Yaxiu had assumed Valkas had something to tell him, so being questioned in turn caught him off guard. Still, there was plenty of information Yaxiu genuinely wanted to know: "How about starting from right after you died?"
Valkas seemed to have no intention of keeping secrets and said calmly, "After I was killed by the Titan Executioner, my soul departed my flesh and plunged downward, pulled by gravity.
"It felt like sinking into the deep ocean, floating and falling in a state of complete numbness. But there were screens of filters within that deep ocean. As my soul flowed through them, many impurities were sifted out, and only then could my soul continue its descent. After passing through six layers of filters, I arrived at the Time Continent, tumbling and drifting incessantly, without even the spark of self-awareness.
"Yet seventy-two hours after my death, a drop of blood within my soul erupted and spread, binding me while simultaneously awakening my consciousness."
Valkas pulled aside her black robe, revealing a blood lotus upon her collarbone.
For some reason, this blood lotus did not strike Yaxiu as a tattoo. Instead, it looked like something blooming from deep within the body, something Harvey had described to him countless times... corpse spots.
"After that, I became a gravekeeper commander of the Blood Tomb."
Yaxiu blinked. "Wait. Where did that drop of blood in your soul come from? Why would there be blood inside a soul?"
"I do not know. I only know it was likely implanted in Shattered Lake Prison. Or rather, every redeemed person who dies in the Blood Moon Trial inevitably harbors a blood seed within their soul."
Valkas explained, "After becoming a commander, I also came to understand the mystery behind it. For us death-row convicts of the Blood Moon, once seventy-two hours have elapsed after death, the blood seed will erupt within our souls. If it detects talent for command, the blood seed directly activates our consciousness, turning us into gravekeeper commanders."
She paused. "All gravekeepers are born this way."
A screening mechanism for commanders!
Yaxiu instantly saw through the Blood Moon Sovereign's intent—the Blood Moon Trial was not merely an outlet for public catharsis or a deterrent guillotine for criminals; it was also the Blood Moon Sovereign's interview ground!
In fact, Yaxiu had previously discussed with the Sword Princess and the others how a god could possibly pick out the commanders they needed. After all, Two-Winged Sorcerers died every single day, and a god could hardly conduct tests in person. Furthermore, according to their guesses, creating a commander likely consumed a certain amount of resources and could not simply be spammed; otherwise, Heroic Spirit Commanders would have clogged the Time Continent like a crowded subway interchange.
Therefore, a god had to establish an efficient screening mechanism to acquire a commander capable of growth with the minimum expenditure of time and investment. Back then, Yaxiu and his companions had thought the god's most likely method would be to use miracles of the prophecy faction to directly screen sorcerer projections that possessed commanding potential.
It was normal for ordinary sorcerers not to know the prophecy faction, but how could a god not know it?
Yet whether it was an inability to use the prophecy faction or the discovery of greater efficiency, the Blood Moon Sovereign had employed a downright ingenious screening method—the Blood Moon Trial!
The threshold to enter the Blood Moon Trial was remarkably high. To be voted to death by the populace, simply killing a few people was nowhere near enough to qualify. One had to stand in direct opposition to the vast majority, much like Yaxiu, the heinous cult leader, or Financier, the high-ranking conspirator. And this demographic was precisely the one most likely to produce commanding talent.
As long as a blood seed was planted in them during the Blood Moon Trial, they would automatically awaken in the Void Realm as commanders after death.
The Blood Moon Sovereign did not need to expend any effort throughout the entire process, yet reserve commanders would steadily and ceaselessly replenish the Blood Tomb's talent pool. Yaxiu could no longer tell whether the Blood Moon Trial had been established to screen commanders or whether they had only realized after setting it up that it made the perfect job market. In any case, within the Blood Moon Country's near-industrialized system, death had become just another link in the chain of production.
The dead must serve the living, not the other way around... The Blood Moon truly lived up to its name as the necromancer holy land that Harvey loved and hated!
"Then after becoming a gravekeeper, do you still have your memories?"
"Yes." Valkas nodded. "But memories are all that remain. Hell washed away all my emotions."
"What does that feel like?" Yaxiu was deeply curious. No living person was entirely devoid of curiosity about death.
"My memories are like a collection of books," Valkas said. "Every one is written in the first person, filled with all sorts of stories. Although I can flip through these stories whenever I wish, to me they are merely stories. I have never stepped inside the books.
"Anger, joy, sorrow, moving warmth... None of these words can touch my soul. My soul is empty." She pointed to her chest. "I have no heartbeat and cannot understand anything in my memories. Yet ironically, our consciousness is born from these very memories. Therefore, the sole desire of us commanders is to accumulate merits and plead with the god to retrieve our soul fragments from Hell so that we may regain our heartbeat.
"With every additional soul fragment, I can understand a little more of my memories. When I gather all my soul fragments..."
Yaxiu asked, "Will you be resurrected?"
"I do not know." Valkas shook her head. "Nor do I care. Beyond wishing to understand my memories, we have no other desires."
Yaxiu let out a long breath. Even for him, the temptation of 'resurrection' was difficult to resist. Although this path was riddled with endless hardships, at least a sliver of hope existed.
He even wondered if he should find a way to achieve great deeds in reality so that if he died, he might reincarnate as a commander to ride the wind and clouds once more on the Time Continent.
However... from reality to the Void Realm, from life to death, Yaxiu realized they had never truly slipped from the grasp of the gods. Even though he had never heard any doctrines concerning the gods, he could vaguely comprehend the ideologies of different deities. The Blood Moon's 'selfishness' and the Gospel's 'listening' subtly influenced everyone in society from every angle, giving rise to distinct social tides.
The might of a god was not reflected in the deterrent of raw force, but in the execution of their will. Whether sorcerers were foolish or wise, rebellious or loyal, in the end they would involuntarily carry out the god's will, becoming forces that propelled societal change.
"Take these."
Yaxiu looked up and hurriedly caught the sorcery spirit and map.
"Valkas's Hand-drawn Map"
"Soul Summoning sorcery spirit"
Yaxiu opened the Void Realm Map, and a system prompt instantly popped up: "Map information updated."
Compared to Demilo's Star Hall map, which detailed a full sixth of the territory, Valkas's map was noticeably far shabbier. It recorded only a twelfth of the Time Continent's area, likely because she had only been on the job for a few days and had not yet mapped out the local terrain of the Blood Tomb company.
The most conspicuous features on the new map were the three Blood Tomb main cities. Noticing that the Blood Tomb had one fewer main city than the Star Hall, Yaxiu asked why. Valkas replied, "The Star Hall was the victor of the last Grand Investiture of the Six Nations, so it has the most main cities. Barring any accidents, the Star Hall will be the prime target of the other five factions this time."
"What is the Grand Investiture of the Six Nations?"
"A massive free-for-all that occurs every fifty years. I do not know the cause of the war, only that it is bound to happen. Enormous amounts of soul power, retainers, and even commanders will perish in this war until a final victor emerges."
Fifty years... Hearing this familiar interval, Yaxiu's heart stirred. "How much time is left until the next Grand Investiture of the Six Nations?"
"Very soon," Valkas said. "Calculated by real-world time, roughly seventy-odd days remain."
***
Void Realm First Floor, the Sea of Knowledge.
A little bat flew through the white fog. Suddenly detecting something, she flew straight toward an area to her front right. Soon, an island appeared before her eyes, upon which stood an orc gun sorcerer.
The moment the bat transformed into human form and touched down, the orc sorcerer immediately armed his heavy sniper rifle, attempting to blast the intruder to pieces with overwhelming firepower. However, the newcomer merely raised a hand lightly. The orc sorcerer's entire body went rigid, and blood flowers bloomed across the surface of his body one after another without piercing his skin, looking both vivid and sickening.
Pop.
With a sound like a bursting blister, the orc sorcerer exploded into a firework and dissipated, leaving behind sorcery spirits and a sorcerer manual where he had stood.
"Do necromancy miracles really have to look so disgusting...?"
Although it was not her first time seeing it, Xifulin still found the spectacle difficult to stomach. Even though she was also a member of the Blood Saint clan, as one whose primary focus was the blood sorcery faction, she was equally unable to understand the necromancers' fondness for corpse spots.
Just now, Xifulin had eliminated the orc sorcerer projection in an instant using only a single sorcery spirit. This sorcery spirit was a perk available to every member of the Blood Saint clan—the 'Flower of Death.'
The 'Flower of Death' possessed only a single effect: activating any soul blood seed within ten meters. Once successfully activated, the blood seed would kill the host, allowing the Blood Moon sorcerer to claim victory without expending the slightest effort.
And the creators of these soul blood seeds were none other than their own Blood Saint clan. Or rather, the so-called soul blood seeds were actually byproducts generated when the Blood Saint clan performed the 'Blood Embrace ritual.'
During the 'Blood Embrace ritual,' members of the Blood Saint clan had to disguise themselves as healers, infiltrate prisons, and plant their soul blood inside their chosen death-row convicts. When a death-row convict died in the Blood Moon Trial, their sorcery power would be drained entirely by the soul blood. The Blood Saint would then retrieve the soul blood, turning it into nourishment for their own source blood.
However, because a Blood Saint's soul was merged with their blood, the soul blood would also invade the convict's soul. While the convict was alive, a robust soul was enough to halt the soul blood's permeation. But during the Blood Moon Trial, the soul blood received unprecedented enhancement, and because the convict's soul fell into stasis upon death, the soul blood would burrow into their soul like a centipede, swelling rapidly until it grew into a 'blood seed.'
Even in the Void Realm, Blood Saint sorcerers could smell the scent of a blood seed within a hundred meters. As long as they used the 'Flower of Death' sorcery spirit, they could effortlessly execute any sorcerer projection harboring a blood seed.
Although such sorcerer projections were merely a drop in the ocean of the Void Realm, core Blood Saint clan members possessed remarkable flight speed in the Void Realm, and thanks to the accumulation of countless Blood Moon Trials over the years, Xifulin had encountered three or four already. It was truly an exclusive perk of the Blood Saint clan.
In life, you are the fuel of society and our raw materials; in death, you are the fertilizer of the Void Realm and our nourishment.
Having lived in the Blood Moon for so many years, Xifulin still found it difficult to accept such values: everything had a clear price tag, all tools had to be funneled back into reproduction, and so-called emotional, sentimental, or symbolic value went unacknowledged. Squeezing every last drop of value from a life was considered the ultimate form of respect for it... This extreme pursuit of maximum gain left Xifulin—who enjoyed meaningless amusements like traveling, taking photos, and cardistry—feeling deeply exhausted.
'Speaking of which, Yaxiu is probably living in another country by now... What kind of country is it? What races are there? What unique customs does it have? Does it still cling to feudal remnants like bloodline ties? Does their god cherish the people of this world?'
Xifulin let her mind wander as she gathered her spoils of war, then shifted back into a little bat and continued exploring the Void Realm.
Gurgle.
The little bat hovered in midair. Her echolocation detected a strange swirling sound emerging from the nearby waters.
A vortex?
Xifulin's Silver Wings had long been formed, and she was currently only waiting for her blood sorcery faction to reach Gold rank so she could advance to Two Wings. Still, having spent several months in the Sea of Knowledge, she had never witnessed a vortex before, so she flew over to satisfy her curiosity.
Just as the little bat was about to fly into the vortex, a small boat happened to surge up from within. She was completely unable to dodge in time and collided head-on with the person aboard!
"Ah? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?"
The little bat fluttered her wings, only to find herself held securely in the arms of a Veela sorcerer.
Chapter 382