Before departing, the Captain had Wu Jianwu give a seed to Xu Qing.

“Little Junior Brother, if you get to the Bitter Life Mountains before me, plant this seed somewhere. That way, if I need to find you urgently, I can have Big Jianjian send his children to find you by tracking down the scent of the seed. Either way, after my current task, I can use the seed to find you.”

Xu Qing accepted the seed curiously. He knew that Wu Jianwu’s children were very special. In fact, it made him think back to years ago when Wu Jianwu opened that wish box. 1

Wu Jianwu looked just as despondent as before. He just lay there listlessly, occasionally sighing.

“Don’t worry about him,” the Captain said. “This is just what happens with a bad breakup. He’ll be fine in a few days.” He took a deep breath and looked at Xu Qing with encouragement in his eyes. “Well, little Junior Brother, time to see what fate has in store. You take care of yourself, and I’ll do the same.” 𝘳.𝑐ℴ

Xu Qing nodded.

Off to the side, Ning Yan’s ears perked up as he eavesdropped, especially when he heard the word ‘breakup.’ That was when everything clicked, and he realized why Wu Jianwu was acting unusual. Feeling more than a little disdainful, he thought, That’s it?

Seeing that Xu Qing was about to leave, Ning Yan got to his feet and hurried over with a hopeful look on his face. He obviously wanted Xu Qing to take him along….

Xu Qing ignored him. He left the artificial sun, then flew up into the sky and disappeared.

“He’s so grown up he doesn’t want to hang out with his Elder Brother anymore.” The Captain sighed as he watched Xu Qing leave. Then he performed an incantation gesture, and the artificial sun rumbled to life and continued on its way.

Half a month flew by.

The bounty from the Yin-Yang Betwixt Flowers Sect was still active, but no one had dug up any traces of the people on the wanted posters. They had seemingly vanished from the face of the earth. And then something happened that caused most people to forget all about the bounty. In fact, it was such a momentous and astonishing development that it shook all of the Moonrite Region! .𝒎

The godchild of the Red Moon Cathedral had been grievously injured!

At first, the details were kept under wraps. Only the high-ranking members of the Red Moon Cathedral had any idea what happened. But stories spread about some sort of dramatic event in the northern ice plains, as well as supernatural phenomena at the Heavenfire Sea. For more than a month, lingering fluctuations had continued to spread out through heaven and earth. There was a lot of speculation about what happened, but no solid facts emerged.

After a few months passed, the truth about the event started to spread. Of course, the word was spread, not by the Red Moon Cathedral, but rather, by members of the Moonrebel Congregation. According to the stories being spread, the supernatural phenomena at the Heavenfire Sea were the result of the Heir Apparent of the Imperial Sovereign being freed from captivity.

The dramatic events in the northern ice plains resulted when the Heir Apparent rescued Princess Brightblossom, who was the daughter of that same Imperial Sovereign. When those two shocking individuals were freed, the first thing they did was attack the headquarters of the Red Moon Cathedral.

What played out was an incredibly shocking battle. In fact, that battle was the source of the lingering fluctuations that had been present for a whole month.

The battle ended with the Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom going missing, and the Red Moon Cathedral’s godchild seriously injured. Most relevant of all was the fact that… Crimson Mother of the red moon never showed up. It didn’t make sense. If the godchild ended up injured, he would surely have unleashed some powerful god magic during the fighting. But based on the fluctuations, it didn’t seem that happened!

Before long, two rumors were spreading.

The first rumor was related to the godchild’s true identity. What was more, according to this rumor, the godly souls he had collected from his imprisoned brothers and sisters ended up being taken during the fighting. Those souls were the reason that the imprisoned descendants of the Imperial Sovereigns lost their minds when in captivity. The moment they were seized, countless howls of grief erupted from inside the Red Moon Cathedral.

It was a shocking development. What was more, after analyzing the events, some people came to the conclusion that the Heir Apparent hadn’t been interested in fighting a battle to the death with the godchild. There was deeper meaning. And apparently, the godly souls were one of his main targets. No one knew any more than that.

The second rumor was more momentous, and had a much bigger practical effect.

“Crimson Mother of the red moon is sleeping in an outside region. For the time being, shē can’t wake up!”

This rumor was incredibly astonishing, and led some people to wonder if leadership was going to change in the Moonrite Region.

Some people believed the rumors, others didn’t. But either way… all of the Moonrite Region was shaken to the core by the various developments. The region was like a pool of still water that was suddenly disturbed by rolling waves.

Almost overnight, secret societies sprang up in prefectures and counties all over the region. They preached about ‘rebelling against the moon,’ and urged the commoners to defy the leaders of the region. They were hoping to spark a wildfire.

However, the Red Moon Cathedral sent all of its affiliate organizations out to crush such movements, and they were joined by large numbers of godslaves, godservants, and godheralds.

After the godchild was injured, the cathedral’s pontiff awoke from slumber to take charge. He was the type of person who controlled things with an iron fist, and almost immediately, blood was being spilled through the Moonrite Region.

At long last… the wind was blowing in Moonrite.

***

In the west of Moonrite Region was Greensand County. At the moment, a green sandstorm filled that area, stretching from the ground all the way to the dome of heaven.

Greensand County was one of the seven counties in the western part of the Moonrite Region. It was located near the center of the region. The reason for the name was that the entire county was a desert with very unique sand. It wasn’t yellow sand. It was green. And green sandstorms covered the place year round. The people who lived there had long since grown used to the local climate, and could not only survive, but also flourish amidst the endless green sandstorms.

There were a lot of legends related to the sandstorms, but there was only one that the majority of people believed to be true.

According to the legend, long ago, this place wasn’t home to a desert. Instead, it was an enormous basin filled with countless towering mountains. Back then, the soil was black, and the place was so full of mist that it was said to be home to a sea of mist.

One day, a strand of green hair fell from the sky, which transformed into sand that filled the basin and gave it its green color. After that, the place was a desert. The once towering mountains had been mostly covered in sand, but the exposed parts were still connected into a rough collection of mountain ranges. The largest of those mountain ranges was called the Bitter Life Mountains.

As for the desert, it was called the Greenhair Badlands. Because of the horrific climate, the population in the Greenhair Badlands wasn’t very large. However, because of the place’s unique qualities, there was no shortage of visitors. 2

And over the years, mudbrick cities had sprung up in numerous places. The cities were all built on the mountains, not the sand. Of course, the Red Moon Cathedral also had territory staked out in the area.

As the green sandstorms blew, it was just possible to see a figure moving through the haze.

The wind blew strong and loud. It felt like a host of hands pushing against whoever it touched, blocking forward progress, and making one’s clothing whip wildly. However, the wind couldn’t stop this figure from moving. He seemed to be moving at a leisurely pace, yet each step propelled him dozens of meters forward. Occasionally he would stop in place and take out a jade slip to check his position and course.

“It’s just up ahead,” Xu Qing murmured. After parting ways with the Captain, he had thought for a time about how exactly he wanted to proceed. Eventually, he decided to fix his sights on the Bitter Life Mountains. He was planning to try to make contact with the Moonrebel Congregation, and hopefully identify a good path to follow in his curse research.

This was his third day in the Greenhair Badlands.

He no longer wore a daoist robe. Instead, he wore local attire. He had a cloth scarf wrapping up his head and face, leaving only his eyes visible, as well as wide-legged trousers, knee-length animal hide boots, and a voluminous gray cloak that he could wrap around his entire body. The cloak also served to keep Ling’er safe. The wind here could be painful even to cultivators, and it had to be defended against using one’s cultivation base. For short periods of time, it wasn’t anything worth worrying about. But if you were exposed for long periods, you could easily exhaust yourself.

Thanks to the endless wind, the spirit power in this desert was scattered and weak. There was also something desolate in the wind, something that would slowly eat away at life force, until the victim was left as nothing but a skeleton pulsing with death energy.

Of course, there were some unique life forms who, like fish in water, thrived in this environment.

At the moment, Xu Qing was eyeing a green scorpion that was about as big as a child. The scorpion had just burst out of the sand behind him, and was racing toward him at top speed. As it neared, its tail glittered with cold light. Just when it seemed like it was about to stab Xu Qing, his shadow swept out.

The scorpion vanished. The shadow returned.

Xu Qing didn’t bother checking into what happened. After arriving here, he had run into quite a few beasts like this. All of them had a lot of curse power in them, so he welcomed them. He had already told the shadow to capture them alive and keep them around for later study.

After confirming his current position, he put away the jade slip with the map in it and proceeded on his way. The intelligence reports the Captain had given him about the Moonrite Region weren’t very detailed. Therefore, he had spent some of his own money to buy some more information about Greensand County.

That was how he knew some of the local legends, as well as the general location of the Bitter Life Mountains. He continued traveling for seven days, getting deeper and deeper into the desert. During his travels, he saw all sorts of gruish beings in the green sand.

For instance, he noticed some roughly 30-meter-tall mushrooms. They looked almost like huge houses standing in the middle of the desert. They were very colorful, and would be very attractive to anyone who spotted them from a distance. Xu Qing didn’t get close to them. After scanning them briefly, he decided to avoid the area. He didn’t want to get involved in any unnecessary trouble.

He would occasionally run into mirages in the desert. The sandstorms would create images of men and women, laughing with each other as they walked along. Their voices contained alluring power, and wherever they passed, they left behind long streaks in the sand. The streaks looked like evidence of the passage of huge worms, crawling beneath the surface of the desert.

Xu Qing also spotted pillars. Corpses were strapped to the pillars like warning messages.

He took note of them and kept traveling. A few days later, he saw a group of huge animals with bells hanging around their necks. They vaguely resembled rhinoceroses. Wherever they went, the sound of tinkling bells followed them. Mounted on the backs of the huge beasts were wizened nonhumans who were wrapped up in so much cloth all you could see were their pure white eyes surveying their surroundings.

Upon noticing Xu Qing, the huge beasts stopped short, and the nonhumans atop them looked at him vigilantly. Xu Qing clasped hands respectfully and backed up a bit. They nodded at him and continued on their way without causing any trouble.

In that manner, days passed. Eventually a month had gone by.

The Bitter Life Mountains were now visible in the distance.

The sky was dusky, and in the haze, the Bitter Life Mountains looked like a dragon sleeping in the desert. One mountain after another stretched up, going from west to east, spanning more than 4,500 kilometers.

1. How could we forget the amazing chapter when Wu Jianwu opened the wish box? It was in chapter 147. I didn’t mention it at the time, but the message in the wish box was extremely difficult to translate, and I’m quite proud of how it turned out. ☜

2. Quick heads up that the author actually refers to this place with a few different names, and goes back and forth between them. For the sake of continuity, I’m going to generally standardize the name to Greenhair Badlands. ☜

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