Distant Land · Ruby Mountain

Void Realm, Sea of Knowledge. A solitary little boat floated upon the surface of the sea, where a Veela dressed in an off-the-shoulder sweater reclined lazily within. She gazed up at the sky shrouded in white mist, seemingly lost in thought, until a little bat landed on her shoulder to urge her along. Only then did she leisurely steer the boat forward. Yet very soon the boat came to a halt once more. It was plain to see that its mistress's heart was not in her work; if not for the fact that one could not linger in the same spot on the Sea of Knowledge for too long, she would have loved nothing more than to park right there and slack off until clock-out time. "Sigh~" Freya pulled the little bat tightly into her embrace, lamenting aggrievedly, "Why hasn't any sorcerer found me yet... Tsk, why does finding the Golden Fish require two sorcerers to fly up into the sky together?" At this, the Veela grew furious for the ninety-third time—she had fumed all night after finishing Chapter 119, and only managed to calm down after projecting herself into the role of the Sword Princess and unleashing an incantation water sorcery miracle—she pressed her lips tight, squeezing the little bat even harder: "Why was it that wild woman who popped out of nowhere flying wing-to-wing with Yaxiu! That was clearly my spot, clearly mine... Thief! Wicked woman! Shameless green tea bitch! Wuwu ┭┮﹏┭┮..." Struggling desperately to escape the suffocating pressure, the little bat rolled its eyes—chronologically speaking, aren't you the third party here? Even I was here before you... If we really kept score, let alone eating meat or drinking broth, at best you'd only get to lick the gravy. Yet there was clearly no reasoning with a woman infatuated in love. Her anger came swiftly and departed just as fast. Imagining the scene of the Silver Wings taking flight, Freya's face took on a wistful glow. "Still, that bad woman is stupid too. If it were me, holding hands wouldn't be enough—we'd at least have to embrace tightly. And the moment we broke through the white mist to see the Golden Fish, it would feel like the entire Void Realm was witnessing our love. Nothing could suit that moment better than a romantic wet kiss..." As the Veela indulged in her fantasies, squeezing tighter and tighter with both arms while her legs gently rubbed together, she suddenly noticed that the little bat had gone terribly quiet. Looking down, she realized the little bat had been smothered unconscious by her. "Sorry, sorry!" Freya hastily let go. The little bat lay playing dead on the boat for a moment, then twitched and woke up, promptly flitting to the stern and staring at the Veela in sheer terror. The Veela wore an embarrassed smile. Whether complaining or explaining, she gently hefted the two culprits that had nearly smothered the bat to death, murmuring helplessly, "I don't know why, but they've gotten bigger again lately. My shoulders ache so much during the day. Even though I'm already twenty and long past my growth spurt..." *So it's true that a Veela undergoes a second development when she falls for someone,* the little bat thought. *However, a Veela's re-development usually molds to the tastes of the person she loves, which means...* "When will I ever run into other sorcerers?" The Veela stretched languidly, complaining, "I thought convincing another sorcerer would be the hard part. Who knew just meeting one would be this difficult..." Freya certainly did not doubt the authenticity of the Golden Fish Secret Poison. Ever since she had fully condensed her Silver Wings, she had been thinking day in and day out about finding another sorcerer to smuggle her way to the Time Continent. Yet she was too lazy to search on her own; across the vast ocean of white mist, actively searching was no different from sitting by a stump waiting for a hare. Thus, she merely lounged in the boat slacking off, waiting for someone to bump into her. As for why she didn't take the standard route and diligently cultivate her mind faction to the Gold rank... setting aside the fact that greed was a sorcerer's instinct, exploiting resources was a mind sorcerer's professional ethic, and chasing pleasure while abhorring hard work was a fine virtue of the Veela, the more important reason was that Freya yearned to draw closer to Yaxiu. To do the same things, walk the same path, behold the same scenery... as if replicating his past could make up for all the moments she had missed with him. When Freya poured out these thoughts to the little bat, the bat couldn't help thinking how someone could be so naive. *Must be nice, being able to be so naive.* The little bat was suddenly struck by the urge to tease her, fluttering its wings with a couple of chirps. Freya understood immediately and shook her head at once: "Of course not! I'm not holding hands with some other male sorcerer!" She paused. "Mhm, that's right—as long as I wait for a female sorcerer, it'll be fine. The gender ratio among sorcerers is roughly equal, so I'll definitely run into one." Looking up and pointing at the sky, the Veela pumped herself up: "Yaxiu, you just wait! I'll catch up to you soon!" The little bat flew to her shoulder, a flicker of hesitation passing through its pupils. ...... ... The moment Yaxiu opened his eyes, he collapsed to the ground, twitching in agony. Suffocation! A suffocating sensation as if his entire body had been shoved into a rubber hose! He couldn't even let out a scream. The intense suffocation robbed him of all ability to express himself, and even breathing turned exceptionally heavy; an inaudible low groan was already the loudest cry the folds deep within his soul could muster! The Sword Princess and the Witch were hardly any better off. In their desperation, both seized one of his arms and bit down. The Witch nearly tore off a piece of his flesh before the soiled color of her hair gradually receded; while the Sword Princess stopped halfway through her bite, her nails dug completely into his flesh as she gripped his arm. Yaxiu now actually wished he could feel the pain inflicted by the Witch and the Sword Princess, so it might at least distract him and help him escape the mental suffocation. Unfortunately, the soul had no nerves and felt no pain no matter how grievously injured; even gritting his teeth until they shattered was of no avail! Who knew how much time had passed, but when Yaxiu finally exhaled a long breath, it was as if a switch had been flipped, freeing the trio from an ordeal that felt eternal. The Sword Princess and the Witch no longer cared about propriety, lying flat on the ground and inhaling greedily. All three were limp puddles of mud, devoid of any will to fight; even if a Fishcleaver Dragon ambushed them now, they would have had zero desire to resist. Dozens of breaths later, like a student dragging himself out of bed on a winter morning, Yaxiu struggled to sit upright against the corner of a wall, muttering exhaustedly, "Seven... Seven-Colored Tail..." "It wasn't the Seven-Colored Tail." Sonia lay on the ground, her chest heaving, barely keeping her mind functioning. "That was... spatial teleportation." Yaxiu looked behind him, only to see an ordinary wooden doorframe standing behind them, through which they seemed to have emerged. Only then did he realize they were in an alleyway. Both ends of the alley connected to thoroughfares, and the bustling, noisy streets made him feel as though he had returned to reality. "Where is this place?" Yaxiu looked at them in pleasant surprise. "Were we teleported back to reality!?" Before Sonia could catch her breath, Diya suddenly looked up at the sky and said, "No, this is still the Void Realm. Look." Yaxiu looked up at the sliver of sky framed by the alleyway. Soon, he noticed a streak of brilliant crimson far off at the horizon, right in the center of his vision. Curiously, he asked, "What's that red dot?" Diya did not answer, pointing toward another section of the sky. "Look again over there." Yaxiu followed her finger, and soon another streak of crimson appeared dead center in his line of sight. He blinked, baffled. "How is it there again?" "No matter which direction of the horizon you gaze toward, you can see it," Diya said with a weak smile. "The fairy-tale picture book *The Dream That Can Never Be Reached* is a story introducing the Distant Sky Realm. The protagonist only needs to observe the sky to tell whether he's still in the Distant Sky Realm. Who knew it actually worked?" "The crimson you see is the fourth layer of the Void Realm," Sonia added. "This is also the most defining trait of the Distant Sky Realm. No matter where a sorcerer stands, as long as they look toward the horizon, they can see their ultimate objective—Ruby Mountain." Yaxiu was surprised. "The fourth layer of the Void Realm is inside the third layer?" "So they say, but just as no one could find the Golden Fish or the Seven-Colored Tail, no one can find Ruby Mountain in the Distant Sky Realm." Sonia grabbed Yaxiu's hand and struggled to sit up. "I never expected to become a Sanctuary Sorcerer so quickly, so I haven't read many books on it... but Professor Sister once told me that to a Sanctuary Sorcerer, Ruby Mountain is a form of torment." "You can always see it, yet you can never reach it." Pinching Yaxiu's sleeve, she said, "The 'distant' in the Distant Sky Realm refers to the 'Distant Land · Ruby Mountain.'"