In that instant, heaven and earth filled with dramatic storm winds.

In that moment, all living beings trembled to the core of their being.

In that second, the hearts of all entities raced.

Rising above the Penitence Steppes was the statue of an Imperial Sovereign. From ancient times until modern, through many successive epochs, he knelt there unmoving, but now… he was moving!

His two arms were like pillars that could prop up heaven and earth. Moving with devastating momentum, they reached up, causing dramatic winds to spread out. The wind screamed and the air shattered. Natural and magical laws were reduced to ashes by the momentum of the arms.

They were not the arms of a cultivator. They were more like the arms of a god. And the two hands at their end made a sound that could shake ancient times as they slammed onto the surface of the red moon! They gripped down hard, forcing the red moon to stop in place in the sky.

Intense rumbling echoed out from the struggling moon. In all the countless years that had passed, this was īts first time encountering resistance. The moon tried to keep moving, but the arms of Li Zihua were as solid as rocks! The two caused each other to shake violently.

As a result, more rumbling sounds swept out from the moon. Blood-colored light shone brightly. The statue of Li Zihua trembled, and more rubble fell from its surface.

Gradually, a thumping sound like a heartbeat erupted from inside the statue.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump!

As the heartbeat grew louder and louder, the white flames grew more intense. Everything in the area started shaking.

From a distance, the statue of Li Zihua looked almost like an enormous human torch. Its dazzling light surpassed that of the moon. The fire spread out in all directions, covering the lands, filling them with fire. But it couldn’t touch the sky….

The red moon in the dome of heaven was like a forbidden region that excluded the white fire! The crimson color and the white fire created a sharp contrast with each other.

Li Zihua was waking up. But he wasn’t fully awake yet. What had awoken was his aura and his heartbeat. His eyes had not opened. Yet that alone was enough to shake the entire Moonrite Region, and to dispel much of the godly pressure that came with the red moon.

The Heir Apparent and his siblings were already recovering. Nine golden suns orbited around the Captain as he hovered in midair, his eyes filled with a crazy look as he stared at the red moon and drooled. As for Xu Qing, it turned out that Emperor Ancient Spirit was a reliable ally, as hīs cloak form blocked much of the pressure weighing down on Xu Qing.

“Let’s go!” the Heir Apparent said, bursting into motion along the arm of his father’s statue up toward the red moon. Princess Brightblossom flew by his side, followed by Fifth Sister and Eighth Sib. Ninth Sib was the fastest. With a single step, he overtook the Heir Apparent, becoming like the tip of a sword shooting toward the red moon.

The Captain and Xu Qing followed. Considering they were the ones that had brought about this entire war, it was only natural that they would follow along.

Anxiously speaking via divine will, the Captain said, “It won’t be long before the Imperial Sovereign is fully awake. In the meantime, we need to get into the Moon Palace. The moment we lay eyes on Crimson Mother will be the moment the Imperial Sovereign wakes up!”

Xu Qing nodded, and the two of them raced closer and closer to the red moon.

A battle against a god… was about to begin!

However, getting onto the actual red moon wasn’t a simple task. It didn’t matter that the Imperial Sovereign had grabbed the moon and locked it in place, preventing it from moving. The closer one got to the red moon, the more terrifying the pressure it exuded. The tideflow power alone was enough to rip anything and everything to shreds.

The surrounding air shattered. Rifts spread out in all directions. Even the Heir Apparent and his siblings were having trouble as they made their approach. The Captain experienced difficulty as well. The only one who remained completely and utterly calm was Ninth Sib, who resolutely strode closer and closer.

Xu Qing had his black cloak, but even more relevant, the red moon authority within him. The pressure and resistance others were feeling actually seemed familiar to him, even friendly. And that sensation increased the closer he got. It almost felt like a warm embrace.

Upon realizing that, Xu Qing sent the red moon authority out and around him. As the red moon shone down, a red glow appeared around him, growing stronger by the moment.

My red moon authority is being augmented!

As his eyes shone with red light, blood spread out around him, creating a vortex that spun more and more rapidly. Thus, Xu Qing closed the distance with the Heir Apparent and his siblings.

The Captain was in the very back, all alone….

When Emperor Ancient Spirit saw what was happening, hīs eyes narrowed. This kid has some major karma with Crimson Mother….

Meanwhile, the Captain was starting to get nervous. This won’t do! It took a lot of hard work here in the Moonrite Region for me to establish my dignity as the Eldest Brother, and make sure little Ah Qing followed my lead. Now that the red moon is right in front of us, if I get left behind… it’ll be far too humiliating!

As the Captain stewed in anxiety, the Heir Apparent and his siblings exchanged determined glances, then performed incantation gestures. Opening their mouths, they exhaled sharply in the direction of the red moon.

In response, the statue of Li Zihua trembled even more dramatically, and despite his eyes staying closed, he opened his mouth in the same manner as his children, and exhaled in the direction of the red moon. The breath became white steam that raced toward the moon and slammed into it. As the loud echoing boom rang out, the pressure from the red moon suddenly decreased, albeit for only a moment.

However, they all took advantage of that brief lull to follow the Imperial Sovereign’s arm even closer to the red moon.

Unfortunately, the red moon was extremely ancient. It was also the home of Crimson Mother’s divine palace. Even though its pressure was reduced temporarily by the Imperial Sovereign, Crimson Mother’s aura was like a thick fog that couldn’t be penetrated.

Li Zihua’s hands were actually pressing down onto that barrier, and it was so enormous that it couldn’t easily be broken.

Seeing that, the Captain’s eyes glittered and he prepared to unleash the power of his suns. Before he could, the Heir Apparent and the others extended their left index fingers and pointed toward the moon. Instantly, intense bloodline fluctuations rolled out from them.

Simultaneously, the statue of Li Zihua shivered, then erupted with boundless power. His left arm then shifted, pulling away from the moon. With it gone, the red moon rumbled to life, as if it might start moving again.

Xu Qing, the Heir Apparent, and the others, settled onto Li Zihua’s left hand.

The left hand’s index finger extended, then stabbed into the red moon! It moved with incredible speed, and was backed by a destructive force that could ravage the world. White flames also covered it, protecting everyone beneath. A rumbling boom rang out as the finger pierced through the foggy barrier covering the red moon. The barrier shattered, and the finger continued through to smash into the soil of the red moon.

The entire moon shook violently.

Anyone standing on the surface of the red moon would be able to look up from that red soil and see the cloud cover overhead vanishing, especially around the huge hole above, through which poked a massive finger.

When the finger hit the ground, the ground shattered. Shockingly, within the white flames covering that finger were the Heir Apparent and the others. They had finally arrived on the actual soil of the red moon! The white flames were already flickering out, to be replaced by the crimson color cast by the moon.

Xu Qing’s heart pounded as he stood on the Imperial Sovereign’s finger and looked around. In the past, the red moon had been something he could observe or feel. It wasn’t somewhere he could go. But now… he was actually on the moon.

The lands were red. The clouds were red. Everything was the same color. There were mountains and craters. There were rivers of blood. This red moon… was an entire world. Incredibly intense mutagen filled that world, becoming the only aura present. Looking off into the distance, everything seemed distorted.

Within those distortions were countless shadowy figures that constantly popped in and out of existence. Those figures included humans and nonhumans, and they seemed to exist in a state that was neither life nor death. They didn’t seem intelligent. They were more like illusions. Some gathered in groups, others were alone, but as one, they knelt with their hands covering their eyes. Most gruish of all to Xu Qing was that every time he blinked, the figures would switch locations. And if he didn’t blink, they remained in place, completely unmoving. They didn’t seem to care at all about the arrival of the gigantic finger. They just continued to offer worship, chanting in low-pitched, sinister voices.

“The red moon, lady to me; Revered Ancient’s true trustee; the living hosts suffer; they have a blissful guarantee.”

“Offered freely, lady to me; no bitterness for me; from bitterness I’m free; undecayed for all to see. 𝔣𝖗𝔴𝖇𝖓𝔬𝔳𝔩.𝔠𝔬𝖒

“Crimson Mother, lady to me; Brilliant Heaven escapee; heavenly daos all asleep; the ancient path clear and free.

“Souls offered, lady to me; pāramitā an actuality; sing with joy when you see; the return to our world ends happily.”

The lyrics of the song were clearer than they had been in the Red Moon Cathedral’s church temple. And instead of being sung out loud, the words were sung from the soul, echoing out to infinitude. 1

1. The first line was previously uttered by Red Moon Cathedral cultivators in chapter 572.1. ☜