Chapter 449: Chapter 436: Mo Ge’s Secret
In the blood-red sky, there were no sun, moon, or stars, only bolt after bolt of lightning.
Not a single blade of grass grew on the dark brown earth.
A thick, foul mist permeated everything, making even the air seem dark.
It was enough to suffocate any mortal who dared set foot here.
Countless massive skeletons of beasts lay exposed on the ground, glowing with a faint phosphorescence.
Vicious Wild Beasts roamed this place, their Energy making the already ravaged land even more desolate.
A colossal Fierce Simurgh, radiating a menacing aura, circled in the bleak and desolate blood-red sky. Its deafening cries rang out like a death knell for the world.
Mo Ge, only eight years old, was trekking laboriously through this Desolate Land. He wore clothes of Beast Hide, his right arm bare, and carried a rusty Short Sword.
His lips were cracked, his body was covered in scars, and he was drenched in blood...
Yet his gaze never wavered. It remained as cold and resolute as ever.
The sinister shadows seemed to have swallowed the horizon. In the distance, a massive but indistinct shape entered his field of vision.
It was a Demon Beast fully thirty feet tall—a Burrow Rock Dragon.
The Burrow Rock Dragon was like a small hill, over one hundred and sixty feet long. It had black Sharp Horns on its head, and its body was covered in palm-sized, jet-black Scales.
Sharp, segmented bone spurs jutted out from its body, crackling as lightning arced around them.
Even from a great distance, the Burrow Rock Dragon spotted Mo Ge.
A human-like glee flashed in its massive, blood-red eyes. It let out a heavenward roar and charged furiously at Mo Ge!
As the Burrow Rock Dragon charged, its thick tail whipped back and forth, creating a series of sharp, whistling sounds as it cut through the air.
And each time its Four powerful hooves struck the ground, they kicked up clouds of dust and created a thunderous, rumbling boom.
Its massive body and ferocious momentum seemed intent on crushing Mo Ge to a pulp.
Mo Ge watched with cold eyes, standing perfectly still with his Short Sword in hand.
For a fleeting, hazy moment, however, the Burrow Rock Dragon had the strange sensation that the tiny boy had suddenly transformed into a heaven-supporting Giant.
The Burrow Rock Dragon, equivalent to a Sixth Level Demon Beast, possessed a fair amount of Spiritual Wisdom, but it clearly dismissed the sensation as a mere illusion.
It moved faster and faster, opening its cavernous maw as it leaped through the air, intent on swallowing its delectable prey whole!
At that moment, Mo Ge finally moved...
His body flickered twice, leaving two afterimages in his wake!
The mid-air Burrow Rock Dragon froze for a split second. It felt a sudden chill on its underbelly, followed by an indescribable, agonizing pain that coursed through its entire body!
Its underbelly was the Burrow Rock Dragon’s weakest point.
A seventy-foot-long gash had been torn open on the Burrow Rock Dragon’s belly, and blood gushed out like a waterfall.
With a loud THUD, the Burrow Rock Dragon crashed to the ground. It convulsed violently a few times, then went still, its life extinguished.
Mo Ge, his face as emotionless as ever, walked over to the Demon Beast, pried up a Scale, and thrust his sword down.
Blood geysered out. Mo Ge opened his mouth and greedily gulped down the scalding, metallic-tasting liquid.
For three months, this was how he had survived, walking step by step from the depths of the Desolate Land to this very spot.
A moment later, Mo Ge wiped the blood from the corners of his mouth and slowly turned around.
Behind him, an old man with white hair but a youthful face floated in the air, flanked by two young men in lavish robes. They were watching him with faint, unreadable smiles.
"JIE JIE JIE... Our valiant seventeenth brother has indeed lived up to expectations and walked out of the Desolate Land. As your elder brothers, shouldn’t we offer our congratulations?"
One of the three, a young man with effeminate features, said with a sinister smirk.
All three of them, like Mo Ge, shared a distinct feature: a vertical silver line on their foreheads, resembling a third eye.
The old man in the center glanced at Mo Ge, his face impassive. In a deep voice, he said, "Mo Ge, you have passed the trial. You now have one last chance to choose. Have you made your decision?"
Mo Ge gave the old man a cold look and nodded. "Yes."
"Very good." A flicker of ecstasy appeared in the old man’s otherwise placid eyes. "Since you have decided, the Demon Ancestor himself will erase the Royal Family bloodline mark from your forehead and send you through the rift into the Human Realm."
"It has been a full one hundred thousand years! We finally have a chance to break this accursed barrier and return to the Human Realm!"
"Mo Ge, you will be the savior of the entire Demon Race! You will be our greatest hero in countless millennia!"
Mo Ge slowly raised his head and said in a cold voice, "I have no interest in being a savior or a hero. When I return, if anything has happened to Xiaodie, I will slaughter the entire Demon Race. I won’t even spare the chickens and dogs."
Such arrogant, defiant, and bloodthirsty words, coming from the mouth of an eight-year-old boy, did not seem the least bit laughable.
On the contrary, a chill ran down the spines of the three figures in the air.
"Your Highnesses, you may both return. I will take Mo Ge to the Demon Ancestor Holy Hall."
The old man’s eyes flickered. With a wave of his sleeve, both he and Mo Ge vanished into thin air.
The two young men’s mouths twitched, their faces contorted with rage.
The face of the youth who had spoken earlier was twisted into an inhuman snarl. "Who the hell does that bastard think he is?" he snarled. "Threatening us right in front of the National Preceptor! And all for a Maid? Piss me off and I’ll go back right now and rape her before I kill her! Third Prince, are we really just going to let that lowly spawn leave the Demon Realm this easily?"
The Third Prince’s expression was dark and uncertain. After a long moment, he said, "The National Preceptor said he has an unimaginably powerful force hidden within him, and he was personally chosen by the Demon Ancestor to enter the Human Realm. If you go looking for trouble with him now, you’d be courting death. Even the Father Emperor and the Demon Ancestor wouldn’t spare you!"
"Then..." The other prince trailed off, shrinking back.
The Third Prince said grimly, "Right now, the Demon Ancestor is protecting him. Besides, his power is comparable to an Ancient Wild Beast’s... You saw it yourself. Even with most of his power sealed, he killed that Burrow Rock Dragon as easily as slicing a melon. If we push him into a rage, even the National Preceptor won’t be able to restrain him!"
"That lowly spawn is cursed. He caused his own mother’s death at birth. Here in the Demon Realm, who besides that Maid dares to get close to him? We should have eliminated such a threat long ago, but with the Demon Ancestor protecting him, we never had the chance. Hmph!"
"The Blood Ancestor Tomb is about to manifest. The Blood Ancestor will unleash a cataclysm upon the Human Realm, and our Demon Race will seize that opportunity. While those old fools in the Human Realm are scrambling to deal with it, we will break the Seal, invade their world, and take back everything that is ours!"
"Our Demon Race has been trapped in this sunless hell for a full one hundred thousand years. It is time for us to rule over all under heaven!"
"To enter the Human Realm through the rift in the Seal, the Demon Ancestor must completely seal his power and erase all traces of his aura as an Emperor of the Demon Race..."
"When the time comes to enter the Human Realm, you and I will go in as the vanguard and find Mo Ge while his power is still sealed. By then, the Demon Ancestor’s influence won’t be able to reach us, and Mo Ge will be powerless to frighten us. That is when he will die!"
"That lowly spawn dares to compete with me for the throne? He’s practically begging to die!"
"The Demon Realm is mine, and the entire Human Realm will be mine! HAHAHAHA..."
The Third Prince’s wild, uninhibited laughter shook the nine heavens.
...
「Demon Ancestor Holy Hall.」
This was the legendary dwelling of the supreme Demon Ancestor.
The place where the Demon Ancestor, worshipped as a god by the Demon Race, resided...
The National Preceptor led Mo Ge to a stop before a pitch-black corridor.
"No one has ever walked this path, save for those personally chosen by the Demon Ancestor. You must walk this stretch of the road alone."
Without a word, Mo Ge stepped into the corridor, not knowing where it led.
The corridor seemed to stretch on endlessly, so dark he couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face.
As Mo Ge walked through the corridor, he felt as if he had been walking for an eternity, yet it also felt as though only an instant had passed.
"Mo Ge, what makes you so sad? You are only eight, yet why do you always seem so lonely, so sorrowful..."
A voice drifted from far away, reaching deep into Mo Ge’s heart.
The voice seemed like an external inquiry, yet it was also like a mother’s whisper.
And at times, it seemed as if Mo Ge were asking himself...
"The world I see is constantly bleeding, constantly weeping. The sky is blood-red, and blood always rains down. The earth is dark brown, barren and desolate, yet it is always stained red with blood... Do we come into this world only to suffer?"
"If there is nothing but suffering and death everywhere, then what is the meaning of life?"
The voice spoke again, its tone ethereal. "Is that the cause of your sorrow? You must not know that the world you see is but a tiny Demon Realm within the Great Thousand Worlds. This entire region is nothing more than a drop in the ocean of the Human Realm itself."
"Outside the Demon Realm lies a vibrant, colorful world. There, in the mountains and forests, you can hear the cries of deer, the howls of wolves, the roars of tigers, and the calls of apes. Among the rocks, lizards scuttle, insects leap, and snakes slither. Life is so abundant, the world so magnificent—not like the Demon Realm, which has only the colors of blood and black."
"So what? No matter how colorful a world is, it is still filled with countless deceptions, ugliness, and evils, with endless war and bloodshed. Was it not the creatures of that vibrant world who sealed the Demon Race in this wretched land?"
"Every place is filled with suffering. Everything is just one step closer to death..."
"Mo Ge, do you still not understand?" the voice resounded in his mind once more. "Death is not the end of everything. Death is merely a state of being, one form within the Reincarnation of the Celestial Dao."
"Flowers bloom, and then they wither. Stars shine brilliantly, but their light, too, will fade."
"A person’s life, compared to the heavens and the earth, is but the blink of an eye."
"That is why countless beings seek the path to eternal life, pursuing the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. They brave all manner of hardships and dangers, hacking a path through thorns to walk this road of no return, all in the hope of transcending life and death and escaping the cycle of Reincarnation."
"On this path, birth, old age, sickness, and death are the norm. The fires of war are ever-present. All that matters is how you choose to face it."
"You may be lonely, or you may journey with laughter and joy. You will love someone, and you will hate someone. You will also be loved by someone."
"There will be laughter and tears, joy and sorrow."
"You will fight and be hurt... but you will also be cherished by others."
Mo Ge shook his head. "I have not seen these things, nor can I feel them. What is laughter? What is love?"
"I am a harbinger of misfortune. My mother died the day I was born... Anyone who gets close to me suffers my Curse and endures great hardship..."
"You will feel it," the ethereal voice said. "You must believe in yourself, believe that you can change all of this. You must believe that you can control your own destiny and change the destinies of those around you."
"This bleeding world and the suffering people around you all need you to bring about change. If you believe you can change things, then ultimately, you will."
"Go to the other side of the Seal. My Divine Thought will guide you. There, you will meet your companion. You will fight with him, laugh with him, and cry with him. You will find the meaning of life."
"A companion... what is that?"
"Someone who will help you find yourself, rediscover your emotions, and understand the meaning of your existence."
"Go now. I have sealed your power and erased all traces of your aura as an Emperor of the Demon Race. And also... your memories... The fate of the Demon Race is in your hands, as is the fate of the Human Realm. When you one day remember these words, do not be surprised. This is your destiny..."
"If you wish to escape that destiny, your only choice is to become stronger, and stronger still..."
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