<h4>Chapter 945: First Step, Complete</h4>


    After Xu Qing’s hand went through the Gruegloom transformation to be transparent, there were still five drops of blood within it that formed a pentagonal shape. Even after the Gruegloom transformation, it wasn’t possible to hide those five drops of blood. Just a nce at them revealed that they were spectacr.


    The moment Xu Qing’s hand entered the altar, the Plumdark Evergreen Lamp vibrated, then rose up into the air and flew toward him.


    But then, the five coffins trembled, and corpse energy erupted out. Pulsing with the aura of the imperial bloodline erupted, it merged with the surrounding mes to make arge golden hand. It reached out toward the Plumdark Evergreen Lamp to grab it.


    Meanwhile, howling sounds that sounded human drifted out from the coffins, and the lids began to shake as if they were about to break open. Simultaneously, the surrounding mes grew more intense. The terrifying heat was joined by a godly aura that could suppress the soul.


    Xu Qing’s Gruegloom hand burst into mes. His Grand Darkheaven Armor and god body were already having a hard time dealing with the high temperature. And the flesh on his hand was starting to crumble into ash. Only his godly authority was able to stand strong. However, it couldn’t stop his right hand from slowly being destroyed.


    It seemed that his right hand was just on the verge of turning into nothing but sparks. And yet, without pausing for a moment, Xu Qing unleashed the power of the five drops of blood.


    The blood drops shot through the burning mes and toward the five coffins. As they did, an even purer and more ancient form of imperial bloodline fluctuations shot out from the drops of blood. They formed a bloodline suppression!


    The golden hand formed from the energy from the coffins couldn’t do anything to stop the blood drops. They shot through the hand andnded right on the coffins. The shuddering of the coffin lids ceased, and the howling stopped. Everything went quiet. Then the golden hand went stiff.


    As for Xu Qing, he used the crumbling remains of his right hand to reach out toward the Plumdark Evergreen Lamp!


    Grabbing it, he pulled it back through the crevice. The moment it left the altar, the five coffins started shaking again, and the howling resumed, this time, with unparalleled levels of defiance. However, the five drops of blood glittered and kept the coffins suppressed.


    Xu Qing’s right hand crumbled into nothing. But he quickly sent his left hand shooting out to grab themp before falling back at top speed.


    All of this takes a bit of time to describe, but from the moment Xu Qing managed to make an opening into the fire until the moment he fled, hardly enough time passed for a spark to fly off a piece of flint.


    Little Shadow couldn’t hold on any longer. It dimmed and copsed into countless smaller shadows that scattered in all directions. The vine reached its limit. Looking very withered, it retreated. Without any power disrupting the mes, they went back to their original position.


    Even more furious howling erupted from the five coffins, all while they shook so violently cracks started spreading across their surface. Fluctuations of instability were now surging out of the altar. The altar had lost itsmp. It had lost its immortal element. And the godly aura was going wild. Without any stability or bnce... the ceremony was heading toward a destructive bacsh! Terrifying pressure grew within the mes.


    Seeing that caused Eleventh Prince to startughing uproariously. The officials looked on silently. The court eunuch let loose a moan of anguish.


    Xu Qing ignored all of that as he sped backward. He put away the cracked Plumdark Evergreen Lamp, all while his right arm started to repair itself thanks to the unique qualities of his god body. Though he felt weak, he was also sighing with relief.


    Months ago in his greater spirit mansion, he had talked with Plumdark about how to retrieve themp. Plumdark had been the one to suggest this tactic, and Xu Qing had agreed wholeheartedly. Plumdark was able to keenly sense themp. And in the years Xu Qing had been away from the capital, though Plumdark had seemingly been in seclusion, the reality was that she had used a secret magic to go out and gather a lot of information.


    The five drops of blood were actually Plumdark’s essence blood. They had been prepared specifically to use against the five coffins if necessary, to keep them suppressed. That was what made it possible to retrieve themp smoothly. They had discussed other possibilities and options. However, the godly ascension mes had made most of those other options impossible to use. Therefore, Xu Qing had been forced to take a big risk.


    After acquiring the Plumdark Evergreen Lamp, Xu Qing felt a very strange sensation within him.


    <i>It seemed like it was risky, but it also seemed like... it went very, very smoothly. Maybe too smoothly.</i>


    Eyes narrowing, he collected Little Shadow and the vine and kept moving backward. As he did, the altar continued to shake, and the howls continued to echo out. Then, the coffins started crumbling to pieces. Before any corpses could emerge, the golden fire surrounding the altar went into chaos.


    The bacsh was beginning. The temperature spiked, and rumbling sounds echoed out as the fire swept over everything. The five coffins were hit first. The bacsh of godfire instantly incinerated them, as well as the corpses inside. Even the altar was reduced to ashes. Everything suffered from the bacsh of golden mes, and was wiped out....


    But then the golden fire had nothing to feed it, and it went out. The aura of godly ascension dissipated. Heaven and earth went back to normal. The emperor’s ceremony of godly ascension had been interrupted! As a result, it failed!


    Eleventh Prince’sughter rang out, full of merriment. He looked at the emperor.


    The officials both on and off Ancient Emperor hadplicated expressions. Some were breathing sighs of relief. However, they couldn’t stop from feeling anxious about the future.


    But then, Eleventh Prince’sughter suddenly stopped as a feeling of unease rose up within him. And that was because he didn’t see any reaction on the face of the emperor! The greater part of the chains were still binding the emperor, and his godly ascension ceremony had just failed. Yet he seemed as calm as ever. The unease within Eleventh Prince grew more intense, and he opened his mouth to speak....


    Before he could, the ashes of the altar and the corpses converged together and shot toward the emperor. He inhaled, and the ashes... flew right into his mouth.


    Intense rumbling sounds rose into the dome of heaven. Ancient Emperor started shaking. Destiny aura surged at peak levels. An aura of godly ascension vastly more intense than anything from before suddenly erupted out! The source of the eruption wasn’t the ashes of the altar. Instead... it was from Ancient Emperor itself!! The was burning!


    This aura went beyond anything from earlier. And the golden mes that spread out from Ancient Emperor seemed capable of burning anything and everything.


    The imperial capital shook, and all of the Imperial Region trembled. There was no doubt... that this reemergence of the godly ascension was monumentally terrifying.


    All of the human government officials, whether on Ancient Emperor or off it, reacted with visible astonishment. But what shook them to the core more than anything... was what happened with King Firecrusher and the court eunuch, who were still in the middle of fighting. Even as they seemed about to rip each other to shreds, they both backed away from each other. King Firecrusher returned to Eleventh Prince’s side, his facial expression the same as ever.


    The court eunuch returned to the emperor. Standing there, he respectfully said, “Congrattions, Your Majesty, on sessfullypleting the first step of the godly ascension ceremony.”


    His words resulted in numerous involuntary cries of shock. As of this moment, everyone realized that the court eunuch’s attempt to stop Xu Qing, whether by word or action, had all been an act. One of the most critical aspects of the entire thing was Xu Qing destroying the godly ascension altar!


    Now Ancient Emperor itself was erupting, which went to show that the destruction of the pentagonal altar wasn’t just something that the emperor had nned. It was also... a crucial element of the ceremony itself!


    Xu Qing’s eyes were narrowed. Although it had seemed like he was in a dangerous situation, the reality was that he had sensed all along that things were going smoothly. Now he realized his senses had not been deceiving him.


    And yet, none of that influenced his decisions. He was not going to actively participate in anything going on here, nor would he cast judgment on the parties involved. Getting the Plumdark Evergreen Lamp was enough for him. Backing up a bit, he sat down cross-legged.


    As the chains on the emperor continued to snap and crumble, he maintained the same calm facial expression as he looked at the astonished Eleventh Prince.


    “Anything else?” the emperor asked calmly.


    Eleventh Prince’s face drained of blood, and his eyes turned very grim.


    At his side, King Firecrusher coolly said, “There’s no need for a facial expression like that, Ningchang. All of this is within the realm of what we predicted could happen.”[1]


    The strange look on Eleventh Prince’s face disappeared, to be reced by a smile. “Although we did predict this possibility, I still wish it hadn’t presented itself. That said, he is the emperor. No matter what emotions I tried to reveal, he’s remained calm this entire time. How dull. In any case, there’s no need for dramatic emotional disys now.” Sighing, Eleventh Prince sped hands and bowed to the emperor. “Father, if you want to see what else I’ve prepared, then... please allow me to proceed.”


    Eleventh Prince then hit himself on the top of the head and spat out a massive mouthful of blood. Then he waved his hand, causing eleven little bottles to appear, which shattered, revealing that they all contained blood. Combined with the mouthful of blood he had just spat out, that was twelve globs of blood. The moment they were out in the open, the twelve globs of blood erupted with imperial bloodline fluctuations.


    Further back at the very edge of the Temple of Heaven stood Grand Prince, Fourth Prince, Fifth Prince, and Tenth Prince. All of them lookedpletely shocked. After all, they could sense the presence of their own blood. They weren’t the only shocked ones. All of the other children of the emperor who hadn’t entered Ancient Emperor felt simr sensations.


    “This,” Eleventh Prince said softly, “is the blood I secretly collected from my brothers and sisters over the years. Mine’s in there too. Today, I will use the blood of the imperial princes and princesses to open the way through the vortex of destiny aura, bypass the grand spell formation of humankind, and surpass the limitations of the imperial... to open a heavenly gate!”


    Eleventh Prince performed a double-handed incantation gesture and then waved his hands out. Instantly, the twelve globs of blood shot up into the air over Ancient Emperor, where they became a massive blood-colored vortex.


    Deafening rumbling sounds swept out as a shocking gravitational force erupted from the vortex as a passageway opened up! A terrifying aura then spilled out.


    1. Guyue Ningchang. We now know that Eleventh Prince’s given name is Ningchang, which means his full name is Guyue Ningchang. I’ve already exined Guyue before. Ning is the same as the character from Ningyan’s name. It means “peace, calm.” Chang means “prosperous, flourishing.” Madam Deathde said, “It makes me think of peace and prosperity, like this is a calm guy with big hopes for a chaotic world.” Incidentally, since I haven’t mentioned it in a while, I’d like to reiterate that Madam Deathde is not familiar with these characters or the story. Her reactions are basically instinctive reactions to what the names “sound” or “feel” like to her in Chinese. ?