As it broke through, the Golden Crow's body grew to twice its original size. Its black body was like a supreme ferocious beast from ancient times, emitting such flames that burned the ground to such a degree that the soil crystallized.
Even the people far away could feel the extreme heat.
The air distorted, and even the sparks it emitted were shockingly hot.
The light in its eyes was lifelike, and it carried an extremely sharp and vicious aura. It was as if all those who were locked onto by it, be it the nine heavens or the ten lands, would not be able to escape its devouring.
Although this was only a feeling and not something that could be achieved now, the Golden Crow at this moment had a huge impact on everyone on the battlefield.
It spread its wings and flew through the sky, causing the sea of flames on the ground to spread out. Every time it flapped its wings, rumbling sounds of fire burning could be heard.
Xu Qing's long hair fluttered in the sea of fire. His entire person exuded an even stronger fierceness. That beautiful face had a demonic charm to it. When one's gaze swept past it, it would cause their heart to be in a daze. It was as if the flames in the surroundings, the Golden Crow in the sky, and everything else were born to serve as a foil to him.
In addition to this appearance, the strength of the second stage Golden Crow Refines All Life was also extremely powerful. It was no longer just one fire combat strength like before, but six.
This six-fire combat strength was completely focused on Xu Qing's fleshly body, causing cracking sounds to ring out. Although it didn't seem like there were many visible changes, in reality, his bones, flesh, and blood were all changing.
It was an increase in life level!
At that moment, the Golden Crow let out a cry that spread through the sky and returned to Xu Qing. The tail flames formed by its thirteen tails spun around Xu Qing and turned into flaming phoenix feathers that floated down in front of him.
Accompanying it was the flames that had spread out in the surroundings. Right now, they were all rolling back and permeating Xu Qing's body.
At this moment, he was covered in flames. The Golden Crow on his head was like an emperor's crown, attracting everyone's attention.
As his two Heavenly Palaces appeared, his energy skyrocketed, as did his battle prowess. Even the surrounding Seven Blood Eyes disciples and Illuminate members were shocked, and instinctively didn't want to get any closer.
Xu Qing stood there silently.
He lowered his head and looked at the head of Saintly Star in his hand. His eyes shone with a peculiar light.
He felt that something was wrong with this matter.
He was very sure that Saintly Star was indeed dead, and his death was within reason. After all, the difference between one Heavenly Palace and two Heavenly Palaces was difficult to bridge.
However, Saintly Star's father did not appear.
This didn't make sense. After all, in the blood performance, everything that Saintly Star's father had done seemed to be for him. But he was dead now, and his father was nowhere to be seen.
Something was wrong.
The other thing was that… Saintly Star had been acting abnormally. From beginning to end, he hadn't said a single word. Even his screams were muffled and weren't as sharp as before.
This was different from the Saintly Star that Xu Qing knew.
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. He suddenly raised his left hand and grabbed Saintly Star's badly mutilated head by the chin. Then, he forcefully twisted it.
The mouth was forced open.
Xu Qing's gaze swept over and a strange light erupted in his eyes.
Saintly Star was missing his tongue!
Xu Qing's deepest impression of Saintly Star was the mucus-covered tongue that appeared after the Mystic Spirit Perpetual Will Door opened. Later on, Xu Qing found out that when this door opened, it could reflect a person's heart.
This tongue represented Saintly Star's heart.
Perhaps it was a coincidence, but the dead Saintly Star didn't have a tongue.
Just at this moment, a shocking explosion rang out from the sky. A terrifying energy fluctuation spread.
The explosion came from the rock giant who was fighting Old Master Seventh.
The giant could not hold on any longer. Half of its body shattered into countless pieces and loud booming sounds echoed as they smashed into the ground, creating deep pits. More than half of the black coffin buried in its body was revealed.
Under the sunlight, the black coffin gave off a bizarre feeling. There was even the sound of fingernails scraping at it.
Xu Qing's eyes narrowed.
As for the two Illuminate members, they began to pant. Eyes flickering with determination, they performed incantation gestures, causing the black coffin on the giant's chest to shake.
A scream that did not sound like a human's but more like that of a wild beast came from inside and spread in all directions.
The mere sound caused many of the Seven Blood Eyes disciples to tremble violently. Blood oozed out of their mouths and noses, and they quickly retreated, not daring to get any closer.
This sound contained an indescribable power that could shock one's mind and soul, causing one's life level to feel suppressed which resulted in fear and shock.
Banging sounds filled the air, as if the thing inside the coffin were punching at the lid, trying to break it.
This scene caused the surrounding disciples to fall back. Old Master Seventh narrowed his eyes, and Xue Lianzi's eyes shone with a strange light.
Almost at the same moment that everyone looked over, the lid of the coffin exploded into pieces.
The countless pieces that shot out in all directions and an extremely powerful divinity fluctuation spread from within the coffin.
This energy fluctuation carried a terrifying pressure. As soon as it appeared, the color of the sky changed.
Colors flashed in the sky, and the wind and clouds churned. A huge vortex appeared in the sky, turning the day into night.
Bolts of lightning flashed and thunder rumbled.
Then, a broken and withered hand that did not look like a human's reached out from the coffin and pressed against the edge of the coffin. It slowly stood up, revealing a terrifying body.
The body had many damaged areas and its bones could be seen. It was like a corpse that had died for an unknown period of time.
There was no hair, and the face of the head had rotted away, leaving only empty eye sockets and… a bright red tongue hanging down from its mouth.
The color of the tongue was completely different from the corpse. It was as if it had been pieced together by someone. As the corpse stood up, lightning exploded in the sky, turning into silver snakes that brought momentary light to the world.
Two balls of ghostly flames burned in its empty eyes. What made Xu Qing's pupils narrow was the corpse's tongue.
This bright red tongue seemed to be the tongue that was missing in Saintly Star's mouth.
The divinity emanating from the corpse was horrifying. Right now, the ghostly flames in its eyes began to glow with golden light.
As soon as the light appeared, the divinity on the corpse grew more and more violent, shaking heaven and earth. Anomalous substances propagated crazily, causing black rain to fall.
It was like a god!
However, it was only like, and not really a god. It only had divinity.
As for divinity… no matter how much of it there was, even if it resembled that of the god, it still wasn't a god.
The difference was like fog and ice!
Intense unstable fluctuations could be felt from the corpse, as if it could explode at any moment.
Obviously, the corpse could not completely master this dense divinity.
The feeling Xu Qing got was as though this corpse had been roughly pieced together to create an unknown life form.
With just a glance, Xu Qing felt intense pain in his eyes. It was as though he couldn't look at the corpse directly.
"Is this… the power of the god that Illuminate has mastered?" Old Master Seventh mumbled. "I've been studying it for a long time."
"Illuminate, such a great move. You… are actually creating a god. Unfortunately, as I guessed, you are still a little far from it."
"Ancestor, it's impossible for Illuminate to come. We can follow the plan and reel in the net. We will suppress this Illuminate god specimen and make it our sect's foundation!"
Almost in the same moment that Old Master Seventh's words rang out, the corpse threw its head back and roared. Divinity erupted wildly, and the anomalous substances in the area went crazy. The corpse's level of existence skyrocketed. With a single step, it ignored the sealing of the Seven Blood Eyes' Taboo and flew up into the air, preparing to leave.
Xue Lianzi's figure instantly appeared in front of the corpse, turning into countless blood threads that gathered into a huge fist that punched out.
The corpse's eyes flashed with golden light, and the air distorted. Although Xue Lianzi's fist seemed to have hit the corpse, it was as if they were in different dimensions. Xue Lianzi's fist directly passed through it.
However, Esteemed Master Dongyou suddenly appeared in midair. Clearly, the old woman had long since arrived and had been hiding. Her eyes were filled with disbelief.
"Xue Lianzi, your son-in-law is right. Illuminate… is indeed creating a god. However, they didn't succeed. The thing they created isn't powerful enough, and it can't be controlled. It is already being melted by divinity!" As she spoke, her eyes shone with a strange light, and she reached out with her right hand.
As the Dao threads in her eyes flowed, the space around the corpse seemed to collapse. At the same time, the blood threads formed by Xue Lianzi also rolled back and entered the space where the corpse was.
Rumbling filled the air as Esteemed Master Dongyou and Xue Lianzi attacked. Old Master Seventh' eyes glittered, and he performed incantation gestures. Instantly, the sky blurred, and an enormous blood tree descended onto the battlefield. As it swayed, it solidified into a sealing mark.
At the same time, the 14 statues of the ancestral corpses erupted in full force and the Seven Blood Eyes' Taboo in the sky unleashed its full power. The Taboo mirror turned blood-red, and another seven eyes appeared behind the seven eyes.
The fourteen eyes opened and locked onto the corpse on the battlefield. The huge ancient mirror emitted a piercing red light that shot out and turned into a sealing power again.
Under the power of these two Taboo magic treasures, whether it was the remaining Illuminate members on the ground or the two masked black-robed men, their bodies trembled violently. Blood sprayed out of their mouths as their bodies were ruthlessly suppressed. They fell to the ground and were frozen there, unable to struggle.
This was Old Master Seventh' plan for this operation!
His plan had never had just one strategic goal. He had spent this period of time studying Illuminate's past and finally found a clue.
Based on this clue, Old Master Seventh could vaguely guess some of Illuminate's follow-up arrangements in Yinghuang Province. That was why today's battle had occurred. If Illuminate's leaders came, the Sword Holding Court would have taken action.
If Illuminate's leaders did not come, then according to his analysis, there must be something left behind by Illuminate here. This item was most likely related to the god. If he obtained it, it would be easier for him to understand Illuminate.
Since Illuminate was his mortal enemy from now on, just like how he studied the Sea Corpse Race back then, he had to study this Illuminate properly.
Old Master Seventh had once told Xu Qing that when a great era arrived, geniuses would appear frequently.
However… the great era hadn't just arrived recently. It had already arrived a few hundred years ago, and Old Master Seventh was also an outstanding genius of this great era.
There would never be only a few peerless geniuses in this world.
This was the great era.
