Chapter 612: The Small Totem Beneath the Great Totem

Inside the Heavenly and Earthly Halls of the Counter-Moon Palace, the shock and uproar caused by the light rising from the highest shrine gradually subsided as time passed and the great doors remained unopened.

The sense of anticipation was gradually replaced by disappointment, and as the light from the highest shrine dimmed until only a faint glimmer remained, a sense of regret spread in all directions.

"Within the Counter-Moon Palace, there is actually a legend passed down."

"Legend has it that the Red Moon Red Mother once placed a curse on the predecessor of the Counter-Moon Palace, cursing it to never have a new master."

"Therefore, throughout history, the highest shrine has flashed with light many times and trembled many times, but from beginning to end, its doors have never opened once."

The two Vice Palace Masters in mid-air sighed softly.

"This fellow Daoist passed the first trial, but like the First Vice Palace Master, the fourth, and myself back then, they did not pass the second trial; they could not push the door open."

"It seems we will have another companion. Being able to have one more Vice Palace Master at this time is a good thing for us!"

While these two Vice Palace Masters were communicating via voice transmission, the cultivators of the Counter-Moon Palace were also sighing to themselves.

Although a new Vice Palace Master had appeared, which in itself was a huge encouragement to everyone, the vibration of the highest shrine at this very moment seemed to have given them hope.

Especially in the current time of war, this hope made too many Counter-Moon Palace cultivators yearn for the appearance of a true Master of the Counter-Moon Palace.

They needed a Palace Master with such status to lead them, in this final moment of their lives, to erupt with their own brilliant, burning flames of life to incinerate everything.

And after such hope turned into disappointment and became regret, the Counter-Moon Palace fell into silence.

At the same time, inside the highest shrine above the Counter-Moon Palace, Xu Qing opened his eyes.

This shrine was much larger than ordinary temples, magnificent all around, with nine huge pillars supporting the dome of the hall.

Inside, it vividly reflected the mountain body of the Counter-Moon Palace.

Besides this, on the walls of the shrine were carved a large number of mysterious totems; some were runes, some were just beast shapes, and others were human outlines.

At this moment, every wall emitted waves of breathtaking pressure. As for the head of the main hall, there existed an altar, upon which a huge shrine was built, and inside it stood a statue of a god.

This statue was very different from the statues in the temples outside; it did not have so many embellishments, but was in the likeness of a person—it was the Sovereign Li Li Zihua.

At this moment, the eyes of the statue had already opened, and the spirit shining from within belonged to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing gazed in all directions, recalling the scene from before.

He remembered walking along the gap in the stone door, and after the light shone upon his world, the next instant, he opened his eyes and appeared here.

Xu Qing looked up at the mirror surface on the highest dome of the shrine, gazing at the outside world reflected there, and felt the regret and disappointment of the Counter-Moon Palace cultivators outside at this moment.

He recalled looking up at the highest shrine floating above the nine great temples when he first arrived at the Counter-Moon Palace.

After a long while, Xu Qing withdrew his gaze and looked at the distant temple. "Why did the white-robed old man, transformed from the artifact spirit of the Counter-Moon Palace, say there was a second trial? Is it this door?"

Xu Qing pondered and stepped out. Amidst a roar, the Li Li Zihua statue he was in stepped off the altar and came to the side of the great door.

Standing here, Xu Qing narrowed his eyes. After observing for a moment, he raised his hand and pushed hard against the outside. Under this push, the door did not move at all, as if it were completely locked, difficult to shake in the slightest, and not even a sound was emitted.

Xu Qing frowned, circulated his cultivation base, and went all out to push it by force, but it was still of no use.

The door did not even shake once.

Xu Qing raised his hand, thought for a moment, and then his eyes instantly turned pitch black. The power of the Poison Prohibition followed his gaze onto the door, and the Purple Moon within him surged even more. As his Divine Store fluctuated, a large amount of fresh blood radiated from Xu Qing's body, gathering outside to circle into a blood-colored vortex.

The door was actually being bombarded.

It still did not move in the slightest, and Xu Qing's expression suddenly changed at this moment; he retreated rapidly.

The moment he retreated, a red light suddenly flashed on the door, and a totem as large as the door appeared.

This totem was clearly a figure with both hands covering its eyes, with fresh blood flowing from its body.

It looked very evil, yet it gave people a sense of holiness, permeating in all directions.

It was exactly the appearance of the Red Mother.

Xu Qing's mind was shaken, and the Purple Moon within him fluctuated violently. He sensed the aura of the Red Mother; it seemed this totem was drawn by the Red Mother herself.

"The door of the highest shrine of the Counter-Moon Palace actually has the Red Mother's mark."

This was the second trial. Xu Qing felt that something was wrong; this did not look like a second trial assessment, but more like the Red Mother's seal on the Counter-Moon Palace.

"So, in reality, there is no second trial assessment, and the Master of the Counter-Moon Palace should have been able to appear long ago, but all those who passed the assessment before me stopped here."

"Unable to break the Red Mother's seal, one cannot push the door open, and thus it is difficult to become the Master of the Counter-Moon Palace." As Xu Qing's thoughts turned and he gained some understanding, he came before the door again to observe it carefully, during which he cautiously released his Purple Moon power.

But unfortunately, this door was extremely sensitive to his Purple Moon power; often, as soon as it appeared, it would cause violent fluctuations.

In the end, Xu Qing simply withdrew his Purple Moon power and used the pitch-black Poison Prohibition in his eyes to feel it.

And as he understood more, his expression was first strange, then became solemn. What made him solemn was that through the Poison Prohibition, Xu Qing felt that all the temples on the mountain outside were emitting invisible auras at all times. It was these auras, which no one noticed, that were being absorbed by this totem. What exactly they were, Xu Qing could not yet distinguish.

And what made his expression strange was that he sensed that in the lower right corner of this huge totem, there was actually a small totem, only it was blurry, appearing and disappearing. If not for Xu Qing's Poison Prohibition spreading to the entire area and the Purple Moon power causing the Red Mother totem to fluctuate, he would have found it very difficult to notice.

And the appearance of this small totem was the source of Xu Qing's strange expression.

It was exactly the same as the Captain's face. When Xu Qing discovered it, it was secretly biting the totem. Although it could only bite off a small piece each time, the speed was very fast, like a mad dog.

It was just that after every bite, the totem would recover on its own.

"Senior Brother..."

Xu Qing thought for a moment and tried to ask the small totem, transmitting a fluctuation.

The moment the fluctuation entered, the figure that was crazily biting the totem suddenly shook, looked up abruptly, revealed wild joy in its eyes, and responded rapidly.

"Little Ah Qing!"

"I finally waited for you; I knew you would definitely appear." Sensing Xu Qing, the Captain was excited. He struggled rapidly, his whole body flashing with blue light, and finally emerged from the lower right corner of the door.

Xu Qing also looked at his Senior Brother.

"You... why are you here?"

The Captain laughed triumphantly.

"How about it, surprised or not?"

"This is the plan I told you about before. My plan this time was very good. After entering the trial grounds, I provoked the artifact spirit, letting it turn me into an ice sculpture and sink to the bottom of the lake."

"This way, I could use the means I left behind in this place back then to bypass all assessments, appear directly inside this door, and then by pushing the door open, obtain the authority of the Counter-Moon Palace and reverse-become the Master of the Counter-Moon."

"Once I succeed, I can use the power of the Counter-Moon Palace to find all the fragmented body parts of my past life. This is the key to finishing off the Red Mother."

Hearing this, Xu Qing looked at the small totem the Captain had transformed into, then looked at the Red Mother's large totem, and sighed.

"And the result?"

The Captain's expression was a bit embarrassed, then he became indignant.

"Little Ah Qing, this time I was careless. I didn't expect the Red Mother to be so cunning. I knew she had a seal in the Counter-Moon Palace, but this old hag actually added a few more seals when I fell and reincarnated into other domain gaps in my past life!"

"It's really... do you know, Little Junior Brother, there is a seal that is actually anti-biting. There's no way, I can only bite it slowly. Originally, I could have finished biting it very quickly and become the Master of the Counter-Moon, but now I can only spend more time. But fortunately, I have a backup plan."

"You've come, so our hope is even greater. Our brothers will work from the inside and outside together to swallow this Red Mother's seal! By then, we will both be Masters of the Counter-Moon Palace."

Xu Qing nodded upon hearing this. He did not have much interest in being the Master of the Counter-Moon Palace, but since his Senior Brother needed him, he pondered for a while, figuring out how to take action.

"Senior Brother, I sense that this Red Mother totem is absorbing the power of the outside world. This should be the source that maintains its formation."

The Captain smiled.

"This is exactly my backup plan. That is the fire of belief produced by hope. Every cultivator who has entered the Counter-Moon Palace contains hope in their hearts. According to my research in my past life, this is also what the Red Mother wants."

"I even suspected back then that the reason the Counter-Moon Palace could exist until now is related to the Red Mother's indulgence."

"However, the Red Mother is now asleep. This fire of hope can only be taken away after she wakes up. And fire... it has a dual nature; it can give people warmth and can also burn people. This is why I came here only after that performance in the Moon-Sacrificing Great Domain. I wanted to let this fire burn more fiercely, and then we add some oil to it to truly make it erupt, burn the Red Mother's seal, and then cooperate with my biting; it will definitely succeed!"

"And now, what we are missing is oil, Little Ah Qing. If I haven't calculated wrong, this month, the oil will appear."