A gray wind swept sand through the dome of heaven. The entire world was dusky and cold. Down below on the ground, countless vicious and monstrous godchildren were no longer like agents of chaos. Their insanity had been suppressed, and they were prostrating low to the ground. It was a very impactful scene.

In front of them all stood Xu Qing, tall and straight, looking very calm in his black robe and black hair. As the wind stirred his hair, his pitch-black eyes glittered, and his robe swayed. Given the glistening pools of blood that lay around him, he looked like the lord of all monsters, coming to visit the world of mortals.

This lord of monsters looked at the godchild in front of him. His hand rested on its head, causing it to shiver in place, not daring to move. Face expressionless, he sent his divine sense into it.

The first thing he realized was that the submissive and respectful behavior of this godchild was something based on pure instinct. That was what was suppressing the chaos and madness in the thing.

Next, he sensed its hunger. It made him think of his god-glimpsing experience. Keeping his hand on the godchild’s head, Xu Qing sent taboo poison out into it along with violet moon power. The godchild’s flesh, which was normally so impervious, now just started to melt. Blood streamed down the godchild’s face, splashing onto the ground, where it hissed as it melted into the dirt.

Then Xu Qing’s right hand plunged into the godchild’s flesh. The pain caused the godchild to shiver even more intensely, yet it still didn’t dare to move. The red moon authority in Xu Qing was the most powerful suppressing force imaginable to this godchild.

Its flesh and blood contains a will of chaos, as well as a degree of decay, along with the mutagen invasion. Xu Qing could also sense that the godchildren couldn’t devour him.

They were manifestations of impurities, and thus, consuming him would benefit them. After a short time passed, Xu Qing shook his head and pulled his hand away. After looking around at the prostrating godchildren, Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed, and he took out a fragment. The moment it appeared, a majestic force swept out, causing bright colors to flash everywhere, and increasing the pressure weighing down in the area.

This was the gift the Heir Apparent had given Xu Qing back when they had just met. It was a fragment of a Smoldering God’s major world. The Captain had borrowed it when they captured Nethersprite, and had returned it when they brought her out to work in the Green Spirit Pharmacy. The fragment immediately unleashed a violent gravitational force that sucked in all of the tens of thousands of godchildren. It didn’t miss a single one.

When the process was complete, Xu Qing put the fragment away and looked down into the chasm. There were no longer godchildren pouring out of it, and the howling was no more. The moment he looked inside, a stream of divine will emerged from within.

“Come down for a moment, Xu Qing,” the Heir Apparent said.

Xu Qing didn’t immediately comply. He took a moment to confirm that the voice was authentic. Then he walked to the edge of the chasm and stepped off the edge.

He dropped down rapidly, taboo poison swirling in his eyes and blood surrounding him. As he descended, the mutagen levels rose. The walls of the chasm were covered with a rotting, viscous fluid, a mere whiff of which would spark the urge to vomit. Down below there was also a flickering red glow.

Eventually, Xu Qing reached a point where a barrier of flesh and blood blocked his path down. It wriggled, letting off a red glow that was strong with the aura of Crimson Mother. It seemed to be struggling to expand up, but there was an invisible force pushing against it that it couldn’t resist. As a result, it had no choice but to slowly shrink down.

The Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom hovered above it.

Turning to look at Xu Qing, the Heir Apparent said, “This is the last line of defense before reaching the heart of this area. We plan to go in and retrieve something critical to rescuing our Ninth Sib. If we force open this barrier, Crimson Mother will sense it even though shē’s asleep, and conceal the item we seek. And so, Xu Qing, we need your authority to secretly create an opening.”

Xu Qing nodded. He had guessed that something like this was coming. Now that he thought about it, he came to the conclusion that all the occasions recently in which the Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom disappeared must have involved them coming here.

Dropping down to the barrier of flesh and blood, he reached down with his hand. As he did, the blood swirling around him converged on his fingertip, creating a dazzling convergence of red light. Then a drop of blood emerged from his fingertip and floated toward the barrier.

That drop of blood contained Xu Qing’s red moon authority, and it also pulsed with mutagen. In fact, it was even possible to see a very small red moon within it.

When the blood touched the barrier, Xu Qing used divine will to command, “Open!”

The barrier of flesh and blood shivered as Xu Qing’s blood sank into it. Then it split apart and stretched to the side, creating a very small opening. Without any hesitation, the Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom turned into two streaks of shimmering light that shot inside.

Xu Qing didn’t follow them. Instead, he backed up by about 300 meters. Before he could go any farther, a piercing shriek rang out from the barrier of flesh and blood. Then the barrier started withering.

The process lasted only about four or five breaths of time. At that point, the wall of flesh and blood collapsed into ashes. Revealed below was a huge, horrific cave. It was filled with a cistern of sticky blood, from which wafted a noxious stench of rot. Half-submerged in the middle of the blood was a large red crystal.

Countless eggs were visible in the blood cistern. Some were a few meters in size, others were dozens of meters. All were red. A portion of their number were intact, but some were broken open, leaving behind shell fragments floating on the surface of the liquid. If you looked closely, you could see through the outer shell of the intact eggs. Inside were vicious godchildren preparing to burst out into the open.

The Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom were moving toward the blood-colored crystal. Upon nearing, they acted together to extract the crystal. With the crystal gone, the blood cistern started drying up. The struggling eggs rocked back and forth, and faint howls could be heard from within them.

“Done. Let’s get out of here.” The Heir Apparent looked very pleased having taken the crystal. Next, he raised his hand as he prepared to crush the remaining eggs.

Seeing that, Xu Qing quickly said, “Senior, I have a use for these godchildren.”

The Heir Apparent looked at Xu Qing. Next to him, Princess Brightblossom nodded.

Xu Qing took out the world fragment, performed an incantation gesture and pointed out. A gravitational force sprang up and sucked all the eggs into the world fragment. That many godchildren would hopefully be enough ‘oil’ for the Captain.

“Let’s go.” The Heir Apparent flicked his sleeve to grab Xu Qing, and then the three of them returned to the outside. Once there, Princess Brightblossom pushed her hand down, causing intense rumbling sounds to drift out as the chasm collapsed. Innumerable boulders and soil crashed down, burying the place.

Just like that, the chaos in the Bitter Life Mountains was resolved rather simply. Xu Qing wasn’t very surprised by how it turned out. After all, with a Smoldering God present, a cave of godchildren wasn’t anything to get very worked up about.

To the cultivators of the Bitter Life Mountains, the event had a huge impact. They had been ready to fight to the death, only to have things end up very different than they expected.

Who could exterminate countless godchildren with the mere movement of a hand? Who could get Patriarch Inkrule to respectfully address himself as ‘your humble servant’? As for what cultivation base was involved, the answer was obvious.

A Smoldering God….

That was what all the cultivators were thinking, and the words smashed into their minds like lightning bolts, leaving them trembling. Then, after the last remaining godchildren were taken care of, they watched as Patriarch Inkrule went to the Green Spirit Pharmacy to act as host.

To the cultivators of the Bitter Life Mountains, that was astonishing to say the least.

The Green Spirit Pharmacy had always been a mysterious place, and was also fairly well-known in the area. After all, a lot of amazing things had happened there. Yet no one could have guessed that there would be a Smoldering God there. But today they understood. Now they knew that the Green Spirit Pharmacy… was the heart of the Bitter Life Mountains and the desert as a whole.

That understanding filled everyone with deep reverence. As a result, that ordinary mudbrick city became like a holy land to the people of the desert.

Of course, there were cultivators from the Moonrebel Congregation present, and therefore, everything that happened quickly started spreading. Before long, the resistance armies throughout the Moonrite Region had heard about it.

It caused quite a stir. Everyone had heard about the Bitter Life Mountains. But the gray wind that had appeared had isolated the desert, making it sort of like a mysterious paradise. Of course, some people had come to suspect that the God Decapitation Altar broadcast came from there. But for a Smoldering God to be located there was dumbfounding. Then people started connecting the dots with the God Decapitation Altar broadcast, and speculations began to spread about who that Smoldering God was.

“It’s the Heir Apparent!”

***

On a plain not so far away from the Greenhair Badlands, about a thousand flying ships were speeding through the air. Seated cross-legged on the lead ship was a middle-aged cultivator who was currently looking in the direction of the Greenhair Badlands. He looked weary and travel-worn, and was also injured. His expression was threatening without being angry, and he seemed old-fashioned and serious.

“Fourth Vice-Bishop, we’re… going into the desert?”

About a dozen subordinates flanked Fourth Vice-Bishop. All of them were in Void Returning, and all were injured to varying degrees.

The Fourth Vice-Bishop of the Moonrebel Congregation looked over his shoulder. All of the flying ships behind him were full of cultivators. They represented numerous species, and all were exhausted and injured. This was one of the resistance armies. When facing the aggression of the Red Moon Cathedral and the godchild calamity, they had suffered a big defeat and sustained heavy casualties.

The survivors had paid a heavy price just to escape with their lives. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a safe place to retreat to, and were currently being pursued by the Red Moon Cathedral.

Fourth Vice-Bishop took a deep breath. “Yes. We’re going into the desert.”

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