Chapter 825: Holy Moon

Once the crowd had left, the Holy Maiden even dismissed the guards at the door to see the guests out, leaving only herself, Gong Xiansheng, and Huo Zhizi in the inner chamber. Only then did she turn back and reveal a joyful smile, saying to Huo Zhizi, "Alright, the idlers are gone; come in with me."

Her smile was partly to win over Huo Zhizi, but one part was genuine happiness—not because she was truly close to Huo Zhizi, but because she felt a sudden sense of relief. By nature, she only liked research and solving puzzles; she actually didn't want to see outsiders at all, but her duties left her unable to refuse, so she had to make do. Now that the people were mostly gone, she felt somewhat relaxed.

However, since Huo Zhizi, an outsider, was still there, she could not fully relax and said, "Lord Huo Zhizi... sigh, what is your name? We can address each other more casually. For instance, you may call me Miss Ming."

Huo Zhizi hurriedly said, "How could I dare? You may address me directly by my name: 'Hui'."

The Shengnyu said, "Excellent, then I shall call you Mr. Hui. You..."

She had intended to get straight to the point and make her request, but Gong Xiansheng gave her a look. She paused, then smiled and said, "Are you interested in touring the technical restricted area of Wan Shen Gu?"

Huo Zhizi was startled and said, "Since it is a restricted area, is it somewhere I am allowed to visit?"

The Shengnyu said, "Of course, because you are also an important guest."

Having said that, she walked outward. As she walked, she naturally moved to Gong Xiansheng's side, appearing as if she would walk shoulder-to-shoulder with him, yet Gong Xiansheng still retreated a step, walking not only behind her but also behind Huo Zhizi, as if they were the attendants of two Spirit Realm people.

The Holy Maiden shook her head slightly and let Huo Zhizi walk by her side. Huo Zhizi was bold enough to walk alongside her, but he could not walk shoulder-to-shoulder—his shoulders didn't even reach the Holy Maiden's waist.

The Shengnyu led him away from that villa, and behind it lay a deep valley.

The scenery of Wan Shen Gu was not beautiful; it was surrounded by mountains on all sides with steep slopes, almost devoid of any vegetation. Green rocks were exposed, and at a glance, it looked pitch black. The mountain formations were also quite slanted, making the valley suddenly wide and then narrow. The narrow parts could only accommodate one or two people walking abreast, like a mountain pass; it was a natural fortress that was easy to defend and hard to attack.

Huo Zhizi followed the Holy Maiden through layers of the valley, going deeper and deeper into places he could never have set foot in normally. He felt both excited and anxious, though in the end, the anxiety was greater: the closer he got, the more the once-dim hope for his mission became real, and he began to fret over gains and losses.

Seeing that the destination was nowhere in sight, the constant silence only deepened his nervousness. He had to make small talk and said, "Shengnyu, this place must be very core, right? Ordinary people cannot enter?"

The Shengnyu said, "Naturally. Unless I bring them in, no more than five people can enter on their own."

Huo Zhizi asked, "Does that count include that Earth... that 'person'?"

He was referring to Gong Xiansheng. The Shengnyu felt somewhat helpless: as a partner, any criticism of Gong Xiansheng was effectively criticism of her—it was a lack of respect for her, and she should have been indignant, but she simply couldn't keep up that anger. Not to mention the high-ranking Elders and priests, even any random Lingjie person, regardless of the gap in status between them and the Shengnyu, dared to question Gong Xiansheng in front of her. It was like an instinct, a correctness. This was the territory of the Lingjie; could there be anything wrong with criticizing a Human savage?

The Shengnyu let out a breath and looked up slightly, seeing the narrow mountain walls on both sides closing in as if to crush her. She said slowly, "Lord Hui, since you dare to answer my questions, you must be knowledgeable. I thought you would be different from the others. I did not expect your insights to be merely this."

Huo Zhizi felt slightly ashamed: what knowledge did he have? He was merely relying on the fact that he could request information from an all-knowing god, and thus dared to make ignorant challenges. He considered himself just an unremarkable heir of the Fire Spirit Clan, certainly not meeting the Holy Maiden's standard of being "different."

The Shengnyu continued, "I have always felt that the Humans over there are no less stupid than us. Among them are many wise men, and their technical accumulation is also very deep."

Huo Zhizi said, "That is true, but we do not despise them because they are stupid."

The Shengnyu agreed, saying, "You are right. It is because our stances as enemies are different. I have never said we should accept Humans or be friendly and peaceful; that is simply unrealistic. However, what if some Humans were to stand on our side? Should we despise them all the same?"

Huo Zhizi asked in confusion, "Then why would a 'person' stand on our side? We are mortal enemies, aren't we? Isn't that very suspicious? It's probably fake, right?"

The Shengnyu shook her head and said, "No, it is real. There are many kinds of people. Some truly admire us, respect us, and look upon us as gods. They love and revere us just as we love and revere the gods."

Huo Zhizi said, "But..." He wanted to say: "Didn't you just say that Human wise men are no less stupid than us? Then why doesn't he go and worship the strong and wise of his own Human race, instead of coming to worship us?"

Wouldn't that still be very fake?

But the Shengnyu was rarely so earnest; if he kept arguing with her, it seemed meaningless and would only make her unhappy.

The Shengnyu continued, "Gong Xiansheng is one who stands on our side. He once told me that his greatest wish is for the radiance of the gods to shine upon the Human World, for Tianmingxing to replace the sun, and for the Human World and Lingjie to merge into one, no longer separated. Humans could also believe in the gods, be favored and pitied by the gods, and obtain the same status as the Lingjie people. He is very sincerely looking forward to that day."

Huo Zhizi said, "These words... if he were to say this to me, I certainly wouldn't believe it. Let alone Humans, even we don't necessarily want all the gods to shine upon us; we only want our own god to favor us."

The Shengnyu shook her head and said, "He not only says it, he does it. He not only makes his subordinates believe in the gods, but he has also been dedicated to introducing our divine martial arts into the Human World. Although Humans cannot practice divine martial arts without the gods' permission, he refines Secret Medicine to simulate the effects of divine martial arts, and it has already seen initial success. He also said that the reason the Human World and Lingjie fight endlessly is because the Imperial Court of the Human World is too stupid. To maintain their own power and status, they completely reject the radiance of the gods, and even create False Gods, making the common people believe in the False Gods they fabricated, preventing the people from enjoying divine grace and leaving their lives in great hardship. He has been organizing forces to overthrow the Imperial Court. Not just the Imperial Court of the Human World, but also that Sword Court entrenched in the Suiyu in the middle. That Sword Court is also very stubborn; despite having absolutely no hope of victory, they still urge young people to go to their deaths. They have harmed more people than we have killed. He believes that the Sword Court should also be overthrown, and he has been actively running about, accumulating strength. Over these years, he has seen the dawn of success."

Huo Zhizi was shocked and said, "That fawning and nodding person, is he actually a rioter in the Human World? He has two faces; he acts so well!"

The Shengnyu shook her head and said, "What acting? He is just doing what he thinks is right. Sigh, now naturally there is no need to say anything; both our worlds are going to be gone, and his ideals have no meaning. It is a pity that I even promised to be the Shengnyu of their Holy Moon Sect and welcome their heroes to the Zhong Shen Sheng Dian to bathe in divine grace. Now there is no need to mention it. But until today, he still has not lost heart and is still doing things in a down-to-earth manner, using his knowledge to help me. This time, he helped me a great deal in building the ship."

Huo Zhizi thought to himself: So he is the Holy Son of that Holy Moon Sect. Before, Yao told me that if I was willing to go to the side of the savages to fish for something, or else descend directly, I had to find people from this sect to pave the way, or else I would be busy for nothing and wouldn't earn any good things. I heard him not even putting this sect in his eyes, just ordering them around. The Holy Maiden is truly a... sincere person.

Anyway, if that guy dared to use that set of words he told the Shengnyu to persuade him, he would never believe it. Not only would he not believe it, but the moment he thought of this guy having two faces—one for him and one for his own people—he would be extremely vigilant. If there was a place to use this person, he would use him, but if he was no longer useful, he must kill him.

He looked at the earnest-looking Shengnyu and couldn't help but remind her, "Is he being so attentive because he also wants to get on that ship?"

The Shengnyu said, "No... he said he would follow me; wherever I go, he goes. And I... have not yet decided whether to board the ship."

Huo Zhizi was greatly shocked and said, "Holy Maiden, you..."

The Shengnyu waved her hand and said, "Don't mention it. The matters inside are not clear, but you wanting to board the ship, and wanting your clansmen to board the ship in large numbers, that is certainly not wrong. Hmm, we have arrived."

After rounding another narrow mountain pass, it suddenly opened up, as if passing through a narrow bottle neck and falling into the belly of a large bottle.

The valley inside still had no scenery to speak of. What met the eyes were rows of wooden frames, stacked horizontally and vertically, like the skeleton of some monster after it had died. Beside them were metal high platforms, but the space surrounded by the frames in the center of the valley was hollow, forming a huge void. It seemed that some behemoth had once been parked here, but now it was gone, with only the surrounding wooden frames as witnesses to the former spectacle.

"It's a ship..."

Huo Zhizi reacted instantly and muttered.

As a member of a peripheral small clan, he had not yet seen that legendary ship with his own eyes, and he did not expect to see the silhouette of the ship here first.

It really... is so big!

One could not see the end at a glance. If the Lifeboat was already like a small island, then the real ship was like the vast ocean.

Huo Zhizi could only marvel. It was just that seeing only a shadow was not satisfying enough; he really wanted to see the real ship. What kind of wonder would that be?

The Shengnyu said bluntly, "As you can see, this is where the ship was built. Now the ship has sailed away, and Wan Shen Gu has lost the second most precious existence in the valley."

Huo Zhizi was stunned and asked, "Why only the second? What is the first?"

The Shengnyu seemed to have been waiting for him to ask. She smiled slightly and said, "It is what you are about to see, the treasure among treasures, the miracle among miracles—God's Spring!"