Chapter 153: The New Baron
Yu Mo had no faith. Even after coming to this world, where gods undoubtedly existed, he felt no awe or reverence toward them.
Moreover, after receiving the plot details from the system, he understood clearly that the gods of this world no longer existed.
Whether it was the God of Light, the Moon Goddess, or any other deity, their consciousness had long since faded. Only their residual powers remained.
The so-called “blessings” people received from the gods were merely a result of aligning their energy with those remnants, allowing them to channel that power for their own use.
This was exactly what Yu Mo was doing now with his ritual. The precise steps he followed were no different from conducting an experiment.
He had prepared everything meticulously: candles infused with snake oil, dried night-blooming flowers such as moonflowers, tuberose, and datura, various yin-associated minerals, and magical materials that had absorbed the moonlight… and, of course, a sacrifice consumed by confusion and fear.
Finally, the magic circle activated the yin power of death and moonlight to their maximum. Since it was similar to the aura of the moon, it naturally attracted the remnants of the Moon Goddess’s power.
This was the true nature of the so-called ‘sacrifice.’
So even without being ‘devout,’ Yu Mo wasn’t worried that anything would go wrong.
The only thing he couldn’t be sure of was how much of the moon’s power this sacrifice would yield, and whether it would be enough to suppress the strange illness ingrained in his body’s bloodline.
As soon as he was exposed to the sun for a while, red marks would appear on his skin, accompanied by a burning sensation. This illness was truly troublesome.
Baron Cecil’s screams gradually faded. His blood flowed along the magic circle, covering the mirror behind the altar with a layer of red. The moon that slowly appeared within it also turned red.
Just like last time, it began to enlarge and draw closer.
But this time, it was different from before. Amid the smoke and the scent of dry grass, the moon grew larger and larger, gradually engulfing Yu Mo.
The sacrificial offerings on the altar in front of him had all disappeared, and his consciousness was pulled away into a quiet void.
He could no longer tell up from down; stars twinkled everywhere.
Countless meteors streaked past from above or below, vanishing in an instant but continuously streaming by.
A moon projection, as tall as a person, rotated before him, while behind it loomed the grand silhouette of an enormous palace.
Yu Mo understood that this was the projection of the Moon Goddess’s residual power.
He stood up from where he was and began to walk toward the moon’s projection and the palace. But no matter what he did, he couldn’t get closer.
“The moon likes you, but unfortunately, your power is still too weak. You can’t truly approach this place yet.”
A vague figure standing on the palace steps said this, maintaining a distance that was neither far nor near.
His voice was ethereal and illusory, carried to Yu Mo’s ears by the surrounding meteors.
Yu Mo could see the long robe and platinum hair of the other person flowing, but he couldn’t make out his face. He stood in the Milky Way, surrounded by stars.
Yu Mo guessed who it was.
His mission target—the villain of this world.
One of the high-ranking Cardinal Archbishops of the Holy Temple of Light.
At the same time, he was also the spiritual leader of the heretical Moon Goddess Church, known as the “Moon Goddess’s Executor.”
Peruth.
Some of these identities were well-known, while others were not, but Yu Mo knew another of his secrets.
This so-called Moon Goddess’s Executor was, in fact, a complete atheist. He was stealing and devouring the Moon Goddess’s power and coveting the power of the God of Light, intending to replace them and become the new god.
—That was very villainous.
It reminded Yu Mo of his fifth brother, who, as a child, used to boast about becoming the strongest demon lord in the world.
Their third brother would often use this to make him do chores, saying, “If you can’t even do this, how are you going to be the demon lord?”
Their eldest brother, who hoped the fifth brother would get into the top school in the country, also said, “If you can’t even get into the best school, how are you going to be the strongest demon lord?”
Eventually, the fifth brother stopped saying he wanted to be the strongest.
He was just saying it, but the man before him was determined to fulfill his grand dream.
In the future, he would plunge the Glory Empire and the surrounding kingdoms into chaos. Even the God of Light, worshiped by countless people, would be pulled down from the pedestal and utterly shattered by him.
In the future trajectory of this world, the villain almost became the new god.
If he had truly succeeded, he might have been the protagonist instead of the villain.
The original Eloren worshiped the Moon Goddess but had never been active in the Moon Goddess Church’s heretical Star Society, nor had he ever crossed paths with such an ambitious figure.
It was entirely unexpected for Peruth to suddenly appear at this kind of ritual, something Yu Mo hadn’t anticipated.
The only reasonable guess was that the power of this ritual was too strong, shaking the very source of the Moon Goddess’s power. This had likely made the “Moon Goddess’s Executor,” who regarded that power as his own, feel threatened, leading him to show up and observe.
These thoughts only flashed through Yu Mo’s mind for a brief moment before he lowered his head and said, “Honorable Moon God, I am your devout follower. I praise everything about you and pray that you grant me strength.”
Standing before the empty palace, Peruth smiled. “A devout follower? But I see no faith in you at all.”
He can even see through that?
Yu Mo didn’t react much. He merely lowered his gaze and replied, “How can I make you believe in my devotion?”
Peruth smiled as he spoke, “Offer me a sacrifice that pleases me.”
“So, it seems my father as a sacrifice didn’t satisfy you,” Yu Mo said. As soon as the words left his mouth, he suddenly felt the swirling shadow of the moon shift behind him.
An invisible force pulled him forward, drawing him closer and closer to the massive celestial palace and the figure on the steps.
“Offering your own father as a sacrifice—you truly are a beauty as dark as the night. It’s as if your very heart is dyed with the colors of the night sky,” Peruth remarked, his voice filled with amusement and deep interest.
“But that was a sacrifice to the Moon. If you offer me a sacrifice I like, I will grant you even greater power.”
Completely dismissing his supposed allegiance to the Moon Goddess, Yu Mo looked up. “So, what kind of sacrifice do you desire?”
The two were now very close, yet Yu Mo still couldn’t see Peruth’s face. He could only see Peruth raise his hand, pointing at his eyes from a distance.
“I like your eyes—eyes as dark as the night sky.”
He wants my eyes? Yu Mo suddenly lifted the bloodstained silver knife in his hand and, without hesitation, cut off a lock of his own black hair. Calmly, he offered it forward:
“Then surely you will also like hair as dark as the night sky. I offer it to you as a sacrifice.”
Peruth’s laughter grew louder, filled with delight.
Despite all the talk of devotion, with every word of reverence, the black-haired, black-eyed man before him had neither faith nor fear.
Only indifference.
And Peruth accepted that indifference.
He was the one most connected to the Moon’s power, his soul already fused with the essence of the Moon.
Whoever the Moon favored, he favored too.
“You will receive the Moon’s power.”
The hair in Yu Mo’s hand vanished, as did the stars scattered across the sky and the figure before him.
Before disappearing completely, Peruth cheerfully left him with a final remark: “Come and find me, faithless one, full of lies.”
The Moon disappeared entirely.
Before it vanished, the moonlight, like a flowing stream, poured into his body.
Since Yu Mo had become the master of this body, he often felt cold, heavy, and plagued by a dull ache in his limbs. But in that moment, all those sensations faded.
Even his breathing seemed to become lighter.
And he could feel the magic inside him growing stronger.
“Brother… brother, are you okay?” Charli’s timid voice called out.
Yu Mo calmly shifted his gaze away from the shriveled body of Baron Cecil and looked at the panicked Charli.
“I’m fine.”
The hair he had cut still rested on his shoulders, some strands swaying near his ears.
“The baron… father is dead. What do we do now?” Charli stammered.
“I will inherit everything he had. Nothing will change,” Yu Mo said, his voice steady. “Come over and help me deal with the body.”
He needed to deal with the body. When a noble died, priests from the Temple of Light would come to confirm the death and perform a brief requiem ceremony.
Nothing must seem out of the ordinary.
Upon hearing this, Charli hurried forward, her entire body trembling. She couldn’t quite pinpoint what she was afraid of.
Was it the dead Baron Cecil? Her brother, a heretic who worshipped the Moon Goddess? Or the fear of being discovered by the Temple of Light?
Perhaps all of it, but not entirely any of it.
“There’s no need to be afraid. He was just a baron. The priest from the Temple of Light won’t be powerful enough to notice anything unusual,” Yu Mo said.
The corpse, shriveled and drained of blood from the Moon Goddess ritual, would certainly not look like someone who had died naturally.
Yu Mo instructed Charli to help him move the body to the alchemy room, placing it on an empty table. Using magic and potions, he temporarily restored the baron’s appearance to how it had been in life.
Following her brother’s instructions, Charli, though trembling at first, gradually became numb as she moved the body back and forth. Her hands stopped shaking, and she even found herself fascinated by the magical techniques her brother employed.
Only a few people could become magicians. Even among nobles, not everyone had the opportunity to study magic.
Only those with talent, blessed by the Light, and recognized by the Temple of Light could become officially registered magicians.
Those who studied magic without permission—like her brother—would face punishment or even death if the Temple of Light found out.
“Charli, do you want to learn magic?”
“…”
“Tell me, do you want to or not?”
“…Yes.”
“Good. I will teach you how to use magic,” Yu Mo said, looking down at his sister, who trembled like a little white dove. “From now on, you will be my sixth sister. When no one is around, you may call me Second Brother.”
Charli: “…?”
When Charli was finally sent back to her room in a daze and lay down on her bed, she mumbled to herself, “Why the sixth sister? Why is my brother the second brother?”
No one answered her.
…
The morning after the heavy storm, the sun quickly spread across the land. Yu Mo appeared in the hall once again at dawn.
This time, he didn’t draw the curtains. Half of his body and face were bathed in soft, golden sunlight. His freshly trimmed black hair now only reached just below his ears, giving him a sharper, more decisive look—less gentle and brooding, more clean-cut.
Charli, pale-faced, came downstairs. Seeing him, she hesitated before softly calling out, “Second Brother?”
“The sunlight is wonderful today, isn’t it?” Yu Mo set down his teacup and glanced at his sister. “After so much rain, the house is damp. You should go outside and get some sunlight.”
After a night of tension, Charli suddenly felt an inexplicable wave of relief wash over her. She turned to look outside.
“…The rain has stopped. The weather is really nice.”
.
Baron Cecil had died suddenly from illness, and after twenty years of living on the estate, young Master Eloren was set to return to the family residence in the capital to inherit the title, becoming the new Baron Cecil.
But the death of such a minor baron caused no stir in the noble-filled capital, and the Temple of Light only sent two young, inexperienced priests to perform a symbolic ceremony.
Apart from Yu Mo’s young stepmother crying her heart out, nothing unexpected happened, and the late Baron Cecil was smoothly buried in the cemetery.
After the burial of the old baron, the new Baron Cecil would soon have to go to the Temple of Light to receive the baptism and blessings for his new title.
