Chapter 20: For Whom Does the Crimson Moon Divert Its Gaze?

Mo Mo was somewhat confused by what was happening. After Lu Yuan flew off, she had hurried to catch up, but due to a slight difference in speed, she arrived at the battlefield a step behind.

The first thing she saw upon arrival was Lu Yuan clutching her beloved brother. Mo Mo was instantly enraged. Before she could even activate her backup emergency power, she saw her brother shoot a beam of white light at her.

Then, she transformed.

She had become the one thing she hated most: a magical girl.

Mo Mo: "..."

Trembling, she slapped Lu Yuan away and clutched at her skirt: "Why is this skirt so short? Won't I have a wardrobe malfunction? Are you sure I won't have a wardrobe malfunction?!"

"And why is my hairstyle pigtails? What is this magical wand for? What purpose do these white stockings with pink bows serve?"

"The worst, most unforgivable part is, why..." Mo Mo stomped her feet, her face filled with shame and speechlessness: "Why must I wear high heels during a battle?!!"

Her petite black high heels, adorned with bird motifs, encased her feet, looking exquisite and beautiful. It was just that the heels were a bit too high.

She couldn't understand it, she truly couldn't understand it. As expected, magical girls were the absolute worst...

"I love you to death, little sister."

Mo Mo: "..."

Ahem, suddenly, she felt that this outfit wasn't quite so hard to accept after all.

I love you to death too, brother.

Silently responding in her heart, Mo Mo turned around: "Although there are many questions between us, I'm sorry, brother, please wait a moment."

"I'm going to slaughter that bastard first."

Mo Mo looked coldly at Lu Yuan, who was in the distance, spitting blood as he struggled to get up after being struck by her. Mo Mo didn't know why she had suddenly turned into a magical girl, but the power surging through her body told her everything she needed to know. She felt that, right now, she could punch the very soul out of Lu Yuan.

Daring to hurt her brother—unforgivable, absolutely unforgivable...

Kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you, kill you...

Terrifying murderous intent solidified into crimson mist, drifting around Mo Mo. A single glance at it was enough to make one's heart feel as if it were being violently constricted. It was hard to imagine such special effects appearing on a magical girl.

Shen Qiqi, who had been hopping along, was scared silly. This was a magical girl?! Compared to Mo Mo, she was practically a fresh recruit.

Of course, the one who found it most unacceptable was Lu Yuan. He had truly almost been beaten to a pulp by Mo Mo just moments ago. Having merely brushed against one of her strikes, he felt as if his internal organs were burning; the blood he spat out even contained fragments of his black, mangled insides.

Why? Where did this power, which surpassed his own, come from? Why was it obtained so easily? Did this not simply prove his own... incompetence?

Lu Yuan remembered the evaluation a certain King had given him while seated upon the Golden Throne: "Extremely regrettable. It seems I misjudged you."

"Lu Yuan, you are nothing but a stone inlaid with a thin layer of jade."

"You are truly unworthy of the name 'Precious Jade'."

Lu Yuan: "..."

Lu Yuan: "..."

"Are you kidding me!!!"

He roared in pain and resentment. His "Tyrant's Grasp" had reached a state infinitely close to his prime—the power of Star Convergence. The four hands charged toward Mo Mo, intending to crush her alive.

However, after becoming a magical girl, Mo Mo was capable of more than just magic; her own bloodline had been drastically strengthened. This was the love and bond between her and her brother!

The Alaya Consciousness, amplified several times over, effortlessly bound the four Tyrant's Grasps. Then, she exerted force, crushing the invisible hands right before Lu Yuan's eyes. Invisible blood and flesh rained down from the sky, yet in Lu Yuan’s eyes, it was crystal clear.

"Crushed, you crushed them???"

Lu Yuan was stunned. It didn't end there. Mo Mo once again used the Alaya Consciousness to summon the Record of Gouque, the Blade of Execution. This time, it wasn't a mimicry of killing intent, but the real thing.

Several meters long and wreathed in hideous murderous intent, the Record of Gouque aimed at Lu Yuan. Like divine retribution, it carried Mo Mo's intent and launched an attack that divided day from night against her mortal enemy!

Lu Yuan's pupils dilated. Everything was in chaos. Everything was a mess.

According to his plan, having received the gift of the White King, he had obtained the corpse of the Omen of a Hundred Phases and the bodily fluids of the Black King. He would first artificially create a few wild Black King clans to confuse the public, then harvest souls in secret to complete the sacrifice, draw the gaze of the Crimson Moon, resurrect the Omen of a Hundred Phases, and become its master.

That way, he could become a great general under the White King, take revenge on the Yellow King, and prove his worth.

But... first, the accidental death of his subordinate led to the loss of a fifth of the container, then this inexplicable magical girl appeared, and he was discovered by the Administration Bureau. After finally retrieving the container, he was suddenly crushed in terms of power. It could be said that nothing had gone smoothly since the very beginning.

Is this the limit of his own ability? Lu Yuan showed a self-deprecating smile. Perhaps, with his capabilities, he could never truly compete with those gifted talents, and his value was far inferior to real precious jade.

But, since he was a total failure, there was no problem with going out in one final, insane blaze of glory, right? He was sick of order, rules, and steps.

Next, it was his own time!

"BOOM!!!"

Amidst a thunderous roar, giant claws made of earth and stone—dozens of meters in size and resembling skyscrapers—erupted from beneath Lu Yuan's feet, forcibly blocking the Record of Gouque.

Mo Mo let out a sigh of relief: "Finally, you couldn't help but use the power of the Star Convergence stage."

The third stage of the Tyrant's Grasp involved condensing matter with invisible hands to turn them into more terrifying, tangible ones. That was the giant earth-and-stone claw before her. The terrifying mass brought with it immense power. The Record of Gouque tore through dozens of meters of deep rock, but eventually, under the pressure of countless tons of reinforced concrete, it stopped before Lu Yuan and retreated in defeat.

However, facing Lu Yuan's sudden rise, Mo Mo was not worried.

You used Star Convergence-level power, right? Then prepare to die.

From above the firmament, the hunter who had long been prepared finally fired the arrow that pierced the heavens. A meteor streaked across the sky. It descended from the dark night, fast—incredibly fast. That slender, flowing light, like the trail of a shooting star, arrived in the mortal world from the other shore.

Meteor Strike!

It perfectly pierced Lu Yuan's heart. The hunter had completed the hunt.

It was just that simple—one shot, one kill. Anything that couldn't be killed instantly would be dealt with personally by the big guys in a pleasant little chat.

The giant earth-and-stone claws that had been summoned in an instant collapsed with a crash, like an abandoned old building crumbling into worthless debris under the weight of an excavator. Mo Mo stepped onto the ruins to rummage through Lu Yuan's corpse. However, after finishing the "civil engineering" with the Alaya Consciousness, Mo Mo froze.

Lu Yuan was not dead.

A basketball-sized hole had been shot through his chest; his heart and spine had vanished into dust, and not even a drop of blood flowed out. Yet, Lu Yuan's face still wore a glaring, savage grin. Within his scarlet mouth, he slowly swallowed five fingers.

Mo Mo: "!"

She leaped away almost instantly, running toward Mo Bai: "Brother! Run!"

"This lunatic, he swallowed the shit whole!!!"

Mo Bai: "?"

Although he didn't know what had happened, he seemed to realize how insane Lu Yuan's actions were. So, he started running too.

Without performing the soul infusion or the resurrection sacrifice, swallowing the finger of the Omen of a Hundred Phases directly to become one with it—such a crude act would trigger a horrific curse. Lu Yuan would bear it all, falling into a true monster. What stood there was no longer the real Lu Yuan, but a monster that had once been known as Lu Yuan.

It was no longer on the hunter's list.

"Run, run..."

"The final madness of a life must, of course, end with a feast of the harvest."

The distorted consciousness belonging to the Omen of a Hundred Phases gradually eroded Lu Yuan's remaining sanity. His body began to swell and twist; in the blink of an eye, that broken frame transformed into a colossal tumor of flesh. Upon this tumor were the horns of a bull, the maw of a crocodile, the fangs of a tiger, the wings of a bat, the feathers of a bird, the trunk of an elephant, and invisible giant hands...

This was the body of the Omen of a Hundred Phases. Of course, at this moment, the Omen of a Hundred Phases was still dead; it needed the illumination of the Red Moon to stir its desire for survival.

Lu Yuan used his last bit of consciousness to control this massive monster, reaching out toward the sky. The flower bud given by the White King, capable of attracting the gaze of the Crimson Moon, bloomed upon the Omen of a Hundred Phases.

It was so beautiful, bewitching, and twisted.

"Come, come, please accept this mad desire of mine, oh Red Moon..."

The face on the Omen of a Hundred Phases, which resembled Lu Yuan, issued a desperate prayer. The crimson color covered the pale moon. It revealed a satisfied smile.

But soon, that smile became incredibly dull.

The Red Moon was not looking at it. It did not grant even a sliver of moonlight. It was simply gazing at a certain man, empty of all else. It was completely intoxicated, completely joyful. In the face of his value, the heavens and earth were of no importance to it.

Under the embrace of the crimson moonlight, Mo Bai collapsed to the ground with a thud.

He had fallen asleep.

Under the Red Moon.