Chapter 510: Red Moon Red Mother

Konzianglong silently accepted the storage bag and left the Sword Pavilion.

Outside, the sky was already dimly lit. After watching Konzianglong walk away, Xu Qing stood there, gazing at the sky and land, his mind filled with all the memories of the wish box from that past task. "Osmanthus scent," Xu Qing murmured. He had examined the wish box at the time and remembered a faint scent of osmanthus emanating from it.

Distant thunder rumbled in the sky. It was the rainy season in the Prefecture Capital, and soon, a drizzling rain began to fall across the land in the early morning. The morning light, obscured by the curtain of rain, became somewhat dim, making early risers momentarily confused about the passage of time, as if dusk were approaching before noon had even passed.

Xu Qing returned to the Sword Pavilion, sat down cross-legged, and slowly calmed himself to continue meditating. His cultivation was nearing the peak of the Heavenly Palace Golden Core stage, needing only one more Heavenly Palace to achieve perfection. This particular Heavenly Palace, after his experiences on the battlefield, was also nearing completion, almost 99% materialized. "The suppression item for this Heavenly Palace..." It was conceivable that the divine being within it was not particularly astonishing. "If there are no other options," Xu Qing pondered, sensing his Emperor's Sword, "then the Emperor's Sword will serve as the suppression item."

For the past half month, Xu Qing seemed to have been forgotten. He did not leave the Sword Pavilion, nor did many people come looking for him.

With the Seventh Prince's arrival in the Prefecture Capital, everything had changed. His subordinates not only established themselves there but also spread to the Sword-Wielding Courts in various prefectures of Zhang Siyun. At the same time, due to his rescue of Jinglan Tian, countless human cultivators rejoiced. The eight major palaces were also reorganized. Under the First Prince's arrangement, eight commanders acted as palace masters, becoming affiliates of the main army. The Sword-Wielding Palace took over various departments, and the other two palaces did the same. From then on, throughout Zhang Siyun, there was only one voice: that of the First Prince. The identity of the Sword Wielders was ultimately retained. Additionally, the First Prince's announcement to all sects in Jinglan Tian was issued within that half month, clearly stating that all sects were required to serve in the military, and the authority over each sect's forbidden magical artifacts would not be returned.

On the streets, battle cultivators from the Imperial Capital visibly increased, accompanied by increasingly militarized control and visits from various clans of Jinglan Tian. Behind him, several unfamiliar faces followed, seemingly monitoring his every move. Discipline was exceptionally strict; many who violated military regulations were executed within half a month. The ancient emperor watched them expressionlessly, but a colossal wave raged in his heart. Although the white robes of the Sword Wielders inherently possessed elegance, the person wearing them was haggard, with bloodshot eyes, appearing utterly dishevelled. This was because the ancient emperor saw Konzianglong.

The first batch of prisoners were indeed women and children from the Yao family. Although there was a strong internal call for their execution, Fenghai County did not act, choosing to adopt the ancient emperor's suggestion instead. Among them, Konzianglong, despite Steward Sinan's guarantee, could not escape investigation. Ultimately, he chose to testify against and expose his maternal clan. That action was not considered to be in favor of humanity, so he escaped this tribulation and was not held responsible with the Yao family; after all, his surname was not Yao. As for the internal clans, they trembled in fear but could not escape the purge. They were ordered to hand over half of their clan's resources and join the allied forces to fight for humanity. Konzianglong walked silently on the street. He saw Jinglan. If it had been before, he would have been filled with hatred, but now he merely glanced, then bitterly lowered his head and quickly walked away.

Within Jinglan Tian, as it was Jinglan Xuan You's first stop after arriving from the sea, there existed a special area. In Xu Qing Xuan You's era, this area, known as one of the eighty-eight traveling palaces, was a royal domain and also housed many exotic beasts for hunting. Each Immortal Realm was a world unto itself. In the past, they not only contained rare treasures but also held a strong concentration of immortal energy, a higher-level essence than spiritual energy. However, its breath, emitted from its sleeve, polluted the entire Immortal Realm, filling it with death and making it a forbidden zone for life. Thus, it came to be called the Immortal Forbidden Zone.

Long ago, powerful individuals from the Imperial Capital's Great Domain tried to obtain divine source within this zone. Although their attempts did not fully awaken the divine being, the power emanating from its slumber transformed into a clone. This clone was astonishingly powerful; back then, even with the combined power of humanity and the suppression of the National Teacher, it could only be dismembered and sealed, not destroyed. That clone almost brought a devastating catastrophe upon Jinglan Tian. It could not be taken away, so it was ultimately sealed there. The Prefecture Capital was moved to suppress it, and the Immortal Forbidden Zone's entrance was used to construct the now famous Prison Department of Zhang Siyun. Humanity had only opened the Immortal Forbidden Zone once before ancient times.

Now, after many years, the news of the Immortal Forbidden Zone's reopening stirred countless hearts. Even before that, there had been scattered rumors about this matter, but in reality, both the Prefect and the Vice-Prefect disagreed with it, and the Palace Master of the Sword-Wielding Palace was also in a hesitant phase. However, upon the release of this decree, Zhang Siyun was even more shaken, especially the Prefecture Capital, where the impact was increasingly strong. Although this matter caused some ripples, under the general trend, no one could stop it. However, due to trust in the First Prince and his formidable military strength, the unrest was quickly appeased, and preparations for opening the Immortal Forbidden Zone steadily progressed.

The ancient emperor did not know much about the Immortal Forbidden Zone, but having once been a guard in the Prison Department, he knew a bit more than others. He wanted to know more about the Immortal Forbidden Zone because he felt that opening it during wartime was somewhat amiss. But imperial decrees were hard to defy, so Zhang Siyun could only delay the opening time. Fenghai County had also discussed this with the ancient emperor, their tone rather straightforward.

The Prison Department also began its reconstruction work under the leadership of Fenghai County. Countless imperial capital soldiers continuously cleared the former Prison Department's grounds, digging persistently there, opening ancient seals, and, with the forbidden magical artifacts of the Prefecture Capital, paving a path to the Immortal Forbidden Zone. Within it, divine beings lay dormant.

Time flowed by, and soon half a month had passed. The Immortal Forbidden Zone was about to open. The ancient emperor, along with Jinglan Tian, the captain, and most of the original Sword Wielders from Zhang Siyun's Sword-Wielding Palace, were on the list of the first group to enter the Immortal Forbidden Zone. The first group to enter were the Sword Wielders; they were to complete specific tasks inside to lay the groundwork for subsequent groups.

The source of the massive disturbance was the low growl of the divine finger echoing within his mind. However, the divine finger rarely awoke from its deep slumber. The ancient emperor's calls could not rouse it. So, after buying some pills, as he hesitated whether to stimulate it with the Purple Moon, the divine finger unexpectedly trembled and woke up on its own. The ancient emperor's breathing quickened slightly, but he remained rational. He found that the divine finger, now awake, was surprisingly clear-headed, unlike its previous chaotic state. Especially before his Heavenly Palace transformed into Ding Yibaqi, he was very vague... The finger within the Heavenly Palace, its true form, was the clone that had formed from the divine aura emanating from the Immortal Forbidden Zone back then.

As the divine finger roared, a subtle divine consciousness emanated from it. Using the ancient emperor's perspective to observe its surroundings, upon noticing that the former Prison Department was being excavated, it suddenly trembled violently and cried out in alarm. "What are you humans doing? This is the Supreme Mother of Scarlet!" The divine finger's loud roars carried intense tension, seemingly more panicked than the ancient emperor himself. "Scarlet Mother's parasitic form, that's a Red Moon clone!" "Soon, soon, it's about to wake up... Hmm, something's wrong... It has your human race's formations on it, kid, you humans are actually actively helping the Red Moon Scarlet Mother possess that body!" The divine finger screamed. "In a month at most, the Scarlet Mother will definitely awaken within it! And it's still about to awaken, hurry and run!"

"What are you humans doing? This is an Immortal Realm; it's about to be opened! The Scarlet Mother's clone, opening the Immortal Realm, appearing simultaneously... Are you humans trying to feed the Scarlet Mother its true form?!" Clearly, there were also hierarchies among divine beings. The Red Moon was clearly stronger than the divine beings of the Immortal Forbidden Zone! Despite this, Jinglan, from the reaction of the divine finger when it saw his Purple Moon origin during the initial sealing, knew that it greatly feared the Red Moon.

Even a slight accident could lead to a catastrophe in Zhang Siyun, causing widespread suffering and turning all beings into divine fodder. Thus, the ancient emperor suppressed his agitation regarding Konzianglong, trying his best to send out an intense divine thought. People were panicking.

As Xu Qing Jinglan and a host of emperors and rulers from various races departed, the eighty-eight traveling palaces became desolate. Many were abandoned, and some, with the loss of a human territory, became foreign lands. The one traveling palace in Jinglan Tian, which was an Immortal Realm, was the same.