36: Chapter 36 Lord of the Black Lake

"You two, handsome and beautiful, can someone tell me what the Moonless Night is?"

"The Moonless Night? That's the biggest event of the year for our Ulthar Cat Tribe!"

"Get to the point." Qi Sui interrupted coldly.

Sergei's cat ears drooped for a moment, and he waved his hand, "Fine, fine, fine. Every night of the lunar eclipse, the Cat General leads the elite into the Dreamlands, charges straight to the Black Lake, and takes down the Lord of the Black Lake."

"The Lord of the Black Lake, Mnomquah, is also known as the Vicious Beast of the Moon." Qi Sui added.

"Right!" Sergei leaned forward, lowering his voice significantly, "That guy stole a sacred item from Cat Goddess Bastet back in the day!"

Wu Xi raised an eyebrow.

"The sacred fork bell." Qi Sui said flatly.

Wu Xi finally spoke, "What is this fork bell? A bell?"

"Pretty much. It's both a musical instrument and a Divine Artifact. According to legend, it's a secret treasure capable of breaking through all illusions and falsehoods in the world."

"So?" Wu Xi's fingertips paused.

"So ever since then, every night of the lunar eclipse, Cat Goddess Bastet personally uses her power of leaping to send the elites of our cat tribe into that hellhole, the Black Lake, to kill Moon Beasts and try to take back the sacred fork bell!"

Sergei made a pouncing gesture, baring his fangs, "These two sides have been fighting for who knows how many years."

"Cat Goddess Bastet's power of leaping?" Wu Xi frowned.

"A talent of the cat tribe." Qi Sui looked up, "As long as Cat Goddess Bastet is willing, she can make us land in any corner of the Dreamlands. Every Moonless Night, she uses this power to send an entire army inside."

"Got it." Wu Xi nodded, his tone flat, "Home delivery."

Sergei choked on his drink, "What did you say?!"

"Nothing." Wu Xi waved his hand, "Continue."

Sergei gave him a suspicious look, but caught his breath and continued, "So every year, both sides just fight to the death. Bastet wants to take back the sacred fork bell, and Mnomquah guards the Black Lake to the death. For the cat tribe, this is both helping Cat Goddess Bastet fight and an opportunity for the younger generation to practice."

Wu Xi's fingers began to trace the rim of his cup again, circle after circle, "Can anyone go?"

"Not just any Tom, Dick, or Harry has this honor." Qi Sui took over, "If you want to participate, you have to pass the martial arts tournament first."

Sergei suddenly wiped all the playfulness from his face, "A duel in the square. Only those who survive are qualified to follow the Cat General."

Wu Xi's fingertips stopped instantly on the rim of the cup.

"What kind of duel is it?" He asked, his voice without a hint of fluctuation.

"No rules." Qi Sui said, "Once you get on the ring, you fight until one side can't get up. Young people from the main cat tribe and affiliated tribes can all sign up."

"If the fight is spectacular," Qi Sui continued, "Cat Goddess Bastet will personally bestow a blessing."

"The High Priest is present the whole time." Sergei added, "As long as you catch the High Priest's eye, even if you don't get the qualification to join the battle, Cat Goddess Bastet will still bestow a blessing."

A soft sound came from the corner of the table.

"Uncle Gray Fur told us you have business with the High Priest." Sergei's voice dropped even lower, "Then this Moonless Night is a perfect opportunity."

"The High Priest hasn't stepped out of the temple in decades. The temple is a Forbidden Ground, and outsiders are forbidden from entering."

"If you can gain the favor of Cat Goddess Bastet during the Moonless Night challenge, the High Priest will definitely come to find you personally."

"Personally." Qi Sui emphasized.

"That's right!" Sergei made a running gesture again, "The High Priest wouldn't dare to be negligent in the slightest toward someone Cat Goddess Bastet has nodded at."

"Three days from now is the Moonless Night."

"Are you planning to challenge it?" Qi Sui was the first to recover. "Do I have another choice?" Wu Xi countered.

Wu Xi was just about to confirm the details again.

At that very instant, a sudden change occurred. The pendant on Sergei's chest suddenly burst with light.

A cold, pale blue light seeped crazily from the patterns on the pendant. Almost simultaneously, Qi Sui clutched her chest, and her pendant lit up too.

The two beams of light collided in the dim light of the tavern, emitting a faint buzzing sound.

Sergei's claws were shaking violently, "This thing... has never lit up before..." He looked up abruptly at the window.

Wu Xi also looked over. The moon outside the window had changed.

With no clouds to block it, a clear, round moon hung above the stone roof of Qi Ling. The original silver-white halo spread out in circles, fading at a visible rate into a sickly, pale purple that carried the scent of decay.

On the surface of the moon, it seemed as if countless things were squirming. Even from thousands of miles away, one could capture those dense, swarming outlines on their retinas.

The hair on the back of Wu Xi's neck stood up instantly, and all the muscles in his body tensed to the limit.

"Something's wrong." Qi Sui's voice had a tremor in it for the first time.

Before the words had even faded, a roar exploded directly inside his skull.

This sound did not belong to the physical world; it carried the screech and rage of a feline with its fur standing on end. Like thunder rolling across the earth, every syllable shook his brain.

It was Bastet, her anger accumulated over many years, crashing into the consciousness of every living being along the moonlight.

Immediately following that, a second voice pressed in, cold and slick.

"Hmph, do you think you're allowed to mobilize troops every year, while I'm only allowed to take a beating?" The voice paused, "Today, let you taste the power of my Dreamlands prison—using moonlight as a medium, imprisoned for eternity."

Wu Xi's vision split instantly. The tavern was still there, the tables and chairs were still there, and the figures of Sergei and Qi Sui were still before his eyes. But at the same time, another scene crashed directly into his visual cortex, without needing to pass through his eyes at all.

A giant head.

It was so large that it occupied his entire perception, hundreds of meters in diameter, with the outline of a lizard, skin as gray and white as a corpse, with countless snake-like Tentacles coiled upon it.

There were no eyes, only two deep-set eye sockets, pitch black, yet appearing alive, and they were staring "at" him.

Mnomquah—the Lord of the Black Lake, the true form of the Vicious Beast of the Moon.

The next second, countless pieces of information poured in along his consciousness. It didn't need language; it was pure concept, forcibly translated into a fear he could understand:

Moon Core Black Lake, Dreamlands prison. Using moonlight as a medium, covering the entire area; any living being touched by the moonlight would have their consciousness dragged in, sinking into eternal perdition.

Mental whispers, transmitted everywhere, corrupting minds, tearing apart Divine Souls.

But Wu Xi was completely unaffected.

He looked down at the floor.

Sergei was already on his knees, his claws digging fiercely into his own scalp, blood seeping from under his fingernails, and a high-pitched, shrill scream unique to the Mimei Rat was squeezed from his throat.

Qi Sui was worse off, her body arched like a shrimp, her tail stiff, pupils dilated into two black holes, her mouth open but unable to make a complete sound, only "he-he" sounds of air passing through blood foam.

Gray Fur and Old Black were huddled in the corner, front paws clutching their heads, back paws kicking wildly at the floor, scratching out splinters.

A low whimper rolled in Gray Fur's throat, a mournful cry of extreme pain.

Mnomquah was eroding the spirit of everyone in the tavern, except for Wu Xi.

That invisible, tidal force surged in through the gaps in the window, licking over everyone's skulls, drilling in frantically. But when the tide swept past Wu Xi, it was like hitting a reef, and it was forced to detour.

It detoured. Wu Xi paused for a moment, a trace of confusion flashing in his eyes.

Crash! The window was smashed in directly.

It wasn't shattered by vibration; it was forced open by something from the outside.

A Moon Beast rolled in.

It had a white, toad-like body, the size of a hound, with translucent skin, and beneath it, something like milky-white liquid seemed to be flowing.

It had no head; its entire front half was a mass of pink Tentacles, dozens of them, each one writhing, curling, and exploring. It did not need eyes.

The moment it landed, its body sprang forward, pouncing straight at Sergei, who was closest to it.

Sergei was still on the ground, clutching his head and screaming, completely unaware that death was already right in his face.

Wu Xi moved.

He stepped over the overturned stool in one stride, his right hand casually grabbing the unfinished bottle of wine on the table, and without even looking, he backhanded it against the wall of the wine cabinet next to him.

Bang!

The wine bottle shattered instantly, and he held only half of the Bottleneck in his hand, the broken edge jagged and uneven.

At this moment, the Moon Beast's Tentacles had already touched Sergei's shoulder, those fleshy cords opening to reveal dense, tiny holes on the inside, which were oozing transparent, corrosive slime.

Wu Xi didn't shout, didn't warn.

He was already there.

His left hand reached out like lightning, grabbing the thickest tentacle of the Moon Beast. A burning, stinging pain instantly came from his palm; the slime was corroding his skin.

He didn't care.

The web of his hand tightened abruptly, his knuckles exerted force, his bones cracked, and he tore that tentacle clean off from the connection point of the Moon Beast's "head"!

The Moon Beast had no vocal cords, but its entire body twitched violently, all its pink Tentacles retracting instantly. The next second, like a mass of enraged coral, it covered the sky and earth as it lunged toward Wu Xi's face.

Wu Xi dodged to the side.

The Tentacles swept past the tip of his nose, and the wind carried a fishy, sweet smell of decay.

The broken Bottleneck in his right hand, blade edge upward, slanted upward.

The glass fang pierced precisely into the underside of the Moon Beast's body. Wu Xi exerted force with his wrist, thrusting the Bottleneck half a foot deep, and gave it a fierce, horizontal pull!

Riiip—

The Moon Beast's body was slashed open directly from bottom to top, leaving a large gash.

There was no blood, only a mass of hot, milky-white fluid that sprayed everywhere, splashing onto Wu Xi's shoes—sticky and foul-smelling.

The Moon Beast's Tentacles twitched frantically three or four times, then went completely limp, lying on the floor like a pile of rotten meat that had been severed at the root.

The tavern went quiet instantly.

The all-pervasive mental whispers were still there, but they had weakened slightly. It was as if Mnomquah's attention had been diverted by something.

Wu Xi shook off the slime from his hand; the skin on his palm was red, but there wasn't a single wound left.

He turned back and looked at the others.

Sergei was lying on the ground, his chest heaving violently, still panting, his fingernails already pulled out of his scalp.

Qi Sui was curled up at the foot of the table, her tail wrapped around her hind legs, her body still shivering intermittently.

Gray Fur and Old Black were leaning against each other, their limbs having regained sensation. Gray Fur tried to lift his paw to reach for the wine cup on the table.

"...Are you okay?" Qi Sui spoke first.

Wu Xi looked at his reddened palm, his tone flat, "I'd like to know why too."

Gray Fur finally spoke, "The sacrificial pendant of the Ulthar Cats has been used in reverse by Mnomquah."

"What do you mean?" Wu Xi asked.

Old Black took over, "Using the sacrificial pendant as an anchor point, it dragged all the surrounding cat tribes and affiliated tribes into the illusion."

"A hunt." Gray Fur added two words, each word heavy.

Wu Xi looked down at the corpse of the Moon Beast on the floor that was still oozing fluid.

"It was Mnomquah who made the first move. It wants to use this illusion to wipe out the cat tribe in one fell swoop."

"Wu Xi." Gray Fur suddenly looked up and called out to him.

"I beg you, go save Liao Su and the other Mimei Rat juniors." Gray Fur's voice was shaking, but every word was clear, "They are the hope of our tribe; they cannot die here. The four of us will stay here and guard Qi Ling; there won't be any problems. The Moon Beasts' main target is the Ulthar Cat Tribe."

He looked at Wu Xi, and Old Black also looked at Wu Xi. Sergei and Qi Sui, who had just recovered, also looked up.

Four pairs of eyes were fixed intently on him.

Wu Xi sighed. "What are you doing? None of you need to act like parents."

The corner of Gray Fur's mouth twitched, which was the only response.

Wu Xi turned and walked toward the door. He stepped over Sergei on the floor, and over the broken glass and Moon Beast fluid all over the ground.

"Wait." Gray Fur called out to him.

Wu Xi turned back.

Gray Fur pulled a polished short dagger from his waist and threw it over; Wu Xi reached out and caught it.

"Take it," Gray Fur said, "use it on the road."

Wu Xi weighed the short dagger and tucked it into the back of his waist.

He pulled back the latch and pushed open the door of the tavern.

The street was still there, the stone road was still there, but the moon in the sky had completely turned purple-black, and an eerie halo enveloped the entire town. On the roofs in the distance, things were squirming, and not just one. At the end of the street, a white outline slid across the stone road, glowing with an uncanny pink. Wu Xi gripped the short dagger at his back and stepped out of the tavern.

The door closed slowly behind him.