Chapter 150: RuYi and Others

Suddenly, a hand grabbed his back and yanked him up.

"Wake up, you bastard!"

With that, Axe’s eyes snapped open.

His eyes fluttered as he looked at the face staring at him with worried eyes.

His throat felt dry. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down with his dry gulp.

Then he suddenly pulled the man down and hugged him tightly.

Moon didn’t push him. His hand slowly caressed Axe’s back.

He whispered slowly, "It’s just a dream, just a dream."

Axe’s body trembled slightly, then settled down. He hid his face in the crook of Moon’s neck and mumbled, "Just a dream."

"Yes, all just a dream. It’s nothing."

"Um... nothing."

"..."

"Darling, stay for a moment with me." Axe’s hand tightened around Moon’s waist.

"Hm, I am tired. Let’s rest for a while."

Moon lay there, holding Axe’s head in his arms, and just caressed his back.

The silence settled in the cave as their souls found their places.

.

.

.

When Moon woke up again, Axe was nowhere to be seen. It was already past noon.

He went out, spread his divine sense, but found no one in the entire mountain.

He frowned and asked Lupine, "Where are they all?"

Soon Lupine flew out. "They are all busy handling outside work. You can rest assured and go practice your soul training and alchemy."

Moon raised his brows. "Really? All settled?"

"They will be soon, but first those ice-blocked people need your pill, so..." he paused, looking at Moon worriedly. "Can you do it?"

Moon nodded.

"I can, Master. My soul power has increased." He smiled at Lupine.

"Hmm. It should be. After this excessive use, it should increase." Lupine combed his beard and nodded.

"So don’t worry. I feel like those earth-grade pills will not be any matter now. I can try spirit grade." Moon said happily.

He had better control over his soul after he left the Moon Goddess’s domain.

He even felt the overflowing energy that needed an outlet to show off.

"You still need to refine some mortal-grade pills for those guards. I don’t think they can take spirit-grade," Lupine said.

"Hmm, I will try and see." Moon turned to leave, then remembered something.

"Oh, can they enter the Lost Realm freely now?"

Lupine shook his head. "No, only the place they were connected to. We need to set up a transportation array to go in and out from all over. It’s still a little complicated to get out through five sub-dimensions."

"I was thinking about this for a while, Master. Are those five caves a part of this Lost Realm, or are they outside it? Just connected gateways?"

Lupine chuckled.

"They are connected and inside this realm while still separated by another spatial boundary.

Still, they are so far from each other that you need to travel at least two to three days to reach each one.

In some places it can even take ten days. What’s more, you still don’t know where those places are inside this realm. Finding and locating them will also take time."

Moon nodded.

He knew the Starlily Sanctuary’s path since he had walked out from that place to here, but he didn’t know the others.

He thought for a moment and asked, "So is the Lupine Palace in that rocky desert we walked out of before?"

Lupine laughed. "Yes, that was the actual gate for my vault, and it’s underground. I made a transportation array for you, didn’t I?"

"Hmm, so it’s indeed better to make an interconnected transportation array."

Moon rubbed his chin in deep thought.

He could also refine an array. Not a powerful one, but an earth-grade array—he could still do that.

"You want to make it yourself? To connect five saint-grade spaces, you need at least a heaven-grade transportation array." Lupine smiled cheekily, brushing his beard in amusement.

Moon’s enthusiasm deflated.

His cultivation had only reached apprentice, and he still hadn’t refined a spirit-level pill, so his soul power was still at earth grade. Trying to make a heaven-grade array was like trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

Lupine patted Moon’s back in comfort.

"Don’t worry. Isn’t it only a few days since you started? In my era, even I took one year to break through to apprentice."

"But I have taken eighteen years," Moon said aggrieved.

"All my peers were far more than apprentice one-star. They were all around five to six stars when I was still a novice."

Moon fidgeted, remembering those days.

"That’s before. Maybe you should just... ahem... you know? You have a way to raise your qi level faster." Lupine’s ears suddenly turned suspiciously red.

"I am going back. You go practice." He said and hurriedly left after his speech.

Moon’s lip twitched. ’Is he... still a virgin?’ he thought.

[He is,] the Moon Goddess said suddenly.

’What a surprise!’ Moon lowered his head and, in the next second, entered the Stardust Lily Sanctuary.

The Moon Goddess’s voice came again.

[What’s so surprising? Many cultivators in his world just stay inside caves and spend thousands of years practicing. All they want is to become an immortal. Nothing else matters.]

’You know him well. Are you from the same place?’ Moon asked.

The Moon Goddess became silent. Moon also did not press further.

Sometimes silence was louder than words.

The Stardust Lily Sanctuary was also silent and serene. The pond was shimmering with new buds and leaves, getting ready to bloom soon.

Moon found his boulder and thought for a moment.

He gathered his qi around his fingers and cast a shattering spell, trying to control the qi with his newly found energy.

Soon a vortex appeared on his palm.

As he slammed the spell onto the boulder, its top was cut into a plain terrace.

Moon got closer and looked at his work. Though the cut was still not very good-looking, it had done its job.

The boulder was now flatter, and the sitting arrangement would be more comfortable.

He tried one more time.

Then again.

And again.

By the time he finished the fifth spell, the boulder had become a flat, high platform.

Smooth and shiny.

[I am the Monalis Celestia. Its soul and its breath. I don’t belong anywhere else.] The Goddess’s soft yet firm voice broke Moon’s concentration.

Moon chuckled but didn’t say anything.

He already knew the answer. He just needed to find out what this heavenly ruler’s purpose was in bringing him here.

Until then, all he needed to do was grow stronger.

He sat down and spread his divine sense all over the place.

These sub-dimensions were all just small parts of the Lost Realm, protected by their own guardians’ souls and spirits.

So it was easy for Moon now to see the entire area.

He searched every inch but still didn’t find what he was looking for.

[Don’t search for him. He went out with Ugo.]

Moon’s mood dropped.

This spirit really hated him, huh.

[You may have noticed the guardian spirits can’t go out for long. Only for a few moments. Even inside the Lost Realm, their power is limited. They are all either a part of a shattered soul or have lost their life essence.]

She paused.

Looking at Moon’s indifferent face, she continued.