“Now that you mention it…” the Captain said, looking very pleased with himself. He took out a peach and helped himself to a bite. He was about to continue eating when he noticed the Heir Apparent looking at him. He blinked a few times, took out a pear, and offered it to the Heir Apparent. “You should eat, Grandpa.”

The Heir Apparent looked at him expressionlessly.

The Captain plastered a smile onto his face, put the pear away, then cleared his throat. “Now that you mention it, the old man was the one who sought me out. It was back when I was wearing diapers and used to play outside in the mud with the neighbor girl. I had a good thing going, but the old man showed up and messed it all up. He checked my bones and said that we were connected by destiny. And then he just outright kidnapped me. As for little Ah Qing, he sought out Master. Very different from me.” 1

The Heir Apparent glanced at the Captain. He understood everything. The brat had obviously sought out his Master, and was accepted due to his extreme shamelessness. The Heir Apparent was about to inform the Captain of his conclusions when something else caught his attention. He looked back at Xu Qing off in the distance.

The Captain noticed the same thing.

Xu Qing stood in the darkness and green wind, looking at the lifespan flower in front of him. He knew that his Eldest Brother had put the flower there. The fact that the Captain knew about this element of Xu Qing’s past was clearly because of their Master. As a result, the sight of the flower wasn’t that much of a surprise. His Master had predicted all of this.

Xu Qing carefully picked up the metal box. As he looked at the flower inside of it, he couldn’t help but think back to that old man from the scavenger basecamp.

“Sergeant Thunder,” he murmured, “I finally found that lifespan flower for you….”

He closed his eyes.

As the face of blood collapsed, and all the blood flowed back into him, he heard a begrudging sigh from the godliness.

His human nature was returning as his tears dropped to the ground.

The flower was like an anchor. In a moment of chaos, it gave him something stable to hold on to. In his stupor, he was given a clear signal. And it made sure that his human nature materialized, becoming like an unmovable boulder.

All of the memories that he had come to view as unimportant were once again becoming important. He saw his youth. His days in Seven Blood Eyes. His experiences in Sea-Sealing County…. Everything came back, and the memories became even more profound. He remembered his name. He remembered all of the people and things he couldn’t make himself abandon. The godly nature was being concealed. The animal nature was being suppressed.

Time passed.

Xu Qing opened his eyes. Within them was sadness. He was now fully awake. The chaos had vanished. The hunger was gone. Now that he was awake, he could sense that he was different from before. Majestic fleshly body power coursed through him, and he emanated a terrifying aura and fear-inspiring fluctuations.

In the past, the god body had been difficult for him to completely control. But now his control had increased dramatically. Going forward, that body did not belong to the god’s finger anymore. Of course, the resulting boost to his battle prowess was even more fearsome.

Next, Xu Qing sensed the violet moon power, which was now a god trove. He also could tell how the godly nature had been driving his thoughts. There was now a golden magical symbol imprinted in the core of his life force. īt could be activated at any time. Compared to everything else, that was the most precious thing to come out of this experience.

He could sense how he had lost his human nature and devolved into the madness of animal nature. He also remembered the apathy of godly nature.

In the end, he had his anchor to hold onto. He took control of the animal nature. He concealed the apathetic godly nature. And he brought back his human nature as the dominant force.

“This process is called god-glimpsing,” the Heir Apparent said from behind him.

Xu Qing didn’t say anything.

“After what you experienced, little Ah Qing,” the Captain said curiously, “do you sense authority within yourself?”

Xu Qing looked over his shoulder. He saw the Heir Apparent and the Captain standing there.

He greeted them in a hoarse voice. “Eldest Brother. Senior.”

He looked at the Captain’s mangled hand.

Apparently, something special happened to the parts that Xu Qing had devoured. Despite the Captain’s recovery powers, those areas weren’t growing back like normal. Noticing Xu Qing’s gaze, the Captain put his arm behind his back and smiled nonchalantly, then tried to get his powers working at full speed again.

The Heir Apparent felt like shaking his head. He didn’t see how someone could develop authority after their first experience with god-glimpsing. Normally speaking, it took several times. But given what he knew of Xu Qing’s powers of understanding, he chose not to shake his head.

This little punk has some freakish powers of understanding…. Let’s wait and see what happens before making a determination.

Xu Qing looked at the Heir Apparent and then the Captain. Heart racing, he thought back to the instincts he had experienced in his moment of chaotic madness. Unfortunately, he hadn’t really been himself in that state, and thus his memories weren’t very clear. Time passed. After two incense stick’s worth of time, he frowned.

He remembered that, in addition to the hunger he had felt, he had experienced the intense longing to drink blood. However, that did not really conform to what he expected godly authority to be.

Noticing Xu Qing’s facial expression, the Captain cleared his throat. Looking very proud, he said, “It’s highly unlikely you could sense authority with your first attempt at god-glimpsing, little Ah Qing. However, I have to say I’m a bit disappointed. Don’t be discouraged, though. You’re still young, so keep working hard. I’m sure you’ll succeed on your second try, just like I did.”

The Heir Apparent looked closely at Xu Qing for a moment, and it was impossible to say if he was sighing inside, or gasping. Finally, he said, “Let’s go. We need to get back.”

The Heir Apparent took a step forward with the intention of taking Xu Qing and the Captain away with him.

But then Xu Qing hesitated. “I think I did feel something, but… I can’t be sure.”

As the words left his mouth, he experimentally extended his right hand and waved it a bit…. Drops of blood began oozing out of his pores. It was as if each drop of blood contained a will of its own as they floated out in front of him. The blood converged, swirling around Xu Qing to eventually form a blood-colored vortex.

The Captain’s eyes went wide. The Heir Apparent stopped walking.

Rumbling sounds echoed out as the vortex grew larger, until it was like a blood-colored lake. Then a face rose up from within the lake.

It was Xu Qing’s face.

īt looked apathetic, but unlike before, īt… could be controlled.

Looking at the Captain and the Heir Apparent, Xu Qing said, “I’m not sure if this is ‘authority.’ Back then, when I took that scrap of godsource, it contained… a bit of blood.”

The Heir Apparent’s heart was pounding, and the Captain was visibly moved. The Captain could sense that, as that blood vortex appeared, and especially when the face emerged, all the blood in his body started stirring as if it was about to go out of control.

It was as if… if Xu Qing wanted it, all the blood in his body would explode out and enter his control. As a matter of fact, that was exactly the case. Xu Qing could sense blood fluctuations in all sorts of locations in the desert. All he had to do was exercise a thought, and all of that blood would rush toward him.

“I can do more than control it…” he murmured. He closed his eyes, and the surrounding blood vortex rose up, completely surrounding him. As it became a sea of blood, it also became possible to see a god trove.

Terrifying pressure weighed down on the lands below. The sea of blood surged and began to descend. Rumbling could be heard as the green desert became as red as blood. Countless droplets of blood entered the ground, spreading out for one kilometer, five, fifty…. In the end, it spread out to the shocking degree of 250 kilometers.

The desert in that area was crimson. All of the animals that the blood touched howled and then collapsed, becoming part of the blood. There were even some giant mushrooms in dao begetting who trembled and collapsed. One of them managed to form its roots into the shape of a giant, and tried to flee. But the rapidly expanding sea of blood hit it, and it suffered the same fate.

A feeling of hunger once again appeared in Xu Qing, and yet again, he experienced the longing for blood. He felt the desire to expand the range of his devouring, and consume everything.

But thanks to the restraint and self-control of human nature, he also knew his limits. Given his current level of strength, if he kept doing this, he would lose control.

A moment later, all of the blood swept back toward its origin. As the Heir Apparent and the Captain watched, it once again turned into Xu Qing. It started blurry, but quickly turned clear as countless blood droplets converged. His hair started gray, but quickly turned black. And soon his body was back to normal.

The Heir Apparent waved his hand, causing one droplet of blood to emerge from the blood sea and fly over to him. Within the blood drop was Xu Qing’s face, looking apathetically at the Heir Apparent. The Heir Apparent’s gaze sharpened. He could tell that the blood didn’t just contain the simple authority of Crimson Mother.

Authority was something unique to each god, and thus, each god’s authority had different characteristics.

Is this the essence of the red moon?? The Heir Apparent was deeply shaken. He knew full well that Crimson Mother had worked hard to make people think that shē and the red moon were the same thing. But the reality was… the red moon came first, and Crimson Mother came later.

The red moon had existed from the most ancient times, even before Revered Ancient was born. In contrast, Crimson Mother… was a postheaven god that came after the arrival of the broken face. The reason Crimson Mother resided in the red moon was that shē wanted to actually supplant the red moon. To become the red moon. That was Crimson Mother’s path to godly ascension.

That was how shē got hēr authority.

Stealing some of Crimson Mother’s authority was the same as taking some of hēr power of enlightenment. It was like eating food that others had already digested. But Xu Qing… was different. Forgetting the levels of power involved, it was completely appropriate to say that the moment Xu Qing gained enlightenment of blood, he began walking the same path as Crimson Mother! And the destination, whether intentional or not, was the red moon.

Such thoughts left the Heir Apparent feeling profoundly astonished. However, he instinctively kept his cool.

“Not bad,” he said calmly. “It’s just as I thought. One drop of blood to mold the soul. One drop of blood to bring unbounded growth. Xu Qing, when you turn all of your blood violet, it will mean you’ll have even more authority over blood. In fact, it’s possible that one day… you might be able to turn the red moon violet.

“But right now, this session of cultivation has reached an end. Go back and rest. In seven days… I’ll take you somewhere to see a certain person.”

The Heir Apparent’s calm expression and mysterious wording made it seem like all of this was what he had predicted would happen. As he started walking forward, he waved his hand, sending the drop of blood back toward Xu Qing, where it merged into his forehead.

Xu Qing opened his eyes and looked at the Captain.

The Captain forced a smile onto his face. He suddenly felt a lot of pressure. In fact, Xu Qing was putting far more pressure on him than he ever had before.

I can’t believe he actually took control of authority on his first attempt at god-glimpsing! I wasn’t even being serious before. And that authority…. This is not gonna work! I have to keep opening my seals!

Of course, those were his thoughts. What he said out loud was, “Not bad. Not bad at all. Just like me, back in the day. Hahaha….”

The Captain hurried to catch up with the Heir Apparent.

Xu Qing nodded and followed along.

The green wind blew just like before. The red color in the dome of heaven grew brighter. As it shone down on the three of them, it cast their shadows onto the ground below. Soon, they disappeared into the distance.

1. Quick cultural note that the Captain actually did not mention wearing ‘diapers,’ but rather, kaidangku or open-crotch pants. Here’s a link to Wikipedia with more information, but suffice it to say that in China, the most traditional clothing for babies are garments with an open crotch that allows them to pee

/poop freely. Nowadays it’s becoming more common among the younger generation to use diapers (Madam Deathblade hates kaidangku and refused to use them for Baby Deathblade when he was a baby), but the open-crotch pants are still ubiquitous all over China. I’m rendering it ‘diapers’ for ease of reading, especially considering how many people don’t read footnotes. ☜

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