The book fairy’s words were never to be taken too lightly for she was the megaphone of the old Granny Shu herself.

  When Bubai thought deeper about it...

  What she said seemed to come out of the blue, but it was likely just the granny expressing a little warning. Why?

  Well… with the bracelet around his wrist, where he went and perhaps even what he says… how could the old granny not know?

  His trip to the palace was like an open book to her wise eyes, and this time, the granny is probably a little unhappy over his self-promotion to another elder.

  But he can’t blame her. Nobody in her place would be happy. It was kinda like being double-crossed.

  Still, the granny didn’t openly fault him because the elder he turned to was, after all, the one to whom he originally and still belonged under.

  There was no crime in seeking refuge within his own camp, especially when this time’s issue itself could be relegated to an internal struggle within the Mo faction.

  That’s why the granny acquiescence to his actions when he rejected her help.

  Now that she had a wider picture of the strategy he was playing, she gave him a fair warning to not dig a hole too deep, lest it becomes his grave.

  This reminder that he might be abandoned anytime wasn’t a bad thing because the granny was essentially conveying she had his back as long as he knows his place.

  So, Bubai smiled at the fairy envoy seated across from him.

  "I will keep my little tricks in check and will never disappoint fairy and granny."

  Shu Ling returned his smile. "Good. This fairy would hate for this to be our last Blue Moon together."

  Bubai chuckled lightly and measured out a portion of Ember Petal Herbs. "If it pleases fairy, I would gladly brew tea like this for you every year."

  The other hummed lightly in response, her eyes averting away to the open booklet resting in her delicate hands.

  Bubai’s eyes followed hers and peeked at the page she was reading.

  The font was a bit aged like ancient script, but he easily deciphered it. "The legend of the Blue Moon?"

  "Hum. This fairy believes fairy brother has heard of it?"

  Bubai nodded. "I’ve heard stories about it since I was a child."

  "Oh?" Shu Ling’s eyes flicked over. "From the mortals? Pray tell."

  While stirring the boiling water to add the tea petals, Bubai sorted out his memories and shared what he knew.

  "According to folklore, tonight is when the boundaries between the realms of the living and the underworld is at its weakest..."

  "On this night, the dead are said to return to the world of the living and mortals speak of seeing them walking among us once more. But..."

  "This is all hearsay. To us cultivators, there are too many ways to play tricks under the guise of death."

  A soft giggle escaped Shu Ling’s lips, her eyes sparkling in the moonlight. "Does fairy brother really think it’s all just cultivators playing tricks?"

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Seeing those eyes shimmering with playful mystery, Bubai couldn’t resist biting the hook. "Is it not?"

  "Fufufu… The legend recorded by eons of cultivators runs far deeper than what’s passed down by mortal dynasties."

  The book fairy didn’t continue immediately.

  Instead, she flipped through the pages of the book, her fingers eventually pausing on one with a horrendous illustration of some sort of evil spirit.

  "It’s true that our world is entangled with death. Evil spirits and zombies alike aren’t just figments of imagination…"

  "But what many don’t know is that the Other Shore really does exist, and the Blue Moon is the night when a corner of that realm peeks into ours."

  She paused, allowing her words to sink in, and her deep gaze flickered toward the moon facing them. "So what the mortal eyes see may very well be those from the Other Shore."

  No way… Bubai instinctively felt there was something wrong in her words.

  Rubbing the back of his cold neck, Bubai hesitated but still pushed the topic forward. "For real?"

  Shu Ling gave him a sidelong glance, her eyes gleaming as if there was more than she was letting on. "For real."

  "Uh… but I’ve met… some orthodox cultivators. And according to them, it’s just demonic cultivators fooling others with illusions…"

  Shu Ling rolled her eyes.

  "Typical of those hypocrites, always covering up history with lies. This one, they may have done in good faith to prevent the widespread flocking of cultivators to the death sects."

  "But it’s just an illusion if they think they can bury the truth. Any cultivator worth their gold knows the real story."

  "While the night of the Blue Moon is a paradise for those cultivators in the death stream, it’s also a bane for all those from the illusion stream..."

  "The blue moonlight has the power to wash away illusions like rain cleaning dust from the air. Sometimes, the truth is plain as day, but some are just unwilling to accept it."

  Yes... some matters were really plain as day, but...

  Bubai’s hand wandered up to his face. Were some things really just an illusion?

  Reading him like her book, Shu Ling blinked her eyes that seemed all too innocent, yet laden with hidden meaning.

  "Fufufu… Don’t worry, fairy brother. The method you use is quite sophisticated. Most wouldn’t be able to see through it."

  "…" Bubai’s eyes snapped to hers, only to find those starry, all-seeing eyes seemingly gazing right through his mask.

  Most hasn’t seen through it, but they were exceptions, huh?

  But just how much of his secrets has she uncovered, and... how much of her own secret was she hinting to him?

  Sometimes… a stronger insight into matters was quite scary.

  This time, Bubai was really taken aback.

  He really shouldn’t be too surprised that some sort of underworld exists in a supernatural world like this one, but…

  Based on the data he gathered in the past decade, Bubai originally conceived a different idea.

  Even if that realm exists, it was a distant dimension. It had nothing to do with little him, but who knew...

  It was actually so close, close enough to overlap every year.

  The risk rating of this survival game just did another jump up the danger scale.

  Unwilling to deal with that calm yet unnervingly perceptive gaze of the other player, Bubai averted his eyes and busied himself on the task of brewing tea.

  After steeping the tea leaves for just a minute, Bubai carefully used a thin paper strainer to catch the herbal petals, preparing for another round of brewing.

  Rinse and repeat, all to coax out a richer flavor with each cycle.

  His technique wasn’t refined by the standards of expert tea masters, but it could be considered a novelty in this ancient era.

  Smelling the faint floral fragrance carried by a gentle breeze, the beautiful reader on the other side peeked over and left a commentary.

  "Fufufu, fairy brother, you really have so many strange methods tucked away in that mind of yours."

  Now more composed, Bubai calmly carried on. "If fairy wants to learn, I’d be happy to exchange knowledge anytime."

  "Hum… we can discuss that another time. Tonight, let’s keep things... simple."

  Shu Ling’s eyes glimmered and her foot playfully sneaked over once more to urge her companion.

  "But don’t keep this fairy waiting too long, or the Blue Moon will pass us by."

  Bubai’s gaze drifted up to the half-moon hanging in the sky.

  Right… there wasn’t much time left.

  Sometimes, no one really cared how elaborate his brewing skills were. They wanted the results so they could savor the moment.

  It was like how a well-written story should skip meaningless fillers so readers could savor the plot.

  So, Bubai didn’t do the full professional tea ceremony that could take hours and countless words to explain.

  Simplifying it down to a few rounds was enough.

  The reddish liquid was poured into the teacups, naturally mingling under the shimmering blue radiance.

  Bubai brushed the rim of his teacup and faced the moon with a warm smile. "I really haven’t had much practice with this. I hope fairy won’t mind."

  “Hum.” Shu Ling snapped her book shut, and it dissolved into sparkling fairy dust that scattered over her tea cup.

  After bringing the cup up to her nose for a sniff, her eyes, shimmering like a liquid moon, met his.

  "Fufufu…let this fairy see if this tea tastes better than the tea brewed by little fairy brother."