Chapter 98: Back to Starlily

"How long?" Nox asked.

"Not long," Moon said calmly.

He didn’t know how much time it would take to learn the basic pill formation.

Moon didn’t wait for more questions.

He adjusted the two pups against his chest and turned to Lupine.

"Let’s go."

"Tsk! So impatient. You just woke up and already want to run off again?"

"Um, we have only ten days to prepare."

"Wasn’t it thirteen?" Nox asked confusedly.

Axe slapped the back of Nox’s head and gritted his teeth. "Don’t you need time to register and for the travel time?"

"Oh, yes, yes." Nox nodded, but then glared at Axe. "Damn it, Axe, I am your older brother. You just hit your older brother."

"Heh!" Axe smirked.

"You!"

"Idiots! Stop it, you two." Lupine waved his hand, flicking his long sleeve.

He went to the same spot where Nox and Moon had landed before through the roof, where Moon had blasted the ground and fallen.

Moon thought for a moment and asked, "Master, where will it take me? The same spot we were back at—that rocky desert, or another place?"

"Oh! You can go anywhere you conquered." Lupine stood there and traced lines in the air.

"Then why didn’t you just teleport us to our abode instead of that damn rocky desert earlier?" Axe grumbled.

Lupine looked at him with clear disdain. "Did you ask me?"

"..."

Oh right, they didn’t ask. And they didn’t even trust this old man.

Lupine’s drawing of lines in the air was completed by this time.

A flash of a formation suddenly appeared in it.

Lupine guided it to the ground and pressed his palm down, which sealed the formation on the ground.

"Done. Now you don’t need me anymore. Just think about the place you want to go," he said to Moon.

"Um, then I am taking my leave." Moon stepped into the formation, then looked at Nox. "When Ugo comes back, send a message."

"You’re really taking them?" Axe pointed to Leo and Rio.

Moon glanced down at his bosom. The red pup was already trying to bite the edge of his robe. "Umm. They need treatment."

With that, he uttered, "Stardust Cinder Lily Sanctuary," and vanished from the place.

Lupine turned to Axe and rubbed his hands.

"Heh! Now it’s our time to start work."

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.

.

.

On the other side, Moon’s feet landed directly in the pond water.

A gush of water entered his mouth, making him choke.

"Damn it," he cursed in his mind.

’This master really has a bad sense of humor,’ he complained in his mind.

[Yes, he is a bad-ass,] the Moon Goddess chimed in.

’....’

Moon didn’t want to talk with the goddess at all.

He swam up and, with a flick of his finger, dried his clothes.

His clothes were not tattered and black anymore.

He preferred white, and so had bought a white robe with golden lace. Although this world’s outfit was not that of his own world, the robe was still pretty similar.

Moon looked back at the Stardust Cinder Lily Sanctuary pond. The teleportation array was beneath the water, right underneath the pond where he had landed.

’That’s actually a good idea to place a teleportation array there. People will find it hard to find,’ he muttered.

The Moon Goddess flew in the air and materialized again in front of him.

[Don’t be mad, my child.]

Moon turned to check on the boulder he had previously set up for alchemy.

"I am not your child."

[Ah! My child, everyone in this realm is my child.]

"Oh, I forgot we can’t break your rules, and you are the Dao of this heaven," Moon said plainly.

[Don’t be mad.]

"I am not mad."

[I did not deceive you. This sanctuary is yours. Trust me.]

Moon looked up at the goddess.

A goddess.

A heavenly Dao.

How could a heavenly Dao lie?

He wanted to believe this goddess.

"Really?"

[Yes. I don’t give people other people’s things, Moon. Since I said it’s your reward, it’s yours.]

"It has nothing to do with Ugo? Your precious alpha bloodline?"

[It has.]

Moon huffed; he knew it.

[This path can only be opened by him, but this sanctuary is not his. You can decide if you want to help him or not.]

Moon raised his brows.

[There are some things I can’t tell you. Heaven has its rules. I am the rules, but I can’t break the rules. The Dao is like a piled-up brick wall, Moon; if you move one piece, the others will fall. Everything has its cause and effect. I can’t break my rules.]

Moon looked at the goddess in surprise.

Her eyes held no deception, but rather pain. And a certain melancholy.

For a moment, he felt a thin heartache for her.

Maybe heaven also had its hard times.

Maybe heaven also couldn’t be at peace with all those mortal problems.

He sighed and nodded. "Um, I understand. Can I get a soul training manual?"

[You can. You have worked so hard, so you have many rewards in your inventory.]

Moon’s ears perked up.

"What inventory?"

[You have your own rewards, Moon. You have been sulking so much and running so much that I didn’t have time to give them to you. Remember, we have a deal. For every ounce of your effort, I will reward you. That’s the vow I made.]

Moon felt energetic all of a sudden. It’s always good to find a reward.

He let the two wolves down to play around and sat on the boulder.

As he sat, his gaze fell on the pond.

The view around the pond was quiet and serene.

Where the beautiful silver lily was once blooming, it was now withered, drooping low against the water, waiting for the full moon.

He looked back at the goddess eagerly. "Um... my reward?"

The goddess’s stiff shoulders finally dropped in relaxation.

Her body glowed once in a silver light, and then a nice, crescent-shaped locket fell into Moon’s hand.

Moon knew at a glance what it was. His eyes welled up, but he did not cry.

He looked at the goddess in surprise.

In his hand was a necklace.

It was the same shattered necklace his mother had given him.

He rubbed the surface as if to feel its warmth.

As if to check if it was truly the one he lost.

But It was now intact in his palm.

He looked up at the goddess with a question in his eyes.

[I kept it for you. And it is not just an artifact to freeze time for a few seconds, Moon. It is an artifact that allows you to freeze time for a moment, and it’s also a spatial device. Very high grade. You can use it to keep not only non-living things, but also it can keep all plants fresh for a long, long time. Make a contract with it.]

Moon hurriedly dropped his blood, and in a moment, his consciousness entered the space.

It was a vast space.

And within the space were many exotic herbs and plants he had seen in his childhood.

He thought they were burned.

But here they were. Intact and alive.

He even found his Moonlight Sacred Vines on a shelf. Although it was half-burned and not alive anymore, it was still vibrant.

There were jade vials, jade boxes, piled-up dresses and robes, and also spirit stones.

But what really made him wonder was that there was a huge, locked shelving unit, almost like a giant library.

But he could only see the lower corner shelf.

He looked at it and found out exactly what he needed.

A soul-training manual. Heaven-grade.

Moon’s blood was running hot from excitement.

Then he looked up at the locked shelves and asked the goddess, "Why are they obscure? I can’t see them."

[That’s what I meant by you get what you have worked for. To unlock them, you need to get stronger, and your soul power must reach at least heaven grade.]

"That will take a long time."

[That’s why you need to awaken your mates’ bloodlines. The more they awaken their power, your own rise will also leap high.]

"..."

Moon was speechless.

So either way, it all went back around to the same spot: awakening the wolves.

But he caught a loophole here. "So my getting rewards is not really related to awakening them, but to raising my own level of cultivation?"

[Ahem. It is... like this, yes,] the goddess confessed.

[But you need them to raise your level. Your five cores can’t be merged or rise in balance without them.]

Moon searched around for a moment, then backed out of the spatial space. He hung the locket on his neck.

"Can it be stolen?"

[No. It is tied to you. Even if someone steals it, it will be back.]

He then took out the other spatial satchel that was given to him before.

He dropped all the items out one by one to check his inventory.

His eyes suddenly fell on Vadira’s pouch.

He took it and pulled out all the things inside.