Chapter 620: Purple Moon Transformed Divine Vault

The Green Sand Desert.

The wind, like sharp blades hidden in the void, shattered grains of sand, emitting piercing cries as it swept between Xu Qing and the Captain.

Xu Qing, who had lost consciousness and was consumed only by madness, howled from the distance. His speed was incredible, bringing him within ten zhang of the Captain in an instant.

As the words "Little Junior Brother" echoed, Xu Qing’s steps abruptly halted ten zhang away.

His eyes were blood-red and filled with chaos as he stared fixedly at the figure before him. The sight of this figure, however, caused a struggle to appear in his eyes, bringing him a moment of clarity.

The conflict between his humanity and divinity intensified immensely at that moment. Xu Qing’s body trembled; he recognized his Senior Brother, yet he couldn't control the hunger raging within him.

“Senior Brother…” Xu Qing’s voice was hoarse. The instant the words left his lips, the abyss created by the struggle between his humanity and divinity swallowed him whole. A painful wail escaped Xu Qing's mouth, and he spun around, rushing towards the distance!

He had, astonishingly, still managed to restrain himself from approaching his Senior Brother!

This sight deeply moved Chen Erniu.

He understood Xu Qing, and he understood the pain Xu Qing was enduring at that very moment. He knew well that to still choose restraint in such a state…

This not only demonstrated Xu Qing's remarkable fortitude but also how profoundly important Chen Erniu was to him.

A warmth rose in Chen Erniu's heart.

“Silly boy.”

He smiled and shook his head, then took a deep breath. The next instant, faces appeared within his eyes. The eyes of these faces opened, and their pupils, too, were still faces.

One face nested within another, infinitely. A blue light surged around the Captain as his body wavered, and he vanished in an instant.

When he reappeared, he was directly in front of Xu Qing.

Xu Qing's expression was contorted as Chen Erniu spoke softly.

“Little Junior Brother, if you’re hungry, eat.” He said, raising his hand and placing it before Xu Qing.

Xu Qing’s body trembled as he looked up, staring at his Senior Brother. The primal craving from his life instinct and the vortex of his humanity clashing with divinity erupted completely at this moment.

He abruptly opened his mouth wide and bit directly into the Captain’s arm.

Blood dripped as he swallowed the flesh.

As he ate, a sense of ease spread through Xu Qing's body, yet his heart was wracked with pain. He desperately wanted to control himself; he didn’t want this to happen.

But the enveloping abyss made it impossible for him to stop. His expression became distorted, increasingly frenzied, and whimpers escaped his lips.

It was the resistance of his humanity!

The Captain smiled and spoke softly.

“Little Ah Qing, don't be afraid.”

As he spoke, the Captain allowed Xu Qing to devour his left hand, while his right hand reached up to stroke Xu Qing’s hair, drawing him into an embrace.

“Eat, eat plenty. This was originally the old man’s responsibility, but since I’m your Senior Brother, I can do it.”

“Eat, eat your fill; we still have great things to do.”

Xu Qing’s body shuddered, and the struggle in his eyes intensified further. A terrifying thought arose deep within his mind.

He wanted… to completely devour this Senior Brother before him, leaving nothing behind, to consume him entirely.

More importantly, in the days leading up to this, since his humanity and divinity had merged, he had, for the first time, felt a craving beyond mere hunger.

It was a craving for blood!

He wanted to drain the Captain’s blood!

The emergence of this thought brought immense agony to Xu Qing’s heart.

He didn't want to!

His act of devouring abruptly ceased. Whimpering sounds escaped Xu Qing’s mouth, and a few breaths later, a torrent of purple light burst from his entire body, generating a colossal force that pushed the Captain’s body dozens of zhang away.

Gazing at the Captain’s arm, half-devoured by his own doing, Xu Qing’s eyes showed even greater struggle. He suddenly raised his right hand and plunged it directly into his mouth, pulling out the swallowed flesh piece by piece.

As for the parts he had swallowed into his stomach, Xu Qing unhesitatingly slit open his own belly, plunged his left hand inside, and retrieved the pieces one by one.

Blood sprayed, splattering and flowing across the ground.

What was bizarre was that the blood on the ground rolled like individual beads, and on each bead, Xu Qing’s contorted face eerily appeared.

As Xu Qing dug out the flesh he had consumed, a fierce struggle raged in his eyes. The clash between his humanity and divinity was more intense than ever before.

The Captain stood in the distance, watching Xu Qing with a pained expression, but he did not move.

He knew that only by awakening Xu Qing’s humanity could he truly overcome this sensation of touching divinity.

“When I was younger…” Memories long sealed away surfaced from the depths of the Captain’s mind, and a flicker of pain appeared in his eyes.

Moments later, as Xu Qing continued his actions, more and more blood appeared. Eventually, this blood outside his body spontaneously formed a totem.

From the sky, one could clearly see that the totem was a face.

The face covered its eyes, its expression pained, and its entire form was blood-red, as if continuously bleeding.

Its form resembled the Red Mother.

And its appearance was Xu Qing’s!

Yet in the very center of this totem, where Xu Qing was continuously extracting his own flesh and blood, his internal struggle remained fierce. He found that the urge to devour his Senior Brother had not vanished.

And his Senior Brother’s mutilated left arm caused his pain to erupt relentlessly.

Finally, a non-human roar tore from Xu Qing’s throat. He spun around and sprinted at full speed into the distance. He intended to seize this moment of surging humanity to escape, as he was barely able to suppress the urge to devour. The feeling of hunger was driving him insane, and he longed to flee to another place, to devour everything.

His vision blurred, his world twisted. Divinity was indifferently telling him that anything beneficial for evolution must be pursued.

And bestiality was a weapon, to be unleashed under the compulsion of divinity.

But his humanity repeatedly reminded him of the dignity and fundamental boundaries of being human.

Some things could not be done.

Some people could not be abandoned.

Some will, even in the face of death, must be upheld!

Xu Qing sped away rapidly.

As he departed, the face pattern formed by drops of blood on the ground rose up, howling behind him and emanating divine power.

The Captain silently watched Xu Qing’s retreating figure and began to follow.

Time passed, but Xu Qing’s sprint didn't cease. The Captain’s appearance had ignited the internal struggle within him, and in this fusion of humanity and divinity, his madness surpassed anything he had experienced before.

“Who am I… that’s not important.”

“No, that’s very important, I am Xu Qing!”

“My past, that’s not important anymore.”

“It is very important!”

“Those people met in life, are just food.”

“No!!”

Within Xu Qing’s mind, amidst the struggle and roars, two distinct consciousnesses gradually emerged: one indifferent, the other anguished.

The indifferent consciousness was divinity, embodied by the blood face behind Xu Qing.

The anguished consciousness was humanity, embodied by Xu Qing’s unwavering refusal to surrender.

During this process, his other nascent souls remained unchanged, but the power of the purple moon within him continued to erupt.

Unbeknownst to him, his Purple Moon Nascent Soul had reached the grand completion of three tribulations, yet the tribulation of fate surprisingly did not descend, allowing his Purple Moon Nascent Soul to continue ascending until it reached four tribulations and then the completion of four tribulations.

It continued still, reaching five tribulations!

It continued to erupt, reaching the grand completion of five tribulations! Without pausing, it broke through amidst a thunderous roar.

His Purple Moon Nascent Soul directly entered the level of 'Nurturing Dao'!

Outside Xu Qing’s body, amidst interweaving purple light, an illusory purple secret vault appeared, flickering in and out of existence.

Or rather, it wasn’t a secret vault; it was a divine vault, formed by the power of a deity!

At this moment, the sky paled, and the great desert churned.

As the Purple Moon’s power expanded, Xu Qing’s struggle began to wane, his humanity rapidly dimming. The sensation of hunger threatened to replace everything, and the craving for blood sought to overcome all else.

The blood-formed face behind him seemed to be smiling, an indifferent smile.

It was about to win.

But just then, something unexpected occurred!

Xu Qing’s steps abruptly halted. He stood there, gazing ten zhang ahead, as if countless goosebumps erupted all over his body, spreading continuously and turning into shivers.

His mind churned, an unprecedented turmoil.

It was as if the object existing ten zhang away had captivated all his thoughts and every shred of his awareness.

It was an iron box.

Inside the iron box, there was some blood-colored soil, and from the soil… a flower was blooming!

This was a plant that appeared unremarkable, except for the somewhat prominent serrated edges of its leaves. It had seventeen leaves in total, and in the center of each leaf was a strange symbol formed by threads.

The symbols resembled faces, some crying, some smiling.

Upon seeing this seemingly ordinary plant, Xu Qing's mind felt as if millions of thunderbolts were simultaneously shattering, surging through his entire body, his soul seemingly tearing apart.

Countless images and memories, from places he had deemed unimportant in his heart, rapidly surged forth, occupying his entire consciousness.

“The Heaven’s Will Flower, also known as the Life-Continuing Flame or Divine Spirit Grass, is an anomalous variation of divine plant replicas. Seventy-three types of such variations are recorded, but only the first type can be used as medicine. It can grow in any area within the forbidden zone without a regular pattern and is rare in quantity.”

“Its efficacy includes limb regeneration, rekindling a flickering life, and healing all injuries except those to the divine soul.”

Xu Qing tremblingly walked over and knelt before the plant, raising his hand to gently stroke it.

“The Heaven’s Will Flower…” He had searched for years but had never found it—the Heaven’s Will Flower that could have extended Captain Lei’s life back then.

“Captain Lei…”

Tears streamed from Xu Qing’s eyes, tracing paths down his cheeks, and dropped onto the sandy ground, spreading like ink.

These were the tears of his humanity.

The blood-red face behind him collapsed with a roar at that moment, transforming into countless drops of blood that surged into Xu Qing’s body through his wounds.

In the distance, the Captain stood silently, watching it all. His tightly clenched heart finally eased, and a smile appeared on his face.

Beside him, the Prince appeared silently.

“I believe it now; your master is truly extraordinary,” the Prince said softly, looking at Xu Qing in the distance.

“Either he is the reincarnation of a powerhouse from my era, or he is one of the most astonishing individuals of this later age since the Ancient Emperor departed.”

“The old man is just average and can’t compare to you, Senior. If you were to take disciples, I’d be the first to sign up,” the Captain said, his demeanor reverting to fawning and ingratiating.

The Prince glanced at the Captain’s expression; he didn’t believe a word the man said.

“I’m just curious about one thing: did you and Xu Qing actively seek out your master, or did your master actively seek you out?”