Chapter 1523: Parting Present

Translator: Atlas Studios | Editor: Atlas Studios

On the Desolate Star, Erniu sighed with some regret.

He didn’t find Little Qing on those maggots…

Hence, his gaze landed on the corpses in the surroundings.

As he continued his unwilling search, in another fragment of the Nether Flame’s memory, a war was breaking out.

It was in the starry sky.

Clad in pitch-black armor, resembling someone who had crawled out of death, Nether Flame led his army into a frenzied and brutal battle against the alien races in the starry sky.

The sound of spells and heart-rending sounds continued to rise and fall here.

This lasted until a person walked over from afar, emitting a monstrous divine might. They ignored both sides and swept through everything, heading straight for Nether Flame like a sharp blade.

After they got close, a finger landed on Nether Flame’s forehead, shattering his body, the starry sky, and this memory realm.

As the countless fragments scattered, this person’s figure also became clearer.

It was the Empress.

Unlike Xu Qing and Erniu who appeared as Nether Flame in the realms of memories, She appeared as Herself.

“Did you really die and your memories spread out to create realms, or did you use many memories as the first barrier? Nether Flame, are you dead or alive?”

The Empress calmly spoke and walked forward.

The various parties who had entered Great Emperor Nether Flame’s seclusion were all in different realms. Some were exploring, some were indifferent, and others were deeply immersed in their surroundings.

They each used different methods for different purposes.

For example, on a pitch-black plain, the old man among the five people who came from the West Demon Feather was currently advancing.

The ground seemed to be shrinking under his feet, so much so that he didn’t seem to be walking fast, but in reality, with every step he took, the distance he crossed was shockingly large.

As he advanced, the sound of clinking chains echoed from his body, as if iron chains were bound under his black robe.

After a long while, a fault appeared ahead of him, revealing a massive chasm.

Standing by the chasm, the old man looked down, a raspy laugh echoing from him.

“As expected, it’s here.”

“Demon Feather Great Emperor said that if a realm formed by memories appears, it means that Great Emperor Nether Flame has fallen?”

In the main hall where countless women were present, Xu Qing sat at the head of the table and swept his gaze across everyone.

He didn’t act rashly. Instead, he analyzed his current situation.

“However, I can’t believe too much of the words of the Demon Feather Great Emperor.”

“But no matter what, there’s a high chance that this is Great Emperor Nether Flame’s memory realm. In that case… what’s the meaning of this memory realm? Inheritance? Or are there many similar realms that we have to pass through one by one?”

Xu Qing was in deep thought when his gaze suddenly turned cold. He retracted his gaze from afar and stared to his right.

To his right, there was a seductive woman wearing a nearly half-removed thin gauze dress. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes filled with sultry allure, and she crawled toward him like a pet.

Her crawling posture made her figure even more enchanting.

Xu Qing didn’t speak but his gaze turned even colder.

This cold gaze caused the woman who was crawling over to tremble. Terror appeared on her face and she didn’t dare to step forward, slowly retreating.

When Xu Qing saw this, he was about to retract his gaze. However, at that moment, he instantly frowned.

A tearing sensation suddenly emerged in this realm, within the grand hall, and on his body.

This feeling was as though this realm was rejecting him and was accompanied by danger. It was as though his actions had attracted the attention of this realm.

What made Xu Qing’s heart freeze was the pressure that accompanied it. It was as though a mountain was pressing down on his body.

Fortunately, the tearing sensation was light and not serious. It was as though it was just a warning.

“Interesting…”

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes, slowly stood up, and walked towards the high platform. He moved through the grand hall, heading for the main entrance.

On the way, the women in the hall all sensed Xu Qing’s actions. Terror appeared on their faces, accompanied by confusion about Xu Qing’s actions.

Xu Qing didn’t care. He was investigating and verifying the reason for the tearing sensation.

As he got closer to the entrance of the hall, the expressions of the women in the hall fluctuated even more. Even their voices gradually became softer. In the end, when Xu Qing was only a step away from walking out of the hall…

The hall suddenly fell silent.

The music disappeared and the lewd sounds stopped. Even their breathing stopped. Everyone turned their heads at the same time. Their eyes were cold and filled with death as they stared at Xu Qing in unison.

The tearing sensation intensified intensely at this moment.

Xu Qing stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the women in the hall. He finally confirmed the reason for the tearing feeling.

“This realm is formed from a fragment of Great Emperor Nether Flame’s past memories. My current appearance is him, so my actions have to match Great Emperor Nether Flame’s back then.”

“If it doesn’t match, I will be considered an invader and this tearing feeling will appear. I will be suppressed by the hostility of the entire realm, attracting a great terror.”

“Therefore, if I want things to go smoothly, I have to find out how Great Emperor Nether Flame acted back then.”

After Xu Qing pondered, he didn’t leave forcefully. Instead, he walked back.

As he returned, the music resumed again and the expressions of those women returned to normal. At the same time, many of them moved closer to Xu Qing. They lowered their heads and acted coquettishly, their bodies twisting. The expressions on their faces were filled with desire.

However, Xu Qing’s brows were still furrowed.

This was because he discovered that the tearing sensation still existed. It didn’t decrease at all because of his return.

“Leaving is not right, and staying is not right either.”

“Then, what did Nether Flame do back then?”

A cold glint flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes as he made a decision. The moment the women in the surroundings got close to him, he clenched his right hand into a fist.

The sound authority erupted.

At this moment, the tearing feeling disappeared.

Xu Qing immediately understood that back then, Nether Flame’s choice was to attack.

Awhile later, the door slowly opened and Xu Qing walked out.

The wind blew over, bringing with it the fragrance of flowers, lifting Xu Qing’s long hair. It also pushed open the door even more.

Following Xu Qing’s body, one could see the hall behind him… There were no corpses or living women. There were only withered stamens.

Moreover, they were becoming illusory.

The moment Xu Qing walked out of the hall, the entire country of women underwent a drastic change.

The ground quaked, the sky dimmed, and the wind and clouds changed.

One by one, the buildings collapsed in an instant. Thick branches burst forth from within, each swaying and splitting at the ends, sprouting countless smaller branches, blooming flowers, and scattering stamens.

Every stamen was a woman.

As the entire country of women collapsed, thousands of such huge branches spread in all directions, and the number of stamens that split out was dozens of times greater.

After they appeared, they all let out lustful sounds and looked at Xu Qing from all directions.

As for the center of the country of women, as the ground collapsed, a huge flower that was a hundred thousand feet large rose.

This was the main flower. As the petals spread out, the sole stamen inside transformed into the queen.

“Joyflower!”

A dark glint flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes.

He recognized this flower. He had seen it in the Morning Glow Province and had even saved Ning Yan, who was being absorbed by it…

However, the one back then was very small, but the one in front of him now was astonishingly terrifying.

Almost at the instant Xu Qing stared at it, the laughter of the countless stamen-women who looked at him echoed. As the branches whistled, they headed straight for Xu Qing from all directions.

Xu Qing was expressionless. With a sway of his body, he instantly rose into the air. As he dodged the sweep of the branches, he raised his right hand and pressed down.

Immediately, the power of the Poison Restriction transformed into a thick black fog that spread out abruptly.

It headed straight for the branches.

Wherever it passed, the women’s laughter would become heart-rending and their bodies would rot.

However, at Xu Qing’s side, the dissipating tearing sensation appeared again. Moreover, it was incomparably intense, causing him to feel his heart skip a beat.

It was as though the great terror he couldn’t resist was descending with his previous attacks.

The more he attacked, the more intense this feeling became.

“That’s not right!”

Xu Qing immediately put away the Poison Restriction and retreated, rapidly analyzing in his heart. At the same time, the branches whistled and the stamen queen on the ground pointed.

Immediately, countless flowers bloomed in the void around Xu Qing. All the petals exploded in unison and shot out into the entire area.

Although Xu Qing retreated and dodged, there was still a petal that landed on his body, creating a wound.

To be precise, what cut open was the body of the Nether Flame he had transformed into in the memory realm.

However, from what Xu Qing knew, he also felt injured.

“This is a memory-level attack!”

After realizing this, Xu Qing also felt the tearing intent. As he was injured, it actually decreased. The great terror that arrived also seemed to pause for a moment and began to disappear.

“All of this points to one path.”

“That is, if you can’t resist it, you’ll be killed by this flower!”

“Back then, Nether Flame was killed by this flower?”

Xu Qing didn’t believe it.

However, that tearing feeling made him understand that if he didn’t follow the instructions, something even more terrifying would definitely happen.

“There’s another method that can break this situation!”

A dark glint flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes. The carving knife formed by the divine authority of fate rose in his sea of consciousness. However, at this moment, cracking sounds suddenly rang out from Xu Qing’s storage bag.

Xu Qing retreated and focused his gaze, revealing a hint of surprise.

It was unknown if the golden rat egg in his storage bag had sensed Xu Qing’s carving knife but it actually completely shattered at this moment.

A beam of golden light shot out of the shattered egg and surrounded all the eggshells. After devouring crazily, it flew out of the storage bag on its own.

It landed on Xu Qing’s hand and transformed into a little golden rat.

It tried its best to keep its eyes open and squeaked at Xu Qing. It even rubbed against Xu Qing’s fingers, emitting friendly emotions.

The instant it appeared, the realm formed by the memories also underwent a huge change.

The sounds disappeared.

All the stamens were motionless.

Even the stamen queen seemed to have frozen, maintaining her expression.

It was as though everything had stopped.

Xu Qing’s heart fluctuated. This was a change he hadn’t expected.

Before this, he knew that the golden rat was extraordinary. After all, the old man of the fifth star ring had one himself. Moreover, his rat could move in time to escape.

Therefore, he was also quite expectant of his golden rat.

However, no matter how much he looked forward to it, Xu Qing’s heart still trembled fiercely when he saw the rat appearing and the surroundings falling silent.

At the same time, in the depths of Great Emperor Nether Flame’s seclusion place, there was a mystical world.

The sky was made of flesh with countless fine fur.

On every strand of fur, there were several realms formed by memory fragments.

As for the ground, it was a completely transparent sea.

On the sea, countless flesh and blood piled up, forming a huge sarcoma.

A middle-aged cultivator sat cross-legged in the sarcoma.

His expression was dignified and majestic. His body emitted an ancient feeling, accompanied by a terrifying aura.

His eyes were originally closed.

However, at this instant, his eyes suddenly opened. His gaze pierced through the void and looked at a memory fragment realm in the distance.

“There’s actually a Parting Present Great Beast!”