The young woman walked alone into the darkness that felt like an eternal night.
There was no retreat, no turning back.
“Dealing with you… Blood Moon alone isn’t enough, right?”
Lu Mo murmured, closing her eyes.
When she opened them again, a second layer of complex patterns overlaid the original Blood Moon marks.
Her realm and her aura surged once more.
Crimson and black intertwined as they rose, transforming at this moment into a… dim and gore-red moon!
The second stage of the Blood Moon… Final Moon!
She swung her sword violently toward the dark clouds. In an instant, boundless darkness and blood-red light gathered into a 100-meter-long sword beam, slashing forward!
The skin across her entire body began to crack.
However, darkness quickly covered the wounds, transforming into veins.
***
Elia ran through the endless frost and snow.
Whether this was an illusion or reality, she could no longer tell.
But there was no need to distinguish between them.
She only needed to listen to Sister Lu Mo’s words.
The frost and snow might be the end of her life.
‘Walk forward… Do not look back!’
She kept telling herself that.
The frost and snow seemed to have no end.
The cold wind howled, and an ancient pressure came from the infinite distance.
Even she felt the suppression of the Frostspeak power at this moment.
Chill gradually spread throughout her body. Her shoulders and legs suffered varying degrees of frostbite.
Yet, she still did not stop.
She would keep running like this.
Until…
The ground was covered with corpses, and blood flowed freely.
Soon, the bodies were buried by the wind and snow.
The blood was frozen in place.
*Clang — *
*Clang — *
Blades clashed.
The sound was mixed with screams and the sound of flesh tearing.
Lu Mo pierced the heart of another dead soldier. Darkness erupted, and the soldier shattered before her.
She had also sustained many injuries, hit by weapons and pierced by the power of Earth Veins.
By continuously maintaining the Final Moon, more and more fine scars were appearing on the surface of her body.
Figures came from all directions.
Earth Vein power suddenly erupted beneath her. She flew backward the moment before the darkness rose, narrowly avoiding it.
When she looked up, she saw the elders looking down at her, their eyes cold like swords of judgment.
The Hall Master stood at the highest point.
Behind him, countless veins converged, slowly transforming into a dark and blurry, alien shadow.
The surrounding laws of darkness trembled because of it.
That was the symbol of the next realm after the Earth Veins, the Heavenly Governance.
The alien shadow seemed to be issuing a declaration to Lu Mo.
A declaration of despair.
A declaration of destruction.
But Lu Mo had never been afraid.
She avoided the Earth Vein power and leaped upward. In an instant, dozens of dark Void Veins tore through space behind her like writhing dragons, lunging toward the elders and the Hall Master!
Under the boost of the Final Moon… her Void Veins finally had the power to shake the real Earth Veins!
*Boom — *
The Void Veins struck.
At that moment, the elders’ eyes flickered, and they retreated. They lost a bit of their majesty and gained a hint of wretchedness.
They were no longer high and mighty, untouchable beings.
They, too, could be shocked and… afraid.
Only the Shadow Moon Hall Master remained high above, his gaze toward Lu Mo growing deeper.
***
The wind and snow grew even heavier.
It was enough to bury the world and make travelers lose their way.
The cold was bone-deep. The frost felt as if it could freeze a person’s footsteps.
Elia was still running.
Her shoes were already ruined.
She walked barefoot on the ice.
Her once pale and tender feet were now frozen red.
With every step, the ice tore away pieces of flesh from the soles of her feet.
Blood-red was the only decoration in this vast world of white.
‘Does it hurt?’
‘It hurts so much.’
‘But… should I stop?’
‘No, I can’t stay here.’
Elia suddenly thought of her battle with Kalin during the promotion exam many years ago.
Her mindset then and her mindset now were probably the same, weren’t they?
She would push open the Ancestral Gate.
Just as she was meant to win back then.
She would take Lu Mo and escape to safety.
Just like that ordinary but warm afternoon years ago, when she and Lu Mo looked at each other and smiled across a vast sea of people.
***
“Damn it…”
“Why… why isn’t she dead yet?”
“Is this girl really a monster?”
Outside the wind and snow, beneath the eternal night sky.
Corpses littered the ground.
Almost all of the personal guards and dead soldiers Faxon had brought were killed.
Watching Lu Mo still standing there, still swinging her sword, Faxon trembled and retreated. Because of his fear, he accidentally dropped his weapon on the ground.
The young woman was still fighting.
Because there were too many wounds, the power of darkness almost completely enveloped her body at this moment, forming a suit of pitch-black armor.
Blood continuously flowed from the places where the armor was broken.
It couldn’t end yet.
Before Elia pushed open the Ancestral Gate, she couldn’t fall down like this.
Even the Shadow Moon Hall Master couldn’t help but ask at this time —
“Is it worth it?”
“Of course,” Lu Mo said from behind her pitch-black mask.
It wasn’t just because of her mission.
It was also because she didn’t want Elia to be like her real-world self — with no one to hold her hand, and no one to embrace her.
***
The wind and snow grew heavier.
It seemed that even the soul could be frozen at this moment.
Elia could no longer see what was ahead, and her vision grew dim.
She was running forward almost entirely on instinct.
On the long road, her figure was so lonely, so small.
But at this moment, she wasn’t sad at all.
Because she knew that outside the wind and snow, someone was waiting for her.
***
Time passed.
Lu Mo’s strength and life aura were growing weaker and weaker.
Her movements were also slowing down.
Finally, in the next instant, she was hit by a spear held by the alien figure in the sky.
*Rip — *
The armor formed of dark energy shattered on a massive scale. Her body was almost completely torn open from her chest to her abdomen, and blood gushed out.
*Pfft — *
Lu Mo coughed up blood, but she used her sword to support her body, refusing to fall.
“It’s over! It’s over!!!” Faxon felt a surge of ecstasy as he saw Lu Mo go down.
He picked up his weapon, showing the face of a petty villain, and immediately ran toward Lu Mo.
He wanted to stab Lu Mo a few more times to avenge Fuersi’s death.
Then, he would definitely drag Elia out from the Ancestral Gate and torture her in every possible way, making her wish she were dead!
“Xue Yue, you little brat, you actually dare to — “
*Rip — *
In the next second, blood sprayed everywhere.
Faxon stared blankly at the standing Lu Mo, then looked at his missing leg, and suddenly let out a heart-wrenching scream.
But before the scream could last for more than a few moments, the condensed darkness smashed down, instantly crushing him into a heap of mangled flesh.
“It’s not over yet…”
Lu Mo swayed as she walked forward. She looked up once more at the elders and the Hall Master high above.
A pattern constructed of blood and darkness was rapidly taking shape with her as the center.
It became… the third rotation covering the Blood Moon!
At this moment, both the elders and the Hall Master stopped breathing.
They knew what that was.
The final form of the Blood Moon, the ultimate forbidden technique of the Shadow Moon Secret Codex — Extreme Moon.
The absolute moon, the moon of certain death, the moon of ending life!
A person could only perform the Extreme Moon once in their lifetime.
When the Extreme Moon dissipated, their life would also end.
The young woman was covered in blood and was all alone.
But at this moment, having activated the Extreme Moon, her pressure actually made even the elder-level experts feel terrified.
***
‘Am I almost there?’
‘I’m so tired.’
‘Am I going to succeed?’
‘I really want to rest.’
‘But… it’s not time yet.’
Elia kept running wildly.
She had almost lost consciousness and was nearly fainting.
The only thing keeping her going was the obsession hidden in the depths of her heart.
*Buzz — *
At a certain moment, she felt as if she had touched something.
The obsession in her heart seemed… to have shattered something.
In an instant, the endless Frostspeak power no longer rejected her. Instead, it turned into power that repaired her body and improved her constitution.
All the scars on her body disappeared.
And when she opened her eyes, she saw that it was no longer a vast expanse of white in front of her.
She stood directly in front of the Ancestral Gate.
And the gate had opened even further.
As long as she took one step forward, she could walk into the Ancestral Gate.
“!”
She was stunned at first, then filled with disbelief, and finally wept with joy.
She didn’t go forward but turned back at that moment.
Then, she ran recklessly toward the direction where Lu Mo was.
She wanted to tell Sister Lu Mo immediately that she had succeeded.
She wanted to pull Sister Lu Mo away from those dangerous people and escape into the Ancestral Gate.
She wanted to further master the power of the Ancestral Gate and kill all those people.
Compared to the Frostspeak Bloodline, Sister Lu Mo was her deepest obsession.
This time, as long as they escaped into the Ancestral Gate, those bad people would never be able to stop her and Sister Lu Mo from rising again.
The whole world wouldn’t be able to stop them either.
That way, they could look up together at the same starry night again.
That way, they could accompany each other until they were old and gray.
That way, they could travel across the world and watch the clouds roll and the tides rise and fall.
She still had so many things she hadn’t done with Sister Lu Mo.
She still had so many words she hadn’t said to Sister Lu Mo.
About her feelings.
About the “I love you” she didn’t dare to say out loud under the sunset that day.
She ran.
Just like the night of blood and fire when she ran toward her sister.
***
*Cough, cough… *
The pitch-black sword finally fell to the ground.
At this moment, Lu Mo’s entire arm was broken.
Dark power and flesh were peeling away bit by bit.
Facing several elders and the Hall Master, she was still too weak after all.
But she wasn’t without results —
The elder from the Discipline Hall had his face torn and one hand cut off by her. He was now lying in a pool of blood on the ground, clutching his face, his body trembling, emitting an aura of extreme resentment.
She was quite the vengeful person.
“This time, it really is over…”
She murmured.
She was already exhausted.
Looking up, the darkness overhead grew even thicker.
In front of that alien figure, countless pieces of darkness were condensing, eventually turning into dark arrows.
They flashed with a cold light, emitting an aura strong enough to obliterate the soul.
This would be the killing blow.
“But, it’s enough now,” Lu Mo whispered.
She saw that on the system’s mission interface, Mission Three was constantly flashing.
This meant that Elia was only one last step away from truly awakening.
‘She should have already reached the Ancestral Gate. As long as she walks inside…’
By then, both Mission Two and Mission Three would be completed.
And Elia would truly be safe.
It was enough.
There were no more regrets.
Facing the rain of arrows, Lu Mo felt no fear.
Instead, she opened her arms, proactively welcoming them.
“Madness, absolute madness…” The Shadow Moon Hall Master felt only the absurdity of it all.
In the next moment, the rain of arrows fell.
“Sister Lu Mo — “
Just at this moment, Elia’s voice rang out from the wind and snow behind her.
She was running, shouting anxiously, stumbling and reckless.
Lu Mo couldn’t help herself; she turned her head at that moment.
The rain of arrows was falling.
Elia picked up her speed.
She wanted to be faster than the rain of arrows, faster than the Heavenly Governance realm’s attack, faster than Lu Mo’s life fading and that long-destined fate.
But she was still one step too late.
When she arrived in front of Lu Mo with the boundless Frostspeak power, the arrow rain was already upon them.
Lu Mo turned around and suddenly hugged Elia tightly, using the last of her dark energy to envelop her.
Then, the rain of arrows plummeted. The sounds of the ground shattering and flesh tearing rang out continuously.
The Frostspeak power finally enveloped Lu Mo a few seconds later.
She was off by… those last few seconds.
Elia could clearly feel the blood flowing from Lu Mo and the trembling of her body.
When the darkness dissipated, she immediately looked up and saw Lu Mo, covered in blood with countless wounds all over her body.
The young woman’s peerless beauty was ruined by scars and blood.
Her body was pierced in many places by black arrows. Blood was constantly flowing out from those holes.
She looked terrifying.
Yet, her eyes remained clear and filled with tenderness.
“Sister… Lu Mo…”
Elia reached out with a trembling hand, wanting to help Lu Mo pull out those arrows.
She wanted to save Lu Mo, but it was already too late.
The arrows had pierced Lu Mo’s heart and spine. Her life was rapidly slipping away, and her body was losing its warmth.
Looking at the heartbroken and pained Elia, Lu Mo only smiled and spoke weakly, “It’s fine… I… don’t hurt…”
“Don’t waste your energy anymore. I’m probably beyond saving…” Lu Mo continued.
“No, no, there must be a way!” Elia seemed to have gone mad.
She racked her brains but couldn’t think of anything. She could only hold Lu Mo as she began to sob. “It’s all my fault… it’s all my fault…”
“If only I could have pushed open the Ancestral Gate sooner and taken Sister Lu Mo away from here…”
“It’s not Elia’s fault. If anyone is to blame, it should be me, right?”
“I told so many lies, and in the end, I really did end up with ten thousand arrows through my heart…” Lu Mo gave a bitter smile.
She felt the world in front of her turning dark. She seemed to be gradually disappearing from this world.
“I’m really going to die, but I didn’t get a chance to spend your birthday with you this year. I’m sorry.” As Lu Mo spoke, she handed the spatial ring to Elia.
At the same time, she gave up resisting the Extraction Technique.
In that instant, her realm, her soul power, and all of her strength flowed toward Elia.
Elia accepted it instinctively, and by the time she realized what it was, it was too late to refuse.
Lu Mo’s figure was rapidly becoming transparent.
“Sister Lu Mo… please… don’t leave me… don’t… don’t…” Elia cried and screamed, turning back into that little girl from five years ago.
“Elia, don’t be sad.”
“Growing up always comes with goodbyes, doesn’t it?” Lu Mo said softly.
“You said… you would accompany me to see the world…”
“Sorry. It looks like I won’t be able to fulfill that wish.”
“You said… you would always walk with me…”
“I believe that in the future, Elia will surely be able to walk the path alone.”
“No… I can’t do it — ” Elia choked. “Sister Lu Mo, a world without you… I can’t live in it.”
“You are the beam of light… in my life — “
“Little fool.” But at that moment, Lu Mo suddenly used her last bit of strength to push Elia away.
Elia was caught off guard and her body moved backward. When she looked up, she saw the sky.
The Frostspeak power tore through the darkness and the layers of clouds.
She saw the azure sky and the dazzling sunlight shining down.
“In your world, the dawn has broken…”
“You no longer… need me…”
— This was Lu Mo’s final voice.
“Sister Lu Mo… Sister Lu Mo!”
“I love you… actually, I love — “
Elia steadied herself and immediately spoke to Lu Mo.
In that instant, Lu Mo’s figure collapsed and completely vanished.