Chapter 539: A Hope Dashed

(MC POV)

Of course Luna didn't want me to read that book until she confirmed it was safe for me to do so. That means I probably wouldn't see that book until tonight at the earliest.

I did ask to speak to that old hermit again and surprisingly, she agreed to it under the condition that Rina be there to 'protect' me.

At this point, I feel like she's more like an overprotective parent than anything else. Maybe that's her kink?

Well, I don't want to stay long enough to find out anyway.

While Luna was busy checking the book in another room, I was left with the old man and Rina back in the study.

"I don't understand what else you want from him?" Rina asked, obviously peeved that my request caused her to be separated from her Mistress again.

I ignored her and went up to the still tied up and blind hermit, "You said you were from the Cloud Plane?"

The old man shuddered and turned his head in my direction, "You... Why are you siding with them? No... Why are they so cordial to you?"

"It's a long story," I sighed, pretending not to see the eye roll that Rina gave me. "But I'm just here to ask how did you manage to come here?"

"Why... Why do you want to know?"

"Let's just say I'm studying the fundamentals of travel between Planes so I'm quite interested in that subject."

He frowned, "If you are thinking of traversing to the Cloud Plane from here, I'd recommend you to give up on that plan. That place is much worse than the Spiritual Plane so you're better off staying here, especially with your current position, boy."

"No, no. I'm really just studying it. I have no plans to go to the Cloud Plane at all."

Like seriously, you don't even need to tell me how bad it is over there. I already have first hand experience on how bad it is so trust me, I definitely don't want to go there.

I'm just hoping that he might shed some light on another way I might use to go back to the Earthen Plane.

"So you're a scholar then?" He asked, expressing sudden interest in me.

"I guess you could say that, if an archivist can be considered as a scholar. Is there something wrong?"

"No, no. I guess my profession back in the Cloud Plane matches yours somewhat. I specialise in the study of dragons, thus the book that your Mistress... Appropriated from me. I'm afraid I don't have much to share with you, however."

I tilted my head at him, "What do you mean?"

"I meant that I came here like any other Practitioner would, I simply chose to ascend here."

Ah, right... I actually forgot that was even an option...

"But did you not know that males cannot cultivate here?" I asked.

"Of course I did, or else I wouldn't have chosen to ascend here in the first place."

"Eh? Why would you even choose to ascend to this place if you can't even cultivate?"

Rina sighed, "Have you been living under a rock all this while? Do you not even know about the relationship between the Spiritual Plane and the other Planes?"

I gave her a look that told her I most definitely do not.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised since you really might have been living under a rock before her most gracious Majesty took an interest in you. The Spiritual Plane is the crossroads to all other Planes. This is one of the tribulations denizens of other Planes have to pass before they can move on to the other Planes."

The only response I had to such an info was, "What?"

The hermit nodded his head, "For males like myself, we will have to face a thousand years of powerlessness while persevering in our wish to cultivate. If done right, at the end of the tribulation, we will be able to ascend once again and stronger than ever, perhaps even reaching the fabled Earthen Plane."

"And for females, they will need to resist the allure of absolute power. You can imagine how most people fail to reach that here," Rina added, looking quite bored.

The fact that I managed to keep a straight face after all that should be an achievement.

Doesn't this mean that the books in the hidden archives are obtained through the people who ascended here and not through some portal? No, I shouldn't assume yet. I'll have to hear Luna say it herself.

The hermit turned in the direction of Rina, finding her by her voice, "You... You're not going to kill me... Right?"

Rina scoffed, "Who knows? Your fate is in her most gracious Majesty's hands. Just because this is the way our Planes function doesn't mean we like you visitors. You men coming here to use our resources while dumping your trash here before running away. Then the women getting drunk on power and creating problems for us to deal with. If it was up to me, I'd be getting rid of every single one of you that I come across."

I guess I can understand her sentiment, I wouldn't like it if someone came to my home, ate my food, took a dump in the living room before leaving as though nothing happened.

"I... I only have five years left... What do I need to do for my life to be spared?" The old man begged.

"Like I said, your life is in her most gracious Majesty's hands. I'd start by pleasing the man in front of you, since her most gracious Majesty has taken an interest in him."

He turned to face me and I sighed, "Alright, I'll try to talk to Luna to spare you. In the meantime, why don't you tell me all you know about the Divine Primordial Dragons?"

"Divine Primordial Dragon," He corrected me. "There is only one of them in existence."

Huh? There's only one? You're telling me my previous life was so unfortunate that I met the one and only Divine Primordial Dragon in existence and died right after? What is this bull crap?

"Alright, Divine Primordial Dragon then. What's so special about it?"

The hermit scratched his chin, "The Divine Primordial Dragon is in fact the..."

He stopped talking suddenly and his body also stopped moving.

I frowned at his sudden pause, "Hey, what's wrong?"

He did not respond to my question.

Just as I was about to reach forward to tap him, his body turned ashen grey and broke apart into ashes.

Rina was instantly in front of me, summoning a barrier around us in record time. Xun Guan had also tightened up to transform into armour to protect me.

When nothing else happened for a few minutes, Rina moved forward cautiously and prodded the pile of ashes with her foot.

Right at that moment, the door to the room burst open and a very irate Luna stormed in.

"That damned book turned into ashes! What is the... What happened here?"

Hey, your guess is as good as mine, woman.

What in the world just happened?