Chapter 697: Long Time No See, Xu Qing!
Chapter 697: Long Time No See, Xu Qing!
The Captain snatched the scroll painting out of the air, laughed heartily, and tossed it to Xu Qing.
“Suppress him in the world fragment, little Junior Brother. This counts as our first battle trophy!”
Xu Qing immediately suppressed Patriarch Gloomite in the world fragment. Because of being connected to the fingerprint by karma, the Captain’s patch of skin and the world fragment were more than enough.
Everything came down to karma. And a sealing method like that would be very stable. That was especially true considering that Patriarch Gloomite had already been seriously injured, and had lost sixty percent of hīmself. Suppressing that remaining forty percent didn’t cause any big waves.
One thing had to be said: the Captain had obviously prepared very thoroughly for this mission to deal with Crimson Mother. 𝔣𝖗𝔢𝔢𝔴𝖊𝖇𝖓𝔬𝔳𝖊𝔩.𝔠𝔬𝖒
That said, considering Emperor Ancient Spirit was present… what he had just done was snatching food from the tiger’s mouth!
And that was why Emperor Ancient Spirit didn’t look very happy; hē wasn’t full. Of course, hē knew that this was just a little appetizer. Snorting coldly, hē looked over at the Heir Apparent and his siblings fighting the clay figures. Now that Patriarch Gloomite had been sealed, the clay figures’ minds went blank. They turned back into ordinary muddy clay, then collapsed into ashes.
Next, everyone turned to look at the door of the Moon Palace. As of now, there was no totem there. Of course, everyone present was fully aware that just because the door lacked a door god, it didn’t mean that it was going to be easy to open.
Laughing heartily, the Captain walked up to the door, his head high and his chest out.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the Senior generation, please, give me some room. And also, provide backup. Of everyone here, I’m the most experienced at opening doors. Little Junior Brother, you don’t need to do anything right now. I’ll bust open this thing!”
The Captain extended his hand, and the nine artificial suns flew out.
The suns were wreathed in golden flames, and emanated a godly aura. As for the fire… it was the absorbed godfire of the godchild, and with its augmentation, the nine artificial suns were like mini Dawning Suns!
Although the Heir Apparent and his siblings were unfamiliar with the Dawning Suns, they could sense the terrifying nature of these nine suns. In fact, they had been paying attention to them all along. As a result, they backed up. Emperor Ancient Spirit took a close look, then went back into hiding.
Seeing all of that made the Captain feel more pleased with himself than ever. With a flourish, he loudly said, “Little Roundy! Open up the shrew’s door for me!”
One of the burning artificial suns flew out, pulsing with a terrifying aura. It left a streak of gold behind it as it shot directly toward the door of the Moon Palace.
“Cover me!” Acting very much like a child who had just lit some firecrackers, the Captain raced madly back toward Xu Qing. He knew full well that the safest spot possible would be right next to Xu Qing. The Heir Apparent and the others might not protect the Captain, but they would definitely keep Xu Qing safe. He was absolutely correct. Ninth Sib flew over to stand protectively in front of Xu Qing, his sword raised. The Heir Apparent and the rest of the siblings also flew over.
The moment they arrived, the sun slammed into the door. A deafening boom rang out, causing the entire red moon to tremble. The air in the area rippled. Through the distortions, it was possible to see that the artificial sun had smashed into the door and turned into waves of golden fire that spread out over the Moon Palace to vie with the crimson color.
The aura being released was so horrendously powerful that even the Heir Apparent and the siblings felt threatened. That was especially true considering that the power of godfire was on display. The Moon Palace trembled as tempestuous fluctuations spread out over the red moon.
Though the Heir Apparent and the siblings were able to block the fluctuations, they continued to spread around them in a semi-circular shape. The effects quickly spread out to the Moonrite Region as a whole.
It took a very long moment before the tempest died down. Xu Qing looked up. The Moon Palace rose up in front of him just like before. The golden fire covering it was receding in the face of the growing crimson color. And the door… though damaged, was not open.
Looking a bit anxious, the Captain rose up with a crazy look in his eyes and shouted, “Medium Roundy!”
In the blink of an eye, an artificial sun that was far larger than the first one flew forth, similarly leaving behind a streak of golden flames. It was clearly a lot more majestic than Little Roundy. It screamed through the air toward the door, then slammed into it with a deafening boom that seemed to surpass all sounds in the world. The red moon shook again, and the entire Moonrite Region trembled. In fact, even people in surrounding regions heard the heaven-rending, earth-crushing sound.
The eruption of godfire stained the entire red moon the color of gold. And even though the Moon Palace’s door contained godfire, it still succumbed to the terrifying blow, and opened by a crack.
The Captain looked very excited, and Xu Qing was watching the door closely. But then, a cold harrumph echoed out, and the voice was very familiar.
At the same time, the godfire covering the door winked out. The same thing happened to the godfire covering the rest of the Moon Palace, as well as the flames that had spread across the entirety of the red moon. That one cold harrumph extinguished all of it.
The Heir Apparent’s expression flickered as he backed up. Princess Brightblossom, Fifth Sister, and Eighth Sib all reacted with surprise. In fact, Fifth Sister and Eighth Sib both coughed up huge mouthfuls of blood.
The only one who reacted differently was Ninth Sib, whose baleful aura flared as he slashed his sword out in front of him. The piercing sound of an explosion rang out as the sword slashed through the air and shredded the invisible pressure. However, as the sword descended, the sword itself wasn’t able to stand up to the force, and shattered. Ninth Sib’s face was completely expressionless as he made a grasping gesture. A second sword appeared in his hand as he looked up at the Moon Palace’s door.
The Captain’s eyes glittered with blue light as he ignited the remaining artificial suns. He recognized the identity of the person who had let loose the cold harrumph.
So did Xu Qing. As he remained in place silently, the previously unopened door slowly swung open. It made no sound. And it didn’t open just a bit. It opened wide, almost as if to invite everyone inside.
Past the door was the interior of the Moon Palace. It didn’t look like a palace hall. Instead, it was a massive sea of blood. It seemed to go on forever, with its blood-red glow illuminating the canopy of heaven.
Within that red glow, standing tall above the sea, were numerous hulking figures. One looked vaguely humanoid, except with three heads and six arms. One very bizarre one was made completely of bones, and was unnaturally tall. Another had a body shaped like a slab of meat, which was covered with tentacles. Yet another was a conglomeration of mist filled with innumerable tiny fingers.
These strange figures looked completely different from the species which inhabited Revered Ancient. And every single one emanated terrifying godly auras that filled the blood sea. Even just one of these figures could bring about a bloody reign of terror if it were released onto the mainland.
Because all of thēm… were gods!
There were 37 of them in total!
Xu Qing even spotted the god from Forbidden by the Immortal! It looked like a fish, just as he remembered.
Based on the auras Xu Qing could sense, there were at least a dozen or so gods who surpassed the fish god. And based on what Xu Qing could tell, two of them… were roughly on the same level as Crimson Mother, with godly might that could shatter the mind of a mortal who simply looked at them.
Thēy weren’t corporeal, but rather, were projections. This place was a hell for gods.
“This is a bit different from the last time I was in the Moon Palace,” the Captain said in a low voice. “The Moonlight Sea should be deeper inside. But now it’s right here…. The Moonlight Sea is full of projections of the various gods Crimson Mother has devoured!”
Xu Qing’s pupils constricted as he looked into the depths of the sea. There… he saw a huge flower that the 37 gods were arrayed around.
It was an extremely beautiful flower, and yet, that beauty was filled with a sensation of death. Bright red, with numerous swaying stamens and oddly bent leaves, it drifted back and forth as if dancing to music. The flower was blooming. The petals slowly opened. This entire world seemed filled with the cloying reek of blood and gore.
From a distance, the lily flower rose up from the blood hell like the vicious clawed hand of a ghost, attempting to snatch any and all living things.
A figure sat cross-legged on the flower. The figure was male, and was covering hīs eyes with both hands. Unmoving, hē almost seemed asleep. Long red hair drifted about, covering the flower itself. The hairs connected to the stamens, making it hard to distinguish the difference between the person and the flower. And the flower was more beautiful as a result.
The male figure wore a red robe, which was the same color as the pāramitā lily, and made it seem… as if the two of them were one. [1]
Hē was extremely good-looking, but at the same time, seemed empty. If Xu Qing didn’t recognize this person, he would have had a hard time determining if hē was male or female. It was a fatal type of beauty, or perhaps, a deathly beauty that living beings couldn’t possess. Just like the flower.
Atop this person’s blood-colored hair was a crown of thorns, the thorns of which pierced the skin, but at the same time, added to the beauty of the image. A host of tormented faces were weaved into the crown of thorns, and they constantly shifted into the form of different faces. At the same time, they all emitted noiseless howls of grief. Those howls of grief echoed out to become the music the flower swayed to.
“Zhang Siyun…” murmured Xu Qing.
This person was indeed none other than Zhang Siyun!
Xu Qing wasn’t surprised to see him here. Although he never got to know Zhang Siyun very well, he had dealt with him on multiple occasions. He had personally witnessed Zhang Siyun be possessed by Crimson Mother, devour the god from Forbidden by the Immortal, and then vanish back to the red moon. [2]
The moment Xu Qing’s gaze fell on Zhang Siyun, Zhang Siyun’s eyelashes fluttered, and hē… opened hīs eyes. They were as red as blood and as cold as ice. They were Crimson Mother’s eyes but they also looked like Zhang Siyun’s eyes.
“Long time no see, Xu Qing.”
1. What I’m translating as “pāramitā lily” is the same Chinese term as the “resurrection lily” from ISSTH. If I could go back in time, I would use “pāramitā” in ISSTH as well, but that ship has long sailed. Although anything is possible, I don’t think the flower here is supposed to be connected to ISSTH. The concept of pāramitā and pāramitā flowers is just too common in xianxia/xuanhuan. Literally speaking, pāramitā means “to arrive at the other shore,” which is presumably why the author often links pāramitā to seas, shores, etc. If you want to dig into the actual concept of pāramitā, here’s a link. ☜
2. Zhang Siyun did all those things in chapter 525.2. If you go back to read the reference, note that in the final moment when he jumps into the portal, he is not referred to as Zhang Siyun, but rather, as “Crimson Mother’s doppelg?nger.” ☜