In the instant when Princess Mingmei's finger fell, the voices from the past echoed in the present moment. At the same time, the heir also exerted his authority.
Different from Mingmei, the heir's authority was to alter perceptions.
Not only could he change the perceptions of living beings, but he could also alter the attributes of rules and laws, and even change the thoughts of everything in heaven and earth!
By changing the perceptions of all living beings, influencing the laws of heaven and earth, and then achieving his himseas, at this moment, making even the Heavenly Dao turn a blind eye and causing the gods to momentarily lose their vision.
This made it impossible to see what was happening in this area.
It also included the Red Moon Shrine.
This authority was too terrifying. It was a pity that even though the heir demonstrated it to such an extent, despite being a Soul Accumulation cultivator, he was at most confident that he could sustain absolute control for ten breaths of time.
If it was anyone else, ten breaths wouldn't be enough.
However, this didn't include Mingmei.
The River of Time flowed between her fingers and everything in the village became hazy.
One could vaguely see children, adults, and old people among them.
The densely-packed figures in the entire village were like a video that was constantly playing.
The nursery rhyme also drifted over and over again.
All of this continued to be dragged out. Ten breaths should have passed but in reality, everything that happened was completed in three breaths of time.
It was as though someone had compressed all the information and forcefully limited it to three breaths of time.
This method formed a frightening sense of collapse. If an outsider stood in Xu Qing's position and didn't have a god's body or his cultivation wasn't high enough, his soul would collapse at this moment.
This was Princess Mingmei, who had the most stunning aptitude among the children of the ruler before Ninth Brother was born. She was even praised by the ancient sovereign.
When Xu Qing saw this, his expression changed.
"Time…"
A strange glint appeared in Xu Qing's eyes. The moment he looked at Princess Mingmei, the soul-stirring murmurs from all creatures in the village turned into rumbling sounds. As their nursery rhyme continued to echo, it formed a dreamy figure in the world.
This figure seemed to be a woman. Her back was facing all creatures and her head was lowered as though she was crying.
On her body, one could see countless souls biting and tearing. While her flesh was badly mangled, there were also red chains that bound her.
Her figure was blurry, and so were the iron chains. They didn't exist in the world and only existed in the nursery rhyme.
At that moment, although she was revealed, she continued to distort and dissipate. It was as though she wouldn't last long.
"Xu Qing."
Princess Mingmei's voice entered Xu Qing's mind. Xu Qing didn't hesitate at all. The power of the Purple Moon in his body erupted completely at this moment and the power of the Red Moon's power also rose.
A blood-red light spread out from his entire body and countless drops of blood rapidly rose into the air. Under Princess Mingmei's wave of her hand, this blood headed straight for the nursery rhyme.
In the blink of an eye, blood enveloped the hazy scene and dyed everything red, freezing the crying figure from the void into reality.
At this moment, illusion and reality seemed to overlap.
The fluctuations caused by this overlapping were intense. As the entire scene trembled, the red iron chains also began to shake intensely. Finally, with cracking sounds, gaps that were about to break appeared one after another.
Finally, with a step from Princess Mingmei, she walked from reality into the dreamy scene. She walked to the crying figure and hugged her.
"Fifth Sister, don't cry. I'll bring you home."
The crying figure trembled violently and the iron chains that had cracks shattered.
All the souls wailed and died.
The tenth breath had arrived.
The heir's figure disappeared and Xu Qing's figure dissipated. The dreamy scene in the world also disappeared.
It was as though the River of Time had never appeared. It was the same for those souls. Everything returned to normal. As for the residents who walked out of the village, although they looked a little dazed, they quickly became numb again.
The only difference was that the children's nursery rhyme had changed.
"Cloth doll, cloth doll, big eyes and black hair, I'll bring you home."
"Cloth doll, cloth doll, don't be afraid of the thunder in the sky, always be happy and smile, ha ha."
…
The Door Race was an extremely special race in the Moon Worship Region.
This race didn't have its own territory, and whether or not a member reached adulthood depended on whether they found their own door within the Door Tomb.
Once they found it, they would have to wander around in the Moon Worship Region.
This lasted until they had gone to all the places and all the areas they could go to.
This was their custom, as well as their way of survival. It was also a cultivation method.
No one knew why the Door Race was like this. Even they didn't understand. This was their instinct.
There was another special thing about this race, and that was… every time the Crimson Goddess, Red Moon, arrived, their bodies would perish. However, the door on their backs wouldn't disappear.
Moreover, every time before the Crimson Goddess arrived, this race would be calmer than the other races. The clansmen would return to the same place from all directions one after another and put down their doors there.
This place was known as the Door Tomb by this race.
The Door Tomb was located in a vast canyon in the eastern part of the Moon Worship Region. Outsiders referred to it as an abyss because this canyon was not only astonishingly long but also of unknown depth.
In this canyon and the abyss, there were countless doors of various sizes, styles, shapes, and materials.
The sense of decay spread here and didn't dissipate.
And cultivators were also unwilling to come here because both inside and outside this canyon, there were too many mysterious occurrences, and cases of disappearance were also numerous.
However, at that moment, four figures appeared on the canyon's rock wall.
Two old grannies and an old grandfather. As for the fourth… it was Xu Qing.
Today was the fourth day since they left the Black Centipede Mountain.
Compared to Princess Mingmei, the other old granny was much thinner. She was dressed in a black robe, with high cheekbones. Her entire demeanor didn't exude kindness but rather a sense of sharpness.
There was also a hint of dense gloominess.
Every time she looked at the heir, the gloominess would deepen. Only when she faced Princess Mingmei would a hint of warmth appear on her face.
Also, when it came to Xu Qing, her gloominess would be much less. It was replaced by the kindness of an elder looking at a junior.
Xu Qing could feel that the old lady in the black robe seemed not adept at expressing kind emotions. Her amiability, in this context, was already a deliberate effort.
"Eighth Brother was sealed here."
"He was sealed in an ancient door and that door was broken into countless pieces. Hence, there was the Door Race in this world."
"The Door Race doesn't have a territory, but the doors do."
"To be precise, the members of the sects aren't those cultivators but these doors."
"This is the doors' territory."
"Every door is a part of Eighth Brother. Every time someone teleports through them, it consumes Eighth Brother's soul."
"This consumption will form an invisible karma which will continue to torture Eighth Brother…"
On the rock wall, the heir spoke softly.
Princess Mingmei's gaze landed at the foot of the canyon. At the side, Grandma Five let out a cold snort gloomily and ignored the heir.
There evidently had been some conflicts between the two, and though Xu Qing didn't know the reasons, he could discern a sense of guilt in the heir's expression.
At the same time, he listened to the heir's words and thought about how he had once been just a step away from using the teleportation of the Door Race.
Now that he thought about it, it seemed that at that time… the heir had deliberately stopped him from stepping in.
"Therefore, it's a little difficult for me and Third Sister to undo Eighth Brother's seal by ourselves. My youngest sister, we need the power of your authority…" The heir looked at his fifth sister and his voice became gentler.
The black-robed granny coldly looked at the heir and didn't speak.
At the side, Princess Mingmei sighed and held Fifth Sister's hand.
The black-robed old granny fell silent. After a long time, she nodded.
The heir sighed inwardly but he still perked up. Just like before, he was in charge of covering all the fluctuations. Princess Mingmei would enter the canyon and take out the ancient door that sealed their eighth brother.
"Kid, give me a drop of your Purple Moon blood."
Before she left, Princess Mingmei looked at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing didn't hesitate at all. He immediately released the power of the Purple Moon and transformed it into a sea of blood, giving a lot.
This approach made Princess Mingmei smile, and the black-robed old lady also nodded secretly. When she looked at Xu Qing, the feeling of kindness became more natural.
Taking Xu Qing's Purple Moon blood, Princess Mingmei headed straight for the canyon below. After she left, the rock wall instantly became silent.
The black-robed granny didn't say a word. The heir didn't know what to say, so he looked at Xu Qing.
"Kid, you've had some leisure these days. On the way back, you can't use the power of the Purple Moon. You have to rely on your own strength to walk back."
"Bullsh*t!" The black-robed granny snorted coldly.
When the heir heard this, he smiled bitterly and looked at his fifth sister.
"Little Sister…"
"Shut up!"
The heir raised his eyebrows, somewhat angry, but as he looked at his sister and sensed her weakened aura, he sighed again. He blended his anger into his gaze and directed it toward where Xu Qing was.
Xu Qing blinked and moved closer to the black-robed old granny. At this moment, a rumbling sound rang out from the canyon. As the earth quaked and the mountains swayed, the heir also retracted his thoughts. He waved his hand and influenced the world. When it transformed into a cover, the sounds at the bottom of the canyon became even more shocking.
Vaguely, there were countless wails echoing and frightening fluctuations spread out.
This fluctuation was so strong that not only did it shake the canyon, but a large number of cracks also appeared on the rock wall below. As it continued to shatter, countless gravel fell off.
As Xu Qing slightly sensed, an endless sense of danger enveloped his entire body. He could imagine that within the canyon, there must be an extreme level of terror.
However, it was obvious that these were nothing to Princess Mingmei.
After a while, the fluctuations ceased, and Princess Mingmei's figure appeared on the rock wall without a sound, appearing relaxed, with no traces of having taken any action.
In her hand was a palm-sized fragment of wood. She waved her hand and it floated in the air.
"The ancient door that sealed Eighth Brother has completely shattered and it's difficult for it to form a carrier. I collected dust below and molded it in the river of time, but this is the best I could create."
An ancient sense of vicissitudes spread out from the wooden fragment.
Xu Qing sensed it and instinctively looked at the black-robed old granny.
He wanted to know what the other party's power was.
The black-robed old granny stared at the wooden fragment. She lifted her withered right index finger that seemed unable to recover on its own and gently tapped it.
In just a moment, her body clearly aged even more. However, the wooden fragment trembled intensely and began to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye!
It continued to grow and spread. In just five breaths of time, it formed an ancient door that stood between heaven and earth.
The black door frame and white door were intricately carved with complex vine patterns. Especially on the door, those carved vines intertwined to form a gray morning glory flower.
This flower looked demonic and had the power to shake souls.
Waves of ancient aura spread out, forming a pressure that shattered the surrounding void.
The moment the wooden door appeared, there was an intense knock on the door.
Bang, bang, bang!
It was like thunder rumbling.
"My power is not cultivated; it is innate, capable of rejuvenating all things. However, it is irreversible for myself."
The black-robed old lady turned her head to look at Xu Qing and spoke with a hoarse voice.
