Chapter 695: I am the New Moon; Call Me Violet Lord!
A red world. Gruish figures. Sinister chanting. Intense mutagen. Heaven and earth distorted. Unfamiliarity everywhere. That was how to describe the world of the red moon.
It was... Crimson Mother’s godly habitat.
Any cultivators who came here would have a hard time resisting the mutagen invasion. Their souls would decay because of the song, and their minds would be affected, causing them to feel unending piety toward Crimson Mother. The cultivation base level was irrelevant.
The first to be affected was Fifth Sister. She shivered from head to toe as her garments turned crimson. Eighth Sib reacted similarly, and even the Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom were visibly affected. The Captain didn’t have it any better off. As he breathed heavily, his eyes shone with a crazy look. Within them, faces within faces appeared, glowing with blue light.
Only Xu Qing... stood there looking the same as ever. The blessing of the red moon made this entire world seem unprecedentedly familiar to him. In fact, he got the feeling... that he could actually influence the world around him, to a degree.
Just when he was about to experiment in that regard, Ninth Sib strode forward and lifted his sword. Rumbling sounds echoed out as a beam of black sword light swept forth. The sword light shattered everything it touched, shredding countless of the shadowy figures into nothing. But a moment later... everything was the same as before.
The singing continued.
The invasion went on.
The Heir Apparent and the other siblings looked on with grim expressions. Ninth Sib’s eyes glittered coldly as he prepared to attempt the same thing again.
“That won’t do any good in a godly location like this,” the Captain said. “Crimson Mother is still asleep, so her will can’t affect much. Otherwise, all it would take would be a thought from her, and everything here would be buried. Back then, I managed to get a mysterious drop of blood that let me transform into a mosquito. That was how I got through this area. But that blood has long since been used up....
“Little Ah Qing, you’re the only one of us who hasn’t been affected. Next, you need to use your authority to find the Moon Palace!
“The Moon Palace is the oldest structure on this moon. And its location isn’t fixed in one spot. It can show up anywhere, even on a grain of sand or in the void itself. And Crimson Mother... is sleeping in the depths of the Moon Palace! If we can find the Moon Palace, I’ll be able to open it up. And then... we can get inside!”
Xu Qing looked at the Captain. This might be Xu Qing’s first time here, and even the first time for the Heir Apparent and his siblings.
But the Captain... had been here before.
“Let me try,” Xu Qing said with a nod. As the Heir Apparent and everyone else looked on, he started walking.
With each step forward, he released some of the power of his red moon authority. More blood spread out, making the vortex around him even larger. And more than ever, Xu Qing felt a sensation of familiarity in his heart. At the same time, he felt the strong desire to... change the color of this moon!
He forced such wild thoughts away, though. Closing his eyes, he sent his authority out over the red moon to look for the Moon Palace. As time passed, the Heir Apparent and everyone else continued to succumb to the invasion. And Xu Qing found no trace of the Moon Palace. He frowned. All of a sudden, he felt a power of expulsion building in the red moon. The ground shook. Clearly, the Imperial Sovereign’s strength wouldn’t hold out forever. It was not an easy task to lock the red moon into place on its orbital track.
The Captain sighed and looked at the Heir Apparent. “We have no other option than to wake up the Imperial Sovereign early. Otherwise, we won’t be able to find the Moon Palace. And if this deadlock continues, it won’t work out well for us. Unfortunately, whether we wake up the Imperial Sovereign or try one of my other methods, it’s going to be hard to avoid waking Crimson Mother from—”
“I can help you find it!” interrupted the voice of Emperor Ancient Spirit from Xu Qing’s cloak. “Once I make a move, it will also wake up Crimson Mother. Also, if it works, I want fifty percent of the spoils of war!”
The Captain looked at Emperor Ancient Spirit. The Heir Apparent and his siblings all narrowed their eyes. Emperor Ancient Spirit didn’t seem anxious. He just waited for a response from the group.
That was when Xu Qing finally spoke. “If finding the Moon Palace is going to result in Crimson Mother waking up no matter what, then... I have another method I can try!”
With that, he strode forward until he reached one of the shadowy figures. He looked up at the canopy of heaven, then at the surrounding lands. And finally he looked at the figure in front of him. As he heard the chanting of the song, he slowly released his hold on the impulse he had suppressed earlier.
“Red moon authority cannot have two masters!”
Eyes slowly turning red, Xu Qing released his hold on godliness, and fused with the red moon.
The Heir Apparent and his siblings looked on with serious expressions, while the Captain’s eyes glittered.
Emperor Ancient Spirit was even more moved. This kid has red moon authority! For him to come to the red moon has a completely different meaning than for everyone else! That’s especially true... considering that Crimson Mother is still asleep!
As everyone looked on with varying levels of surprise, Xu Qing closed his eyes. Blood-colored light flared everywhere, and his entire body blurred. At the same time, he seemed to become one with the crimson color around him, until he was hardly visible.
The entire red moon trembled. The chanting suddenly stopped, and countless shadowy figures looked up. Though their eyes were covered with their hands, they seemed to be attracted to Xu Qing’s authority, and were ‘looking’ at him.
Shortly thereafter, Xu Qing opened his eyes and spoke in a low voice that echoed far and wide.
“I am the new moon, born in Revered Ancient. Let all living beings call me Violet Lord.”
The blood-colored light surrounding Xu Qing transformed, becoming violet. As the effect grew stronger, it turned into a violet moon!
And as Xu Qing rose up into the canopy of heaven, the violet moon... rose! Wild colors flashed in heaven and earth. Winds screamed. The red moon trembled and quaked, and the surrounding shadowy figures shivered. More intense red moon power erupted from the moon, becoming a violet-tinged tempest that swept across everything. All of the shadowy figures shook violently.
The Heir Apparent and his siblings were visibly moved. Even the normally taciturn Ninth Sib was looking at Xu Qing with a very serious expression on his face.
“He’s tampering with Crimson Mother’s lyrics!” the Heir Apparent said. “The red is turning into violet!”
Shocked, Emperor Ancient Spirit detached his cloak form from Xu Qing and backed away. “Amazing destined opportunity. Incredible good fortune!”
The Captain was smiling, his eyes shining with both joy and melancholy. It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen that violet moon....
As the violet moon rose, all of the lands and living beings that had been stained red now had a bit of violet in them. As the violet color spread, filling the dome of heaven, the shadowy figures in the area also began to change, slowly turning violet. At the same time, the words they sang changed.
“The new moon, lord to me; Revered Ancient’s true trustee; the living hosts suffer; they have a blissful guarantee.
“Offered freely, lord to me; no bitterness for me; from bitterness I’m free; undecayed for all to see.
“The new moon, lord; from the Revered Ancient community; all living beings far and near; as Violet Lord do address thee.
“Souls offered, lord to me; pāramitā an actuality; sing with joy when you see; the return to our world ends happily.”
The lyrics were different, and as the shadowy figures turned violet, so did the moon itself!
Not only did everyone on the moon see that, so did people in regions throughout the Revered Ancient mainland! The arrival of the red moon was an event closely observed by the areas surrounding the Moonrite Region.
In fact, in the Holytide Region, in the palace atop the white sand, Grand Duke Holytide, who had recently stepped from Void Returning into Smoldering God, opened his eyes from meditation. As he did, a pair of huge eyes formed in the canopy of heaven over the Holytide Region, and they looked in the direction of Moonrite.
Violet has appeared within the red moon! Crimson Mother’s authority is being transformed.... What... is going on over there?
A similar commotion was playing out in the Nightshade Region.
When the Imperial Region unleashed Dawning Sun, it resulted in severe casualties among the Nightshades, and locked down both of the regions they controlled. Since then, the Nightshades had been constantly carrying out ceremonies and sacrifices hoping to attract the attention of their god. They never got any response. As of right now, the Nightshade priests and priestesses felt alarmed in an unprecedented way. Every single one of them saw the same thing in their mind. It was a vision of the red moon being changed.
They weren’t the only ones affected in that way. Another region that bordered Moonrite was the one controlled by the Firemoon Darkheavens. The cultivators there could sense the red light in the Moonrite Region, and noticed when streaks of violet appeared within it.
If those were the reactions in bordering regions, there was little need to mention what was happening within Moonrite itself. People throughout the region were trembling in apprehension. Shaken, they watched as heaven and earth slowly changed color.
The red moon in the canopy of heaven was slowly turning into a violet moon. If that process continued, and Xu Qing completely replaced the red moon, turning it into a violet moon, then he... would become a new god.
Of course, that couldn’t actually happen as long as Crimson Mother was still alive. Crimson Mother had not woken up even when the Nightshade species suffered a grievous defeat. Shē had not awoken to stop the destruction of the Red Moon Cathedral. In fact, shē didn’t even stir when Li Zihua woke up and grabbed the red moon with both hands, then poked a finger through its defenses to touch the moon’s soil. Clearly, devouring Flawless Hell, Lord of the Nine Serenities, was not as easy of a task as it seemed for Crimson Mother.
However, now that the red moon was changing colors, shē had no choice but to interfere. A terrifying aura exploded onto the red moon, filling it entirely. At the same time, a blood-colored palace materialized overhead.
It was... the Moon Palace!
The extremely ancient palace was crafted from stone. It was pure crimson and radiated profound godly might. On the closed door of the palace was a huge totem. It depicted a vicious face. That face was not that of Crimson Mother. Instead, it was a face with six eyes, all of which were opened, and were staring down at the people below, particularly Xu Qing.
“All who blaspheme against our god will experience the tribulation of ten thousand deaths!”