For countless years, the holy mountain had been the psychological pillar of the Attawa race, a totem representing everyone. An invasion of the holy mountain was an encroachment upon their bottom line.
It mattered little how many holy trees there were on the peak, nor was this related to Andruil and Rex. The Attawa were made to be this way; they would rather die than compromise.
Their civilization was primitive and lacking experience and insight—so much so that they had no idea there was another world outside of the inner world—but that didn’t stop them from building up a paradise in their hearts, a divine totem that they had to protect. The faith and conviction itself was more important than what they were protecting.
The Black-Winged Monarch simply adjusted to and took advantage of this process. He simply conformed to their nature instead of leading them in a different direction, obtaining their devotion in the process.
What Andruil did was attach the fate of the human race to this devotion.
Having realized this, Qianye knew that it was useless to convince the Attawa.
There was no use in further conversation. The only path ahead was to fight.
Qianye said farewell to the elder and made his way to the holy mountain. In less than half a day, he was once again standing among the strange trees where he had met Andruil.
The Black-Winged Monarch of the past—who had become the Lord of Evernight later on—was no longer in this world. This stunning genius had challenged the supremes of the Sacred Mountain on his own. Despite his title, this move was no doubt a suicidal decision.
Reality proved that to be true.
Andruil didn’t do this just for the human race or Nangong Yuqing. Perhaps it could be said that he had grown a bit stubborn after gaining sufficient power and talent.
Qianye stood silently for a while, thinking about this friend and teacher whom he had never actually met.
At this silent moment, a grey feather appeared atop the holy mountain. It drifted elegantly in the air but never fell.
The entire holy mountain began to tremble, and the trees began to shake despite the lack of wind. Wisps of formless energy surged upward and curled around the feather, trying to drag it toward the ground.
Qianye sensed it when the feather sank downward, and he himself almost fell on his knees.
It was just as he had expected; the chaos origin power and the mirage moon origin power were on opposite ends of the spectrum. The appearance of a complete chaos origin power form stirred up the trees that had been nurtured by mirage moon.
This was contention between origin powers at the source—there was no room to hide or escape. Even the unsprouted trees deep within the soil would contribute some power to try and assimilate the grey feather.
Qianye regained control just as his knees were about to hit the ground. He let out a deep roar as his blood core and heart kicked into action. A torrential surge of origin power gushed out to fight against the energy of the holy mountain.
It wouldn’t have been so difficult if he had absorbed and digested all of the tree sap. It was just that Qianye had no more time.
His knees creaked and groaned, but he managed to stand up little by little.
All of the trees were lifted slightly off the ground.
The grey feather in the air trembled constantly and cracks started to appear on its surface. Some grey pieces were starting to rise, as though they were being peeled off by the mirage moon origin power.
Finally, a piece of grey fell from the feather, which the mirage moon energy promptly tore and devoured. This set off a chain reaction as the feather started to crumble into countless fragments that fell to the ground.
The grey energy receded and Qianye felt the weight on his body gone. How could he let go of this opportunity? He erupted once again, and the chaos energy became boundlessly powerful. In a flash, all of the trees had been lifted into the air and were slowly circling around Qianye.
At this moment, Qianye was the center of the universe.
However, an unexpected event occurred. Cracks appeared all over the trees soon after leaving the ground, breaking down into countless pieces in the process. Specks of light emerged from each fragment, containing endless transformation within the tiny frame. The seemingly endless torrent of mirage moon origin power bore down upon Qianye like a giant net.
“Shit!” Qianye immediately realized that things weren’t quite right.
There wasn’t a lot of tree sap left on the summit, and Qianye had no fear even if all of them were to transform into mirage moon origin power. Yet, he had never imagined that these trees would be able to release all of their energy in an instant. This kind of lossless release should not have been possible.
There was only one possibility—Qianye’s intention to destroy the trees and absorb all of the mirage moon origin power had threatened the very foundation of this world. This invited a proactive retaliation from the world. It just so happened that Qianye was the wielder of chaos origin power, so he became a glaring target.
Now that things had progressed to this point, Qianye immediately curled up into a ball and released a hazy glow around him. This was an all-out attempt at fighting against the massive net of mirage moon origin power. As the mesh closed in, Qianye’s bones began to emit cracking sounds.
Both Venus Dawn and dark golden blood energy would break down upon contact with the mirage moon origin power. Only the chaos origin power stood a chance.
Qianye channeled a constant supply of chaos origin power and held on with gritted teeth. Of course, he was not a match for the world itself, but the only thing the world could do to threaten him was attack him with the mirage moon origin power. Qianye would be able to find a way out if he could exhaust this tremendous energy. It was now a battle of attrition.
The mirage moon origin power was still abundant, while Qianye’s chaos origin power supply wasn’t yet exhausted. However, countless cracks began to appear over his bones, much like a network of spider webs.
Qianye’s heart sank.
His origin power could still hold out, but his body was not yet at the level of a great dark monarch; its strength was far from perfect. It seemed like Qianye’s body was about to break down during this power struggle.
A sigh echoed in the deep darkness as Andruil walked out from the void. He said while shaking his head, “I knew you would be impatient, good thing I left a backup plan.”
He reached out, grabbed at the empty space, and lifted his hand upward. The giant net of mirage moon origin power was now missing a corner, torn away by Andruil.
The net of origin power turned into countless specks of radiance in Andruil’s hand, then restored to its original form. He pointed once again, and the origin power turned into a stream of energy that shot into Qianye’s body. The attributeless mirage moon origin power was immediately guided into the book of darkness in the form of Venus Dawn origin power.
Andruil grabbed yet another piece of the net, removed the will of the inner world, and transferred it to Qianye.
As vast amounts of Venus Dawn origin power gushed into Qianye’s heart, the sixth crystal slowly appeared. The appearance of this crystal seemed to have broken a certain balance, causing the crystals to bundle up together.
Qianye’s face turned pale, and his body began to tremble.
This process of crystal aggregation was a process that involved a repeated tearing and healing of the heart. Wherever the origin crystal went, life itself was extinguished and nothing could grow back. Only then did Qianye realize just how difficult it was to step into the heavenly monarch realm.
Apart from having origin power that was pure enough to accommodate six origin crystals, the body had to be strong enough to withstand the formation process as well. To humans and their inherently weak bodies, this was the maximum extent they could withstand.
Of course, the danger was no less serious on the Evernight side—perhaps even greater. Becoming a great dark monarch meant allowing one’s bloodline to completely remodel the body, finally reaching a stage where the expert could move the entire world on his own. Bloodline was an impetus as well as a restraint for them. Those born with special bloodlines and powerful bodies could naturally withstand greater energy and go further in resonating with the origin power of the world.
Once formed, even the greatest genius would find it near impossible to go beyond it. This was comparable to how a structure with a weak foundation couldn’t be extended upward.
That was why Medanzo was only the Lightless Monarch despite his talent. Without a special pathway, the Queen of the Night would always be the second drop in the River of Blood, an existence no one could surpass. Andruil was only able to exceed his status because he had grasped the mirage moon origin power, allowing him to challenge the supremes.
Regardless, Qianye’s body had been modified by the chaos origin power, and few could match its resilience. Only the will of the world acting through the mirage moon origin power could cause Qianye’s body to break down.
Finally, the six crystals merged into a single piece, and even the heart could no longer cover them entirely. They might be symbiotic, but now, the crystal was in control.
The formation of this crystal seemed to have opened a pair of invisible eyes. He was now able to sense and see things he could never before. His consciousness began to drift away, almost touching the depths of the entire world.
Was this the heavenly monarch realm?
Qianye hadn’t experienced all the changes in detail before Andruil appeared in front of him. The man waved his hand, saying, “This is my final consciousness, and it’s about to disappear. I have one last request to make.”
Qianye glanced doubtfully at Andruil. “You’ve said this many times…”
“This is really the last one.”
“Really?”
“Of course!”
A flash of sorrow appeared on Qianye’s face. “I hoped there would be more.”
“Now that the final bit of mirage moon origin power is gone, there is nothing left to contain my will. This you will understand later.”
“Very well, what do you need my help with?”
Andruil remained silent for a while. “I was fairly young and rash back in the year. I once told Lilith that I would wait for her at the end of the River of Blood. It’s just that I met Yuqing later on, a girl with only a short few decades to live. I cultivated the mirage moon origin power as time went by, so I am no longer a pure vampire. I can no longer return to the river.”
“That’s why if you see Lilith, please tell her that I can no longer wait for her at the river’s end.”
Qianye was surprised, not knowing how to reply.
Andruil asked, “You humans have hearts. Tell me, can a heart love two people?”
Qianye had no answer.
Andruil did not wait for a reply, either. He only sighed with a wry smile and vanished.
