Chapter 46: Descent upon Hells Kitchen! God-Slaying Form — A Single Slash Breaks the Realm
New York, Hells Kitchen.
The purple-black barrier was like a huge overturned iron pot, shrouding the entire district in pitch-black despair.
Countless distorted demon faces flowed across the surface of the barrier — they roared, struggled, and wailed silently, like a group of souls trapped in the gap between hell and the mortal world.
Outside the barrier, S.H.I.E.L.D. armed helicopters hovered at a safe distance, and several quinjets formed an attack formation in the air, but all energy weapons and missiles were unable to penetrate that purple-black barrier.
Nick Fury stood in the temporary command post, his only eye staring fixedly at the energy readings on the screen.
"The energy density of the barrier has exceeded the upper limit of what we can crack — this is not just Mephisto's fragmented power, there is also something older mixed inside..." The technician's voice carried a hint of trembling, "It's like a trace of... the aura left by the Old Gods."
Fury's single eye narrowed slightly: "Where are Li Hengand Wanda?"
"The Kamar-Taj portal has locked onto their location — they are expected to arrive in thirty seconds!"
Meanwhile, inside Hells Kitchen.
The streets were covered with a layer of black gelatinous substance, and the air was filled with the scent of sulfur and decay.
Ordinary citizens who failed to evacuate in time were trapped in buildings, looking in panic through the windows at the slowly moving black shadows on the streets — they had no fixed form, like pools of living asphalt writhing and crawling on the ground, searching for the aura of any living creature.
"Damn it... these things are getting more and more..." Pietrostood on the roof of an apartment building, silver hair fluttering in the wind, his breathing rapid and hurried — he had just run a lap around the streets at supersonic speed, clearing out at least two dozen black shadows, but those shadows would re-aggregate after being shattered, like an immortal nightmare.
Blood Baron stood beside him, holding a dark gold longsword condensed from Ancestor Power — his expression grave and alert: "The aggregate fragments are absorbing the negative emotions and dark energy of the entire Hells Kitchen — with every minute that passes, it grows a bit stronger."
"If we don't stop it — all of Manhattan will fall."
Just then, a dark gold light suddenly lit up from a certain point in the horizon — as if something had cut a thin crack in the purple-black barrier.
Then — that crack expanded abruptly —
"Boom—————!!!"
A pillar of light interlaced with silver-white and dark gold crashed down from the crack, smashing into the center of Hells Kitchen like divine retribution — right in front of the wildly expanding aggregate behemoth!
The pillar of light dissipated — two figures stood between the behemoth and the city.
Li Heng wore a black hooded sweatshirt, holding the moonlight blade in his right hand, its silver-white blade flowing with a warm yet sharp radiance.
His pupils had turned into a profound color intertwined with dark gold and pitch black, as if a cosmic abyss devouring all starlight was sealed within his eyes.
Wanda stood beside him, wearing silver-white Asgardlight armor, scarlet Chaos Magic winding around her body like snakes — in her green eyes, an extremely faint purple-gold halo was slowly rotating — that was the mark left after absorbing Chthon's source blood.
"Good god..." Pietro saw this scene from the roof, his mouth wide open, "They are back —"
Blood Baron looked at those two figures, was silent for a moment, and then a rare smile appeared at the corner of his mouth: "Indeed — and it looks like they harvested quite a few good things at the edge of the Universe."
In the center of the street, the aggregate behemoth let out a deafening roar.
That was a monster aggregated from purple-black energy and countless fragments — its size was like a moving skyscraper, its body covered in distorted arms and heads — those heads were all Mephisto's demon faces — they roared, laughed, and cried simultaneously, making mentally deranging noises.
"Complete Progenitor —" A huge mouth split open on the behemoth's chest, and Mephisto's voice came from within, carrying suppressed anger and a trace of dread, "You did bring back new power from the edge of the Universe — but do you think that with this little power, you can defeat the layout I have operated in Hells Kitchen for hundreds of years?"
Li Heng looked up at the sky-covering behemoth, his expression unchanged — even feeling a bit like yawning.
"Finished talking?"
He loosened his neck, then turned to look at Wanda: "Help me seal off the surrounding streets — don't let the battle affect ordinary citizens."
Wanda nodded, her hands lifting slightly, scarlet Chaos Magic spreading in all directions like a tide — condensing into streams of scarlet energy barriers at the street entrances — those barriers flowed with the light of Chaos Magic, enough to withstand any impact below S-Rank.
"Sealing complete — you can make your move."
Li Heng did not attack immediately — he lowered his head to look at the moonlight blade in his hand, dark gold light flowing along the blade, forming a perfect blend with the silver-white Moonlight Power energy inside the blade.
That blending was more harmonious than ever before — because within his body, he now accommodated the Ancestor Power of the Complete Progenitor, Varna's moonlight blade, the residual source blood of Chthon, and — Atum's God-Slaying Power.
All of this was fusing, resonating, and sublimating within his body in an unprecedented way.
[Ding! Detected that the host has entered the pre-state of 'God-Slaying Form'!]
[The compatibility between the moonlight blade and the origin has reached 98%! It is recommended that the host activate the 'God-Slaying Form' — which can trigger the hidden attribute of the moonlight blade 'Moonlight Realm-Shattering Slash' — accompanied by dual effects of realm-breaking + god-slaying! It is expected to cause 89% of total HP damage to the aggregate behemoth!]
"89%?" Li Heng raised an eyebrow, then showed an arrogant smile, "Then the remaining 11% — if one slash isn't enough, I'll just give it another."
He gripped the moonlight blade tightly and took a step forward.
The moment his sole hit the ground — his body seemed to transform into a dark gold lightning bolt —
Not fast, but — disappeared.
The aggregate behemoth let out a terrified roar — it tried to use those distorted arms and heads to launch an attack — but it was too late.
Li Heng appeared directly above its head, the moonlight blade raised high.
His body surface was covered with a layer of translucent dark gold energy armor — the product of the fusion of God-Slaying Power and Ancestor Power — through the gaps in the helmet, a pair of pupils intertwined with dark gold and pitch black were like two burning stellar cores, gazing down at the abyss monster below.
"Moonlight Realm-Shattering Slash — God-Slaying Form — First Slash!"
His voice echoed in the night sky, calm and resolute.
The moonlight blade traced a flawless arc in the void — silver-white Moonlight Power and dark gold God-Slaying Power intertwined on the blade into a flowing blade of light, and then — following that arc, it slashed down!
"Crack —"
The sound wasn't loud — like the sound of an icicle snapping.
But next —
The purple-black barrier, starting from the spot where Li Heng slashed down, seemed to be torn open by an invisible force — that crack didn't heal quickly like ordinary attacks, but kept expanding — at the edges of the crack, the silver-white Moonlight Power was corroding, purifying, and disintegrating the purple-black energy structure!
Mephisto's scream came from the behemoth's mouth: "No — no — this is Varna's Moonlight Power — and it's mixed with Atum's aura — how is it possible — you cannot wield two types of power at the same time —!"
"I said it before —" Li Heng stood in the void, looking down at the collapsing behemoth below, his voice as calm as stating a predetermined fact, "Your biggest misjudgment is putting me on the same level as those opponents you once defeated."
"I absorbed Chthon's source blood in Asgard — integrated God-Slaying Power at the edge of the Universe — I have experienced wars you cannot imagine, and endured power impacts you cannot comprehend —"
"I, Complete Progenitor, am no longer the person you were when you set the trap in Hells Kitchen."
He raised the moonlight blade once more — this time, the fusion of the silver-white light and dark gold light on the blade was even more perfect — they were no longer an intertwining of two colors, but a brand-new, pure chaotic color between light and darkness.
"Second Slash — Realm-Breaking."
The blade slashed down again.
This time, there was no Earth-shattering explosion — only a hair-thin line of light extending from the tip of the moonlight blade — straight, unstoppable — piercing through the core of the aggregate behemoth.
The behemoth's huge body froze.
Those wildly twisting arms and heads solidified at the very same instant — as if the pause button had been pressed.
Then — centering on the penetration point of that line of light — countless cracks began to spread in all directions — covering the behemoth's entire body like a spiderweb —
In the next instant — the aggregate behemoth — along with that purple-black barrier — shattered simultaneously!
"Boom————————!!!"
The purple-black fragments rushed into the sky like a reversed rainstorm — and then under the moonlight — purified one by one by the silver-white light — dissipated — turning into nothingness.
The purple-black barrier above Hells Kitchen — completely vanished.
Revealing New York's night sky — full of stars — bright moonlight — as if everything just now was merely a nightmare.
Li Heng landed lightly, spinning the moonlight blade in his hand into a blade flower, storing it into the Ancestor Domain.
The pupils intertwined with dark gold and pitch black slowly returned to their normal dark gold and silver-white luster — the God-Slaying Form was disengaged.
"Hoo —" He let out a long breath, "Done."
Wanda walked over from the corner of the street, the purple-gold halo in her eyes having dissipated, a slight smile on the corner of her mouth: "One slash to break the barrier, two slashes to slay the behemoth — you've grown quite a bit stronger than when you left."
"Duh — I even ran to the edge of the Universe, if I didn't get stronger, wouldn't that trip have been for nothing?" Li Heng moved his shoulders, then looked at the quinjetlanding in the distance — Fury's black figure was walking out quickly from the cabin.
"Congratulations — you've saved New York once again." Fury walked up to Li Heng, his single eye carrying rare approval, "I've worked in S.H.I.E.L.D. for so many years — I've seen plenty of fighters — but I've truly seen very few at your level."
"No — I've seen plenty of superpowered individuals, but someone like you who thinks about going home to sleep the moment a fight is over — you're the only one." Furymade a rare joke, then his expression turned solemn again, "However, there's something — you need to know."
"What is it?"
"Just now when the aggregate behemoth was slain — our monitoring equipment captured an abnormal communication signal — very short — less than two seconds — but that signal did not come from Earth — nor did it come from Asgard."
Fury paused, his voice becoming even lower:
"It comes from — the other side of the dimension — after decoding those signals, the content is only four words —"
His single eye stared directly at Li Heng:
"'Blood Moon is coming'."
Li Heng's dark gold slit pupils contracted slightly — but quickly returned to calm. He was silent for a moment, and then smiled gently: "Blood Moon is coming — let them come."
"No matter how many come — Wanda and I will take them all."
Under the night, amidst the ruins of Hells Kitchen, the moonlight cast mottled light and shadows on the ground.
The battle was over — but everyone knew —
Those four words from the other side of the dimension — were truly the — prologue.
Chapter 47: Visitor from the Destiny Bureau! The Hidden Secret of the moonlight blade — The Choice of Soul Binding
New York, Brooklyn Villa.
Exactly three days had passed since the battle in Hells Kitchen ended.
Li Heng had rarely enjoyed three days of true slacker life—sleeping until he woke up naturally, eating instant noodles with cola, cuddling with Wanda on the sofa to watch an entire season of soap operas, and even taking the time to refill the refrigerator with various junk food.
But at dawn three days later, his slacker life was shattered by a crisp doorbell ring.
Four twenty-seven in the morning.
"Ding-dong—"
Li Heng sprang up from the sofa, his dark golden slit pupils instantly locking onto the direction of the doorway in the dim living room.
He did not perceive any hostility—not even unfamiliar energy fluctuations—the presence outside the door was like a mass of air, clearly standing there, yet completely unable to be captured by dimensional perception.
"Not an ordinary person."
Wanda also walked out quickly from the bedroom, draped in a coat, with a faint scarlet glow swirling in her green eyes—she too perceived that presence, the sense of existence that was like nothingness.
Li Heng walked to the door, and the moment his hand grasped the doorknob—the system panel suddenly flickered frantically, popping up a message that had never appeared before—
[Warning! The aura of a member of the 'Destiny Bureau' has been detected outside the door!]
[Destiny Bureau—an ancient organization independent of the Nine Realms and dimensions! Its members are composed of top powerhouses from various eras in the Universe! Its functional scope covers multi-dimensional balance maintenance! It does not belong to the camp of justice or evil! It only obeys higher laws formulated by itself!]
[System suggestion—do not make an enemy of the Destiny Bureau—unless you have the resolve to fight against the rules of the entire Universe!]
Li Heng looked at the information on the system panel, his dark golden slit pupils contracting slightly.
The name "Destiny Bureau" was something he had seen a few times in the obscure corners of the original work—it was an extremely mysterious organization whose traces of existence in the Marvel Universe were extremely thin, but every time it appeared, it was accompanied by major events sufficient to rewrite the cosmic pattern.
He took a deep breath and opened the door.
In the pre-dawn night outside the door, a person stood there.
That was a man, wearing a set of dark golden armor—the design style of the armor did not belong to any known civilization period on Earth, nor was it like the craftsmanship of Asgard or Vanaheim—its surface flowed with an extremely ancient and extremely profound rune light, like an entire cosmic history engraved within those metal grain lines.
His face looked like a human around forty years old, but those eyes—a pair of dark gray eyes without any pupils—revealed a sense of vicissitudes that spanned hundreds of millions of years.
Hanging at his waist was a long sword, the scabbard also dark golden, without too many decorations, yet exuding an aura that made even Li Heng's ancestor core feel a slight oppression.
"Complete Progenitor, Li Heng."
The man spoke, his voice calm and deep, sounding as if it came from very, very far away, yet clearly echoing in the air in front of the Villa door, "The seventh seat of the Destiny Bureau, 'The Observer'—Vil Loken."
He nodded slightly, his etiquette just right—neither appearing humble nor arrogant: "I come by command to convey a message to you."
Li Heng leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms, expression calm: "Your organization's information transmission method is quite retro—knocking on the door in person at four-thirty in the morning? Why not use a mobile phone to send a text message or make a call?"
Vil Loken's unchanging face seemed to twitch slightly—as if having lived for too long, it had been a very long time since he had heard anyone talk to him in such a tone.
He was silent for a moment, then answered steadily: "The information of the Destiny Bureau cannot be transmitted through any known communication channels. Because—any known communication channel may be intercepted by that existence."
"That existence?" Li Heng's brows raised slightly.
Vil Loken did not answer directly, but moved his gaze away from Li Heng, letting it fall on the faint light about to brighten on the distant horizon.
After being silent for a few seconds, he slowly opened his mouth, his voice even deeper than before—
"The Silent One."
"The Equilibrium Envoy came to see you before—he is the messenger of The Silent One. But the content he told you is not complete."
Vil Loken turned his gaze back, those dark gray eyes without any pupils staring straight at Li Heng: "Because The Silent One does not want you to know—besides realm-breaking and god-slaying, the moonlight blade has a third ability."
"And that ability is the real reason Varna left it in the fourth imprint."
Li Heng did not speak, but his fingers tapped lightly twice on the door frame—this was his habitual action when he became serious.
Vil Loken continued: "When the moonlight blade rises during the Third Blood Moon, it simultaneously absorbs the complete God-Slaying Power and the complete Progenitor Bloodline—a resonance field will be generated inside its blade body. That resonance field—can open a door."
"A door leading to the origin of everything."
"The starting point of the birth of the Universe. The primordial sea where all things are born. There is no time, no space, no dimension there—it is a place before all laws are written."
Li Heng's dark golden slit pupils shrank abruptly—
He understood.
The third ability of the moonlight blade—not attack, not defense, not sealing—but—returning to the starting point of everything.
This is an ability sufficient to subvert the rules of the entire Marvel Universe.
Vil Loken looked at the shock in his eyes, his voice still as calm as water: "You should understand what this means—if you open that door, you can modify everything. Chthon's birth can be erased. Mephisto's hell can be eliminated. Even—"
He paused, a trace of indescribable and complex emotion flashing in his dark gray eyes—
"The fact that you transmigrated into this Universe—can also be rewritten. You can return to your original world, back to the moment before you transmigrated. Everything as it was."
"This is the ultimate ability of the moonlight blade. It is also the last gift left to you by Varna."
"But at the same time—the price you have to pay is—your soul is forever bound to the moonlight blade. You are no longer the Complete Progenitor, no longer Li Heng—you are a part of the blade. Your will will turn into the blade soul, forever existing in the moonlight blade. Until this blade is completely destroyed one day in the future—can your soul find peace."
[Ding! Triggered special choice event!]
[Choice One: Accept the complete binding of the moonlight blade—unlock the third ability of the moonlight blade 'Gate of Origin'! Can open the door to the cosmic primordial sea when the Third Blood Moon rises! Cost: The host's soul is permanently bound to the moonlight blade, losing free will—turning into a blade soul!]
[Choice Two: Refuse the binding—retain the current realm-breaking and god-slaying abilities of the moonlight blade! Lose the opportunity to open the 'Gate of Origin'! Cost: Cause the future battle of the Third Blood Moon to lose a decisive trump card!]
[Choice Three: Postpone the decision—neither actively bind nor refuse! Find a third-party solution! Cost: Unknown—the system cannot predict the degree to which the moonlight blade will activate itself during the Third Blood Moon!]
[System strongly suggests—Host must choose carefully! This option will permanently affect the subsequent plot trend!]
Li Heng stood at the door, looking at the system panel floating in front of his eyes, silently cursing—none of these three choices were perfect, each carried enough cost—either losing oneself, losing the trump card, or choosing a completely unknown path.
He was silent for a long time, so long that the eastern skyline had begun to turn white.
Then he spoke, his voice very calm, calm enough that a trace of surprise could not help flashing in Vil Loken's dark gray eyes—
"Thank the Destiny Bureau and Varna for me—troubling yourselves to leave me such a big gift."
"But my choice is—"
He raised his head, his dark golden and silver-white slit pupils staring straight into Vil Loken's pupil-less eyes, uttering words word by word that shocked the pre-dawn air—
"I choose the fourth path."
"Not bound, not giving up, not waiting to die."
"I—will find a way to open that door myself—without needing to use my soul as a price."
Vil Loken was silent for a moment, then—the corners of his mouth moved slightly, an extremely rare occurrence—that was not a smile, but it was close to the closest expression to a smile that an existence living for hundreds of millions of years could display.
"Varna said the same thing back then." He said in a low voice—with a hint of reminiscence spanning tens of thousands of years in his voice, "He said—'If there is someone who can break this curse... it must not be me, but my successor. '"
He took a step back and bowed slightly: "The message has been delivered. Complete Progenitor, your choice—I have recorded it in the observation log of the Destiny Bureau."
"No matter what the result is—the Destiny Bureau will no longer interfere."
He straightened his body, the runes on that set of dark golden armor lighting up together in this instant—then—his figure, as if melting into the pre-dawn mist, gradually became transparent and dissipated in the slightly cool morning breeze.
Silence returned to the doorway of the Villa.
Li Heng stood at the doorway, looking at the direction where Vil Loken disappeared, and cursed in a low voice: "Early in the morning, can't you choose a normal time to come..."
A scarlet glow lit up at the doorway, and Wanda's figure appeared beside him.
She had been standing in the shadows of the Villa's living room, maintaining vigilance—until she confirmed that the "Observer" had truly left, did she walk to Li Heng's side.
He held her hand, feeling the temperature of her palm and a slight tremble—she was also lingeringly frightened, afraid that he would choose that path at the cost of his soul, afraid that he would abandon himself to cope with future threats.
"Do you really intend not to bind the moonlight blade, and find a way to open the Gate of Origin yourself?"
Li Heng looked at her, was silent for a while, and then smiled gently: "Not binding doesn't mean it can't be used."
"The moonlight blade is in my hands now—its realm-breaking and god-slaying abilities are already being used by me. As for the third ability—"
He looked up at the eastern skyline, where the first ray of dawn was piercing through the darkness.
"When I find a way to open that door without sacrificing myself—it won't be too late to consider it then."
"After all—the ultimate mystery of slacker life is not to rush into making decisions."
Wanda couldn't help giving him a blank look: "You call this slacker life?"
"Otherwise?" Li Heng justified righteously, "Life is one's own, and trump cards can be found slowly. What's the rush? It's not like tomorrow is the Third Blood Moon—"
Before his voice fell—
The Chthon primordial blood crystal inside his Ancestor Domain suddenly vibrated without warning—
An extremely weak stream of information surged out from it, condensing into a sentence in his consciousness, containing no hostility or threat, but making one's heart skip a beat more than any threat—
"Not tomorrow."
"It's the next full moon."
Wanda's face turned pale in this instant—full moon—according to the calendar, from the next full moon—there were only a short six days left.
Li Heng stood in the dawn, looking at the silver-white blade body of the moonlight blade in his hand.
The light flowing on the blade was still as gentle as water in the morning light, but in his eyes, that light suddenly became incomparably heavy.
The moonlight blade trembled slightly in his palm, as if sensing the thoughts deep in his heart, as if telling him—that decision, he must make.
And he—truly had only six days left.
Chapter 48: Six-Day Countdown! Varna's Legacy — The Hidden Truth of the moonlight blade
When the morning sunlight of Brooklyn pierced through the gaps of the curtains and spilled into the living room, Li Heng was still sitting on the sofa, maintaining the posture he had when Vil Loken left — with his legs propped up on the coffee table, holding a cup of long-since-cold overnight coffee in his hand, his gaze falling distractedly on a certain corner of the ceiling, as if counting how many cracks were on it.
Wanda walked out of the kitchen holding a freshly brewed cup of hot coffee, pulled the cold cup away from his hand, and replaced it with the new one.
"You have been sitting like this for two hours." She sat down opposite him, her green eyes carrying a trace of heartache, but her tone remained calm and gentle, "Thinking about how to solve the problem of the six days?"
Li Heng took the hot coffee and took a sip, the heat blurring his expression: "Thinking about — why Varna left behind such a pitfall of a legacy back then."
He lowered his head to look at the moonlight blade in his hand — the silver-white blade surface flowing with a warm luster in the morning light, faint dark golden bloodline patterns vaguely visible flowing inside the blade, like some living existence breathing.
"This blade — can break boundaries, can slay gods, can open the door leading to the origin — but the price is to lock the user's soul inside forever." There was a hint of self-deprecation in Li Heng's voice, "Is this old fellow Varnaleaving me a legacy or digging a pit for me?"
Wanda was silent for a moment, then spoke, her voice not loud, yet carrying a kind of penetrative force: "Do you think Varna really wanted you to trade your soul for that door?"
Li Heng's movements paused slightly.
"I mean — the residual shadow Varna left in the fourth mark, his attitude when he met you, those words he said —" A light of contemplation flowed in Wanda's green eyes, "He is not a person who would give up easily. He could lay out plans for tens of thousands of years before Atlantissank, fight Chthon, and leave behind so many backup plans —"
"Would he really take 'trading soul for power' as the final option?"
Li Heng's eyes lit up.
He did not answer immediately — instead, he lowered his head to look at the moonlight blade in his hand, beginning to use the Ancestor Power to perceive the energy patterns inside the blade body — that was a field he had never seriously explored before. All along, he had simply treated the moonlight blade as a sharp weapon — hacking barriers, hacking demons, hacking primordial blood projections — but he had never truly "listened" to this blade.
The Ancestor Power flowed along his arm into the blade body —
Then, he felt something.
Deep within the energy core of the moonlight blade — in that ball of light intertwined by the Moonlight Power and the God-Slaying Power — there was an extremely faint, almost forgotten consciousness residual shadow.
That residual shadow did not have a complete consciousness, nor language, only an extremely vague emotion — as if waiting for something, or as if reminding of something.
Li Heng's pupils contracted slightly.
"There is... something inside this blade." He said, a hint of disbelief in his voice, "Not a blade soul — but a sealed fragment of consciousness. Very small — smaller than a fingernail — but it truly exists."
Wanda's eyes also lit up: "Left in the blade by Varna?"
"Not sure — but it's possible."
Li Heng closed his eyes, completely plunging his consciousness into the internal space of the moonlight blade — that was a world intertwined with silver-white light and dark golden energy. Deep within his consciousness, that faint residual shadow seemed to sense his touch, beginning to tremble slightly, and then releasing an extremely brief piece of information —
Not language, not text —
But a scene.
A figure wearing Atlantean robes — Varna — stood on a high platform, with a blood-red full moon above his head. He held the moonlight blade, the blade surface flowing with a radiance more brilliant than any time Li Heng had ever seen. But Varna did not swing the blade — instead, he held the blade horizontally across his chest, grasped the blade edge with his other hand, and slashed hard —
Fresh blood dripped onto the blade body —
Then — the blade body suddenly lit up, absorbing those bloods into it — Varna's body began to glow, merging into one with the radiance of the moonlight blade — then, his soul separated from his body, transforming into a stream of light, drilling into the blade.
Seeing this, Li Heng abruptly opened his eyes — his dark golden vertical pupils filled with shock.
"Varna didn't bind his soul to the moonlight blade — he actively injected a part of his soul into the blade — he used his own soul fragments as the price — in exchange for the right to make the moonlight blade be used by him!"
"He wasn't bound — he was voluntary!"
Wanda was also shocked by this scene, opened her mouth, and took a good while to find her voice again: "Then you mean — the soul binding of the moonlight blade — is not mandatory? But can be chosen — using a part of the soul as a 'key' to unlock its power — without needing to hand over the complete soul?"
Li Heng nodded, the light in his eyes growing brighter and brighter: "Correct. The'soul binding' Vil Loken spoke of is an absolute description — but Varna's actual operation tells us that is not the only path. He used a part of his own soul fragments as collateral, exchanging for the right to use the third ability of the moonlight blade."
"So — I can do this too. No need to hand over the complete soul — just need to cut out a part, act as a 'key', and seal it into the blade."
"In this way — the complete power of the moonlight bladecan be used — and the main body of my soul remains free."
[Ding!! Hidden setting of the moonlight bladediscovered!!]
[The'soul binding' of the moonlight blade is not the only option!! The host can use the method of'soul cutting' — sealing about 5% - 10% of their own soul fragments into the blade as a 'key' — to unlock all the abilities of the moonlight blade!! The price is the permanent loss of this part of the soul fragments — which will cause a mild weakening of the host's emotional perception ability — but will not affect free will and the main personality!!]
[The risk level of this plan — B-Rank (Controllable)!! Significantly lower than the SSS-Rank risk of complete soul binding!!]
Li Heng looked at the information on the system panel, the corners of his mouth slowly curling up into an arc.
"5% to 10% of soul fragments — in exchange for the full power of the moonlight blade — this deal can be made."
Wanda walked to his side, a look of relief on her face, her tone a bit more relaxed: "Then do it. Just 5% of your soul — you didn't have much emotion to begin with, even if it's weakened, it won't show."
"Hey — that's a personal attack."
A moment later, both of them laughed.
The morning light of Brooklyn was getting brighter and brighter, and a new day began —
And in a certain dimensional gap hundreds of millions of light-years away from Earth —
A pair of ancient purple-black eyes was gazing at that blue planet, gazing at that dark golden energy fluctuation gradually growing stronger in the morning light.
Chthon's voice echoed in the void, low and hoarse: "Complete Progenitor... You found the hidden method left by Varna... Very good... The stronger you are... The day I break free from the cage... When I devour your soul... The more delicious it will be..."
And at the even more distant edge of the Universe —
The Seventh Envoy of The Silent One — Equilibrium — stood on a dark golden platform floating in the void, similarly gazing in the direction of Earth. There were no emotions in his white eyes, only calmly recording:
"The Complete Progenitor has discovered the soul cutting plan. It is expected to completely unlock the moonlight blade before the arrival of the Third Blood Moon."
"Observation by the Destiny Bureau — continue."
"Waiting of The Silent One — continue."
In the void, everything returned to silence.
Inside the living room of the Villa, Li Heng gripped the moonlight blade, feeling the temperature transmitted from the faint consciousness residual shadow inside the blade body. He closed his eyes, beginning to prepare for soul cutting — sealing his own soul fragments as a key into this ancient weapon that had spanned tens of thousands of years.
The air in the living room was filled with dark golden light and silver-white Moonlight Power energy — Wanda stood aside, Chaos Magic circulating around her body, constructing a protective barrier for him.
Outside the window — from the rising of the Third Blood Moon —
There are six days left.
Chapter 49: Soul Cutting! The True Awakening of the moonlight blade — Varna's Memory Fragment
The Underground Room of the Brooklyn Villa was transformed into a temporary secret room.
The dark gold Ancestor Power and the silver-white lunar essence energy intertwined in the air into layers of translucent energy barriers, completely isolating the entire space from the outside world.
Li Heng sat cross-legged in the center of the secret room, with the moonlight blade laid horizontally across his knees.
The silver-white blade slightly pulsed with the rhythm of his breathing, like a sleeping heart slowly waking up.
Wanda stood two steps behind him, crimson Chaos Magiccirculating around her body, forming a defensive barrier.
Her green eyes stared intently at every subtle movement of Li Heng, ready to forcibly interrupt the ritual at any time if an accident occurred to him.
"Are you really sure?" she asked for the last time, her voice carrying undisguised worry, "Cutting the soul — even if it's just 5%, is no joke.
Once it is cut off, that part of emotions and memories will be gone forever."
Li Heng did not look back, but his voice was calm and composed: "Vil Loken said that the third ability of the moonlight blade requires complete soul binding.
But Varna's actual operation has already proved that — it doesn't need all of it, just a 'key' is enough."
"Since Varna could do it, so can I."
He lowered his head to look at the moonlight blade, his fingertips gently brushing over the dark gold bloodline patterns flowing on the blade: "And — I always feel that there is something else hidden in this knife.
The lingering consciousness shadow left by Varna is not just used to remind me of the method of soul cutting — it is also waiting for me to discover deeper things."
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes —
"Let's begin."
[Ding! Host confirms starting the'Soul Cutting' program!]
[Cutting ratio: 5% - 10% (optional)! It is recommended that the first cutting does not exceed 7% to reduce the risk of soul shock!]
[During the cutting process, the host's consciousness will enter the soul space, where it will complete the division of its own soul in a mental form!
The entire process requires extremely high concentration and willpower!
Any external interference may lead to cutting failure — in severe cases, it may cause irreversible soul damage!]
[Chaos Magic can be used as a buffer medium!
Wanda's defense cooperation will significantly reduce the cutting risk!
Soul Contract link established!
Synchronization rate is good!]
Li Heng's breathing became steady and deep.
Dark gold light began to emerge on the surface of his body — those lights wandered under his skin like living creatures, gradually converging at the center of his eyebrows, forming a continuously rotating spot of light.
Then — his consciousness suddenly sank.
He found himself standing in an endless space — below was a surging ocean of dark gold light, and above was a rotating silver-white Nebula, while he himself floated between this light and Nebula, his body in a translucent form.
This was his soul space.
In front of him, a silver-white pillar of light descended from the sky — that was the soul projection of the moonlight blade, the deepest bond connecting him to this weapon.
At the core of the pillar of light, he could see a weak, curled-up figure —
The soul fragment left by Varna.
Li Heng swam toward the silver-white pillar of light.
As he approached, the curled-up figure in the pillar of light began to stretch slowly — like a person startled awake from a deep sleep, gradually regaining consciousness.
The moment Li Heng reached out and touched the pillar of light —
A scene flooded into his consciousness like a tide:
Ancient and prosperous Atlantis, golden sunlight sprinkled on the towering crystal towers.
A young wizard in a black robe stood on the high platform of the royal palace, holding a silver-white short blade — it was Varna in his youth, and what he held in his hand was precisely the moonlight blade.
Varna at that time showed no signs of aging, his eyes burning with ambition and a desire for power.
Varna's voice resounded in Li Heng's consciousness, carrying an echo spanning tens of thousands of years —
"I glimpsed the truth of the Universe in the darkhold — Chthon created Black Magic, Atum devoured the Old Gods, and the moonlight blade... it was forged with power I borrowed from the Moon Goddess.
But even I myself could not fully control its true potential."
"Until I met the messenger of The Silent One — he told me that this knife needs a 'key' to open the door leading to the origin.
And the material of the key must be a part of the user's soul."
Varna in the scene raised the moonlight blade — without hesitation, he slashed his palm, dropped blood onto the blade, and then drew a silver-white light from the center of his eyebrows — which was a fragment of his soul — and injected it into the blade.
"I paid one-third of my soul in exchange for the complete power of the moonlight blade."
Varna's voice became heavy, "But I soon discovered — the absence of the soul made me increasingly indifferent, less and less like myself.
I began to fear — if I continued to use the power of the moonlight blade, my soul would be completely devoured by it."
"So I found a compromise — I no longer injected more soul fragments, but instead sealed the moonlight blade away, using only its most basic power."
"Until — I met Atum."
The scene quickly shifted — that was a heaven-destroying and earth-shattering battle.
Varna, holding the moonlight blade, clashed in the void with a huge figure that blotted out the sky.
That figure was covered in pitch-black scales, with dark red flames burning on top of its head — Atum, the devourer of the Old Gods, the God-Slayer himself.
Varna severed one of Atum's fingers with the moonlight blade — but Atum's counterattack also severely wounded him.
He fell from the void, and the moonlight blade slipped from his hand, flying out and disappearing into the endless depths of the Universe.
"I left a part of my soul in the blade as a marker to find it in the future.
But after that battle, I never found it again."
"Until tens of thousands of years later — you, the Complete Progenitor, grasped it once again."
The image dissipated, and Li Heng's consciousness returned to the soul space.
That silver-white pillar of light still quietly stood in front of him, but the curled-up figure in the pillar of light was no longer stationary — he was slowly raising his head, gazing at him with a pair of dark gold vertical pupils identical to Li Heng's.
"Complete Progenitor..." That figure spoke — not with a voice, but with a thought transmitted directly into Li Heng's consciousness, "You have finally come."
"I am the soul fragment left by Varna in the moonlight blade — the sole purpose of my existence is to wait for your arrival and hand this 'key' over to you."
"You don't need to pay one-third of your soul like I did — just one-tenth, or even less.
Because I have already paved the way for you with my own fragments."
"Touch the pillar of light — I will guide you to complete the cutting."
Li Heng did not hesitate.
He reached out — his translucent fingers passing through the surface of the pillar of light, touching the fingertips of Varna's residual shadow.
In an instant —
A warm and powerful energy poured in from his fingertips, spreading along his arm to the entire soul space.
He could feel his soul being gently wrapped and lifted by an invisible force — then, an extremely tiny fragment twinkling with dark gold light separated from his main soul body.
That fragment was only the size of a fingernail — but the moment it separated, Li Heng felt a stabbing pain coming from the depths of his soul, as if a nerve had been pulled out.
That stabbing pain came quickly and went quickly — disappearing completely after a few seconds.
[Ding!! Soul Cutting complete!! Cutting ratio — 6.3%!!]
[The soul fragment has been successfully sealed into the moonlight blade! Blade compatibility increased from 98% to 100%!! All abilities of the moonlight blade are unlocked!]
[The third ability of the moonlight blade, 'Gate of Origin' — is now usable!]
[Warning: Cutting 6.3% soul fragments caused the host's emotional perception ability to drop by about 7%!
Main personality unaffected!
Free will intact!]
Li Heng opened his eyes.
He looked down at the moonlight blade in his hand — the blade was emitting unprecedented brilliant light, and the silver-white lunar essence and the dark gold God-Slaying Power perfectly blended within it, forming a brand-new energy form between reality and illusion.
He could feel that the moonlight blade had become a part of his body — not a weapon, but an extension, like a third arm or another heart.
What shocked him even more was that — inside the blade, that soul fragment of Varna did not disappear — it still existed, and it was clearer and more complete than before.
"Varna..." Li Heng called out in a low voice.
The blade trembled slightly — then, Varna's voice resounded in his consciousness, carrying a hint of exhaustion and relief spanning tens of thousands of years:
"Complete Progenitor... you did it."
"Now — before the Third Blood Moon rises — you must find the'second key'."
"The Gate of Origin of the moonlight blade requires two keys to fully open — one is the user's soul fragment, and the other — is 'the core of the chaos vessel'."
"Wanda Maximoff — the Chaos Magic inside her is the last trace left by Chthon's mark.
Although the mark has been cleared, that trace of energy still exists in her bloodline."
"Only by using her Chaos Magic — to perform a second 'infusion' on the moonlight blade — can the Gate of Origintruly be opened."
There was silence in the secret room.
Li Heng held the moonlight blade, feeling the final message transmitted from the soul residual shadow across tens of thousands of years inside the blade.
He looked up at Wanda — she had obviously heard Varna's words through the Soul Contract, and complex emotions swirled in her green eyes.
"Need my Chaos Magic?" Wanda did not hesitate, stepping right in front of him, "Then take it."
She reached out, and a ball of crimson Chaos Magiccondensed in her palm — that magic was purer and more refined than when she had just absorbed the source blood, beating like a heart in her palm.
Li Heng looked at that cluster of Chaos Magic, remained silent for a full three seconds — and then held the moonlight blade horizontally across his chest, pointing the tip of the blade at Wanda's palm.
"Ready?"
"Ready long ago."
The tip of the blade gently pierced into the cluster of Chaos Magic in Wanda's palm — the moment it touched the Chaos Magic, the blade of the moonlight blade burst out with a dazzling red and gold intertwined light!
The crimson Chaos Magic surged into the interior of the blade along the bloodline patterns on the blade like blood — blending with the dark gold Ancestor Power and the silver-white lunar essence energy — the three forces violently collided, fused, and sublimated inside the blade —
"Hum — —!!!!!"
An invisible energy Impact spread in all directions centered on the moonlight blade — the defense runes on the walls of the secret room all lit up under the Impact — the aura of the fusion of Chaos Magic and Ancestor Power soared into the sky, breaking through the night sky of Brooklyn, and exploded a circle of naked-eye-visible energy ripples above the clouds!
At this moment —
In the Sanctum Sanctorum in Manhattan, New York, Wong suddenly raised his head to look out the window, and the teacup in his hand fell to the ground; in the library of Kamar-Taj, Ancient One was flipping through an ancient book — she paused, a trace of shock flashing through her purple eyes; in the Golden Palace of Asgard, Odin's single eye looked toward the direction of Midgard, the fingers holding the Gungnir tightening slightly.
And in a certain dimensional crack at the edge of the Universe —
Chthon's purple-black eyes suddenly opened, and a long-suppressed, ecstasy-filled low roar burst from the depths of his throat: "Complete Progenitor — you have finally opened the door leading to the origin — I have waited for three billion years — just for this moment —!!"
The chain-like seals on his body surface began to vibrate violently — cracks began to appear on the walls of the cage — his power was recovering at an unprecedented speed — because he sensed it — the awakening of the moonlight blade was shaking the basic laws of the Universe — including the cage that imprisoned him.
In the secret room of the Brooklyn Villa, the light of the moonlight blade gradually converged — restoring its normal silver-white luster, except that the dark gold bloodline patterns on the blade became deeper, as if adding an extra layer of silent breathing.
Li Heng slowly stood up.
He held the moonlight blade, feeling the brand-new, complete power inside the blade — at the same time, a section of memory that did not originally belong to him appeared in his consciousness — that was another piece of information left by Varna in the moonlight blade.
It was information about the true identity of The Silent One.
It was information about — before the birth of the Universe— in that primordial sea — the true ruler.
He was silent for a long time, and then looked up at Wanda.
"Varna left a message in the blade — he said that when we complete the second infusion with Chaos Magic, the true form of The Silent One will appear."
"And the true form of The Silent One — is the primordial will that existed before the birth of the Universe.
He has another name —"
"A name forgotten by the Universe —"
"The First Light."
Wanda's breathing stagnated at this moment — because she felt from the Soul Contract that when Li Heng uttered that name, an emotion she had never seen on him surged from the depths of his soul — not fear, not awe —
Instead, it was a deep sorrow — as if coming from the memory of a past life.
Chapter 50: Chaos Out of Control! Wanda's Mutation — Countdown to the Third Blood Moon
Inside the secret Underground Room of the Brooklyn Villa, the radiance of the moonlight blade was slowly converging.
On the silver-white Blade, the dark golden bloodline patterns became deeper and more complex, resembling some ancient runes carved into the interior of the metal.
Inside the Blade, three forces — Ancestor Power, moonlight energy, and Chaos Magic — were pulsing in an unprecedentedly harmonious way, as if they were originally supposed to be one.
Li Heng held the moonlight blade, feeling the temperature coming from the Blade and the sharpness emanating from it that seemed capable of cutting through the laws of the Universe.
[Ding!! The moonlight blade has successfully awakened completely!!]
[Current Status — 'Key of Origin' Mode Activated!]
[Third Ability 'Gate of Origin' — Activation Conditions: The holder and the chaos container are present at the same time; swing the Blade toward the void under the shining light of the blood moon to open the passage leading to the primordial sea of the Universe!]
[Warning: Opening the Gate of Origin will trigger huge energy fluctuations and may be sensed by powerful beings from all sides of the Universe. Please ensure it is used in a safe environment!]
Li Heng looked at the information on the system panel and took a deep breath.
"It was a success." He said, his voice carrying a trace of exhaustion and satisfaction.
Wanda stood before him, her palm still retaining a tiny wound pierced by the moonlight blade during the infusion earlier, but it had already healed rapidly under the effect of her self-healing ability.
Her complexion looked somewhat pale, but her green eyes remained bright.
"How are you feeling?" Li Heng looked at her and asked with some concern.
"A bit tired." Wanda said honestly, "During the infusion just now, it felt like more than half of my Chaos Magic was drained away — but I can feel it recovering rapidly. And..."
She lowered her head to look at her hand, her brows slightly furrowed, "My magic seems to have become... a bit different."
"Different?" Li Heng became alert, "How is it different?"
"I can't quite put my finger on it." Wanda clenched her fists, and the scarlet Chaos Magic condensed into a ball in her palm before dispersing again, "It has become more... active. It's easier to mobilize than before, but also harder to control than before. It's like — it suddenly developed a will of its own."
Li Heng's dark golden slit pupils contracted slightly.
He and Wanda exchanged a glance, and both simultaneously thought of the same possibility — Chthon's residual mark.
In the core of Asgard, after Wanda absorbed Chthon's source blood, 89% of her mark was indeed cleared.
The remaining 11%, according to the system's prediction, would dissolve on its own within 7 to 15 days.
But that was under the premise of not being subjected to external interference.
The secondary infusion of the moonlight blade — a large amount of Chaos Magic being extracted — would it interfere with the dissolution process of the mark?
[System Prompt: The residual Chthon mark in Wanda's body has not been reactivated due to the infusion.]
[The current detection result is: The residual mark remains in a suppressed state, and the dissipation progress is about 92%.]
[However, Wanda's Chaos Magic underwent some unknown resonance during the infusion process with the moonlight blade — this resonance may have caused a slight shift in her magic frequency.]
[It is recommended to observe closely in the next 48 hours and avoid large-scale use of Chaos Magic.]
Li Heng breathed a sigh of relief — at least it wasn't the worst-case scenario.
"The system says the residual mark is still dissipating and hasn't been reactivated." He relayed the contents of the system panel to Wanda, "But your magic frequency has shifted somewhat because of this resonance — try to use as little magic as possible over the next two days and observe."
Wanda nodded, but her expression did not completely relax.
Because she knew better than anyone — during the infusion just then, what she felt was not just the resonance between the Ancestor Power and moonlight energy in the moonlight blade.
She also felt something else.
An extremely weak, almost negligible aura —
That was a wisp of purplish-black energy, surging from the deepest part of the moonlight blade's Blade body, blending into her Chaos Magic, and then disappearing.
She didn't tell Li Heng.
Because she wasn't sure if that really happened or if it was an illusion generated during the high-intensity infusion process.
She chose not to say it for the time being.
"Let's go, let's go upstairs." Wanda put on a relaxed expression, "Pietro sent a message just now saying he bought pizza and cola, waiting for you to go up and celebrate."
Li Heng raised an eyebrow: "Where did he get the money?"
"He said he 'purloined' it from the home of a demon-possessed mob boss during the battle in Hells Kitchen last time."
"...I really want to lecture him not to steal — but on second thought, that mob boss is dead anyway." Li Hengshrugged, "Let's go, eat pizza."
The two walked out of the Underground Room and returned to the living room of the Villa.
Pietro had indeed returned, sprawling on the sofa watching TV, with three large boxes of pizza and two large bottles of cola placed on the coffee table.
Seeing Li Heng and Wanda come upstairs, he immediately sat up: "Was it successful?"
"It was successful." Li Heng walked up to the coffee table, picked up a piece of pizza and took a bite, "Mephisto's aggregate was blasted apart, the barrier of Hells Kitchenwas broken, and the moonlight blade has completely awakened — today is a good day."
"That definitely calls for a celebration!" Pietro raised his cola bottle, "Come on, cheers!"
Three cola bottles collided in the air, making a crisp sound.
The atmosphere of celebration permeated the living room — Pietro was talking about how fast he ran in Hells Kitchen today, the Blood Baron reported on the progress of post-war cleanup in Hells Kitchen over the phone, Bladesent a short message saying "The barrier is broken, I am tracking down the residual fragments", and Morbius sent a three-thousand-word analytical report, detailedly arguing the relationship between the aggregate's energy structure and Mephisto's true body.
Li Heng leaned back on the sofa, chewing pizza while looking at the messages on his phone, his mood unexpectedly relaxing.
Wanda sat beside him, also eating pizza, but her gaze occasionally fell on her palm — the palm that had just been pierced by the moonlight blade.
The wound had already healed, and the skin was as smooth as before.
But under the skin of her palm, she could vaguely see a trace of extremely faint purplish-black lines, like some kind of blood vessel, gently throbbing with her pulse.
She clenched her fist tightly, covering that trace of lines.
"Wanda?" Li Heng's voice came from the side, "Are you okay? Your complexion is a bit poor."
"I'm fine." She quickly raised her head, revealing a smile, "Probably just too tired — it'll be good to rest early tonight."
Li Heng looked at her, a trace of imperceptible worry flashing in his dark golden slit pupils — but from the Soul Contract, he did not feel any abnormal fluctuations from Wanda.
So he nodded: "Then let's rest early. There are still some tail-end matters to deal with tomorrow."
"Mm."
The night grew deeper, and the streets of Brooklynreturned to peace.
Li Heng lay on the bed in the bedroom with his eyes closed, but his consciousness was not completely asleep.
The moonlight blade was pulsing gently in the internal space of his Ancestor Domain, as if breathing, exuding a warm glow.
He was gradually adapting to the existence of this Blade— not only physical adaptation, but also integration at the soul level.
Although only 6.3% of his soul fragments were cut as a key, that was still a part of his soul after all, and the connection established with the moonlight blade was deeper than he expected.
Between half-sleep and half-wakefulness, he seemed to hear a voice.
That voice was very light, as if coming from a very, very distant place, or as if ringing directly in his mind —
"When the Blood Moon rises... I will return..."
Li Heng opened his eyes abruptly!
He sat up from the bed, fine cold sweat oozing from his forehead.
He looked out the window — the night view of Brooklynwas still calm, and the moonlight sprinkled on the streets, peaceful and serene.
That voice just now — was he dreaming, or did it truly exist?
He turned his head to look beside him — Wanda's bed was completely empty.
The quilt was turned back, with no temperature.
Li Heng's heart sank abruptly, and he immediately jumped out of the bed, rushed out of the bedroom barefoot, and ran to the corridor — then, he saw a scene that made his heartbeat stop abruptly.
Wanda stood in front of the window at the end of the corridor, barefoot, wearing a thin nightgown.
The moonlight outside the window shone on her, illuminating her pale skin to be translucent like jade.
Her eyes — were open.
But in those eyes, it was no longer clear green —
Instead, it was a deep, eerie — purplish-gold.
Her hands gently pressed against the window glass, her lips slightly parted, silently chanting something in an ancient and unfamiliar language that Li Heng had never heard before.
"Wanda!" Li Heng called out and walked over quickly.
Wanda's body shuddered slightly — then she slowly turned around.
The moment those purplish-gold eyes saw Li Heng, they receded rapidly like a tide — green returned, and the Chaos Magic retracted back into her body.
She blinked, her expression somewhat blank: "Li Heng? What... what happened to me?"
"You don't remember?" Li Heng walked up to her, grasped her shoulders, his dark golden slit pupils staring fixedly into her eyes, "You were standing in front of the window just now, and your eyes were purplish-gold — you were speaking in some language I couldn't understand."
Wanda's complexion turned even paler: "I... I don't remember. I only remember I was sleeping, and then I felt very cold, extremely cold — and then I seemed to see something..."
"What thing?"
"A... image." Wanda's voice trembled slightly, "A very blurry image — but I saw it — a huge purplish-black building floating in the starry sky — at the top of the building stood a figure —"
She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples hard: "I can't see his face clearly — but I know who he is."
She opened her eyes, her green eyes filled with fear —
"It is Chthon."
"He is calling me — he said —"
" 'In your body, there is my blood. You forever belong to me.' "
The moonlight outside the window seemed to become even colder at this moment.
Li Heng held Wanda tightly in his arms, feeling her body tremble and her accelerated heartbeat.
His dark golden slit pupils looked towards the bright moon outside the window — at the edge of the moon's wheel, he vaguely saw a trace of an extremely faint dark red shadow.
That was not an illusion.
That was the — precursor of the Third Blood Moon.