Chapter 749 (1/2)

Meng Gui had recovered his senses from the brief, excruciating pain. After all, he was one of the people at Heavenly Emperor Tier. He applied pressure to his wounds, blocked the flow of blood. Just when he looked toward Zhou Weiqing’s side of the battle again and was about to put his hopes on his three partners, he saw hundreds of sparkling Tricolor Lightning Pearls enveloping the three naked men.

A dark golden shadow appeared before Meng Gui once again. Zhou Weiqing’s gaze had turned extremely cold. At the same time, a deafening sound came from the other side.

Without a scream, the three Heavenly King-tier powerhouses had vanished into thin air.

Upon witnessing the scene, bone-deep chills arose from within Meng Gui’s body. If he had been previously infuriated by Zhou Weiqing’s arrogance, all that was left in him now was fear.

The powers displayed by Zhou Weiqing was seriously too formidable, which had far surpassed his imagination. “Is this really a level reachable a young man in his twenties?” he thought. Right then, Meng Gui only felt that he would rather face the familiar Six Ultimate Heavenly Emperor Long Shiya than the evil young man before him.

“It’s your turn,” Zhou Weiqing spread the wings on his back. The huge grey silhouette blended into his body almost instantly. Then, a gush of evil exploded along the transformation of Zhou Weiqing’s entire being and turned to grey.

Now, Zhou Weiqing looked just like a massive grey whirlpool, sucking away all the Atmospheric Energy from the air so quickly, turning Meng Gui into a hollow being, and sealed every space which presented the possibilities of escape.

Without the support of Atmospheric Energy, even if he was a Heavenly Emperor, it would be impossible for Meng Gui to escape from Zhou Weiqing’s pursuit with mere speed. The only thing he could do right now was to battle Zhou Weiqing to death.

Staring at Zhou Weiqing, Meng Gui’s face had paled entirely. Ever since he had become a Heavenly Emperor, it was his first time being forced into such a drastic situation. Never had he expected for his life to end in the hands of such a young opponent.

Zhou Weiqing may just be a Heavenly King, but the aura he was radiating had completely suppressed Meng Gui’s attribute, resulting in his inability to activate his cultivation. Furthermore, when one had reached the ranks of a Heavenly Emperor, one’s physical body and soul would have long fused into a single entity, making the body a formidable weapon. After Zhou Weiqing had cut off one of Meng Gui’s arm, it was equivalent to destroying his vitality. Meng Gui could not even release seventy percent of his cultivation during his peak. Given the circumstance, it was no longer possible for him to win against Zhou Weiqing.

However, Meng Gui had also demonstrated a mindset of which the Blood Red Hell Heavenly Kings were incapable of. Before Zhou Weiqing released the strong pressure, he had actually calmed down gradually.

“Young man, don’t you go overboard. Indeed, you’ve won today, but if you intend to leave me here, you too must pay a huge price.” Meng Gui said darkly. The stark contrast between his calm demeanor and the insanity arising in his eyes was apparent.

“Oh?” Zhou Weiqing seemed amused, “Well then, I want to know what exactly the price is that I’ll be paying for, to leave you here.” At that point, he did not look like he was in a rush to make his move against Meng Gui.

Meng Gui said coldly, “I’m a Heavenly Emperor-tier powerhouse. Upon reaching the Heavenly Emperor Tier, there will be changes to the characteristics of the Heavenly Nucleus Core. You can ask Big Fatty Long about this. If I were to self-explode my Heavenly Emperor-tier Heavenly Nucleus Core, you and Big Fatty Long might be able to escape alive, but nothing will be left of the city below. Your family and the royalties of the Heavenly Bow Empire, will also vanish into thin air.”

Zhou Weiqing’s expression changed. He retreated backward slightly and looked at his master, who was floating mid-air.

Long Shiya nodded at Zhou Weiqing. Right then, the astonishment in Six Ultimate Heavenly Emperor’s eyes had yet to disappear completely. He had witnessed the entire process of Zhou Weiqing’s battle with the Blood Red Hell powerhouses, and he could not be any more shocked. “Those were all Heavenly King-tier powerhouses who possessed Destruction Attribute!” he thought. Long Shiya thought to himself that even if he were to deal with the combined forces of the three, it would take some time. Furthermore, Heavenly Emperor Meng Gui would be on the sidelines. However, Zhou Weiqing brought three deaths and one casualty with his own powers. While Meng Gui’s injuries could somehow be associated with his own mistakes and carelessness, it was only possible with Zhou Weiqing’s powers.

With the same nine-piece legendary armor set upgrading his powers, Long Shiya asked himself and thought that his abilities now could no longer match those of Zhou Weiqing. Although the powers of his origin were superior to those of Zhou Weiqing by a cultivation base of one Jewel, he was far inferior to Zhou Weiqing in terms of strength. Zhou Weiqing had boosts from Dragon-Tiger Transformation of the Dragon-Tiger Bloodline – this was something that Long Shiya could never match. Furthermore, he possessed Saint Energy as well.

Now that his beloved disciple had become so powerful, Long Shiya could not guarantee if he would be able to emerge victorious against Zhou Weiqing one-on-one. ‘It hasn’t even been a year since we last met! Little Fatty had already grown to such a level. If more time had been given, won’t Xue Ao’tian have to give away his position as The Strongest in the World?’ he thought.

However, it did not seem to be the right time think of such things, as Long Shiya had also heard Heavenly Emperor Meng Gui’s words. Meng Gui was right – when one had reached the level of Heavenly Emperor Tier, there would be changes to the Heavenly Nucleus Core’s characteristics. Once it exploded, he did not dare to face it head on either, especially for the fate of the city below which was greatly valued by Heavenly Bow Empire.

After receiving the Master’s response, the evil aura radiating from his had slightly subsided, and Meng Gui heaved a breath of relief. He could choose to self-detonate. If that was the case, the destruction of the city below would bring about a heavy blow to Heavenly Bow Empire, and similarly, the goal of preventing Heavenly Bow Empire from advancing toward the south could be achieved. However, Meng Gui was also human, a powerhouse who would be willing to risk his life just to accomplish a mission! Having achieved the level of Heavenly Emperor after cultivating for eighty years, the more experienced they were, the greater they valued their lives. The impact of a Heavenly Emperor-tier Heavenly Nucleus Core’s explosion may be powerful, but if the Heavenly Emperor-tier powerhouse were to choose to self-explode, unlike the Heavenly King-tier powerhouses, he would have no chance of survival but instead, he would be annihilated along with his own Heavenly Nucleus Core.

Thus, if it was not the final moments, if there was still a choice, he would never choose to do so.

Zhou Weiqing’s demeanor did not look too good. He sighed softly, “It seems that I have no choice but to let you go today. However, if you’ve been freed, my true powers will then be exposed to Blood Red Hell. It wouldn’t seem ideal for our Heavenly Bow Empire’s future!”

Upon seeing his change in demeanor and having heard his words, Meng Gui was elated and said immediately, “Rest assured, I can swear by my Heavenly Nucleus Core that I’ll absolutely not speak a word about the powers you’ve demonstrated today. I’ll even be willing to dissociate myself from Blood Red Hell, live a secluded life in an uncivilized place, and never interfere with the matters of this mainland.”

Zhou Weiqing pursed his lips and furrowed his eyebrows together. After thinking for a while, he nodded seriously and said, “Alright, go ahead and swear.”

Meng Gui finally let out his breath in relief. He knew that his threats had succeeded, and thought to himself, ‘This kid’s cultivation may be strong, but he’s still naïve in the end!’ He quickly said, “I, Meng Gui, swear by my Heavenly Nucleus Core that I’ll leave this place, cut myself off from Blood Red Hell, return to being an independent cultivator, and never mention a word of what had happened today. Should I act otherwise… what are you doing?”

Just as Meng Gui was about to complete his sentence, all of a sudden, he saw Zhou Weiqing’s chest shining without any source of light. Although there was no energy wave, his gleaming chest was just too strange.

It was a ball of light as big as a fist. Surrounding it were circles of mysterious light ribbons orbiting it like tentacles. Simultaneously, the evil had vanished from Zhou Weiqing – who had been previously showered with evil aura – but now there was another mystical aura on Zhou Weiqing which Meng Gui had never seen before.

His skin was as white as jade, his entire body seemed to have turned transparent, and just like a bright star, he was radiating with brighter and brighter colors.

Zhou Weiqing smiled softly and pointed at the sky, “Look above you.” While speaking, he first lifted his head.

Although he had seen the changes of light on Zhou Weiqing, the pressure which had been suppressing and locking him down had all vanished, resulting in Meng Gui subconsciously following Zhou Weiqing’s gaze and looked toward the sky. It was not a big deal, but at that instant, he was stunned as if his soul had left his body.

In the pitch-black sky, he did not know when it started, but there were tens of thousands of stars shining. He thought, ‘Aren’t these stars gathering into a massive dazzling nebula?’ The shape of the nebula was exactly the same as the light from Zhou Weiqing’s chest.

“You…” just as he had uttered his first word, Meng Gui called upon all his might almost without hesitation, wishing to conceal himself in the darkness.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

With a gesture of Zhou Weiqing’s right hand, illumination appeared as if the galaxy had descended. Meng Gui had no way of avoiding it, as his whole body stiffened, rendering him unable to move.

In his extreme fear, he had an instinct to self-detonate the Heavenly Nucleus Core. He saw the ball of light on Zhou Weiqing’s chest brightening up, and a beam of starlight fell on his own chest, connecting both of their bodies through the beam of light.

His Heavenly Nucleus Core’s movements stopped; even the rhythm of Meng Gui’s heartbeat matched that of Zhou Weiqing.

Zhou Weiqing was still gazing at the sudden beautiful night sky, and said flatly, “Every single Heavenly Nucleus Core is a star, and what I have is the star’s nucleus. In front of the star’s nucleus, how will your star, which has yet to reach its full development, self-explode? I’ll return it to the sky of stars. Farewell, Heavenly Emperor Meng Gui.”

The surreal nebula in the sky lit up abruptly, the dazzling lights seemed to instantly fuse with Zhou Weiqing into a single body. The next moment, before the Heavenly Emperor Meng Gui had the chance to scream, he had already reduced to ashes in the sky.

The blinding starlight made the nearby Long Shiya shut his eyes, not daring dare to look at it directly. The pressure by the starlight was not strong, but all Atmospheric Energy had disappeared upon the appearance of the mysterious stars.

Meng Gui’s body had vanished, but his golden shining Heavenly Nucleus Core was still floating mid-air. With a wave of Zhou Weiqing’s hand, it fell into his palm.

Mystical lights shone in Zhou Weiqing’s eyes. He stared at the night sky, remaining perfectly silent for long, and seemed to have entered a special state of enlightenment.

Raising his right arm, he waved in the air, and the Heavenly Nucleus Cores of the six Heavenly Kings he had killed flew from different directions each. While Dark Demon God Lightning had murdered the three Heavenly Kings in its explosion, their Heavenly Nucleus Cores had been preserved. The six Heavenly Nucleus Cores suddenly transformed into six beams of light rays, shooting out into the sky. From the appearances of the stars, it seemed just like six stars were rising from six different directions.

Along with the rise of the six beams of starlight, six beams of faint golden starlight had also descended from the sky and fell onto Zhou Weiqing’s body, enveloping his dark golden Ringless Ground Purging Set with dazzling golden starlight.

Showered in the starlight, the nearby Long Shiya could sense that the energies in Zhou Weiqing were rising. One could also tell from the observation that the colors of the ball of light on his chest had become purer.

Next, another beam of golden light was released form Zhou Weiqing’s hand – it was Heavenly Emperor Meng Gui’s Nucleus Core. It was obvious that the rising speed of this golden light was far quicker than that of the six previous beams. With a blink of the golden light, the nebula responded by illuminating a beam of starlight on Zhou Weiqing.

The golden pillar of light this time had a diameter of half a meter and showered in the starlight. Zhou Weiqing’s body shivered suddenly. The aura exploding from his body had also changed.

Upgraded. Had he been upgraded just like this?

Long Shiya had been staring in a jaw-drop silence, and thought, “Since when did Heavenly Jewel Masters upgrade like this? Let’s not mind the speed, but isn’t the process just too fascinating?”

He did not know that this was the secret of the Starcrux Saint Nucleus Core. Of course, it also had something to do with Zhou Weiqing’s Demonic Devour ability.

What Saint Energy possessed was creativity; it was not just the mere creativity of humans, but the greatest sense of creativity from the heavens and earth. This world had been created from the most primal part of this ability, and all the stars in the sky had been created in this manner.

Zhou Weiqing was right – every single Heavenly Nucleus Core can become a star of the sky, it just required an endless process of transformation and upgrades. Of course, the Heavenly Nucleus Cores of these Heavenly King-tier and Heavenly Emperor-tier powerhouses were not true stars, but they had the aura of the same attribute of those stars nonetheless.

Therefore, even the Heavenly Nucleus Core of a Heavenly God-tier powerhouse would not be on the same standing as Zhou Weiqing’s Starcrux Saint Nucleus Core.

Of course, with his current cultivation, he would not be capable of releasing the true powers of the Starcrux Saint Nucleus Core. His own cultivation was insufficient, and the levels of the Starcrux Saint Nucleus Core’s upgrading was limited.

However, this did not affect him from being able to borrow the Starcrux Saint Nucleus Core’s powers. What he had done earlier was igniting the powers of the stars in the night sky using his Starcrux Saint Nucleus Core, and interacting with the faraway stars, effectively reflecting Star Energy back to his body. On the other hand, when he had released the energies from the Heavenly Nucleus Cores of the six Heavenly Kings and one Heavenly Emperor, it was the same as returning these pure energies of stars back to the stars in the sky, effectively receiving Star Energy fed back by these stars.

These Star Energies might not be as strong as the seven Heavenly Nucleus Cores, but the purest Star Energy could be utilized by stacking onto the existing Star Energy of his Starcrux. On top of the fact that Zhou Weiqing had just devoured much Heavenly Energy, under the combined escalation, his cultivation had been instantly upgraded from the Middle Level to Upper Level of the Heavenly King Tier. If Demonic Devour was said to be the most amazing method of upgrading one’s cultivation in the human world, then, the method of Star’s Reflection would also be considered insanely ideal in the world of Gods!

When Zhou Weiqing had been condensing the Starcrux Saint Nucleus Core, he already had the enlightenment – albeit not as profound. However, after the previous process, he had slowly begun to master the essence of Star’s Reflection.

It could be said that Heavenly Emperor Meng Gui’s fate had occurred within Zhou Weiqing’s predictions. With Demon God’s Possession, Zhou Weiqing had sealed all of Heavenly Emperor Meng Gui’s senses of the external world. At that time, Long Shiya could feel that the Atmospheric Energy in the air had a unique fluctuation.

Zhou Weiqing had been talking with Heavenly Emperor Meng Gui. In fact, he had been delaying time as a long accumulation process was required for him to use Star Energy. It would be very challenging to use it in battle. Back then, when he had been condensing the tenth pair of Heavenly Jewels, his tenth Elemental Jewel had been fully occupied by his Star Energy. Similar to the seventh Elemental Jewel, its skills could not be stored. Star energy was the source that brought about this mystery in the world.

Reality had proven that Zhou Weiqing had succeeded, after the Star Energy had been activated by him, never mind the already injured Heavenly Emperor Meng Gui. Under such situation, even the Heavenly Emperor-tier powerhouses would not be able to withstand the Star Energy’s strike, and even the Heavenly God-tier powerhouses would have to keep their distance.

The biggest weakness of this Star Energy was that its accumulation time was too long. Of course, this was also associated with Zhou Weiqing’s current cultivation base. At the very least, it would not be too practical for the time being.

‘Master, please retreat a few steps,” Zhou Weiqing said to Long Shiya courteously.

Long Shiya still felt surreal. Nevertheless, he subconsciously moved away further, clearing out the space above the palace.