The blood turned into a river of blood, flowing on the mountain top.
Moon-white light shone out from the arched gate of the Void, forming a clearly marked clean ground.
Between the moon-white and blood colors, a thick white mist rose, creating an atmosphere of vagueness and eeriness.
"Have you ever considered the possibility of cooperation between you and me?" The Moon God stood within the gate, his face still bearing the likeness of Yue Dewen, perhaps believing that with this face, Zhang Rongfang’s heart would be more easily swayed.
"You say the canopy is contracting, pressing down. I don’t believe it. But, I have two objectives," Zhang Rongfang said calmly.
"First, you separate the personality of Yue Shi. I want him to return to this world.
Second, I want to eliminate all forces of gods and deities in this world. From now on, no one is allowed to worship them!"
No one is allowed to worship gods anymore?
The words stunned the Moon God.
He fell silent.
Leaving that aside, he actually couldn’t cooperate with the first objective either.
Yue Dewen’s personality was essentially a part of his own soul consciousness. To separate it would severely diminish his strength.
And to break through the canopy, he couldn’t allow himself to be seriously wounded.
Therefore, their cooperation faced fundamental differences from the start.
"The elimination of gods’ forces, you may do as you wish after I leave, but... Yue Dewen’s personality separation...."
The Moon God’s voice lowered.
He paused for a long moment, seeming to hesitate, to ponder.
Finally, until the distant sound of hawks and falcons broke his thoughts.
He spoke again.
"Recently, I’ve found some clues outside the canopy in the temple of Spirit Flying Heaven.
I will tell you plainly, if we can’t find a way out of here within a hundred years, the canopy will keep contracting, compressing our world entirely into nothing.
I have calculated that as conscious beings, we can’t live until the world is reduced to nothing. We will likely perish midway due to the severe lack of living space. The same goes for lifeforms."
"You mean... the consumption of various survival resources?" Zhang Rongfang quickly understood.
The continuous contraction of world space means a significant increase in the density of all things.
If the number of living beings doesn’t change much, it means consumption will increase significantly.
This is just the simplest assumption; other issues like temperature, climate, natural disasters might become common occurrences.
"Well?" the Moon God inquired.
"What exactly is outside the canopy? You haven’t said," Zhang Rongfang asked.
"Outside the canopy...." The Moon God fell silent again, bowing his head as if pondering how to explain.
"It seems to be different from what I previously imagined... very different."
White light flickered in his eyes. For beings like gods and deities, their expressions couldn’t be deciphered, only the brightness of their eyes could indicate emotional changes.
"But I still want to leave and must leave," the Moon God said softly, "It’s the only way."
"What’s out there?" Zhang Rongfang frowned.
"Light. Endless light, the kind that once caused many to mutate and become stronger—the Light from the Heavens," the Moon God explained. "Moreover, it seems we are not imprisoned here...."
"What do you mean?" Zhang Rongfang frowned.
"I can’t be certain of more yet; more evidence is needed. Now, the only thing certain is, if we don’t leave this world within fifty years, it might be too late," the Moon God sighed.
"Such rhetoric doesn’t persuade me at all," Zhang Rongfang said solemnly.
The Moon God was equally silent.
A situation where everything will be extinct in fifty years, and the other party isn’t even a little anxious?
Is this a case of being unreasonably stubborn?
But he could not allow Zhang Rongfang to carry out the plan to expel gods and deities on Earth.
He could leave it behind, but as long as he remained here, he couldn’t allow his own strength to be affected.
"Must you oppose me?"
The Moon God fixed his gaze on Zhang Rongfang.
"It’s not that I want to oppose you," Zhang Rongfang advanced calmly, step by step. "Since I have my current strength, why should I suffer grievances, forcing myself to live in a world that doesn’t satisfy me? Why tolerate the various displeasures around me and wait passively instead of changing?"
"So, it is you who make me unhappy, who make me feel dissatisfied. Your existence is a torment to my heart. As long as you live in this world, it’s an unforgivable sin!"
With each step Zhang Rongfang took, the blood river beneath him grew denser.
More than that, large areas of blood mist and blood clouds began to appear in the surrounding air.
The entire mountaintop was suddenly enveloped by surging blood color from all sides.
Only a central area was cleared out by the moon-white light of the Moon God.
"What a sophistry," the Moon God sighed. "It seems we have nothing left to say."
"Indeed, there’s nothing left to say," Zhang Rongfang’s body began to swell rapidly, growing larger.
Countless blood mist entered his body, as if inflating a balloon, causing him to expand quickly.
Ten meters, twenty meters, forty meters!
Fifty meters!!
His body pierced through the blood clouds, as if wearing them as a garment, three arms condensed three blood axes.
Just standing, he found it impossible to fully stand on the mountaintop.
He had grown too enormous, his feet could only rest on the mountainside while his massive upper body leaned against one side of the peak, looking down upon the Moon God atop the mountain.
His massive form, sinewy muscles, eyes blazing red, and mouth full of sharp teeth emanated dense white smoke.
This was the manifestation of his constant resistance against the divine might of the Moon God.
The Moon God gazed up at the colossal half-body of Zhang Rongfang beside the mountain peak.
At this moment, the other party seemed more like the mythical gods and deities compared to them.
The sheer size of its half-body occupied more than half of the mountain peak’s edge.
"What a pity... If you could stand by my side, today, I wouldn’t have to kill you..."
The Moon God’s eyes revealed a hint of genuine regret.
"Kill me??" Zhang Rongfang grinned and laughed. "If you can, go ahead and try."
The Moon God fell silent.
He reached out his hand, extending it forward.
Swish!!
From within the circular archway, a massive moon-white finger suddenly shot out towards Zhang Rongfang.
The finger alone had a diameter of several meters. As it extended, it resembled a sharp spike, its tip shining with a blinding white light.
Countless white lights gathered and solidified in the air, transforming into white ribbons that fluttered and danced.
At the same time, Zhang Rongfang raised his giant axe high, slashing down heavily.
White and red met and clashed in an instant.
A booming buzz erupted, but instead of a loud explosion, there was only a vibration.
The vibration of sound waves had already surpassed the auditory limits of the human ear.
All that could be seen was an invisible ripple erupting between the finger and the blood axe.
The ripple distorted space and light, shattering the surrounding blood clouds and white ribbons, pressing them until they exploded.
"A futile struggle." Behind Zhang Rongfang, two other arms also wielded blood axes, crashing down with a roar.
Thud thud!!
Two consecutive blood lights shot forth like waterfalls, slashing heavily onto the Moon God’s finger.
The finger finally couldn’t bear it, breaking off piece by piece, shattering into countless white lights and dissipating.
"Still not enough?" The Moon God stood inside the gate, gazing at Zhang Rongfang, who was as tall as a small mountain.
His recent probing proved that, once he descended to the mortal realm, without a sufficiently powerful and suitable corporeal form to bear himself, he simply couldn’t match Zhang Rongfang at this moment.
The essence of deities is incorporeal, their consciousness a conglomerate. In the Taoyuan, he had enough power to crush everything.
But here... even after absorbing the Spirit Seal of three saintly patrollers, enhancing his power considerably, he still couldn’t win.
"It seems you’ve made your decision." The Moon God said softly. "So, do you dare to enter the gate?"
"Why wouldn’t I dare?" Zhang Rongfang’s body suddenly shrank, his wings vibrating, transforming into a blood shadow and charging into the doorway.
A whirlwind of chaos ensued before his eyes.
As soon as he exited the door, he was met with an endless ocean of silver leaves pressing down on him.
A whole ocean rolled down from the front.
This sensation had never been experienced by anyone before.
But at this moment, Zhang Rongfang felt it.
It was as if the entire sky was falling and sinking.
He had clearly entered the Void Door, but did not appear in the Taoyuan.
Behind him was the entrance he came through, before him was the boundless ocean of silver leaves.
Boom!!!
The silver leaf sea instantly submerged Zhang Rongfang, countless silver-white leaves slashing at his body like blades.
The blood mist, blood clouds, and Blood River all struggled to encircle him in resistance.
But there was no Essence Qi in the surroundings to convert, leaving him to rely solely on his own essence blood to fend off everything.
Within the silver ocean, he transformed into a cocoon of blood, its surface densely covered with deep knife scars.
Countless silver lights and silver lines coiled around him, forming a tornado storm.
Three seconds later.
The blood cocoon grew thinner and suddenly shattered. Zhang Rongfang inside opened his mouth and roared angrily, finally submerged completely in the silver light, shredded into pulp.
At this moment outside the Void Door, on a corner of the mountaintop.
Zhang Rongfang’s complexion turned pale, his consciousness thoroughly severed and shredded.
"Your power... has grown stronger?" he noted that during their last encounter, the Moon God’s divine might hadn’t been able to so effortlessly cut through his essence blood and skin.
This time, it was visibly different.
"You’re not dead?" Inside the Void Door, the Moon God was also slightly surprised, looking at Zhang Rongfang who had appeared outside again.
"I am the Blood Ancestor, the spirit of all blood, you alone cannot kill me." Zhang Rongfang said calmly.
"It seems that was just an avatar, a false body..." The Moon God realized instantly.
He recalled their last encounter, when he had descended his consciousness and seized the opportunity for a surprise attack.
Back then, he had indeed killed Zhang Rongfang once.
But he was resurrected.
Now it seemed... this so-called Bloody Immortal Martial Arts, indeed had issues! Extremely sinister!
For a moment, the blood mist and white light both withdrew, returning to the present Moon God and Zhang Rongfang’s bodies.
After a probing clash, they both understood there was no point in continuing.
Whether it was the Blood River or the moonlight, since it was meaningless against each other, releasing them was just a waste of their own strength.
Better to concentrate it at one point, for greater power.
Apart from the devastation and deep pits everywhere, the mountain peak returned to calm.
The current situation was.
The Moon God couldn’t defeat Zhang Rongfang outside.
Zhang Rongfang couldn’t defeat the Moon God inside.
And so, they remained at a stalemate.