The wind came from Xu Qing, who was sitting cross-legged off in the distance, completely unmoving. As the wind picked up, lightning crashed and everyone looked on, confused. The vortex in the sky started emitting loud rumbling sounds.

A moment ago, everyone had sensed a vague fluctuation that came along with the wind that seemed to originate with Xu Qing. Around them, the entire world fragment shivered. The ground shook, and the distant mountains, shaped like a blade, trembled. Boulders crashed down into the valley, scattering in all directions.

“What’s going on?” Ning Yan said with a gasp.

The Captain’s eyes widened as he looked at Xu Qing sitting there cross-legged.

The Heir Apparent turned to look at Xu Qing, his expression flickering. “What’s this…?”

Princess Brightblossom and the other siblings also looked in the same direction, their eyes gleaming.

Eighth Sib shivered. “?????? He’s actually gaining enlightenment?”

As everyone reeled in shock, a consummate killing intent began to build up! It was formless, and would take time to appear fully, but it was clearly on the way.

Except, there was even more to come.

The Heir Apparent was looking at Xu Qing, and he should have been very pleased. After all, Xu Qing was accomplishing this under his tutelage. Unfortunately, what he felt instead was unshakable helplessness. All of a sudden, he thought about Xu Qing’s Master. And then he instinctively turned to look at Princess Brightblossom. Princess Brightblossom had turned to look at him. They shared a glance silently.

***

It was impossible to say if you could assign an age to the wind. If not, then how could it contain evidence of the memory of all things? If it did have an age, how could you determine it?

Few people could answer questions like that.

Perhaps the age of the wind was determined by the events it had witnessed from ancient times until modern. As it blew on all the living beings in the Moonrite Region, stirring their hearts, the Red Moon Cathedral was taking action. The images from act 1 were nothing short of blasphemy as far as they were concerned! They wanted to find out where the play was being broadcast from and put an end to it.

As a result, innumerable cathedral cultivators were out scouring the lands. Sadly for them, there was no way they would easily be able to find that altar hidden in the green sand of the desert. The ancient wind blew across the altar, stirring hearts and minds, and slowly transforming into a huge wave.

***

Act 2 was about to begin, and the broadcast couldn’t be stopped now. It didn’t matter if Ning Yan and the others were feeling shaken, they just had to buck up and get on with the performance.

Heaven and earth swayed as the ancient wind blew, becoming part of the background imagery as the Eye of Heaven sent the image of the play into the minds of the people. The play began again.

Although the audience didn’t realize it, the ancient evidence dredged up by Xu Qing, plus the killing sensation it brought, made the play significantly more realistic.

The first thing people saw was an altar. It was gargantuan, and seemed to pulse with majestic godly might. The altar had countless magical symbols on it, and they flickered with the light of endless destroyed suns, moons, stars, and heavenly bodies. It was absolutely terrifying.

In the middle of the altar was Crimson Mother, sealed by the shattered remnants of countless stars, kneeling in front of a burly man in golden armor. She struggled to free herself, but it did no good.

The burly man in the armor had a mask on, making it impossible to determine his facial expression. He stood ramrod straight, pulsing with a somber and desolate aura. He had one hand gripping Crimson Mother by the hair, and in the other hand, he held a long saber. The saber glittered with gold light, and it emanated shocking fluctuations that spread into the air and created a 3,000-meter projected image. This burly man was the godpriest in charge of the execution.

Beyond the altar was Ning Yan, still in his role as the Imperial Sovereign. He seemed to be surrounded by countless respectful figures.

Everyone was waiting for the Ancient Emperor’s decree.

The solemnity on display, and the killing sensation that kept growing stronger and stronger, left everyone in the Moonrite Region feeling deeply shaken. After all, the killing intent on display was astonishing, and was capable of inundating both body and senses. Although everyone had been suspicious of the play’s content, as of now, the realism of the killing intent shook the doubts of even the top experts from the various species. The higher their cultivation base was, the more pronounced the effect. All of them were sensitive to killing intent in varying degrees, and what they sensed now was on another level entirely.

“And this is just a transmission of killing intent….”

“Just sensing it fills me with fear and trepidation!”

“Don’t tell me… that this recording is actually real??”

The audience was shaken, especially the cultivators from the Red Moon Cathedral, who were holding nothing back in their search for the perpetrators.

Unbeknownst to everyone, the performers were actually feeling just as shaken.

Ning Yan was struggling to contain his anxiety as he glanced at Xu Qing. He could sense the intense killing intent building up, and it had him scared witless. The Captain was also bewildered. Nethersprite, as she played Crimson Mother, was trembling, and it wasn’t an act. The wind was really just too powerful. The killing intent within it grew stronger and stronger, affecting the magical laws in the area, and causing snowflakes to start falling.

The Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom both had very serious expressions on their faces. At this point, they didn’t care about the performance at all, and were instead focused on Xu Qing.

Xu Qing was still seeking enlightenment. By using his daybreak light, he was able to continually search for and imitate the fluctuations in the ink. In fact, just a moment ago, he had found the evidence he sought within the ink in his sea of consciousness.

Daybreak light shone into it. Along with the imitation and the enlightenment, his heart and mind filled with rumbling sounds, until eventually, he heard what sounded like chanting. The fluctuations were the source of the chanting, and also the source of the wind. Now, it was all becoming increasingly clear.

“Kill!”

“Kill!!”

“Kill!!!”

Countless voices spoke together, howling one single word that filled Xu Qing’s mind. His mind spun, and the ink in his sea of consciousness rippled violently.

The ancient wind blew stronger, using Xu Qing like a mouth to exhale itself onto the shattered altar, through the Eye of Heaven, and into the minds of the people.

All living beings were shaken to the core. The top experts of all the species felt their hearts pounding in their chests, and many of them shot to their feet with their hair standing on end. All of them could sense that the killing intent in the image they were seeing was something like a fiend from the ancient past, erupting right in front of them. It was incomparably realistic.

That was especially true for the cultivators in the Moonrebel Congregation. The mysterious vice-bishops, all in their various respective hiding places, were visibly shocked. They were taking this situation very seriously. Before, they had been suspicious about why this recording was being transmitted with the help of the Moonrebel Congregation. Although most of them had been suspicious about act 1 of the play, they still took it seriously. But then act 2 came with its towering killing intent, and there was no way they couldn’t be deeply shaken.

“This is real??”

Inside the Red Moon Cathedral, a terrifying aura suddenly exploded out. After the godchild went into seclusion, the pontiff had taken charge. Now, he emerged from the cathedral, his expression grave. Even he was feeling jumpy because of what was happening. Before, he had assumed that all of this was the work of the Heir Apparent. But now… he wasn’t so sure.

Meanwhile, Ning Yan and everyone else stood there with their hearts pounding. According to the script, this was the point in which Wu Jianwu was supposed to take the stage. However, he was standing there as stiff as a board, unable to step forward. But then he thought about how many eyes were on him, and he forced himself to gain his composure. Clad in an imperial robe, with an imperial crown on his head, he appeared in the sky. Looking down, he locked gazes with Ning Yan the Imperial Sovereign. He didn’t need to release any might or majesty. The ground shook. Mountains rocked. Rumbling filled the sky. The killing intent transformed everything, creating a very dramatic scene.

Previously, the Heir Apparent had been the one to amp up the drama of the scene. But right now, he wasn’t even looking at the play. He was focused on Xu Qing.

He still hasn’t snapped out of it? The Heir Apparent hesitated. Given what he knew about Xu Qing, he decided not to give voice to his thoughts. He was confident Eighth Sib would do it for him.

Just as the Heir Apparent predicted, Eighth Sib’s eyes went wide and he murmured, “The brat still hasn’t snapped out of it? He’s gonna gain enlightenment!”

Hearing that, the Heir Apparent replied, “He’s still seeking enlightenment. The killing will alone isn’t his limit.”

Princess Brightblossom nodded.

Eighth Sib chuckled coldly and looked at them. “How come both of you look like you knew this was going to happen? Very different from what you said earlier. So fake! What, you think I’m stupid or something?”

Face completely expressionless, Princess Brightblossom waved her hand, resulting in a loud thump echoing out from inside Eighth Sib before he was sent flying off into the distance.

“Apparently, I didn’t beat Eighth Sib into being a moron. He was a moron before the beating.”

Heir Apparent nodded in agreement.

Fifth Sister also agreed. Looking at Xu Qing, she said, “I very much look forward to seeing what happens after he gains full enlightenment of the God Decapitation Altar. How far will his enlightenment go…?”

Meanwhile, the ink inside Xu Qing’s sea of consciousness was in turmoil as killing intent spread out and filled him. He shivered as he felt pain building inside. And yet, he didn’t even consider opening his eyes. Instead, he remained cross-legged and deep in thought and ignored the pain. He was waiting for the ink image to be complete! That had been his goal all along.

He had laid hands on the killing will fluctuations, then released them. As a result, the image… was no longer being destroyed. As the ink and the seven-colored light mixed, the image… gradually took shape.

In the image, the sky was split into two parts. The white part became green. The black part became red.

In the green sky stood a giant who could prop up heaven and earth. He wore an imperial robe, with auspicious clouds obscuring his facial features. An intense, domineering pressure from ancient times emanated off him. The gaze of the giant sent time spinning away, and the giant’s breath caused everything it touched to return to the void.

In the red sky was a second figure, mostly obscured. It was a majestic woman in a red gown. She had ordinary facial features, deep eyes that seemed to contain stars being constantly born and destroyed. She had no legs, only a mass of tentacles that spread through the red sky. Shockingly, each of those tentacles contained a star within it. Fluctuations of godliness rolled out in all directions.

“Li Zihua, I never thought it would be you… who stopped me from reaching godly ascension.” 1

“Big Sib is ill,” the hulking figure in the sky said. 2

The woman thought for a moment, then quietly said, “Do you remember my song?”

She began to sing.

“Some people take flight into the sky, their ambitions utterly bright and high.

“At the Red Moon Sea they heave and sigh, visiting the frontier by-and-by.

“As reincarnation exemplified, they become good food that satisfies.

“Sunlight having burned out the eyes, ideals will never possibly run dry.

“Into the vast expanse I spy, atop the high red moon… I will fly!”

1. Li Zihua. By inference, I think you all realize this is the Imperial Sovereign of Moonrite, which means he’s the father of the Heir Apparent and the others. Li is #2 on the list of the 100 common Chinese surnames. Zi means “self, nature

/naturally” and “Hua” means “to make, to change into, to transform, to melt.” When I asked Madam Deathblade for a name reaction she said, “It’s a weird name. Self-melting? He sounds like a dorky guy with glasses working for the government.” I then mentioned to her that he’s an extremely powerful entity. She continued, “Oh well. I still say he sounds like he works for the government. A top executive maybe. Mysterious and wild.” ?

2. Just to make sure this is clear, the form of address used here is the one used to establish rankings either among siblings or fellow apprentices, similar to how Master Seventh’s apprentices, including Xu Qing and the Captain, are called Big Sib, Second Sib, Third Sib, Fourth Sib etc., or how the Heir Apparent’s siblings are similarly addressed. Without further context, it’s not possible to tell from the term alone whether the relationship is between blood relatives or not. There is obviously significance this, though I’ll refrain from potential spoilers…. ?

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