Chapter 1498: Indomitable Will

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“You won’t let me leave?”

Xu Qing looked at the red candle in the distance and retreated a little, avoiding the range of the flames. With a sway, he flew toward the rift that led to the second level.

A while later, he got close, but… the rift had already disappeared.

“Not only am I not allowed to leave this place, but even the rift leading to the second level has disappeared.”

“The reason…”

Xu Qing’s expression was gloomy.

He quickly made a judgment and finally locked onto three points.

“Firstly, it’s the karma caused by the mask! Either it can’t leave this place or its own power is guiding the candle, causing me to be unable to leave before I make a wish.”

“Secondly, it’s because of this red candle itself! Because of some special characteristics on my body, it is filled with malice toward me and wants to forcefully keep me behind and assimilate me.”

“Thirdly, it’s the divine authority of luck from before! Although I’ve grasped a little of this divine authority, it’s still incomplete after all, so there might be some extreme changes. For example, misfortune descending after good luck?”

Xu Qing sensed the divine authority of misfortune in his body and could tell that it was more active than before.

However, he couldn’t be sure of it just based on this.

“It’s also possible that all of the three reasons are taking effect!”

“Then the solution…”

Xu Qing frowned and his mind raced. At that moment, the cold intent in the surroundings suddenly gathered. In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing retreated.

Cracking sounds echoed out as the void where he was earlier instantly froze.

As Xu Qing’s eyes instantly turned pitch-black as he fused with Little Shadow. He immediately saw countless shadows whistling over from all directions. They seemed to be controlled and emitted dense malice as they headed straight for him.

At the next instant, the sun rose in Xu Qing’s body and the Profound Sun Immortal Light circulated violently, forming countless rays of immortal light. Wherever they passed, the ice would shatter and a large number of shadows would wail.

In the blink of an eye, most of the shadows around Xu Qing were gone.

His body swayed and he rushed out.

However, there were still many shadows that flew out from all directions, heading straight for Xu Qing.

“There can’t be so many of them!”

As Xu Qing sped, immortal light spread out, initiating a passive pursuit within the boundary of the World Source Secret Realm. Moreover, the flames of the red candle were still flickering repeatedly.

Every time, it would cause the stars here to change faster. At the same time, when the light of the candle landed on Xu Qing’s body, it actually caused his soul to feel a burning sensation.

“These shadows aren’t just from the cultivators who died here in the Demon Feather Holy Land over the years!”

“This World Source Secret Realm is far more ancient than the holy lands. Before it descended on the Wanggu, it must have existed in other worlds, which is why… it accumulated so many shadows!”

Killing intent flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes. The characteristics of these shadows were that one could only kill them after seeing them. Since he could see them now, not only could the immortal light kill them, but his other methods could also do it.

Very soon, as the rumbling echoed, a large number of soul threads of the Variant Immortal School surged out of Xu Qing’s body like a torrent. They carried divine authorities and attacked.

Wherever they passed, the shadows would collapse and shatter in batches.

However, not only did Xu Qing’s sense of danger not decrease, but it also became increasingly intense.

This was because under the light of the red candle, the burning sensation from his soul became even more intense.

At the same time, within this World Source Secret Realm, the stars that had turned into a series of paintings began to accelerate in their transformations. It was as if they had become painted eyes, exuding endless greed as they fixed their gaze on Xu Qing.

Their gazes instantly caused Xu Qing to feel a sense of danger.

Other than the burning sensation, his soul even showed signs of tearing. It was as though those star eyes were emitting a terrifying attraction, wanting to suck Xu Qing’s soul out.

Not only that, but what made Xu Qing’s heart sink was that he could sense that his soul was rapidly taking shape from its original formless state.

This shape was a painting!

He was gradually turning into a painting!

To be precise, it was a soul drawn using the body as a drawing board.

“The state of my fusion with Little Shadow allowed me to see those shadows, so I can kill them. However…”

“All things are relative. As 1 see them, my presence allows that red candle to see me as well… thus, the assimilation accelerated.”

“However, if I remove this state, I won’t be able to kill those shadows here because I can’t see them!”

This was contradictory, like an endless cycle.

Xu Qing’s expression was ugly but he still canceled the fusion with the Little Shadow. As the Little Shadow dissipated, when Xu Qing’s eyes were no longer pitch-black, the feeling of his soul being drawn out finally disappeared.

However, Xu Qing couldn’t see the shadows that came from all directions, so he couldn’t kill them. He could only flee at full speed and search for a way to leave.

However, with that red candle around, all of Xu Qing’s attempts to leave failed.

Every time the token was activated, it would be directly interrupted.

In the end, even though he didn’t fuse with Little Shadow, the light from the red candle still caused Xu Qing to show signs of assimilation.

His physical body remained unchanged, but his soul gradually became sluggish, and even his thoughts seemed to be affected, as if his mind had begun to rust.

Not only that, but even the fate marks that Xu Qing had used to transform into Xue Chenzi began to melt away in the eerie red candlelight.

He could no longer maintain his disguise as Xue Chenzi; all his concealments and all the fate connections were dissolving.

As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours. Perhaps it was the third point Xu Qing had analyzed that came into play at this moment. After a stroke of luck, the misfortune he was all too familiar with followed…

A cultivator appeared in front of him!

This was the first time Xu Qing had seen a living person since he came to this secret realm.

It was a cultivator in the three worlds Soul Accumulation realm. It seemed that he hadn’t been here for long and was originally comprehending. However, he was affected by the drastic changes here and flew out of his seclusion. When he looked around in surprise, he noticed Xu Qing.

The instant he saw Xu Qing, the Demon Feather cultivator was clearly stunned. After that, disbelief appeared on his face as he blurted out.

“Xu Qing?”

With the concealments gone and Xu Qing’s reputation being too high in the human race, it was reasonable for him to be instantly recognized. After recognizing Xu Qing, this cultivator didn’t hesitate at all. He directly took out a token and was about to leave.

A vortex appeared beside him as he pinched the token.

Seeing that he was about to leave, a cold glint flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes. He noticed the vortex in the other party’s surroundings and his speed instantly erupted to the extreme.

With a boom, he got close.

However, the instant he got close, the red candle suddenly flickered and instantly erased the vortex beside the cultivator, interrupting the Demon Feather cultivator’s teleportation.

It also caused Xu Qing to be unable to leave.

It was unknown if this bad luck was used on Xu Qing, the cultivator, or perhaps both simultaneously.

After all, Xu Qing also controlled the divine authority of misfortune…

Xu Qing didn’t have the time to analyze the exact reason. Seeing that the other party’s teleportation had collapsed, Xu Qing’s expression turned ugly. As for the Demon Feather cultivator, he quickly retreated in horror.

However, he had retreated less than a hundred feet when his body suddenly trembled. A look of confusion appeared in his eyes, as though he was being controlled. He abruptly looked at Xu Qing and revealed an intense greed. He no longer fled but self-destructed toward Xu Qing.

A rumbling sound instantly echoed.

A while later, Xu Qing left.

The self-destruction of the three worlds Soul Accumulation couldn’t shake his body. However, to him, who was gradually assimilating, there was still a tremor to his soul.

Fortunately, Xu Qing didn’t encounter any other cultivators who entered this place to comprehend.

After all, the amount of battle merits needed to enter this World Source Secret Realm was huge. Hence, there couldn’t be many cultivators here at the same time.

However, Xu Qing still couldn’t think of a way to leave.

The shadows chasing him had increased greatly.

The assimilation was also becoming more severe.

In the end, Xu Qing could clearly feel that the entire secret realm was exuding a thick malice. Even on the path ahead of him, stars or worlds would inexplicably collapse in an instant under the red glow, abruptly crumbling in an impossible state.

There would also be stars that would suddenly appear in the originally empty space and self-destruct.

The destructive power formed by all of this made it impossible for Xu Qing to guard against it.

What was even more exaggerated was that the patience of the red candle seemed to be decreasing. Hence, after an intense flickering, the fire continued to erupt.

It was like the eruption of a volcano. The light was much stronger than before, illuminating this World Source Secret Realm. It was the same for the heat waves, melting everything.

As far as the eye could see, everything in the secret realm was melting.

Stars, worlds, dust…

Other than the red candle, everything else was burning. As for the candle itself, it dissipated a little.

“This is to completely destroy me, leaving no possibility of survival.”

“Unless I can wait until the Empress senses the abnormality here or the candle burns out.”

“Regarding the former, 1 have no idea when it will happen; as for the latter, I’m not sure if the candle will appear again after melting. After all, it might be the karma caused by the mask!”

“The most important thing is that I can’t endure for that long.”

After Xu Qing, who had been fleeing until now, tried a lot of methods but to no avail, the killing intent in his eyes erupted explosively. He only had one method left!

Hence, his body paused and he looked at the candle in the distance with a determined expression.

He knew that if this continued, he would probably die.

“Since you don’t want me to leave and want to assimilate me…”

Madness and ruthlessness appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes. He decided to rush toward the core of this World Source Secret Realm, the red candle, at full speed.

There was a huge risk in this. However, if this method succeeded, the three reasons he was thinking about could be instantly resolved.

The karma of the mask affected the candle, preventing him from leaving.

The candle itself was greedy and wanted to assimilate him.

After the divine authority of luck was used, misfortune would descend.

“Then, I’ll assimilate you!”

Xu Qing’s eyes were bloodshot.. Under the intense swaying of the red candle in front of him and the gathering of countless shadows, he was like a meteor or a moth, moving toward the candle… with indomitable will!

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