Wu Yu felt like he had put a scare into them for the moment.

8,000 Sky Palaces, Shattered Rebirth had also shattered the defiant wills of all the Beckoning Moon Sword Sect disciples.

These beauties looked at Wu Yu with fear and respect.

Yueling Xuan conferred with the Pentamerous Moons briefly and then turned to regard Wu Yu. Although her expression was composed, she was actually shaken by Wu Yu’s fighting power.

Under the Beckoning Moon, her clothes danced in the breeze. The Beckoning Moon Divine Spirit Sword was still in her hand.

"We have talked it over. Given your strength, you have many methods to press me and force me to bring you to the channel. But you did not. And you let my little sister go readily. So I choose to believe you," she said honestly and directly.

As expected, a satisfactory result.

Wu Yu put the Jambu Sky Pillar away and said. "The Sect Leader is a good person, to understand my difficulties. I am eternally grateful to the Sect Leader for allowing me to go to the Great Ancient Ink Realm. This is a small present, I beg the Sect Leader’s gracious acceptance."

Wu Yu casually pulled out a seraphic dao treasure from his Sumeru Pouch, with about 800,000 spirit designs. It was a treasure from the Yan Huang Golden Bead which Wu Yu had no use for.

This valuable seraphic dao treasure would be rare even in the Jambu Realm, especially one with such high value. Wu Yu had casually given it away. Yueling Xuan was puzzled after receiving it. It was a seraphic dao treasure longsword, and its name was Sword of Stars, Snow, and Storm. It was a pretty piece as well, with stars, snow, and rain on it.

"What did he give?" The beauties were extremely sensitive to a word like "present."

Everyone’s eyes were wide as they looked at the sword. At this time, the aggression towards Wu Yu had leached away. After all, anyone who gave presents was a gentleman. And he did not seem like a vengeful or bad type, from his actions so far.

"This sword’s name is Sword of Stars, Snow, and Storm. It has 790,000 spirit designs, and is probably rather well suited to Miss Yueling Yi. Perhaps I caused offense to her just now. Let me compensate her with this sword."

"Wow."

A seraphic dao treasure with 790,000 spirit designs was a dream for many. He had just casually given it to Yueling Yi. Instantly, everyone looked at Yueling Yi with odd expressions. Someone asked, "Such an expensive gift... could he have taken a fancy to you?"

"Don’t talk rubbish!" Yueling Yi said, blushing and furious, as jumpy as an ant on a hot plate.

"Then I will receive it on behalf of my little sister. Please." Yueling Xuan did not hesitate on this. She swiftly retrieved the seraphic dao treasure and then gestured to Wu Yu, as if trying to hurry him on.

For Wu Yu, the Great Ancient Ink Realm was more important.

He had given another present because he saw that Yueling Xuan was a fickle one, and was afraid that she would again change her mind or deceive him. Therefore, he had played it safe, and hopefully she would develop some good will towards him.

After all, he had hurried Yueling Xuan to quickly send him to the Great Ancient Ink Realm.

Yueling Xuan led the way to Rubbing Moon Peak in the center.

"Dismissed." Yueling Xuan’s voice was stern. Her shout forced the spectators to have no choice but to leave. They returned to where they had come from. After all, many had been about their business and dropped it to come here.

Only now did the envious and suspicious looks towards Yueling Yi turn away. She breathed a sigh of relief. She wanted to chase Wu Yu and ask him what exactly he had done to her. Suddenly, an old lady held her back. Although she was not one of the Pentamerous Moons, she was also fairly strong.

"Auntie Liu? You...."

"Don’t go. This is not over yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Don’t ask. Just follow me."

Wu Yu had come to Rubbing Moon Peak at this time now. Rubbing Moon Peak was a pencil-straight mountain that pierced the clouds. It was a sharp sword extending from the ground. The buildings of the Beckoning Moon Sword Sect were built on this sharp peak. But after he reached the top, he realized that even the "sharp" pinnacle was fairly wide. In terms of size, it was many times the size of the Clear Sky of Shushan.

There were many secret spots on top.

Yueling Xuan and the Pentamerous Moons did not bring Wu Yu to the pinnacle, but instead down to the waist of Rubbing Moon Peak. There were thick groves of pink trees here that formed a dense canopy. This mountain looked a little like Yueling Xuan’s Beckoning Moon Divine Spirit Sword. The tree leaves even glowed with phosphorescence. After all, being so close to the Beckoning Moon, even ordinary trees could become immortal essences.

"We’re here."

Yueling Xuan brought Wu Yu to a kink along the middle of the mountain. Wu Yu had assumed that it would be some top-secret forbidden ground, but it seemed easy enough to find. After passing through the forest, they could see a cave. There were some experts stationed outside the cave. There seemed to be many sealing spirit designs in the cave, but it was difficult to tell from outside.

"Think carefully. Once you enter the Great Ancient Ink Realm, you won’t be able to come back," Yueling Xuan warned.

"That’s the channel?"

"Not that, but deeper in. We forbid our tribe from going to the Great Ancient Ink Realm," Yueling Xuan said solemnly.

She had the Pentamerous Moons wait outside, saying, "I’ll bring him in myself." She was brusque, brushing past the heavy guards as they headed deeper into the cave. It was a very deep cave, and Wu Yu could feel many dense layers of spirit designs. These robust spirit designs could already repel many people, and there were also two ninth tier Dao Querying cultivators standing guard outside.

Yueling Xuan stepped surely in front. The spirit designs were dispelled by her, and they proceeded onwards smoothly.

"If not for me, you would not be able to go in, even if you found this place. Lucky for you, you were smart enough to know that you needed my cooperation, and did not take this recklessly." Yueling Xuan turned back to look at Wu Yu with her starry eyes.

"My thanks to the Sect Leader for granting it." Yueling Xuan did not comment, but brought Wu Yu deeper in.

"Look at this slut with her perky butt sashaying all over the place in front of you. She definitely wants to seduce you. I bet if you ask her to do naughty things, she’ll say yes," Ming Long suddenly said snidely.

"Off with you. Don’t talk nonsense." Wu Yu would not believe her babblings. If he dared to have any improper thoughts about the Beckoning Moon sect leader, she would probably seek his life.

However, he felt that the spirit designs so far looked simple. Yueling Xuan was not at all needed. He himself would be able to reach this place. Just the Spiritual Communication Art itself would suffice. Therefore, he imagined that the spirit designs that were sealing this channel off would be even more complex and powerful.

Yueling Xuan seemed to sense his doubt. She said grumpily, "Don’t be getting any thoughts. We’re just at the start. There are at least three times the number of spirit designs that we just walked past, and each wave is stronger than the last. These are just small appetizers. We are trying to prevent the people of the Great Ancient Ink Realm from getting to the Stellar Realm!"

No wonder. Wu Yu’s sketchy examination revealed that these spirit designs were far from sufficient from stopping anyone from the Great Ancient Ink Realm. So there were more in deeper areas.

Strange. He was already very deep in. He had come in from the surface of the mountain. Distance wise, he should be almost through the Rubbing Moon Peak.

In truth, he was still deep in the mountain.

"There are still two-thirds of the spirit designs left."

Hearing this, Wu Yu believed her. He could only say that he would have been pretty hard-pressed to get this far without getting lost, if not for her leading the way.

Just as Wu Yu nodded in response to her words, he suddenly felt like he was treading on water. The scenery around them vanished. He had come to a black patch of land. Looking back, the cave had disappeared as well, and only the yawning darkness remained behind him. He was indeed stepping on a black, watery surface. The water felt quite shallow, perhaps just one zhang deep.

And before him, Yueling Xuan was smiling slightly. She turned around and suddenly gave an enigmatic laugh that was hard to read.

Wu Yu froze. He said, "Didn’t you say two-thirds to go? Why did we stop?"

Yueling Xuan smiled and looked at Wu Yu from head to toe. "We’re already here. There’s no two-thirds. I tricked you again."

Wu Yu was stunned.

He had a bad feeling.

The last time, she had pretended to agree so Wu Yu would return Yueling Yi to her.

This time, she was pretending again to bring Wu Yu here? Wu Yu looked around at the endless darkness. This should not be the channel to the Great Ancient Ink Realm.

No wonder he had felt that the spirit designs had been off. But she had hooked him with that two-thirds left bit. But it was a lie. These spirit designs were all there were. Which meant that this place was not some forbidden ground!

A woman’s heart was a needle at the bottom of the sea! [1]

The conversation had gone well, and Wu Yu had even taken the trouble to present a gift. He had thought that he had seen the real her now, and all doubts were erased. But she had brought Wu Yu here without any indication.

He was stuck, good and proper. Trying to deal with a woman was a real pain in the neck.

He hurriedly said, "That’s futile. You can’t trap me here. I just want to go to the Great Ancient Ink Realm. Pitting yourself against me does you no good at all."

"Going to turn your humiliation to anger? Don’t worry. This is the Dark Side of the Beckoning Moon. Once here, you won’t be able to escape ever again." Yueling Xuan laughed icily.

"You’ll trap me here forever? There’s no quarrel between us. Why?" Wu Yu could not understand.

"Anyone not of my tribe is suspect! Enjoy your remaining days!" This territory was under her control. She vanished before Wu Yu’s eyes, leaving no trace behind. Perhaps she had left directly.

This was a place both wondrous and dangerous.

And then Wu Yu saw that about 100 people emerged from the water beneath his feet. On closer look, they were not human....

1. TN: It’s saying that a woman’s heart is hard to find, and buried deep. Another reading is that a needle drifting in the sea needs a steady "man" rock to cling on to, but clearly that’s not the implied meaning here...