Chapter 41: Secret Realm

The red earth and blue air essence inside his dantian were still too chaotic, refusing to obey his commands under sudden stress. "Damn it..."

The second scavenger took advantage of Moon’s momentary weakness, baring its yellow fangs as it leaped straight at his throat.

Nox threw his body sideways, intercepting the beast with brutal force.

But the sheer momentum of the collision on the slippery shale caused both of them to lose their footing entirely.

The ground beneath their feet gave way.

"Moon!"

Nox yelled, his claws scraping uselessly against the stone as his hand missed Moon’s sleeve.

With a loud crash of breaking stone and tumbling debris, Moon, Nox, and the remaining beast fell over the edge of the inner ledge, tumbling down into a deep, hidden crevice five meters below.

The dark, cold water gushed into their lungs, instantly sending a burning, aching feeling. Choking them both.

They hit the slimy floor underneath.

The impact knocked the breath out of Moon’s lungs.

Moon wheezed, clutching his sore ribs as he tried to sit up in the dark, cramped space.

The air down here was freezing, and a thin, steady stream of black water was trickling down the stone wall, filling the narrow space with a suffocating dampness.

As Nox sat up, he was surprised. They should be in deep water. But here, it was like a space surrounded by black water.

The scavengers didn’t fall here; rather, they were hanging up in the water above.

They were clawing at the water surface, trying to dig their paws inside the air space. Their mouths snapped, but they couldn’t touch them.

It was a bizarre view.

The black water stayed up like a roof, and they were stuck under it.

As Moon cleared his long, messy hair from his face to look for an exit, his gaze suddenly froze on a narrow split in the southwest boulders.

Wedged deep inside that dark crack was a motionless body.

"Ugo!" Moon muttered.

His stomach dropped as his blood turned colder.

The silence inside the crevice was like a death summoner, waiting for them to lose their souls at any moment.

A sharp stone had pierced Ugo’s chest. Blood was trickling down, but it was not red; rather, it was dark.

"Nox... get over here. Now,"

Moon whispered, his voice shaking slightly as he stood up and walked toward the split in the stones.

Nox scrambled over, his breath hitching when his eyes landed on his brother. "Fuck! Ugo... you dumbass!" He gritted his teeth.

Moon could not tell if it was right to swear at an almost dead person.

He gathered his Qi in his hand and slowly lifted Ugo’s body off the stone.

Lifeless and black.

Like charcoal.

Moon could even feel the air around Ugo was toxic.

Nox hurled Ugo’s body onto his shoulder slowly and gently like a fragile pottery from an ancient dynasty, and Moon searched around the satchel.

He took out a little vial and shoved elixir into Ugo’s mouth.

He then swirled his index finger in the void, trying to form an air blade again.

After trying two times, he managed to make a dominating air force and hurled it upward.

The air blade swept through the entire black water on top of them, cutting the scavengers into shreds.

The blue and silver sparks tore through the dark night.

Moon’s energy started to deplete quickly.

"Hurry up, I can’t hold on!"

Moon said as he summoned another barrier around them and swam up.

He had figured out something.

This entire space and crevice must be related to the realm they entered. And the place the scavengers were guarding was probably the entrance.

That’s the only solution he could come up with now, as he needed to find another way to go back.

Axe must be anxious since they hadn’t managed to send any messages until now.

As for this void under the water, he would come back sometime later to find out what the case was here.

As they swam upward, Moon saw the floating dead bodies of the scavengers.

He was about to ignore them, but Nox stopped him.

"They have beast cores. They may be of some use to you!

Moon took a glance, and without wasting a second, he slashed at the beasts and really found blue, spherical cores shining in the dark night.

He kept them inside his satchel and flew to the crack he had seen earlier.

The crack was so small, it was almost invisible in this huge cliff.

From above, it would be passed as black lines only.

Moon took out a moon pearl and lit it in front of them.

As he stepped inside, his feet dipped into the mud.

He saw thick, red blood and bones.

"The air here is different. The blood didn’t turn black," he said to Nox.

"Follow me closely; don’t get apart."

They both silently traversed deeper.

The moonlight faded behind them, and the entire cave path was dark and damp.

After walking for some time, the path started to go downward.

Moon stopped.

He saw there was not only one path, but five. Each path looked like a dark mouth waiting to eat them.

The air from the middle ones felt cold and damp.

But the one on the left had a weird vibe. Moon couldn’t guess what was inside.

Nox shifted Ugo’s weight on his shoulder. Ugo lay limp; there was no sound besides slow, labored breathing. His skin was turning even darker, almost gray.

"Moon, what should we pick?" Nox urged.

Moon sighed and asked the Goddess,

"Help me this time. Ugo is dying, and so are we."

[From the left, the second.] The Goddess’s voice came. She didn’t refuse.

Moon directly entered the second left path, and then the space here started to become wider, and the air brought a slight hint of fresh grass and blooming flowers.

Moon furrowed his brows. As they got closer and closer to the fresh air, the path suddenly ended.

Moon held Nox’s waist as Nox’s hand tightened around Ugo’s limp body.

They needed to be cautious, as he suspected they could teleport at any moment.

Moon placed his hand on the wall and sent his divine sense inside.

His lips curved up slowly.

Nox looked at him with baffled eyes, "What’s there?"

"Hmm... interesting," Moon muttered.