11 Partners

In the rift

"What is this?" Knowing that Xue Mo was talking about the rift that she opened with her Space energy, Lu Yao answered.

"This is a spell that I learned a long time ago. It's called a rift. This is also what allowed me to survive, getting thrown into a black hole.

To be honest, what you saw back then when you found me was my already healed self. I don't know the specifics, but from what you told me, I was stuck there for at least a thousand years in the least." Lu Yao sincerely recounted to Xue Mo as she would like to build a partnership based on honesty and not some bullshit that is all fake smiles and hidden daggers.

Although Lu Yao tried to hide it, he caught the urgency in her voice when she mentioned that a thousand years had passed, although he was curious he left the question for later.

Lu Yao seemed a little down when the thousand-year disappearance happened, so Xue Mo tried to change the subject to not make the atmosphere weird for the rest of the trip: ���Hmm, a rift was it? Can you tell me how it works?"

Xue Mo was genuine in wanting to know how something like this works. "The rift is basically a tear in space made by Space energy. It will open a path in space where we travel a distance in a shorter amount of time.

For example, if we were to travel from the Moon that we were on, to the Moon Rift planet where I used to live, it would take us years of travel to reach it, but if we want to go from this Moon to just any planet in the Hollow Sky Universe, it will take us a month or a month and a half of travel.

I landed on that Moon not by my own will, but because of the injuries I sustained in battle. They wounded my body, and my Mana was drained. I don't even know how I have so much Mana now. My speculation is that it's because of the energy that I have, it might have replenished it. Although I am not sure." Lu Yao's explanation was concise and helpful, assisting Xue Mo to understand what the rift is and what happened to her.

"Anyway, can you tell me what creature you are? I have read every beast tome in the Divine Hell Universe, but I haven't heard of anything like you." Lu Yao had noticed that Xue Mo had finally decided to trust her a little, which showed when he told her the name of his planet. 'Divine Hell Universe? What kind of crappy name is that?' Lu Yao thought sardonically, but she didn't voice it out.

"I can't tell you what I am for now, but I can inform you later when we genuinely start trusting each other." Lu Yao wasn't naïve or in a hurry to tell Xue Mo everything about her when they haven't spent much time together.

"However," Lu Yao continued. "I can tell you that this isn't my real form, nor am I a human." Lu Yao spoke the last word with a disgusted voice.

'Hmm, so she also hates humans. Interesting. We really do have many things in common.' Xue Mo thought as he started getting to know his new Partner.

Xue Mo had also acknowledged the fact that he had been opening up to someone. This, in Xue Mo's point of view, was weird. After all, he hadn't shown any genuine emotions since his childhood. Besides imitating some for reasons that he would like to avoid talking about, he hadn't demonstrated sentiments or feelings for anything other than Cultivation.

He didn't care if he had emotions as they usually hinder someone, but they are also a motive that some people use to get stronger, breakthrough their limits and other things that he saw in his life. So if he did start feeling emotions, he wouldn't mind much. With his clear-headed mind, he wouldn't get flustered in battle or let things like emotions hinder him.

Unknown to him, Lu Yao was thinking the same things. 'This guy is weird; my instincts are telling me to stick with him. I am not getting disgusted by him and even feel some feelings I can't describe. Lu Yao, of course, wouldn't admit this and as always just put it in the back of her mind.

It seems that Xue Mo and Lu Yao hadn't noticed that they had been talking to each other in such a natural way for a long time at that. Generally, because of their loaner personality, they wouldn't even bother looking at someone. However, they were unusually finding comfort in speaking with each other without getting irritated.

'It seems we will be spending a long time together.' Xue Mo suddenly thought. 'But, even so, if I have to show my full abilities to her, she has to do the same. But with my personality, I will probably hold back or leave somethings that I could use if she decides to betray me.' Xue Mo still hadn't wrapped his head around the Partnership that they had established, so for him, it's the natural thing to hold back.

'I should let him see what I can do, later on, that way our Partnership would truly be called Partnership. If you can't even trust your partner, who can you trust?' Lu Yao and Xue Mo's thoughts were the complete opposite. But if Lu Yao had checked on her usual self, she would have noticed that she wouldn't think that way, but after meeting Xue Mo, she has been slowly changing. For example, she had become brighter and more interactive, which contrasts with her cold and introvertive personality.

It wasn't like she would suddenly become someone else, but she wouldn't usually be so open and accepting of ideas like the one she had been suggesting.

Since he didn't have a clear direction of how Partnerships work, he decided to introduce himself at least, that way they would know something about each other.

"We have gotten off on the wrong foot. Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Xue Mo, and my race is called the Shadow Light Parasite. In my old world, I was the strongest, so I left it to get more power by discovering other places and worlds." Xue Mo's description was short with details that wouldn't give off too many things but, at the same time, give out some necessary stuff.

Pondering over it, Xue Mo wanted to test something, "By the way, I used to be human." Xue Mo wanted to see how she would react to this.

Lu Yao lagged in her movement for a second before cautiously saying, "I won't pry before you tell me, but I would like to ask: you said used to. That means you aren't anymore, right?" Xue Mo thought that he made himself clear, so he replied, "Yes, I'm not anymore."

After hearing Xue Mo's answer, Lu Yao seemed to have calmed down again. 'Is her hate for humans to this degree? Hmm, this Partnership might work after all.' Xue Mo thought. He decided to tell her that he used to be humans not to see her reaction only but also to see if she wanted to take a mile when he gave her an inch. Fortunately, she didn't, making him feel a little more comfortable with her.

Xue Mo rarely gave someone his word or promised anything, but he wouldn't renege on the deal when he did. That's why he kept on testing Lu Yao, but every time he did, he got to know her better and found out that she is trustworthy 'for now that is.'

If Lu Yao knew that Xue Mo had to pay a specific price that he would have willingly paid just to sever any relation with humans, nonetheless, she would probably say, "It's worth it. Humans are trash, after all."

After some time of being silent, Lu Yao interrupted the peaceful moment and revealed, "I knew that you weren't human. To be honest, it's obvious. If you were, you wouldn't look like that, now would you?

But even if you found a way to change your looks, I would still know that you aren't human since my nose and senses would tell me."

Hearing what Lu Yao said, Xue Mo thought, 'What kind of overpowered ability is that? She could sense someone's race by her nose, and her senses would even help her with it. This ability is too strong. If she knew what race someone belongs to, she could find suitable countermeasures to them. There is probably even more utilization of this ability that I just can't think of at the moment.' Xue Mo thought in envy, completely forgetting that his constitution and abilities are even more absurd.

Xue Mo suddenly realized something from what Lu Yao said: "You could tell what someone is by their smell?" Xue Mo quickly got his guard up and cautiously asked.

Lu Yao seemed to hesitate for a second before realizing that she had already revealed too much so she could answer this question. "I can."

After saying that, both of them went silent. "So, what do you feel from me?" Seeing such a useful ability in front of him, he wanted to see just how powerful it is.

"To answer this, I should tell you how my ability works first. I can smell the person, and that would give me specific information regarding their race. For example, if I smelt a full-blooded Vampire once. I would be able to smell a full-blooded vampire if it was near me. If I smelt a hybrid of different lineages and bloodlines, I would be able to know if one of these races that the hybrid has is near me." What Xue Mo could understand regarding Lu Yao's ability is that although it's powerful, it's limitation is just as powerful.

"As for you, when I smell you, I feel many different bloodlines, but they seem to be in harmony and not trying to take each other over. In simpler words, it's weird." Xue Mo didn't expect her to know this much, but what truly surprised him was that she called him 'weird'; he expected her to call him something like a monster or an abomination. But instead, she termed him weird, making don't know if to be happy or sad. 'Meh, no need to think about it,' Was Xue Mo's views regarding the conflicting emotion that he just experienced.

Lu Yao had her reasons for hating humans, but she didn't know Xue Mo's thinking. Thus she inquired, "Why do you hate humans?"

When Xue Mo heard this, his face's emotions were clear to the degree that Lu Yao would recognize them if she saw them, but she couldn't since he was sitting on her.

"Humans are backstabbing, cunning snakes. Why wouldn't I hate humans? They disgust me more than those revolting girls who kept following me around and trying to get close to me." Xue Mo's voice was emotionless, his tongue venomous. From what Lu Yao had discerned that just like slaves are a sensitive issue to her, humans are to him.

"Who wouldn't be happy not to be human? If I had a choice, I wouldn't have been one in the first place. Forget what I said before, snakes could at least change, but humans won't." Xue Mo continued while exuding an aura of Pride and....trust? Or that what Lu Yao had thought she felt.

'Ah, if humans didn't have such a lithe body and that humans aren't the only bipedal race, I wouldn't even want to look like one.' Xue Mo thought inwardly before continuing, 'I shouldn't bother thinking about that again. My race is now the Shadow Light Parasite. Other than some human features, I don't have any human relations at all. My innate abilities, although locked, for now, are superior.'

Silence ensued between them again, before long Xue Mo broke it with words laced with killing intent, "If you ever betray me, I will use every ounce of my being to hunt you down." Xue Mo's words didn't confuse Lu Yao as she felt that it is a sign of Xue Mo finally accepting their Partnership and trusting her, albeit a little.

"Don't worry, we are on the same page, I will return your words to you." Lu Yao retorted in a stern voice, making a smile end up on Xue Mo's face.

"Since you told me how you feel about humans and introduced yourself to me, I shall do the same." When Lu Yao said this, a cold atmosphere and concentrated killing intent oozed out of Lu Yao's massive body, though it couldn't compare to Xue Mo. 'Not bad.' He approved after sensing the amount of killing aura she was leaking.

"Humans are trash. They are beings that only know how to destroy and ruin lives. These 'things' shouldn't have existed in the first place." Lu Yao's description and view of humans didn't lose out to Xue Mo. It might even be worse.

"Anyway, as you already know, my name is Lu Yao. I came from the Chaos Beast Race.

My mother told me that my grandparents named it. There are only two Chaos Beasts. Or at least, that's what I think. Other than me, my father is also a Chaos Beast while my mother is a Nephilim.

As for why we were named Chaos Beasts, it is because of what you have seen. My energy is a little unstable and chaotic. And even though that was the case, it is stable at times at the very least. To be honest, it was my second time using this energy." Lu Yao rambled on in her introduction but was successful in not making things awkward. But she failed miserably, making the silence return.

"As you can see, I am 'weird,' so you aren't alone." Lu Yao said, trying to relieve the tension. And it seems this time it worked.

(AN: Those who don't know what a Nephilim is. It's the child of an angel and a devil)

"Seeing that Lu Yao became a little depressed when she talked about her parents, Xue Mo got curious as unlike her he didn't know his parents much.

Xue Mo was never good or felt the need to give motivational speeches or something that would cheer someone up, but now put in this situation, he thought for some reason the need to do it.

"I am someone searching for the apex of everything; if you want to stay with me, you would have to keep up. I don't care what we agreed upon, if you procrastinate behind too much, I will terminate this Partnership." Xue Mo was lying, but he felt that this was necessary to give her a goal to strive for, and when he checked Lu Yao's expression, he noticed that it changed.

As if a fire was lit inside her, she looked determined and said: "You aren't the only one desiring the apex. So, I will throw your words back at you. If you lack behind, I will abolish our Partnership and leave." It seems that Xue Mo's words affected Lu Yao more than he expected, as not only determination was oozing out of her there was also yearning?

'Yearning? What's yearning for? From what I could tell, it's not just because she wants to be on top; there is something else here.' Xue Mo thought as he analyzed Lu Yao.

Xue Mo's encouraging words had made Lu Yao's freezing heart that didn't feel emotions for a long time unconsciously melt. It was as if he dug a place in her in this small amount of time, that it would make anyone think it's absurd.

Xue Mo and Lu Yao, who were in the void, had established a bond. A Partnership, which was something more, something special, a relationship that wasn't only unbreakable but also craved by others. Even they weren't aware of the fact that the simple Partnership they had built would lead them to be one of the most prominent people later in their life.

Just like that, Xue Mo and Lu Yao continued their journey amicably while conversing and getting to know each other. In this journey, where there is no one around but the silent space, two people have started to know each other.

If the people who had known about them before were to see them now, they would rub their eyes and ask themselves, 'Are these two really the Blood Queen and the Sage of Nightmare?' It is weird for people known to massacre kingdoms and sects without batting an eye to be so peaceful.