The oases and worlds of Starfire City, Burning Flame City, and Blue Star... all were incredibly peaceful at this moment.
This was because, after enduring countless hardships and making innumerable sacrifices, they had finally slain those unfathomable evil gods, bringing peace to the uncanny realm.
This grand event was now etched into history.
The ancient ones were firsthand witnesses to the God-Slaying War.
Countless ordinary people and beings cheered, emerging from their shelters to welcome a new era and a new life.
An Jianyou planned to go on a trip.
Hei Dao found himself restless when he had free time.
Others were still recovering from injuries and the toll of the war against the evil gods.
But without exception, everyone was in high spirits; the immense dread that had hung over them had finally vanished.
Fang You felt the same way.
His memories, his common sense, his sanity, his perceptions all told him that the war was over, and he could now begin a relaxed and leisurely retirement.
But why couldn't he feel happy at all?
He felt a dissonance; something was definitely wrong!
"But what exactly is wrong?"
Fang You gazed out at the red moon beyond the window, its appearance alien, magnificent, and blood-red. It had always been there, as it had been since antiquity.
In ancient times, Blue Star had many poets who composed verses about the red moon.
Raising a cup to invite the red moon! The red moon rises from the sea! When will the red moon appear!
Many even offered sacrifices, praying for the blessings of the Red Moon Niangniang.
This was common knowledge etched into memory and soul; it could not be wrong.
But,
"How do I vaguely recall that the moon waxes and wanes, and that the red moon should also set and rise? Moreover, this world should have a cycle of day and night, with sunsets and sunrises."
There should be light!
Yet, three days and three nights had passed since the 'God-Slaying War', and the red moon remained unchanged, as if eternal.
"The red moon has always been an eternal existence."
"No, that's not right... No, it is right."
"Wait, three days and three nights?" Fang You murmured, "Since the red moon is unchanging throughout the ages, then what constitutes day and night? No, something is indeed wrong..."
Wake up! Wake up!
One after another, Authority Gems materialized, and the Authority powers of Chi Yan, Liu Feng, and others were augmented upon himself.
Fang You's mind gradually cleared... no, it became more chaotic.
Two intertwining voices seemed to echo in his mind.
One chanted the purity of the red moon, the other spoke of its falsehood.
Previously, false common sense had occupied his entire mind; he vaguely felt something was wrong but couldn't recall what.
Now, he had discovered two possibilities, but he couldn't be certain which was true and which was false.
Perhaps he had been contaminated by the evil gods during the God-Slaying War, leading to the notion of the red moon's falsehood.
He was in disarray.
...Was he truly in disarray?
"Gate of Infinity."
Fang You whispered softly, and an invisible ripple slowly unfurled.
Within the world of the Gate of Infinity, he had stored the power he had accumulated over 'several hundred years'—spears filled with destructive power, even integrating multiple Authority powers.
The Gate of Infinity could store more than just divine spears, but to slay gods, he had focused all his abilities on offense.
Besides these weapons imbued with destructive power, the Infinite World also contained vast clusters of belief light, as numerous as stars.
These condensed the wishes of countless people from Shuize Base City, Blue Star, and the oases of the uncanny realm, who desired to slay the evil gods and break through the long night.
The wishes of innumerable beings!
And at this moment, the long night had not yet been broken!
"We have not yet won."
"The evil gods still exist."
He gazed at the red moon in the night sky, his pupils gradually clearing.
He understood everything!
"Panel."
Hum—
The familiar interface unfolded before Fang You's eyes.
"Destiny Draw," "Apostle List," "Mission Dispatch"... numerous sections were precisely as before.
"As expected, this is not an illusion."
"It was the Crimson Moon that, after devouring Black River and Twilight of the Old Days, manipulated the timeline with great means and distorted the common sense of all sentient beings in the universe."
At first hearing this, it was terrifying and despair-inducing, but Fang You quickly calmed down after some thought.
"As long as one is alive, there is hope; those clusters of belief light within the Gate of Infinity are unwilling to give up either."
He began to recall.
Fuzzy, obscured memories resurfaced.
Previously, the battle between the Crimson Moon and Twisted Black River had reached its most critical juncture. The Red Moon had planted a contingency within the Old Days to heavily wound the Black River that sought to devour it.
It broke the stalemate and absorbed the original powers of various evil gods, consolidating them into itself.
"This contingency might have been planted by the Crimson Moon tens of thousands of years ago, or even earlier."
"But the Crimson Moon forcibly devouring Black River and the Old Days must have come at a great cost."
Otherwise, they wouldn't still be alive!
When the Crimson Moon manipulated the timeline, why didn't it erase them all? Because it couldn't!
"Because the Crimson Moon is not yet a Primordial Evil God. It has devoured the Nether Lord of Extreme Night, Twilight of the Old Days, Twisted Black River, Mother of Desire, and Shadow of Obscurity. It has devoured five evil gods..."
"Furthermore, perhaps in that God-Slaying War tens of thousands of years ago, or the Twilight of the Gods even earlier, the Red Moon and Black River each devoured an evil god."
This was the source of their power that surpassed other evil gods.
In other words, this Crimson Moon, an evil god, had gathered the power of eight units of evil gods, including itself.
It would soon be complete, lacking only...
"The last one."
"However, it is injured, and it may also require time to completely digest the power of other evil gods. Therefore, it cleverly manipulated the timeline, bringing the world into a brief period of peace, but it is clear that it will not be long before the Red Moon recovers, devours the last evil god, and reclaims the status of a Primordial Evil God."
This was merely Fang You's speculation.
But it was enough; he could not allow the false red moon to exist indefinitely.
"Now, there is one more problem: how to awaken Hei Dao and the others."
Fang You's first thought went to Fang Liuyi and the consciousness of Blue Star.
The former was closely linked to the World Tree and possessed a naturally high status; the latter was even more so.
The consciousness of Blue Star had not been born for long and was still quite immature, but it was the being with the highest status!
Hum—
Fang You passed through the secret realm passage and returned to Blue Star in a few steps.
Blue Star was also in a perpetual night, with a red moon hanging high. However, the uncanny beings outside the city were not numerous; they were at the level seen only during the third tide of disaster. After all, Blue Star was a super world, and its crystal walls were strong enough to isolate most evil divine filth.
As soon as Fang You arrived, a gentle breeze caressed him, rubbing against his face like a kitten.
He knew this was the consciousness of Blue Star.
The consciousness of Blue Star could manifest as a human form to walk the world, or it could transform into a gust of wind, a ray of light, or a drop of water; it was ubiquitous.
But at this moment, the consciousness of Blue Star conveyed a sense of confusion to him.
It was bewildered.
"Woooo—" The wind swirled aimlessly.
The status of the consciousness of Blue Star was higher than his; it had clearly discovered the dissonance but did not know how to break it.
Fang You transmitted the truth.
The wind stopped, and faintly, a human figure could be seen outlined in the wind. Its eyes were wide.
It looked at him, then at the red moon.
"This sky is false!"
"We are still under the shroud of the evil gods."
"Woooo—"
Awakening the consciousness of Blue Star was easy, but awakening others was much more difficult.
Fang You opened his panel and scrolled to the Destiny Apostle section.
"Destiny Guidance."
"Cultivation."
"Communication."
"Skill Fusion."
Destiny Guidance was awakening.
Hei Dao, An Jianyou, and the others were all at the Root Realm, meaning they had nothing more to awaken. However, this did not mean that Destiny Guidance could not be used.
It could still be used, but it would have little effect.
During Destiny Guidance, it was like a sudden enlightenment, like a celestial being patting one's head.
Fang You selected An Jianyou's avatar and, with the power of destiny, delivered a blow to the girl's head.
Hum—
In An Jianyou's home in Shuize City.
She vaguely sensed the descending power of destiny, pondering if her mentor had something to discuss, and then her whole body trembled, trembled again, and her pupils widened in shock.
"Red Moon..."
"The timeline has been altered; if not for my mentor, I would have been completely unaware!"
Sister An felt ashamed.
Yiluoxi pushed the door open. "Youyou, we've been waiting for you..."
Before she could finish, she was grabbed by An Jianyou.
"The situation is urgent, let's hurry back to headquarters."
Wait, wait, what's the situation, hey!
...
One person, two people, three people...
Awakening An Jianyou, Hei Dao, Chi Yan, and the others was not difficult.
After all, their status was not low, and they had some understanding of the power of time. When external forces entered, they awakened instantly.
"We... we failed?" Xing Jinglei punched himself hard.
"What do we do now?" Liu Feng, with white temples, frowned.
Yiluoxi wanted to say something boastful, but realizing she was still injured, her mouth pouted.
Fang You spoke:
"It's simple, continue slaying gods."
"Looking at it optimistically, this should be the final battle."
"Find the Crimson Moon and slay it!"
Fang You did not need to comfort them; none of the core powerhouses like An Jianyou feared evil gods. Their frowns were merely from just awakening and being a bit disoriented.
When facing beings like evil gods, there was only battle.
As for a safe route, that did not exist.
However, while their core powerhouses were fearless, it did not mean the ancient ones were not afraid.
The power of the ancient ones was not weak; the power of laws wielded by those in the Ninth Realm already had the qualification to harm evil gods, even if only a little.
There were also the elites of the Sacred Flame.
However, awakening everyone would be quite difficult.
...
That night.
Under the guise of a banquet, Fang You invited the various ancient ones to Blue Star and had the consciousness of Blue Star, Xiao Lan, open the external passage.
At the same time, he also gathered all the elites of the Sacred Flame.
Numerous powerhouses converged within the world of Blue Star.
"World Tree, purification."
"Blue Star's power, descend."
The ancient and majestic World Tree diffused a pure white world domain, and heavenly sounds echoed in the sky above the Blue Star world.
The ancient ones were startled at first, then their brows furrowed, their expressions changing back and forth.
After a long while, they gazed at the red moon, their eyes filled with confusion and dread.
"Crimson Moon!"
...
"Since you have all awakened, I will be brief."
In Blue Star, the banquet venue was eerily silent, with only Fang You's voice echoing.
He recounted his previous speculation about the state of the Crimson Moon.
Finally, he said,
"I intend to restart the God-Slaying War."
"This time, we will take the initiative and slay the gods with our own hands."
Some ancient ones opened their mouths, then closed them.
Da Ri Shen Zun recalled the scenes from before and finally said, "Mentor, what do you want us to do?"
"Ascend to the Red Moon and slay the Crimson Moon's true form."
He paused, then continued, "The Crimson Moon's true form does not exist in the present world; this is why the filth has not spread."
In the sky, the red moon was bloodily alien.
"The Red Moon is everywhere, yet it has never truly existed."
"Its true form is hidden at the end of the gray fog."
...
Above the gray fog, gray waves surged, rising and falling.
Even with the help of the consciousness of Blue Star, Fang You spent a considerable amount of time finally parting the layers of gray fog to reach the true Red Moon.
"This... is too big!"
The Red Moon was as vast as thousands of great domains, far more expansive than the protected area of the oasis walls.
"This is indeed the Red Moon, but not entirely. It is a world, a world that is growing and might evolve into a universe in the future!"
"The true form of the Crimson Moon is somewhere in the Red Moon world."
Even though Fang You's full-force strike could shatter several great domains and affect dozens of them, within the Red Moon world, it could only shatter small areas, making it insignificant to the vast Red Moon.
"We need to find the Red Moon's true form."
"At the same time, we must try to injure the uncanny beings within the Red Moon world; this can weaken its power slightly."
High-ranking uncanny beings were found everywhere on the Red Moon.
There were even uncanny beings beyond the high rank, comparable to the Tenth Realm.
In the distance, a giant, crimson-pink tree stood, alluring and majestic.
A black river surged from the Red Moon, stretching into the unknown.
There were too many great horrors here.
The only reassuring thing was that the filth here was not as terrifying, as if the evil gods were in a deep slumber.
"But there are too many uncanny beings here, and our power is limited."
"Perhaps the reason the uncanny realm has become safe is that all sorts of dangerous great horrors are concentrated on the Red Moon."
"Then let's establish a stronghold on the Red Moon and, with the full might of the Sacred Flame, launch an expedition to the Red Moon!"
Fang You walked alone, disappearing into the vast red fog.
At the same time,
Within the Red Moon world, in an area where the red fog was relatively sparse, Liu Shang planted a patch of oasis and summoned a projection of the World Tree.
With the convergence of the World Tree and Blue Star's power from afar, a secret realm passage finally slowly opened.
On Blue Star, Sacred Flame elites stood in formation, one after another.
They all understood what they were about to face.
It was an evil god.
They would face an evil god directly.
"But what is there to fear?"
"We have cultivated for so many years, isn't it all to fight evil gods! Let's F*** them!"
"The night is long, and we will tear open the light!"
"Sacred Flame is passed down, humanity endures forever!"
"Let's go, howl!"
Blue Star's power descended, bestowing blessings upon everyone.
The fully prepared Sacred Flame elites stepped through the gate of time and space, their figures disappearing within.
"Damn! If we were also mythical beings, we could join the expeditionary force."
"Everyone must return safely!"
The night was long, and there would be no more light.
But the people of Sacred Flame, holding torches, broke into it, one by one, passing on the torch, like a continuous river of fireflies.
The star river was brilliant, as if illuminating the night sky.
It also illuminated the faces of those who looked up at the stars.