Chapter 162: ‘Five wolves?

’During the Blood Moon?’

’So, during the Blood Moon, werewolves become pure beasts? Mating with a pure beast...’

’Fuck!’ Moon’s thoughts were all over the place.

He didn’t want to imagine it.

He had five so-called fated mates here. ’Five wolves?’

"No!" Moon said, though he didn’t even know whether he was talking to himself or the Goddess.

Moon rested for a while before taking out the red fire stones Axe had brought from Chika.

If his fire essence couldn’t keep up, he would make up for it with external materials.

He scattered almost all the red stones across the platform, making it look like a bed covered in red roses.

Though they were still just stones.

The platform warmed instantly, and the heat rose. Moon began absorbing the fire essence.

His meridians felt as if they were burning, but he endured it. He closed his eyes and drew in more essence.

"Stop it, you fool! You’ll burn your dantian!" Suddenly, Xiao Hong popped up.

She had been inside her garden, but since Moon was connected to all five places, his life-threatening situation had caused the places to respond to his pulse.

Moon’s eyes snapped open.

His once-blue eyes were now red, as if fire itself had entered them.

His mind was a little hazy, but he still opened his palm and injected all the essence he had drawn from the stones into his tiny fire spark.

The flame flickered a few times before slowly growing a little bigger.

Its power rose as well.

Moon smiled, but his smile didn’t last long. He coughed up crimson blood.

Xiao Hong swirled around him anxiously. Seeing him cough up blood, she had no choice but to summon Frostbane and Rio.

As soon as Rio’s paw landed on the sanctuary ground, he became agitated.

Frost spread from his paw to the surrounding area. Though it wasn’t much, it still covered the entire platform.

The fire stones cooled down, and Moon’s eyes slowly returned to blue.

"Are you dumb? Doing something like this? You can’t just absorb so many fire stones! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Moon stayed still. How could he tell her what the hell was wrong?

He was just stressed about his tiny flame and his inability to refine a spirit-grade pill. The Blood Moon and all that wolf-fucking nonsense hadn’t made things any better.

He definitely would not fuck a wolf.

Thinking of this, his gaze fell on the frosty wolf sitting on the grass, surrounded by the ice he’d spread everywhere. But not even looking at him. Moon’s mouth twitched.

’What’s with his pose? Like I’m not even here!’

He felt annoyed and suddenly cast a spell at the wolf. Spiritual energy surged and slammed into Rio, burning a patch of his fur.

"..."

The wolf looked at Moon with cold eyes, not even flinching.

Frostbane glanced at the now-bald patch on the wolf before turning to look into the distance.

Xiao Hong rubbed her temple.

"What are you even doing, Moon? Stop working and go out. You’re overwhelmed." Her voice was uncharacteristically somber.

"I will try one more time," Moon mumbled.

He felt a little guilty about burning the wolf.

He glanced at Rio for the last time, then turned his attention back to refining. Soon he purified another batch of herbs.

This time, the powder was fine, so he proceeded to the next step. He mixed in the moonlight dew before crushing the Bone-Softening Crystal. Everything went well until the flame suddenly dropped.

Moon’s eyes flickered.

Then the cauldron burst open.

Black smoke and clumps of burnt material sprayed outward. Moon threw himself backward just in time.

He sat there coughing, his face dark with frustration.

"...Damn it."

Rio turned his head to look at Moon.

For a moment, Moon felt that this wolf might have some sanity after all.

He was even knitting his brows, though Moon wasn’t sure what to make of his expression.

He stared at the mess for a long moment before standing up.

He needed to refresh his mind.

Moon walked over to the indifferent wolf and lifted his chin. "You! Take me for a stroll," he said arrogantly.

Xiao Hong’s lips twitched.

She glanced at Frostbane, and both of them quickly left the sanctuary. They didn’t want to meddle in these "not-so-sane" humans’ affairs.

Rio stared at Moon’s face before turning to look at the distant treeline again.

"Hey! Why are you ignoring me? You act so elegant! Don’t think I don’t know what a bad person you are." Moon pointed at the wolf, but received no response.

"Fuck! What’s with this attitude? If you keep it up, I will never awaken your wolf," Moon threatened.

This time, though, the wolf reluctantly looked at Moon and didn’t turn away.

"Now you’re scared? Huh?" Moon raised a brow.

He moved closer and placed his hand on Rio’s neck. When the wolf didn’t react, he took out a healing pill and placed it on his palm.

"Hmm, eat it." He held it up to Rio’s mouth.

His fingers trembled slightly because he was afraid the wolf might bite him. Still, he wanted to test how resistant Rio was to him.

Rio stared at the pill for a long moment. Then he slowly licked Moon’s palm and took the pill with his tongue.

"Yuck! Why do you need to lick it? So gross!" Moon scrunched up his face in disgust.

Soon, the fur grew back.

Moon climbed onto Rio’s back and commanded, "Now move, you lazy wolf. Give me a ride."

Rio didn’t move at all.

"Hiss!" Moon yanked his fur, then hugged his neck tightly. "Move!" he said again. "Run!"

As if disturbed by all the ranting, Rio finally shook his head and stood up. He leaped high, covering a great distance, before slowly starting to run.

Moon’s heart trembled.

He found the feeling quite elegant.

Should I mount all five of them in the future?

No! That sounded very odd.

Moon’s ears flushed at his own thoughts.

As Rio obeyed his command and ran, Moon’s thoughts scattered as well.

Moon rubbed his face against the soft white fur and buried himself deeper.

’Anyway, he is just a wolf. Not the human one.’

’These wolves were so good. Unlike their human forms. They listened well.’

[Ah! My silly child!] The Moon Goddess let out a long sigh in his mind.

[Don’t ever try to think wolves are gentle when you are in front of others. You will be ripped apart before you even know what happened.]

Moon furrowed his brows. He looked at the back of Rio’s head. The thick white fur was fluffing and swaying gently in the wind.

’How could that be? This wolf is so good. They were complete asses when they were human. But the wolf is definitely different.’

[They are gentle because you have their mate scent on you. Don’t even think about other wolves.]

"Is it?" Moon sniffed the air, then sniffed himself.

Other than the lingering frozen mint and myrrh smell on Rio’s fur, there was nothing else.

Rio was not like Leo.

He ran fast but steadily, as if he was simply doing a routine task.

After taking one full round around the pond, he stopped exactly where he had started.

Moon slid down from his back and patted the big white wolf with genuine pleasure.