Chapter 700: A Stubborn Sense of Existence
The Moonlight Sea shattered. The blood-water swept to either side, freezing into two cliffs. In the middle of them was a huge trough so deep the bottom wasn’t visible!
The white nail, within which flickered six major worlds, shot forth, seemingly heedless of the fact that the surrounding god projections were racing to intercept it. It crushed everything in its path. Thunderous booms rang out as three god projections shattered.
Then the nail was right in front of Zhang Siyun, emanating terrifying pressure as it headed toward hīs forehead. It seemed just about to hit the target. However, Zhang Siyun was a doppelg?nger of Crimson Mother, with a life force that existed on an unfathomable level. Reaching out with hīs right hand, hē put a finger on either side of the nail and then squeezed down.
Hīs fingers didn’t move after that. Nor did hīs arm or his body. But hīs clothes began flapping as if being blown by storm winds. Hīs red hair also whipped around behind hīm as the air shattered and rifts spread out in all directions.
“Excellent,” Zhang Siyun said calmly. Then hē prepared to wave hīs arm and send the nail flying back to where it came from.
Except... that was when something unexpected happened!
Although the white nail had been grabbed, the reality was that its function wasn’t to stab. Instead, it began to change color, turning from white to green. At the same time, it melted, turning into numerous green threads. There were over ten thousand of them, and they quickly wrapped around Zhang Siyun’s fingers, then swept with rapid speed toward hīs face.
Even just one of those threads could be considered a magical treasure. They pulsed with a terrifying aura, and were unimaginably sharp. In the shortest of moments, they reached Zhang Siyun’s face and were about to stab into hīm.
Frowning, Zhang Siyun exhaled. Hīs breath was the color of blood, and hit the threads like a cloud. Most of the threads from the nail collapsed. However, four of them didn’t.
Hidden among all the other threads, they pierced through the blood mist and landed on Zhang Siyun’s face! Zhang Siyun tried to dodge out of the way, but the four threads were blessed by the Heir Apparent and his siblings, and they were impossible to evade.
In the blink of an eye, they stabbed into Zhang Siyun’s face. No blood flowed out. However, the four threads burrowed into hīs flesh like bugs, then started boring through his body. During the process, the Heir Apparent and his siblings unleashed divine abilities to wreak withering and destruction.
Zhang Siyun was a doppelg?nger of Crimson Mother, but hē still had the body of a mortal. It had been altered, but on a substructural level, it was still mortal. A moment later, Zhang Siyun’s body rippled as though it might collapse. However, hīs eyes remained calm, and hē didn’t seem to be reacting at all to the pain. What hē did do was stand and back up. As hē did, hē ripped open hīs throat and stuck two fingers inside to try to grab the threads and extract them. At the same time, hē used his other hand to wave at the Moonlight Sea.
The surviving god projections there opened their eyes and looked in the direction of the door. 34 gods emanated powerful fluctuations, filling the Moonlight Sea with such destructive fluctuations that any living being present would be killed in body and soul.
Yet that didn’t stop the Heir Apparent and his siblings from stepping through the door and into the Moon Palace, where they unleashed attacks on the intercepting god projections.
The Heir Apparent was visible in his true form, and his major world was out in the form of a huge eye that looked at Zhang Siyun. It wasn’t the eye of a god. But it was similar. The spot where it looked rippled and distorted, and perceptions there changed according to his thoughts. That even affected the projections of gods. After all, thēy were already dead, and existed only as projections.
Princess Brightblossom was equally terrifying. A long spear appeared in her hands, and a suit of armor rippled out to cover her. Time flowed beneath her feet, and killing intent surged within her.
Eighth Sib roared, his voice booming like a drum to create something like a fiendish devil. As it dug into the god projections, it became human nature which drove away the godliness. Ninth Sib strode forward quietly, his sword gleaming with cold light as he slashed it out.
Unfortunately, there were just too many god projections. And thanks to Zhang Siyun’s quick actions, hē had already extracted one of the threads and was looking for the second. It wouldn’t be long before hē got all four of them out.
Seeing that, Xu Qing and the Captain, who were just about to walk through the door, stopped in place. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to enter. Rather, the terrifying power sweeping about therein was too much for their cultivation bases to handle.
The Captain looked embarrassed. “Little Ah Qing, are you getting the sensation that this whole thing... basically has nothing to do with us? Our presence doesn’t seem to have any effect at all!”
Xu Qing nodded silently.
“That said, we’re the ones who made everything happen. We’re the instigators. And I have everything under control! Without us, none of them would even be here. Things can’t continue as they are!” The Captain gritted his teeth. The fact that he had been refused by that High God was very embarrassing, and thus, he snorted coldly and prepared to do something to prove his worth.
He took out two of his Dawning Suns. He gave one of them to Xu Qing.
Hefting the other one, he projected a message to Xu Qing. “You throw one of them too. Let’s make our existence known!”
With that, the Captain threw his sun, then turned and ducked away from the door to hide.
The light of dawn shot forth, and even as the Captain howled and leaped away from the door, it exploded, creating a terrifying shockwave along with blinding light. Because of that light, the god projections blurred briefly, but that was it. Thēy returned to normal a moment later.
When nothing much resulted, the Captain’s eyebrows shot up and he was about to shout to Xu Qing to throw his sun out. However, Xu Qing was currently looking at the projected figures that had blurred and were now turning clear again. The figures were pitch black, and because of that, Xu Qing hadn’t paid much attention to thēm before. But after the light of the Dawning Sun shone, it got Xu Qing thinking.
“Hold on a moment, Eldest Brother.”
All of a sudden, blood began to rise up around him. Although he had no way of entering the Moon Palace, his authority could. Taking control of the blood, he sent it forward into the Moonlight Sea. Waves rose up on that small portion of the water, which spread out, though it didn’t affect the fighting in any way.
That said, Xu Qing’s goal wasn’t to directly attack anything. Under his control, the blood spread with his authority, spreading out in the Moonlight Sea. It got thinner and thinner, but he was going all out. And therefore, he managed to spread that blood over about half of the surface of the water. “Eldest Brother, take three Dawning Suns out, but don’t detonate them. Let their light shine. Fill this place with sunlight!”
Xu Qing wouldn’t hesitate if the Captain asked him to do something. Neither did the Captain hesitate now. He immediately took out three of his Dawning Suns and threw them through the door.
Instantly, the blinding light of three Dawning Suns shone onto the Moonlight Sea. As the light spread, the Moonlight Sea brightened. At the same time, the god projections blurred. It was as if thēy couldn’t maintain thēir forms with the bright light shining on thēm. Ordinary projections couldn’t survive this. But these weren’t ordinary projections. Apparently, thēy were existences... that were similar to Xu Qing’s shadow.
Meanwhile, veins bulged on Xu Qing’s forehead as, using his blood as the medium, he used the Mirror of Moonrebel... to enter the blood on the surface of the Moonlight Sea!
The mirror used Xu Qing’s blood to pass through the door, and thus, the gigantic mirror appeared above the sea. The moment the mirror appeared, the world became one of even more dramatic brightness. The mirror shone down with dramatic effect, covering everything with light.
The only thing left behind was light. Thanks to that light, the god projections shrank away and began to hide.
Yet not even that was enough to fundamentally change the entire situation. The light only lasted for so long, and then it began to fade. When that happened, the god projections returned.
However, to the Heir Apparent and the other siblings, the brief disappearance of the god projections bought them precious time. As the light shone, they accelerated rapidly toward Zhang Siyun.
For the second time, Zhang Siyun frowned. Of the four threads that had entered hīm, hē had already extracted three. But the last one was deeply buried, and hē needed more time to find it.
“Even bugs can do a thing or two,” hē said coolly. Then, instead of backing up further, hē stretched hīs left hand out, palm open, and pushed down toward the Moonlight Sea.
“Red moon.”
Rumbling sounds filled the sea, and huge waves started rolling out across its surface. They grew taller and taller, until they were higher than Zhang Siyun hīmself! Endless amounts of seawater rolled up into the air to form the shape of a hand! The blood-colored hand was supremely shocking. It went as high as was possible and as low as was possible, and did not have any palm print on it. It was both Zhang Siyun’s hand, and also, the hand of a god.
Then, mountain-toppling, sea-draining force swept toward the incoming siblings. Nothing could stand up to it. Thanks to the pressure of a god that it exuded, the Mirror of Moonrebel started to crack.
The Heir Apparent and his siblings reacted with surprise, and quickly fell back. At that point, the Captain inhaled sharply. Blue light shone in his eyes as he shouted, “Moonfire! If you don’t get the eff out here right now, your food’s going to be gone!!”
Xu Qing’s expression was very serious as he backed away further. Taking a deep breath, he focused on the violet crystal.
Although Zhang Siyun’s god magic of Destiny Manipulation had been negated, and Xu Qing’s memories had been restored, those two specific images were still there in the violet crystal. And he had the feeling that he... could take those two images of the past and release them....
If I do release them, what will happen?
Xu Qing stood there thoughtfully.