"What do you mean, you drank my blood?" Even if you are a Dark Dead Apostle, don't say such chilling things.

Lin Luo felt somewhat gloomy, only to understand from Hei Ji's explanation that when Anhans' sword light pierced through his chest just moments ago, because Hei Ji was standing not far behind him, the blood she spat happened to splash onto her face... Hearing this, Lin Luo felt a sense of depravity; no matter how you looked at it, it was a perverse form of intimacy.

Of course, regardless of why it was so wicked... well, in short, blood held an absolute attraction for the Dead Apostles. Although Hei Ji didn't actively try to drink Lin Luo's blood, she certainly wouldn't refuse this blood falling from the sky. Instinctively, she "consumed" a little, and then something unbelievable happened.

The seal that was supposed to require a full moon to break was instantly undone after absorbing Lin Luo's blood, and her power was restored to its peak. This was nothing short of a miracle.

"There's such a thing?" Lin Luo also found it incredible. His blood actually possessed such an astonishing ability. What was the logic behind that? He felt like trying it himself; perhaps he could directly unlock the fifth stage of his gene lock...

"Yes, it's truly incredible, sigh..." Hei Ji sighed as she spoke, saying with deep regret, "If I had known your blood had this kind of power, I should have drunk it from the very beginning."

"..." Lin Luo couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine. This woman was truly terrifying.

"Forget it, since I've recovered now, let's leave this place." After a moment of self-reproach, Hei Ji suddenly smiled wryly.

"You know the way out?" Lin Luo was startled and instinctively blurted out.

With a look as if she were watching an idiot, Hei Ji scornfully replied, "Of course. Why else do you think I hid in here?"

"But didn't you say this was a shared area created by some kind of miracle akin to magic?"

"Yes, I didn't lie to you, but..." Here, Hei Ji gave a mysterious smile, "I never said I couldn't move freely in and out of here. In fact, you could say this is one of my strongholds."

"..." This woman had been deceiving him all along, Lin Luo grumbled inwardly. He finally understood now: this cunning Dead Apostle had been misleading him the entire time—about mistakenly entering a shared area, about this place being terrifying, about having to be extremely cautious to avoid a sudden death—it was all nonsense. He had been foolish enough to trust her and protect her... Damn it!

Indeed, the more beautiful the woman, the more they lied. Zhang Cuishan said that line was absolutely right... Oh wait, that line sounded like it came from Zhang Wuji's mother; he almost mixed up the generations. What a sin, what a sin.

Lin Luo felt he had lost out tremendously. Not only was he miserably deceived, but he was also constantly being manipulated by her to act as her pawn, incurring the wrath of both the Church and a Progenitor-level Dead Apostle, nearly costing him his life... But then again, thanks to her, he managed to summon the overwhelmingly powerful Heroic Spirit, Red SABER. Well, perhaps they were even now.

Since she had recovered, and he had broken her membrane... uh, no, he kept saying the wrong thing, he meant he had broken her "lock"—that debt was settled too. The promises he made to her had somewhat been fulfilled. Once they left this shared area, they would each go their separate ways. Hei Ji... he simply couldn't afford to provoke her.

"Hey, let's go now."

Just as he was thinking this, Hei Ji's voice reached his ears, and he saw her walking toward one direction. Seeing this, Lin Luo didn't hesitate. He made up his mind to part ways with Hei Ji immediately after leaving this place, and quickly followed behind her, carrying Lei on his back... Ever since being forcibly broken out of the fusion state by Anhans, Lei had remained dormant due to excessive energy consumption, currently replenishing her reserves.

After walking for about half an hour, Lin Luo saw Hei Ji stop beside a pool of water. Then, without him knowing how, a pitch-black rift suddenly appeared on the water's surface.

"A spatial rift?" Lin Luo's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but exclaim... Are you Zima? Where does one get a rift like this?

"It's not a spatial rift. Although I don't know what it is, it's at most something akin to magic. Alright, stop talking so much, let's go."

Saying that, without waiting for Lin Luo to react, she grabbed his hand and leaped forward. The next moment, the three of them were swallowed by that black fissure...

In a daze, in the blink of an eye, by the time Lin Luo opened his eyes again, he realized he had left that shared area. The current environment seemed to be a forest as well, but it appeared somewhat different from the forest he saw before entering the shared zone.

Of course, Lin Luo didn't pay too much attention. If it was different, so be it. As long as he was out of that cursed place, everything else could be sorted out. "That..." Lin Luo prepared to bid farewell to Hei Ji, but upon thinking about it, he didn't know how to address her. Xiao Qi? Hei Ji? Neither seemed quite right. Forget it, he'd take the loss this time and call her Princess.

However, before Lin Luo could utter his farewell, Hei Ji grabbed his arm, her face full of mystery, "Do you want to witness the most supreme battle in this world?"

Huh? The most supreme battle in this world?

Hearing this, Lin Luo instinctively froze. But looking at the excitement mixed with a touch of bloodlust on Hei Ji's face, he suddenly realized something... What had Hei Ji said back in the shared area?

She seemed to have mentioned that her guards were holding off other enemies, which was why she was hiding alone in that shared area to endure her period of weakness. Could the supreme battle she referred to be...?

Thinking of this, cold sweat broke out on Lin Luo's brow.

Great Hei Ji, the world's number one Princess, please don't! I mean, I did help you once, but I'm not expecting you to offer yourself in return. But please, don't repay kindness with enmity! I'm just a nobody; I don't want to witness any pinnacle battle. Please send me home; I'm still waiting to go back to my hometown to get married...

Lin Luo had realized what Hei Ji intended to do, but he didn't have the guts to say it out loud. He could only scream desperately in his mind, but obviously, the Princess couldn't hear such mental cries.

"Aren't you interested?"

"No, absolutely not," Lin Luo shook his head firmly. "That... I have important matters to attend to. How about we part ways here?"

"No!" Hei Ji refused just as firmly. Then, regardless of Lin Luo's resolute resistance—which wasn't very resolute anyway—under Hei Ji's overwhelming physical coercion, Lin Luo had no choice but to obediently follow behind her, preparing to watch that supreme battle.

...

"This is the place."

Hei Ji stood atop a mountain peak, gazing ahead cautiously. At this moment, her expression was drastically different from before. If before she faced Anhans with utter nonchalance, now she was calm yet deeply attentive, moving with extraordinary caution.

"There's nothing ahead?" But Lin Luo looked completely bewildered because he could see nothing in front of him except the clouds in the sky.

"Idiot. It's because a massive barrier has been laid here; of course, ordinary people can't see it. Since you are a Magician, look more closely," Hei Ji chastised him softly.

"Uh..." Lin Luo felt a bit awkward, then immediately entered the state of Rin's Pact, pushing his True Sight to its limit. At this moment, he noticed the environment before him was slightly different. How to put it? Although the sky was still the same sky, the entire space seemed to have turned dark and gloomy, covered by a thick, mushroom-cloud-like black membrane spanning tens of miles...

"This..." Lin Luo's expression shifted slightly. Although he wasn't very knowledgeable about barriers, to be able to erect such a colossal barrier covering tens of miles was definitely not something one person could achieve. Moreover, the density of this barrier had almost managed to deceive even his True Sight. It was simply terrifying.

"See? This barrier was specifically set up by the Church to deal with me. Hmph, although they planned well, they were ultimately outmaneuvered by one move..." Hei Ji sneered as she looked ahead. Listening to her explanation, Lin Luo finally understood the entire situation.

...A long time ago, the Dark Dead Apostle Altrouge and the White Dead Apostle Arcueid, two sisters closest to nature, once engaged in a life-and-death battle. At that time, although Altrouge had injured Arcueid, she too became as weak as an infant after betting everything on a full-power strike. It was then that Akashic Serpent, who had been lying in ambush nearby, struck.

Under the opponent's strongest blow, the infant-weakened Black Princess was immediately severely wounded, almost to the point of death. Keep in mind that she inherited the infinite vitality of Zhu Yue; one could imagine the extent of the damage that single attack inflicted upon her.

Fortunately, it was at this moment that her few protectors—the Black and White Knights and the Big White Dog—finally managed to break away from the subjugation troops of the other True Ancestors and rescued her in time.

This was what Lin Luo knew. What he didn't know was that since that incident, for hundreds of years, Hei Ji's injuries had never truly healed, and she would periodically suffer excruciating pain due to the wounds. This condition persisted for over a hundred years.

Only a hundred years later did Hei Ji finally find a remedy: temporarily dissipating all her power and paying the price of self-sealing for one day to ward off the torment of pain and injury.

Naturally, because Hei Ji had numerous enemies—the Church, the Dead Apostles, the True Ancestors, the Magicians... virtually every recognized force was her adversary—this information naturally could not be known. If her enemies discovered her during her sealed period, powerless as she was, it would be extremely dangerous.

But accidents always happen. Somehow, this time, when she entered self-seal, the people of the Church finally got wind of it. The Church had long wanted to eliminate Hei Ji and certainly wouldn't pass up this opportunity.

To increase the margin of safety, every time Hei Ji performed a self-seal, she would travel to that shared area—a different dimension only she could access. The Black and White Knights and the Big White Dog would guard the space from the outside until one day passed and Hei Ji had fully recovered before they all departed together.

However, this time, on the way to the shared area, Hei Ji's group was ambushed by the Church. They first laid down a massive barrier, trapping everyone inside, and then launched a surprise attack.

Hei Ji's side was caught completely off guard. Fortunately, her three bodyguards, whether the Black and White Knights or the Big White Dog, were all peak powerhouses at the forefront. Although they were initially on the defensive, they gradually managed to turn the tide. Finally, to prevent Hei Ji from being harmed, the Black and White Knights desperately tied down the majority of the enemies, while the Big White Dog forcibly broke open the barrier and escorted Hei Ji out.

Since the Church knew about Hei Ji's weakness period, they dared not guarantee they didn't know about the shared area either. Therefore, just in case, after sending Hei Ji into the shared area, the Big White Dog immediately returned to defend and fight alongside the Black and White Knights against all enemies, buying time for Hei Ji's recovery.

Of course, the Church clearly didn't only have these means. They had personnel deployed both inside and outside the barrier, with the Vengeance Paladin Anhans being one of their trump cards.

What followed was what Lin Luo experienced: he accidentally entered the shared area where Hei Ji was recovering and let in the Church's five Executors along with Anhans... In retrospect, this was relatively lucky; if one more Progenitor had shown up at that time, the outcome could have been drastically different.

At this point, Lin Luo finally understood why, in the various stories of the Moon World, Hei Ji was only known by reputation and never seen in person, never seen stirring up trouble—it turned out she was always in that kind of state.

"So what are you planning to do now? Retreat with your Knights?" After hearing Hei Ji's narration, Lin Luo couldn't help but ask.

"How is that possible?" Hei Ji scoffed. "For all these years, the Church and those damned traitors have wanted to eliminate me. I refrained from striking back because I had to consider my injuries. Now that my injuries have completely recovered, and my strength is back to its absolute peak, of course, I must properly repay them. Hmph, hmph, hmph hmph hmph..."

"..." Lin Luo was speechless. The sound of her queenly sneer gave him a chill, but it certainly matched Hei Ji's formidable style. But on second thought...

"Are your old wounds really completely healed?" Lin Luo still couldn't quite grasp it. Why did just a little bit of his blood cure an ailment that had persisted for hundreds of years? Even if his blood was amazing, this seemed unreasonable, didn't it?

"Of course," Hei Ji replied affirmatively, then gave Lin Luo a charming smile. "Perhaps you are my savior. Look, you just happened to enter my shared area at this exact moment, and you carried such miraculous blood. It truly seems like fate... Hehe heh..."

"..." Lin Luo suddenly felt like a little white rabbit caught by a big gray wolf.

"Alright, everything that needed to be said has been said. Let's go in now."

"Um... can I go home?"

"What do you think?"

Hei Ji glanced at him with slight displeasure, then waved her flawless jade hand forward. A hole over two meters high suddenly appeared in the massive barrier.

BOOM

The instant the opening manifested, a tempestuous wave of demonic energy surged out from it.

Even with Lin Luo's current strength, he struggled to remain steady against this wave of malevolence... Hmm, what was that phrase again?

A dance of demons V.