Huiye Shi's eyes glowed as she shifted from tears to smiles in an instant. Hugging her father's arm, she said, "Thank you, Daddy! I'll definitely keep a close eye on him and not let you down!"
"Sure." Huiyue Du pulled her aside and looked at his wife. "You should deal with this. I can't be bothered to meddle. I'll be going now."
He then left through the rear exit. It was clear to see how annoyed he was; not at the fact that his daughter had chosen Tianming and refused Huiyue Yu, but rather at the fact that he couldn't marry his daughter out to another family after the death of his son.
Once he was gone, Huiye Shi pulled Tianming close and winked. "It's done!"
"Amazing." Tianming secretly shot her a thumbs-up.
He then approached Yusheng Luo, who gently said, "Look up and let me see your face clearly."
"Understood." Tianming looked up at his 'mother-in-law'. She was far too young and looked just like Huiye Shi's elder sister, so it was hard for him to consider her a senior.
"You’re rather handsome," she said with a smile. Tianming merely chuckled lightly. "Alright, this is it." She sipped her tea and continued, "I’ll arrange for you to be added to the family registry later, but we can't use your identity as a native of the Flameyellow Continent. It would only bring mockery to our family. Instead, I'll let you pick the identity of a local here."
"Thank you, Mom!" Huiye Shi said with a face full of smiles. That was all the more convenient for Tianming.
"Just remember not to go down to the world below anymore. Otherwise you'll be caught and punished, understood?" Yusheng Luo said. It seemed like she was going to overlook the implication that Huiye Shi had someone go down and bring Tianming up here.
"He definitely won't go back! We're starting our new lives here!" Huiye Shi said.
"Come back in a month to report on your progress," Yusheng Luo said.
"Understood. We'll definitely surprise you!"
"You little…." Yusheng Luo gave her daughter a loving gaze and turned to Tianming. "Make sure to obey the rules here and not cause her any trouble."
"Understood," Tianming said. He didn't find it humiliating at all, as he had never really had anything going with Huiye Shi in the first place. All he wanted was the identity of the divine moonrace.
Yusheng Luo tossed him a green talisman. "This is your proof of identity. Keep it with you."
Tianming put it away. Ostensibly, it would mark him as a son-in-law and concubine. A real member of the divine moonrace could be identified from the crescent moon mark on their foreheads without needing any identification. The green of the talisman oddly seemed like a certain kind of hat….
"Leave us for now," she said, pointing at the door.
They had finally passed this obstacle. Tianming had wanted to leave long ago, so he did as he was told. He waited outside for Huiye Shi for her to take him to the divine moon hall. When he was outside, Yusheng Luo waved for her daughter to sit on her lap.
Huiye Shi asked, "Mom, is there anything else?"
"Have you sealed the deal in bed yet?"
"No…" Huiye Shi said shyly.
"Well, it’s a complicated art. Shall I teach you a few tricks to get him enamored with you?" Yusheng Luo said with a wink.
"No, it's embarrassing!" Huiye Shi got up and zipped off.
"Ah, youth… How nice." Yusheng Luo stood up and left, her alluring figure swaying as she walked.
……
"Concubine! Walk slower! Wait for your 'lord husband'!" Huiye Shi cried out.
"Can you shut up? Don't force me to whack you," Tianming snapped. She was so punchable that Tianming had been holding back the urge since he met her.
"Oh? Daring, aren't we? Stinking concubine!"
With nobody else around, Tianming grabbed her and pressed on the back of her neck. "Stop messing around and take me to the divine moon hall now. Don't waste my time."
"Fine, you brute!"
Tianming let go of her and they headed to the divine moon hall, which was the foundation of the Huiyue Clan's cultivation. It was the lifeblood of the legacy of their millions of forebears that continued to fuel and support their newer generations.
Each of the Eightmoon Skycities had a divine moon hall. While Huiyue City's was ranked last among them, it was still a place that the non-divine moonrace could only dream of going. Regardless of gender, anyone that managed to gain the favor of the divine moonrace would benefit from their status and make it big. As a result, there were many people that married into divine moonrace families on the moon.
"We've dealt with my parents and the moon guide is dead. My mom even forged a local identity for you. You're completely safe now, and can cultivate without worry. As for your totems, we need to wait for the descent of the divine moonlight unless you're at Divine Moon Skycity. I'll tell you when the time comes."
Everything was going much smoother than Tianming had anticipated. With access to the divine moon hall and the stellunar source, the rest depended on his own efforts to strengthen himself.
"As my ‘parents’ know my origins, I can't show off more power than Huiyue Yin before I reach the Ascension stage." With that, he had to rush to the Ascension stage. "There's only a few more levels after the tenth-level life phase! I have to continue!"
They finally arrived at the divine moon hall. Tianming saw a gigantic moon-like object floating in the air just like the moon that Tianming had seen outside of the Divine Moon Realm. It gave off a steady, pulsing glow and seemed ancient and arcane. It was akin to the moon of Huiyue City, casting a glow of prosperity on its residents, and the legacy from the caeli around it was selfless and impressive. It was no wonder this was among the most important things to the divine moonrace. If the Eightmoon Skycities were destroyed, it would spell the end of the divine moonrace, too. For the same reason, Xuanyuan Dao had moved the Old Deepstar Path to Xuanyuan Lake.
No doubt, there were many levels of protection there that Tianming couldn't detect. But with Huiye Shi with him, nobody stepped out to stop him. Some people recognized her and asked her about Tianming's status, and she was happy to answer them.
It was common for males and females of the divine moonrace to take concubines, but as Tianming was Huiye Shi's first man, he attracted some measure of attention. While the others wouldn't gossip about it to her face, no doubt they would do so behind her back. While she hadn't told them who Tianming was, they at least knew he wasn't a member of the divine moonrace.
"I thought she would form a union with another divine moonrace."
"Now that she already has a man, no other divine moonrace would want her."
"I bet she wants to take in a few more men, then. Well, she's not the first to do so… but women should always be more conservative."
"Conservative? Doesn't your mom have a few husbands herself? Who are you to talk?"
"Shut up!
As they were chattering away, Tianming used his talisman to go through the many protective gates that led into the hall. Finally, he reached a long moonlit corridor that stretched out into an endless world. It looked like a void filled with nothing but countless silver moons, at least a million of them. Each of them looked to be about the size of a head, but there were too many to count. The light from all those moons seemed to paint the sky white. They were all caeli from the ancestors of the divine moonrace, all of them ascendants that had lived across the countless generations. There were many more that were of even higher quality than the emperor's caelum, far too many.
A million was just a rough estimate; there could be ten times that. Currently, there were only ten thousand people training in the divine moon hall, so there were far more moons to go around, completely in contrast to the Old Deepstar Path. If it weren’t for the thousand specter caeli Tianming obtained for it, it would be too insignificant to even compare with the divine moon hall.
"Caeli are the foundations of a clan's prosperity, after all…."
"Stop being awed and come here!" Huiye Shi pulled him along past many caeli along the way. His Imperial Will shook when he was near each one.
"There’s even higher grade ones inside! As long as you can attract the seniors' caeli, they'll guide you!" she said.
"Alright." He continued heading deeper with her as his guide. Soon, the number of caeli around him gradually increased.
"Oh, my…." Huiye Shi seemed surprised. "You seem to be rather popular here. Normally, those who aren't of the divine moonrace find it hard to gain the favor of our ancestors. Sometimes, not even one of these silvermoon caeli will bother with them."
"Well, you just haven't seen someone like me before," Tianming said. When he stretched his arms wide open, tens of thousands of moons seemed to flood toward him. Once more, he felt his heavenly will advancing by leagues. Even stronger caeli with far different cultivation experiences descended toward him, bringing with them insights of the Ascension stage. He had completely forgotten the flow of time. If not for Huiye Shi's reminder, he wouldn't have known that it was already night. Feiling was still waiting for him back at her place.
"Alright, let's head back." He could use the night to absorb the stellunar source. "I reckon this should be enough for me to reach the death phase."
In a single day, he had made more progress than in the past two weeks. He had indeed come to the right place.
……
When he left the divine moon hall, the sky had darkened. However, the divine moon hall looked as brilliant as ever.
