Ti flowed like water.
Three hundred years had passed in Wanggu.
In these three centuries, Wanggu had known peace. The anomalous substances that once plagued the world had vanished, and most of its gods had departed following Xu Qing’s return.
Only a handful remained.
Across the Ninth Star Ring, the divine hierarchy had dissolved after the disappearance of the Venerable Gods.
Only Desolate remained.
Its complete visage still hung high above Wanggu, Its eyes forever closed.
As for those familiar to Xu Qing—each had walked their own path in these three hundred years. Among them, Old Master Seventh, having reached the limits of his cultivation due to the uniqueness of his techniques, made the sa choice as before...
He stepped into the cycle of reincarnation.
But this ti, he did not enter Wanggu’s cycle of reincarnation.
He went to Profound Earth, seeking rebirth there.
This was his Dao.
After making this decision, he told Xu Qing:
"We will et again in the future."
Xu Qing did not stop him. With a silent nod, he personally escorted Old Master Seventh to Profound Earth, watching as his figure faded into the Profound Earth Star Ring before offering a deep bow.
Next, Xu Qing went to Brilliant Heaven.
There, he gazed upon his still-slumbering Eldest Senior Brother.
With his current cultivation and understanding, Xu Qing had pieced together clues about his origins.
"Not tied to the Primordial Ho Planet... Eldest Senior Brother must be connected to the Umbilical Cord of the Divine God."
Murmuring to himself, Xu Qing turned and left Brilliant Heaven, returning to Mount Morning Glow.
There, he continued the cultivation he had pursued for three hundred years.
The realm of Venerable Immortal was now within his grasp.
The fusion of the twin planets would mark true unity—and the path to Venerable Immortal.
But this process demanded an unfathomable length of ti.
However, he wasn’t in a hurry.
Nor did he imrse himself solely in cultivation. With a tranquil heart, he savored the passage of life, experiencing the turning of seasons alongside Zi Xuan—year after year.
Then, one day on Mount Morning Glow, as Xu Qing listened with a smile to Zi Xuan recounting their first eting, his heart suddenly stirred.
He looked up at the sky.
In the next instant, while his physical form remained on the mountain, another version of himself appeared high above—before the visage of Desolate suspended in the heavens.
Facing the closed-eyed Desolate, Xu Qing sat cross-legged and waited.
After several dozen breaths...
For the first ti in a millennium, the motionless Desolate slowly opened Its eyes!
No longer was one eye crimson and the other void.
Both now shone with clarity as they fixed upon Xu Qing.
"You’ve awakened."
Xu Qing spoke calmly.
Desolate remained silent. Then, after a long pause, a deafening roar erupted across all of Wanggu!
Had one observed Wanggu from the starry void beyond at this mont, they would have seen Desolate’s spine—coiled around the world like a centipede—suddenly unfurl!
In the blink of an eye, it stretched fully before rapidly shrinking.
Along with Desolate’s complete face!
In monts, It seed to vanish entirely!
At this very hour, the hearts of all living beings in Wanggu trembled.
For the first ti since ages ago, the visage that had hung eternally in the sky was gone!
And on the heavens above, before Xu Qing, a figure now sat.
Clad in black robes, with long black hair, he mirrored Xu Qing’s posture—seated cross-legged, lifting His head to reveal a face strikingly similar to Xu Qing’s own.
"My presence across these long years has brought trouble to you and your world. These are the karmic flas of my fate, and they shall persist as long as I exist."
"Thus, upon my ascension to divinity, I swore an oath... All lives extinguished by my hand shall share in my glory in the ages to co!"
The figure spoke softly.
Xu Qing studied Him deeply.
"Should I call you Zi Qing... or Desolate?"
"I myself do not know. I may be Desolate, or Zi Qing, or perhaps the fusion of both. But I prefer the na Zi Qing."
Zi Qing smiled at Xu Qing.
"Then, can you now tell of my origins?"
Xu Qing asked quietly.
A profound light flickered in Zi Qing’s eyes.
"Do you truly wish to know?"
Xu Qing nodded.
Zi Qing fell silent. After a long pause, He lifted His gaze to the distant void.
His voice seed to drift from the river of ti itself as it echoed in Xu Qing’s ears.
"Your fusion has reached its limit. You may complete the final step of the upper star rings at any ti." .
"But whether for Venerable Gods or the path of Venerable Immortal you walk, there are no true divisions between realms—only the strength of the authority one comprehends. In essence... when you arrive, you arrive."
"This is the ceiling of the upper star rings."
"But it is not the limit for us, nor for the pioneers who ca before. According to the most ancient records of the Bizarre Realm, there exists a higher realm beyond ours."
"The Bizarre Realm calls it... the Divine Bizarre."
"The current upper star rings na it Divine God."
"As for you cultivators, in ti you will devise your own term—perhaps ’Xiyi1,’ the nounon of the Dao itself."
Here, Zi Qing’s gaze returned from the distance to settle on Xu Qing.
eting His eyes, Xu Qing seed to grasp sothing. Slowly, he spoke.
"To reach the realm you describe, one must leave the upper star rings and walk the Umbilical Cord of the Divine God."
Zi Qing nodded.
"The na ’Umbilical Cord of the Divine God’ originated in the Bizarre Realm. In the era when it dominated, it was called the ’Bizarre Umbilical Cord.’"
"It is the only path beyond the upper star rings. Only by treading it can one pursue higher realms."
"In my ti, I journeyed to its deepest reaches..."
"That process was my ascension. Or rather, the mont one steps onto the umbilical cord, their ascension begins."
A Daoist concept that represents the formless origin of all things.
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