The Night Guards continued their assault with Thunder Talismans, but the Deceitful Mother simply waved her six arms, focusing most of her power on resisting Hao Yunsheng’s Life Mansion.
Sunshine Boy glanced at Hao Yunsheng. The blood at the corners of his mouth had dried, and he lay motionless on the ground.
Sunshine Boy wiped his Qiankun Ring and took out a sheet of glittering gold foil. It was the size of a human face and covered in twisted black writing.
"The heavens are on my side..."
Sunshine Boy pressed his own right thumb onto the bottom-left corner, then walked over, grabbed Hao Yunsheng’s right thumb, and pressed it onto the bottom-right corner.
The contract was sealed.
The gold foil with its black text burned away and vanished.
Sunshine Boy focused his consciousness on his Life Mansion.
Taking a closer look, Sunshine Boy thought, ’This is bad.’
He saw that in the space above the Life Mansion, countless small fragments of fatty flesh were floating around the Deceitful Mother. They formed a ring, like an asteroid belt orbiting a star, obscuring the golden light from Hao Yunsheng’s Life Mansion.
Amidst the swarm of small fragments, the main mass of fatty flesh was beginning to heal.
Sunshine Boy glanced at the Great Cutting Sword, withdrew his consciousness from the Life Mansion, and took a foot-long dagger from his Qiankun Ring. He then walked over to Hao Yunsheng.
With a wave of his left hand, ten Spirit Awakening Talismans appeared. As he channeled his Magical Power, the yellow Talisman Paper of each folded itself into a cup, all of which hovered in midair.
Sunshine Boy grabbed Hao Yunsheng’s left wrist with his own left hand. With the dagger in his right, he sliced open the major artery in Hao Yunsheng’s wrist.
SPURT...
Blood sprayed into the Yellow Talisman Paper Cups.
Like he was pouring from a bottle, Sunshine Boy let the blood gush out until all ten Yellow Talisman Paper Cups were full. Then, a surge of Magical Power from his left hand sealed the wound.
Hao Yunsheng’s blood spilled all over the ground as if it were worthless.
The other five Night Guards occasionally glanced back, their gazes filled with more terror for Sunshine Boy than for the Deceitful Mother.
With a wave of his left hand, Sunshine Boy stored five of the Yellow Talisman Paper Cups in his Qiankun Ring. The other five remained floating in midair.
Then, Sunshine Boy pricked his own fingertip and let a single drop of his blood fall into each of the five floating cups.
He was meticulous, not wasting a single drop.
Sunshine Boy suddenly shouted, "Mother, be careful! Hao Yunsheng is using me to harm you again! I must warn you, Mother, even at the cost of my own life!"
After yelling, Sunshine Boy performed one of the simplest, yet most draining, Fate Skills.
The Life-Burning Skill.
"My blood, draw the Destiny Star, and become the fire of Celestial Fate! Let the fire burn my fate and empower my star! First draw: Sun and Moon Ascending!"
The moment he finished speaking, the Destiny Star for Sun and Moon Ascending materialized within the blood of one Yellow Talisman Paper Cup.
The paper cup burst apart.
A cyan light shot to the heavens as a fierce wind erupted.
Beneath the sea of lightning and the suspended sun, a miniature sun and a small, round moon appeared.
The sun and moon trembled slightly, then shot off like a meteor. In an instant, they passed through the roof, pierced the black curtain, and struck the seated, humanoid silhouette behind it.
"AAARGH..."
The Deceitful Mother’s ear-piercing shriek echoed across the heavens.
Sunshine Boy breathed a sigh of relief. ’The Life-Burning Skill, when used for battles of Fate Grids, really can injure the Deceitful Mother.’
"Second draw: Ten Thousand Grinds into a Vessel!"
Another cup burst, and a golden light shot to the heavens.
The sky filled with translucent golden hammers that rained down, striking the Deceitful Mother with frantic force.
"Third draw: Poisonous Pool Hidden Dragon!"
The third cup burst. High above, a colossal Poisonous Flood Dragon materialized, so massive it seemed to strain the very limits of the sea of lightning. It gave Sunshine Boy a deep look before plummeting downward, slamming violently into the Deceitful Mother.
The house was completely unscathed; not even the ritual items on the zitan wood table had moved an inch.
The Night Guards couldn’t see a thing; they could only hear the Deceitful Mother’s tortured screams.
Sunshine Boy, however, could see it all. A magnificent, world-shaking collision erupted before him. Flames of light surged upward, and the impact was so great that the sea of lightning and the suspended sun wavered, on the verge of collapse.
The brilliant flames from the Poisonous Flood Dragon’s impact enveloped not just all of Fangyuan Village, but the entirety of Guangtong Prefecture.
And yet, the Deceitful Mother’s silhouette remained seated, and the black curtain with its purple grape-vine pattern was still there.
"Mother, look out! Fourth draw: Celestial Calamity!"
The moment those last four words were spoken, the world fell silent.
Sunshine Boy was stunned to find that the world seemed to have frozen still.
A chill shot down Sunshine Boy’s spine, and every hair on his body stood on end. Within his mind’s eye, an unimaginably vast presence materialized behind him.
It felt as if a massive sun had suddenly appeared at his back, poised to destroy the world in the next instant.
Sunshine Boy remained perfectly still.
Suddenly, a swath of hazy grey Divine Light swept forward from behind him, falling upon the black curtain.
The black curtain, like a vertical wall of water, rippled once before shattering with an explosive splash.
The massive figure behind the curtain let out a wretched scream and was thrown backward, crashing heavily into the wall with a thunderous BOOM.
The roof collapsed, sending dust everywhere.
The light from the sea of lightning and the suspended sun flooded the main hall.
Celestial Calamity had descended, severing the two realms. The Deceitful Mother had entered the mortal world.
After a moment’s hesitation, Sunshine Boy put away the last paper cup and looked toward the Deceitful Mother.
The Deceitful Mother was pale and bloated, embedded in the ruined wall. She remained in her cross-legged posture and was about ten feet tall.
She was dressed in a Phoenix Crown and Wedding Robe. A great red garment enveloped her body, her belly was grotesquely swollen, and her two sleeves hung limp and empty—there were no arms beneath her shoulders.
Six white, rounded mounds grew from her chest. The peaks of these mounds were gone, replaced by gaping holes.
From within these holes, six soft, plump, white arms snaked out.
Everyone stared, dumbfounded.
The Deceitful Mother wore a bride’s Phoenix Crown, one so enormous it was more than half as tall as a person.
The Phoenix Crown was pitch-black and covered in beaded flowers. Each cluster of beads formed a black orifice, and there were hundreds, if not thousands, of them.
Embedded in each black orifice was the wrinkled body of an infant, about an inch tall, entirely pitch-black, and shaped like a large, shriveled pea.
They were packed together, dense and countless.
A single eye took up half of each infant’s body, and all their dark pupils turned to stare in unison.
"WAAAH..."
Atop the Phoenix Crown, the infants all began to kick their tiny legs and wail. The sound of their shrill, bizarre crying echoed in everyone’s ears.
A bone-deep terror seized them, and they trembled uncontrollably.
A white veil hung down from the Phoenix Crown, obscuring her face.
Behind the face-covering veil, her long hair was draped forward, further hiding her features.
Through the gaps in her hair, something dark and glossy seemed to flow, like countless black eyeballs rolling about.
A Rattle floated by the Deceitful Mother’s left shoulder. Its drumhead was like a pale human belly, bulging outward.
Two stark white skulls hung silently from its sides, serving as the clappers.
Sunshine Boy glanced at the Rattle and shook his head slightly.
The Deceitful Mother’s clothes were tattered, exposing her body save for her abdomen. Her skin was pale, soft, and plump, yet it was cracked all over like crazed porcelain.
A faint, greyish-yellow mist seeped from the cracks.
Rivulets of this greyish-yellow mist flowed slowly over her body like blood, pooling beneath her.
"My son, come to Mother. Let’s leave this dark, sunless mortal world and go home to live a proper life..."
The Deceitful Mother was clearly speaking, yet neither the black hair nor the white veil obscuring her face stirred.
"Oh, dear. Hao Yunsheng is controlling me again..."
Sunshine Boy focused his consciousness on his Life Mansion once more, looking up into the space above it.
The Iron Armor Talisman Man was covered in cracks, and high above, the chunks of white fatty flesh were fusing back together.
The once towering, greasy white figure was now only a foot tall, its body covered in fissures, resembling crazed porcelain just like its physical form.
Sunshine Boy withdrew his consciousness from his Life Mansion and looked at the Deceitful Mother, who was still calling out for her son.
The Deceitful Mother’s six arms reached desperately for Sunshine Boy, yearning to hold her child and leave.
"My son, why won’t you come with Mother? My son..." the Deceitful Mother cried, her voice choked with sobs as she sat amidst the rubble of the wall.
The six Night Guards used their Thunder Talismans to sever the Deceitful Mother’s six arms once more. Immediately, she drew back the stump of one arm, and from the wound, a new hand sprouted and gripped the wooden handle of the Rattle.