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Rain fell. It was like tears or blood, except, it wasn’t red. It was the color gold. Golden tears. Golden blood. It fell from the sky onto all of the Moonrite Region. Yet it wasn’t real. The illusory rain seemed to be infected with the aura of the river of time. Though everyone could see it falling, it was actually falling in the ancient past, or perhaps in the future….

It was brought about by the unique characteristics of a god. Few people in the Revered Ancient mainland could explain what exactly gods were. They existed on a higher life level, and possessed indescribable features. Though the godchild failed to break through, for one brief instance, he did have some of the characteristics of a god. And thus, before hē died, it was only natural that the blood rain of a god would appear. There was also a will domain of utter sorrow that seeped into the hearts of all living things.

It became a fully articulated sentence: “What’s more tragic, for me to be the only one sober while everyone else is drunk… or for me to be the only one drunk while everyone else is sober?”

Xu Qing didn’t say anything. Those words echoed in his mind. But they weren’t the only ones. He was also thinking about the godchild’s last words before he died.

“Could it be that my past is actually your future…?”

Those words were branded into Xu Qing’s heart, and had seeped into his soul. After a long moment passed, he looked up at the distant red moon. From his vantage point, the red moon looked like a crimson asteroid, halfway into the sky, filling the world with the color red. īt also brought an immense pressure that filled heaven and earth. And the illusory blood rain was starting to blur thanks to the arrival of the red moon.

All of a sudden, the dome of heaven seemed to cave in. The heavens had to retreat, and all natural and magical laws collapsed. They couldn’t exist in the presence of the red moon.

It was the same on the lands below. The tides were at their strongest. Mountains collapsed. The ground cracked. Rivers flowed backwards. It was as if the end of days had come.

The Captain stood next to Xu Qing, looking off at the red moon. Licking his lips, he called the nine artificial suns back to him, then fiddled with them as he said, “īt’s going to be here sooner than expected. At the most, it’ll be three days from now.

“About what he said to you before dying, little Junior Brother, I wouldn’t pay much attention to it. As you know, people often like to be deliberately mystifying when they’re about to die. They just want people to remember them.

“It’s actually not a bad habit to get into. I’m planning to do the same thing. I’ve already thought of the exact lines. Just before I die in the future, I’m going to say… ‘Next time the eyes of the broken face open, I’m going to return to see my little Junior Brother.’

“What do you think? Slick words, huh? They really embody our friendship. Hahaha! What’s more, whoever hears them will start coming up with all sorts of theories, and might even start to think that I’m the god with the broken face.” The Captain looked at him and blinked a few times. “I’ve also come up with the perfect lines for you. Next time you bite the dust, remember to utter these words with your dying breath…. ‘Eleven years after my Eldest Brother comes, I’ll also return.’”

Xu Qing looked at the Captain. “Thank you so much, Eldest Brother.”

“Hahaha! You’re welcome! Who could be closer than us two, right?” The Captain’s eyebrows danced up and down as he laughed complacently.

“In that case, Eldest Brother,” Xu Qing continued, “what exactly happened when you fought the godchild just now?” At long last Xu Qing gave voice to the question he was wondering about.

In response, the Captain smiled, though his eyes somehow seemed to glitter in a very meaningful way. “Li Zihua extinguished his godfire before his fourth son’s third Nascent Soul tribulation.”

Xu Qing thought about it for a moment. “In other words, in the time period you went back to, Li Zihua was still a god!”

The Captain nodded. Xu Qing looked at him but didn’t ask anything further.

Now that the godchild was dead, the surrounding Moonrebel cultivators looked incredibly excited. Although the red moon was still on the way, the events of this day were unprecedented in the history of the Moonrite Region. The godchild of the Red Moon Cathedral had been destroyed! And the pontiff had been sealed. All of this represented one thing: hope!

In sharp contrast to the Moonrebel cultivators, the forces of the Red Moon Cathedral were panting for breath, and their hearts were pounding. The red moon was visible in the sky. But to them, all that meant was that death was on the way. They had lost their godchild and their pontiff. The red moon would arrive in three days. And the Heir Apparent and his siblings were now the top entities in the Moonrite Region. One word could determine those cultivators’ fates!

Up in the canopy of heaven, the Heir Apparent looked at the red moon with a very serious expression on his face. Princess Brightblossom and Fifth Sister were doing the same, as was Eighth Sib. Only Ninth Sib remained expressionless, his eyes cold with killing intent.

“We only have three days,” the Heir Apparent said. He looked away from the red moon to Xu Qing and the Captain. “The critical moment has arrived. Whether or not you two really have a Master planning all of this, I want to ask you a question. Do you really have a way to resurrect my father?”

He and his brothers and sisters all looked at Xu Qing and the Captain.

“Grandpas and grandmas, don’t worry at all,” the Captain said with decisiveness that could sever nails and chop iron. “I, Chen Erniu, have never been the kind of person who brags about things. If I say I can resurrect something, then I can. That said, I’ll need your cooperation. You know, to do some magic, give some blood, et cetera….”

After hearing that, the Heir Apparent and the others chose to look at Xu Qing instead. They were inherently distrustful of anything Chen Erniu said. However, they viewed Xu Qing much differently. He was almost an apprentice to them, and therefore, they took his words more seriously.

The Captain looked a bit embarrassed at that, and looked pleadingly at Xu Qing. As of that moment, he understood that if he wanted the cooperation of the Heir Apparent and his siblings, a hundred of his own words weren’t worth a single word from Xu Qing.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Qing looked at the Heir Apparent and his siblings and respectfully said, “Seniors, if my Eldest Brother says he can do something, then I trust that he can!”

After a moment, the Heir Apparent nodded. “Three days from now, we’ll do everything we can to help you. If it doesn’t work, then… I’ll personally take you out of the Moonrite Region, Xu Qing. You can always come back to handle matters here later on when you’re able.

“As for you….” The Heir Apparent looked at the Captain. “You’ll stay here.” 𝖋𝖗𝔴𝖇𝖔𝖛𝖑.𝖈𝖔𝖒

The disparity in how they were being treated left the Captain feeling a bit helpless. That said, he knew that he came across as being incredibly sincere; when you acted like that, it often resulted in people believing that you weren’t reliable.

Ai. It’s not my fault I’m so sincere. It’s one of my strong points!

The Captain still felt somewhat indignant, but still kept a fawning expression on his face as he continued, “Grandpa, I’d love to stick around here working with you. But the truth is that I really can resurrect the Imperial Sovereign. To do it, I’ll need help from my little Junior Brother, plus I have to take advantage of every single asset I’ve prepared up to this point. I can’t lack a single one. The requirement for the next step is one of my little Junior Brother’s specialties!

“Little Junior Brother, I need your cursequelling lozenges. I want to cleanse all living beings in the Moonrite Region, and reduce the curse within them. At the very least, it needs to be a thirty percent reduction. What do you need to make that happen?”

Xu Qing thought about it for a moment.

“I need the red moon power inside them.” He pointed at the cultivators from the Red Moon Cathedral.

The cathedral cultivators wilted.

“I need that red moon power to act as the medicinal primer. And I need the Moonrebel Congregation’s spirit automaton to act as the pill furnace.”

When Xu Qing was done speaking, the Captain looked at the Heir Apparent.

The Heir Apparent and his siblings didn’t hesitate for a moment. They waved their hands downward. The might of five Smoldering Gods then swept over the cathedral cultivators. Rumbling echoed out and the ground trembled. Screams erupted from their mouths as they first spasmed, then collapsed. It didn’t matter what cultivation base they had, there was no way they could fight back against a Smoldering God.

Blood sprayed out of their shattered bodies, rising up into the air to form a blood sea that shot toward Xu Qing. The strongest of the cathedral cultivators, such as the blood guardians and the three blood generals, did little more than last a bit longer than the others. Not even they could escape catastrophe, and were ripped apart, whereupon their blood joined the sea above. The scene looked like hell on earth, and yet not one person felt any sympathy for them.

Xu Qing’s expression was calm as he sensed the red moon power in the sea of blood. He waved his finger through the air, and the Mirror of Moonrebel appeared in front of him, glittering brightly. Then, the scene that had played out when he was being assessed by the spirit automaton occurred again, but this time in reality!

Xu Qing started concocting!

There was one big difference this time. Instead of concocting pills, he was concocting a rainstorm! By borrowing the power of the Mirror of Moonrebel, he was creating a cursequelling rain to enter the hearts of the people.

Before long, the blood around him was boiling. As Xu Qing concocted, the blood transformed. Eventually, he ordered the bloodbeasts to add their blood into the mix. And in the end, he added his red moon authority. Finally, he said, “Curse subduing!”

When Xu Qing spoke, his words were to be strictly enforced. The surrounding blood sea exploded and rushed into the Mirror of Moonrebel. After, a blood-colored tempest appeared within the hearts and minds of the surviving living beings in the Moonrite Region.

Instantly, they shivered, and regardless of what species they were or what cultivation base they possessed, they felt the curse within them reacting like ice to boiling water. It started melting!

“Next is step two,” the Captain said. “Grandpa Heir Apparent, to awaken the Imperial Sovereign, I need the blood of you and your siblings as the instigator. By putting your Smoldering God blood into the statue, we can awaken the flesh and blood!”

The Heir Apparent exchanged a glance with his siblings. Then they all closed their eyes and opened their foreheads, causing blood droplets to fly out that contained their life force and cultivation base. The blood flowed into the statue.

“Next is the third step, in which the hope power from the purified people will converge in the statue of the Imperial Sovereign, and summon him into consciousness!”

The Captain floated up into the air, his hair whipping about him, his eyes shining with a crazy look. He let loose a shout, which entered the Mirror of Moonrebel and echoed into the minds of all living beings. In response, countless motes of light flew up into the air, pierced through the air, and appeared around the island. Then they raced to the statue and merged into it. Then, for the first time in countless years… the statue moved.

Innumerable dust particles rained down as the lands shook and mountains were rocked. However, nothing more happened after that. The statue shifted slightly, then went still. It didn’t wake up.

The Heir Apparent and his siblings were still sending their blood into the statue. Seeing what was happening, they looked at the Captain.

The Captain didn’t seem the least bit anxious. Instead, the crazy look in his eye got even crazier. Looking at the Mirror of Moonrebel, he shouted, “Little Ah Qing, help me get Ning Yan and Wu Jianwu over here!”

Xu Qing nodded and quickly performed an incantation gesture. The Mirror of Moonrebel glittered, and Ning Yan and Wu Jianwu, who were in the Green Spirit Pharmacy in the Bitter Life Mountains, were teleported away.

When they materialized, they looked around in confusion. After realizing what was going on around them, Ning Yan gasped and Wu Jianwu let loose an exclamation of shock.

“I knew not that grandpa was overhead; the shock hath nearly struck me dead!”

Eyes widening, the Captain shouted, “Wu Jianwu, call out those pets of yours. Their blood comes from a good friend of the Imperial Sovereign. Have them kowtow to aid the summoning!

“Ning Yan, I know you’re really from the Imperial Region. Your father is the reigning emperor, isn’t he? That means your surname isn’t Ning. It’s Guyue! Kowtow to the statue! You’re a descendant of an Ancient Emperor, so based on that status, kowtow and aid the summoning!” 1

Wu Jianwu was so stunned he just stood there doing nothing. As for Ningyan, his expression flickered with surprise and uncertainty.

Xu Qing looked at them coldly. “Get to work!”

Ningyan ducked his head. He feared the Captain, but feared Xu Qing even more. Instinctively adopting a fawning expression, he nodded. “Understood. I’ll just get on my knees then….”

1. Guyue Ningyan: We now know that Ning Yan is actually Guyue Ningyan. As we learned in chapter 510, the imperial clan has the surname Guyue, or at the very least, the princes have that surname. Guyue is a compound surname invented by the author. Gu means “ancient.” This is the same character from things like Revered Ancient and Ancient Emperor. Yue is a character with many meanings. It can mean “exceed, climb over, surpass.” But it’s also commonly associated with peoples and states in south China or South Asia in general. I explained the name Ning Yan in chapter 370. As I mentioned back then, Ning does not appear on the list of the top 100 most common Chinese surnames. So maybe it’s not that much of a surprise to find out it’s not actually a surname. It means “peaceful, tranquil.” Yan means “flame, blazing, power, etc. Now, to be clear, I obviously knew a long time ago that Ning Yan was actually Ningyan. But as is indicated by the Captain, even the people around him assumed that Ning was his surname. Now that we know the truth about his name, going forward, he will be Ningyan when not referred to by his full name of Guyue Ningyan. Madam Deathblade says it’s a cool-sounding name. If you want to dig further, revisit the links above to see her original reactions to the surname and “Ning Yan.” ☜