Everything was quiet. Tian Hai stood aback in utter bewilderment whereas the young woman, goddess really, examined him before her with a thumb on her chin. Her eyes narrowed as she sniffed the air around Tian Hai.

“You smell of seawater, a dweller not from my Starry Skies.”

“You would be correct,” Tian Hai uttered whilst leaning back. He was feeling extremely nervous before this woman. Her looks were irrelevant in his reaction, it was the sheer difference in cultivation that made him nervous at her approach.

He did not recognize her at all. Nowhere in his recollection as a Chaos Godfiend did this woman’s appearance come up. When the godfiends reincarnated as the first generation innate gods, their appearance were actually the same outside of Tian Hai. In the primitive world, the only individuals with the power to surpass the Golden Immortal realm were these innate gods. No innate creature had ever gone through the Golden Immortal tribulation.

After all, that tribulation was hard to miss. It involved the pulling of the true soul out of the river of time and the merging of it back into the cultivator’s body. The level of backlash such an event would occur can easily be felt by fellow Golden Immortals and stronger individuals.

As such, even without her saying her name Tian Hai should’ve recognized any member of the Chaos Godfiends.

The woman circled Tian Hai’s figure. She was taller then him having already possessed the figure of an adult woman. Her bone age however registered herself to be relative to Tian Hai’s own age give or take a few hundred years. Despite that youth, her gaze was not only sharp but an authoritative power radiated from her.

“Well? Anything to say for yourself?” She said somewhere between haughty and amusement. She floated around and away from the pool of water and to Tian Hai’s front. She was like a deity who had descended from the heavens to meet a mortal. Silvery lunar radiance was oozing from her hair and robes and her eyes resembled the stars themselves.

As he interacted with her more and more, Tian Hai felt himself shrinking more and more. It really was the difference between a sun and one of its orbiting planets. He felt fear for what disrespecting this superior being might do to him.

“Apologies senior,” Tian Hai responded with the standard respectful and reverent greeting a weaker individual would a superior. “I was not aware this star was already owned by another. I was merely following a premonition through threads of karma.”

The goddess hummed with an interested look. “Plausible plausible. But that doesn’t change this from theft. After all, as the supreme goddess of the moon and sovereign of the Starry Skies! Everything in this cosmos belongs to me!”

‘Sovereign of the stars? But the only people with those titles are later generation gods of heaven? Who are you?’ Tian Hai took a step back and swallowed a bile of saliva. If this information was true then he was in big trouble

Furthermore, her identification as a goddess of the moon did narrow down things somewhat. But both major Chinese gods of moon were also later generation figures. So Tian Hai was confused for a second time.

“Hey hey why the silence? You’ve been staring at me for a while now.”

“Oh ah…apologies once again senior. I was unaware the Starry Skies had a ruler already. I was just wandering as to...”

“Aight that’s enough. I’m just messing with you,” she cut Tian Hai off with a raised palm. “It’s not funny anymore. Heavens why are you so uptight? Not even the old man is that formal.”

“Ah…” Tian Hai was once again taken aback by the sudden shift in the woman. So she was just messing with him? Did he read her wrong?

“Wangshu.”

“What?”

“My name. I am Wangshu of the Lunar Star. You were asking for it correct? Before I curt you off?”

“Oh yes. Wangshu,” Tian Hai tested the name out in his mouth. “King’s tree?”

“Well I am spawned from the supreme laurel tree,” she admitted freely. As she said so her skin warped before Tian Hai’s every eyes. The patches of skin not covered up by clothing showcased the texture of rough tree bark. Her face also flashed into a more inhuman one made of wooden textures.

‘Of course nothing is ever simple in this world.’ Tian Hai had to admit that it wasn’t strange at all even if some part of him(human) freaked out internally. He too was an eight headed snake shrunken into the form of a human teenager. ‘Wait a sec, Wangshu?’

There was no name like Wangshu in his memoirs as a godfiend. But Tian Hai did recognize that name from web novels he’d read. There was a discrepancy there as Wangshu was a reincarnated godfiend as well. That or a congenital goddess in the same generation as Changxi, Di Jun, and Xihe.

He honestly was not familiar with her other then being harem member number sixty nine and background NPC number seventy one. But to meet here of all places, what a coincidence.

“Ah…so you, senior wants…”

“Okay please stop that. We are fellow daoists of the same generation,” she said flatly. “I saw you flying in my domain and followed, that’s all there is.” She eyed the pool behind Tian Hai. “I see you have destiny with this pool of Three Brilliance Sacred Water.”

“Three bri…” Tian Hai turned around and starred into the pool in utter disbelief. This little pool of water was legendary. It was an extremely rare resource which Nuwa used to create humanity along with Nine Heavens Soil.

Tian Hai had the eyes of a someone who’d just found gold. He couldn’t believe his luck. However he turned back around to observe Wangshu. Such a valuable treasure, how could she not thirst for it herself. But to his surprise, she was nonchalant about it.

Wangshu had her arms crossed beneath her chest. It was as if she did not take the importance of this rare substance serious at all.

“I am willing to share with you,” Tian Hai began saying. It sounded presumptuous of him especially since he was the weaker party. But he felt as if he had to.

“Three Brilliance Sacred Water. It contains three special types of energy within it stemming from primordial qi originating from the sunlight, moonlight, and purple starlight. Together they produce one of the strongest life giving forces ever. Suits you.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Huh?”

“I don’t want it. You said you have destiny with it? Well its yours. Take it. This is a direct order from the sovereign of the Starry Skies”

“Wait I thought you were kidding about that bit.”

“What? Course not, I am the sole inhabitant of the Starry Skies. By definition that makes me the sovereign of the stars.”

‘huh.’ Tian Hai thought she made sense. Sole inhabitant of the stars, that sounded pretty lonely to him. In this wide space of darkness illuminated only by three hundred and sixty five stars, that was a large space for just one person.

“You really would not desire such a treasure?”

“There’s a whole ocean of it below my palace. Why would I want such little bit?” She chuckled in amusement. Her mirth made Tian Hai feel irritated. This water was a big deal! Why didn’t she care more?

Oh right she was likely unaware of its future accomplishments. Tian Hai felt she was stupid to squander such a treasure. But he can’t exactly blame her for not possessing meta knowledge. ‘Wait did she say she has an ocean full?’

Tian Hai’s head whipped back to stare at her with mouth agape.

‘Is this feeling what its like to meet a rich person?’ Tian Hai slowly closed his mouth and nodded in understanding. But even so, he still found it strange for a creature of the Primitive World to be so generous. There’s gotta be a catch right? Webnovel always portrayed them as cheering scumbags.

Then again, Huoyun was extremely kind and put up with him for years.

“So…how about coming to my palace?” She offered after a bit of awkwardness. Her smile tightened a little as she extended her offer.

“I have drinks prepared from the riches of the stars. I have berries and spiritual fruits. There are marvelous paintings for admiration. You can even check out the pool of Three Brilliance Sacred Water.” ‘Please accept,’

Unaware of her thoughts, Tian Hai struggled to come to a decision. “Ah…okay?”

“Great!” She grabbed Tian Hai’s forearm unexpectedly and dragged him int space. Then she stopped as if she forgot something.

“Oh right,” she lowered her free hand and in the next instant the pool of water disappeared into her grasp. “Don’t worry, I’ll wrap it up nice for you. Consider a gift for accepting my hospitality.”

‘Gift? Didn’t you say it was mine already?’

…

The distance between the icy star and the Lunar Star was not far. Tian Hai followed Wangshu for half a day before they breached the outer atmosphere of the Primitive World’s moon.

Unlike the star Tian Hai visited earlier, the Lunar Star was gargantuan in size. Its yin based light was luminescent even within the void of space and shone with such intensity that any being who were not Golden Immortals and directly looked at it would’ve gone blind. It was so unlike the moon as seen by humans of the twenty first century that Tian Hai’s human memories portray that it was difficult to reconcile the two.

The surface of the Lunar Star was also vastly different from place rocky craters. It resembled the Great Wilderness with tall mountains, lush forests, and lakes of celestial water. It resembled a garden of the gods themselves and made for a mesmerizing sight. The only different between it and the Great Wilderness was the slight blueish filter that covered everything one can see. Tian Hai found himself praising how well kept and beautiful the Lunar Star was.

Wangshu all but dragged the young sea god all the way through the many barriers of the Lunar Star. Nothing halted their movements and soon Tian Hai bore witness to where Wangshu was leading him. She had a wide juvenile smile the whole time that made it hard to reconcile that this was a powerful goddess of the Primitive World.

A massive palace complex lay at the end of a large stone paved path. It contained vast pool of water behind the palace which emanated tremendous amounts of rich live giving energy. Tian Hai identified it as the same water he had just obtained just in much larger quantities. He couldn’t help but feel waves of jealously in his heart.

Outside the palace was a gargantuan tree that produced an aura which Tian Hai couldn’t even accurately identify. It was even stronger then his 12 Petals White Lotus which made it easy to identify.

Within the Primitive World’s future history, several spiritual trees gained great fame as incredibly powerful treasures. The Bhodi Tree that the Buddha enlightened under, the Ginseng Tree at Longevity Mountain, and many others. The celestial tree of the Lunar Star was the legendary Laurel Tree, a nigh unbreakable structure featured in one of China’s many tragic love folklore.

Tian Hai found all the sights around him mesmerizing. It reawakened a dormant desire for exploration and touristic ideals which once governed his emotions. Suddenly he felt a bit nostalgic for earlier times. This was quickly quashed by feelings of self loathing and disappointment.

“Hey what’s the matter? Don’t you find my Lunar Star beautiful?” Wangshu chastised with a visibly annoyed expression. She dragged Tian Hai’s shorter body down to touch upon the pathway leading up to her palace gates. The abrupt landing broke Tian Hai broke him out of his musing allowing him to focus on what was before him.

There stood a tall stylized archway with engravings of stellar movements. Upon the top was a massive sign engraved with the words.

“CELESTIAL MOON PALACE”

“Palace,” Tian Hai read aloud.

“Yep!” Wangshu smirked proudly and gestured towards the main building further back. “Amazing isn’t it? It was already here when I transformed as I am now. I furnished it with the riches of hundreds of stars. Feel free to tour around, I guide.”

“Tour?”

“Of course. As host I have to show you around!”

Confused in addition to being startled, Wangshu dragged Tian Hai through the gate and into the palace proper. The central courtyard, the buildings and thousands of rooms, Tian Hai didn’t really have a say as the much stronger goddess pulled him to every interesting location she could think of.

Her collection of artifacts, her collection of spiritual herbs, her collection of meteorites, her collection of stardust. Everything Tian Hai encountered resembled some sort of hobbyist collection.

Artworks of various stars and Wangshu herself littered throughout the place. Statues of different objects belonging to the Starry Skies was also present on display in many places. But strangely, despite all the fulfilling decorations. Tian Hai couldn’t help but see a sense of hollowness.

He observed the goddess who acted as host. ‘She’s way too enthusiastic,’ he pondered. People in the Great Wilderness would never act in this manner, they’d sooner chastise you for such carelessness or incorporate you into their defensive alliance. Everyone acted for their own survival in these trying times.

The calmness of the Starry Skies was a vast breakaway from it. In a way, Tian Hai was enjoying his time in the stars more. But he also couldn’t deny the feeling that he didn’t belong. His senses subtly informed him that living within such an environment wouldn’t be as comfortable as the East Sea would’ve been.

Tian Hai eyed Wangshu. He didn’t want to linger long in the stars now that his opportunity had ended. But Wangshu didn’t give him much of a chance to walk away and he too didn’t wish to be rude. This was especially so when he didn’t know how offended Wangshu would be nor how violent she’d become in such a scenario.

But unknown to him, Wangshu had also noticed his growing disinterest. She hid her concern and quickly came up with another method.

“Anyway, did you know I brew spiritual tea? I also have richly flavored fruit juices in stock. How about you try some?” She asked Tian Hai with a hint of uneasiness, something Tian Hai failed to pick up on.

“Huh? Ah…” Tian Hai shuffled around. “Dalits Wangshu, I um. I had planned to go into secluded cultivation now that I’ve…” ‘Wait a second, she’s already in the Great Unity Golden Immortal realm. Would she know some clue to how to resolve my issue?’

“I mean I would love to try some. How about you and I discuss the Dao over some drinks as well.”

“That sounds spectacular.”