The three Ancestral Witches were startled, but showed no intention of retreating, and again surged upwards against the cascading moonlight.
Seeing this, Qing Xuan's heart leaped. Xi He had always been quiet and steady; she would never be so agitated unless it was Di Jun, or the Ten Golden Crows!
His heart sank. Law chains sprouted from his feet, extending desperately into the void. He transformed into an immeasurable giant python, coiling through the emptiness. The Azure Nether Umbrella slowly unfurled, erupting with brilliant light. Chaotic energy swept in all directions, scattering the four Ancestral Witches.
"Empress, please depart quickly and do not worry. I have my own means of escape!"
Xi He, suppressing her inner anxiety, nodded and took a step forward. A long bridge of time beneath her feet connected the barrier between heaven and earth, carrying her towards the distance.
Di Jiang, witnessing this, roared, "Quickly stop her!"
The three Ancestral Witches immediately pursued Xi He.
Di Jiang, however, brought down his palms, solidifying the void. Qing Xuan's true form was imprisoned within the world of his palms, yet he still struggled desperately.
"Hahaha, stop your futile struggle!" Di Jiang sneered. "Once you enter my Great Destruction Realm, you can only await death!"
Qing Xuan remained deaf to his taunts, the law chains all over his body resisting the spatial crushing force without pause. Even as the surrounding space grew smaller, it would still take time.
In Kunlun, Yuan Shi chuckled, "Next, please, fellow Daoist, watch a good show!"
Qing Ling remained silent, her heart in tune with the game, remaining at ease.
In a certain Wu tribe, Chang'e suddenly saw the boundless moonlight illuminating the sky. Her heart leaped, and a scene that filled her with terror manifested in her primordial spirit.
In the eastern reaches of the Primordial World, a majestic man drew his bow, aiming at the last Golden Crow. Heaven and earth fell silent, and the True Sun Fire burning on the bodies of the nine Golden Crows below gradually extinguished.
But no one noticed that these Golden Crow True Fires were not extinguishing; instead, they were all flowing into a mysterious place within their bodies.
In the sky, the youngest Golden Crow looked at the nine fallen bodies of its brothers on the ground. Its youthful eyes blazed with boundless fury as it gazed at Hou Yi, meeting the sharp glint of his arrow.
It flapped its wings, lunging at Hou Yi with all its might. It wanted to perish with this enemy. Even if struck by the arrow, it would use its last spark of life to ignite and incinerate the murderer!
Hou Yi's gaze was resolute, focused on that single point. Between heaven and earth, there was only one arrow, piercing yin and yang, traversing dawn and dusk, shooting through the cosmos, shattering the firmament!
"Whoosh~"
The arrow shot out like a meteor, as if fate ordained it, so fast that even the assembled great powers could not see it, streaking towards the Golden Crow.
"Bang~"
A slender, jade-like finger caught the arrow. At its tail, the jade finger was stained with blood, the blood falling upon the firmament.
Xi He, draped in moonlight and treading upon a bridge of time that spanned heaven and earth, arrived. She had caught the arrow!
Upon seeing his mother, the little Golden Crow's resolve and courage vanished in an instant. Tears streamed down his face as he cried out helplessly, "Mother!"
Xi He's eyes reddened. She snatched the little Golden Crow into her embrace, her trembling hands holding him tightly. The Ancestral God of the Taiyin, the Mother of the Sun, who had never wept in her life, now shed ceaseless tears, her voice beginning to tremble.
"My child, do not cry, my child... my child, do not cry. Mother is here, Mother is here!"
Mother and son embraced, but there was no joy of survival.
Xi He suppressed her boundless sorrow and waved her hand. A divine bird descended from the celestial palace's drifting clouds, bowing and saying, "Jiu Yan pays respects to the Empress."
Xi He put away her disheveled appearance and said, "Take the ten princes back to the celestial palace."
Jiu Yan's face turned pale. He respectfully agreed, scooped up the nine "princes" and the tenth from the ground, and flew away.
Just as Hou Yi was about to speak, the three Ancestral Witches arrived.
Xi He's eyes were bloodshot. Never before had she been so angry and so clear-headed. She dared not look at the bodies of her nine sons, for fear that one glance would send her mad.
She could not go mad, could not lose her reason, for the murderer of her children was still before her!
"Hou Yi, if I, Xi He, do not kill you today, I am unworthy of being the mother of the ten suns!"
Tian Wu was first startled, then burst into laughter, patting Hou Yi's shoulder. "Well done. As the son of that demoness Xi He, you deserve to die!"
The redness in Xi He's eyes gradually intensified. The pure white light behind her eerily turned red. The ever-gentle nine heavens' bright moon transformed into a sinister blood moon. When a blood moon descends, a great calamity for heaven and earth is nigh!
Xi He's untainted white robes turned red. The noble and magnificent Empress's hair ornaments shattered and scattered. Her hundred thousand black tresses flowed under the moon, her blood-red shadow turning her hair white in an instant.
Xi He beckoned, and the Moon Essence Wheel flew towards her. At this moment, the great cause of the demon race, the dignity of the Empress, the Moon God of the Nine Heavens – none of it existed in her eyes. In her eyes, there was only the hatred for the murder of her children!
The Moon Essence Wheel descended from the sky. Xi He clasped it with one hand, the sharp precious wheel piercing her five fingers. The blood of the Moon God entered the wheel, causing it to shatter violently, transforming into three thousand silver blood needles.
Xi He flung her hand, and the flying needles multiplied into tens of thousands. A blood moon hung in the sky, and boundless red threads and blood lines bound the Thunder and Lightning Ancestral Witches. These were threads of time!
Xi He was desperately using her origin!
Tian Wu's expression turned grave. With a flick of his hand, an endless hurricane materialized, and he grabbed Hou Yi, fleeing into the void.
Xi He under the blood moon was too sinister. To protect Hou Yi, it was best to take him away.
Xi He's divine and envied countenance was filled with hatred and despair, like a blood demon. She sneered, "I said, Hou Yi must die!"
She reached out a hand, reversing the long river of time, freezing space. Tian Wu was returned to his previous position; time was reversed!
Xi He suddenly grasped, and five red blood threads bound Hou Yi's heart, pulling him to Xi He's side.
Tian Wu spread his wings, but before he could unleash his divine abilities, Xi He, without even looking, reached out and grabbed again. The long river of time transformed into a celestial bird, swallowing Tian Wu and imprisoning him within time.
Xi He coldly looked at Hou Yi. "What wrong did my nine children commit against you! To kill my nine children, even killing you a thousand or ten thousand times would not suffice to vent my hatred!
They were so young, their intelligence had just dawned. What did the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, the struggle of the myriad races, have to do with them?
Why did you kill my nine children?"
Xi He roared madly, "Why!"
Hou Yi, captured, did not fear but instead laughed. "It's a pity one escaped. I killed them because I killed them; there's no need for so many 'whys'."
Xi He's pupils trembled for an instant. Enraged, she reached out a palm and grabbed at Hou Yi, intending to tear his Great Witch body apart!
But at this moment, a faint, ethereal light pierced through, and a jade palm emerged. The two nearly identical jade palms collided and were thus dispelled.
Hou Yi opened his closed eyes and sighed, "Why did you have to come?"
Chang'e said sadly, "How could I not come?"
Xi He said coldly, "Chang'e, move aside for me!"
This was the first time in countless eons that she had directly addressed Chang'e by name.
Chang'e said sadly, "Sister, please forgive me!"
As her voice fell, she actually knelt before Xi He. The aloof, unstained Moon God of the Nine Heavens knelt before another in the presence of all beings!
Hou Yi was stunned and said with distress, "Sister E, why must you do this?"
Xi He was taken aback, then said indifferently, "Get up! This is a feud between myself and Hou Yi; it has nothing to do with you!"
Chang'e said urgently, "Sister! Hou Yi is my husband. His mistakes, his faults, are my mistakes. But please, sister, punish me. Even if I must suffer ten thousand punishments, I am willing, I only beg you to spare his life. Whether he is crippled or disabled, it will be as you wish, but I beg you for his life!"
"Beg for his life?" Xi He let out a sneer, a laugh of despair, yet tinged with sorrow. "Then my nine children are just gone like this? They never even saw me in their last moments! How old were they? They had just learned to speak, learned to fly, learned to call me Mother, and they died under Hou Yi's arrow.
You pity him? You worry about him? Your heart belongs to him entirely? But have you ever considered that he killed my nine children, your nephews? Do you not feel heartbroken for your nine young and innocent nephews?"
Chang'e sighed sadly. "If Sister insists, then Chang'e is willing to die beneath your palm, to live and die with him!"
Hou Yi exclaimed, "Do not! I would rather die!"
Hearing this, sorrow appeared in Xi He's eyes. She smiled sadly, "You give birth for him, he dies for you. The heart of husband and wife, what a beautiful tale! In the end, it becomes my fault?
Chang'e, listen clearly. Even if it means death, no matter who dies, Hou Yi will die today. There is no room for discussion!"
"Sister!" Chang'e sighed and reached out a hand.
Xi He, however, grabbed her hand, her tone cold and resolute. "Do not try to force me with death. If you do, I will die before you. Then, all three of us will die!"
Chang'e was shocked and said, "Sister, is there truly no room for turning back?"
Xi He said indifferently, "There is no other possibility!"
Saying this, she reached out and grabbed, and myriad threads of time and blood bound towards Hou Yi's heart, intending to pierce him through with ten thousand threads.
Chang'e was greatly alarmed and unfurled her sleeve, a sky of white silk blocking in front of Hou Yi.
Xi He said coldly, "Are you determined to protect him?"
Chang'e said resolutely, "Yes!"
"Even if it means becoming an enemy to your own sister?"
Chang'e's face showed hesitation and pain. "Please, Sister..."
"Good!" Xi He suddenly responded. "How very good! My own sister has grown up!"
As her voice fell, she turned and left.
Seeing this, Chang'e's heart was filled with surprise and relief. She hurriedly knelt and said, "Thank you, Sister, for your immense kindness!"
Who would have expected that Xi He would softly utter, "Please turn, precious one!"
As her voice fell, a blinding flash of light, like the shadow of a blade, illuminated the primordial chaos. It was so fast that no one could react. A white light severed Hou Yi's head.
The moment Hou Yi's head fell, looking at Chang'e's terrified eyes, he smiled with relief. She would no longer be troubled for his sake.
Xi He departed resolutely. The three Ancestral Witches, having finally broken free from their restraints, saw Hou Yi's corpse and roared in anger, "Demoness Xi He, pay with your life!"
The blood moon in the sky receded, returning to its former gentle whiteness, though now it exuded sadness.
Xi He's aura plummeted, the aftereffects of using her origin manifesting. Her strength had dropped by nearly half, but her black hair had not yet returned to its original color. In the end, the Moon God had grown white-haired, and nine suns had fallen.
In the distance, within the chaos, Nuwa in her Wa Imperial Palace suddenly stood up. The tightly shut doors of the Wa Imperial Palace boomed open. Nuwa stepped out of her palace, her eyes carrying an unprecedented sharpness as she looked forward.