Chapter 712: Above the Moon

The battle on the Wilderness drew to a close.

Yu Liancheng's one sword strike not only slew the giant dragon and the Divine General, but also annihilated tens of thousands of the Divine Palace's knights, causing the Xiling Allied Forces to collapse completely.

The surviving humans were deeply shocked by that sword strike, unable to believe it.

Could this truly be the Human World Sword?

Afterwards, Fuzi and Sang Sang ascended to the heavens to do battle; although no one could see it, Haotian's will, like a howling wind and a peal of thunder, resounded throughout the human world, letting the world know what had happened over ten miles away on the Wilderness.

Haotian was fighting in the human world.

Fighting Fuzi in the human world.

Fuzi was the Headmaster of the Academy, the spiritual pillar of Datang, and the pride of all Tang people. Fuzi fighting the heavens made all Tang people feel both terrified and proud.

Yet to the Xiling Divine Palace, Haotian was the supreme faith; in their eyes, Fuzi fighting the heavens was a blasphemy and insult against Haotian, a crime that could not be forgiven.

Thus, the Tang army and the Xiling Divine Palace, whose relationship was already strained, broke off completely; had the Xiling Divine Palace not suffered such heavy casualties, they would likely have declared war directly on the Tang Empire.

This battle had far-reaching consequences.

Beyond allowing the Wild People to withstand the siege of the Xiling Allied Forces and gain a foothold on the Wilderness, the most important thing was that Yu Liancheng and Fuzi had both left the human world.

They were truly the first and second in the human world; without these two presiding over the human world, there was no doubt that this world would once again fall into turmoil, and countless powerhouses and ambitious men would once again set foot in the human world.

For instance, above the South Sea.

A Taoist in green robes stepped onto the land.

After Fuzi ascended to the heavens, a large, round, and bright object appeared in the sky.

There was an omen in the heavens; the night moon descended into the sky.

This strange and terrifying scene shocked the people of the world, filling them with fear and unease; no one knew how many people were frightened into fainting, while even more knelt before their windows or in their small courtyards, kowtowing incessantly.

The royal families of various nations burned incense and prayed to the moon, begging Haotian to forgive humanity's disrespect. Rumors began to spread in the human world that this was a sign of an Underworld invasion, causing countless people to panic, to the point that some chose to commit suicide to return to the Haotian Divine Kingdom. Sometimes, rumors are more terrifying than any flood or wild beast.

The Xiling Divine Palace announced to the world as quickly as possible that the object in the night sky was called the Moon, a divine gift of light bestowed by Haotian out of pity for the world having to endure eternal darkness.

With the spread of the Divine Palace's decree and the forceful suppression by the royal families of various nations, the chaos triggered by the thing called the Moon gradually subsided. As time passed, the common people of the human world began to grow accustomed to its existence, and even began to love the light that descended in the dark of night; the most notable sign of this was that poetry about the moon began to circulate in the human world.

Of course, that was a matter for the future.

Chang'an.

Linjie Forty-Seventh Lane.

Ning Que jumped off the carriage, looked at the familiar street scene, the gray walls, and the neighbors who greeted him, took a deep breath, and felt very satisfied.

He had returned from the battlefield of the Wilderness.

Ning Que pushed open the door of the Old Brush Studio, looked deep inside, and saw Sang Sang, who was bowing her head, holding a noodle bowl, and slurping noodles into her mouth.

Sang Sang raised her head and also saw Ning Que; she no longer remembered the matter of eating noodles, with the noodle soup still hanging from her lips, her willow-leaf eyes already crinkled into a smile, and with food in her mouth, she called out happily: "Ning Que..."

Ning Que looked at Sang Sang, let out a long breath, and his eyes also crinkled into a smile, just like the crescent moon that had only recently appeared in this world.

During the battle when Fuzi ascended to the heavens, his entire heart had suddenly and inexplicably tightened, and what he was worried about was not his respected Fuzi, but... Sang Sang...

Although he also knew that Sang Sang was in Chang'an City.

In Chang'an City, there were Datang soldiers, brothers from the Fish Dragon Gang, and the protection of the Academy's senior brothers and sisters... no matter what, he shouldn't have been worried about Sang Sang.

But he was worried for no reason.

Only at this moment, when he truly saw Sang Sang, was he finally at ease.

Sang Sang also cooked a bowl of noodles for Ning Que, who had returned from afar, sprinkled green onions on top, and even extravagantly added two eggs.

While Ning Que was eating the noodles, he looked left and right and asked: "Where is Wei Laotou?"

Sang Sang bit her lip: "Dead, killed by Xiao Heizi."

"What!?"

"Eat your noodles first, they'll get cold and won't taste good if they clump together."

Sang Sang pushed the bowl in front of Ning Que, and the fragrance of green onions rushed into his nose: "Xiao Heizi said that the teacher was the mastermind behind the scenes, and he also left a letter for you, which I put at the head of the bed; you can go look at it later."

"What mastermind?" Ning Que was completely confused.

"I don't know either, you can go read the letter yourself."

Sang Sang frowned: "Ning Que, I had a dream, a very strange dream; I dreamed of you, dreamed of Fuzi, dreamed of a golden giant dragon..."

"Oh, tell me about it."

"I don't remember clearly." Sang Sang shook her head: "I can't remember, only that I had a fight with Fuzi, and there was someone in black clothes helping him, and in the end, he swung a sword at me..."

"And then?"

"Then I woke up."

"Boring, what kind of dream is that, all messy..." Ning Que shook his head and continued eating his noodles.

This year's summer seemed to have ended exceptionally quickly.

Before the summer cicadas had chirped many times in the trees, there was suddenly an austere sense of autumn.

After entering autumn, the Divine Palace, which had only just rested for a period of time, issued a decree to all the nations of the world.

The content of the decree was roughly to expose the true identity and background of the current Empress and the Great General Xia Hou as remnants of the Demon Sect. Furthermore, the Tang Emperor had sheltered the remnants of the Demon Sect for decades, making it a filthy and blasphemous nation; Fuzi and Ke Haoran of the Academy had acted against the heavens and died by divine punishment, therefore the Divine Palace called for the world to crusade against Tang, and ordered Tang believers not to resist, otherwise they would be unable to enter the Divine Kingdom after death, making the overthrow of the royal family and the Academy the primary task.

And besides the crusade against the Tang Kingdom, the Xiling Divine Palace began to further the New Religion.

This strike was an all-out effort; it was said that in that unknowable Taoist temple behind Taoshan, powerhouses had emerged. Although this powerhouse had crippled legs, they were shockingly a peerless existence above the Five Realms. Under the all-out siege of the Xiling Divine Palace, the New Religion, which had only just regained some vitality, suffered a devastating blow once again; it was said that even Ye Su was seriously injured.

Not long after, in a letter from the Datang Emperor, the seriously injured Ye Su led the New Religion into the Tang Kingdom to spread its teachings.

Compared to the teachings of the Xiling Divine Palace, the teachings of the New Religion seemed to be more favored by the common people of the Tang Empire, and it grew rapidly in a short period of time.

And at the same time, the Xiling Divine Palace's siege of the Tang Empire had arrived.

The Tang Empire, teetering in the wind and rain,

……

The bright Moon hung in the sky.

In Linjie Forty-Seventh Lane.

Ning Que carried his pack on his back, opened the front door, waved to Sang Sang at Old Brush Studio, and boarded a carriage.

As a student of the Academy, with the Tang Empire now teetering in the wind and rain, he naturally could not remain indifferent.

After sitting in the carriage, Ning Que lifted the curtain and looked at the bright Moon hanging in the firmament; thinking that it was transformed by Fuzi, he felt an unprecedented sense of security in his heart, yet he still couldn't help but grumble: "Fuzi, oh Fuzi, your ascending to the heavens to become the Moon is truly impressive, but when you left, why didn't you step on the Xiling Divine Palace a couple of times along the way?"

Sang Sang, who had closed the door of Old Brush Studio, also glanced at the bright Moon in the sky; for some reason, she felt some loathing and aversion toward this Moon in the sky.

Tonight, countless people looked up at the Moon, and the moonlight remained gentle.

……

Three hundred and eighty thousand kilometers away from the ground is where the Moon is located.

The Moon transformed by Fuzi is a sphere composed of round stones, its surface smooth to the extreme, reflecting the light from behind the earth, perfect to the extreme.

Perhaps it should not be called the Moon, but rather the Moon Sphere.

A light gate appeared out of thin air upon the Moon Sphere.

A person stepped out from the light gate, dressed in black, like the deepest night.

"Huh, is this really the Moon Sphere? How is there still air, and how can one still breathe?"

This person was peerlessly handsome and transcendent; he was first somewhat surprised, then shook his head—this was the world of Haotian, and it could not be judged by common logic. Finally, he lowered his gaze, looked at the Moon Sphere beneath his feet, and waved with a smile.

"Fuzi, long time no see."