As Zhang Siyun was wrapped up in the black cloak, hē sent blood-colored light pulsing out nine times in a row. A scream rang out from the cloak, and then it transformed into the color of blood. A moment later, it flew in the opposite direction. However, at the same time, a loud gulping sound could be heard, and then Zhang Siyun’s voice suddenly changed in pitch and timbre.

“I smelled you earlier. How could I have guessed that you would be patient enough to wait until now to act?”

Emperor Ancient Spirit’s pupils constricted as a crown of thorns suddenly appeared overhead. Within the crown were countless eyes, filled with anguish and anticipation as they looked at Emperor Ancient Spirit.

The crown fell.

Emperor Ancient Spirit’s eyes blurred. Hē was a person who had once conquered all of Revered Ancient, so there was no way hē would get flustered in a crisis. After staring at Zhang Siyun briefly, hē self-detonated, transforming into a huge pile of flesh and blood.

At the same time, Zhang Siyun transformed as well. The neck wound which had just healed burst open again, spreading out across most of hīs body. The sword wound inflicted by blocking Ninth Sib’s attack also broke open and spread. In the blink of an eye, Zhang Siyun was covered in blood. Hē was severely injured and looked like hē might not be able to hold on for very long.

This was the power of Emperor Ancient Spirit’s authority! Under that gaze, small wounds could turn into grievous injuries, and horrific wounds could cause death. Hīs personhood was high enough that not even Zhang Siyun could do anything to stop hīm.

Zhang Siyun was bedraggled and badly wounded. Yet, just as before, hē swallowed hīs saliva back down, looked off into the distance, and laughed.

“You’re definitely delicious,” hē said. And the broken-down Zhang Siyun turned to look at Princess Brightblossom.

The air behind Princess Brightblossom rippled as a river of time appeared. Fifth Sister was in it, as well as the dead Eighth Sib. Thanks to the blessing of Fifth Sister, he was being resurrected.

“So, that’s where you were hiding her. That’s fine. At least now I have all of you together.”

Looking away, hē lifted his shattered arm and touched hīs forehead with hīs finger.

Instantly, a host of images appeared around hīm. Shockingly, they were images of hīs past. Not the past of Crimson Mother, but of Zhang Siyun.

They started when he was born. In fact, Xu Qing even spotted Yao Yunhui. 1

All of Zhang Siyun’s life was there. However, they didn’t stretch all the way to the current moment. Instead… they stopped when Crimson Mother emerged from the blood-colored sky in Forbidden by the Immortal. That was the moment when Zhang Siyun’s destiny changed, and no longer belonged to hīm.

Zhang Siyun’s expression didn’t change upon sensing hīs past. Hē reached out, grabbed the last memory image, and dragged it close. In that image, the canopy of heaven was the color of blood, and Crimson Mother’s finger was shocking and ghastly.

After looking at it, Zhang Siyun waved hīs arm. The image vibrated, then suddenly started expanding rapidly.

It was overtaking the existing sky, spreading out over the sea, and filling the world! The sky was endless blood and the lands… were all ruins. It was as if they were back in Forbidden by the Immortal in Sea-Sealing County.

Beyond the door, Xu Qing and the Captain were swept up in the effect, and were soon looking around in shock at familiar surroundings.

There was no way Xu Qing could possibly forget what things were like around him the first time he saw Crimson Mother.

Back then, shē had possessed Zhang Siyun, and was fighting with the fish god in Forbidden by the Immortal. More precisely, it wasn’t really a fight. Shē just came to eat. Just before shē finished eating, the fish god called out to īts master, High God Flawless Hell of the Nine Serenities.

And then… Crimson Mother’s true form arrived. Images of that event superimposed with reality. Fluctuations rolled through the dome of heaven, along with the color crimson. Countless rifts opened up, then closed, becoming innumerable magical symbols. When the sky was completely red, it began to spin, moving faster and faster until a blood-colored vortex appeared.

A moon appeared within the vortex.

A red moon!

It was extremely gruish. Xu Qing knew that he was actually on the red moon, but when he looked up, he could see that very same moon in the vortex.

On that red moon was a statue, kneeling with īts hands covering īts eyes. The hands slowly lowered. The statue’s mouth stretched wide in a greedy grin.

This was Crimson Mother’s true self!

The world shook as the Crimson Mother from Zhang Siyun’s memories of the past slowly rose, then emerged from the vortex. As shē stepped out, an infinitude of blood poured out of the vortex, pulsing with godly might that vastly surpassed Zhang Siyun.

In the face of this, not even Smoldering Gods qualified to take action. The Heir Apparent and his siblings trembled; the mere waves of energy forced them to fall back. 𝓯𝘦𝘸𝘯𝘰𝓿.𝒸ℴ𝑚

Death covered all. Withering became eternal. Decay became irreversible. There was no way to resist, nor any way to fight back.

In that moment of deadly crisis, the Captain suddenly laughed viciously, and his eyes flickered with a crazy look.

“My freaking ex-wife is so unreliable! Guess I’ve got to man up and handle this myself!”

The Captain flared with blue light, and faces appeared in his eyes. A host of mouths opened up all over his body, making him look extremely gruish. He floated up into the air, throwing his arms wide. As he bore the brunt of Crimson Mother’s godly might, his skin was flayed. Pain and decay built up in him, but the crazy look in his eyes only intensified.

“Past life!” he shouted. As his voice echoed like thunder, blue light erupted into a vast sea. Then a corpse stepped out of the light. It was a combination of the pontiff of the Red Moon Cathedral and his past-life body, which he had fused together. Looking extremely fierce, the Captain shouted, “I’m going for broke, little Junior Brother!”

With that, he blurred into motion toward his past-life body. Reaching it, he shot inside. Then the past-life body’s arms stretched out, and the cultivation base of a Smoldering God erupted. Terrifying fluctuations spread out, all while the projected image of an enormous mosquito appeared behind it. The vicious mosquito had blue, greedy eyes.

After it was complete, the Captain’s past-life body charged toward the emerging Crimson Mother. Frigid energy pulsed in all directions, covering the past-life body and the mosquito. In the blink of an eye, the mosquito turned into an ice sculpture that rushed into the vortex.

The Heir Apparent and the others looked on with flickering expressions.

Unfortunately… the Captain’s past-life body failed to do anything to Crimson Mother. Crimson Mother’s gaze alone caused the ice sculpture of the mosquito to shatter.

However, the past-life body continued onward. There was more. In the blink of an eye, the past-life body shattered and turned into a host of blue bugs. The bugs sprouted the wings and mouthparts of a mosquito. Then they madly raced toward Crimson Mother.

Some of the flying bugs spat out threads that turned into hairs, which in turn formed into the shape of a door.

An ancient, wooden door was forced to appear. Then, the bugs raced toward the door and started devouring it. It took only a moment for the door to be falling apart, whereupon a howl of rage erupted from inside. All of this takes a bit of time to describe, but it actually happened in the time it takes a spark to fly off of a piece of flint.

Some of the blue bugs raced toward Crimson Mother, while some formed a wooden door, while some devoured the door.

The combination of all those things caused the Crimson Mother from the images of the past to stop moving. It only lasted a moment, though. Then shē took another step, and everything vanished.

The incoming blue bugs screamed as they were reduced to ashes. The same thing happened to the bugs that formed the door. However, the door was a different type of existence, and the howl from inside didn’t stop. In fact, it became something like booming thunder filling the surrounding world.

And yet, the entity inside the door didn’t come out. Shē intentionally remained hidden, and then the door started to ripple as if it was about to flee.

Meanwhile, something was brewing inside Xu Qing’s heart that could shake all gods and transform the Revered Ancient mainland! He currently stood off to the side, seemingly unimportant in every way. But a tempest was building in him!

When his Eldest Brother said he was going for broke, Xu Qing sent his divine sense into the violet crystal within him, where it made contact with the first image there.

It was an image of the broken face’s eyes opening. Xu Qing didn’t know what would happen if he brought that image out. But right now, his mind was made up. Using his divine sense to control the violet crystal as best he could, he forced that image to become clear.

Gradually, it filled the entire violet crystal, then spread out into Xu Qing’s body, until finally… it appeared outside!

A wind suddenly blew. A sound like the chime of bells filled the shattered world around him.

The images from Zhang Siyun’s past that filled this area began to tremble because of the wind. The lands began to transform as well.

The ruins of Forbidden by the Immortal melted like paste. The surrounding area was no longer Forbidden by the Immortal. Instead, it was a small city, desolate, silent, and filled with death. The wind changed the sky also. Blood-colored rain fell, drop by drop, and it had nothing to do with red moon authority. Everything withered and decayed.

Crimson Mother stopped walking. Shē was shaking.

The door stopped fleeing, and seemed rooted in place. The howling from inside stopped. Shē was also shaking.

The Heir Apparent and his siblings similarly trembled.

A trembling exclamation of shock could be heard, and it came from Zhang Siyun.

Everything shook, and it was thanks to… what was happening in the canopy of heaven. There was a supreme entity there that could crush all of Revered Ancient, and could cause gods to feel reverence.

īt was a broken face. īt was a human face that loomed over the entire world and all living beings in it. The face was cold, with īts eyes closed and hair draped down around īt. Beneath īt, the living beings of the world were like bugs. Insects. And the fate of the creatures in the world were ruled by that face, and existed thanks to īts whims.

And right now, hē… was opening hīs eyes.

1. Yao Yunhui is Zhang Siyun’s mother. Initially introduced in chapter 374, we learned her name in chapter 393. She last appeared in chapter 539. ☜