Chapter 47: Moon God Palace

"Hmm..."

In the deep night with the bright moon hanging high, Zhou Yi woke up, gently released Zhu Zhuqing from his embrace, and let Jin Ling out from inside his clothes.

He looked at the environment before him without fear, walking around to examine it.

Before long, Zhu Zhuqing and Jin Ling also woke up. As soon as they woke, they looked everywhere for Zhou Yi's figure, only setting their minds at ease when they saw him not far away, reaching out to test something.

Jin Ling flew back onto Zhou Yi's shoulder, and Zhu Zhuqing followed over as well.

"A-Yi, what's wrong?"

Zhou Yi did not reply. He frowned slightly, picked up a stone from the ground, and slowly extended it forward.

To the surprise of Zhu Zhuqing beside him, although it was clearly air in front and looked like a continuous, uninterrupted environment, the front half of the stone seemed to hit a thin film of air. Then, as his hand extended further, the tip of the stone disappeared, and subsequently, more and more of it vanished until half the stone was gone.

Zhu Zhuqing couldn't help but try it herself. It was indeed so, and when she pulled her hand back, the stone remained intact.

Zhou Yi's spiritual power was much more outstanding than Zhu Zhuqing's; he clearly saw the stone touch a Barrier. As the stone pushed forward, the Barrier rippled, and then the stone passed outside the Barrier.

"Zhuqing, have you noticed? Aside from us, there are no Soul Beasts here."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zhuqing looked around. It was indeed as Zhou Yi said; apart from ordinary plants, there were no other living creatures here, not even insects could be seen.

"A-Yi, have you discovered anything? And what is going on?" As she spoke, she looked at the intact stone he had taken back into his hand.

"Heh, just keep watching and you'll understand." Zhou Yi chuckled, tossed the stone aside, drew the precious sword at his waist, and pointed it forward without hesitation.

Sure enough, the blade disappeared right up to the crossguard. Zhou Yi began to walk to the side, and as the disappearing portion of the blade changed, he faintly sensed a circular Barrier surrounding this place.

"This is a Barrier?" Zhu Zhuqing asked Zhou Yi.

"That's right. And this Barrier doesn't restrict the entry or exit of anything. But even so, there are no Soul Beasts here. This can only mean one thing: this Barrier, including the scene within it, does not exist from the outside, and it is capable of making external creatures subconsciously stay away from this Barrier."

"Then what do we do now?"

"Heh heh, let's go. Since we've finally come to such a magical place, we naturally have to explore it properly." Saying this, Zhou Yi walked casually toward the palace in the center.

Zhu Zhuqing also nodded and followed closely behind. In truth, both of them had spotted the central palace long ago. However, they had intended to observe first to see if they could leave this place, only setting their minds at ease to explore after discovering that the Barrier only had a concealment effect.

Just like that, the two walked to the front of the palace. This palace covered only a few hundred square meters, its main entrance had long since vanished, and the area around the palace was overgrown with moss.

The two looked inside along the position of the original main entrance and immediately saw the beautiful statue in the very center in front of the inner hall.

The two walked inside, intending to get closer to see the person depicted by the statue.

Just then, Zhu Zhuqing said with some terror: "A-Yi! The statue seems to be looking at us!"

"Hm? It really is." As he spoke, he took Zhu Zhuqing and walked around the statue. Sure enough, the statue's eyes seemed to follow them the entire time.

However, Zhou Yi was a person of great skill and bold heart; he walked right up and looked carefully at the stone pedestal at the base of the statue.

Zhu Zhuqing followed as well. She had only been startled at first; she wasn't truly afraid.

The two looked at the pedestal together, where a passage of text was carved.

Zhu Zhuqing read the text word by word: "Fated ones, this is the Moon God Palace where the Moon God is worshipped. I am the High Priest of this Moon God Palace. Regrettably, until my lifespan was exhausted, I did not wait for the arrival of fated ones. I can only carve this passage here now, hoping that those who come later can see it. Surely, you or those of you who can arrive here must be people of deep fortune. If you wish to obtain the Moon God's inheritance, please place your hands here. A reminder: only females can fully inherit the Moon God Power."

After reading this passage, Zhu Zhuqing looked at Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi nodded, and so the two placed their hands on the pedestal together, and Jin Ling also placed its claws upon it.

Instantly, the statue emitted a dazzling silver radiance, echoing the moon in the sky from afar.

Then, the statue's forehead simultaneously shot out three rays of light toward the three of them.

It was just that the light shooting toward Zhou Yi's forehead seemed to encounter some obstruction, forcing it to turn and shoot into his left eye. A few seconds later, a mysterious pattern appeared in Zhou Yi's left pupil, resembling the moon.

Likewise, a silver Moon God Divine Mark appeared on Jin Ling's head.

A mysterious pattern also appeared on Zhu Zhuqing's forehead, though it was more ornate and mysterious than those of Zhou Yi and Jin Ling; besides the Moon God Divine Mark, it also carried a Staff Mark.

At the same time, a message rang out in the minds of the two people and the bird simultaneously.

"Zhou Yi, Taiyin Six Trials, First Trial: Assist Zhu Zhuqing in passing through the Moon God Labyrinth. Slay at least sixty-six Moon Sha Beasts. Time limit: one month. Exceeding the quota will increase the reward."

"Zhu Zhuqing, Moon God Nine Trials, First Trial: Pass through the Moon God Labyrinth. Simultaneously slay at least ninety-nine Moon Sha Beasts within the labyrinth. Time limit: one month. Exceeding the quota will increase the reward."

"Jin Ling, Taiyin Three Trials, First Trial: Slay at least thirty-three Moon Sha Beasts in the Moon God Labyrinth. Time limit: one month. Reward is affected by the number slain."

The two people and the bird looked at each other.

"A-Yi, what is your first trial? Mine is to pass through the Moon God Labyrinth and simultaneously slay at least ninety-nine Moon Sha Beasts. The time limit is one month."

"Mine is to assist you in passing, while also slaying at least sixty-six Moon Sha Beasts."

"Ying~ ying~"

"It seems Jin Ling's is similar to ours, only it only needs to slay thirty-three," Zhou Yi said.

"But what exactly are this Moon God Labyrinth and the Moon Sha Beasts?" Zhu Zhuqing asked with some confusion.

"If nothing goes wrong, we will know very soon," Zhou Yi said, the corners of his mouth lifting as he looked at the sky.

Zhu Zhuqing nodded, paused, and continued to ask:

"By the way, A-Yi, I have the Moon God Nine Trials, you know~ What level are you?"

"Taiyin Six Trials, satisfied now?" Zhou Yi said, feeling somewhat helpless as he looked at Zhu Zhuqing's expectant gaze.

"Hehe~ I'm higher than you~" Upon hearing this, the corners of Zhu Zhuqing's mouth revealed an irrepressible smile, like a little girl who had received a gift.

"Uh... is it really that big a deal? It's just higher than mine. Didn't the words left by that person earlier say it too? Only females can fully obtain the Moon God's inheritance," Zhou Yi said, looking at the happy Zhu Zhuqing in confusion.

However, Zhu Zhuqing did not explain, instead happily humming a tune.

A straight-laced man like Zhou Yi could not understand how important it was for Zhu Zhuqing, who had always been chasing his footsteps, to see a chance to walk side-by-side with him. It was no wonder she was so excited.

Sure enough, not long after,

Suddenly, three pillars of light appeared in the palace, completely enveloping the three of them. A few seconds later, there was no trace of the three left in the palace. At the same time, the statue in the palace turned into dust and gradually dissipated, and the stone skin on the outer layer of the Lamp Staff in the statue's hand shattered one after another.

Finally, the statue disappeared completely, and only an ornate and mysterious Lamp Staff remained, firmly stuck on the pedestal, waiting to be pulled out.