Chapter 127: Sneaking into the Moon
The sounds of brutal fighting between aberrations echoed endlessly through the plaza. Unlike fights between humans, battles between these beings were far more savage and feral. In just a short while, several of the most powerful ones were already missing limbs.
Xu Zhi saw an opportunity in the chaos.
Sneaking in and grabbing the objective unnoticed was almost impossible—but these aberrations had no idea there was a hidden predator watching them. Xu Zhi planned to wait until the fight reached a conclusion, then unleash her familiars to draw attention away from the center.
At that moment, the sudden appearance of a powerful enemy would surely make them wary. The Little Aberration and Yi would stir up enough chaos to disrupt the scene. While everyone’s attention was on her familiars, she would use her stealth cloak and Yi’s massive body as cover to sneak through. That would greatly increase her chances of success.
Xu Zhi carefully observed the transcendental abilities of the stronger aberrations. Clearly, she wasn’t the only one with plans to sneak in—several weaker aberrations had also attempted to slip through during the chaos, but each one was immediately spotted and killed.
Whenever someone tried to breach the perimeter and grab the Moon, the stronger aberrations would pause their infighting and eliminate the intruder first. But that didn’t mean they were allies—once the outsiders were gone, they went right back to tearing into each other without mercy.
The fighting dragged on for over ten minutes, but the rift in the center remained open. The aberrations didn’t seem to be in a hurry to retrieve the Moon. Xu Zhi judged that the rift wouldn’t close anytime soon—and might even stay open until the Moon was taken.
But afterward—would the rift vanish, or expand?
Xu Zhi suspected it would expand, possibly growing large enough for the “things” inside to come through.
Their hunger for the outside world was practically obvious.
Time passed slowly. The battle cooled from its earlier frenzy—not because they no longer wanted to fight, but because too many had already been killed or wounded. Their energy and abilities were drained, and now they watched each other warily, hesitant to resume.
The situation had reached a stalemate. After waiting a while and seeing no change, Xu Zhi knew it was her time to act.
The Little Aberration, restless in her pocket, had behaved itself and not poked its head out. Now, Xu Zhi gently released it and patted its head before pointing toward the plaza’s most powerful beings.
“Go,” she said. “Make a scene. If you can, kill them.”
At the same time, she released Yi.
Xu Zhi knew full well that, even at level 30, the Little Aberration likely couldn’t kill these beings—especially not ones who had bathed in moonlight daily. But she didn’t need them to win—she just needed them to distract.
The moment Yi’s giant form appeared, every aberration’s gaze snapped toward it.
Because it wasn’t one of them. Its aura was completely different.
As soon as their attention turned, Xu Zhi leapt down from the high wall and dashed toward the center.
The Little Aberration still hadn’t shown itself—it was waiting. If any aberration noticed Xu Zhi, the Little Aberration would leap in to divert attention and clear her path.
Everything went smoothly until she neared the center. Yi had drawn all eyes to itself and was already engaged in battle. Though still in good condition, it couldn’t take on the entire group alone. Under the cover of Yi’s dark body, Xu Zhi reached the rift.
There were fewer aberrations here, but even with their focus on Yi, some cautious ones still had a sliver of attention on this area—and so they noticed a creeping shadow of black mist.
At first, they may have dismissed it—mist wasn’t unusual here. But as it drew closer to the rift, they began to pay more attention and observed it more carefully.
Under such scrutiny, Xu Zhi couldn’t remain hidden. As she felt sharp gazes converge on her, she picked the right moment to release the Little Aberration.
The Little Aberration could grow on its own. Though it couldn’t reach Yi’s towering size, it was still large enough to cover Xu Zhi’s body. It had grown many black limbs, each several meters long, like the branches of a monstrous tree. It spread itself across the rift area, flailing menacingly as it lashed out at the aberrations who had discovered Xu Zhi.
With Yi and the Little Aberration covering her, Xu Zhi successfully slipped through the chaos and reached the edge of the rift.
Here, the sounds of battle seemed to vanish. All she could hear were whispers and mocking laughter coming from deep within the rift.
But when the entities inside “saw” her, the mocking laughter abruptly stopped. The whispers ceased. Then came an even louder wave of unknown speech—though Xu Zhi couldn’t understand the words, she could feel the emotions behind them.
They were unhappy to see her. Upset. Even… afraid?
When other aberrations neared the rift, the beings inside merely laughed—but seeing her, they were alarmed, even angry and hostile.
Apparently, an aberration taking the Moon was acceptable—but a human transcendent doing so triggered different consequences. They didn’t want her here.
That only strengthened Xu Zhi’s resolve.
The Moon’s “true form” appeared to be a glowing orb. As she stepped closer, its blinding light softened. But Xu Zhi was troubled—it was larger than her entire body, as big as one of those massive billboards above a city. How was she supposed to carry it?
The Moon seemed to be at the boundary between the rift and the real world. As Xu Zhi approached it, her stealth cloak lost its effectiveness, and she was revealed to all the aberration.
The ones attacking Yi and the Little Aberration were enraged to see a “little thing” had slipped past them and reached the Moon. Furious, they charged toward her, determined to make her pay for sneaking in.
Xu Zhi sensed the danger—she wasn’t going to wait around to be torn apart. Without hesitation, she dived headfirst into the Moon.
There was no way she could fight the aberrations physically.
Her only options were the rift and the Moonlight. The rift was pure darkness—Xu Zhi wouldn’t go there. The Moon, though mysterious, didn’t seem evil.
And besides, if there really was some treasure here, it had to be hidden in this glowing orb.
So it wasn’t just to escape—Xu Zhi had a very real ambition to take whatever was inside.
