Chapter 133: Blood Moon Immortality

Those who come to Serina generally fall into three categories.

One type consists of the dying, another of pilgrims visiting the holy site, and the third of high officials and nobles.

The closer one is to death, the stronger their longing for life; the more devout the believer, the more firmly they hold that miracles exist, believing that a mere call will summon a response from the divine.

As for the high officials and nobles, they embody both of the aforementioned conditions.

They cherish their lives out of greed for power and status, yet also believe that their elevated position entitles them to everything; having finally stumbled upon a verifiable miracle, they naturally would not let it slip away.

With these three types of people flooding Serina, praying within the church for so long, a wish capable of satisfying all three groups simultaneously arose as a matter of course.

Eternal life.

Since the dawn of civilization, death has been one of the things most feared by sentient beings, a fear stemming from the unknown that follows demise.

Whether it is the belief that the soul enters heaven after death or the doctrine of reincarnation through the Six Paths, all serve to transform the unknown beyond death into something known by fabricating visions of the afterlife.

Precisely because of this, the extent of humanity's fear of death matches the depth of their longing for immortality.

The Sage's Moon can take away the pain of the dying and bring them peace.

But can it grant humans eternal life?

That Serina could produce the First Miracle and be hailed as the Holy City suggests it may truly be a place blessed by the gods.

People's expectations of the Sage's Moon began to twist; amidst this overwhelming desire for immortality, the Second Miracle appeared.

One night, a blood moon manifested in the sky above Serina.

At first, people paid it no mind, dismissing it as a random phenomenon, but when morning came and those buried just the day before in the Kingdom's Grand Cemetery walked out alive from their graves, the populace erupted into chaos.

They had witnessed a miracle once again; the gods had blessed Serina anew.

Since the dead buried in the Grand Cemetery rose again while those outside the cemetery remained unaffected, the answer was obvious: the cause lay with the blood moon.

Thus, the living rushed into the Kingdom's Grand Cemetery at night, eager to bathe in the light of the blood moon and attain immortality.

Yet after that night's miracle, the blood moon never appeared again.

People could only pray more devoutly for eternal life, begging for the blood moon to return.

High nobles reserved large sections of the cemetery, constructing luxurious underground tombs; fearing they might miss the next blood moon, they moved into these tombs ahead of time.

Among them was Michael I, the King of the Kingdom of Michael.

Simultaneously, to prevent too many commoners from entering the cemetery and diluting the power of the miracle, the nobles funded the construction of high walls at their own expense and dispatched their most powerful guards as grave keepers to stop anyone without an invitation from trespassing.

And so, one year later, the blood moon descended once more.

On the day the blood moon arrived, despite the obstruction of the grave keepers, the people remaining in Serina rushed madly toward the Kingdom's Grand Cemetery; even as the keepers slaughtered indiscriminately, they could not halt the frenzied crowd.

And so, tens of thousands of living people surged into the Kingdom's Grand Cemetery, bathing in the radiance of the miracle.

Subsequently, a curtain of blood-red light sealed off the Kingdom's Grand Cemetery, and every living person who had entered obtained the immortality they had wished for.

However, this form of immortality differed slightly from what they had imagined.

Under the illumination of the blood-red moonlight, people turned on one another, killing, devouring, and finally merging into a single entity, becoming twisted monsters that wandered the Kingdom's Grand Cemetery, enduring the torment of an eternal punishment aptly named "immortality."

This fate befell everyone without exception, including those nobles who had brought guards and resided within luxurious tombs.

When the blood-red curtain dissipated and the sun rose again, no living souls remained in the blood-soaked cemetery; only splattered blood and severed limbs scattered across the ground were left behind.

Having witnessed the scene within the Kingdom's Grand Cemetery, people never again dared to wish for the arrival of the blood moon or crave immortality.

But inviting a god is easy while sending one away is difficult; even though people no longer wished for the blood moon's arrival, it continued to appear periodically, and during its presence, any unfortunate soul who accidentally wandered into the Kingdom's Grand Cemetery would vanish forever within those grounds.

Occasionally, some who wandered in would emerge from the cemetery the next day, but they would be driven mad, their minds utterly confused.

Based on the illogical fragments described by these crazed survivors, they seemed to have encountered the legendary Michael I; that king had not perished in the Blood Moon Immortality event but had instead attained true eternal life.

Heier sighed and said, "That tree-like thing we just saw is an immortal monster created by the Blood Moon Miracle; the obsessions they held in life compel them to continue craving the blood moon and longing for immortality."

Wu Chang asked, "How much time has passed since the Blood Moon Immortality event?"

Heier replied, "352 years."

Wu Chang clicked his tongue; love it or hate it, a miracle is a miracle—after 352 years, the monsters that existed back then are still vigorous and alive today.

Although there is a slight discrepancy between how the miracle and the monsters understand the method of achieving immortality, you still have to admit that immortality was achieved, didn't you?

"So, does the fact that we just saw the blood moon count as personally witnessing a miracle?" Wu Chang recalled Main Quest Two; if merely seeing the blood moon counted as witnessing a miracle, that would be far too simple.

Heier shook his head. "Only phenomena that defy comprehension, feats achievable solely by a god, can be termed miracles. Only the moon on the night of the Blood Moon Immortality event can be called a miracle; the current blood moon is merely a creation of that miracle."

The two exited Grave No. 44 and returned to the grave keeper's hut.

Staying in the grave keeper's hut, an area of less than twenty square meters containing only a single bed, Heier spoke quite naturally:

"To ensure the safety of the grave keepers, the wooden hut is constructed from special materials, and beneath the floor lies holy stone consecrated by the Alchemy Sect; once the door is closed, the hut itself becomes a barrier, sufficient to shield the keeper from most dangers. However, the hut is only this large and cannot accommodate the two of us, so I shall head into the city first and return only when you have need of me."

Seeing that Heier intended to use this as an excuse to slip away, Wu Chang pointed to the outer room and said, "No need; you continue staying in the bedroom, and I will stay right here."

"The floor at night is extremely cold; are you sure you want to sleep on the ground? Let me state clearly beforehand, my sexual orientation is perfectly normal; even if you control me through those bizarre methods, I still won't let you into the room at night," Heier asked.

Wu Chang said nothing, merely retrieving over a dozen occult tools from his storage space and arranging them in the living room; soon, a simple Inner World was established.

He snapped his fingers, and the two instantly appeared within the Inner World, where the area of the wooden hut's outer room had expanded threefold.

In the Midnight Cemetery plane, time and space belong to the power of the gods; witnessing Wu Chang's manipulation of space, Heier's face was filled with disbelief. Having previously seen Wu Chang retrieve objects from thin air, he had harbored suspicions, but he never expected Wu Chang could actually create such a vast space.

"Brother Xiao En, did you do this?"

Wu Chang snapped his fingers again; under the Scene Editing function, the Inner World instantly transformed to resemble his own bedroom.

Gazing at the exquisite decoration that had appeared out of nowhere, the glass luminaires emitting intense light without flame, and the huge, soft double bed, Heier covered his face with both hands, his eyes wide and his mouth agape.

In his view, everything Wu Chang had accomplished could already be termed a miracle.

!

He pressed his hand against the double bed, feeling an unprecedentedly wonderful texture; swallowing hard, he looked at Wu Chang and said:

"With such a large bed, there is plenty of room for two people to sleep; Brother Xiao En, perhaps..."

"Get lost." Wu Chang snorted coldly and directly threw Heier out of the Inner World.

Thump, thump, thump.

A knocking sound came from the marker connecting the Inner World to reality; Wu Chang left the Inner World, looked at Han Er, and asked, "Is there anything else?"

Han Er said, "Brother Xiao En, didn't you say earlier that you wanted to learn more about Selina? Get up early tomorrow; I'll take you into the city to see Selina's largest religion, the Hunguang Sect Sect."

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow. "No problem!"

Han Er changed the subject. "Brother Xiao En, could you make my bedroom like that too?"

Wu Chang fetched a sheet of paper and listed a set of items on it. "If you can find these things, I might consider it."

Having said that, he returned to his bedroom in the Inner World and summoned Eileen.

After Eileen appeared, she needed no explanation from Wu Chang; she simply closed her eyes and sensed for a moment before noticing the difference.

"Mr. Secos, is this the other world you mentioned?"

"In this plane, my name is Xiao En; don't get it wrong."

"Mr. Secos, you certainly have many names."

Wu Chang told Eileen everything that had happened tonight, as well as what Han Er had said about the divine miracle.

Eileen's expression turned solemn; she could feel that the people of this plane were suffering, and the so-called divine miracle was nothing simple or beautiful.

"Mr. Xiao En, what should we do now?"

Wu Chang coughed lightly, slightly embarrassed. "Tomorrow morning, we will go to the Selina urban district to probe the depths of the Hunguang Sect Sect. As for now, what we need to do is conserve our strength and get a good night's sleep."

"Ah?" Eileen paused, looking at the only double bed in the Inner World, unsure how to respond.

Acting every bit the gentleman, Wu Chang drew a line down the middle of the bed and said, "Eileen, rest assured; this bed is split half and half, and I absolutely will not cross the line!"

Ten minutes later, Eileen, gradually adapting to the situation, suddenly realized something was off.

Everything in the Inner World was created by Wu Chang; since he promised not to cross the line, why not change the large double bed into two single beds?

"Mr. Secos?"

Wu Chang: "..."

"Mr. Xiao En?"

"..."

"Wu Chang."

"Snore..."

While Wu Chang in the outer room of the Inner World played dead, Han Er lay in the inner room on his bed, gazing at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep.

He pulled the necklace from beneath his clothes, looked at the ring hanging from it, and his eyes grew exceedingly complex.

At the same time, at Graveyard No. 43.

Huapao's death had caused the absence of the Graveyard No. 43 caretaker; with the caretaker failing to return to the wooden hut on time, the entire expanse of Graveyard No. 43 became gloomy.

Under the lingering glow of the blood moon, within Graveyard No. 43, many newly erected tombstones began to shake; an arm not yet fully rotted broke through the soil and firmly grasped the tombstone belonging to it.

(End of Chapter)