Ripples spread out in all directions.
Xu Qing's entire body emitted countless gray fog.
This origin power of the magi allowed him to withstand the pressure and turn his head to take a look at the scene from this distance.
After a glance, Xu Qing immediately retracted his gaze. He didn't even turn his head as he sped forward.
From afar, one could see a dense gray fog permeating Xu Qing's surroundings. As it churned, it blotted out the sky. With the enhancement, his speed became increasingly astonishing.
More than ten breaths later, when Xu Qing's figure disappeared into the horizon, the fog here had decreased by 30%.
To be precise, it didn't decrease. Instead, 30% of the fog at the core seemed to possess life and flowed into the distance.
As Xu Qing continued forward, the flow became increasingly violent. It was as though the entire fog of Jiuli Forbidden had split into two.
Winds formed by the convection howled through the world.
Four hours later, at the edge of Jiuli Forbidden, the fog suddenly surged violently, billowing outward, breaking through the boundary of Jiuli and appearing in the outside world.
The huge lump of fog rushed out of Jiuli.
The range of this fog was terrifying and it was filled with a vast amount of gray fog. In fact, because the fog was too dense, it formed a huge gray vortex.
If a cultivator was nearby and saw this, they would definitely be shaken.
The aura of this fog vortex was too shocking.
This was the first time the gray fog had appeared outside after the formation of Jiuli Forbidden. Before this, the fog of Jiuli had a boundary and wouldn't spread out at all.
Today, things had changed.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})In this fog vortex, there was a figure. It was none other than Xu Qing.
He had successfully left Jiuli Forbidden!
Although the person who entered Jiuli Forbidden would form a karmic tie with the gray fog and be unable to leave, he followed his thoughts and left with the fog…
As for the unforeseen event at the core, he no longer had the time to consider it. The instant he appeared outside, Xu Qing's speed soared again and he flew forward.
He had to find a place to recover from his injuries as soon as possible.
In addition, he still couldn't absorb the gray fog around his body, so it was extremely conspicuous.
This state wasn't conducive to hiding.
In his current state, if he encountered a great heaven's chosen like Ji Dongzi, it would be very disadvantageous.
He needed time to completely retract the gray fog.
Hence, Xu Qing's body swayed and he directly descended from the sky. The moment he landed, he lifted his right foot and stomped fiercely, instantly merging into the ground.
As he continued to sink, he also brought the gray fog outside his body into the ground.
When he sank to more than 10,000 feet, all the gray fog finally entered the ground. From the outside world, there were no longer many traces.
Only then did Xu Qing heave a sigh of relief.
However, he knew that this place was still not safe because it was too close to Jiuli.
Hence, he gritted his teeth and persisted as he continued to advance underground. A day later, he finally found a suitable place to hide.
It was a mountain range in a rainforest.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})This mountain range could better hide the gray fog and form a natural barrier.
Hence, under the mountain range, Xu Qing dug out a cave and sat cross-legged to meditate.
"It's meaningless to continue searching for a hiding place. I'm hiding from the other participants in the Grand Hunt, not the three gods…"
"If the three gods want to find me, then it's the same whether I hide or not in the Mountains and Seas Region."
Xu Qing was aware of this. After weighing the pros and cons in his heart, he closed his eyes. The purple crystal in his body emitted a purple light that enveloped his entire body.
He began to recover.
Time slowly flowed by. Three days later, Xu Qing, who was sitting cross-legged, opened his eyes. His eyes flickered with a resplendent purple light. The wounds on his body had completely healed but his internal injuries had only recovered by about half.
This time, his injuries were too serious.
Even the purple crystal required some time for him to recover to his original state.
However, Xu Qing had already recovered some combat strength.
"Now, I have to keep this gray fog in the purple crystal…"
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. He knew that the gray fog didn't follow him out but the nine skulls of Jiuli.
Hence, after pondering for a moment, he closed his eyes and fused his senses into the purple crystal, trying all kinds of methods to store the gray fog.
This was a process of exploring Jiuli skulls, so it wasn't very fast. However, as Xu Qing studied the nine skulls in the purple crystal, the gray fog that permeated the soil around him slowly gathered toward him.
Strands of them came from all directions and entered his body, gushing into the purple crystal on his chest through his flesh and blood. However, the process was still a little slow.
Two days later, as the light of the purple crystal shone intensely, Xu Qing abruptly opened his eyes.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"I have finally fused my mark into these nine skulls and can barely be considered to be one with them. They will no longer reject me!"
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and lifted his right hand to his chest as he spoke in a deep voice.
"Magus source!"
As soon as he finished speaking, nine skulls suddenly appeared amidst the flickering purple light in the surroundings. Each of them was malevolent and at the same time, they emitted a feeling of being from the same source as Xu Qing.
"Return!"
Xu Qing performed a series of hand seals with his right hand and pressed out.
The gray fog that was swimming around him instantly paused. In the next breath, it became violent and crawled crazily out of the soil in all directions, rapidly fusing into the nine skulls.
The fog was getting less and less.
The nine skulls actually grew gray flesh.
In the end, when the fog completely fused into the nine skulls, their appearances also changed greatly.
They became… flesh lanterns!
These nine lanterns were gray in color and looked like they were made of flesh and blood, but in reality, their essence was still gray fog.
At that moment, they floated around Xu Qing, slowly rotating within the purple light.
Xu Qing gazed intently, sensing clearly the kinship between himself and the nine lanterns formed by Jiuli's skulls. However, the connection was faint, and could be erased and stripped away at any time.
Ultimately, he had used the purple crystal to seal them. It wasn't a true integration with himself, thus not wholly belonging to him.
"It can be considered half an external object…"
At the same time, because of the appearance of the ninth skull, the memory fragments in his mind were complete.
A relatively complete history of that era was reflected in Xu Qing's sea of consciousness.
It was similar to his previous guess and judgment. Overall, this was the story of a betrayal.
As for the history after that, it didn't exist in the memory fragments of the skulls.
After all, the memories of these skulls stopped at the moment of Jiuli's death.
There was no answer in the memories about why that Great Magistrate did this.
There was also no answer to how and when the Sun, Moon, and Star gods appeared.
Xu Qing fell silent.
From the current clues, it wasn't difficult to guess the subsequent history.
The three gods might have been on the same side as the spider god.
It was also possible that They appeared later and plundered everything here.
No matter what, one day, a vast divine mountain appeared in the sky of the Mystic Heaven Great Magus Race.
When the mountain landed, the three gods walked out.
It was also because of Their arrival that the Mystic Heaven Great Magus Race changed its name to the Flame Moon Mystic Heaven Race. Hence, there was a subsequent history and their current glory.
Xu Qing couldn't tell if this was a good or a bad outcome for this race.
If he uttered it was bad, not only did this race survive, but they also reached an astonishing height.
If he uttered it was good, the betrayal hidden in history was ultimately a lamentable act of treachery.
Especially in today's era, Jiuli had been vilified as the mount of that Great Magistrate. Similarly, the fate of the ferocious beasts formed from the bloodline of the deceased great magi who had sacrificed everything for this race was also the same.
This kind of history fabricated by later generations caused Xu Qing to sigh with emotion.
"Only by living can one be qualified to write history."
"This is how that Great Magistrate beautified his own affair, and it is also what the gods are willing to see."
Xu Qing recalled the suppression of the spider shrine by the three gods in the end. He then recalled the captain's spurious smile when he read the information about Jiuli Forbidden in the holy city.
At that time, the captain took out a shrimp and split it in half.
Xu Qing understood that the shrimp was a euphemism for blind. The content was fabricated.
Xu Qing shook his head.
When did the Sun, Moon, and Star gods appear in the Flame Moon and were they related to this conspiracy? This question was meaningless to Xu Qing.
"Now, the most important thing to me…"
"It's how to transform Jiuli sealed in the purple crystal into my combat strength and increase my cultivation!"
"Let them truly fuse with me!"
Xu Qing's expression was decisive. He already had an answer about how to do this.
"I now have three divine repositories and one Emperor Sword secret repository. I'm still lacking one more to reach the great circle of perfection…"
"Originally, it could be formed in the form of Crimson Goddess, but there are hidden dangers."
"But now… if I refine Jiuli into a secret repository, everything will be easily resolved. As the peak of the path of magus, for Jiuli to be valued so much by the spider god, it can be seen that his status is definitely not inferior to Crimson Goddess, and there is even a high probability that he surpasses her."
"It's very suitable to use him as my fifth secret repository. It will be a magus repository!"
"After becoming my magus repository, it will naturally become one with me and won't be stripped away easily. The fog of Jiuli will also become my ability!"
A dark glint materialized in Xu Qing's eyes.
He had an extremely strong feeling about the gray fog. He knew how domineering the will of rejecting gods and cultivation contained in it was.
At the thought of this, Xu Qing stood up with a solemn expression. He then bowed to Jiuli.
This bow was for karma, honoring his glory.
After that, he settled down and closed his eyes to begin refining!
At the same time, in the depths of Jiuli Forbidden that was some distance away from him, the three gods' suppression of the shrine had also ended.
As the three shrines dissipated, the marsh on the ground returned to normal. The fog in the surroundings flowed, covering all traces.
Under the marsh, the seals on the spider god in the shrine transformed even stronger. Its final aura also seemed to show signs of extinguishing.
As for the mountain of ashes below, it was normal and there were no changes.
However, in the depths of the mountain that outsiders couldn't detect, there was a lament that faintly echoed.
A figure was hidden in the mountain of ashes.
This figure exuded an ancient aura.
He didn't shift at all, like a corpse.
However, at this moment, he opened his eyes.
If a cultivator of the Flame Moon Mystic Heaven Race was here and saw this person's appearance clearly, they would definitely be extremely shocked.
This was because his appearance was exactly the same as the Great Magistrate of the Flame Moon Mystic Heaven Race who had been dead for countless years!
