Chapter 650: Little Totem Under the Great Totem

Inside the Inverse Moon Palace, the initial shock and commotion caused by the light emanating from the Supreme Temple gradually subsided as time passed and the grand gate remained firmly shut.

Their anticipation gradually turned to disappointment. Even the light from the Supreme Temple began to fade, leaving only a faint shimmer. A sense of regret permeated the entire area.

"Within the Inverse Moon Palace, a peculiar legend is quietly circulated."

"It is said that the Red Moon Mother once personally cursed the Inverse Moon Palace's predecessor, ensuring it would never have a new master."

"Consequently, throughout history, the Supreme Temple's light has flashed and it has trembled on numerous occasions, yet its gate has never opened."

The two Vice Temple Lords hovering in mid-air sighed softly.

"This fellow Daoist has cleared the first trial, but like the First Vice Temple Lord, Old Four, and myself, he has failed the second, unable to push open the gate."

"It appears we'll have another companion. Gaining an additional Vice Temple Lord at this time is indeed beneficial for us."

As the two Vice Temple Lords exchanged telepathic messages, the cultivators throughout the Inverse Moon Palace also murmured sighs among themselves.

While the emergence of a new Vice Temple Lord was undoubtedly a great encouragement, the tremor of the Supreme Temple at that precise moment had offered everyone a glimmer of hope.

Especially amidst the ongoing war, this hope made many cultivators of the Inverse Moon Palace yearn for the arrival of a true Palace Lord.

They desperately needed a Palace Lord of such stature to lead them, to ignite their brilliant life flames and burn through everything in these final moments.

This profound hope, however, had now dissolved into disappointment and regret, plunging the Inverse Moon Palace into silence.

Meanwhile, within the Supreme Temple, high above the Inverse Moon Palace's sky, Xu Qing opened his eyes.

This temple was considerably larger than typical shrines, grand and magnificent. Nine colossal pillars supported its vast dome.

Remarkably, the interior walls reflected the mountainous terrain of the Inverse Moon Palace.

Additionally, the temple walls were adorned with numerous mystical totems. Some depicted runes, others animal forms, and some even human silhouettes.

Each wall now emanated an awe-inspiring pressure. At the very top of the grand hall, an altar was situated, upon which a massive shrine had been erected, prominently featuring a towering divine statue.

This statue was markedly different from those in external temples; it lacked intricate embellishments, instead depicting a human figure: Dominator Li Zihua himself.

At this moment, the statue's eyes were open, and the divine radiance within them belonged to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing surveyed his surroundings, recalling the events that had just transpired.

He remembered entering through a narrow crack in a stone gate; the moment light flooded his perception, he opened his eyes to find himself in this very place.

Xu Qing looked up at the mirrored surface on the highest dome of the temple, observing the reflection of the outside world and sensing the palpable regret and disappointment among the cultivators in the Inverse Moon Palace below.

He recalled looking up at the Supreme Temple, floating above the nine divine temples, when he first arrived at the Inverse Moon Palace.

After a pause, Xu Qing lowered his gaze and looked towards the distant temple. "Why did the white-robed elder, the Inverse Moon Palace's artifact spirit, mention a second trial and point to this very gate?"

Xu Qing pondered for a moment, then stepped forward. With a rumbling sound, the Dominator Li Zihua statue he inhabited descended from the altar and approached the grand gate.

Standing before it, Xu Qing squinted his eyes, observing for a moment before raising his hand and pushing outwards with all his might. The gate, however, remained absolutely motionless, as if completely locked and unyielding. Not even a faint sound escaped it.

Xu Qing frowned. He channeled his cultivation, exerting his full power to forcefully push, but it remained entirely futile.

The gate didn't even tremor.

Xu Qing raised a hand, deliberating briefly. His eyes instantly turned pitch black as the power of the Poison Ban flowed from his gaze onto the gate. Inside him, the Purple Moon surged, his Divine Treasury pulsed, and a copious amount of blood diffused from his body, forming a crimson vortex around him. Even as this power bore down upon the gate, it remained utterly still, without even a tremor. At that moment, Xu Qing's gaze suddenly changed, and he swiftly retreated.

The instant he retreated, a red light abruptly flared across the gate, and a vast totem, as immense as the door itself, materialized.

This totem strikingly depicted a figure with hands covering its eyes, blood flowing from its body.

It appeared malevolent, yet somehow conveyed a pervasive sense of divinity.

It was unmistakably the Red Mother.

Xu Qing's mind reeled, and his inner Purple Moon fluctuated intensely. He sensed the aura of the Red Mother, as if the totem had been personally drawn by her.

"The gate of the Inverse Moon Palace's Supreme Temple actually bears the Red Mother's mark."

Xu Qing felt something was amiss with this "second trial." It resembled less a test and more a seal imposed by the Red Mother on the Inverse Moon Palace.

"Therefore, there isn't actually a second trial. The true Palace Lord of the Inverse Moon Palace should have emerged much earlier, but all previous candidates who passed the initial assessment were halted here."

"If one cannot break the Red Mother's seal, the gate cannot be opened, making it impossible to become the Inverse Moon Palace Lord." Xu Qing's thoughts swirled, and with this realization, he returned to the gate to observe it meticulously, carefully releasing his Purple Moon power as he did so.

Unfortunately, the gate was extremely sensitive to his Purple Moon power, reacting with violent fluctuations the moment it was unleashed.

Eventually, Xu Qing simply retracted his Purple Moon power. Instead, with his eyes now pitch black, he let the Poison Ban permeate the area to sense its properties.

As his understanding deepened, his expression shifted from curiosity to solemnity. What made him solemn was his realization, through the Poison Ban, that all the temples on the mountains outside were continuously emitting invisible auras. Unnoticed by anyone else, these auras were being absorbed by the totem. Xu Qing couldn't yet determine their exact nature.

What sparked his curiosity, however, was detecting another small, blurry, and elusive totem in the lower right corner of the colossal one. Had Xu Qing's Poison Ban not spread throughout the entire area, and had the Purple Moon power not caused the Red Mother totem to fluctuate, he would have found it nearly impossible to detect.

The appearance of this smaller totem was precisely what caused Xu Qing's peculiar expression.

It startlingly resembled the Captain's face. When Xu Qing discovered it, it was secretly gnawing at the totem. Though each bite was minuscule, its speed was frantic, like a rabid dog.

Yet, after each bite, the totem would instantly restore itself.

"Senior Brother..."

Xu Qing pondered, then attempted to communicate with the small totem, sending out a ripple of thought.

The instant the ripple reached it, the small totem, which had been frantically gnawing, suddenly trembled, then jerked its head up, its eyes gleaming with wild joy, and it responded swiftly.

"Little A Qing!"

"I've finally been waiting for you! I knew you'd appear." Sensing Xu Qing, the Captain became excited. He struggled rapidly, his entire body glowing with blue light, and eventually materialized from the lower right corner of the gate.

Xu Qing also looked at his Senior Brother.

"You... how are you here?"

The Captain chuckled triumphantly.

"Well, are you surprised?"

"This is the plan I mentioned to you earlier. It was an excellent plan: after entering the trial grounds, I provoked the artifact spirit into turning me into an ice sculpture and sinking me deep into the lake."

"This way, I could use the methods I left behind here years ago to bypass all trials, appearing directly inside this gate. Then, by pushing the door open, I would gain authority over the Inverse Moon Palace and inversely become its Lord."

"Once successful, I could leverage the Inverse Moon Palace's power to locate all the fragmented body parts of my previous life, which is crucial for finally eliminating the Red Mother."

Hearing this, Xu Qing glanced at the small totem that was the Captain, then at the massive Red Mother totem, and sighed.

"And the outcome?"

The Captain looked a little embarrassed, then grew indignant.

"Little A Qing, I was too careless this time. I never expected the Red Mother to be so cunning. I knew she had seals in the Inverse Moon Palace, but that old hag actually added several more seals during the interregnum when my previous life fell and reincarnated into other domains!"

"Honestly, junior brother, do you know? One of the seals was even bite-proof! I had no choice but to gnaw slowly. Originally, I could have bitten through it quickly and become the Inverse Moon Lord, but now it'll take a bit longer. Luckily, I have a backup plan."

"Now that you're here, our hopes are even greater. We brothers can coordinate our efforts, working from the inside and outside to consume this Red Mother's seal! Then, both of us will be Inverse Moon Palace Lords."

Xu Qing nodded at this. He didn't have much interest in becoming the Inverse Moon Palace Lord, but since his Senior Brother needed his help, he fell into thought, devising a plan of action.

"Senior Brother, I've detected that this Red Mother totem is absorbing external power. This must be the energy source that sustains its existence."

The Captain chuckled.

"That's precisely part of my backup plan. It's the 'fire of hope' born from belief. Every cultivator who has ever entered the Inverse Moon Palace holds hope in their hearts, and based on my past life's research, this is precisely what the Red Mother desires."

"In fact, I've always suspected that the Inverse Moon Palace's continued existence is somehow linked to the Red Mother's deliberate allowance."

"However, the Red Mother is currently dormant. This 'fire of hope' can only be claimed once she awakens. And fire... it possesses a dual nature: it can provide warmth, yet also incinerate. This is precisely why I waited until after the performance in the Great Domain of the Moon Sacrifice to come here. We need to make this fire burn even more intensely, then we'll add some accelerant to truly unleash its power, burning away the Red Mother's seal. Combined with my gnawing, success is assured!"

"Right now, Little A Qing, what we lack is the 'accelerant.' If my calculations aren't mistaken, it should appear this month."