present with a single thought, preventing them from pursuing those weapon fragments.
"What a pity. That little fellow died beneath the Heavenly Tribulation. Otherwise, we could have captured him and studied him."
"The talent to create a physique on his own is truly terrifying. If he had been allowed to grow, just how powerful would he have become? Perhaps he could have stood shoulder to shoulder with an Emperor?"
"Even our young Dao Bodies were defeated by their hands. They are stronger than we were in our youth. What a pity..."
Within the seven forbidden regions known as the Life Forbidden Zone, Supremes actually awakened and sighed in amazement. They had all been awakened by that terrifying Heavenly Tribulation, after all—it had appeared directly above their heads.
Moreover, it was a Heavenly Tribulation they had never seen before. Their figures had appeared within it, and their young Dao Bodies had nearly fought the tribulation-crossers to a six-four split.
Xu Changqing and the others had six, while these Supremes only had a forty percent chance of victory.
Xu Changqing lay naked in a grassland, white mist still continuously evaporating from his body. It filled the entire mountain forest with immortal aura, as though auspicious clouds from the heavens had submerged the place.
When the Heavenly Tribulation dispersed, he had used his life-saving means: pills inherited from two Demonic Great Sages and a quasi-Emperor powerhouse.
At the final moment of the Heavenly Tribulation, his consciousness had fully awakened, and his Nascent Soul returned to his shattered body. The instant he swallowed the pills, he was submerged by the endless Sea of Lightning and turned to ash.
But he had not died. Those pills had preserved his Nascent Soul, along with some flesh and bones.
After the Heavenly Tribulation vanished, he vanished with it.
The fragments of his Ruthless Blade had carried away his flesh and bones.
Inside the Ruthless Blade was a great world, filled everywhere with departed souls, but it also contained Paradise.
Most of Xu Changqing's belongings were inside it. No one knew how many living beings the Ruthless Blade had slain, but it possessed a miraculous trait.
It stored endless Nascent Souls and souls within it, all of which it could absorb to ensure that it would not die.
Although its body had already shattered, its spirit was merely severely wounded.
While fleeing, it used the Great Sage Divine Travel Talisman Xu Changqing had left inside it.
The Heavenly Tribulation had passed, and heaven and earth bestowed their feedback, restoring Xu Changqing's physical body.
At this moment, he lay quietly on a lush green grassland. Bright sunlight hung in the sky, while tender green grass was shrouded in the immortal aura emanating from Xu Changqing's body, dew dripping from the blades.
His hair was white, and his body was tall and robust. He lay silently upon the grassland, transparent law runes constantly flowing across his skin. All kinds of rules moved across his body like little snakes.
A long blade stood quietly embedded in the grass beside him, radiating a scarlet glow. The blade was covered in cracks, and red light within every crack held the fragments together, preventing them from falling apart.
Xu Changqing's consciousness gradually awakened. He opened his hazy eyes, and the piercing light made him instinctively raise a hand to shield them.
He opened his eyes and saw the blazing sun overhead, the boundless grassland, and snow-capped mountains in the distance.
"Success..." His face remained calm as he murmured softly, though an expression of pain at the loss also appeared on it.
"The blood pills made from the countless living beings slaughtered by the two Demonic Great Sages, along with the living beings of endless planets, were used by me. I had intended to use them to contend with those freaks on Emperor's Road. Who would have thought..."
Years ago, he had entered the tomb of a Great Sage named the Blood Demon Great Sage. After enduring countless trials and hardships, he had finally obtained the Blood Demon Great Sage's entire fortune.
At the time, his girlfriend had been slain before his eyes, and he had already begun showing signs of falling into demonic cultivation.
Because of his experiences, his heart had become somewhat twisted. Within the Blood Demon Great Sage's illusion, he did not know how many living beings he slaughtered. Only after killing across hundreds of life starfields did he break free from the illusion.
Within that tomb were records personally written by the Blood Demon Great Sage. They described how, during his battles on Emperor's Road, he had slaughtered too many living beings and offended a quasi-Emperor powerhouse.
After suffering a casual strike from that quasi-Emperor, he had no hope of survival left. He had only managed to escape from the quasi-Emperor by using his trump card, but could do nothing except wait quietly for death.
The blood pills refined from slaughtering countless living beings—he understood that he had no way to survive, so he intended to leave them to his inheritor and have that inheritor avenge him.
Find that quasi-Emperor's family, and then kill them all.
Xu Changqing had agreed. Even if the quasi-Emperor's family had never offended him, he would still do it. There was no other reason: the Blood Demon Great Sage's inheritance had allowed him to rise and successfully take revenge.
"Since I succeeded, I'll rest for a while, then head to Emperor's Road..."
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