Chapter 1214 - Essence of the Bull Gate

A wave of heat surged forward! Everywhere one looked, there was scorching fire. The world was a crimson expanse, exceptionally bright, dazzling to the eyes! The entire land was composed of blazing flames, slowly rolling, with occasional bursts of fiery liquid shooting skyward, scattering apart. In mid-air, they would spontaneously explode, dispersing with a roar, transforming into ancient and mysterious rune imprints. From afar, it seemed as if an eternal rain of runes had descended here. However, once these runes fell to the ground, they would turn into red Seaweed, attempting to grow here, but unfortunately... in that searing heat, the Seaweed could scarcely exist. Often, in an instant, they would turn to flying ash, merging into the fiery liquid, becoming part of it. Only through some chance, or an extremely small probability, could one or two stalks of Seaweed manage to persist in this place. Barely surviving. Yet, during the growth process, they would still encounter the burning heat, so at this moment, as Xu Qing's gaze swept across the eight directions, he could only see a scattered one or two stalks. They were in a withered state, and might at any moment turn to flying ash, never to exist again. "Though this is only a small region of this sun, judging by this amount, even on the entire sun, the surviving Seaweed... there might not be many." Xu Qing pondered, raising his head to look into the distance. After slightly adapting to the temperature here, he suddenly spoke. "Where is the place of imprisonment? In which direction?" He inquired from the Seaweed in the outside world. After a moment, a vague will echoed in his mind. "Center... Immortal Oath, I cannot go deep, the Seaweed here..." "I can assist..." This will was intermittent. Clearly, for the astonishing Seaweed from the outside world, this sun made it apprehensive. The essence of this apprehension perhaps stemmed from a certain divine vow it mentioned, or perhaps something else. "A means of balance? Or intentional?" Xu Qing pondered, recalling the previous scenes. He felt the former was more likely, though naturally, he wouldn't reduce his caution against the latter. Thus, his body flickered, whistling forward. He wanted to see the full view of this sun and find the core location sealing the divine beings before making a decision. In this way, time flowed. Days later, Xu Qing's speed gradually slowed down. Even with his cultivation level, he felt increasingly uncomfortable here. At this moment, he needed to pause after every certain distance, relying on the Seaweed present on the ground to adjust himself before he could continue. Finally, after half a month, Xu Qing reached his limit. He had to stop in front of a Seaweed. Fortunately, although he hadn't truly stepped onto the core of this place, with his divine sense, he could vaguely perceive the center. The moment his perception probed forward, Xu Qing's eyes narrowed. In his perception, he "saw" a world-shocking great sword! This sword was enormous, piercing through this sun. The part exposed on the ground was a hilt like a giant peak. It was imaginable that at another position of this sun, there must be a sword tip bursting from the ground, astonishing the world. In the instant of perceiving this scene, Xu Qing suddenly had an epiphany. "That divine being is not imprisoned within this sun, but rather..." …He is this sun!" "This sun is that divine being!" "Just like a Lesser Immortal... a true god!" Xu Qing's pupils contracted, and he slowly lowered his head, gazing at the earth beneath his feet, looking at the withered Seaweed beside him, his heart stirred. "And that sword is the source that suppresses this true god, the very entity that seals this god!" "It pierces here, penetrating this god, leaving this true god in a state of neither life nor death, thus... He cannot return by relying on His true name!" "As for the Seaweed, to those divine beings on its leaves, it indeed is a prison." "But to this true god, it is merely a warden!" "It desires more than I do to cultivate through this true god, which is why it relentlessly scatters seeds, making the Seaweed take root and exist here." "For the purpose of absorption! Because those scattered Seaweeds are actually attempting to absorb the essence from this true god..." "However, due to the environment and position here, the amount of Seaweed is too scarce, leading to the absorption of very little essence." Xu Qing pondered for a moment, raising his right hand, taking out the wooden slip used for collecting heterogeneity, and pressed it onto the earth below. His cultivation burst forth fully. But unlike the previous absorption of other divine beings, this time, Xu Qing's collection did not cause any tremor on the ground, and the sun itself remained unchanged. Even though there were a few golden threads of essence faintly rising from the ground, the amount was truly too little. A heavy obstruction seemed to exist, causing the collection not to fail entirely, but the effect was not satisfactory. After a while, Xu Qing stopped collecting, he raised his head, looking toward the giant peak where the sword hilt was located, his eyes shining brightly. "This ground is like a shell, making it very difficult to collect essence here. "The truly suitable place for harvesting should be where that sword was pierced!" "There, that's the wound of this true god!" Xu Qing squinted his eyes and suddenly spoke. "So, if we really want to feast, we need you to go all out... Either choose to consume all your previous preparations, and I will also spare no effort, for us to seize this opportunity, and savor the agony." "Otherwise, we can only absorb some of the free-floating primordial essence." After Xu Qing finished speaking, he waited silently. After a while, the withered Seaweed in front of him suddenly swayed, as if it had made some kind of decision. In an instant, this Seaweed reversed from its withered state to a scarlet hue. Not only did it do so, but at this moment, all the surviving Seaweed on this sun transformed from their respective withered states to scarlet and then ascended into the sky. From a distance, they looked like red flowers from the other shore, moving from all directions towards the place where Xu Qing now stood. Even though many Seaweeds turned to ashes under the impact of the flames along the way, they still advanced in succession. A comprehensive ascent! In an instant, the void around Xu Qing twisted, and Seaweed appeared out of thin air, rapidly converging towards him. Xu Qing did not dodge, allowing the Seaweed to arrive, layer upon layer enveloping him, a process that lasted for dozens of breaths. Subsequently, Xu Qing, standing there, had completely changed his appearance. A scarlet grass armor composed of Seaweed enveloped his entire body, causing his height to surge to several hundred zhang. Standing there like a giant. A majestic vitality erupted from within these Seaweeds, pouring into Xu Qing's entire body, forming an astonishing shield. This is the culmination of countless years of effort and accumulation by the Seaweed on this sun, gathered bit by bit! A flash of brilliance appeared in Xu Qing's eyes. He could feel that the Seaweed was indeed giving its all. Thus, he didn't hesitate in the slightest, switching between the five poles, using the mutual restraint of the five elements to achieve ultimate resistance, then unleashing the Temporal Edict, and layering the universe into an illusion. This scattered the pressure from the path ahead. Then, as the Immortal Embryo shone, his entire being shot forward like a lightning bolt. In an instant, he sped away, heading straight for the place where the great sword was perceived just moments ago. The closer he got, the heavier the oppressive force from this place became, and the flames grew increasingly terrifying. Even though Xu Qing was shielded by the armor of Seaweed, it visibly burned, continuously turning into flying ash. Xu Qing was well aware that if he relied solely on himself, it would be impossible to reach this place. Once the Seaweed dissipated, he feared that he would be instantly incinerated into ashes. After all, this was a true god! But none of this could deter Xu Qing's determination. He accelerated even more! Madness shone in his eyes! If Er Niu were here to witness this scene, he would undoubtedly be greatly impressed, believing that little Ah Qing had grasped the true essence of the Bull Gate. Thus, time passed. Finally, amidst Xu Qing's frantic sprint, under the desperate augmentation of the Seaweed armor, his figure crossed a vast distance and appeared at the core of this sunlit place. In the distance, that great sword truly appeared before Xu Qing's eyes. At the moment he saw the great sword, Xu Qing's breath was ragged, his whole body trembling, with both his soul and flesh seemingly on the verge of combustion. Yet the madness in his eyes remained undeterred by the scorching flames; instead, it intensified upon seeing the great sword! In the next instant, without hesitation, Xu Qing bit through the tip of his tongue, spewing out a mouthful of fresh blood. With this, he stimulated himself, further employing the Blood Escape technique to charge violently forward. Amidst the roaring, when seventy percent of the Seaweed armor had vanished, Xu Qing's figure finally burst forth from the extreme heat, arriving before the giant sword! At the moment of approach, his entire body began to burn, and he saw the place clearly. It was an astonishing chasm, with the ground at the edge of the sword's blade still attempting to grow flesh and blood, as if trying to heal the wound and expel the great sword. But the penetration of the great sword was unwavering, immovable, rendering the recovery perpetually incomplete since its inception. They were locked in a stalemate. And as he neared this place, Xu Qing's heart erupted with a sense of life and death. He knew very clearly that perhaps in the next moment, the Seaweed would no longer hold, and all his resistance would collapse. Yet... in this life-and-death crisis, he also sensed a dense essence, right within that flesh and blood! The concentration of this essence was unprecedented in all Xu Qing had ever seen! If there were to be a comparison, perhaps only the depths of the Ink Soil, which he could not delve into, might match this. Such a fortuitous encounter, such a blessing... Xu Qing's madness intensified, and his mind instantly transmitted a divine thought. "Fox, be vigilant!" The fox beauty mark on his arm immediately emitted a chilling aura, and the divine power from Her erupted fully, once again empowering Xu Qing. This not only bought him time but also guarded against any potential malice the Seaweed might harbor, or perhaps not. Having done this, Xu Qing immediately sat cross-legged, raised his right hand, and pressed down with the collection wooden slip. Instantly, the earth roared, and golden threads burst forth directly from the sword wound, like a fountain! Surging with world-shaking might! At this moment, Mud Fox was in awe. Seaweed was in excitement. Xu Qing was in madness!