Chapter 1 When the Bells Rang

When the bells rang, and the moonlight filled with order and solemn power, Vivian felt a bit bewildered.

She looked up at the mutated celestial body she had summoned, feeling the solemn and sacred power in the crimson moonlight. She felt that this was not quite the same as the "Red Moon" in her memory. She had summoned the Red Moon several times, but the moonlight was always filled with violent and chaotic power. Although it was incomparably powerful, it never had anything to do with solemnity and sacredness. It was more like a pure release of power, destroying everything under its light without any rhyme or reason.

But this time, she summoned such a thing. Although it looked the same, the moonlight only destroyed the twisted shadow monsters on the ground, without harming anything else. She reached out, and her fingers touched the pillar of light beside her. Her fingertips felt a warm sensation, and a feeling of peace arose spontaneously.

Vivian brushed a strand of hair in front of her chest, a look of confusion on her face. To be honest, the change in the moonlight was a happy thing—it meant that the dangerous skill she usually dared not use had become a little safer, at least it wouldn't result in accidentally killing teammates. But she was also a little frustrated: some of her powers always seemed to be out of control. She didn't know what she would throw out when she made a move…

However, no one saw Vivian's confusion in the sky. Hesperides and the others on the ground were all nervously looking down, waiting for the moonlight to end. Even Lily, a magical idiot, could feel the amazing power contained in the Red Moon. The husky girl, who was usually hyperactive, was unusually well-behaved at this time, probably recalling her terrible memories after seeing the Red Moon for the first time. She kept her head down and muttered to Hesperides beside her, "Why isn't it over yet? It's fine to just shine, but why does it have to ring bells and beat drums? My ears hurt."

Hesperides also looked down at her toes and replied, "You can cover your ears."

Lily's ears twitched, "Two hands aren't enough."

Hesperides: "…"

Only Hathaway didn't say a word from beginning to end: it was her first time witnessing this blood-colored moonlight that was so terrifying in the mouths of countless demon hunters. The huge pressure made her afraid to breathe—although she hadn't breathed for more than two hundred years.

But at this moment, there was a "person" who completely ignored the surrounding environment, neither purified by the moonlight, nor afraid of the moonlight. It wasn't Hao Ren, who was lying on the ground playing dead, but the weakling who was thrown on the ground at random and still trapped in the can.

When the Red Moon rose, the little evil spirit became strangely quiet, as if she could also feel the peaceful and holy aura in the moonlight. The little devil, who was always暴躁不已 (bào zào bù yǐ – extremely irritable), stood blankly in the can, looking up at the moon in a daze. The red light reflected in her chaotic eyes, which had no whites, as if gradually seeping into them.

The little one suddenly raised her hand and shouted at the moon, "Wah! Wah! Haya!"

However, her shouts were drowned out by the third bell, and no one heard her voice, nor did anyone notice the little one's actions.

Under the moonlight, all the twisted and evil things disappeared, and the earth gradually returned to calm. On a small hill two kilometers away from here, the tower burning with raging holy flames was gradually calming down. The flames faded from the magic-patterned metal, and the light retreated into the rocks. At the window at the top of the tower, the old hunter Mohaben quietly watched the earth being purified by the moonlight. His gaze fell on the place where Hercules had stood—now there was only a cloud of black ash scattered in the wind. The dangerous power that had filled this space was gone.

The old hunter sighed and slowly lowered his head: "Farewell."

Flames rose from under his feet, and after a moment, only a pile of white ash remained.

And where was Hao Ren at this time? And where had his spirit extended to?

Just as the Data Terminal said, he was still in a state of deep linking, but he was not connected to any "person" at this time.

After Hercules' spiritual world collapsed, Hao Ren thought he would immediately return to the real world. However, after a dizzying sensation, he opened his eyes and found himself standing in a hazy and distorted starry sky.

It was strange to describe the starry sky as "hazy and distorted," but that was the only feeling he could have at the moment: he was floating in zero-gravity space, and the stars he could see seemed to be covered with a layer of gauze. The starlight radiated to all directions abnormally, and the distant galaxies appeared to be distorted in all directions as if through a lens. Hao Ren searched his memory, but he never remembered seeing any place in the universe with this scenery.

The universe was of course very large, so large that it could accommodate almost anything strange, but the scene before him didn't seem to conform to the laws of physics at all. If he had seen it, he would never forget it.

"Terminal?" Hao Ren tried to call the Data Terminal in the spiritual link, but only a weak message came back, which was the Data Terminal's automatic response signal in standby mode—this meant that there was no problem with the spiritual link between the two, but for some reason, his call failed to reach the Data Terminal.

"What the hell is this place…"

Hao Ren muttered to himself, but he was unusually calm in his heart, and he suddenly realized something as soon as he finished speaking to himself: he could hear himself speaking.

This was not a vacuum!

"Not outer space?" Hao Ren frowned and looked at the distant stars, "No wonder it looks like this... Could it be an illusion?"

As soon as he thought of illusion, he immediately perked up: so far, he had entered the illusion several times, and each time he would face the information left by the Creator Goddess. This information seemed to be a conscious guide that would reveal some things to him, so what would this illusion bring this time?

At the same time, he began to guess the reason why he entered the illusion. After thinking about it, it seemed that the moment he touched the divine scepter was the most likely—could it be that the thing inside the scepter's core was some kind of relic of the Creator Goddess?

Unfortunately, when he sealed the scepter at that time, the situation was urgent, and there was no time to take a closer look at what was inside the cracked crystal, otherwise he wouldn't be so confused at this time.

While thinking about various things in his mind, Hao Ren began to try to find the secrets in this illusion.

This time's illusion seemed to be different from the past. Its scale was more宏大 (hóng dà – grand), and it was simply a universe starry sky. Although it was probably not really boundless, its scale was quite amazing. Moreover, there were no obvious clues in the illusion—or rather, events. In the past, the illusions that Hao Ren saw always involved some events, and they were historically significant events. These events that were enough to change the universe were the foundation of the illusion. But the starry sky in front of him… nothing happened. It was just quietly displaying itself, the stars were cold, and everything was silent, like a huge still holographic projection.

Hao Ren tried several different ways to focus his attention in order to move, and soon he found that his skills in space walking in the real world were still effective here. And when he concentrated his mind to a certain extent, something even more incredible happened: he instantly crossed a distance of possibly tens or even hundreds of light-years, and the angles of the stars in his eyes changed.

"Spiritual world… enough psychological suggestion can produce an effect similar to space teleportation," Hao Ren muttered. This unexpected discovery made him very happy, which meant that he could explore this surprisingly vast "illusion" with greater efficiency.

There were no clues about what to explore, and there were no clear targets in the vast stars, so Hao Ren simply chose a direction and kept moving in that direction, hoping to find where the border of this space was.

He didn't know how many times he had jumped continuously, he only remembered that the stars beside him were receding quickly, and the distant stars appeared more and more distorted. After the last jump, he stopped and looked at the "border" in front of him in surprise.

The illusion did have an end, and it was an extremely obvious boundary: a mirror.

An boundless mirror blocked Hao Ren's path, but he hadn't noticed it at all just now: because the mirror only reflected himself, and he couldn't see the starlight at all. If he hadn't been close enough, he wouldn't have realized there was anything in front of him.

He reached out and touched it, feeling that he had touched a slightly elastic plane that became more and more solid as he exerted force. In front of this plane was empty darkness, and his figure was reflected in the darkness. He carefully observed his shadow in the mirror and regretted to find that it was just an ordinary image.

"Is that it?" Hao Ren scratched his head, feeling a little discouraged.

But at this moment, a trace of red suddenly appeared on the black mirror in front of him.

The red suddenly expanded and split into countless branches around it. Hao Ren was stunned for a moment before realizing that these were cracks, and the red light came from the other side of the cracks.

The cracks expanded and increased rapidly at an amazing speed, filling the entire border almost in the blink of an eye, and finally the starry sky shattered with a bang.

Hao Ren opened his eyes with a jolt and found himself lying on the ground, with a red moon hanging overhead. He felt a soft warmth under his head, and a bit of itching on his arm. He turned his head and was shocked to see Lily looking at him with a silly smile: "Oh, landlord, you're awake?"

A fluffy tail swept back and forth on his arm, and the itchy feeling came from here.