Chapter 2926: The Path of Despair

So that Red Moon assembly line wasn't even the original?

A fleeting glimpse was enough. Fu Qian could clearly confirm that the face was almost identical to the Progenitor of the Blood Clan's, except the eyes were red.

Yes, the Progenitor of the Blood Clan, just like her First Apostle, did not naturally have red eyes. This had been recorded long ago in Ancient Reminiscence.

As for that physiological trait in her kin, it was purely a matter of personal preference.

And from the look of it, that preference had actually fed back into her?

Compounded by the sight of one Progenitor of the Blood Clan after another crawling across the ground, the implications were rather chilling.

Faced with the astonishing scene before him, Fu Qian marveled on the one hand, while on the other, he seemed to gain a better understanding of where those hundred-plus Red Moons had come from.

So even that method of severing a limb to survive bore the shadow of the Progenitor of the Blood Clan?

Looked at from this angle, Tilanqi really had set out on a path of despair right from the start—just as hopeless as the Annalise before his eyes.

Finding traces of the Progenitor of the Blood Clan in the Bottom Layer of the Dream was completely normal.

The Blood Nova, the Blood Clan advancement ritual, the Starry Sky Rose... with all these elements stacked together, it wouldn't have been surprising to find an actual temple to Annalise in here.

It was just that the "traces" before his eyes presented an extreme contrast. Rather than objects of worship, they were crawling mindlessly across the ground like animals.

Even as the sea of mind, which should have treated her differently, continued to mercilessly reject them...

Calling them mindless was no exaggeration. Fu Qian hadn't deliberately concealed his presence, not even when the Annalises swayed and turned their faces in his direction.

Yet even so, it provoked no reaction whatsoever.

The Annalises seemed to have eyes only for the sea, even as they were washed back time and time again.

In just that brief span, Fu Qian had already seen the one at the very front forcefully shoved back several meters by the tide, leaving her even further back than before.

...

Not only had the Progenitor of the Blood Clan fallen, but by the looks of it, her fall had been a miserable one.

As an even less welcome guest, Fu Qian was in no rush to wade into the sea himself.

Instead, he simply sat down on a stone pillar, raised his head to gaze at the bright moon, and facing the shadows, they made—thirty-three.

Yes, observing the Annalises' movements hadn't stopped Fu Qian from taking a quick headcount.

His final tally came to a full thirty within his field of view. An absurd lineup like that would likely give even a higher entity nightmares after a single glance.

Yet to Fu Qian, the first thing that came to mind was the dismembered Ancient Tyrant.

Compared to what that entity had suffered, the Progenitor of the Blood Clan was scarcely any better off.

It might sound a bit contradictory at first, given that one didn't even have a corpse left, while the other had multiplied exponentially.

But for higher entities, what meaning did such mindless flesh hold?

Allowing behavior bordering on blasphemy to persist only proved that even her "self" could no longer be maintained. They were nothing more than a few ownerless remnants.

Then the question became: why did such remnants exist at all?

The most obvious answer was naturally that there had once been an "intact trace" here.

Considering that the Bottom Layer of the Dream was a forbidden zone for the Blood Clan advancement ritual, and that earlier evidence had virtually confirmed Annalise had ulterior motives in creating her kin—perhaps even preparing for the impending Long Night...

Could he draw a bold parallel? Just like Father's Amnion had a stronghold in the sea of mind, did this also house some contingency for her return?

No matter how unconventional her views on the Long Night were, the sheer violence of that upheaval was easily imaginable. Setting up a necessary safeguard was completely understandable—perhaps even double insurance.

[Annalise is Tilanqi.] According to his previous deductions, that phrase—which had plagued the Red Moon so deeply—was likely some sort of Death Rattle meant for survival.

Except, looking at it now, that double insurance seemed not to have worked as intended at all.

The Red Moon might have been driven half-mad by the torment, but the name Annalise had acted primarily as a contaminant.

Over a thousand years had passed already, yet there was still no sign of a successful possession.

As for the Bottom Layer of the Dream right before him, there certainly were quite a lot of "Annalises."

Yet conversely, that only proved that the will corresponding to the name had thoroughly perished.

To strike such a ruthless, uncompromising blow... he was truly curious how the perpetrator had pulled it off.

Unfortunately, though Fu Qian stared at it for quite a while, the moon in the sky showed no intention of clearing up his confusion.

...

That was right—the one who struck that lethal blow was none other than the Primordial Moon.

Combined with what he had witnessed in the Archipelago, there was little room left for doubt. It formed a crucial part of the Chronicles of the Moon—

Having foreseen the impending Long Night, the Primordial Moon had selected a "reincarnation" from among its believers. As that reincarnation, Annalise had indeed been devout; even after legitimately inheriting the position of the Moon God, she still steeped herself in dreams just to listen for divine edicts.

Except, upon learning the secret of the impending Long Night, she formed a different opinion on the matter.

Not only did she set about creating her kin, she even began to look forward to the arrival of the Long Night...

That was right—"anticipation." Was this the core reason the Progenitor of the Blood Clan had met her fatal end?

The benefits of having the information compiled into a systematic codex were evident. As he "flipped through" the Chronicles of the Moon, Fu Qian felt he had grasped the crux of the matter.

Coming from a grassroots background, Annalise's attitude toward the Long Night had been rather unconventional.

And the Blood Clan was part of the preparations born from that attitude... Could it be that this divergence in their paths was what drove the Primordial Moon to murderous intent?

...

Struggles over the chosen path had always been ruthless.

Judging by the Primordial Moon's methods, it was hard to argue that it had acted out of goodwill toward Annalise. Finding an unlucky scapegoat to take the hit was far more likely.

Of course, the invested capital had been massive; the exalted position of the Moon God had been handed over without hesitation.

Yet what if this designated scapegoat began to slip out of control?

What if, despite all manner of guidance, her path diverged further and further?

Wouldn't that be the time to hit the emergency brake?

After all, he was someone who had earned a senior professional title; how could Fu Qian's intuition in these matters lag behind anyone else's?

Even having never met the Primordial Moon, he could easily put himself in its shoes and empathize with that anxiety.

Under those circumstances, exploiting a pre-planted backdoor to strike a lethal blow, and then simply pivoting to incarnate as the First Generation Dark Moon—the entire logic suddenly flowed much more smoothly.

Assuming this hypothesis held true, there seemed to be only one core question left: just how transgressive were the things Annalise had actually done?

Wait a minute—the Old Doctor hadn't been wrong after all. Once you arrived, you really would automatically know where to find the blood.

At that moment, Fu Qian noted that although the Primordial Moon showed no reaction, the radiance it shed reflected a smear of blood across the relatively smooth tidal flats, as if a wound were being torn open right there.

And indeed, a hand pierced through the bloody hue, slowly reaching up from beneath.