Almost at the instant Saintly Star spoke, Xu Qing moved closer and punched out.
Saintly Star immediately waved his hand to block it. He then retreated and the light in his eyes grew even brighter.
"Let me see what's wrong with your body!"
Xu Qing didn't say a word. The killing intent in his eyes intensified as he immediately closed the distance.
The two of them instantly collided again. It was unknown what method Saintly Star used but his entire body shone with golden light that shot in all directions, forming a sea of light. Xu Qing had no choice but to dodge.
The instant he dodged, the sea of light formed one shining rune after another that chased after Xu Qing.
These runes contained lethality. The moment they got close, they transformed into sealing power as well. For a moment, the sky emitted a halo and the ruins on the ground shook.
When Xu Qing was bombarded and sealed by the sea of light runes, there was a hint of excitement in Saintly Star's eyes. Clearly, he had already guessed it and was only short of confirming it.
He performed a series of hand seals with his left hand and took three steps back. With each step, he performed different hand seals.
At his first step, a chilly wind rose around him and lowered the temperature of the surroundings.
At his second step, wisps of green light formed around him and quickly gathered in front of him into the shape of a sword embryo.
At his third step, the sword embryo rapidly grew from the size of a palm to 100 feet, until it transformed into a 1000-foot-long sword.
This sword was completely green and seemed illusory. It emitted an astonishing aura that was enough to shake one's soul.
The three steps were completed, but the magic power in Saintly Star's body was still dense. His eyes revealed a bright light as he pointed his right hand at Xu Qing. His voice seemed to have fused into the wind.
"Soaring Cloud Soul Severance!"
Flames erupted from Xu Qing's body, forming a sea of fire that shattered the light runes layer by layer. His eyes narrowed when he saw the large green sword.
At the next instant, this large green sword slashed toward Xu Qing.
Xu Qing dodged but the sword seemed to have locked onto his soul, making it impossible for him to dodge.
A sharp glint appeared in Xu Qing's eyes and he decided not to dodge anymore. He performed a series of hand seals with both hands and pressed forward. The flames in his body soared into the sky.
The large sword instantly got close. The moment it came into contact with him, it shrunk greatly as it entered Xu Qing's body.
In the blink of an eye, it completely entered Xu Qing's body, transforming into a soul-severing force that headed straight for his soul.
The instant the soul-severing sword rushed over, the black umbrella formed by the life lantern in Xu Qing's body materialized in front of his sea of consciousness, forming a protective barrier!
A cold glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. He couldn't conceal it anymore.
He already knew that his life lantern couldn't be kept hidden when fighting against a strong enemy like Saintly Star. After all, it was impossible for his strength to increase out of thin air. The shadow was already doing its best to suppress Saintly Star's magic aperture.
Since that was the case, hiding was useless. It was better to reveal his cards to find a way to kill him.
At that moment, the soul severing sword blasted onto the black umbrella that was covered with black flames.
Like an egg hitting a rock, the soul severing sword shattered into countless green lights. As the black umbrella rose, the green lights were forced out of Xu Qing's body.
From afar, countless green light spots shot out from Xu Qing's body. At this moment, a canopy appeared above his head!
The black canopy emitted a strange aura. There were also black flames falling from the eaves at the edge of the canopy, as though they were flowing. This caused Xu Qing, who was standing in the air, to be incomparably eye-catching!
All the cultivators in the surroundings who were paying attention to this battle were shocked.
Not only did Saintly Star see it, but everyone in the surroundings also saw the canopy.
"Life lantern!!!"
Saintly Star's eyes widened and waves of emotions surged in his mind. His breathing became hurried and his entire body and mind were filled with ecstasy.
He had already seen that something was wrong with Xu Qing earlier. Xu Qing clearly had the combat strength of three fires. Even with the addition of an emperor-level cultivation art, it was absolutely impossible for the latter to fight with him until now. The instant he saw the black umbrella, his doubts were confirmed.
He immediately understood why Xu Qing could suppress Sima Ling and why Xu Qing dared to fight him.
He finally had the answer.
Xu Qing's expression was calm with not even the slightest hint of panic. Although the exposure of the life lantern was very significant, Xu Qing felt that if he could snatch Saintly Star's life lantern, his combat strength would similarly reach six fires with two life lanterns.
'The risk of being exposed will be much lower if I kill this Saintly Star. If the news still spreads, at most, I'll leave the Seven Blood Eyes and fly far away, hiding my identity!'
'Although I will have to abandon the benefits from the main city's port, everything will be worth it if I obtain Saintly Star's life lantern!' Killing intent flashed in Xu Qing's eyes as he readied himself.
However, Saintly Star laughed at the sky and waved his hands. Immediately, a hundred streams of sword qi formed in front of him. As he waved his sleeve, these sword qi suddenly headed straight for the ground below.
Under the horror of the cultivators outside the temple, these sword qi pierced through their bodies.
Miserable cries rang out immediately. These sword qi didn't dissipate and spread out layer by layer, killing everything in its path.
Saintly Star wanted to silence any cultivator who saw Xu Qing's life lantern!
The appearance of the life lantern was a huge matter. He wouldn't allow this news to spread.
This was because he already believed Xu Qing's life lantern to be his. When he thought about how his combat strength would rise to an unimaginable level of seven fires, he felt intense excitement.
He also knew that life lanterns were even more meaningful to the Heavenly Palace Golden Core cultivators. A life lantern could allow the Golden Core to directly open a Heavenly Palace in the life fog!
Two life lanterns meant two palaces!
As such, he didn't recall the Dao Protectors who had gone out.
He was worried that those three people wouldn't be able to control their greed. After all, his life lantern and Xu Qing's life lantern were different!
The reason why he could reveal his life lantern was because there were very few people in the Yinghuang Province who could snatch it away. Moreover, he only had the right to use it and it didn't really belong to him. However, Xu Qing's… was different!
'This is a life lantern that completely belongs to him!! How dare he!'
'The number one heaven's chosen of the Seven Blood Eyes has hidden himself so deeply!'
For the first time, a hint of greed appeared in Saintly Star's eyes as he laughed loudly.
"I didn't expect my opportunity to be here. Xu Qing, my life lantern is with you!"
As he spoke, Saintly Star's entire body emitted a golden light. The Miemeng on his back manifested in the golden light, revealing its entire body.
Its body was a thousand feet long. It had a green body, a red tail, a long beak, and a large stomach. It looked extremely ugly and peculiar.
After it appeared, Miemeng let out a long cry. When it looked at Xu Qing savagely, Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. Black flames erupted from his back and spread in all directions. At the same time, the Golden Crow appeared behind him. Its tail flames swayed and shook the surroundings.
At the next instant, Xu Qing charged forward with vicious killing intent.
Saintly Star also rushed over with a greedy expression.
In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing and Saintly Star came into contact in mid-air. This time, it was even more intense than before.
Previously, the two of them had mainly used their physical strength against each other. They didn't use many spells and didn't use their emperor-level cultivation arts either. They were observing the other party's weak points.
At this moment, the battle had already reached its climax. Both sides no longer probed and attacked with killing moves.
Saintly Star's emperor-level cultivation art, Miemeng Devours the Heaven Art, transformed into the ferocious bird, Miemeng, and tried to devour the Golden Crow.
Xu Qing's Golden Crow formed by Golden Crow Refines All Life revealed endless ferocity as it sucked fiercely at Miemeng.
From afar, Miemeng emitted a golden light and the Golden Crow emitted black flames. One devoured while the other inhaled, one grabbed while the other refined.
Xu Qing and Saintly Star kept intertwining in the air as they exchanged blows after blows. Sometimes, Xu Qing would be blasted to the ground and he would rush out to fight again.
Sometimes, Saintly Star was sent flying far away and collided with the buildings. The buildings collapsed and he also rushed out immediately.
As the two of them fought, the sky distorted and the ground shattered. Seeing that they couldn't do anything to the other party, they used their life lanterns.
The black flames of Xu Qing's black umbrella carried a terrifying might while the rainbow colored canopy of Saintly Star emitted streams of light that formed an unfathomable power. Both suppressed each other, stirring up an even more violent rumbling storm.
A moment later, the power of their respective emperor-level cultivation arts and life lanterns was activated at the same time and ruthlessly blasted into each other.
Both of them spat out blood and were sent back due to the collision. With the Dao Temple as the center, they each retreated 1000 feet and stood in the sky, as though they were splitting the sky into two!
Saintly Star was dressed in a golden Daoist robe. The surrounding golden light formed a sea that illuminated the earth. There was a rainbow-colored canopy on his head that flowed with light. Behind him, Miemeng roared sinisterly as though it wanted to devour the sky. Coupled with Saintly Star's extraordinary appearance, he was like a young ruler who had descended into the world.
It was like he owned the world!
Xu Qing was dressed in a purple Daoist robe. The black sea of fire in his surroundings burned the sky, and the black canopy on his head was sinister and flowed with flames. The Golden Crow spread out its wings on his back and its eyes revealed cruelty as though it wanted to refine the world. Its tail flames flowed through Xu Qing's entire body, making it look like he was wearing the emperor's robe!
Coupled with Xu Qing's peerless appearance, he was like a young ancient sovereign walking into the human world.
Peerless throughout all ages!
Saintly Star stared at Xu Qing with an intense gaze. While he was filled with killing intent, he had to admit that Xu Qing was indeed very strong. He had qualifications to be an ancient sovereign.
In fact, if he were to be placed in the small worlds outside the world of Wanggu Continent, such combat strength would allow him to fight a Nascent Soul cultivator.
The level of the Wanggu World was extremely high. According to the ancient records he had read, there were countless small worlds outside the Wanggu Continent before the fragmented face of the god arrived.
The cultivators in those small worlds were extremely weak. Those at the Perfected Foundation Building realm only had the combat strength of one life fire.
Compared to the Wanggu Continent, the difference was too great.
