Chapter – 72
The Hand of Gods and Demons
Qin Mo’s father was naturally not Hu Yidao. In his memories, that name had already become somewhat blurred—he could no longer recall where he had dredged it up merely as a placeholder.
But he believed Qing Wei would definitely deliver the message, because his father’s name was Qin Lin, because he was Qin Mo. As long as Qing Wei could return safely, she would surely tell Qin Lin everything that had happened here. Even though none of them knew the truth, Qin Mo felt that, at least, he had fulfilled his own wish.
If he still had any wish at this moment, it was to beg the Heavenly Sage Emperor to show mercy—to send him back the same way he had been brought here. He wanted to see once more the two elders whose images in his memory had already begun to fade.
He had never felt such longing before. From childhood to adulthood, he had always been carefree and indifferent, like most children who leave home, never once considering how much worry their parents endured.
But when this longing finally appeared, it had already become a true luxury. This was no longer “the child wishes to care for his parents, but they are gone,” but rather white-haired parents sending off their black-haired son.
Qin Mo imagined the faces of the two elders. Just as the image was about to take shape, a black hand appeared in his field of vision.
The night was pitch-black, yet this hand was even darker. The only bright spot was the vertical eye in the center of its palm, radiating a dazzling blood-red glow.
“Why is it always like this?” Qin Mo gave a bitter smile, coughing up several mouthfuls of blood. Looking at the black hand, he said, “Can you let me go?”
“I cannot,” the black hand replied abruptly. “You forced my host to death. Now you will replace him and become my host.”
Qin Mo immediately sensed something was wrong. He did not believe this was good news. The word “host” sounded exactly like the sort of role where something was raised inside one’s body—waiting until it matured, at which point the host would be finished.
“You’re saying you won’t let me die?” Qin Mo didn’t want to die, but he also didn’t want to become this thing’s host.
“You have no choice,” came the sinister reply.
The black hand moved, arriving before him in the blink of an eye. The vertical eye in its palm fixed tightly on Qin Mo’s right hand—the one that had already been crippled by blade qi.
“This hand is already ruined. Perfect—it can be grafted onto me,” the black hand said.
“Damn it!” Qin Mo felt icy cold all over. Gritting his teeth, he tried to sever his own meridians.
“Trying to die? It won’t be that easy.” The black hand sneered.
An invisible force bound his body completely. Even the circulation of his acupoints was utterly suppressed.
Then came a tearing pain from his arm. Qin Mo’s face twisted in agony, yet he couldn’t even scream before passing out.
The intense pain quickly woke him again. This happened repeatedly. His right hand was torn off alive by the black hand, blood gushing like a spring, his face deathly pale.
With a boom, the severed arm was crushed to pieces and scattered into the void.
What terrified him was not the pain of losing his arm, but what followed—the black hand, flawless and intact, was grafted onto the stump of his arm.
Another wave of unbearable agony surged through him. He felt as though his right arm had grown back, yet he could not control it at all. It was pitch-black, covered in ancient runes.
“Now my bloodline will fuse with yours. You will become my host,” the black hand said.
“Rest assured— with my help, you will shine brilliantly for a time. Reaching the rank of Human King will not be difficult. That is your reward. When I fully awaken, however, you will belong to me. That is the price.”
“Damn your eighteen generations of ancestors—!” Qin Mo roared.
At that moment, he felt black blood begin to surge from the hand into his body, accompanied by searing pain.
Qin Mo completely lost consciousness. What followed, he would never know.
“Since the birth of my god–demon race, we have been the strongest beneath the heavens. You lesser races may only accept our gifts—how dare you resist?” the black hand sneered.
The black blood flowed into Qin Mo’s body, reaching his limbs and bones. His body began to cocoon, forming a chrysalis that wrapped him completely.
The massive black cocoon floated silently in the void. No ancient beast dared to approach. Within several thousand miles, all beasts lay low, as though afraid of being noticed.
The black blood assimilated all of Qin Mo’s original red blood, turning it completely black. His skin, however, showed no change. The black hand grew ever more perfectly fused.
“Excellent… In forty-nine days, success will be complete. This body is even stronger than that of the corpse race,” the will within the black hand said with satisfaction.
“Though the bloodline is lacking—only upper-tier crimson. Still, once assimilated by my race’s blood, it will become far more noble.”
But when the black blood finished assimilating Qin Mo’s blood and surged toward his seventy-four acupoints, a sudden change occurred.
“Divine Prison!”
The voice resounded within Qin Mo’s body, yet it seemed to shake the heavens and the world itself. In that instant, the black blood froze, unable to advance even a fraction.
At the same time, all seventy-four acupoints erupted with purple light—the noblest color under the heavens.
“This is—” the black hand’s voice trembled.
For the first time, it sensed true death.
It had not died at the dawn of chaos. It had not died when the first light of creation appeared. It had not died during the war between gods and demons.
Yet under this voice, it felt it would perish completely.
“When I lived, the hundred races waged war. When I rose, the hundred races ceased their conflict.
I governed virtue and arms, harmonized the five energies, cultivated the five grains, comforted the people, and pacified the four directions.
I fought the Taotie clan upon the Fields of Sinful Stars, slew their ancient progenitor, and shook the hundred races beyond the Xuanhuang Realm.
All the stars trembled…”
The voice was sudden, majestic beyond measure.
“Holy Emperor… the Human Race’s Holy Emperor!” The black hand’s will quaked like a mouse before a cat.
“How can there still be a Holy Emperor on the Xuanhuang Continent?!”
“I did not expect that remnants of god–demon will still exist in this world,” said the Holy Emperor’s will.
This will came from the purple arrow, from the Holy Emperor Dao Fruit.
It belonged to Xuanyuan, the Holy Emperor.
Even a single wisp was enough to suppress all evils of the heavens.
The black hand had only dared to enter the Xuanhuang Realm because it believed Xuanyuan had long since perished. Otherwise, it would never have risked stepping foot here.
“The Holy Emperor Dao Fruit—this child has inherited your Dao Fruit!” the black hand finally understood, trembling violently.
“You are Xuanyuan!”
“I am Xuanyuan,” the voice answered openly.
“God–demon, you dare defile my people’s body. You must die.”
Not you seek death—but you must die.
This was the Holy Emperor’s dominance, even greater than the Tyrant God Blade.
“You are but a fragment of will! You think you can stop me? Dream on!” the black hand roared, desperation driving it to action.
Black blood reversed course, and the black arm, runes flashing, tried to forcibly detach from Qin Mo’s body.
At that moment, the blade intent hidden in Qin Mo’s mind suddenly appeared, forming a colossal blade that slashed downward.
Terrifying blade intent erupted as a torrent of pure white blade qi, surging from his acupoints through his meridians, crushing the black blood.
Wherever it passed, the black blood vanished instantly. The black cocoon shattered without resistance.
The blade intent reached the junction of the arm and Qin Mo’s body. A shrill scream rang out as the blade intent invaded deeper, growing ever stronger.
“Xuanyuan! If you kill me, I will self-destruct and destroy this human of yours!” the black hand roared.
“Can you?” came the calm reply.
Before it could answer, the black hand felt its entire arm sealed. All its power and runes were forcibly controlled.
This was not something one could resist by will—it was an absolute command.
If it had known Qin Mo carried the Holy Emperor Dao Fruit, it would never have dared provoke him. But even Qin Mo himself did not know—how could it?
“You severed my people’s arm. I replace it with yours.”
The decree was absolute.
A piercing shriek rang out. The black eye in the palm faded away. The arm gradually returned to a normal color, the runes disappearing as Qin Mo’s blood flowed into it seamlessly.
“God–demon hands are not so easily used. I curse him—
In this life and the next, he shall never advance further.
In this life and the next, this arm shall never truly fuse with him!”
As the curse sounded, mysterious power enveloped the arm. Runes flickered, absorbing it before vanishing once more.
The Holy Emperor’s will made no response. It slowly faded away, and the blade intent returned to Qin Mo’s mind as if never used.
Qin Mo’s body, however, was fully restored.
After absorbing and purifying the god–demon blood, his physical body was more than ten times stronger than before.
The Holy Emperor’s will vanished completely, leaving behind only a trace of Holy Emperor bloodline within Qin Mo—
And the forcibly grafted, yet cursed, god–demon hand…
Waiting for an unknown moment to erupt.
