There is no turning back in life. And thus, it didn’t matter how much Ning Yan sighed inwardly. The past was the past.

Xu Qing noticed the regret on his face but didn’t say anything. Meanwhile, the Captain looked very pleased. Back in the leadup to that event, he had given some suggestions to Ning Yan. But Ning Yan hadn’t believed what he said. He didn’t cut out his entrails for the Ten Entrails Tree. And that wasn’t the Captain’s fault. 1

Silence reigned in the Green Spirit Pharmacy.

Shortly thereafter, the Heir Apparent put down his cup of tea. Smiling, he gave Xu Qing a slight nod. “Not bad at all.”

Xu Qing hesitated. The Heir Apparent’s smile seemed a bit forced, and he should have been surprised to learn the origin of Xu Qing’s heavenly dao. Instead, the Heir Apparent changed the conversation topic.

“I suppose I’ll leave the heavenly dao matters to you. Just get the enlightenment you need. Forget about that for now. Let’s talk about your Ghost Emperor mountain. That mountain—” Before the Heir Apparent could continue speaking, Princess Brightblossom lifted her teacup.

That motion caused the Heir Apparent to stop talking. After a moment of thought, he continued speaking, his voice hoarse. “The fact that you can put a Smoldering God in your sea of consciousness for use as a nascent soul indicates to me that you must have some plans for it going forward. In that case, just upgrade the mountain in whatever way you see fit. The reason I called you over here is that I wanted to talk with you about your heavenfiend clones!”

“Heavenfiend clones?” Xu Qing waved his hand, causing over a hundred shadowy figures to appear, all of them emanating cold auras. They seemed like souls, yet they weren’t. Their blurry nature made them hard to see clearly, but their baleful aura was so intense it caused the temperature to immediately drop in the medicine shop.

Fifth Sister looked at them closely.

Eighth Sib studied them and made an exclamation of surprise. “What divine ability is that? Assimilating live souls, mixing in the will of the Yellow Springs, adding the feeling of the Nine Serenities. It’s mysterious and bewitching, and definitely not something that ordinary people can control!”

Princess Brightblossom suddenly looked thoughtful.

The Heir Apparent seemed enlivened. Given Xu Qing’s strange nascent souls and his terrifying powers of understanding, the Heir Apparent had already decided that it wasn’t necessary to give him advice in that regard. That said, when it came to divine abilities and magical techniques, he felt that he still had the right to speak.

“Your Master gave you that Nascent Soul technique and it works well with your heavenfate-absorbing skill. It’s exceptional custom work. However, you haven’t done sufficient study of this skill. The reality is that your heavenfiend clones have another, even better, use.”

Moved, Xu Qing looked at his heavenfiend clones and thought back to what his Master had told him. Specifically, Master Seventh had mentioned using the heavenfiend clones to step in for him when dealing with heavenfate tribulations. However, as things developed, it reached the point where Xu Qing didn’t think that was necessary. After the Heir Apparent came along, the heavenfate tribulations got so terrifying that it didn’t seem to make sense to use the heavenfiend clones.

“I look forward to your advice, Senior.” Xu Qing clasped hands and bowed respectfully to the Heir Apparent.

When the Heir Apparent saw that he was finally in control of things again, he felt a bit more at ease. However, he was still worried that something unexpected might happen, so he glanced at his third sister.

“Xu Qing,” Princess Brightblossom said, “these heavenfiend clones of yours clearly contain the will of the Duskmurmur Extirpation Command. Your Master is no simple individual. In order to create this divine ability for you, he obviously had to refer to the Duskmurmur Extirpation Command. These clones are inherently capable of substituting for you in tribulations.

“However, did you ever consider that you could use your daybreak light to cover them with an outer disguise to make them look like you? If you used that in a fight, then your enemy would see a whole host of you fighting at the same time, and they would have no way of determining which one was the real you. You could use them offensively or defensively. There’s really no limit to the possibilities.”

Hearing that, the Heir Apparent smiled and nodded. “That’s exactly what I meant. If you can hide your true form among them, then it would be a big boost to your battle prowess, and would make you a lot harder to deal with.”

The Captain seemed excited by what he was hearing, while Ning Yan and Wu Jianwu were amazed. They could just imagine what it would be like to be fighting someone, only to have them summon over a hundred clones that looked exactly like their true self. It would be a fantastic scene.

Xu Qing’s eyes glittered. He hadn’t thought of doing that, and he couldn’t help but admire Princess Brightblossom for the idea. That said, Xu Qing was actually a lot more interested in transforming his nascent souls than he was in altering his magical techniques. Therefore, he looked at the Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom in the hopes that they were going to give him more advice.

“Seniors, my nascent souls have another unique quality. I have the finger of a god locked up inside of me in a prison cell that I call D-132.”

“Don’t be over-ambitious,” the Heir Apparent said, his gaze sharpening. “For now, go back and improve your heavenfiend clones. Don’t get anxious. You need to focus on tempering first.”

Xu Qing nodded. I guess I am getting a bit too worked up.

With that, he went into the back room, sat down cross-legged, and got to work.

In that manner, time passed. It was now six days since they left the Imperial Sovereign’s Land of God Decapitation. During that time, the gray storm persisted in the desert, covering everything.

Outside the desert in the various parts of the Moonrite Region, another storm was raging. However, it wasn’t a literal storm. It was a storm in the hearts of the people. The storm started because of the broadcast of Imperial Sovereign Li Zihua executing Crimson Mother. After seeing that, all living beings felt their hearts racing, and the desire to resist was ignited in their hearts.

The countdown had already begun. If they didn’t fight back within a year, they would become food. Of course, even if they fought back, they would still die. But at least it would be a dazzling and explosive finale to the nightmare that was the life they led.

At the very least, they could truly live!

“Gods are by no means eternal; hope exists from time immemorial and into forever.”

In that case… some struggle, some madness, and some fighting back would bring something unique to the final moments of their lives. At the very least, they had hope! As the storm built in the hearts of the people, all species, sects, and cities filled with rallying cries.

Meanwhile, the resistance armies put together by the Moonrebel Congregation welcomed the shocking development, as countless previously numb cultivators flocked to join their ranks. Numerous species and sects looked with maddened eyes toward the Red Moon Cathedral, and in their hearts, prepared to fight.

For the very first time, the five vice-bishops of the Moonrebel Congregation chose to reveal their true identity to help the recruitment efforts. Some were chiefs from influential clans, while others were high-ranking elders from important sects. Still others were people who had been extremely famous but then gone missing. Shockingly, all of them had cultivation bases at the peak of fourth-stage Void Returning. Because of their status, cultivation, and valorous reputations, all five of them caused a rush of new recruits.

And there were now five battlefields! The Red Moon Cathedral was furious, and immediately tried to crush them. Strangely, though… the pontiff didn’t personally join the effort. He seemed leery, and preferred to remain in the headquarters.

Even still, the Red Moon Cathedral sent a powerful force out to fight. The flames of war burned in various locations throughout the Moonrite Region.

Meanwhile, the desert was like a paradise.

Xu Qing was focusing on covering his heavenfiend clones with daybreak light to make them look exactly like himself. It wasn’t easy. Their inner structure was different from an ordinary person, which posed an obstacle for changing their appearance. Therefore, Xu Qing switched to focusing on concealment. Concealment techniques could be very useful in catching someone off guard in combat.

By means of the Moonrebel Congregation, Xu Qing was able to keep tabs on the war outside. He got the sense that it wouldn’t be very long before that war got close to him. And that was because he’d noticed that Eight Sib and Fifth Sister had disappeared. He had no idea where they went.

Xu Qing had some speculations. Then he noticed that his Eldest Brother was acting strange. He seemed to be working even harder to curry favor with the Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom. And the majority of his efforts seemed focused on the Heir Apparent. He took it upon himself to boil water, and even offered to massage the Heir Apparent’s shoulders. He really was acting very filial.

Xu Qing quickly came to the conclusion that his Eldest Brother was going to ask a favor of the Heir Apparent.

The truth was revealed five days later. Xu Qing was in the middle of studying his heavenfiend clones when he heard the Heir Apparent calling from the main floor of the shop.

“Come over for a minute, Xu Qing.”

Xu Qing opened his eyes and looked out toward the main floor. He saw the excited Captain fanning the Heir Apparent.

Xu Qing gathered his thoughts, and then walked out. The Captain met his eyes, chuckled, then swung the fan more vigorously.

“Senior,” Xu Qing said coolly.

“There’s something I’d planned to give the two of you soon,” the Heir Apparent said, sounding very calm and collected. “But Erniu is getting anxious and suggested I give it to you earlier.”

He produced a mirror shard. It was the same Eye of Heaven that he had used to broadcast the events in the Land of God Decapitation through the Moonrebel Congregation to the people of Moonrite.

The Captain’s eyes shone with longing as he looked at the mirror fragment. It was why he had been working so hard over the past few days.

Xu Qing looked at the item. He was well aware how extraordinary it was.

Rubbing his finger over the surface of the mirror, the Heir Apparent said, “The precursor of the Moonrebel Congregation was my father’s precious treasure, the Eye of Heaven. However, during the fight with Crimson Mother, it shattered. This is the biggest shard.

“Using this mirror to enter the Moonrebel Congregation is different from using ordinary mirrors. Doing so will activate the Moonrebel Congregation’s archbishop trial. Whoever passes the trial will become the Archbishop of Moonrebel. Even failure will result in earning the place of vice-bishop. It’s how the current five vice-bishops earned their positions.

“Unfortunately, once the trial is activated and the two of you enter, then the mirror won’t be able to activate the trial again until after the Moonrebel Congregation declines and then revives again.” The Heir Apparent put the mirror shard on the table. “The two of you can enter. Then we’ll wait and see who can take advantage of this good fortune.”

The Heir Apparent stood and walked out of the medicine shop. He had a lot of tasks to handle to prepare for the coming war.

After watching the Heir Apparent leave, the Captain’s eyebrows danced up and down. Excitedly picking up the mirror, he said, “I finally got this opportunity, little Ah Qing! Hahaha! As I guessed, you’re Pill Nine, right? Well, that’s fine. You might be Pill Nine, but now… I’m going to be the Archbishop of Moonrebel!

“I’ve been preparing for this for a long time. After we go in, little Ah Qing, you can just focus on fooling around and having fun. Don’t feel any pressure. Also, don’t worry about me. Whatever form I take, just pretend you don’t notice me.

“I have a plan!”

1. Ning Yan lost out on the ancient heavenly dao, culminating in the Captain telling him “too late” in chapter 455. ☜

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