Temple Of The Moon Goddess (1/7)

Despite the woman's eyes are covered by a thick veil, I could feel her gaze looking at us. She was peering to our very souls.

I felt scared as soon as I saw her smile. It was not a smile of welcoming. It was a smile with hidden intentions underneath. Her smile was innocent, yet full of malice.

I distance my gaze away from the smiling woman and look at Eumi and the others. They were not distracted by this eerie smile but rather, they seem to be not bothered by it.

Am I the only one feeling weird things at the statue?

"Lady Xiare." Eidenweiss snaps me to be back to reality as he calls my name telepathically.

Startled by the sudden noise, I suddenly said, "Ah?"

I was so engrossed by the woman's smile that I forgot that I have to escort Eumi's master back to the Moonlight Sword Sect.

"We have to cross the portal now, lady Xiare." Eidenweiss coughs before continuing, "The portal will only last for only an hour. If we do not make it in an hour, the portal will close for forever unless someone opens the portal once again."

"Oh." I said back to Eidenweiss.

I look at everyone. They were in front of me, walking to the giant portal. Eumi, Hanbai, Yue Shin, and Fira are nearly at the portal. Only I, the scary giant and Eidenweiss are the only ones behind and are not moving.

I nod to Eidenweiss before heading to the portal. Eidenweiss, in turn, nods in return and comes closer to me as we head to the portal together.

"Is the deva a property of yours, lady Xiare?" Eidenweiss asks me about the scary giant as he notices the standing deva gazing at the portal.

I turn my head and look at the scary giant. It was standing there, lonely.

"You should ask Eumi about it, senior." I respond to his question. I'm not the one who asks the scary giant for help. It was Eumi.

"Very well." Eidenweiss nods back at me before going back to silence. He was contacting Eumi through telepathy.

I look at Eidenweiss. Wearing a robe and a weird pointed hat on the top of his head, it could be noted that Eidenweiss is like Yue Shin, an assassin type cultivator. Although there was a pointed hat atop his head, I could see his face clearly. His was was like of those rich masters, cool and disciplined. Also, one could notice that he did not cut his hair very often, with his hair reaching up to his waist.

In short, he was a perfect type of cool and disciplined young masters in the stories I have read when I was a mortal back then.

"I have received lady Eumi's message." Said by Eidenweiss telepathically as he looks at me after finishing his telepathic conversation with Eumi.

"What did she say?" I ask Eidenweiss.

"She said that it's perfectly fine to let the deva come with us." Eidenweiss answers my question.

Soon after, he once again goes back to being silent and goes back looking at the portal in front of us. He was telepathically communicating with another person while walking ahead.

I look at the two giant hooded giants beside the giant portal gate. They were just simply standing there with their hands on the sword that is on the ground. They were not pulling the sword out from the ground but rather, they were just placing their hands on the hilt of the sword.

I could not see their faces despite that I am very short compared to them. Darkness fills their entire face as if they are the servants of darkness themselves.

While I was looking at the two giants beside the portal, I hear the ground shaking. It was the scary giant walking towards us.

Did Eidenweiss telepathically communicated with the scary giant earlier and told the scary giant to come with us to the temple?

Cool.

One by one, I saw Eumi and the three other masters except Eidenweiss disappearing in front of us and appearing on the other side. They turn around and look at us. They were waiting for us to go to the other side.

Eidenweiss and I quicken up our pace as we head to the portal. As I go to the other side of the portal, a mysterious force sucks me into the portal. I let myself be sucked as I head to the other side.

Soon after, my vision changed from the giant statues guarding the portal to a land with an endless snow falling as if this land is both blessed and cursed at the same time with eternal winter.

I am now on the other side of the portal.

"So cold." Eumi's body shivers as she said those words.

Strange. I don't feel cold despite the endless snow falling and the temperature dropping? It's more like a cozy one rather than a very cold one, I think.

Is it because of the breathing pattern? I guess so…

"Little lady, here" Hanbai takes out a small vial in his pocket. "Drink this." He continued as he walks to Eumi to hand out the small vial.

Eumi takes the vial before saying, "Thank you, Moonlight Exorcist master." She then bows at Hanbai before opening the vial and began drinking the liquid inside the vial.

Hanbai nods to Eumi's bow and looks at the scenery instead.

"Moonlight Exorcist master, can you give one for my sister too?" Eumi asks Hanbai if he could give me the same vial the one he handed to Eumi.

Err… I don't really need the vial as I am already very resistant enough to such cold.

Hanbai looks at me for a while before saying, "Your sister is already resistant enough to handle such colds. Even if I gave her the same vial, the vial will do nothing and instead, it will remain useless as her cold resistance is already high." He explained to Eumi.

"That's right Eumi." I said to her with a smile and a thumbs up. Eumi looks at me with worries before saying, "O-okay?"

After that, Eumi stares at the edifice faraway from us. Although it was far from our location, the size of the edifice is so gigantic that one could literally judge the edifice to a giant mountain.

It was just that there were multiple walls over the giant edifice and gigantic windows and architectural designs over it, making the edifice grand.

Just the sheer size of the edifice alone can make one in fear.

Also, the giant statue of the woman on the top of the edifice is something that one should also consider of. The woman was wearing a gown with a veil on her head. Although the statue was made from stone, I could sense the otherworldly beauty of the statue just by looking at her body and…. her smile.

Although they look at the smile as a welcoming smile, I could sense a pretty ominous aura just by looking at her smile.

It was as if she was personally suppressing us from entering her edifice. However, judging from the fact that they were not at the very least irritated by the smile, I can only conclude something.

The giant statue was not suppressing them. She was suppressing me from entering her grand edifice. Is it because I am using her skill? Or is it because I am a lower cultivator? Who knows?

As I think more and more deeper about the woman in the veil, the scary giant finally got the other side. As soon as it appears, it's gaze was instantly locked onto the lady in the veil.

I look at the scary giant's face to see any expression. Its face was just plainly looking at it without any emotions. It was probably mesmerized by the statue.

"Now, little lady…" Fira looks at Eumi, unable to pronounce her name.

"Eumi. Eumi Hyare." Eumi introduces herself to Fira. Fira then nods afterward before continuing, "Little lady Eumi, you must prepare yourself as your cold resistance may not handle the attacks of the frosts giants over there."

Fira points out the frosts giants on the other side on the cliff. They were a bunch of gigantic golems made out from frozen blocks and ice. Also, one could notice that they weren't using any weapons.

"As for your sister over there." Fira points at me before continuing, "Your sister's cold resistance is high enough to withstand the frosts giants' attacks."

"Un." Eumi nods back and looks at me. She was curious about why do I have a very high cold resistance.

After staring at me for a few seconds, Eumi looks away and instead, she narrows her vision to the frosts giants.

The frosts giants were roaming on the other side of a cliff. Yep, a cliff.

I look at the cliff near us to see if there's a bridge that we could cross. There was no bridge built to cross to get to the edifice.

As I search around to see if there is any bridge nearby, I glance at our surroundings. Two gigantic mountains are beside us, sandwiching us as if we were some sort of a cream. I look side by side to see if there's any path to the other side of the two mountains. Nope, there was none.

It was as if the passageway to the edifice has been laid out perfectly. A narrow path to the endless land on the other side yet there was no bridge connecting the two lands. Great.

"Eyewatch master." Eumi calls out Fira's profession before continuing, "May I ask about how do we get to the other side?"

Thank god Eumi had the same question about getting to the other side. It's really great to have a friend that thinks the same.

"About that…" Fira recalls something from her memories before continuing, "There should be an invisible bridge built to get to the other side."

Oh! So it's like the bridge from earlier?

"I see." Eumi nods back and looks at me with a smile. Her smile was kind of an innocent one. However, if you put it to my perspective, I see an ominous smile instead of an innocent one. I wonder why is she smiling to me like that…

Wait…

F*ck! I forgot about the debt!

Shocked, I turn my head away from the smiling Eumi and instead look at the mountains beside us. The mountains sure are cool right? They are the symbol of peace right?

"Even if you turn your head away, the deal won't change right?" Eumi's sweet voice looms over my head, continuously ringing in my mind.

"Ha..ha.. yes…" Like an old man clinging to his final will to live, I weakly answer Eumi's ominous question.

If only I had kept myself shut from making jokes about being in heaven earlier. Sigh… I am truly an idiot.

==========

Meanwhile, on the Blue Moon Hall.

"Are you ready for the wedding?" A soft, gentle voice was heard across the room filled with roses. It was a voice of a woman.

"Yes." Another voice was heard across the room. This time, it was a voice of a man.