Dark Moon Era

When the first light shone upon the grasslands, Wenbu quietly sent Tang Ling away from the village. Sighing as he saw Tang Ling off, he hoped that his decision to gamble with the village’s fate was correct.

Further away in the corner, when Bartu saw Wenbu and Tang Ling, his lips curled into a cold smile.

Sprinting across the morning grassland on an iron scaled horse, Tang Ling seemed to be troubled by his thoughts. As a matter of fact, he did not want to delay his journey or get tangled up with the conflict between the villages in the grassland.

According to his schedule, he should leave the village today and move on since he had to reach the Darkness Port before December. Even if he was grateful for Valencia’s helping hand and moved by Wenbu’s honest passion, the most he could do was help the family move away from the land of conflict.

However, the Stardust Council’s shadows were everywhere and their presence held him back. He could not simply ignore their growing presence since they were the ones who wiped out the Dragon Army at first.

Tang Feng’s death must have something to do with the Stardust Council.

Truth be told, Tang Ling did not care about Tang Feng at all, but after Su Siao’s incident, he realized that the Stardust Council had something to do with his condition too. Su Siao had actually suffered damage to his meridian points, so he could no longer cultivate and had to rely on the Time Backtracking Serum to recover to his former self. His note mentioned something about his condition but not in detail.

As for Tang Ling himself, the biggest danger that could harm him was, of course, the Stardust Council. If he was correct, the wanted warrant that had been issued came from a councilman from the Stardust Council.

However, the Stardust Council was a mysterious organization. No one knew how they rose to power, how powerful they truly were, or how many more trump cards they had hidden under their sleeves.

Their vision was also a strange one as they seemed to be exploring the planet. They were seemingly harmless because they never participated in any conflict of power. After so many decades into the Purple Moon era, they had only fought the Dragon Army before, and the conflict between the two parties shook the world.

As for the truth behind all this, other than the higher-ranking personnel from both sides, no one knew much, especially Tang Ling. Su Siao’s note mentioned that he would earn the right to know when he met Zero.

Regardless, the Stardust Council’s influence had seeped into Tang Ling’s life, affecting him. They were the enemy that he had to face sooner or later. The death of his grandmother and sister must have something to do with them as well. Therefore, he wished to find out their true goal and maybe the temple in the grassland might be his entry point.

The journey was not far. It was only half an hour on horseback from the village before Tang Ling reached the side of the Goddess Tear Lake.

The water in the lake was strange. No matter how strong the morning breeze was, there was no movement on the surface at all. With a concentrated gaze, Tang Ling could vaguely see several huge shadows under the water that sent chills down his spine.

After he got down from the horse, he sent it away. Wenbu had said that the horse would automatically gallop back to Barbarto Village.

Starting from where he stood, a hundred meters forward towards the valley directly opposite the Goddess Tear Lake would bring him to an inconspicuous cave.

Tang Ling took a deep breath and climbed up the valley. The climb was not difficult. Because the six villages held their offering ceremony here annually, a makeshift path had formed over the years of climbing.

The cave was easy to locate because there was only one in sight. The entrance was not very large, and upon entering, one would notice that the cave contained nothing. No wonder the six villages were not worried about outsiders finding the venue of the offering ceremony since no one would suspect anything in an empty cave.

Tang Ling’s curiosity was piqued, so he walked deeper into the cave. When he reached the end, he fished out a dark red pill from his pocket and lit it up.

The dark red pill was the Holy Blood pill that Valencia mentioned. Every direct descendant family would have three for safekeeping, and when all three were used, they would remake the pills with their secret method.

Thankfully, Wenbu was a direct descendant of Barbarto Village, so he was able to provide a pill to Tang Ling.

Tang Ling understood that the Stardust Council would also enter the temple via the Holy Blood pill that they got from the Uvandidi tribe, but Wenbu had sneered with a disdainful smile, “Those who aren’t the right people can do nothing in the temple.”

What about himself? Tang Ling was skeptical, but Wenbu had shaken his head. Based on the little deal between them, he had granted Tang Ling a single entry to the temple.

The Holy Blood pill burned quietly, emitting a strange coppery smell.

Tang Ling sat down with his legs crossed as a strange feeling started to appear in his mind. With his Precise Instinct, he seemed to sense a mysterious energy wave from the bottom of the cave.

What did it mean? Tang Ling shut his eyes and tried to sense the exact source of the energy wave, but then he heard a strange, nearly inaudible noise. The noise sounded like a type of language and a soft click followed as if something has been unlocked.

Tang Ling could not understand the strange language at all, but he was able to catch a thing or two. Was there something about a match?

Of course, Tang Ling did not believe what he felt since he did not want to believe groundless speculation. He was overwhelmed when he opened his eyes as a great door loomed before him.

Is this the same theory with the 3D holographic projection back in the Hope Barrier?

Tang Ling put his hand on the door to find that the texture of the stone felt genuine. He also checked the walls and the ground where the door appeared on. They were as real as they could be.

This went far beyond the technology level of 3D holographic projection! This phenomenon could even deceive a human’s sense of touch.

What a mysterious and super-advanced technology! But why does the door have all these primal symbols on it? 

After a quick glance over the symbols, he remembered that he once read a book about human history. The symbols on the door shared a resemblance to the symbols that the primitive humans drew.

However, compared to the old primitive symbols that had lost its grace and color, the symbols on the door were in a fresh dark red color. Every stroke was alive as the symbols represented strange animals and abstract humanoid beings. The strange animal symbols felt very familiar to Tang Ling, but he could not pinpoint exactly where he had seen them before.

According to Wenbu, the temple for the offering was right behind the stone door. As for what Tang Ling could find, it was entirely up to him.

What a strange way to put it. With that in mind, Tang Ling stepped through the stone door. The door automatically slammed shut after he went in and all the light from outside was blocked.

Tang Ling was not frightened or scared. Wenbu had said that to exit the temple, he should simply put his hands on the door again. He lit the torch that he prepared and found a flight of mud stairs that led downwards, allowing only one person to pass at a time.

After he made it through the stairs, he found a larger cave, but…

It was difficult for him to believe his eyes. The cave was just another empty cave though it was just a little bigger than the one above.

Where’s the temple? Where is the mountain of silver eggs that Wenbu mentioned? Are they gone? Did the Stardust Council raid the place?

No! Definitely not! If the Stardust Council had achieved their goal, why would they go to such an extent to control the villages?

The empty cave would only mean one thing: those who were not the direct descendant of the villages could not see anything in the temple, let alone touch anything.

No wonder Wenbu had disdainfully chuckled when he heard that the Stardust Council was trying to get into the temple. It also explained what Wenbu said to Tang Ling about him entering the temple. Was there no other way? Tang Ling had a heavy heart parting with this place because that door above him clearly stated that this place had secrets!

But how? Tang Ling calmly thought about it for two seconds before he closed his eyes and activated his Precise Instinct. From a certain perspective, the Precise Instinct was a pair of eyes that worked even better than his real eyes to discover and see through the true nature of things.

As his Precise Instinct came into play, Tang Ling finally sensed an unusual energy wave from all around the cave. In his mind, pictures of abstract forms started to develop though they were too blurry to identify.

What if he opened his eyes at that moment?

Tang Ling believed he had to capture more with his own eyes for his Precise Instinct to analyze further since it had broken a layer of shackles for him, the very shackles that held his brain back!

Humans saw things with their eyes, but as for how things formed, it was up to the brain to analyze.

Therefore, Tang Ling opened his eyes, and the scene before his eyes changed.

He saw many silver eggs similar to the one he had found in the purple Udy crow’s nest! The silver eggs were piled up together messily. There were almost a hundred or more of them, and every single one of them emitted a faint energy wave.

Behind the eggs was a giant rack that had six shapeless, liquid metallic objects.

The liquified metals were glowing attractively. Tang Ling could not help but try to take a piece for a closer look. However, he could not lift the first and most attractive piece that he saw. It did not even budge! He felt slightly depressed.

What about the second piece? Or the third? Tang Ling tried to lift all of them but failed to budge them even a little as if there was some tremendous invisible force holding the liquified objects on the rack.

He refused to give up. His attention landed on the last piece.

It was unusually small at only half the size of his fist. Compared to the other colorful pieces, this one was almost unnoticeable. It was black and the intensity of its glow was not as strong as the other five. In short, it looked like a piece of coal.

If I can’t take the big ones, how about this small one? Tang Ling coiled his muscles and teeth, and lifted with his best effort!

Yet, he was still unable to move it! Due to the excessive exertion of strength, the sharper edge of the black object cut Tang Ling’s finger and his blood spilled on it.

“What the hell?!” Tang Ling grumbled, but after he wiped the blood away, he saw a bizarre scene.

The black object moved! It wriggled like an animal! The blood that he spilled on it was absorbed quickly like it was a sponge absorbing water!

What the hell just happened? Is it a blood-sucking rock?

Tang Ling was out of ideas after trying everything, but after the blood was absorbed, he was tempted to take the black stone once more. This time, when he touched the rock, he smiled.

The invisible force that held it down had disappeared! The black rock was in his hand!

However, he did not expect the rock to be so heavy. The moment he lifted it away from the rack, because he was not prepared for the weight, the heavy stone yanked him to the ground strongly.

He fell and something in his pocket dropped. The item was something that he had not truly understood and it coincidentally dropped beside the black rock. Then, a strange and inconceivable scene happened before his eyes.

The item that dropped from his pocket was none other than the broken dagger that he had gotten from the Agnes family storeroom.

Back then when Tang Ling had taken it, the broken dagger had been covered in blood, but when he put it down, he realized that the blood on the dagger was all gone. Is this the legendary blood-sucking dagger?! With that simple thought in mind, Tang Ling had taken the dagger with him.

Then, along the journey through the mountain ridge, he realized that his assumption was wrong. It was not a blood-sucking dagger because it did not absorb the blood of the beasts that he killed along the way.

Is it picky about its food? Tang Ling tested it out with his own blood. After spilling a drop of blood on the dagger, he then realized that it absorbed the blood. To his astonishment, in the next moment, where its broken edge was, a little drop of black liquid trickled.

He collected the drop of liquid, but upon a closer look, he came to a rather frustrating conclusion: the drop of black liquid was technically still blood although it seemed to be a mixture of many people’s blood.

However, without any advanced scientific instruments, using his Precise Instinct alone was not enough for him to solidify his theory. Therefore, he kept the piece of cloth that he used to absorb the black liquid so that he could verify it when he reached the next safety sector.

If the scene before his eyes had not happened, his theory would have remained a mystery until the next safety sector.

However, regardless of his theory, this blunt and strange dagger somehow fused with the black object that he had spent some effort retrieving.

Tang Ling could not find a better word to describe the process. As the dagger got closer to the black object, several vines sprung out from the dagger and latched onto the black object.

“Damn it! This is mine. What are you doing!?” Annoyed, he bolted up and grabbed the dagger.

Unfortunately, the vines on the dagger clung onto the black object tightly. No matter how violently Tang Ling shook, it did not let go. Frustrated, he punched the black object and the seemingly sturdy object broke into half in front of his eyes.

Broken into two, the larger half was still within the grasp of the vines on the dagger as they were rooted inside. The other smaller half was in Tang Ling’s hand.

A strange feeling rose in his heart as if the dagger had unwillingly split the black object with him.

‘Here. This bigger piece is mine. You can take the smaller piece.’

What the freaking hell?! 

While Tang Ling was frustrated, conflicted, overwhelmed and started to doubt his existence, he heard the strange noise again.