Chapter 670

The Inverse Moon Palace roared like never before!

Atop the highest hall, situated mid-air, its gate blazed with a blinding crimson light. This radiance enveloped the entire Inverse Moon Palace mountain, making it appear, from a distance, as if the whole world were draped in a shroud of blood.

Although the red glow from the gate was ostensibly a single color, anyone present to witness it firsthand would inevitably perceive an illusion of two distinct hues. This was because two wills were contending for the same authority: the authority of the Red Moon.

The Red Moon, one of the ancient thirty-seven moons of the Wanggu Continent, inherently possessed mystery and was the subject of countless legends throughout history. Even after the arrival of the Remnant Face, twenty-five of the ancient thirty-seven moons fell, leaving only twelve. Yet, the Red Moon was one of these twelve, ranked seventh! In ancient times, it had multiple names—Firefly Moon, Blood Moon—but now it was known as the Red Moon.

The Akamother parasitized the Red Moon, constantly devouring its authority, seeking to replace it. It wished to be known not as the Red Moon's Akamother, but as the Akamother of the Red Moon—Akamother first, Red Moon second.

The gate's crimson light blazed furiously. Within it, Xu Qing's will had been replaced by divinity. At this moment, his humanity had faded, and only his bestial nature, empowered by divinity, transcendentally consumed the Akamother's phantom.

The Captain, unlike Xu Qing, was in an exceedingly bizarre state. As blue light shimmered around him, he seemed devoid of divinity, humanity, or even a clear bestial nature; all were muddled. The divine, human, and bestial forms were intertwined in his will, merging indistinguishably to create a unique, special state.

Under their consumption, the Akamother's phantom glowed crimson, its light fluctuating violently. Its hands, which had covered its eyes, seemed on the verge of lowering, and its body began to overlap. With each additional layer of overlap, the sanguine light intensified, increasing the pressure on both Xu Qing and the Captain.

Ultimately, the Akamother was asleep, and the phantom here was merely a divine thought, theoretically similar to the mark Xu Qing left on the Pillar of Primordial Gloom. The difference was that the original mark came from its apostle, whereas this one originated directly from the Akamother itself, hence its greater power. A pure cultivator would find it difficult to resist, requiring extremely high cultivation to suppress it by sheer force.

However, Xu Qing and the Captain were not pure cultivators. From the moment he touched the divine, Xu Qing had become a divine cultivator! As for the Captain, he inherently embodied strangeness, so he was naturally not a pure cultivator either.

Thus, in an instant, their wills crashed upon the Akamother's phantom. Xu Qing, transformed into a sea of blood, ravenously and hungrily devoured and assimilated the Red Moon's authority. The Captain, under the blue light, became a blue worm that latched onto the Akamother's phantom's glabella, opening its mouth wide and biting fiercely.

But the Akamother was, after all, a deity. Its overlapping intent surged rapidly, multiplying by hundreds or even thousands of layers in the blink of an eye, causing the phantom itself to solidify quickly. This overlapping also triggered an outburst of divine power. Xu Qing's sea of blood collapsed and receded, and the Captain's worm fragmented. Yet, in an instant, the shattered sea of blood reformed, transforming into Xu Qing's emotionless face, which continued its consumption.

With each gulp, his Red Moon authority grew stronger. Their shared origin allowed Xu Qing to disregard the collapses, but this consumption was mutual; he could also be assimilated by the Akamother. If Xu Qing had been alone this time, he likely wouldn't have been able to reverse it. But with Second Bull present!

Second Bull's fragmented worm... each piece of flesh rapidly transformed into an individual, forming new worms. Hundreds of them shrieked as they frantically charged again. Second Bull's biting caused blue light to merge with the Akamother's phantom, disrupting the Akamother's attempts to assimilate Xu Qing. This allowed Xu Qing to devour more smoothly, while his act of consumption also dispersed the Akamother phantom's power, making things easier for the Captain. Their cooperation was flawless; it would have been difficult to achieve such perfection without either one.

In this manner, the overlapping shadow on the Akamother continuously dissipated, and its own state gradually blurred. It was on the verge of being completely erased by Xu Qing and Second Bull.

Just then, a violent fluctuation erupted from the Akamother's phantom. Its hands, which had covered its eyes, for the first time... lowered. The moment they lowered, time seemed to halt, space appeared to shift, stars turned, and divine might spread in all directions. A face of exquisite beauty entered Xu Qing and the Captain's perception, yet this face had no eyes, only two bleeding hollows.

It looked at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing's sea of blood instantly exploded. A tremendous suction emanated from those two hollows, uncontrollably drawing in Xu Qing's fragmented sea of blood. In an instant, it was sucked into the hollows, vanishing as if devoured. Meanwhile, the Captain's worm also rapidly recoiled. But the Akamother phantom's right hand rose, seized one of the worms, and crushed it forcefully. With a crash, this worm disintegrated, and under the power of causality, it affected the other worms. For a moment, all the worms shattered.

Everything seemed to end.

After seemingly dealing with Xu Qing and Second Bull, the Akamother phantom slowly covered its eyes again. But the very next instant, an anomaly suddenly occurred. A large amount of blood suddenly erupted from its body, and its face rapidly changed, astonishingly taking on Xu Qing's appearance. While Xu Qing's authority naturally couldn't contend with the Akamother's main body or an avatar, he could struggle against a mere divine thought.

The same was true for the Captain. Although all his worms had shattered, their flesh did not dissipate; it now converged to form a single hand. This hand was withered and decayed, wrapped in sealing strips, as if reaching out from the Nine Nether Purgatory. Upon closer inspection, countless specter hands formed by departed souls could be seen wrapped around it, pulling as if to prevent its appearance, trying to drag it back. But this withered hand ignored everything and pointed directly at the Akamother's glabella. Its dark fingernail touched the Akamother's glabella.

With a rumble, the Akamother trembled, beginning to decay. It tried to counteract this, but at that moment, Xu Qing, from within its body, erupted again, seizing and devouring from the inside. The Akamother's phantom shook violently. Under this internal and external suppression, it seemed to reach its limit. After several breaths, its body blurred, and finally, with a crash, it collapsed and disintegrated.

The Akamother's phantom shattered into pieces, transforming into a stream of golden blood that began to dissipate. Xu Qing's sea of blood rapidly separated from within, reforming into his own face. The power of the Red Moon's authority fluctuated with intense instability, clearly having surged far beyond Xu Qing's control. Second Bull's withered hand also dissipated at this moment, leaving only a convergence of blue light that formed into a worm, revealing its own face, radiating intense madness.

The stream of blood formed after the Akamother's collapse now rapidly converged into a single bloody eye as it dissipated. It suddenly opened, and a divine thought echoed: "Crimson Curse, Cursed Paper, Soul Prolongation, Life Fusion." The moment these four phrases, eight characters, were uttered, the bloody eye closed and vanished.

At this moment, the gate of the highest hall no longer bore any Akamother totems. Xu Qing and Second Bull had succeeded.

However... a chilling wind arose from nowhere, carrying an unavoidable karmic force that descended directly, falling upon Xu Qing and the Captain's senses within the gate. Xu Qing's will trembled, his sea of blood collapsed, and his consciousness was directly blasted out of the gate by this strange force. After returning to his body, he spat out a large mouthful of blood. In an instant, his body astonishingly turned crimson and transformed into paper. His flesh within did the same; his entire being visibly became a paper man. Even his soul could not escape, and his fate was altered.

The Captain's worm body suffered the same fate. Under this strange power, it continuously disintegrated, eventually forming a small totem, then rapidly turning into paper. The face within showed grave concern. "Junior brother, this is the Curse of Divine Abhorrence, a deity's curse!" he exclaimed. "Hold on for a bit. I'll figure out how to resolve it for myself, then help you. This thing is extremely tricky and ferociously powerful!" As the Captain spoke, his totem blazed with blue light, forming a vortex that resisted with full force. From within the vortex came wails and howls, as if countless beings roared inside. Each roar shook the mind, containing terrifying power.

Xu Qing's eyes gleamed with cold light. The curse was indeed ferocious; in just a few breaths, half his body had turned to paper. The crimson paper was incredibly bizarre, even ignoring Xu Qing's own Red Moon authority. Even when Xu Qing activated his Poison Ban, it was useless. It seemed this curse didn't rely on status but on a law of causality: touch it, and you die.

However, there were some benefits for Xu Qing: his divine fluctuations were suppressed by the curse, his humanity began to return, and balance was restored. Yet, the return of humanity couldn't halt the spread of the curse's power. Xu Qing clearly felt his body changing, his soul dimming, an endless chill enveloping his entire being, and an uncontrollable sense of death spreading through his consciousness. Following this trend, Xu Qing understood that in less than a hundred breaths, he would likely be completely paperized, becoming a red paper effigy.

"This curse... might not be unbreakable."

In this moment of crisis, Xu Qing closed his eyes. Ding Yi San Er surged within him, and the Intent of Oblivion he had comprehended spread out, enveloping his body, the highest hall, and even the Captain's totem on the gate.

"Huh?" The Captain, who was fully engaged in dispelling the curse, paused, then his expression turned blank.

Oblivion can sever all causality. The curse itself was part of causality. Therefore, by permanently erasing the memory of this cursed period from one's body and soul, all causality would be severed. This was the confrontation between Intent and divine power! And Intent, in the era of the Profound Nether Ancient Emperor on the Wanggu Continent, was considered the way to contend with deities.

Time passed.

Two incense sticks later, Xu Qing, sitting cross-legged by the gate, opened his eyes, a blank look on his face. "What just happened?"

On the gate, Second Bull's totem revealed his face, equally blank, looking at Xu Qing. "Right, what just happened? Strange, I seem to have forgotten something. No, I need to think hard..."