Chapter 57: The Land of Endings, Section 10

This woman was truly breathtakingly beautiful. Even submerged in the muddy depths of Mirror Lake, her beauty remained undiminished. On the contrary, against the backdrop of the pitch-black mud, she exuded an otherworldly elegance. Her curves were so striking that everyone who saw her longed to see her entire body.

Unfortunately, all that could be seen of this woman was her upper body. Her lower half was completely submerged in the mud, invisible to anyone. Her hands were also suspended high by two chains attached to stone pillars behind her, keeping her firmly pressed against the pillars. Clear droplets of water fell from her long hair, adding to the sense of desolation.

“Beauty!!!”

In the fierce wind, Hei Fa could no longer stay seated. Though he had long suspected that Beauty’s voice was a trap set by the Moor Emperor, seeing her in person still failed to quell his anger. A raging fire burned within his chest, his nails digging deep into his flesh.

“It’s fake… it’s fake…”

“Hei Fa, control yourself! You must not relax—under no circumstances! Otherwise, all your brothers in Li Feng will die because of you. You alone could kill so many people for your own woman!!!”

Gritting his teeth tightly, Hei Fa kept reminding himself. Yet unknowingly, he moved closer to the porthole. Through the reinforced glass, even tougher than armor plates, he could clearly see the woman’s body tied to the stone pillars at the lake bottom.

She still kept her head lowered, her face hidden by her long hair. Yet faint moans could be heard from below, sending chills down everyone’s spine. From such a distance, it was impossible to see all the details, but when her image was magnified by Li Feng’s holographic system, everyone was stunned.

Her body was covered in countless thin chains. These chains extended from the stone pillars, wrapping tightly around her and penetrating her body—her shoulders, elbows, even her abdomen. Beneath her thin clothes, drops of blood slowly flowed along the chains, staining large areas of ground red.

Now, everyone understood why she was in such agony. Those moans were clearly the result of enduring the torment caused by the chains. At the thought of so many chains piercing her body, the Blood Wolf warriors were shocked by her resilience.

It’s terrifying. Such a resilient woman. Is she really human? How can she endure such intense pain? Look at the rust stains on those chains—it’s clear they’ve been there for a long time. Has this woman been enduring such torments at the bottom of this beautiful Mirror Lake all this time?

“Snap!”

One of Blackhair’s little fingers broke due to excessive force, emitting a sharp sound. A wave of intense pain surged through him, yet Blackhair felt much more relieved. It was a kind of pleasure arising from extreme pain, slightly easing his frown. After calming himself down, he spoke again.

“Your Majesty, what do you mean by this?”

“What do I mean?” Emperor Moore sneered, his face twitching violently. Instead of answering Blackhair directly, he turned to look at the woman on the stone pillar at the bottom of the lake. His eyes, bloodshot from madness, suddenly held a gentle gaze as he greedily stared at her. Such a stark contradiction left everyone who saw it in awe.

Was this still the powerful and graceful Emperor Moore? His behavior now was no different from that of a young man in love. The love in his eyes as he looked at her was unhidden, like a flame capable of melting everything.

The wind blew over Mirror Lake, lifting Emperor Moore’s robes. Yet he seemed completely unaware of it, standing still as if indistinguishable from the stone pillar at the bottom of the lake. After a long while, he finally sighed deeply, his twitching face relaxing.

“Blackhair, I just want to tell you—whether you believe it or not—the woman you see is indeed my Tia, your beloved. But she is no longer the same as before. Excessive manipulation has caused her life force to fade rapidly, with massive cell death. To sustain her life, I had no choice but to place her at the bottom of this lake, letting Mirror Lake keep her alive for me.”

“Don’t doubt it. The entire environment here was created by me. So I am the god of this place. Everything you see is under my control. Just like the grass beneath my feet—it seems ordinary, but it was taken from the Polytus people seven hundred standard jumps away by my fleet. Every blade of grass is a miniature life-support device that absorbs nutrients from the surroundings to sustain its target.”

“The water of Mirror Lake is no ordinary water—it is the sacred water of the Giskat people, beyond the 362 standard transitions. To obtain this water, I personally destroyed that race. Only with their sacred water can the effects of the Politu people’s Vitality Grass be maximized, preventing life force from fading and even enhancing it over time.”

The Emperor Moor’s voice was soft and faint, yet it echoed clearly in everyone’s ears through the cabin. Besides grass and lake water, he mentioned air, soil, rocks, mountains, and even the sunlight falling from the sky. None of these were ordinary as one might imagine—they were extremely rare treasures. The races that possessed these treasures had once been glorious civilizations somewhere in the universe. But now, they had all perished without exception. And their treasures had fallen into the hands of the Emperor Moor, into this strange space.

Listening to the Emperor Moor’s calm words, people felt as if they had witnessed a journey of building something from scratch and conquering the universe. Countless powerful races were reduced to ashes in his words, all because of those tiny things they possessed—things that could be useful for beautiful women.

As the Emperor Moor’s voice continued, people’s gazes toward him changed. He was no longer a terrifying emperor filled with ambitions to dominate the universe; he was just a man who wanted to keep his beloved woman alive. He had spent his entire life striving for this goal, fighting endlessly. Yet, when he looked back, his past efforts had turned into an empire—a vast, terrifying empire that covered almost half of the universe.

No wonder he wasn’t concerned about the factional struggles within his empire. No wonder his empire was filled with violence and tyranny. No wonder he had never thought about his own development or civilization, relying instead on plundered technology to sustain war after war. Now everyone finally understood… It wasn’t that the Emperor Moor lacked ideas or strength. It was that he simply didn’t care!!

All he cared about was one woman—a woman who couldn’t even move her body, whose life force had dried up. A woman who had to rely on him to plunder desperately just to survive!! Everything he had was for his dearest one!!! To keep her alive, no—just to give her one more breath—he would even wage wars that led to the destruction of entire races! The vast and formidable Moor Empire, its terrifying war machine—was merely a tool in his hands!!!

But!!!!

“Do you know what hurts me the most?” In the gentle breeze, the Moor Emperor slowly turned to face the fierce winds in the sky, his expression filled with sorrow. “It’s not that I can’t save her life. Nor that I can’t ease her pain. Nor that I can’t get her to smile at me. It’s that after all I’ve done for her, she still refuses to let me call her by her real name. The only name she allows me to use is a deified alias… Tia. Her true name can only be spoken by one person…” “That person is you!!!! Black Hair, it’s you!!!” “Only you can call her Red Beauty; her smile exists only for you!!! Although she lives because of my efforts, I know the real reason she stays alive isn’t my efforts, but your damned promise!!! That ridiculous promise that’s impossible to fulfill!!!” His voice rose sharply, and the Moor Emperor’s eyes burned with hatred. “For that promise, she waited for you for ten thousand years!!! Right here, in this damned, muddy lake, she waited for you for ten thousand years!!!” “And you!” “Where are you!?” “I… I’m still asleep… in that dark, lightless gene cultivation nest… trying to escape…” In the cabin of the fierce wind, perhaps due to the Moor Emperor’s sudden outburst of anger or some hidden emotion within Black Hair, he unconsciously muttered to himself, his voice as soft as a mosquito’s buzz. Yet the Moor Emperor heard it. “Asleep!? How dare you sleep!?” The Moor Emperor sneered, filled with disdain. “Do you know? I found Red Beauty in a base floating in space. Along with her, I also found the monkey by your side and the grizzly bear you killed a few days ago. It took me less than thirty minutes to open that base. There was nothing complicated about it. I think your own cultivation nest isn’t much harder either. With your abilities, opening something like that should take just seconds. And yet, such a thing has kept you asleep for ten thousand years. Who are you deceiving? Me, yourself, or Red Beauty??” “Black Hair, you’re lying!!!” The Moor Emperor declared loudly. But before his words could fade, two voices rang out at the same time… “No, it’s you who’s lying!!!”