Chapter 715: Moon Wors.h.i.+pping
Setting Sun Island
Hong Bowen of the Blood Fiend Ten Elders took a letter from one of the item teleportation formations.
After taking a look, Hong Bowen’s expression changed. He ordered the members of Blood Fiend Sect in the surroundings, “Look after this place!”
“Elder, there are thirty thousand earth rank spirit stones in each of the ten bags, they should have been sent to trade for the Blazing Profound Bombs.” One person looked at the bags of spirit stones and asked, “What to do with them?”
“Store them for now, do not do anything,” Hong Bowen said gravely.
The members of Blood Fiend Sect wore expressions of surprise and suspicion. One of them asked, “Elder Hong, whose letter is it?”
“Qin Lie wrote it, but I do not recognize his writing. I need to go to Gray Island and ask Master Mo and Miss Tang to certify it,” Hong Bowen said.
“So it’s Island Master Qin! We understand!”
“I’m leaving this place to you!”
Hong Bowen hurriedly left.
A short while later, he descended above Gray Island. He headed directly to the area where Mo Hai and Tang Siqi were.
After a year, Gray Island had more towers, palaces, and storage rooms of various sizes to store spirit materials.
In this year, Gray Island’s development had been unstoppable. Through selling Blazing Profound Bombs, Gray Island acc.u.mulated an astounding amount of wealth.
Blood Fiend Sect helped them by purchasing enormous amounts of spirit materials from neighboring factions using the spirit stones. They trained new artificers, studied innovative ways of forging, supported the cultivation of the Blood Spear martial pract.i.tioners, and forged more Blazing Profound Bombs.
Gray Island was at least three times more developed than it had been when Armament Sect had come.
The Armament Sect disciples who came from the Scarlet Tide Continent with even the slightest knowledge of forging got their own stone tower. They were provided all of the forging materials, cauldrons, stoves, spirit material records that an artificer could possibly need. Gray Island had it all.
Without any exaggeration, Gray Island’s present wealth, scale, and skill at artifact forging surpa.s.sed Armament Sect at its peak.
Gray Island only lacked more forging talents. Time was needed to acc.u.mulate them.
Hong Bowen’s arrival alarmed Song Tingyu and Mo Hai. They immediately came out to welcome him and inquire about the situation.
“Qin Lie sent a letter but I do not recognize his writing. I hope that you can confirm it,” Hong Bowen explained.
“Miss Song, do you recognize Qin Lie’s writing?” Mo Hai asked urgently with an excited expression.
Song Tingyu’s expression was slightly dispirited and awkward. “I do not recognize it.”
“Then we can only wait for Siqi to come back,” Mo Hai said helplessly. “Siqi and Qin Lie forged together when they were at Armament Sect. She knows Qin Lie’s writing well. However, Siqi is studying an ancient spirit diagram currently, and I fear she will not come out soon. Elder Hong, how about you return later?”
“No problem, I can wait here for a while,” Hong Bowen said with a chuckle.
“Do you mind letting me read the letter?” Song Tingyu requested.
“Sure.” Hong Bowen handed over the letter and then waited on Gray Island for Tang Siqi to come out of seclusion.
What they didn’t know was their delay created great trouble for Qin Lie at Moonstone City.
Qin Lie was taken away in the night by the three female priestesses, Yue Ji, Ye Ji, and Shui Ji. They flew on a crescent-shaped flying spirit artifact directly out of the city.
The crescent s.h.i.+p was tens of times bigger than the crystalline war chariot, yet retained high speed despite its size and was much faster than other large flying spirit artifacts.
Under the moonlight, the s.h.i.+p made of moonstone looked like an another moon.
There were a dozen or so female on the s.h.i.+p other than Yue Ji, Ye Ji, and Shui Ji. They were also dressed in long silver robes and had beautiful and pale appearances.
Yue Ji’s cultivation was at the early stage of the Fragmentation Realm. Ye Ji and Shui Ji were at the late stage of the Fulfillment Realm. Adding on a dozen females in Netherpa.s.sage and Fulfillment Realm, their combined power was enough to keep Qin Lie in check.
Also, this area was under Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Palace’s control. Even if Yue Ji and the others could not hold Qin Lie, all they needed was to send a few messages and huge swaths of martial pract.i.tioners would come to help.
Because they had the confidence, Yue Ji only used one set of chains to restrain Qin Lie’s neck and hands. She didn’t restrain his power.
The true body of the Ice Phoenix was still on his back and hadn’t been taken off.
Qin Lie sat in a corner of the crescent s.h.i.+p with his head down and his eyes closed in rest.
He was recalling the rumors about Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Palace.
According to what he knew, Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Palace had great origins. Many years ago, before Terminator Sect had been founded, the Heavenly Silence Continent once had a powerful faction—Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Cult.
Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Cult had been dominating for a time. They wors.h.i.+pped the moon and used the moon as their symbol. At their strongest, their might reached Heavenly Calamity Continent and Heavenly Slaughter Continent.
In the era of Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Cult, they would wors.h.i.+p the moon every once in a while and hold a large and solemn ceremony.
Yue Ji, Ye Ji, Shui Ji, and the other priestesses of Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Cult were responsible for these matters.
Then, for some unknown reason, Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Cult started to decline. Terminator Sect’s soaring to power caused Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Cult to be replaced in the end.
Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Palace was a cadet branch that formed after Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Cult had broken apart. Even after so many years, Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Palace could not reach the past glory of Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Cult. They survived by submitting to Terminator Sect. However, the ancient ceremonial tradition of moon wors.h.i.+pping had been pa.s.sed down.
Due to this, even in the present Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Palace, there were people like Yue Ji, Ye Ji, and Shui Yi who were in charge of the ceremony.
Thinking about the rumors concerning Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Sect, Qin Lie was silent the entire way. The three females did not ask him anything during the trip.
The crescent s.h.i.+p flew out of the sky and flew under the night for a time to take Qin Lie into a mountain valley surrounded by tall mountain peaks.
The valley was in the shape of a crescent moon. The lake inside the valley reflected the moonlight and sunlight, causing the entire valley to be bright all day and all night.
There were many ancient stone pillars standing upright in the valley. The stone pillars were made from moonstone. They flashed with the engraved mysterious ancient symbols.
Buildings similar to Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Palace were scattered around the mountain valley. They were also bright as though they could enhance the light of the moon.
There was an enormous altar beside the lake with many sacrificial items such as goblets, jars, and animal bones on top.
“Take him up.” Yue Ji walked off the s.h.i.+p and ordered the group.
Several Netherpa.s.sage Realm females held Qin Lie by his shoulders and moved him to the sacrificial altar.
On the altar, there were six stone pillars that were not made out of moonstone but had silver-colored metallic chains.
Those silver chains quickly wrapped around Qin Lie’s arms and legs. He was pulled between the six stone pillars as the chains on his body clinked.
Qin Lie frowned deeply and said, “Regardless of whether you believe me or not, I will say first that I have nothing to do with Jiang Zhuzhe. I don’t know what is happening at the Setting Sun Islands but I believe that they will send ten Blazing Profound Bombs soon. You only need to be slightly more patient and wait for a while longer. You will realize that I am from the Setting Island Sun’s Blood Fiend Sect.”
“We have already waited for an hour.” Ye Ji who had tanned skin frowned and said impatiently.
“Even though we are far away, we are still in communication with Moonstone City. When their side receives the Blazing Profound Bombs, they will immediately message us and we will know of your innocence.” Shui Ji said. “At that time, you will be released.”
“There is no need for such trouble. We will immediately know if you are innocent or not using Moon Wors.h.i.+pping Palace’s unique Soul Searching Art!” Yue Ji ordered coldly.
Females dressed in long silver robes sat down at the corners of the altar and surrounded him in a circle.
Ignoring Qin Lie’s explanation, they channeled the spirit art. Their bodies gave off pure moonlight.
A wondrous force came out of the six stone pillars and reached into the firmament.
Qin Lie seemed to feel something and couldn’t resist looking into the night sky. When he looked at that moon which seemed to suddenly have brightened, his expression changed slightly.
Six cool rays of moonlight turned tangible and fell from the moon high up in the sky.
The six rays of moonlight landed on the six stone pillars.
Ripples of pure bright light spread from the six stone pillars. They merged together with the spirit power lights of Yue Ji and the others around the altar.
“Rise!” Yue Ji shouted.
A shrunken moon floated up from Yue Ji’s head and slowly rose into the sky. It absorbed the moon essence, spirit power, moon energy, and all other energies of the moon.
That small moon became even more dazzling and bright. The presence it gave off was even more surprising.
“Go!” Yue Ji pushed with her hands.
That moon immediately flew towards Qin Lie.
Before Qin Lie could react, the small moon flew to his head and sank.
“Boom!”
Qin Lie suddenly shook. Two bolts of lightning a meter long shot out of his eyes and made him appear shocking to see.
A little moon suddenly appeared in his sea of consciousness!
The moon flashed with light. It had a mysterious power to illuminate the deepest secrets of the soul. It roamed through his sea of consciousness.
Qin Lie had a terrifying feeling as though anyone could see right through him.
He immediately mobilized the thunder and lightning energy.
In his sea of consciousness, thick bolts of lightning roared and attacked the moon like giant dragons.
Strangely, the thunder and lightning that were unusually effective towards souls, evil power, and vengeance spirits were unable to shatter the small moon.
The moon did not seem to be made from soul power. It really did seem to be composed of the moon essence of the firmament.
Qin Lie was astounded and terrified by this.
Then, what surprised him even more was that the barrier that sealed his memories seemed about to crack when illuminated by the moon’s light.
He, who had been about to retaliate ferociously, suddenly calmed down. He didn’t just put away all thunder and lightning, he welcomed the illumination of the moon.