Lineir quickly sucked the core back into one of his spacial rings.

"Just a snack!" He blurted out. She stared at him disbelieving, and prodded him with a taloned foot.

"Whatever, I just ate anyways. So, what clan do you belong to and how come you managed to get through all those golems? The greater sects couldn't get through, but you did..." Her look was getting intense. Clearly, he wasn't going to be able to fudge his way through this one.

"I'm just an average cultivator who happened to have an interest in the pillar. I wanted to see if there were any heavenly treasures at the top, or something interesting. Who would have known it would shatter unexpectedly like that!" Lineir sighed, it really was too crazy, he felt detached. Such a massive construct, to have broken down so fast, and with Lineir on it, was truly unbelievable. The girl narrowed her eyes, and Lineir hastily tried to convince her,

"No really! I don't belong to any clan of note, I simply was looking for gains, and happened to find a way to get past the golems! Speaking of which, how did you get past? The greater sects all said that they were restricted from flying!" This time he went on the offensive and she seemed to believe him,

"I don't know why I could fly either, though it certainly wasn't easy. My cultivation has been sealed for quite a while now, but on the pillar, I felt an oppressive force far worse than the seal. Had I continued much further up the pillar, I doubt I would have been able to keep going. Damn the greater sects though, to attack me out of the blue, truly despicable people!"

She snorted and stamped a little. Lineir shuddered as the taloned foot, which was previously on his back, smashed a divot into the solid rock of the cave wall. Quickly, he kept the attention on her,

"Wait, sealed, your cultivation was sealed even before you got on the pillar?" He said innocently. She took a moment to think about it, then answered,

"Hmph, I originally thought you were working with the ones who sold me out and sealed me, but your empty questions are too naïve to be a spy. Yes, I was sealed by some powerful group before I entered the pillar. In fact, I went there because it was a good place to hide. Also, I felt the seal weaken slightly in front of Heaven's might. Little did I know that the pillar would prove far more threatening than the problem which I was trying to solve in the first place. However, to clarify, you were really climbing the pillar just for heavenly treasures? Or just to check it out?"

Lineir didn't know why she was asking this, but she stayed silent, clearly expecting some sort of answer. He nodded, he had been telling the truth. When he nodded, she began to laugh extremely loud, doubling over in mirth. Lineir could only look on perplexed.

"What? Wasn't that why everyone else was climbing the pillar?"

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She only laughed harder at that.

"Ahahahahahah climbing the pillar just to check it out, heavenly treasures at the top, I can't believe you'd risk your life for just that! You're more foolish than those silly cultivators who think they gain benefits from joining a sect where the Patriarch just leeches off their gains."

Lineir's face grew redder and redder. But he dared not say anything, the girl in front of him was simply too terrifying.

"Ok, ok, I'm just laughing that you were crazy, or stupid enough to traverse a Pillar of the Heavens for some treasure, or to enjoy the view! Let me tell you what the pillar is really about and why the greater sect Patriarchs are so adamant to be the first to climb them." She cleared her throat and wiped the tears from her eyes,

"The pillars are almost certainly constructs of the gods. Men cannot make such structures. However, the idea that they hold heavenly treasures at the top is simply what the greater sects tell fools as a cover story. In reality, there is a much stronger incentive to climb the pillars. To put it simply, according to legend, if you can ascend high enough to pierce the Heavens, you can directly become immortal! By breaking the veil, you leave the domain of mortals behind and immediately ascend. That's why the greater sects Patriarchs were willing to waste their lives and core disciples in this venture! Treasures are well and fine, but ascension is a motivator which can move anyone on earth!"

Lineir was dumbstruck. Now it all made sense. To have attracted the attention of so many greater sects, the peak of the pillar must have been extraordinary. But immortality, direct ascension, that was an allure which could not be denied. Men would die by the dozens for such an opportunity.

"Hahaha, to think, the pillar I was traveling for adventure and treasure, was really the path to immortality, the world is truly a strange place!"

Smiling with the dragon girl, this time Lineir and her both chuckled together. A hunk of meat appeared in the girl's hands.

"She has a spacial ring huh?" Lineir wasn't really surprised, she seemed powerful enough, she tossed the meat to him, and said,

"Alright, I know what you had earlier was definitely not food, I could smell it wasn't, but don't worry, I'm not interested in your treasures. Take the food, consider it my thanks for letting me more leisurely descend the pillar." Smugly, she licked a taloned fingernail and sat down and began to eat. Lineir snorted,

"Descend more leisurely, you definitely would have died if you hadn't tried to take me down with you!" He kept the words to himself and Mei however, shoving a chunk of meat in his mouth. Ravenous, he ate the entire hunk in minutes, and sat back with a full belly.

"Oh man, that was delicious, it was way too hard to find food on that pillar!" Totally relaxed for once, he closed his eyes. As he did, he felt a deep desire to sleep descend on him.

"Ahhh, in this cave far above the sky, what have I to fear, I can finally sleep soundly!" His eyes drooped with weight, and he couldn't keep them open. However, as they finally closed, he saw with muted panic that the girl was standing over him and bringing a talon down on his arm. He couldn't move though, and could only fall deeper and deeper into the darkness.

"Don't worry... this will hurt less if you're sleeping..."