"After it!" Dare Drake Tran shouted, springing toward the shadowy figure darting through the trees. Luna Snow and Zhu Bajie followed close behind, their footsteps hurried. A cold miasma lingered in the air, guiding them to an ancient ruin hidden behind the temple library.
"Master, be careful!" Luna called out, watching the figure stop suddenly in front of a moss-covered stone gate. "That's—"
Before she could finish, the gate trembled, and the ancient symbols carved into it began to glow with an eerie green light. A blast of dark energy shot out like a torrent, hurtling toward them.
[Viewers: 50,000+]
Comment: "Danger! It's a trap!"
CelestialPalace_001: "This dark energy... it's from the Heavenly Prison!"
Dare quickly pushed Luna aside, but couldn't avoid the jagged edge of a dark tendril, slicing into his arm. Fresh blood seeped from the wound, evaporating into black smoke upon contact with the poisonous air.
"Celestial Sovereign… or should I call you Dare Tran now?" A familiar voice echoed from the shadows, taunting. "Still as sharp as ever."
[Viewers: 100,000+]
Comment: "That voice… could it be from the Celestial Realm?"
CelestialPalace_002: "An old enemy has arrived…"
A figure emerged from the darkness. A man cloaked in black, his face hidden behind a mask of tarnished bronze, with a symbol that caught Zhu Bajie's eye—the eye within the lotus blossom, exactly like the emblem in the library.
"The Prison's Enforcer!" Zhu Bajie roared, clenching his fists. "I wondered why this energy felt so familiar. So it's you—the executioner of the Celestial Realm!"
[Viewers: 200,000+]
Comment: "Who is this Celestial Prison Enforcer?"
CelestialPalace_001: "He is the one who hunts down and executes criminals in the Celestial Realm…"
"Gah…" Dare dropped to one knee, his wound radiating dark tendrils that seeped into his veins. The poison was burrowing deeper into his body with every heartbeat.
"Master!" Luna rushed to him, placing her hands over the wound. But as soon as her energy made contact, the poison retaliated, sending Dare into spasms of pain.
"Pointless." The Enforcer sneered. "This is the Nine Hells Poison, distilled from the resentment of those executed by the Celestial Court. There is no cure… unless…"
In an instant, he appeared in front of Luna, his hand gripping her throat before she could react, lifting her off the ground.
"Unless you hand over the Celestial Record you took from the library!"
"Let her go!" Dare shouted, struggling to his feet, but the venom wracked his body, weakening him. The black lines had spread to his shoulder, each heartbeat driving the poison deeper.
"I… I'm all right…" Luna gasped, gripping the Enforcer's wrist. Suddenly, a flash of silver light flared from her hand—an ancient sigil!
"Arrgh!" The Enforcer howled, releasing her as his hand smoked and blistered. "The Maiden's Sigil? Impossible… unless you are…"
[Viewers: 500,000+]
Comment: "What other secrets does Luna hold?"
CelestialPalace_002: "Her Celestial Maiden bloodline is awakening…"
"Zhu Bajie, protect the Master!" Luna commanded, her voice stronger than ever. She rose, her dark hair flowing in the silvery energy radiating around her. "Today, I'll settle my old grudge!"
"Ha ha ha!" The Enforcer's laugh echoed wildly. "So you're the daughter of the Fallen Celestial Maiden! Very well… I'll make you die as she did—in pain and despair!"
Dark energy erupted from him like a volcanic storm, forming into hundreds of serpent-like tendrils that slithered toward her. But Luna held her ground, her hands tracing ancient, intricate patterns in the air.
[Viewers: 1,000,000+]
Comment: "This is terrifying! A real battle!"
Comment: "Go, Luna!"
[Continued]
"Celestial Dance of the Thousand Lotus Swords!"
Luna whirled gracefully through the air, every movement laced with deadly beauty. Her energy transformed into a thousand blossoming lotuses, each petal a blade, forming a lethal dance of light and fury around her.
"Interesting!" The Enforcer clenched his fist, his dark energy thickening like tar. "Dark Art—Serpents of the Abyss!"
The black energy morphed into hundreds of monstrous, fanged serpents, each as long as a river. They struck the lotus swords, colliding with a sound like thunder.
[Viewers: 4,000,000+]
Comment: "Her sword technique is beautiful! She truly is her mother's daughter!"
Comment: "It looks like something out of a martial arts epic!"
"Not finished yet!" Luna shouted, forming a new sigil with both hands. "Celestial Dance—Meteoric Lotus!"
The lotus petals disintegrated into thousands of arrows of light, piercing the serpent constructs. Each arrow carried a chill from the stars, freezing the dark energy before shattering it.
"Hmph!" The Enforcer twisted mid-air, summoning an evil seal. "Dark Art Forbidden Technique—Netherworld's Grasp!"
From the ground, countless clawed hands erupted, forming a deadly net. Each hand emanated a putrid aura of death and resentment.
"Celestial Maiden Technique—Ethereal Steps!" Luna's form split into seven mirages, each shimmering with a blinding silver light. She danced among the ghastly claws, her steps as graceful as a heavenly maiden's.
"Don't think you can keep dodging!" The Enforcer appeared within the mirages, his hand coiled with dark energy. "Dark Art—Soul Crushing Palm!"
Boom!
Dark energy exploded from his palm in a spiraling blast, shattering the illusions. Luna was hurled backward, slamming into an ancient stone pillar.
[Viewers: 6,000,000+]
Comment: "No! Luna's in danger!"
CelestialPalace_001: "That strike is lethal…"
"Ugh…" Luna coughed, blood trickling from her mouth. The wound on her chest seeped with black energy, spreading like a web.
"This palm contains the hatred of thousands executed by the Celestial Court." The Enforcer loomed over her, his voice icy. "It will corrode your soul bit by bit… just as it did your mother."
"Don't… hurt her…" Dare struggled to rise, the poison wracking his body with increasing pain.
"Forbidden Art—Devourer of a Thousand Souls!" The Enforcer raised his hand, forming a massive dark claw that swooped toward Luna.
Then—
Clang!
A piercing metallic sound echoed. Luna's shattered pendant glowed brightly, and the ethereal form of a woman dressed in white appeared before her.
"Mother?" Luna whispered in astonishment.
[Viewers: 7,000,000+]
Comment: "Is that… the Celestial Maiden?"
Comment: "Could her spirit have been preserved in the pendant?"
"Impossible!" The Enforcer stumbled back, his mask rattling. "You… you should have perished long ago!"
But that wasn't all. At the same moment, Dare's wound began to radiate a brilliant golden light. The poison writhed and seethed, seemingly repelled by an ancient power within him.
"No…" Zhu Bajie murmured in shock. "That energy… could it be…"
Roar!
An earth-shaking roar erupted from Dare's body as the ground quaked, and ancient stone columns began to splinter. Black clouds swirled overhead, lightning streaking across the sky.
"Could it be…" The Enforcer stammered. "This energy… I recognize it…"
[Viewers: 8,000,000+]
Comment: "What's happening?"
CelestialPalace_001: "Be cautious… something far more terrifying is awakening!"
A deafening clap of thunder shattered the sky, and from a rip in space, a figure clad in golden robes descended, holding an ancient book that radiated blinding light.
"I've given you long enough to play." His voice boomed like thunder, warping the air. "It's time to reclaim what belongs to the Celestial Realm."
"Celestial Justicar?" The Enforcer fell to his knees, his body trembling. "The highest enforcer of the Celestial Realm…"
[Viewers: 9,000,000+]
Comment: "A stronger figure has appeared!"
CelestialPalace_002: "The situation has spiraled beyond control…"
The Celestial Maiden's ethereal form turned urgently to Luna, her voice pained.
"Luna, the pendant… it's more than a keepsake. It is also…"
Crack!
A golden bolt struck the Celestial Maiden's image, severing her words. Her spirit faded into a misty sigh.
"Mother!" Luna cried, her voice filled with anguish.
"Rebellious spirits have no right to exist," the Justicar said coldly, his book glowing ever brighter. "Now… your turn has come."
[Viewers: 10,000,000+]
Comment: "This is getting dangerous! What's going to happen?"
CelestialPalace_001: "This is the true enemy…"
"Celestial Art—Chains of the Worlds!"
The ancient book in the Justicar's hands opened, each page blazing with golden light. Chains of radiant gold, like celestial dragons, shot forth from its pages, snaking toward Dare Tran and Luna Snow with frightening speed.
"NO!" The Enforcer lunged forward, his dark aura surging as he formed a defensive wall. "I won't let you harm them!"
Slash! Slash! Slash!
The golden chains cut through his dark barrier as though slicing through paper, one of them piercing the Enforcer's chest and shattering his mask. His eyes widened, blood seeping from his mouth.
[Viewers: 12,000,000+]
Comment: "Is the Enforcer… protecting them?"CelestialPalace_001: "Sometimes, there's something even greater than hatred…"
"You…" the Justicar sneered. "A traitor like you would dare stand in my way?"
"I… I understand now…" the Enforcer whispered, his gaze meeting Dare Tran's. "You were right… True justice isn't in the Celestial Realm."
"Enforcer…" Dare clutched his hand tightly, feeling the man's fading life force.
"Promise me… Celestial Sovereign…" The Enforcer's voice grew fainter, as his body began to dissolve into dark embers. "Bring true justice…"
Suddenly, his entire being erupted in dark flames. Arms outstretched, he summoned a final wall of shadows between the Justicar's chains and Dare's group.
"Forbidden Art—Hellfire of a Thousand Souls!"
The dark fire blazed fiercely, consuming everything, even the Justicar's golden chains.
"Stubborn fool!" The Justicar raised the ancient book, golden light swirling as he invoked a powerful incantation. "Celestial Art—Chains of Eternal Suppression!"
The gold and black forces collided in a brilliant explosion that seemed to shatter reality itself. But in that instant, Dare felt an unexpected surge of power flowing from the dark flames—the Enforcer's sacrifice was purging Dare's body of the poison.
"You… you…" Dare murmured, feeling his strength return.
"Quick… escape…" the Enforcer's voice echoed, his figure dissolving further into the flames. "This is… the only way I can… atone…"
[Viewers: 15,000,000+]
Comment: "I can't believe the Enforcer would sacrifice himself!"CelestialPalace_002: "Sometimes redemption only comes at the very end…"
"Celestial Justicar," the Enforcer whispered with a dying breath. "The Celestial Realm is no longer pure…"
Boom!
The Enforcer's dark flames exploded, creating a vortex of energy that halted the Justicar's advance.
With the last of his strength, Dare seized Luna's hand. "We're leaving, now!" His golden energy surged as he tore open a rift in space.
"No one escapes my grasp!" the Justicar thundered. His golden book emitted an even brighter light as he sent radiant chains through the rift after them.
"Luna!" Dare threw his body in front of her just as one of the chains struck her shoulder, drawing blood.
[Viewers: 18,000,000+]
Comment: "Luna's been hurt!"Comment: "What are those chains?"
"It's… a Celestial Mark…" Zhu Bajie said, horror in his eyes. "Anyone marked will be drawn back to the Celestial Prison!"
"Master…" Luna's voice was faint, her body wracked with pain. "I'll be… all right…"
"Stay quiet!" Dare commanded, his voice quivering with emotion. He pressed his hand to her wound, golden energy pouring forth.
Then, Luna's shattered pendant began to glow. Her mother's voice whispered through it one last time.
"There is… one way…" the faint voice of the Celestial Maiden spoke. "But the price… is a soul…"
Without a second thought, Dare raised his hand. "Then I'll—"
"Stop!" a familiar voice called out.
A ghostly figure emerged from the shadows of the vortex—it was the Enforcer, his spirit barely holding form, his figure transparent.
[Viewers: 45,000,000+]
Comment: "The Enforcer survived?"Comment: "How did he escape?"
Barely clinging to existence, the Enforcer staggered forward. "Let me… atone… once and for all…"
"No!" Luna tried to push him away, but the Enforcer placed his hand over her wound, his spirit dissolving into tendrils of light.
"Celestial Sovereign…" he murmured, his voice a fading whisper. "Justice lies… beyond the Celestial Realm…"
Dare felt a deep sadness as the Enforcer's essence poured into Luna, transferring the Celestial Mark from her to himself.
"Promise me…" The Enforcer's voice grew fainter, his spirit finally fading to nothing.
With a last burst of strength, Dare tore open another rift in space, golden energy swirling around him as he activated his forbidden technique. "Celestial Art—Reversal of Worlds!"
[Viewers: 70,000,000+]
The Justicar's eyes blazed with fury as the golden chains struck the vortex. "Dare to tamper with the laws of the heavens?"
"Master…" Luna whispered, clutching Dare's hand.
"Trust me…" Dare said, his voice steady even as blood trickled from his mouth. With a surge of will, he released the full force of his forbidden spell.
"Celestial Seal—Ultimate Incantation!"
With that, a brilliant vortex consumed everything around them. Dare's face remained calm, his final words echoing through the void.
"Luna… you will find me…"
And then—
Boom!
The vortex closed, swallowing the entire battlefield in a light so blinding it seemed to erase the very fabric of reality.
[Viewers: 80,000,000+]
Comment: "Did it end?"
CelestialPalace_002: "No… This is only the beginning…"
In the wake of the battle, Luna found herself drifting in a timeless, formless space, fragments of memories washing over her: her mother's smile, her first encounter with her master, the bells of the Celestial Realm…
"Master…" she reached out, but Dare's figure faded, his voice a distant echo.
"When you see the lotus blossom… within the dragon's eye…"
And then— Everything went dark.
As the overwhelming vortex of light closed in, Luna's consciousness began to wane, her memories flashing in fragments. She felt as if her spirit was being pulled in a thousand directions at once.
The scene around her became a cascade of shifting images, overlapping voices, and ghostly remnants of the world she had known. Her last glimpse was of Dare's face, his eyes filled with a quiet determination, even as his body dissolved into the blinding maelstrom.
Then, nothingness.