Chapter 639: The Play Debuts!
“In a moment,” a hoarse voice said into the minds of the audience, “all of you will witness a crucial event that played out in ancient times. It is a complete recording of the time when the Imperial Sovereign of the region upon which we all stand viciously beheaded Crimson Mother!
“The gods believed this recording to be evil, and thus banned it for all time. However, after the countless years that have passed, today... we managed to dig up a copy of the recording, and will now play it in full for you.”
The voice itself seemed ancient, as if it had been dragged through countless years of time. At the same time, it seemed full of sighing and emotion.
“Hopefully, everyone in this region, including cultivators and mortals of all species, we who are stuck in an endless loop of fate, can remember this extremely important scene. And that is because, after this recording is released, it will once again be locked down by the gods.”
The wind was blowing in Moonrite! Everyone in the Moonrite Region, regardless of where they were, and regardless of what they were doing, now had the same image and the same voice in their mind. The image was incomparably clear, and the voice didn’t contain even a hint of static. It was clearly the result of the sudden use of some incredibly powerful magic.
At first, most people were taken aback. However, they quickly realized that everyone around them also had blank looks on their faces, indicating that everyone was seeing the same thing. Waves of astonishment began to spread through all the cities of all the species in the region, building up into an unheard-of tempest.
Some cities had devolved so deeply into insanity and despair that they were little more than ruins filled with dazed survivors. However, as the tempest built, the numbness of their heart was shaken. They emerged from the ruins in their shabby clothing, climbing out of the holes in the ground and the piles of corpses, to look in shock up at the sky.
The sky was red, and there was no image projected there. But by looking up, they were able to focus even more clearly on the image in their mind.
Scenes like that played out everywhere in the Moonrite Region. In some cases, people came out alone. In other cases, they were in groups. Refugees in the wilderness had previously been trudging along silently with no destination in mind. Some of them even reached the point of just falling to the ground and closing their eyes. But now, as that image appeared, their hearts and minds stirred.
Some cities controlled by major species had remained mostly peaceful despite the insanity sweeping the region. However, the impending arrival of Crimson Mother hung over them like a sharp blade. With that blade hanging there, they had no choice other than to accept their fate. They couldn’t resist. They couldn’t fight back. And thus, when the image and voice appeared, their silent hearts trembled.
Most shaken of all were the cultivators in the region, especially those who were part of the Moonrite Region. They were powerful experts from all places, all species, and all sects. When the red moon had appeared the previous month, all of them had been filled with alarm. However, they still had the will to fight back. They were organized into small resistance squads. Unfortunately... not everyone could be like the Moonrebel Congregation cultivators. Most cultivators didn’t have the courage and valor to defy a god. After all, those who didn’t resist might survive until Crimson Mother showed up. Those who resisted... could very well be killed in battle with the Red Moon Cathedral. Therefore, the image was like a huge blow to their minds.
That blow was even more dramatic to the cultivators of the Red Moon Cathedral.
And thus, as everyone in the region paid close attention, the big play began.
In the image, the dome of heaven was like a mass of fish scales rippling constantly. Endless clouds of blood formed, filling the sky and making it seem like a blood hell was taking over. Thunder rumbled, and black bolts of lightning snaked out, connecting with each other to form a huge cage within the blood hell.
Suppression was the main theme of the image. The ground below was also the color of blood. Countless corpses had been piled together to form 9,999 mountains. Each of those mountains was 3,000 meters tall. They loomed over the lands, organized into a circular pattern that was a huge spell formation. Endless blood flowed down the corpse mountains, which gathered in the middle of them all to make a massive blood lake.
In the middle of the lake was a woman, submerged up to her waist, her back to the audience. She seemed to be bathing. She had long hair, skin as fair as snow, and seemed extremely alluring. As she bathed in blood, she sang a song.
“Some people take flight into the sky, their ambitions utterly bright and high.
“At the Red Moon Sea they heave and sigh, visiting the frontier by-and-by.
“As reincarnation exemplified, they become good food that satisfies.
“Sunlight having burned out the eyes, ideals will never possibly run dry.
“Into the vast expanse I spy, atop the high red moon... I will fly!”
The lyrics float in all directions, thrumming with a determination and staunchness that made them seem dreamlike.
Except, the background music for this dream was a group of 9,999 mountains of corpses, filled with innumerable bodies. And they wept. Endless cries of grief provided the music for the dream. It was easy to imagine that this woman, in pursuit of that dream, had left behind far more mountains of corpses than were visible here.
As the woman sang, waves rolled out over the lake of blood as 9,999 tentacles emerged to link with the corpse mountains. The wriggling tentacles accepted the sacrifice of blood from the corpse mountains, causing the corpses to wither up, turning into nutrients and being swept into the lake of blood, and thus, the woman. As countless souls cried out in anguish, the mountains collapsed and entered the woman’s mouth.
The living beings in the Moonrite Region were shaken by the sight of it. And because of the curse that existed in all of them, they all could tell that the woman... was Crimson Mother of the red moon!
Next, a heaven-rending, earth-crushing crash of thunder erupted in the blood-colored canopy of heaven as a pair of hands stretched down and started ripping open the sky. Deafening noises shook all heaven and earth. The hands ripped open a huge gap in the sky, allowing boundless light to flow down, spreading out and driving away the color of blood. Wickedness was suppressed.
The blood clouds crumbled as a middle-aged man dressed in a long golden robe appeared. His expression was threatening without being angry as he strode forth. Rumbling sounds filled heaven and earth as the blood clouds continued to fall into nothing. The ground quaked. The entire world was shaken.
Massive waves appeared on the surface of the blood-colored lake, and the blood-red tentacles whipped about wildly. The woman, meanwhile, looked up into the sky and released a piercing shriek. Then she leaped up, emerging from the lake and shooting toward the dome of heaven. The blood lake began to spin, creating a vortex that sent forth a blood will that seemed capable of devouring anything and everything.
The middle-aged man in the sky looked down expressionlessly. He didn’t pause for even a moment as his foot extended in a second step forward. That single step caused the blood-colored vortex to collapse into pieces, thus revealing the woman’s true form. Her torso was just like any ordinary human. But her lower half was made of endless tentacles. Overall, she was horrifying and extremely ugly.
The man took a third step. The sky vibrated, shattering into countless fragments that fell toward the woman. The ground sank in as a huge crack appeared. Screaming and coughing up blood, the woman fell back.
Next came the fourth step. Heaven shattered, and the earth crumbled. The woman slammed into the ground, seriously injured. Then the man took a fifth step, and his foot headed right toward the struggling woman’s head.
He smashed her head into the ground. Having accomplished that, he looked down, just as expressionless as before.
“Because of your origin, the Ancient Emperor chose to ignore your behavior. He didn’t wish to be infected with the karma of the place you come from. But... the song you were singing was just too unpleasant to hear. It interrupted my fourth son’s dream.”
That voice echoed into the minds of all living beings in the Moonrite Region, creating unprecedented waves of shock within them. It was truly a shocking scene. And the mortals of the region were especially astonished to see Crimson Mother smashed with a single stomp. And all of it was because her singing interrupted the dream of this man’s fourth son.
The subversive image was so shocking that many people just couldn’t believe that it was true. However, the image was incredibly realistic, and the pressure it created was real. Everyone felt their hearts pounding like mad. When all was said and done, most people were too suspicious. That was especially true of the top experts from the various nonhuman species in the Moonrite Region. There was no way that one simple image was going to completely alter their belief system.
The Captain had actually predicted that would happen, which was why he had organized the play into two acts. Now that act 1 was over, the image blurred, and the hoarse voice once again spoke into the minds of the audience.
“Now, there will be a short intermission. After enough time has passed for an incense stick to burn, the second act of this amazing historical play will begin.”
The Heir Apparent turned off the Eye of Heaven’s recording function. Nodding, he said, “That’ll work.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Ning Yan, who had been performing as the Imperial Sovereign, quickly pulled his foot up. His majestic nature vanished, to be replaced with ingratiating nervousness.
“Big Sis Nether....”
Nethersprite got to her feet and looked coldly at Ning Yan. Ning Yan shivered. He had really put everything he had into that final stomp. In reality, from the very beginning of act 1 until the end, the Heir Apparent and his siblings had been secretly using their magical techniques to make things look perfectly realistic. As a result, Ning Yan had been left with the mistaken impression that he had been more effective than he really had been.
“Everyone get ready for act 2,” the Heir Apparent said. With that, he gave some more instructions to Ning Yan, then some detailed pointers to Wu Jianwu. Finally, he had Chen Erniu do a few run-throughs with the executioner’s saber.
Princess Brightblossom, Fifth Sister, and Eighth Sib also gave some advice. They wanted act 2 to be very realistic.
After enough time had passed for an incense stick to burn, the Heir Apparent activated the Eye of Heaven. Ning Yan and everyone else took their places, and the image again appeared in the minds of the people of Moonrite. The performance was about to begin.
However, at that exact same moment, a wind picked up on the stage! It came suddenly, filled with an ancient aura, causing the hair and garments of everyone present to stir. And their hearts trembled as a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering killing sensation appeared. That killing sensation was just the beginning. The land started to tremble, and wild colors flashed in heaven and earth.
All of the performers were visibly shocked. Ning Yan, Wu Jianwu, Nethersprite, Li Youfei, and the Captain all turned to look at Xu Qing.