Half a month flew by in the briefest of moments. Because of all of the various godchild nests erupting, the situation for the resistance in the Moonrite Region was bad.

Word spread quickly about the defeat of Fourth Vice-Bishop’s army, and it was a huge blow to morale. At the moment, there didn’t seem to be much hope left. Sparks had flown, igniting a wildfire, but it seemed like that would just be a final blaze of glory for most people.

Right now, the desert was the center of attention. Because of the Heir Apparent, it had gone beyond the cultivators of the Bitter Life Mountains calling the little mudbrick city a holy land. Now, the resistance forces were calling the entire desert a holy land. Just about every day, people showed up trying to get into the desert and look for ‘the real resistance.’

The Red Moon Cathedral had the entire place blockaded. However, some unexpected situations arose in which powerful experts arrived and broke open pathways inside.

Patriarch Inkrule went to the border on orders from the Heir Apparent. He took with him a large number of desert cultivators, and together, they received the newcomers. The desert wind kept outsiders away. But that wind had come because of a deal made by the Captain. Therefore, given the Heir Apparent’s cultivation base and status, he counted as an ally of High God Moonfire. Therefore, with his divine will, he could exercise some authority over the wind, which let him ignore the resistance forces and specifically target cathedral cultivators. And thus, as more and more resistance cultivators showed up, the forces in the desert grew stronger.

After arriving, they were all very excited. However, they knew that none of them qualified to offer formal greetings to the Heir Apparent. Therefore, they didn’t even bother going to the Green Spirit Pharmacy. They just clasped hands and bowed in the direction of the Bitter Life Mountains.

Things hadn’t changed much in the Green Spirit Pharmacy. Ning Yan and Wu Jianwu were doing the same work as before. It was the same with Ling’er, Li Youfei, and Nethersprite.

Xu Qing spent most of his time dealing with the world fragment. After half a month of studying it, it reached the point where he knew things were getting too anxious. Whether it was the situation with the war or the rise of the red moon, they all pointed to one thing. Calamity was approaching.

Therefore, Xu Qing didn’t waste any time during the half month that passed. He focused on refining and incubating the godchildren. The Captain wanted some oil, and these godchildren had blood full of chaos and insanity.

The glaciers inside the world fragment had melted, revealing dark soil that was now covered with broken eggshells and godchildren. A violet moon was visible in the sky, filling the world with red moon authority. That was the prerequisite for being able to control the godchildren. The godchildren prostrated on the ground, covered with wounds, out of which blood slowly flowed, filling the huge fingerprint. It was turning into a lake.1

The process was going well. Occasionally, one of the godchildren in the horde would go out of control. When that happened, Xu Qing would crush it with his authority. Some of the godchildren eventually lost so much blood that they withered up and died. Xu Qing would throw the corpses to the other godchildren to eat as food, which would then lead to more blood.

He went to the Moonrebel Congregation a few times to deliver godchild blood to Paramount Temple’s door. The blood had the desired effect. Upon sending it into the door, the Crimson Mother totem would tremble, and the flames of hope coming from the various temples would burn more brightly. Crimson Mother, meanwhile, would then be forced to devour fire, which caused hēr body to burn.

Thanks to that burning, the totem was getting visibly fainter. And the Captain just continued madly chomping away as he said, “That’s not enough oil, little Ah Qing. Bring a bit more! The flames need to burn brighter! We have hope! As long as I can burn away Crimson Mother’s seal, then the door can be opened. And then… we’ll be the Archbishops of Moonrebel! The day that happens is the day that calamity strikes the Red Moon Cathedral!”

“Given how fast the red moon is moving,” Xu Qing whispered, “there are only nine or ten months to go before Crimson Mother arrives.”

“That’ll do. I’m hurrying!” The Captain took another vicious bite. “Little Ah Qing, all of my other preparations are complete. We only have two more things to do. The first is here in the Moonrebel Congregation. Once we’re in charge, I can use the Moonrebel Congregation to identify the location of all of my dismembered body parts. I’m already getting a very faint sense of where they are. When that happens, then by using everything else I got ready, we’ll be strong enough to wipe out the Red Moon Cathedral.

“With the cathedral gone, then we can go to the Penitence Steppes where the Imperial Sovereign’s fleshly body is. That fleshly body is the last step before we deal with Crimson Mother. And it’s the most important!”

Xu Qing nodded. “Here’s the oil. I can squeeze out some more, but it will take me some time. Not too long, though.”

The Captain looked excited to hear that. “Hahaha! I’m really looking forward to this, little Ah Qing. This trip to the Moonrite Region is coming to an end. I’ve been planning for years on how to devour a god. Now, it’s finally happening. Think about it. This is Crimson Mother we’re talking about! When we devour hēr, rumors will spread all the way to Sea-Sealing County. They’ll spread through all human regions. They’ll fill the Revered Ancient mainland!

“And then even the Nightshades will be viewed as trash! I bet even our human emperor will treat us with the utmost respect. And the old man is probably going to stare at us with his jaw hanging open!

“Now this is a big job. It’s going to make our names famous in Revered Ancient. In fact, from the moment the gods arrived until now, this is going to be the biggest thing ever!

“In fact, after this, I think ‘governor of Sea-Sealing County’ isn’t going to be good enough for you. We need to set higher goals!”

There was no doubt that the Captain had a knack for boosting morale.

As Xu Qing listened, he found himself thinking about Master Seventh, Plumdark, Seven Blood Eyes, and everyone else he knew in Sea-Sealing County. He suddenly felt a bit distracted.

I haven’t been in the Moonrite Region for very long. Only a few years. But it feels like it’s been lifetimes….

He knew that it felt like that because of everything he had experienced in the Moonrite Region, as well as his dramatic cultivation advancements.

“Eldest Brother… I miss our Master,” Xu Qing whispered.

“Soon,” the Captain said through a mouthful. “We’ll be going home soon!”

Xu Qing nodded and left the Moonrebel Congregation.

Another thing that happened during the half month that passed was that Xu Qing’s alter ego in the Moonrebel Congregation became even more famous thanks to the war.

It was because of the cursequelling lozenge. Although he lacked the proper ingredients to make the version of the pill that reduced the curse by fifty percent, the general concept behind the pill coupled with his taboo poison gaze allowed him to make lozenges that reduced the curse by thirty percent.

A permanent thirty percent reduction was a big deal. Even though the Moonrebel Congregation was not doing well in the war, that still caused an uproar. To many cultivators, that pill was literally a life-saver. In war, it was impossible to avoid being injured. And injuries could provoke curse flare-ups. That wasn’t to mention that they were fighting cathedral cultivators, who could also instigate curse flare-ups.

On top of all that, the rise of the red moon made the curse more active. Given those circumstances, a medicinal pill that could reduce the curse by thirty percent was like a holy tonic to cultivators suffering from potential curse flare-ups.

His close followers were incredibly excited. Add in the fact that he was no longer asking for anything in return for the pills, and it ensured that Pill Nine was essentially the most famous name in the entire Moonrebel Congregation. In fact, it had long reached the point where his name wasn’t just well known to the Moonrebel Congregation’s resistance armies. Even cultivators who weren’t associated with the Moonrebel Congregation had heard of him.

As expected, there was a lot of speculation about who Grandmaster Pill Nine really was. Some people claimed he was from another region, while others said he was some powerful expert who lived as a hermit. Yet others said he was some other Senior in the same generation as the Heir Apparent.

Theories ran wild. Eventually, the vice-bishops sent him messages in the Moonrebel Congregation, politely inviting him to join them, and even offering compensation. In fact, as long as Pill Nine accepted their offer, they would go to wherever he was to offer safe passage to them, as long as it wasn’t in the Red Moon Cathedral itself. Most persistent of all was Fourth Vice-Bishop, who had been there to witness Xu Qing and Grandmaster Saintlowe release their pills together. He sent Xu Qing new messages every day or two, and was also very polite and sincere.

Xu Qing didn’t respond to any of the messages.

Once people began talking about how the Bitter Life Mountains were a holy land, speculations about Pill Nine took on a new facet. People were now convinced that he was in the Bitter Life Mountains. After all, it was only in such a mysterious paradise that someone could peacefully concoct medicinal pills during a war. Of course, speculations were nothing but speculations.

No one knew the truth. And yet, it was because of the mystery that Pill Nine just kept getting more and more famous.

At the same time, his followers were becoming more organized. The leader was the burly neighbor. Not only did they work hard to uphold the grandmaster’s reputation, but also, they were searching for information about where he was, hoping that they could personally go to him to keep him safe.

Another seven days passed.

Upon emerging from the world fragment, Xu Qing got a voice message from the Heir Apparent.

“Xu Qing, one of the Moonrebel Congregation’s vice-bishops is about to arrive in the desert with his army. He’s being chased by cathedral forces. Take these two jade slips, which have power from me and my third sister, and go receive the guests. Since you’re going out, take the chickens with you. They’ve been sitting around eating all the time and are getting a bit too fat.”

Three jade slips appeared in front of Xu Qing. Two of them pulsed with Smoldering God fluctuations, while the third could be used to control the chickens.

Xu Qing nodded, collected the jade slips, then went to the backyard to get the chickens.

There were quite a few powerful experts represented among the chickens. The weakest was in Nascent Soul, while there were a handful of Spirit Trove cultivators, as well as four Void Returning experts. Some of them were from the Yin-Yang Betwixt Flowers Sect, while others had been collected randomly by Fifth Sister.

“Who wants to do some work to reduce your sentence?” Xu Qing said quietly.

1. The fingerprint was mentioned in chapter 570.1. ☜

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