37: Don't pity me.

In the twilight, Dawn Moon and Light Fortress fled for their lives. Soon, they were surrounded by Cloud Crimson leading the Sun Legion, their scarlet armor gleaming with an eerie flow under the setting sun.

These armors, crafted from Sunstone Gold, were engraved with flame runes that could unleash scorching heat in battle.

Cloud Crimson said coldly, "Dawn Moon, don't run! Your escape only confirms the crime of eloping and patricide. Why don't you come back with me and explain yourself properly."

Dawn Moon laughed loudly, "Explain? You dared to kill my father; you wouldn't give me a chance to speak. I won't let your conspiracy succeed. I will announce to the entire world how you rebelled and committed treason!"

Cloud Crimson's twin blades flared with red light, "Kill!"

The Sun Legion's armor simultaneously burst into raging flames, instantly turning a hundred-zhang radius into a sea of fire.

Light Fortress plunged his greatsword into the scorched earth, its blade emitting a dazzling golden light.

His broad back completely shielded Dawn Moon. Suddenly, a pair of wings, condensed from pure light elements, unfurled explosively from his back—this was a sign of forcefully breaking through to the "Apocalypse Realm (Soul Transformation)" by burning his life Origin.

"All of you, die for me!"

Light Fortress flapped his Holy Wings, and countless light feathers shot towards the Sun Legion like arrows, instantly causing heavy casualties.

Cloud Crimson's twin blades were directly shattered by a pillar of light, and she flew backward, spitting blood.

Light Fortress turned and cupped Dawn Moon's tear-streaked face: "The biggest regret of my life was being cowardly and not daring to express my love. In the next life, I will love you well."

"Kill—!"

Light Fortress burned his last bit of energy, transforming into Holy Flame and charging towards the Sun Legion. Many warriors were vaporized in the Holy Flame before they could even scream.

Cloud Crimson flinched and shouted, "Retreat! Quick, retreat!"

She grabbed two personal guards as human shields and fled in a hurry.

"Light Fortress..."

Dawn Moon watched Light Fortress's body gradually become transparent, then steeled her heart, stopped hesitating, and turned to escape.

Dawn Moon ran for three days and three nights. The southernmost part of the continent was a desolate wilderness, rarely visited by people.

She found a very secluded cave and hid inside.

However, the moment she stepped into the cave, her spiritual sense touched upon faint energy fluctuations—this seemingly barren cave actually had its aura deliberately concealed by a Formation.

"Come out!" Dawn Moon condensed Holy Light Sword Qi on her fingertips, and the stalactites on the cave ceiling shattered in response. "If you keep hiding, don't blame me for being impolite!"

In the silence, the cave wall suddenly rippled like water, and a figure wrapped in rags emerged from it.

The person's face was haggard, eyes sunken, with only the fingertips glowing with an eerie gray-black—it was White Ember, who had been missing for a year.

"You are that shepherd from Saint-Glow City who was Corrupted and ran away?" Dawn Moon had seen White Ember's wanted poster, and his appearance was etched in her memory. "Did you Corrupt the southern towns?"

White Ember had been hiding in the cave for a whole year.

Ever since he saw Lu Chen's oracle, he had gathered his courage and tried several times to go out and harm people.

But he was kind (cowardly) and couldn't bear to see innocent people suffer from Corruption.

White Ember trembled all over, then knelt with a thud: "Your Highness Saintess, I truly haven't harmed anyone! Ever since I returned from the Great Chasm that day, I've been trying every day to suppress the power of Corruption within me..." He lifted the rags, revealing scabbed scars on his arm, "You see, I used Holy Light Grass to burn my wounds, just to prevent the Corruption from spreading."

Dawn Moon's eyes sharpened.

Those scars were spirally distributed, clearly caused by repeated scorching with Holy Light Grass.

Looking at White Ember's timid demeanor, he indeed didn't seem like someone capable of great deeds.

Dawn Moon speculated that it was likely Scorching Sun who extracted Corruption samples and introduced them into contaminated water sources or food, leading to the Corruption of the six southern cities.

She dispersed her Sword Qi and took out the Purification Crystal she carried with her: "Give me your hand."

White Ember extended his hand. The moment the crystal touched White Ember's skin, it suddenly erupted in dazzling silver light.

Unlike other Corrupted individuals who screamed upon contact with Purification, White Ember actually devoured the Purification Crystal's energy completely.

In an instant, the Purification Crystal turned into an ordinary stone.

"Strange..." Dawn Moon murmured to herself, "You are different from the infected. What exactly happened to you!"

White Ember recounted the story of that dawn: how he was curious about what was on the other side of the Great Chasm, got infected there, and then a voice told him to become the chosen one, gaining the ability to Corrupt everything.

He also saw the oracle of the God of Holy Light, telling him to occupy a city, then grow and Corrupt the entire world.

Dawn Moon listened to the whole story and sneered, "You've been deceived! The one who gave you the oracle certainly isn't the God of Holy Light. How could a god tell you to indiscriminately kill the innocent? And how could a god need you to rescue it? Clearly, this is the Demon Race from across the Great Chasm, trying to cultivate an inside agent, and you are their chosen target!!"

Holy crap!!

Lu Chen hadn't expected Dawn Moon to be so clever! She immediately spotted the contradiction.

White Ember stammered, "Ah... ah, then what... what do I do now?"

Dawn Moon was now single-mindedly focused on revenge. Perhaps she could make the best of a bad situation and use White Ember's ability to build a Corrupted army.

Dawn Moon said in a deep voice, "We will turn their plan against them, occupy a city, lure out that so-called God of Holy Light, and then kill it!"

White Ember was terrified: "Huh? But I don't want to harm innocent people."

"There are no innocent people left!" Dawn Moon's eyes dimmed, "The entire six southern towns have been destroyed, and I just want to reclaim what was originally mine!!"

Dawn Moon was very glad that White Ember was a fool, and that he admired her greatly, or rather, was obsessed with her.

White Ember said that when he was a child, he had seen Dawn Moon and the Great Patriarch visit their village to teach them herding. From the first moment he saw Dawn Moon, he felt she was the most beautiful Saintess in the world.

She hadn't wanted to use such underhanded tactics, but for revenge, Dawn Moon had no choice but to deliberately exude her charm, making White Ember utterly devoted to her.

"From today on, I appoint you as my Imperial Guard Commander, to help me reclaim the towns and establish a new government. Do you agree!!"

The once timid and fearful White Ember was now fearless, his face fervent, kneeling on one knee: "Yes, Saintess, I agree!!"

Dawn Moon took White Ember's hand, her alluring red lips gently pressing against the back of his hand, her warm breath caressing his skin: "Even to death... you agree?"

When her lips parted, her tongue brushed over his knuckles, leaving a moist trace.

White Ember's face flushed crimson, his ears turning red, and he nodded excitedly: "Yes! I'd die now if you asked!"

This is the Chosen One I picked? What a disgrace!!

Lu Chen wished he could kill him with his own hands; he was simply an embarrassment.

At the same time, he felt that this Dawn Moon was too terrifying; to achieve her goals, she even sacrificed her allure.

Dawn Moon wasn't in a hurry for revenge; instead, she wanted to thoroughly understand how White Ember's Corruption ability worked.

"You said you can Corrupt everything? Corrupt this stone."

White Ember grabbed the stone, released his Corruption skill, and the stone Corrupted, emitting black Qi.

Dawn Moon was pleasantly surprised; such an ability had never been seen before.

"Corrupt this dagger."

After the Corruption, the dagger actually increased in quality by several grades.

However, Dawn Moon still didn't dare to touch it for now.

"Corrupt the space in the distance."

White Ember looked bewildered: "Huh? How do you Corrupt space!!"

Dawn Moon's gentle finger lightly traced White Ember's neck: "Concentrate, lock onto the space, and try."

White Ember's ear tips flushed, and he stammered, "B-but how can space..." Before he finished speaking, Dawn Moon's cool fingertip touched his lips: "Shh—" She whispered close to his ear, "Imagine this space... as the thing you hate most."

White Ember closed his eyes, suddenly feeling a viscous darkness surge from his palm.

When he opened his eyes again, the distant air twisted and churned, transforming into a swirling mass of dark green poisonous mist. The plants in its path instantly withered and died.

Dawn Moon chuckled with satisfaction: "See, you did it, didn't you? You're more powerful than you imagined!"

White Ember was happy: "Really? That's great. As long as you're happy, Saintess, I'm happy."

Next, Dawn Moon was going to conduct live experiments.

Although Corrupted Mutated Species were powerful in combat, they lacked self-awareness and couldn't be controlled.

So Dawn Moon needed to find a way to extract live samples, formulate potions, and see if she could control the degree of Corruption.

She had been studying the Demon Race for over ten years, so she had some experience.

She fiddled with the Saint-Glow Ring on her finger; this was the only space ring in the world.

Her father, Morning Light, had accidentally unearthed it from an ancient ruin, and there were also many steles with different writings in the ruin, which had never been deciphered to reveal what they said.

Dawn Moon activated the Saint-Glow Ring, and precise instruments, ancient texts, and experimental samples—practically an entire laboratory—were retrieved from within.

White Ember was stunned. As expected of the Saintess, it was truly miraculous.

The essence of Corruption is a form of energy erosion.

Corrupted beings do not lose their minds, but are parasitized by consciousness. If there was a potion that could control the degree of Corruption to remain around 50%, then they could possess Corrupted abilities while retaining self-will.

Dawn Moon had White Ember catch many rabbits and Corrupt them.

Then she continuously formulated potions.

One experiment!

Ten experiments!

One hundred experiments!!

Three months passed.

Each time, she was just a little short at the crucial moment.

Dawn Moon had a flash of inspiration and added White Ember's blood to the potion.

When White Ember's blood merged with the reagent into a pale golden liquid, patterns of intertwined light and darkness bloomed simultaneously on the fur of the three rabbits. They no longer bit their kin; instead, they gently nudged Dawn Moon's fingertips with their noses, emitting playful whimpers.

"It's a success! Hahaha!" Dawn Moon excitedly hugged White Ember, "These rabbits not only regained consciousness but also developed absolute loyalty to me!"

White Ember deeply felt Dawn Moon's excitement; she was soft and fragrant, moving against him.

Dawn Moon suddenly said seriously, "White Ember, come on! Corrupt me with all your might! Don't be gentle with me!"

White Ember was dumbfounded: "What? Corrupt you!"