The hall fell silent.
No one spoke. Only the Fifth Prince's lingering voice echoed.
The Fifth Prince's action did not arouse resentment, as he directly expressed himself and didn't conceal dark schemes while appearing calm. Instead, he requested a battle in a straightforward and honorable manner.
His words were reasonable, and he also acknowledged the Seventh Prince's mistake and death.
Indeed, as he said, being the elder brother of the Seventh Prince, if he remained indifferent to the news of his brother's death, there would undoubtedly be inner turmoil.
Especially considering that the bonds of family formed the foundation of unity, it made it even harder for anyone to say much more on the matter.
Hence, even the Human Emperor chose not to speak. Clearly, the right to choose was given to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing looked at the Fifth Prince.
The Fifth Prince's eyes were bright. The moment his gaze met Xu Qing's, black flames rose in his eyes, revealing an ominous and deathly intent, as though they were about to erupt.
However, he clearly restrained himself and stared at Xu Qing.
"This battle has nothing to do with our identities. I'm just an elder brother acting for my younger brother!"
"When he was young, every time he was bullied by the other princes, I would be the one to resolve it for him."
"Xu Qing, my brother was in the wrong. He deserves death."
"And you killed him, so I'll fight you!"
After he finished speaking, the battle intent on his body became increasingly obvious as he waited for Xu Qing's answer.
Time passed by, and Xu Qing's heart stirred a little. He thought of some scenes when he was young. Not long ago, he also thought that he had such an elder brother…
Hence, he closed his eyes and calmly spoke.
"Okay."
Almost at the instant Xu Qing's words rang out, the battle intent in the Fifth Prince's eyes couldn't be suppressed anymore. It erupted explosively and a black sea of fire spread in all directions.
The entire palace also changed at this moment. It was as though the scene had shifted. The palace… was no longer there.
Only Xu Qing, who was sitting there, and the Fifth Prince, who was standing below, were left.
It was as though the place they were at had been independently opened up and could be infinitely vast.
This caused the Fifth Prince's black flames to instantly spread extremely far away, surrounding this place and forming an endless sea of black flames.
The temperature rose and the flames continued to rise. The Fifth Prince's figure also grew taller. The aura of his entire body erupted and the power of his cultivation was displayed to the extreme as he walked toward Xu Qing.
The black armor on his body also burned at this moment. He was like a fire giant with an imposing aura.
Every step he took caused this space to rumble and tremble. In the end, he became faster and faster, transforming into a flaming meteor that rushed toward Xu Qing.
The instant he got close, soul threads flew out of Xu Qing's body and weaved outside his body. In the blink of an eye, they formed the third layer of the god form. His bones were crystal and soul threads were the flesh. His blood-colored cloak fluttered and a Purple Moon rose.
The anomalous substances spread out and the surroundings became blurry as the presence of the god became obvious. The god form became a separate existence and left Xu Qing. With a step in front of Xu Qing, it collided with the Fifth Prince who was rushing over.
An earth-shattering boom rang out.
The Fifth Prince, who was like a fire giant, was forced back.
Xu Qing's god form was similarly forced back as well.
The Seventh Prince's cultivation was at the third stage of Nihility!
Xu Qing's third god form also had the same combat strength, so the two of them ended up in a draw after a simple collision.
When he retreated 1000 feet away, the Fifth Prince stopped and abruptly lifted his head. He performed a series of hand seals with both hands and half of his long hair instantly turned gray. Its black color fell off and turned into fog in front of him.
As it continued to rotate, it formed a black oil lantern with flames burning on it.
This fire was golden!
This lantern had an ancient appearance and carried the intent of the underworld. Clearly, it wasn't used by living people but was an item consecrated for the dead. The oil on it was very turbid and emitted an ancient aura, giving off the feeling of a god.
That was the lantern oil refined from a god's corpse!
Holding the lantern, the Fifth Prince took a deep breath and blew at the wick. In an instant, the fire of the oil lantern skyrocketed and the flames inside spread out rapidly. As it continued to sway, it stirred up the sea of fire that spread in this space.
The sea of fire gathered and surged toward the lantern.
In the end, it formed a flaming figure.
This figure's form was ever-changing. Sometimes, it was human, sometimes it was a beast, sometimes it was a bizarre entity, sometimes it was blurry. It didn't have a specific form but the aura it emitted was shocking.
It also had an aura of a god. It was as though under the Fifth Prince's divine art, the corpse oil had transformed into the sense from its former life. After it appeared, it headed straight for Xu Qing's god form.
However, the instant this illusory figure got close, Xu Qing's god form swayed and instantly expanded. Soul threads danced, forming the first god form and the second god form and fusing them into one.
As His aura soared, He lifted His right hand and pointed at the approaching illusory figure.
They instantly collided. After each of them blurred, Xu Qing's god form recovered, while the illusory figure dissipated.
The oil lantern in the Fifth Prince's hand emitted cracking sounds as seven to eight cracks appeared. Blood flowed out of the Fifth Prince's mouth, but the battle intent in his eyes grew even stronger.
He rapidly retreated and used both hands to press the cracked oil lantern fiercely onto the ground.
"Rise, altar of the Flame Offering, ascend the sacred ground, seal the divine thoughts, suppress the heart of the heavens!"
As his voice echoed and the broken oil lantern touched the ground, it shattered into pieces. All the oil inside spread out and the sea of fire in the entire space was infinitely enhanced.
Booming sounds echoed as the flames went crazy and its form changed. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into surging magma that kept rising.
In the magma, there was a white altar that was slowly rising.
There was an item enshrined on the altar.
It was a black funerary urn!
On top of it, there were some decaying seals. While there was an incredibly strong sense of eeriness, there was also a thick, ominous aura spreading from it.
A violent and cruel resentment emanated from within the urn, targeting Xu Qing's god form.
As for the rapidly rising magma, it seemed to want to fill this space.
Xu Qing had never seen such a divine art before. The feeling it gave him was that it was like a spell or something formed by fusing magic treasures.
"King Zhen Yan's Dao?"
Just as Xu Qing was in deep thought, with a thought, the god form he formed outside instantly rushed into the sky. He stared at the altar below and lifted His right hand.
Immediately, the sky churned and the sky in this space became blurry. Three huge inverted mountains appeared.
One mountain was formed of molten rocks, the second was formed of ice, and the third was formed of blood.
As soon as the three mountains appeared, the magma below seemed to be swept away by a violent wind, causing waves to appear.
It was the Withering Flame Demon Magic True Self Dao that Xu Qing had learned from the little butterfly!
As the god form lowered His right hand, the three mountains instantly descended from the sky. They carried a terrifying pressure and a vast aura as they smashed into the magma.
A cold glint flashed in the Fifth Prince's eyes as he rushed out. As he waved his hands, his aura spread out and swept up the magma, ready to confront the mountains.
However, before he could get close, Xu Qing's god form performed a series of hand seals and pointed. Traces like spiderwebs appeared on the three mountain peaks and they actually collapsed on their own, shattering into pieces.
A large number of shattered rocks shot toward the sea of magma like countless meteors.
Even though the Fifth Prince was ready, he had underestimated Xu Qing's god form. The god form performed a series of hand seals and three more inverted mountain peaks appeared in the sky.
After that, there were three more.
All of them smashed down and collapsed on their own, turning into even more fragments.
After that, there were three more.
This technique was used by Xu Qing's god form a total of ten times!
They landed instantly.
No matter how the Fifth Prince tried to stop them, he was still unable to destroy them all.
Soon, the magma exploded and the flames dimmed. As for the countless rubble, they continued to smash down, pressing down on the Fifth Prince's body.
Finally, the entire sea of magma and the altar inside were almost filled up.
However, it looked uneven, and there were echoes of the Fifth Prince's low growls reverberating inside. Many areas were also churning, as if they could burst open at any moment.
But Xu Qing's god form came crashing down at this moment, directly landing on the rocky ground. He slammed His hand fiercely onto the ground before dispersing, turning into countless soul threads that spread across the earth.
Wherever it passed, the bumps would dissipate. Finally, what appeared was… a flat ground.
The soul threads shaped a large number of sealing runes that were flickering.
However, all of this was a little too simple in Xu Qing's perception. The power of the urn didn't seem to be revealed.
At this moment.
"Xu Qing, you were negligent."
The Fifth Prince's voice calmly echoed.
The moment the voice sounded, the sealed ground trembled, and over a hundred areas collapsed. Chains of bone, formed from the ashes, emerged from within the earth.
Most of them entwined around the ground, suppressing the soul threads that were spreading, preventing them from leaving.
The remaining chains rushed straight towards Xu Qing's sitting body in the distance. Their speed was incredible, arriving instantly. Instead of entwining around him, they swiftly spun around him, forming a vortex.
"Xu Qing, as a Region Lord, your significance to the human race isn't small. Hence, I won't kill you."
"However… I'll extract your divine soul and take a soul out of your three souls and seven spirits, burning them in my Corpse God Oil Lantern. You can come and take it whenever you think you can defeat me!"
As the voice of the Fifth Prince echoed, his figure emerged in mid-air, not as one, but as eight figures. Each of them, upon appearing, reached out and grabbed a midsection of the bone chains connecting Xu Qing to the soul threads.
They exerted strength and pulled.
A mysterious power suddenly emanated from these bone chains. In an inexplicable manner, it appeared to harness the power of Xu Qing's soul threads at one end, transforming it into traction to draw out Xu Qing's divine soul.
As for the Fifth Prince's role, it was to balance and control.
In an instant, overlapping shadows appeared on Xu Qing's body. His soul was revealed, and stared similar to it was about to leave his body.
However… his expression was calm. He opened his eyes and stared at the Fifth Prince.
"Not a bad spell."
"Since you want to extract my soul, let me try something as well."
As Xu Qing spoke, he slowly raised his right hand in the bone chain vortex and pushed down slightly on this space as he spat out softly.
"This realm of heaven and earth can be likened to a well…"
