novelraw Chapter 114 : Under the Blood Moon
Chapter 114 : Under the Blood Moon
Chapter 114: Under the Blood Moon
All things were silently shattering. That blood moon gleamed with a demonic light, its reflection staining the black sea waters scarlet.
Beside that abhorrent blood moon hung a strange blood star, glowing faintly as it greedily licked at the last vestiges of life in the world, intent on dragging everything into the boundless Hell of Eight Sufferings.
“Go!”
Lu Changyuan’s voice pierced through the suffocating oppression and reached Red Fox’s ears.
Hope had not yet completely gone out. The Destined Heavenly Dao had already descended, merely seized first by the Blood Demon. If they could escape now—just delay for a short while—once Red Fox and the Nether Lord succeeded in receiving their rightful heavenly titles, this near-death crisis could instantly be reversed.
Red Fox said nothing. Her demonic energy burst forth with unprecedented intensity, crimson light surging as she wrapped Lu Changyuan and the unconscious Nether Lord within it, transforming into a streak of light in an attempt to flee.
But the pitch-black sky became a barrier, blocking her path forward. A strange force appeared from nowhere and smashed her down violently.
In that instant—
Lu Changyuan’s body cracked apart inch by inch without warning. Blood mist spurted from every pore; he looked as though he had become a being made entirely of blood—just like the Nether Lord.
The blood had begun to devour its own master.
No matter how frantically Lu Changyuan circulated his cultivation method, no matter how desperately he tried to regain control of his body, the internal rebellion stripped him of all dominance, as if this body no longer belonged to him.
His right hand suddenly exploded. Amid the blur of blood and flesh, the sword Severed Thought, which he had been tightly gripping, fell to the ground with a clang.
He turned to Red Fox. “You—”
Her face, too, went pale in an instant. Her form changed into a blood-red fox, her large tails withering as fresh blood seeped from them.
“Ugh!”
A muffled groan escaped her. A mouthful of blood spurted forth, and when it struck the ground, it twisted and solidified into the shape of a sword, its reversed edge pointing directly at her—its former master.
Red Fox’s voice was as frail as withered grass. “We can’t escape…”
The three of them—like stranded fish—struggled on the parched edge of death before falling together from the repressive heavens.
“Why… have you stopped running?”
The black-robed Blood Demon shed its robe. What remained was a worm made of thousands of writhing blood threads, eyeless and grotesque. It crawled toward the two of them.
Red Fox’s fur bristled as she pounced forward, her nails elongating into claws that slashed toward the worm.
Bang!
Before she could even reach the Blood Demon, a series of explosions echoed. Her strike carried little power—it didn’t even cut through the Blood Demon’s blood threads.
Boom!
In the next moment, Red Fox fell to the ground, leaving a massive crater in her wake. Blood was being forcibly drawn from her body.
“Our kind…”
The worm split open a gaping mouth, the stench of its teeth and fetid breath corroding Lu Changyuan’s sanity.
“…has succeeded.”
Amid the garbled, chaotic syllables, Lu Changyuan barely understood its meaning.
But he no longer had any strength left.
His blood was out of control. He could not even move his limbs, and the worm’s gaping maw was already upon him, ready to swallow him whole.
Lu Changyuan couldn’t help recalling an old tale—of a man swallowed by a demon who, once inside its belly, stabbed wildly until he tore it open and survived.
Ha.
What was he even thinking?
“Wake up, my little Monarch…”
Lu Changyuan brushed his hand over the girl’s cheek. The blood belonging to Feather traced the shape of a crescent moon across her face.
“If you don’t wake soon, we’re both done for.”
In his pupils, the monstrous fangs and wriggling body drew ever closer, their shrill screeches filling the air, impatient for the taste of flesh and blood.
A piercing shriek tore through the air as the gaping mouth suddenly snapped shut!
Darkness devoured everything.
As though eternal death had arrived.
Then, from within that pitch-black maw, a faint light began to pierce through.
A furious voice resounded—
“Do not—”
A bloodstained hand forced the Blood Demon’s mouth open.
It was the hand of a girl.
Black dress, black hair, her face smeared with blood, eyes shining like gold. Nether energy surged around her like roaring tides—she looked every bit the Monarch of the Nine Nether Abyss reborn.
No—she was the Monarch.
The deathly King once more ruled over death—and over her own.
At the boundary between life and death, the Monarch of Hell rose anew from decay, her loneliness born of obsession overcoming the trembling of blood.
Her voice was like a divine command, binding every movement of her enemy.
“Do—not—steal—my—destiny!!!”
A massive Gate of the Death Path suddenly took form in the air, descending like a fallen star before crashing heavily onto the Blood Demon’s body.
The taste of death.
The taste of life.
Memories of the past and fragments of the future intertwined, flooding her senses and bringing dizzying vertigo.
Death had come—and with it, that familiar loneliness that belonged only to her.
Was the end of loneliness… death itself?
“You must eat well, sleep well, and live well too.”
Granny Long’s aged yet gentle voice still seemed to echo in her ears.
The Nether Lord remembered, and so she had always taken good care of herself—so well that her cultivation had reached the very threshold of Jade Radiance, lacking only her final coronation.
Yet no matter how well she cared for herself, those who were gone would never return. She cultivated the Dao of Death, so she understood better than anyone the helplessness and irreversibility of it.
A cold, rainy night entered her memory.
Ming had traveled thousands of miles to return to the tribe she remembered.
She had brought back a precious firestone—enough for the tribe to survive the coming harsh winter.
Yet what awaited her were only the sorrowful faces of passing humans and their trembling voices: “Don’t go, Ming… Half a month ago, the Ape Clan found this place…”
The girl did not believe them. Cradling the warm Red Fox in her arms, she ran madly toward the tribe through the bitter rain.
The scent of blood grew heavier and heavier, devouring her final sliver of hope.
At last—
When she stood at the entrance of the tribe and looked upon what once was home, she could only kneel weakly to the ground.
There was nothing left. The empty settlement carried only the nauseating stench of blood, slowly dissolving in the rain.
The rain struck her face. Her tears had long since dried—what flowed now was blood.
The Nether Lord said to Red Fox, “I will bring them back.”
Red Fox exclaimed in disbelief, “You’re insane!”
The girl wanted to build a great kingdom, to preserve all lingering thoughts within it—even though she knew that the lives born from decay would no longer be the people she once knew.
The royal clan had only her left. Granny Long had died before her eyes, and now even the last thing she could call home was reduced to ashes.
She had nothing left.
The girl and Red Fox depended on each other. When both reached the Sixth Realm, Red Fox returned to the Demon Clan, and the Nether Lord was once again alone.
What in this world could still serve as her anchor?
A Guardian Spirit.
Yes—a Guardian Spirit.
On her way back to the Nether Kingdom, the girl suddenly remembered—she still had a Guardian Spirit, a privilege of the royal bloodline, a being equivalent to half of her own self.
How could she have forgotten? Soon, through a damaged formation, she summoned a young man.
A human—and one somehow deeply connected to her. The Nether Lord paid no mind to the dense aura of time surrounding him, nor to his strange cultivation level.
None of that mattered. He was *her* Guardian Spirit—and that alone was enough.
Granny Long once told her, “Humans are actually very envious of birds. They can freely soar through the sky and go to higher places.”
So the girl smiled—a smile from the depths of her heart. She said, “Feather, from now on, your name shall be Feather.”
He was the last person she was connected to—the one who mattered most—and also the one who could become her wings, bearing her loneliness.
How wonderful.
She was not of the human race, but her Guardian Spirit was.
Golden brilliance appeared once more before the Nether Lord’s eyes, gradually condensing into a vast golden form.
Majestic, radiant—that was Heaven’s Dao, descending into the Nether Lord’s dream.
Heaven’s Dao said, “Your Guardian Spirit has defied the river of time. He must die. Afterwards, I will bestow upon you your title of respect and grant you the Dao of Death.”
The girl’s pupils turned icy cold. “No.”
Everything around me is already gone.
And now you would even take away my Guardian Spirit? You would strip me of this last remaining belonging?
Heaven’s Dao said, “Death is eternal, and eternity is always lonely. You have no need for a Guardian Spirit.”
The girl remained unresponsive for a moment, then suddenly rose and stepped toward the golden light. Her pale fingers forcefully pierced through that radiance.
Her voice was resolute, allowing no refutation. “Don’t you dare!”
I will never allow it!
The golden brilliance began to erode the girl’s skin, attempting to sever the bond between the Nether Lord and Lu Changyuan.
Warmth pressed against the girl’s back. One after another, departed souls began to form, turning into ethereal shadows that stood behind her in silent support.
The starlight in the Nether Lord’s eyes burst forth, then surged outward like a blazing wildfire, forcing the dazzling Heaven’s Dao out of her arm. She stepped forward.
A timeless drumbeat erupted.
The Nether Kingdom fully took shape.
This realm, founded by the Nether Lord—at first created merely as a keepsake for her memories—now materialized from imagination into reality at an incredible pace, and it crowned its master.
A flowing intent of Jade Radiance brushed across her moonlike celestial face. The girl extended her hand, and suddenly, within it appeared a dead, lifeless star.
“I will take it myself!”
Bang!
The dead star shattered in her grasp. The girl forcibly pulled the Dao of Death down from the heavens, then gently parted her pink lips and swallowed the star’s remnants.
The aura of Jade Radiance rose from her body. A beam of light emerged within her, rising slowly until it became a new star, hanging in the sky, filling the void left by the fallen one.
The Star of the Dao was born.
The Monarch opened her eyes.
In death, time did not flow—for death itself existed beyond time. Thus, when the girl opened her eyes, the enormous mouth had only just closed.
Bit by bit.
The gaping maw was pried open completely.
The pitch-black night was torn apart, and a dark sun rose into the sky, tyrannically bestowing death upon the Blood Moon.
The night that had once been a prison was now filled with endless nether energy. It churned and gathered, constructing a vast and majestic kingdom in midair. Along the shore, countless blood-colored Blossoms of the Other Shore broke through the earth, blooming freely and silently dancing beneath the night.
The Waters of the Nether River became the passage connecting the Nether Kingdom with the land.
The great mist returned.
All the death upon the Blood Demon was forcibly taken by the Nether Lord, transformed into the spirits of the Nether Kingdom. From beneath her feet, a colossal Bone Road took shape, leading straight to the gates of the Nether Kingdom.
This was the Path of Life of the Nether Kingdom.
Within the fog, the races slaughtered by Lu Changyuan, and the colossal clans devoured by the Blood Demon, began to move. Step by step, they advanced slowly, as if to kneel and worship their Monarch.
The vast Nether River carried the Path of Life along its current, finally rushing into the Nether Kingdom, completing its final law.
Heavenly Ladder ascended, Dao Star ignited, Jade Radiance attained.
At that moment, the Nether Lord did not even climb the Heavenly Ladder. The Nether River crowned her with its coronet and imperial robes. The robe, embroidered with the sun, moon, and stars of humanity, wrapped her slender form, while Lu Changyuan stood behind her, embracing her soft waist—as if becoming her wings.
“Suppress!”
The girl’s voice was calm, yet the Nether Kingdom in the heavens received the command, encasing and imprisoning the Blood Demon.
Familiar streets gradually formed. The Blood Demon stood bewildered before the Nether Palace, unable to sense where the Nether Lord’s Dao resided—or perhaps, her Dao was everywhere.
The Nether Kingdom itself was the Nether Lord’s Dao, and also her Jade Radiance technique.
At this moment, the Monarch stepped out of the Nether Palace, gazing calmly at the Blood Demon. Within the Nether Kingdom, the girl was an existence beyond all opposition.
Moreover, though both had reached Jade Radiance, the Blood Demon’s heavenly title was incomplete, whereas the girl before him had built the Nether Kingdom, created the Nether River, and ascended to Jade Radiance by her own power.
The worm’s body was full of holes. The Blood Demon tried once more to ignite the Monarch’s royal blood, but it was futile. The moment its Dao entered her body, it was judged dead—death in concept itself—rendering it powerless to control her.
The girl abandoned all weapons and, with one brutal punch after another, used the most direct and violent assault to pound the worm apart piece by piece.
Lu Changyuan seized the chance to circulate the Five Desires and Six Dusts Mind-Transforming Technique, absorbing the Blood Demon’s dissipating Dao. The raging blood within him gradually calmed, and even his previous wounds began to heal.
That enormous worm was beaten flat by the girl, its crushed body roaring in fury—yet before the roar could form, the Nether Lord’s fist struck again, silencing it.
Lu Changyuan watched the scene wide-eyed. It was brutally stunning—each small fist carried the trembling might of the Dao of Death, dragging the Blood Demon deeper into death itself. The Nether Lord continually tried to imbue the Blood Demon with layers of deathly intent.
Suddenly, the girl paused, then leapt lightly, carrying Lu Changyuan away from the center. The next instant, the Blood Demon’s massive body swelled explosively.
“It’s trying to detonate the Blood Path.”
The girl snorted coldly. A sword suffused with nether energy appeared in her hand, and she cleaved down with an unstoppable light.
The swollen Blood Demon was instantly split in two.
The left half lunged at the Nether Lord, while the right half fled into the distance.
Lu Changyuan frowned. “It’s trying to escape. Can we kill it?”
“It was formed from all members of the Blood Clan fused together—not a single lifeform, but a being united by blood contracts. To kill it, every one of those contracts must be destroyed.”
The Blood Demon was not easy to kill—especially now that it had reached Jade Radiance.
To truly kill it, one would need to grind away each blood contract bit by bit, erasing its endless regeneration until every drop of its blood was exhausted.
But the Nether Lord didn’t have that kind of time.
The girl spoke faintly, “Rise.”
Atop Mount Long, the massive “Ming” character carved long ago suddenly shone with dim light. It turned into two streams of brilliance that shot forth, imprinting themselves onto the two halves of the Blood Demon’s body!
With a soul-tearing shriek, the two halves were forcibly pulled together by invisible threads of fate, colliding violently before being pinned beneath the towering phantom of Mount Long—along with that enormous “Ming” character—sealed tightly beneath the mountain’s peak.
The piercing wails echoed through the clouds, unending, but in the end, they were firmly sealed by the nether energy.
The girl turned her head to look at Lu Changyuan, then smiled softly. “Whether you can fill yourself now depends on you.”
What?
Lu Changyuan blinked in confusion, but the girl gracefully approached him and reached out to caress his cheek.
【Time and space are rejecting you】
Thunder roared across the sky. The pressure closed in, crushingly intense, as though the world itself was squeezing him out.
Pop~
Lu Changyuan felt his lips moisten, tasting faintly of blood. The girl’s lips brushed his for an instant—so brief it felt like an illusion.
The Nether Lord spoke softly, “You and I were never meant to meet in this time.”
In the instant she ascended to Jade Radiance, she had seen many things.
“I told you that you mustn’t leave me. So next time we meet, our connection will be even stronger than before.”
Indeed.
The Devour-Heart Demon Mark—activated through the perfected Supreme Pure-Spirit Forget-Immortal Technique—was something even Lu Changyuan now could not undo. Even Qiu Yuehan would need countless years of cultivation to remove it.
Lu Changyuan wiped his mouth helplessly. “You already knew?”
“I knew from the beginning that you weren’t from this time,” the girl replied with a sly smile—a kind she had never shown before. “Next time we meet, I’ll be human.”
Lu Changyuan chuckled speechlessly.
The Nether Lord asked, “What do you think I should be called then? I’ve heard that in human tales, the full moon represents family reunion. So I’ll choose a name related to the moon.”
Yuehan… Yuehan…
Seeking the full moon, no longer cold and lonely.
Qiu Yuehan—a name born from solitude, longing for the warmth and togetherness symbolized by the round moon.
“I hope when we meet again, there will be clear wind and bright moon—not…” The girl bowed slightly, gazing into the distance. “Not this chaos where all races slaughter one another.”
Lu Changyuan opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, the “Ming” character behind him shone brightly. A massive gate appeared at his back.
Ming smiled and reached out, gently pushing Lu Changyuan into the gate.
“My Feather, you must know someone connected to time—she must be helping us.”
Who? The Little Fairy?
“Wait—”
The girl said, “Next, I’ll have to trouble you to save me again.”
Save you?
Save you? You’re already at Jade Radiance—who could possibly overpower you?
Wait, do you mean Qiu Yuehan?
At this moment, Qiu Yuehan should be playing with the Little Fairy on Heavenly Mountain. With Jiang Jiayi and that rebellious disciple watching over her, what trouble could she possibly be in?
The gate swallowed Lu Changyuan.