Chapter 86: Soul-Binding Weapon and array crafting

Lupine grunted, crossing his arms over his chest as he hovered beside Moon.

"Hmph! Leo almost tried to chew on my Gengjin pool edge earlier! If it weren’t for them being your mate, I’d have tossed them out long ago!"

Moon’s blue eyes softened as he looked down at Leo and Rio.

Moon was worried about using the iridescent Golden Lotuses, since they were so potent and they had to leave just afterward. But now, seeing them humming peacefully, he was assured.

They were different from a few days ago.

Their fur held a faint, sleek gloss from absorbing the dense Yang vapors, and their small chests were rising and falling in a steady rhythm.

Moon shifted his attention to the palace again.

"I need to set a protective array," Moon said, turning his gaze back to the Moon Goddess.

"For the courtyard?" Lupine answered before the Goddess.

Moon nodded.

"There are some people who are suspecting us. We can’t really keep everyone out of sight with just an altered face."

"Venerable Goddess, do you have any protective formation plate here?" he asked both of them expectantly.

Lupine’s eyes flickered with a glint. "Why? Your useless Daoist can’t even protect a courtyard? Hah." He turned to the Moon Goddess, giving her an all-knowing, disdainful look.

Though the other party was irritably indifferent.

Lupine’s red pupils flickered with a sudden, mischievous glint as he looked back at Moon.

"But since it’s you, I can indeed give a formation plate. But you have to master the art to activate it."

He stopped for a moment, seeing Moon was just waiting and not asking.

He said in annoyance, "Okay. Let’s talk about that unruly iron claw wolf and the shadow phantom outside. What’s with them living on their wife’s wealth? Let them come here, and this great warlord will give some personal pointers."

Moon’s lips twitched hearing ’wife’. But since it was someone at the ancestor level, he let it go.

He looked at Lupine’s smug look that was practically saying, ’you are in trouble, kid.’ He felt this couldn’t be anything good.

But even if it was bad, what was it to him?

Those two certainly needed something to gear up and contribute on this journey. So he nodded. "I will be grateful to Venerable..."

"Just call me Master," Lupine cut his words short.

"Umm, Master."

"So, where has that iron claw of yours been all day?" Lupine asked eagerly, rubbing his palms together.

"Trash," Lupine scoffed.

His sword aura sharpened until the air inside the vault hissed.

"If that idiot wolf wants to forge an innate weapon from his own blood within a year, he needs to understand the basic forging script. And that air-traversing boy doesn’t even know how to mask his footprints on the ground. What’s with roaming in a market like vagabonds?"

Moon thought, ’They are indeed vagabonds.’ But he still kept silent.

As if remembering something, Lupine suddenly vanished from his place.

He reappeared with a bundle of scrolls on his arm.

With a flick of Lupine’s finger, two dark jade scrolls flew into the air.

They hovered in midair, emitting a soft silver glow on the edge.

"These are the Soul-Binding Weapon and array crafting manuals for beginners."

He flicked another scroll into mid-air.

"The Shadow-Refining Footprint Manuals," Lupine stated.

"I will keep them here. Next time you enter, bring those two idiots along. I will personally give them pointers," he said in a deep voice, emitting an immortal grandmaster’s aura.

Moon could not help but smile at Lupine’s demeanor.

He bowed halfway and said respectfully, "I will let them know. They have tough bones, Master. No need to go easy."

His eyes looked into Lupine’s red eyes.

Both smiled in a silent pact.

And both of them knew exactly what kind of pointers Lupine wanted to give.

He shifted his attention to the Moon Goddess’s almost ethereal figure, and could not help but feel strange.

"You are suddenly staying out so long," he blurted out.

[Staying out? I was always out, my child.] The Moon Goddess stood up with a smiling face.

"Oh. Haha, right." Moon awkwardly rubbed his chin.

The Moon Goddess was always talking in his mind, and very rarely came out in the open.

He had almost forgotten she was in this world’s Dao, and she definitely wasn’t staying inside his mind.

He sighed embarrassedly.

"But... but... why are you suddenly staying here? You know Elder Lupine?"

[Cough cough! Umm... not enough XP.]

"When will I get enough XP?" Moon asked helplessly.

"What is XP?" Lupine popped up from behind.

[Ahem, ahem. Nothing much. Let’s check our Mooney’s problem first.]

"You sure were playing around a lot, huh? So he is Mooney, and you’re..."

[Ahem! Ahem!]

"Fine, I am not asking. But what is XP?"

Moon looked back and forth between the two phantom figures and was contemplating their relationship.

Either way, as long as they are useful, these two ancient beings can stay here the whole day bickering.

"XP is something I gain by working, but so far it was always me who was just giving, and she is not giving me back anything," Moon said pitifully to Lupine.

[You brat, I didn’t give you anything? I took you here, altering your fate. Do you know how much moon shard was spent to open the void?]

The Moon Goddess scoffed with her gentle voice.

Moon looked at her smug look and felt she was not that distant from him.

Maybe even closer than the moon hanging outside in the sky.

Were all Gods always this close?

Moon could not fathom.

But for a moment, he forgot the fact that this very being was an untouchable, almost mythical figure to the outside world.

He suddenly laughed softly.

"Lady Selene, can I call you that?" he smiled, his voice laced with amusement. "And I think I have just heard something that must need higher XP."

The Moon Goddess’s immortal, serene aura faltered for a moment.

Looking at Moon’s smile, her heart trembled. That little smile was so familiar yet so unfamiliar to her. She closed the distance and looked into his eyes.

[Selene. If that is what you call me, Mooney.]

"You still didn’t answer me."

[What?]