Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 1276: The Demise of Myriad Gods

Xu Qing had seen many, many gods. He had even seen a few True Gods. However… he had never seen anything like Young Lord Aurora as hē stood there on the primeval motherworld, emanating such mightiness.

The mutagen was extremely strong and terrifyingly active, causing all surrounding things to ripple and distort. Hīs godly will was like a sharp blade that caused heavenly bodies to tremble and universes to vibrate. What was more, the holy, golden light emanating off hīm was equally impressive.

At the same time, hīs form was changing! Black crystals spread out across hīs chest, becoming like a suit of scale armor. And upon the crystals were complex and ancient designs. The designs formed a network like a star chart, every part of which pulsed with an astonishing godly will. Astonishingly, if one looked closely, it would become clear that the lines which made the design were actually hīs true name!

From within the design stretched a dense host of blood vessels that connected to the primeval motherworld. As Young Lord Aurora rose to hīs feet, it looked like hē was actually an integral part of the motherworld!

The land of flesh around hīm churned. With the planetary skin to serve as heaven, and blood raining down, all heaven and earth was crimson, serving as the perfect complement to hīm. The anguished howls of the motherworld formed part of the background. As for the rise and fall of the surrounding lands, they corresponded to Young Lord Aurora’s breathing. It was the same with the pulsing of the subterranean meridians.

Taken altogether, everything became hīs terrifying personhood!

It was not merely the personhood of a peak True God. There was also the presence of the true name, the connection to the primeval motherworld, and even more deeply… the spark formed by the godbane! This personhood could step through the doorway of something truly paramount! A personhood like this would have a profound impact on the surrounding world!

Even when just barely sensing it, Xu Qing felt that familiar sensation of his fleshly body being a separate entity that wanted to split away from him. After his cultivation base reached a certain level in the past, he had ceased to ever experience that sensation. But now, in the presence of Young Lord Aurora, he felt his breathing becoming unstable. His body felt like it was being ripped apart, and his eyeballs seemed to swivel of their own accord.

Though he was able to forcefully suppress such effects, the infection of a god that he was experiencing caused something like chanting to explode in his ears. The chanting of a godly voice filled every part of him, turning into distortions and madness that wanted to destroy all life.

At that moment of crisis, Xu Qing unleashed all of the ringsource he had to suppress the abnormalities. Those abnormalities became a destructive, unstoppable tempest that threatened to wipe away all forms of resistance within him.

But then a voice spoke into Xu Qing’s soul. It was a godly voice that came from himself, and from his own true name from earlier.

“Xu Qing.”

The sound caused a tremor to pass through him. His eyes instantly became clear, and all the abnormalities within him instantly calmed down. A strange connection to the Fourth Star Ring appeared with his soul.

He took a deep breath and looked at Immortal Fairy Spirit Phoenix at his side.

A bubble had appeared, surrounding her and cutting her off from the outside. Her gaze was fixed solely on Young Lord Aurora below. She was his wife, and she was also the daughter of Nineshores, so it was only natural that she would have special protections in situations like this.

However, after Xu Qing sensed the nature of the bubble… a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

The aura of the Immortal Paragon….

Even as he studied the bubble, Immortal Fairy Spirit Phoenix suddenly said, “My husband’s human nature is disappearing!”

Hearing that caused Xu Qing’s attention to instantly shift to Young Lord Aurora.

Young Lord Aurora stood on the planetary uterus, black crystals spreading out over hīm, godly might surging and cold apathy filling hīs eyes. Hīs human nature was rapidly fading away, while hīs godly nature was quickly filling hīm up. It seemed just on the verge of completely overwhelming hīm.

That was when Immortal Fairy Spirit Phoenix produced a certain object. It was a golden plaque that seemed to pulse with ancient time.

Written in calligraphy as flamboyant as dancing dragons and swirling phoenixes were some words.

Two families are now united in marriage by this covenant that never ends….

And thus, the agreement is confirmed.

Every word seemed to contain life force. It was canon. It was law. And it came from… Immortal Lord Aurora! This item was the marriage contract between Immortal Fairy Spirit Phoenix and Young Lord Aurora!

As soon as it appeared, karma created a pulling force like a powerful anchor. The words on the plaque glittered, full of the blessings of Immortal Lord Aurora. And then the plaque floated through the air toward the young lord. As it neared, a connection sprang into being!

Young Lord Aurora shivered, and the cold apathy that had been flooding hīs eyes suddenly stopped.

Two names flew off of the marriage contract. They were the names of Immortal Fairy Spirit Phoenix and Young Lord Aurora, and as they flew forth and merged into hīm, the coldness and apathy showed signs of melting.

Upon seeing that, Xu Qing waved his hand, causing his immortal embryo to appear. Within it, the Aurora Immortal Palace rose up, turning into his own karma, which in turn provided another anchor. It connected with Young Lord Aurora!

Gods were without emotions! Of course, that was not an absolute. Normally speaking, preheaven gods were all like that, although there were exceptions. For example, Goddess Starryeyes had developed emotions because of unique outside influences.

As for postheaven gods, thēy would usually experience a complete transformation. However, emotions still existed in thēir memories, and whenever thēy recalled the past, it would result in slight fluctuations. However, thēy were little more than fluctuations. The exception was when some gods, before transforming, buried obsessions deep inside. Then, if the fluctuations became strong enough, the importance of an anchor would become manifest.

Anchors were more often used to re-awaken human nature, but even more than that… to affix human nature permanently in place! They could make human nature like a towering reef that would remain no matter what huge waves smashed against it.

Right now, the marriage contract and the Aurora Immortal Palace tugged at Young Lord Aurora, causing the cold apathy in hīs eyes to melt away. Human nature did not disappear.

Looking around, Young Lord Aurora murmured, “So this is what it feels like to transform from being an immortal into a god.”

To hīs eyes, the world looked different now. It was withered, feeble, dirty, and chaotic…. Everything about the past didn’t seem important now. What was precious before became distracting. Even the most important people were like dust. The only thing worth pursuing in life was the elevation of one’s own life force. And anything that got in the way of that should be destroyed. It didn’t matter who the obstructer was.

Except… Young Lord Aurora’s gaze fell on Immortal Fairy Spirit Phoenix and Xu Qing. Those two people were like threads connected to hīm, guiding hīs thoughts and becoming exceptions. They were like two burning fires in hīs life, lamps that could lead hīm back home.

“No problem. I’m fine.” Young Lord Aurora smiled at Immortal Fairy Spirit Phoenix and Xu Qing. It looked as if hē was working hard to rekindle emotion. “I remember. I know what I have to do next.”

Reaching up with hīs crystal-covered right hand, hē made a slashing motion toward the canopy of heaven. Huge rifts opened up in the air, and deep inside of them was primal-chaos that didn’t come from this dimension.

Xu Qing’s pupils constricted as he realized that, on the other side of the rifts were countless chains of karma, crumbling and reforming. Turbulence struck all the natural and magical laws, as if a pair of unseen hands were re-writing the rules of logic that governed the star ring.

Then Young Lord Aurora spoke in a calm voice that echoed like thunder.

“Godhood, assemble!”

The entire primeval motherworld shook violently! Millions upon millions of streams of golden light erupted from the subterranean meridians, like an inverted river of stars. The air screamed as it was overwhelmed. Countless blood-red bolts of lightning shattered the surface of the planetary skin, turning everything red.

Striations that defied description spread out from the motherworld to fill the space-time memories. Where they spread, innumerable heavenly bodies were affected, and were extinguished like candles.

At the same time, the force of attraction from the Fourth Star Ring distorted and was thrown into chaos. All planetary regions, all universes, all-star domains, and countless other orbiting objects shifted. The entire structure of the star ring was forcibly distorted due to the movement of Young Lord Aurora’s hand.

What was influenced the most dramatically, though, were the memories of all the gods in the Fourth Star Ring! The primeval motherworld existed in a place between illusion and reality, and was part of the memories of all gods in the Fourth Star Ring. Therefore, whatever happened to the primeval motherworld would affect those memories.

At the moment, countless gods shivered within thēir temples. The instinct to prostrate erupted from thēir god souls.

***

In a temple in the extreme north of the Fourth Star Ring, in a god kingdom that had parasitized that area, a sacrifice was underway. There was a species of Godfolk there called the Star Spirits, who were currently peering deeply into the memories of the Fourth Star Ring. All of a sudden, they descended into madness and started withering up.

The god kingdom was eradicated and turned into ruins. Within those ruins, the corpses of their species crumbled into dust, leaving behind only paltry golden eyeballs that fell to the ground.

Within those eyeballs were the scattered remnants of what they had been looking at. It was a godly figure covered in an endless aurora, who was being coronated with a crown made of a black singularity!

***

In the western star systems of the Fourth Star Ring, there was one particular galaxy that had been woven into the shape of a bell. Seated cross-legged in front of it was a god.

The god seemed miniscule compared to the bell. However, floating around that god were countless star charts, all of them in constant motion. A tremor passed through the god, and blood started oozing out of hīs eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. The star charts around hīm suddenly exploded! Hīs eyes snapped open, hīs pupils constricting as hē realized that he was withering rapidly.

“The demise of myriad gods!! Isn’t that the sign of a True God being born? No. No, this can’t be! This is… some terrifying entity is stealing the paramount authority!”

The god trembled as hē withered into nothing. Then, using the last scrap of energy hē had in hīm, hē rang the bell. The sound of a tolling bell swept through the entire Fourth Star Ring.

***

In the east of the Fourth Star Ring was the Temple of Eternal Silence, part of the Wisdom Heights God Kingdom, which was responsible for weaving fate. All of a sudden, it erupted with golden light.

Inside of the temple were the statues of many gods, whose eyes snapped open. Expressions of shock appeared on thēir faces, but before any of thēm could say a word, thēy crumbled into ashes. The webs of fate that thēy had been weaving for countless millions and millions of years collapsed into nothing.

***

All of those things were only the tip of the iceberg. Similar scenes were playing out everywhere in the Fourth Star Ring!