Chapter 698: Stubborn Presence

The Moonlight Sea exploded.

Blood from the sea surface shot out to both sides, forming two walls of water. In the center, a straight, sunken trail of water was left, deep enough to see the bottom!

A white nail, radiating the shadows of six worlds, could not be stopped in the slightest, even by divine projections in its path.

It pierced straight through with unstoppable force.

Amidst a thunderous roar, three divine projections shattered into countless pieces.

The next instant, the nail appeared before Zhang Siyun.

Its momentum was immense, its pressure astonishing, as it swiftly descended towards his brow.

It was about to make contact, but Zhang Siyun, being a Red Mother's clone, possessed a level of life beyond comprehension. His right hand seemingly lifted slowly, yet it instantly appeared beside the nail. With two fingers, he gently clamped down on it.

As he clamped down, Zhang Siyun's fingers, arm, and body remained still, but his robes flapped violently as if swept by a gale.

His long red hair also swept back forcefully, shaking the void behind him until it fractured, tearing into numerous cracks.

"Not bad," Zhang Siyun said.

Zhang Siyun's expression returned to calmness as he spoke softly. His right hand was about to wave, intending to strike the nail back, but just then... something unexpected happened!

Although the white nail was held, its transformations were by no means limited to a simple charge. Its color changed from white to azure, and then it surprisingly melted.

It transformed into tens of thousands of azure threads, escaping from between Zhang Siyun's fingers and darting towards his face with astonishing speed.

Each of these threads was comparable to a magic artifact, emitting a terrifying aura. Their sharpness surpassed imagination, and given their extreme proximity to Zhang Siyun, they touched his face in an instant.

Zhang Siyun frowned and exhaled.

The breath was blood-colored, like mist, and collided with the threads.

As rumbling sounds erupted, the threads formed from the nail rapidly disintegrated. However, four of them were different from the others.

Hidden among the many threads, they pierced through the blood mist and landed on Zhang Siyun's face!

Zhang Siyun's body blurred for an instant as he tried to evade, but these four threads, empowered by the Crown Prince and others, possessed an irreversible quality.

Thus, in an instant, these four threads broke through Zhang Siyun's skin and burrowed inside.

Although no blood flowed from Zhang Siyun's face, these four threads wriggled like nematodes within his flesh, frantically drilling deeper into his body.

As they burrowed, they continuously released the divine abilities of the Crown Prince and others, causing decay and destruction along their path.

Even though Zhang Siyun was a Red Mother's clone, this body still originated from the mundane world. Despite being modified, its essence remained, and so, in the blink of an eye, Zhang Siyun's entire body twisted as if on the verge of collapse.

Yet, his eyes remained calm, as if he showed no emotional reaction to such pain. He merely rose from his cross-legged position and stepped back.

As he retreated, he raised a hand to slit his own neck, extending two fingers into the wound to pull out the threads from his body. Simultaneously, he lightly waved his left hand towards the Moonlight Sea beneath his feet.

Immediately, on the Moonlight Sea, the remaining thirty-four divine projections, who had been meditating with closed eyes, suddenly opened them, looking towards the great gate. Their respective auras surged and erupted.

The fluctuations from the thirty-four deities filled the heavens and earth around the Moonlight Sea with tearing power, as if all creation there would be annihilated, body and soul.

However, it couldn't stop the Crown Prince and the others. Their figures instantly charged into the Moon Palace gate, rushing towards the divine projections and launching their attacks.

The Crown Prince revealed his true form, even condensing a grand world into a single massive eye that gazed at Zhang Siyun.

This eye was not a divine eye, but it had similar effects: anything it looked upon would be distorted, perceptions would be altered, and thoughts would be influenced.

Even these divine projections were affected in the same way.

After all, they were already dead, merely projections.

Princess Mingmei was equally terrifying. A long spear appeared in her hand, battle armor materialized on her body, and she strode upon time itself, radiating astonishing killing intent.

Old Eight let out a low roar, his voice like a pounding war drum, forming a phantom shadow akin to a celestial demon. It burrowed into the divine projections, transforming into human nature to subvert their divinity.

As for Old Nine, he quietly stepped forth, his sword radiating a cold, sharp light. With each swing, the heavens and earth changed color, and everything was severed.

However, there were too many divine projections here, and in this short time, Zhang Siyun's fingers had already pulled out one thread and were searching for the second.

It wouldn't be long before all four threads were extracted.

Witnessing this, Xu Qing and the Captain, who were about to fly into the great gate, paused.

It wasn't that they didn't want to enter, but the gate was filled with terrifying power, and their cultivation levels couldn't withstand it.

The Captain felt a bit awkward.

"Little Ah Qing, do you feel like this whole thing... has nothing to do with us anymore? Our presence doesn't seem to make a difference."

Xu Qing was silent, then nodded.

"But we were the ones who instigated all of this! We're the source; everything should be under my control. Without us, they wouldn't even be here," the Captain grumbled, feeling a bit unwilling.

"This won't do!"

The Captain gritted his teeth, especially after the embarrassing incident of being rejected when calling upon a deity. Feeling somewhat humiliated, he let out a cold snort, preparing to do something to prove his usefulness.

Thinking of this, he took out two Suns of Dawn, giving one to Xu Qing.

Holding the other, he turned to Xu Qing and spoke.

"You throw one too, to show we're here!"

Having said that, the Captain suddenly threw his from outside the gate, then immediately ducked behind it.

The Sun of Dawn whistled away, and in mid-air, with a shout from the Captain outside the gate, it violently exploded. Terrifying fluctuations swept in all directions, and dazzling light enveloped the area.

Under this light, the divine projections blurred somewhat, but quickly became clear again.

Seeing that it had little effect, the Captain raised an eyebrow, just about to tell Xu Qing to throw his, when Xu Qing stared at the projections rapidly clarifying from their blur.

These projections were entirely black. Xu Qing hadn't made much of a connection before, but now, seeing them blur under the explosion of the Sun of Dawn, this scene made him thoughtful. He suddenly spoke.

"Senior Brother, wait a moment."

As he spoke, blood rose from Xu Qing's body. Although he couldn't enter the Moon Palace gate, his authority could.

At this moment, he manipulated the blood outside his body to spread inwards through the gate, merging with the Moonlight Sea within.

Instantly, a small area of the sea rippled and continued to spread. However, this disturbance had little impact on the battle.

But Xu Qing's goal was not to directly attack.

He controlled his blood, spreading the power of his authority across the Moonlight Sea as much as he could, even as the constant exertion thinned his blood to a mere film.

But he gave his all until his blood barely covered over half of the water's surface. Unable to continue, Xu Qing suddenly spoke.

"Senior Brother, three Suns of Dawn. Don't let them explode; just release their light to completely illuminate the inside with sunlight!"

Just as Xu Qing wouldn't hesitate at the Captain's words, the Captain now had no hesitation. He immediately took out three Suns of Dawn and powerfully threw them into the Moon Gate.

Instantly, these three Suns of Dawn violently vibrated on the Moonlight Sea, erupting with intensely dazzling light.

The light was blinding. Under its cover, the entire Moonlight Sea became intensely bright, and the divine projections within immediately blurred and dimmed, as if they couldn't manifest under such strong light.

Normal projections couldn't behave this way, but they were clearly not normal. Their mode of existence... bore some resemblance to Xu Qing's shadow.

At the same time, veins bulged on Xu Qing's forehead. Using his blood as a medium, he sent the Inverse Moon Mirror... into the blood-covered Moonlight Sea!

In an instant, the Inverse Moon Mirror, using Xu Qing's blood, directly teleported inside the Moon Gate and spread across the Moonlight Sea. As the sea roared, a giant mirror emerged within.

The moment this mirror appeared, the already bright world here saw its luminosity explode under the mirror's refraction, reaching an absolute extreme. Everything seemed to be swallowed by this light.

Only endless, unprecedented light remained, erupting forth.

The divine projections also disappeared under this light, becoming hidden.

However, none of this fundamentally solved the problem. The light couldn't last too long; once it dimmed, the divine projections would reappear.

But for the Crown Prince and the others, the disappearance of the divine projections bought them an extremely opportune moment. Under the intense light, they rapidly charged out, heading directly for Zhang Siyun.

Zhang Siyun's brows furrowed for the first time. Of the four threads in his body, three had now been extracted. The last one was deeply hidden and would take more time to pull out.

"Ants, you can still be somewhat useful," Zhang Siyun muttered.

Zhang Siyun spoke softly, his body retreating once more. At the same time, he formed his left hand into a palm and pressed it towards the Moonlight Sea.

"Red Moon."

As the words left his mouth, the Moonlight Sea roared. Amidst violent churning, the blood-colored seawater surged up in layers, rising higher and higher. After surpassing Zhang Siyun's height, it completely stood erect!

The boundless seawater, as it stood upright, formed a colossal hand!

This blood-colored hand was astonishingly vast, reaching the sky above and the deep chasm below. Its palm had no lines; it was Zhang Siyun's hand, a divine hand.

Now, with overwhelming momentum and grand power, it swept towards the charging Crown Prince and the others, descending with a single palm strike.

Wherever it passed, everything collapsed, and nothing remained. The Inverse Moon Mirror, situated in front of the palm, bore immense pressure from the deity and showed signs of fracturing.

The Crown Prince and the others' expressions changed, and they immediately retreated. The Captain, too, gasped, blue light flashing in his eyes, a low roar echoing in his heart.

"Yueyan, if you don't get your ass over here, this meal is canceled!!"

Xu Qing's expression was solemn. As he retreated, he took a deep breath, his mind focusing on the purple crystal.

Although Zhang Siyun's Fate-Guiding divine art had been neutralized and Xu Qing's past memories restored, the two past scenes within his purple crystal still remained.

He had a feeling that he... could release these two past scenes...

"What will happen after I release them?"

Xu Qing fell silent.