Chapter 781
Ritual of the Created Monster
March 21st, nighttime.
Alistair, Honey Badger, along with Prince Xiardo and Fenrir, gathered under the moonlight, watching the Moon Witch Selene perform a ritual.
This was the first day of spring, a season symbolizing the resurgence of all things and rebirth from death. On March 21st, the sun would appear in the constellation of Aries—Aries, the sign of Xi Tian Si, who was this World’s third sun. Xi Tian Si was also Hengwo’s lover, her split self, and her son.
Therefore, this was the night when the concept of “creation” was at its zenith—unrivaled!
Selene donned a pure white woolen robe and, facing the moon, washed her hands with a silver basin. As she washed her hands, she seemed to caress the moon reflected in the water.
“What is she doing?”
Prince Xiardo humbly asked Alistair.
But Alistair could only shake her head.
Let alone her—even the knowledgeable Elves of the Church likely knew little about this. Only Haibasha, who sold the “Moon Egg Grimoire” to Eivass, could answer this question.
After all, the Moon Witch was a lost inheritance; the last Moon Witch was Hengwo itself. Alistair was not qualified to read the “Moon Egg Grimoire” and thus had no idea what Selene was doing.
However, the essence of rituals was universal.
She tentatively deduced, “Perhaps she is touching the ‘moon in the water’ to complete the Twin Mirror ritual. The sacred number of the moon is one, water as a mirror is two, and three…”
As Alistair spoke softly, Selene raised her hands, which were shining under the moonlight, from the water, letting the water sprinkle onto her head and wet her long hair.
She raised her hands high towards the moon, then used the fingernails of her little fingers to cut the palms of her other hand—only her little fingers had long, sharp nails like blades.
When blood dripped into the silver basin, it did not disperse in the water. Instead, it gathered together, causing the moon in the basin to gradually turn into a blood moon.
Then, Selene began to chant, her voice clumsy yet sincere, in Elven Language.
The light song brought to mind the sea, the gentle breeze, and the moonlight.
“…I understand. The sacred number three can refer to self-sacrifice. The offered blood is also a devotion, thus aligning with the holy day of March 21st to invoke the power of creation.”
Alistair realized her deduction was not wrong.
She recalled another matter—Cardinal Cyril had mentioned the secret of the “Book of Night Rabbit Teachings” to Eivass. The so-called “teaching book” might be another translation of “Grimoire” from the primordial era.
It mentioned that Hengwo had abandoned its old self ten times. The first three times were shedding clothes, flesh and blood, and shadows. The next three were shedding reason, instincts, and true self.
By shedding everything, Hengwo was left with only “self,” thus eventually becoming “Hengwo.”
Selene had also explained to Alistair how she obtained her werewolf power—it came from the “Grimoire of the Morning Crow” about Xi Tian Si, which Eivass had read. She had also heard similar whispers… However, she failed the trial of “shedding shadows” and only obtained werewolf power from the trial of “shedding flesh and blood.”
The great philosopher’s disciple, Aristotle, had written an important work called “Organon.” The syllogism was proposed in this book. This book was an elective course in university, and Eivass read it in the library… because it was very close to Occult Classics, containing metaphorical descriptions of the secrets and truths of many things.
In the “Categories” chapter of this book, Aristotle used the term “category” to describe the unity of form and matter and gave ten types of existence—substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, possession, action, and passion. The latter nine were considered extensions of “substance.”
This precisely corresponded to Hengwo’s ten abandonments… The first nine things abandoned were merely extensions of the “true self.” Only the tenth abandonment was the most crucial step towards godhood.
“So, the sacred number for Hengwo to ascend to godhood is… ten?”
Alistair murmured, “But, will there be a Tenth Path… or is it breaking down 9 and 1? Love detached from immutable eternity… What happens if we reassemble it?”
The fusion of eternity and love sounded like an incredibly subtle paradox.
Similar to the fusion of paths 3+7—the self-sacrificer and the one who commands others formed a perfectly fitting circle; 2+8 meant transcending a mirror, which also formed a cyclical loop. Coincidentally, the combination of 1+9 also formed such a void loop…
Did this mean the Tenth Path was a non-existent void… or rather, was the Tenth Path “void” itself?
“The Tenth Path?”
Fenrir heard Alistair’s murmur.
He casually said, “I’ve heard similar hypotheses from other astrologers—that this world might have a Tenth Path, or even a Zero Path. Because the current Nine Great Paths are insufficient to explain everything… it’s like when we sometimes deduce the constellations and find the results don’t match, often because there’s an extra star that hadn’t been discovered before.”
“Beyond the Nine Great Paths, there are other powers. Some believe it is ‘zero,’ while I tend to think it is a level higher than ‘eternity,’ a paradoxical loop of ‘one more than infinity’… Speaking of which, do you think ‘infinity’ or ‘infinity plus one’ is greater?”
“Infinity plus one,” Alistair replied without hesitation, as if someone had asked her this before.
“Me too! You think the same as me… No wonder you believe in the existence of a Tenth Path!”
Fenrir was pleased with Alistair’s answer, “Some of us back then also believed they were the same size, therefore there shouldn’t be a Tenth Path greater than the Twilight Number, so the extra variable could only be the Zero Path…”
Alistair paid little attention to Fenrir’s words, her gaze fixed on Selene’s creation ritual.
She sang an ancient melody while walking in circles around the basin. Whenever her shadow fell upon the basin, she secretly sprinkled some of Alphonse’s Child of the Moon bone ash into it. When she reached the sixth circle, she sprinkled all the bone ash into it.
On the seventh circle, she poured a tube of Alistair’s blood into it. This was to confirm the blood relation between the newly born monster and Alistair.
On the eighth circle, she threw in the corrupted “Eye of Merciful Offering” that Alistair had given her. This ritual wouldn’t exhaust its power; instead, it would use Hengwo’s power to purify it.
On the ninth circle, she threw in the Fool’s liver, which had lost its soul but still emitted a rich aroma of wine—this was a consumable material. Alistair felt it was best to get rid of it quickly and transform it into fighting strength.
Then, she returned to her original position.
Selene suddenly raised her hands as if grabbing a handful of moonlight!
She clenched her fists, her hands trembling with effort—from the wounds on her hands where blood had flowed, a transparent golden liquid, emitting a rich fragrance, slowly seeped out.
This was the “Emperor’s Flowing Paste,” drawing power from “moonlight” to create monsters.
Plants would become spirits when exposed to it, and mortals would go mad upon touching it.
The creation of werewolves by witches was modeled after this ability of the Moon Witches; werewolves going mad under the moon was also due to their fundamental flaws.
As streaks of golden thread dripped from the gaps of her clenched fists, connecting her to the blood moon in the water like olives… Selene closed her eyes and sensed like a puppeteer.
Bubbles of blood, increasingly rich and large, began to gurgle in the water, the liquid gradually turning from transparent to bright red.
A sharp cry echoed from nowhere, shaking Prince Xiardo so much that he instinctively covered his ears—but it was no use; the sound penetrated his hands, his body, everything. His eyes instantly turned red, filled with intense anger and agitation. He bent over, clenching his fists and grabbing his own ears, his arms trembling violently as if he were about to tear his ears off.
Alistair and Fenrir also felt a strong urge to retch and vomit. Alistair managed to steady her swaying body, but Fenrir reacted more violently—he fell to his knees and began to vomit.
Only Honey Badger reacted minimally; she merely furrowed her brow slightly, looking at the silver pool less than a meter in diameter.
Intensifying blood surged from within, the churning blood staining the silver and clinging to the walls, forming layers of increasingly rich pale pink blood membranes.
Finally, something crawled out of it!
(End of Chapter)
