Chapter 143 - 114: Under the Blood Moon

Chapter 143: Chapter 114: Under the Blood Moon

All of creation was silently shattering. An eerie blood moon cast its glow upon the pitch-black sea, dyeing the water a deep crimson.

And beside that repulsive blood moon, a bizarre, blood-red star pulsed with light, greedily licking away the world’s last vestiges of life, intent on dragging it into an endless Hell.

"Go!"

Lu Changyuan’s voice cut through the suffocating pressure, reaching Red Fox’s ears.

Hope was not yet completely extinguished. The Celestial Dao Titles had already descended, but the Blood Demon had beaten them to it. If they could just escape now and buy a little time for Red Fox and the Nether Monarch to successfully claim their own titles, they could instantly reverse this desperate situation.

Red Fox said nothing. Her Demon Power erupted with unprecedented intensity. A crimson radiance swept up Lu Changyuan and the unconscious Nether Monarch, transforming into a streak of light as she tried to flee.

But the pitch-black sky had become a barrier, blocking her path. An inexplicable force slammed her back down to the ground.

In a single instant, Lu Changyuan’s body began to crack and shatter without warning. A bloody mist sprayed from his every pore, turning him into a man of blood, just like the Nether Monarch.

His blood had turned on its master.

No matter how frantically Lu Changyuan circulated his Heart Method or how desperately he tried to regain control of his body, the rebellion within stripped him of all authority. It was as if this body no longer belonged to him.

Lu Changyuan’s right hand suddenly exploded. Amidst the mangled flesh and blood, Broken Thought, which he had been gripping tightly, fell to the ground with a CLANG.

He turned to Red Fox. "You..."

Red Fox’s face had gone deathly pale as well. She had become a fox drenched in blood, her magnificent tail withering as it bled.

"Urgh!"

With a stifled groan, she coughed up a mouthful of blood. The blood that hit the ground bizarrely twisted and solidified, forming into swords and blades with their edges turned back toward their former master.

Red Fox’s voice was as dry and brittle as withered grass. "We can’t escape..."

The three of them were like stranded fish, gasping on the dry shores of death, before falling from the oppressive sky together.

"What’s wrong... not running anymore?"

The black-robed Blood Demon shed its cloak. What remained was an eyeless worm composed of myriad blood threads. It slithered before the two of them.

Red Fox’s fur bristled. She lunged at the worm, her fingernails extending into long claws as she slashed at its body.

BAM!

But before she even reached the Blood Demon, a series of small explosions erupted from her own body. Her strike lacked any real power; it failed to even sever a single one of the Blood Demon’s threads.

BOOM!

The next moment, Red Fox crashed to the ground, carving a massive crater upon impact as the blood was siphoned from her body.

"My people..."

A massive maw tore open on the worm’s body. The sight of its reeking fangs and the stench from within assaulted Lu Changyuan’s sanity.

"...are... triumphant."

Amidst the garbled, chaotic syllables, Lu Changyuan barely made out the two words.

’But I have no strength left.’

With his blood running rampant, Lu Changyuan couldn’t even command his own limbs. The worm’s maw was upon him, ready to devour him whole.

’His mind drifted to a story from long ago, about a man who was swallowed by a Demon, only to cut his way out from the inside, disemboweling the beast and surviving.’

’Heh.’

’What am I even thinking?’

"Wake up, my little Monarch."

Lu Changyuan caressed the young woman’s cheek. The blood of Yu on his fingers traced the mark of a moon on her face.

"If you don’t wake up now, we’re all done for."

His pupils reflected the countless, approaching fangs and the writhing mass of its body. The creature let out a sharp hiss, eager for the taste of flesh and blood.

A piercing shriek filled the air as the cavernous, bloody maw snapped shut!

Darkness devoured everything.

It was as if eternal death had come.

But then, a faint light began to pierce the darkness from within that lightless maw.

An enraged voice rang out.

"You will not..."

A blood-soaked hand forced the Blood Demon’s jaws apart.

It was the hand of a young woman.

Black dress, black hair, a face stained with blood. Her eyes shone like gold, and Nether Qi surged around her like crashing waves. It was as if the Monarch of the Nine Netherworld had returned.

No, she *was* the Monarch.

The Monarch, wreathed in an aura of death, had once again mastered death itself—and in doing so, had mastered her own.

On the razor’s edge between life and death, the Monarch of Hell rose from decay. The loneliness born of her tenacious will conquered the rebellion in her blood.

Her voice was like a sovereign decree, binding her enemy’s every move.

"You. Will. Not. Take. My. Haven!!!"

A massive Netherworld Gate suddenly materialized in mid-air. It plummeted like a falling star, crashing down heavily upon the Blood Demon’s body.

~~~~~~~~~~

The scent of death.

The scent of life.

Memories of the past and fragments of the future intertwined, flooding her senses and bringing waves of dizziness.

Death had come, and with it, the loneliness that was uniquely hers arrived, just as it always did.

’Is death the end of loneliness?’

"Eat your meals, get enough sleep, and live a good life."

Granny Long’s aged yet warm words still seemed to echo in her ears.

The Nether Monarch remembered, so she had always taken good care of herself—so much so that her Cultivation had reached the threshold of the Yao Guang realm, lacking only the final crowning of her title.

But no matter how well she cared for herself, those who were gone would never return. She cultivated the Path of Death, so she understood the powerlessness and finality of death better than anyone.

The memory of a cold, rainy night surfaced.

Nether had trekked for a thousand miles, finally returning to the place where her tribe had been.