The statue toppled completely but didn't crash to the ground. Instead, it fell into a mass of soft, writhing flesh-nest. Invisible tentacles wrapped around it layer by layer, adhering to the stone statue's surface.
Qu Chan's screaming finally stopped, and it asked suspiciously, "What is this? What are you trying to do?"
Xue Chenjing ignored it. His robes billowed without wind, his hair floating in the air, as if something was surging out from his sleeves and the hem of his robe.
Qu Chan couldn't see what those things were. It only knew that these things quickly filled the entire Moon God Temple, violently destroying all the furnishings inside, creating spider web-like cracks on the ground, and leaving terrifying constriction marks and disc-shaped holes on the thick pillars.
The temple's beams creaked under pressure, and tiles from the roof came clattering down.
Its temple was about to burst from within.
But it was just a temple - if destroyed, a new one could be built, even larger and more magnificent. Qu Chan had long wanted a new temple anyway.
It didn't care at all. Though he was destroying everything in the temple, he dared not harm the statue in the slightest, proving that the leverage it held over him was indeed effective.
"I almost fell for his trick," Qu Chan sighed in relief. It had nearly believed that he truly didn't care about the cultivator inside the statue. It calmly said to Yu Yi inside the statue, "It's quite entertaining to see him so helpless and furious. Let me show you too."
As Qu Chan's words fell, a white light pierced through the darkness before Yu Yi's eyes, finally allowing her to see the outside world.
However, her perspective was still limited to that of the statue, and unable to turn her neck, she could only see what was directly in front of the statue.
The statue was suspended in mid-air, supported by invisible tentacles. Directly in front of it stood the enraged Xue Chenjing.
His handsome face was terribly distorted with fury, veins bulging at his temples, his jaw set in a sharp line. His robes billowed as he destroyed everything within her field of vision.
Yet the tentacles wrapping the statue remained gentle, not even allowing a speck of dust to fall upon it.
Yu Yi could only watch him fixedly like this, watch as he raged, pacing back and forth in anxiety and agitation, his eyes turning red with anger amid Qu Chan's mockery.
Qu Chan, like a mischievous child, had completely abandoned its "Moon Goddess" facade, revealing its malicious nature. The more helplessly furious Xue Chenjing became, the more delighted it grew.
"Go ahead, keep destroying things. The cost of demolishing this temple - I'll collect it all from your master. A cultivator's flesh must be delicious. Once I've corroded her body completely, turned her flesh and bones into pus, I can savor it slowly."
Yu Yi felt a sudden burning pain all over her skin, and couldn't help but let out a muffled groan.
This painful groan transmitted from within the statue, causing Xue Chenjing to freeze. All the tentacles in the temple fell still with him as he looked up anxiously, "Master, Master..."
Qu Chan deliberately let her groan be heard outside. Yu Yi watched the increasingly agitated man and tried hard to suppress her voice. She couldn't count on Xue Chenjing; she had to find a way to save herself.
Qu Chan cheerfully said inwardly, "It's useless. Just become one with me. Wouldn't it be nice if we enjoyed the mortal offerings together? Isn't that easier than your arduous cultivation?"
Yu Yi sneered coldly, "Such deviant methods - don't dream of becoming a god."
Like its believers, Qu Chan was deeply trapped in delusion, beyond salvation. "I am already a god. I am the Moon God."
Suddenly, Xue Chenjing's cold laugh came from outside. The man who had been anxious and restless moments ago had somehow suddenly calmed down. The wild energy around him was drawn back as he raised his head, his pitch-black eyes gazing at the statue as his lips curved into a sinister smile.
Qu Chan's heart skipped a beat, filled with an ominous premonition.
The next moment, its premonition came true. All the tentacles in the temple converged on the statue, lifting the massive Moon God statue upward. The statue broke through the temple's roof, soaring into the sky.
Outside the Moon Goddess Temple, many believers had gathered. The burning of the osmanthus grove had sparked public outrage. He Yungeng and Wen Li couldn't explain themselves to the angry crowd, and being unable to use force against them, they felt quite frustrated.
The violent disturbance from within the temple led the crowd to believe the Moon Goddess was angry, and they wanted to drag the two into the temple to atone for their sins.
When the massive statue rose through the roof, the commotion outside finally ceased. Everyone looked up at the ascending statue. The Moon Goddess, cradling the moon in one hand and holding an osmanthus branch in the other, gazed down benevolently at all living beings.
The bright moon hung behind the statue, as if divine light was shining down upon the earth.
"My Lady! The Moon Goddess has shown herself!"
The crowd on the ground immediately fell to their knees, kowtowing to the statue in the sky.
He Yungeng seized the opportunity to grab his junior fellow disciple, and with a flash, they escaped from the encirclement, retreating to one side to cautiously look upward.
In mid-air, Xue Chenjing's figure was concealed behind the statue. He raised his hand, fingers together, and drew an arc from top to bottom. Earthly impurities flowed from his fingertips, condensing into a long bow before the Moon God statue. The bow shared the color of frost and moon, emanating a luminous glow. His other hand made a gesture of drawing the bowstring.
The bow suspended before the statue tensed accordingly, and a sharp arrow materialized on the bowstring.
A devil-like voice drifted from behind the statue, "Below are your most devout believers, aren't they? Care to guess - when they witness the Moon Goddess slaughtering her own followers with her own hands, will they still faithfully worship you?"
Qu Chan remained composed, "As cultivators, you value the way of the heart. You cannot harm mortals."
"Ha?" Xue Chenjing gave a light laugh and murmured, "I'm no cultivator. I'm a demon, and demons dare to kill anything. What's more, these are mere mortals. They nurtured a thing like you - they can't be good people either."
His fingertip lifted slightly. Before the statue, the suspended bow hummed as the taut bowstring suddenly released. The arrow, carrying the frost of the silver moon, broke through the air, shooting toward one of the kneeling mortals below.
Qu Chan finally panicked, trying to find a way to block it but found itself confined by an invisible barrier.
The arrow whistled downward, trailing a brilliant silver tail. The mortal on the ground had no time to react. Just as the arrow gleaming with moonlight was about to pierce through that person, a figure suddenly flashed in front of them, raising a sword in defense.
The arrowhead clashed with the sword blade, producing a sharp clang that pierced everyone's ears.
He Yungeng's sword-holding hand shook violently, the tiger's mouth of his palm splitting instantly. Yet the arrow wasn't blocked - it merely deflected at an angle, sliding off his sword blade and piercing through another person's body.
That person was still maintaining their kowtowing posture when the arrow entered through their left shoulder and exited through their right waist, pinning them to the ground. The silver light on the arrow exploded from within their body, like rays of moonlight, cutting the person into pieces and splashing out a pool of blood.
In the blink of an eye, a living person had become scattered chunks of bloody flesh.
Heaven and earth fell silent for a moment. Finally, someone nearby who had been splattered with blood came to their senses and let out a terrible scream, collapsing to the ground and scrambling backward.
The kneeling believers below fell into complete chaos. Some buried their heads and kowtowed, crying "Moon Goddess, please calm your anger!" while others got up and stumbled frantically toward the county town.
He Yungeng angrily pointed his sword at the statue in the sky, "Harming your own mortal believers - how dare you call yourself a god! What kind of monster are you?"
In the sky, the long bow before the Moon God statue had already drawn taut again, fully strung, its arrow pointing downward.
Xue Chenjing ignored the two cultivators below and asked, "Moon Goddess, who would you like to shoot this time?"
His fingertip slid, and the arrow on the bow split from one into two, then three. All three arrows were released at once. He Yungeng and Wen Li hurriedly chased after the arrows, swinging their swords to cut them down, but one arrow still pierced through a believer.
Screams echoed through the mountains and wilderness.
The two exchanged a glance. Wen Li thrust his sword into the ground, forming a barrier of sword energy to encompass the people in the osmanthus grove. He Yungeng charged toward the sky with his sword but collided with an invisible force that pushed him back to the ground.
Many people were so frightened they fled in panic, running out of the sword energy barrier.
The long bow before the Moon God statue raised slightly, its arrowhead pointing toward the scattered people in the distance.
Xue Chenjing, caught up in his frenzy, laughed mockingly just as Qu Chan had done earlier in the temple: "If your followers below worship you, I'll slaughter them all. If the people of Fengsheng County worship you, I'll massacre the entire city. If Liang Province worships the Moon God, I'll annihilate the whole province. Let's see how you can remain a god then."
Qu Chan, encountering such an unrestrained and maniacal person for the first time, panicked and said, "No, don't! Your master is in my hands. If you continue this madness, I'll kill her!"
In its panic, Qu Chan failed to notice the thin wisps of black mist seeping into the deity statue through its minute pores, searching for the essence that the person behind sought.
Yu Yi felt an icy energy penetrate her body, and suddenly a mystical symbol formed within her. The burning sensation of corrosion on her body instantly subsided.
She swept her spiritual consciousness over the symbol's patterns within her body and recognized the talisman.
It was a Substitute Talisman - Xue Chenjing had placed it on her.
The moment the Substitute Talisman took form, Xue Chenjing felt a sharp pain on the back of his hand. He glanced down at his corroded, festering skin, and thinking of the perfect, flawless hand he had once held in his own now suffering such erosion, rage surged to his head.
Xue Chenjing laughed in fury, "Very well, let's see what happens first - whether I kill all your followers, or you kill her."
Before the Moon God statue, a longbow was raised, and an arrow shot into the air, exploding like fireworks. The scattered points of light elongated under the moonlight, condensing into new arrows that slowly stretched toward the horizon, spreading across the night sky, each arrow sharp and menacing.
Though Qu Chan made fierce threats, it couldn't actually kill Yu Yi - that's why it had trapped her inside the statue to slowly corrode her instead. After all, she was a cultivator who had achieved perfect Golden Core stage.
Realizing its threats were ineffective against Xue Chenjing, it turned to pleading internally, "Quick, tell him to stop! As a righteous cultivator, how can you stand by and watch him massacre innocent civilians!"
