Chapter 158: I still can’t take a wolf!

He glared into those red eyes.

Leo glared right back.

When Lupine and the others finally approached, they were greeted by a ridiculous sight:

A human sitting on the ground and a wolf standing beside him, both glaring at each other as though declaring a silent war.

"Aiya... Why don’t you two just get married and go into my chamber together?" Xiao Hong teased as she transformed into her human form.

"Thank you, but no," Moon replied politely.

He turned toward the white wolf sitting not far away. Rio was gazing at the lake as though none of this had anything to do with him.

Yet Moon could sense something familiar emanating from him.

Loneliness.

And a quiet, lingering sadness.

Moon hadn’t noticed it before. But after forming a contract with Axe and practicing how to distinguish his own emotions from those of his mates, he could now recognize that the sadness and loneliness weren’t his own.

He suddenly remembered the witch’s cavern.

Back then, he had felt terribly cold and depressed.

He had always assumed it was because of Rio’s rude behavior. But thinking about it now, that explanation didn’t make much sense.

Even if Rio’s behavior had upset him, he should have felt anger or perhaps an urge to cry. Instead, the feeling had been completely different. Loneliness, extreme depression.

He looked away.

Whatever the truth was, he still felt lingering remorse... along with a little residual rage.

’He could have just kissed me. I never demanded love from them anyway.’

His thoughts were interrupted by another wet sensation against his cheek.

"..."

"Fuck! Leo, stop licking me!"

Moon jumped to his feet and hurriedly put some distance between himself and the enormous red wolf.

Leo took two steps forward but didn’t chase him.

"I think he still wants to do that with you," Xiao Hong cackled lewdly.

Moon froze.

Unfortunately, his gaze landed right on Leo’s ’don’t look’ part.

He flinched.

For a fraction of a second, a dangerous thought crossed his mind.

’If I mate with him... will my fire spark for alchemy increase? The essence of the wolf is still Leo’s own fire essence, right?’

The thought vanished the moment Leo suddenly leaped toward him.

Moon’s heart nearly jumped out of his skin.

He let out a shrill cry, turned around, and ran.

"Hell no! Don’t come closer!"

’I still can’t take a wolf!’ he thought.

After putting a considerable distance between them, Moon finally stopped and turned around.

Leo wasn’t even running.

The big red wolf was leisurely walking toward him, as though he had all the time in the world. With his speed, catching this human would take no more than a second.

Moon’s mouth twitched.

Just what was wrong with this wolf?

Suddenly, Lupine appeared beside him.

"Why don’t you try forming soul contracts with Leo and Rio first?" he suggested.

"They are pure beasts right now, so it should be much easier than it was with Axe. Their memories will be less aggressive."

Moon considered his words and found them reasonable. He was already running out of time. There were only five days left before the full moon.

He might as well give it a try.

"Hmm... What if I give them a calming hallucination pill first?" Moon asked.

In his world, people sometimes used such pills to make soul contracts easier to establish.

"That’s a good idea. However, I’m afraid that once they regain their full human consciousness and begin resisting the contract, their rage could cause a backlash."

Moon hesitated.

Lupine was right. At the moment, he had neither Leo’s nor Rio’s consent to form a soul contract.

But he needed those contracts to gain a proper hold on them.

"Let’s do it. I’ll go back and refine the pill. You keep an eye on them. Don’t let them run off alone. What if we can’t find them?"

Moon was certain that the Lost Realm was not merely an inheritance ground.

After what had happened to RuYi, he was also beginning to worry that the spirits’ powers might be severely restricted within this place.

And he swore to himself that he wouldn’t ask them too many questions anymore.

If they couldn’t to tell him the truth, he would find the answers himself.

The place where they stood was far from their cave, and Moon didn’t even know exactly where they were.

It was a vast meadow surrounding a large basin.

They had ended up there because the open terrain was perfect for running.

Once Leo had discovered it, he had simply started circling the area at full speed.

Moon looked around and found the place rather pleasant.

There was plenty of water and an expansive stretch of grassland. It could be useful later.

He marked the location with his soul force.

"I’m going back inside the Starlily Sanctuary. When Ugo and Axe return, bring them here," Moon said.

With that, he returned to the sanctuary.

By the time he arrived, his heart had settled, and he felt much calmer.

When his gaze fell on the scorched rock again, he no longer felt as devastated as before.

Clearing the area carefully, he rearranged the remaining materials.

As he sat on the platform, he touched the spatial necklace his mother had left him.

In the next breath, his consciousness entered the space inside.

The big shelf was still mostly locked. Only the lower few drawers could be used.

He searched through several drawers and found the pill formula he was searching for.

’Calming soul illusion pill formula’

The main ingredients were not ordinary.

Frostheart Lotus Petals — very hard to find, used to cool and stabilize chaotic spiritual energy.

Three Leaf Spirit Calming Grass — this one was relatively normal and can be grown in a medicinal land.

Moon had some inside the self. It’s used for soothing aggressive beast instincts.

And the most important one: nine-tailed fox blood.

Preferably from a spirit fox that had cultivated illusion arts and had a gold core.

The blood was what created the gentle hallucination effect, making the target enter a calm, dream state without resistance.

Moon’s expression turned serious.

He began searching again.

Luckily, his mother had collected far more than he remembered.

In one of the lower drawers, he found a small jade box filled with Frostheart Lotus Petals.

In another sealed jade box, he discovered a few stalks of Three-Leaf Spirit Calming Grass, already slightly aged but still usable.

He spread his divine sense all over and found a little jade vial. It contained a few drops of fox blood.

Moon stared at it for a long time.

There were only about ten drops.

He had to refine at least two pills.

And who knows how many times he would fail before successfully refining the pill.

His mood was somber when he went out of the space.

Since the hallucination pill ingredient was so sparse, he started to refine what he already knew to flex his movement.

He began by refining more poison-removing pills.

He refined three batches, producing fifteen more high-grade pills and twelve mid-grade ones. Not a single low-grade pill came out this time.

"This should be enough for the guards," he murmured as he stored them away.

Next, he refined more fasting and rejuvenation pills, followed by several batches of restoration, nourishing, and healing pills.