"Captain Gerard, I've finally run into you."
The white-haired hunter turned his head and saw a blood-eyed nun. She wore a black habit slit high up to her thighs, with a bodice that was tightly fitted yet provocatively left the lower half of her snow-white breasts exposed, paired with an innocent and holy countenance.
Yet Gerard did not dare underestimate this woman in the slightest. Nodding slightly, he said politely, "Good day, Vice Director Selei."
"It's Vice Director Selei Blood Weep." Reaching out, she pinched Gerard's nose and said seriously, "You must emphasize 'Blood Weep'! That's the only thing I have to be proud of!"
When it came to preferences for titles and forms of address, Blood Moon was practically unlike any other country. Sorcerers in other lands typically possessed exclusive titles once they reached the Sanctuary or Legend rank—whether derived from popular rumors or official certification, they were at least sobriquets reflecting their personal characteristics.
Only Blood Moon differed. The Blood Moon Apex Lord required the Blood Saints and Moon Shadows to conceal themselves amidst the ordinary populace, and ostentatious titles clearly ran counter to this principle. At the same time, the powerhouses of the two Blood Moon races generally held various public posts, such as hunter captain, hospital director, research institute director, or high priest of the church. Thus, everyone grew accustomed to using their job titles instead of their names, gradually forming an established custom.
From her title alone, one could tell how much influence this woman masquerading as a nun truly held. Blood Weep was one of the four great research institutes of Blood Moon, specializing in mechanical and biological prosthetic augmentation. Eight percent of all human modifications nationwide relied on their patents, and the Blood Weep Research Institute's gross output value was even higher than the production of Kaimeng City as a whole.
Although both were Three-Wing Blood Saints, Gerard—a hunter captain who spent his days fighting and killing—was vastly inferior to Selei in status.
"Thank you for looking after my junior sister." Selei placed her hands over her chest. "Back then, I only asked an old classmate for a small favor. I never expected you would visit the hospital so frequently to check on her."
Gerard looked somewhat awkward. "Well, this..."
"You did go there to look after my junior sister, didn't you? Surely it wasn't to see that disabled girl named Serena?" Selei tapped her lips with a finger and murmured, "Otherwise, it would be quite strange. You are a Bloodmad Hunter captain, whereas that disabled girl hails from a foreign land marked for eradication. These past couple of days, I've even been pondering whether I should help my junior sister get rid of that nuisance..."
Gerard's expression grew guarded, and he gazed at her in silence.
Suddenly, Selei burst into sweet, trembling laughter and gave Gerard a vigorous pat on the chest. "Don't look so fierce! Old classmate, you're scaring me! Since you and my junior sister like that disabled girl so much, how could I bear to break your toy? I am a proper priest certified by the Church of Supreme Love, a devout believer in the most benevolent and virtuous Blood Moon Apex Lord!"
"So, please continue taking good care of my junior sister~"
"You truly care about her."
"Of course! She is my dearest little junior sister, after all~" Selei twirled in place, cradling her face in her hands, her cheeks flushed with an afterglow of ecstatic crimson. "Those deep crimson, thin lips, that complexion like egg whites, those jelly-like eyes, that smooth and tender tongue..."
Abruptly, both felt the blood boil within their bodies. A soul body naturally contained no blood, but they possessed the sorcery blood condensed through the Blood Embrace ritual. Upon entering the Void Realm, it steeped their souls and simulated the effects of blood.
Following the guidance of their blood, they spotted a shimmering cluster of crimson light above. By the time they flew over, several dozen Sanctuary Sorcerers had already assembled there. Among them were gloomy, uncanny Blood Saints as well as cute, lively Moon Shadow wolves, and their numbers were still growing!
The Moon Shadow clan was naturally adept at enlivening the atmosphere, and quite a few Blood Saints were talkative as well, resulting in a ceaseless chatter that filled the air. In the Distant Sky Realm, such a scene was truly a rare spectacle.
Half an hour later, a faint voice echoed gently within their souls, causing their blood to boil and stimulating their tails!
"Quiet."
The Blood Moon Sanctuary Sorcerers turned their gazes and saw a listless, black-haired young man with a hunched back, dressed in white clothes and jeans as if he had just stepped out of his bedroom. He strode slowly into the crimson light. Looking closely, one would discover that only one of his eyes was blood-red, while the other was pitch-black!
In a languid, feeble tone, he said, "I am the Vice Director of Blood Guilt, Baiyu Guyinduo. The Blood Moon Apex Lord has tasked me with overseeing this operation. We must breach the Kingdom of Heaven in Dreams within three days."
"It's actually him?!"
"So this is what Baiyu looks like..."
"Wow, can I go over and ask for an autograph?"
Upon hearing the listless young man's introduction, everyone gasped in astonishment. Among the four major research institutes, the Blood Guilt Research Institute was the most mysterious, for their research revolved around slaughter, plague, curses, and death! Their recruitment standards were extraordinarily strict. People only knew the names of their director and vice director; beyond that, not a shred of information was known!
At this moment, Baiyu looked into the distance and scratched his head. "It seems the Apex Lord isn't the only one who wants this matter settled quickly. What a nuisance."
Following his gaze, Gerard could only make out a cluster of black specks on the distant horizon.
"Those are the curse elf sorcerers from Paradise." Using an unknown miracle to observe the distance, Selei remarked, "The Paradise Lord is truly greedy. Seeing as curse elves are descendants of the ancient elves, the Time Inheritance was practically gifted to their Paradise on a silver platter, yet now they've come to seize the Spectre Inheritance as well..."
"Your news isn't very up-to-date," Gerard said calmly. "It's said that the ones most likely to claim the Time Inheritance right now are three female sorcerers, though their team composition is quite strange: one Blood Saint, one Veela, and one human..."
"Doesn't that mean the Time Inheritance is about to fall into our Blood Moon's hands? How wonderful." Selei clapped lightly, setting her bosom trembling. "Still, a Veela and a Blood Saint... I remember my junior sister took in a Veela student."
Gerard thought for a moment. "However, that Veela university student only became a sorcerer four months ago. How could she possibly be on the Time Continent by now?"
Selei considered this and nodded. "True. Xifulin only became a Two-Wing sorcerer a little over two months ago. She probably hasn't even condensed her Golden Wings yet."
Baiyu said, "The curse elves of Paradise and the parasitic sorcerers of the Abyss are both gathering. At least three factions intend to vie for the Spectre Inheritance, to say nothing of the stray stragglers outside... Shortly, we will have to rely on everyone's valor."
The Moon Shadow priests chanted in unison, "The Blood Moon has arrived; we shall eventually reunite in the promised land."
"In that case..." Baiyu placed both thumbs into his mouth and bit down, drawing purplish-red blood! Moving his thumbs through the air, he traced an intricate compass diagram in three seconds, then swept his hands outward. The diagram expanded rapidly, engulfing all the Blood Moon Sanctuary Sorcerers!
"Do not resist. Check the box for 'I have agreed to the terms above.'" Baiyu's lethargic voice carried a sacred resonance at this moment. "The hour of death has arrived; the twins prune all things. The hour of dripping blood has arrived; the handmaidens activate all phenomena. The hour of decay has arrived; the priests awaken all souls...
"Miracle: Blood Moon Alliance!"
Invisible bonds linked the Blood Moon Sanctuary Sorcerers together. Leading them, Baiyu flew toward the crimson lightning bolt lodged inside the colossal golden bubble. When he reached out his hand, the crimson lightning bolt actually shrank and settled into his palm!
Many sorcerers believed that this crimson lightning was the work of a god, but that was not entirely true.
Even for a god, exerting power directly into the Distant Sky Realm was exceedingly difficult; mortals could never fathom just how solid the natural chasms of the Void Realm truly were.
However, a divine miracle of such scale could be achieved simply by using a minor artifact bestowed by a god in conjunction with several dozen Sanctuary Sorcerers—provided their power could be fully harmonized!
"Hah!"
Straightening his back, Baiyu's figure suddenly appeared much taller. With a thunderous shout, he channeled the rainbow sorcery power commandeered from all the Blood Moon Sanctuary Sorcerers, pouring it directly into the crimson lightning bolt!
Once blood arts reached a high level, they possessed an obscure, hidden trait: the Bloodstain Curse!
No matter what an object was, as long as it suffered continuous damage from blood arts and the coating of bloodstains grew thicker, its resistance against blood arts would steadily decline. The reason the Blood Moon sorcerers had left that lightning bolt wedged inside the golden bubble for so long was precisely to accumulate sufficient bloodstains upon it!
Originally, the accumulation had not yet reached its peak. However, something seemed to have gone amiss inside the Spectre Inheritance, and with the Apex Lord issuing a personal command, they had no choice but to launch the assault ahead of schedule!
A flash of blood-red radiance illuminated nearly the entire Distant Sky Realm, so brilliant that all observing sorcerers felt as if their eyeballs were burning, followed by a cataclysmic roar resembling heaven's thunder and earth's fire!
*Crack!*
The crimson lightning plunged into the golden bubble once more, appearing no different from before.
Yet when Baiyu withdrew the crimson lightning, the golden bubble, which should have regenerated instantly, was left with a crooked opening roughly the size of a finger.
Even so, this small opening was more than enough to become the catalyst for the collapse of the Kingdom of Heaven in Dreams!
"Recover your sorcery power," Baiyu said. "Prepare for a full-scale assault."
***
*Has it only managed to hold out until now...?*
Watching the golden bubble reverberate with one world-shaking boom after another, Igola's face was as dark as still water.
Inside the Spectre Inheritance, his suggestion that Yaxiu's friends swindle the Sanctuary Sorcerers had not been merely to con them out of sorcery spirits; his primary objective had been to buy time.
Sanctuary Sorcerers were prominent figures in any country. Once they died, a thorough investigation would inevitably follow—especially during an inheritance period, where the deaths of Sanctuary Sorcerers were almost certainly tied to the Spectre Inheritance, making an investigation unavoidable.
He didn't know about other lands, but Igola knew that the Blood Moon Country possessed the 'Death Reenactment' miracle, and other countries likely had equivalents. In other words, if they slaughtered the Sanctuary Sorcerers using Yearned for in Dreams, it would quickly be exposed that the Spectre Inheritance was under external control.
By sparing the Sanctuary Sorcerers and merely depleting their souls until only a sliver remained, they would be left bedridden and unable to move for half a month. Furthermore, suffering such heavy injuries was completely normal; as long as they didn't speak, the secret of the Spectre Inheritance could remain hidden.
Even if they did talk, people would assume that some god had seized the inheritance for themselves, prompting questions about whether that god belonged to their own country. Inquiring back and forth like that would consume a fair amount of time.
With any luck, the gods might not have discovered the theft of the Spectre Inheritance until Yaxiu returned. Yet Igola had underestimated just how much the gods valued the Spectre Inheritance. Those Sanctuary Sorcerers were only kicked back to reality after several hours, meaning that in roughly six hours, the gods of the various nations had already learned that someone had beaten them to the punch, and had mobilized their Sanctuary forces to contest it!
*What should I do, then...?*
Just as Igola was deep in thought, a distant greeting suddenly called out to him.
"Mr. Bogin, over here, over here!"
Igola turned around and saw a flaming orc flying toward him.
Chikala?!
"We were just wondering how to find you, and then we spotted you in the blink of an eye! This must be a sign that we're meant to pull off this heist together!"
Igola raised an eyebrow. "We?"
"Mr. Harvey and me," Chikala said. "Along with a bunch of like-minded good friends I just met!"
"What kind of good friends?"
"Good friends looking for a chance to charge into the Kingdom of Heaven in Dreams and grab a haul!" Chikala's honest face brimmed with cunning. "They'll charge in to eat the meat, and there's no harm in us following behind to pick up the scraps, right? Of course, if luck is on our side, it's not impossible that we might get to eat the meat instead. How about it, Mr. Bogin? I heard you used to be a fellow professional in robbery and plunder. Interested?"
"Do not compare my noble profession of helping others fulfill their wishes with your crude, unskilled robbery," Igola said thoughtfully. "However, if both you and Harvey are here..."
After a moment of contemplation, a sweet smile gradually appeared on the Swindler's face. "I am very interested."
"Let's get this straight beforehand: whatever I plunder in the Spectre Inheritance this time, you're not allowed to order me to hand it over!"
"How could I possibly look twice at your meager possessions? I only took those few sorcery spirits of yours earlier out of fear that you'd get carried away, keeping them in safekeeping for you. I will return them in the future."
The orc's eyes widened. "Will you really give them back?"
"Really. Once I feel you've become more mature, none of it will be returned."
Chapter 668