As the thought occurred to him, the enormous blood-red hand rumbled forth. It moved at high speed, and within a moment, was bearing down on the Heir Apparent and his siblings. The ex-wife the Captain had mentioned still hadn’t come.
When Xu Qing saw that, his eyes flickered with determination. He wasn’t sure what would happen if he summoned the images from within the violet crystal. But considering that the Heir Apparent and the others seemed powerless to defend themselves, all he could do was help in whatever way possible.
Yet even as the violet crystal started to glitter, the Heir Apparent and the other siblings unleashed trump cards, causing an ancient aura to pulse off them explosively.
“Father!” the Heir Apparent shouted. Princess Brightblossom and the others echoed his call.
Beneath the red moon, the statue of Imperial Sovereign Li Zihua stirred. The sensation of awakening was now extremely intense, and the statue’s eyelids twitched as if they might open. Breath escaped the statue’s mouth, swept over the surface of the red moon, and entered the Moon Palace, as if for the express purpose of blessing his children there.
Inside the Moon Palace, time glittered, magical laws descended, and sword light shone brightly. The power of the Heir Apparent and the others converged in the form of six world projections that smashed into the blood-colored hand. A heaven-shaking, earth-shattering boom rattled out with destructive force. The six major worlds withered.
Blood sprayed out of the Heir Apparent’s mouth. Princess Brightblossom’s armor shattered. Eighth Sib’s flesh was shredded. And Ninth Sib’s sword crumbled as blood oozed out of the corners of his mouth. But the blood that splattered everywhere then converged, fusing with the breath of the Imperial Sovereign and transforming into an enormous, illusory finger. Radiating a terrifying aura, it jabbed toward the huge hand.
When they collided, the red moon shook. The Moon Palace rocked back and forth. And the blood-colored hand stopped in place. Up above, even louder cracking sounds drifted out from the Mirror of Moonrebel. Then the mirror shattered, causing mirror shards to fall everywhere.
The destruction of the mirror affected the hand. It was shredded to bits by the falling fragments, and then those bits tumbled down and once again turned into a blood sea. The world of the Moon Palace was now filled with a host of mirror fragments. They floated everywhere, creating a very shocking sight.
The Heir Apparent and his siblings were running on fumes. Off in the distance, Zhang Siyun had two fingers jabbed into hīs neck, where they had latched onto the final thread. Hē started pulling it out.Seeing that, Ninth Sib inhaled deeply. Then his eyes glimmered with sharp light as frigid energy rose up around him. As he stood there with his back straight, he looked like a deadly sword. His gaze was locked onto Zhang Siyun as he slowly lifted his right hand and took control of the surrounding fragments of the Mirror of Moonrebel. They shifted, with each fragment tilting at a different angle to shine light onto Ninth Sib.
In the blink of an eye, every single fragment contained a reflection of him. Countless versions of Ninth Sib all raised their right hands. Suns, moons, stars, and heavenly bodies appeared everywhere. Threads of magical law floated around him. And on each of his shoulders was a major world.
Then those worlds started to burn. As fire raged over them, all the living beings within them lifted their hands. Within each of those hands was a sword. Their sword energy converged, filling the worlds, and filling Ninth Sib. Then it came together at his right hand, where it formed... a sword! The arrival of that sword caused wild colors to flash in heaven and earth.
And it wasn’t just Ninth Sib himself that was holding a sword. Thanks to the countless fragments of the Mirror of Moonrebel, there were many versions of himself that all held swords. And then all of them looked at Zhang Siyun.
Zhang Siyun paused with hīs fingers stuck into hīs neck. Also looking up, hē focused on Ninth Sib. When their gazes locked, Zhang Siyun waved hīs left hand. Yet again, the Moonlight Sea seethed, and a new blood-colored hand formed that shot toward Ninth Sib.
“Execute,” Ninth Sib said in a low voice.
It was one word. And the moment it left his mouth, the sword in his hand slashed down. At the same time, the swords in the hands of all the living beings in the major worlds also slashed down. So did the swords in the mirror fragments.
One sword could shock heaven. A myriad of swords could shock gods. In every single mirror fragment, sword light gleamed, sweeping forth to form an enormous, astonishing sword. Sword light flared with boundless power as it slashed toward Zhang Siyun.
Winds screamed. The world shook. The air shattered.
This was Ninth Sib’s strongest sword attack. Blessed by the power of the Mirror of Moonrebel, it became a violent, explosive force that slammed into the blood-colored hand.
Rumbling booms echoed out as the five fingers of the hand bent as if to grab the incoming sword. But then the hand lost control. The palm exploded, causing blood to rain down. The five fingers were vaporized, creating a blood mist that roiled out in all directions.
And yet, the power of the sword had not yet faded away. After destroying the hand, it continued onward with unstoppable momentum toward Zhang Siyun. Right before it hit, Zhang Siyun lunged backward, and the pāramitā lily beneath hīs feet rapidly bloomed to create a protective barrier.
Intense rumbling sounds swept out of the Moon Palace to fill the red moon. The gruish, blood-colored pāramitā lily was unable to stop the sword, and was ripped apart. At the same time, it managed to dispel the mightiness of the sword. When the sword light reached Zhang Siyun, hē shoved hīs left hand out in front of hīm.
As a result, Zhang Siyun shook from head to toe. Hīs clothing was ripped to shreds, and hīs hair whipped about hīm wildly. The air around hīm shattered as hē staggered backward, a huge wound opening up on hīs palm, out of which flew a drop of golden blood. After taking five steps backward, hē stopped moving and looked up.
“That’s a stunning sword move,” hē said softly. As everyone looked on, the sword light in front of hīm faded into nothing.
The gleam in the eyes of everyone present faded along with the sword light. From the look of it, talk of killing gods was little more than a joke.
After the words left Zhang Siyun’s mouth, hē pulled his right hand away from hīs neck, and there was a thread locked between hīs two fingers. That was the last thread within hīm. After extracting it, hē squeezed his fingers together, and the thread collapsed into ash. Zhang Siyun’s expression became calm again as hē looked at everyone. The shattered fragments of the pāramitā lily swept toward hīm and attached to hīs clothing like embroidery. Next, hē took a step forward.
No one could stop hīm from taking that step. The Heir Apparent and the siblings backed up, yet they weren’t able to escape.
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Siyun was in front of Fifth Sister. Hē thrust out his finger.
She looked at hīm bitterly. But then, the severely injured Eighth Sib chuckled harshly. All of his feelings collapsed, causing the power of the seven emotions and six sensory pleasures to sweep forth in a five-colored beam of light. It was a very gruish technique.
Even as Zhang Siyun’s finger moved through the air, Eighth Sib swapped positions with Fifth Sister. She vanished, and he appeared where she had been standing, glaring at Zhang Siyun. Zhang Siyun’s finger touched Eighth Sib’s forehead.
It was a light touch. But it caused Eighth Sib to shiver before exploding into a haze of blood.
Eighth Sib’s death infuriated the Heir Apparent and the other siblings. They wanted to interfere, but they couldn’t even touch Zhang Siyun. Next, Zhang Siyun blurred forward again, and a moment later, hē was once again standing in front of Fifth Sister.
“You have a god sealed in you in the future,” Zhang Siyun said softly, “and therefore, you can’t die in this irreversible situation. However... I am also a god.”
Once again, hīs finger swept through the air.
The Heir Apparent howled in rage. Princess Brightblossom’s face was a mask of sorrow. As for Ninth Sib, he reached up, touched his forehead, and from there, extracted his final life essence sword. Then, all three of them closed in on Zhang Siyun.
Zhang Siyun’s expression remained the same as ever as hīs head spun in place, turning around to look calmly at the three siblings.
“One. Two. Three.”
As the words left hīs mouth, a power of restraint swept out.
The Heir Apparent, Princess Brightblossom, and Ninth Sib all stopped in place and were unable to move.
Blood oozed out of the Ninth Sib’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth as he struggled to move forward. Nothing prevented Zhang Siyun from reaching out to touch Fifth Sister’s forehead with hīs finger.
But then, Zhang Siyun frowned, pulled hīs hand back, and fell back.
Fifth Sister blurred as a black cloak appeared around her. It was Emperor Ancient Spirit, who had been concealed up to this point.
Hē feared Crimson Mother, and thus had held back from doing anything. Even when Zhang Siyun was injured by Ninth Sib’s sword, hē cautiously remained invisible. But now hē chose to act. Hē had come to realize what Fifth Sister could do, and hē also knew why Zhang Siyun was intent on killing hēr. Therefore, hē had to interfere. It wasn’t because hē wanted to help the Heir Apparent and the others. Rather, hē really did want to devour Crimson Mother.
The eyes on the cloak opened, as did a huge mouth. And hē lunged toward Zhang Siyun to devour hīm. A cracking sound rang out as the mouth snapped down onto nothing.
However, things weren’t over yet; the black cloak swept forward. Ignoring Zhang Siyun’s godly might and personhood, it swept over hīm.
At the same time, Zhang Siyun’s line of sight was broken, freeing the Heir Apparent and the others from their restraints. With Ninth Sib in the lead, they attacked Zhang Siyun again.
A moment later, the Heir Apparent and Princess Brightblossom were tumbling backward. Bloody wounds crisscrossed Ninth Sib as he also fell back. As for Zhang Siyun....