Chapter 616: The Lord of Demons

In the firmament, gray winds howled, churning up sand and gravel, blotting out the sky and sun; amidst the gloom, the entire world was tinted with a cold, chilling hue. On the ground, tens of thousands of God-children, ferocious as demons, had reined in all chaos and suppressed all madness, prostrating themselves in worship.

Viewed from afar, this scene was full of impact.

Before them, Xu Qing stood calmly, dressed in a black robe, his hair black as well.

The wind whipped his hair, revealing his pitch-black eyes, and as his sleeves fluttered, his tall, upright figure was highlighted.

Coupled with the circles of blood flowing like ribbons around his body, it was a shocking sight, as if the Lord of Demons had walked into the human world.

At this moment, this Lord of Demons looked at the God-child before him and placed a hand upon its head. The moment they touched, the God-child's body stiffened, yet it dared not struggle in the slightest, remaining motionless.

Xu Qing was expressionless, his spiritual sense merging in, silently sensing.

What he first experienced was the obedience and awe transmitted by this God-child; this was an instinctive behavior that suppressed the other's chaos and madness.

Next, he felt the other's hunger.

This reminded him of the scene when he touched the god.

After a long while, Xu Qing continued to press his right hand down. As the Poison Prohibition spread and the power of the Purple Moon surged in, the God-child's physical body, which was difficult to break through with ordinary means, melted rapidly under Xu Qing's hand.

Drops of blood slid down the God-child's face onto the ground, emitting a sizzling sound as the ground was corroded.

And Xu Qing's right hand had already delved deep into the God-child's flesh and blood.

This intense pain made the God-child tremble even more, yet it still dared not dodge.

The Red Moon authority possessed by the Heir-apparent seemed to exert an extreme suppression upon these God-children.

"The flesh and blood contain a denser sense of chaos, and also possess a certain degree of corrosion, as well as the invasion of foreign substances," the Heir-apparent mused. "I cannot sense that those God-children can devour them themselves."

They are formed from impurities; devouring them holds no benefit for themselves.

After a long while, the Heir-apparent shook his head and raised his hand.

His gaze fell upon the surroundings, looking at those prostrate God-children. The Heir-apparent narrowed his eyes and took out a fragment.

【Fragment】

Once this object appeared, a vast power diffused from within, causing the heavens and earth to change color, winds to rise and clouds to surge, and the sense of oppression became significantly greater.

This was the gift Xu Qing had given the Heir-apparent back then, a fragment of a small world belonging to a Divine Repository expert.

It had once been borrowed by the Captain to suppress the Nether Essence, until the Nether Essence was released at the apothecary, and the Captain returned it.

Now that the fragment was out, a suction force erupted from within; in the blink of an eye, the tens of thousands of God-children out there were sucked inside, not one remaining.

Having done this, the Heir-apparent put away the fragment and cast his gaze toward the deep pit.

No more God-children were emerging from there, and the low roars had long since vanished.

Just as he was checking, a wave of spiritual sense suddenly transmitted from within.

"Heir-apparent, come down here."

It was Xu Qing's voice.

The Heir-apparent did not go over immediately, but carefully identified it before walking to the edge of the deep pit, looking down, and stepping inside.

He moved quickly, his eyes filled with the Poison Prohibition, surrounded by blood, speeding toward the depths.

The deeper he went, the denser the foreign substances became, and there was even mucus flowing on the surrounding walls; the smell of rot also emanated from that mucus, making one nauseous.

Further down, there was still a faint red glow shining.

Finally, after the Heir-apparent approached, a barrier made of flesh and blood came into his view.

This mass of flesh and blood was like a wall, blocking the path forward; it continuously writhed, emitting red light, and the aura of the Red Mother was extremely dense within it.

It seemed to be struggling, wanting to bulge outward, but an invisible force suppressed it, making it unable to resist, and it could only retreat continuously amidst that writhing.

And Xu Qing and Princess Mingmei were standing before that flesh-and-blood barrier.

"This place is the final line of defense leading to the core of this location."

"We need to go in and retrieve an item; it is the key to saving the Fourth. If we forcibly blast it open, even if the Red Mother is in slumber, she will sense it and will..."

"... instinctively hide the crystal within, so we need you, Heir-apparent, to unleash your authority and quietly open a gap."

Xu Qing turned his head and looked at the Heir-apparent.

The Heir-apparent nodded upon hearing this; he had guessed as much on the way here. Previously, Xu Qing and Princess Mingmei had gone out many times, and he assumed their target was this place.

So he stepped in front of that mass of flesh and blood, the blood flowing outside his body accelerating. As he raised his right hand, it rapidly gathered at his fingertips. When the red glow became dazzling and blinding, a drop of blood flew from his fingertip.

It fell toward that mass of flesh and blood.

Within that blood, the Heir-apparent's Red Moon authority was contained, emitting dense foreign substances, and a small Red Moon could vaguely be seen manifesting within it.

"Open!"

The moment the blood touched the barrier, the Heir-apparent's spiritual sense transmitted.

The flesh-and-blood barrier shook violently; where the Heir-apparent's blood landed, the flesh and blood instantly churned, squeezing toward the surroundings, gradually separating to form a gap.

Xu Qing and Princess Mingmei did not hesitate in the slightest, turning into two long rainbows that entered within and vanished from sight.

The Heir-apparent did not follow; his body retreated rapidly until he had backed off a hundred zhang. Just as he was about to continue, a sharp sound came from within that mass of flesh and blood, followed by roars echoing, and then the flesh and blood trembled and began to wither.

The entire process took only three or four breaths; after that mass of flesh and blood withered to the extreme, it turned into fly ash and dissipated, revealing a huge cavern beneath the deep pit.

Inside that cavern, the sight was shocking.

The ground was a pool of viscous blood, emitting a thick, rotting stench. In the very center, there was a huge red crystal, half of which was exposed above the water surface.

It shone with red light.

And within that blood pool, there existed countless eggs.

Some of these eggs were several zhang in size, others several tens of zhang, varying in size, but all were red.

A portion of them were intact, while another portion were shattered, with only eggshells floating on the pool.

Through the outer shells of those intact eggs, one could see that there were actually God-children inside, struggling, wanting to break out of the shells.

As for Xu Qing and Princess Mingmei, the two figures headed straight for the blood-colored crystal, approaching it in an instant, and simultaneously took action to retrieve and store the crystal.

And with the disappearance of the crystal, the blood pool there dried up rapidly; the struggling of those eggs became increasingly intense, and muffled roars continued to echo.

"That will do, let us leave."

After obtaining the required item, Xu Qing was satisfied. As he spoke, he raised his hand, about to destroy all the eggs there.

The Heir-apparent's heart stirred, and he spoke hurriedly.

"Senior, those God-children, I have another use for them."

Xu Qing's gaze fell upon the Heir-apparent upon hearing this, and Princess Mingmei, who was to the side, nodded.

The Heir-apparent immediately took out the small world fragment and pointed at it while forming a seal. Instantly, a suction force diffused, and all the eggs there were sucked into the fragment in an instant.

Having done this, the Heir-apparent was satisfied.

With such a large quantity, he felt it had already met the amount of oil required by the Captain.

"Then, let us go."

Seeing that the Heir-apparent had finished dealing with it, Xu Qing spoke calmly and flicked his large sleeve, sweeping the Heir-apparent away from that deep pit. After reaching the outside world, Princess Mingmei raised her hand and pressed down.

Instantly, the earth roared and the deep pit shook, about to collapse. Countless mountain rocks appeared out of thin air, soon submerging it and turning it into flat ground.

Thus, this turmoil that occurred in the Kusheng Mountain Range was resolved just like that. The Heir-apparent felt this was normal; after all, with a Divine Repository expert present, a God-child nest could not stir up big waves.

But for the cultivators of the Kusheng Mountain Range, the sense of impact was extremely strong. They had originally prepared themselves to fight to the death, but everything that happened afterward left their hearts surging with immense waves.

To be able to cover the entire mountain range in one go and exterminate countless God-children.

To be able to make even the Mo Gui Ancestor so respectful to the point of humility, calling himself a junior.

For such an existence, what realm their cultivation base was at, the answer was self-evident.

"Divine Repository..."

These two words surfaced in the hearts of all the cultivators, becoming rolling thunder, exploding continuously, and turning into instinctive trembling.

Until they had cleared out the remaining God-children, they witnessed with their own eyes...

... the Mo Gui Ancestor go to the apothecary in Tucheng, where he did not care about his status at all and acted as a greeter.

This scene set off another storm in the hearts of the cultivators of the Kusheng Mountain Range.

Before this, the mystery of the Tucheng apothecary had some fame in the Kusheng Mountain Range, after all, there were quite a few incredible things that happened there.

But no matter what, they found it hard to imagine that there would actually be a Divine Repository expert inside.

And today, they understood, and they all knew that this apothecary... was the core of the Kusheng Mountain Range and even this vast desert.

This realization made everyone incomparably awestruck.

Thus, this ordinary Tucheng became a holy land of the vast desert.

And among the cultivators here, there were also cultivators of the Niyue Palace, so everything that happened here was soon transmitted into the Niyue Palace, and subsequently known by the resistance army of the entire Festival Moon Great Region.

In an instant, all the resistance forces in the outside world were stirred.

Before this, they had also heard of the Kusheng Mountain Range, but that was because of the appearance of the desert gray winds; that place was isolated from the outside world to a certain extent, appearing like a pure land.

And because it was suspected to be the source of the God-Slaying Platform images, it was noticed and speculated upon.

But the appearance of a Divine Repository expert caused the outside world to be shocked and turbulent, because they associated it with the God-Slaying Platform images, and at the same time, speculations about the identity of the Divine Repository expert also arose.

"It is Xu Qing!"

On a plain some distance away from the Qingsha Vast Desert, thousands of flying boats roared and sped through the firmament. In the leading flying boat, a middle-aged cultivator sat cross-legged. He raised his head, looking toward the direction of the Qingsha Vast Desert, murmuring in a low voice.

This person was travel-worn, his complexion pale, clearly carrying injuries, yet his expression remained stern and dignified, and a sense of pedantic seriousness was very obvious on him.

"Second Palace Master, are we... going to the vast desert?"

Beside this middle-aged cultivator stood more than ten subordinates, each of them at the Void Returning realm, all of them seriously injured. At this moment, one of them asked hoarsely.

This middle-aged cultivator was precisely the Second Palace Master of the Niyue Palace. He turned his head to look behind him upon hearing this.

Every flying boat behind him was filled with cultivators of various races, all of them covered in exhaustion, each with injuries, their gazes dim.

They, as a resistance army, had failed under the suppression of the Red Moon Temple and the outbreak of the God-child calamity.

The losses were heavy.

After paying a massive price, the remaining forces finally managed to escape.

Yet the world was vast, and there was nowhere to go, while the Red Moon Divine Temple behind them was still in pursuit.

"You all, go to the Great Desert."

The Seventh Palace Master took a deep breath and spoke in a low voice.