9 Lu Yao

Xue Mo had always been a 'kill first ask question later' type of person, so when he noticed the danger the girl posed, he wanted to completely take her out.

When the needles reached the girl, the energy coating that Xue Mo hadn't sensed before seeing it, reacted and protected the girl by making a shield in front of her that successfully blocked the attack.

After obstructing the needles from nearing the girl, the shield quietly dissipated as if the Shadow Soul Pressure energy did not affect it.

Due to the ruckus around her, the girl who has been sleeping quietly for who knows how long, opened her eyes.

She looked around her seemingly confused about her situation, when she laid her eyes on Xue Mo, her expression turned cold and menacing.

It was unknown whether it was because of seeing Xue Mo's naked figure or realizing that she was being attacked, the girl suddenly erupted out with energy and attacked him.

'Fast.' the girl that he was battling not only had raw power equal to his Shadow Soul Pressure. She also had a trained body.

Xue Mo didn't get flustered in front of the attack. Instead, he sidestepped to the right, letting the attack go past him.

Seeing that her attack failed, the girl didn't stop as she unleashed kicks and fists, though in the end, at the last second, when they were about to make contact with him, they were avoided.

Through all this, Xue Mo had noticed that the girl was as calm as ever, she didn't get irritated or annoyed, as if she hit the autopilot, she just kept delivering attacks on him.

Soon after, he had noticed that his 'Dark Soul' that still hadn't finished its merging process seems to have accelerated it.

This fight had inadvertently helped Xue Mo, so he was happy to continue it. He also noticed that the girl's attacks had been slowly becoming fiercer and faster. 'Is she hiding her strength or testing me?'

He could only speculate about why the girl hadn't unleashed her full might at once, but he soon found the reason. The girl, just like him, appears not to be used to controlling her energy.

The girl's energy was slowly being drained, but he noticed that her physical attacks hadn't decreased in power. 'Did I just bump into a body cultivator?' Xue Mo thought after seeing her monstrous physical prowess.

He was someone who never let his guard down in front of an enemy, so when the girl suddenly stopped in her place and unleashed what seemed to be a ball of fire upon him, he was able to avoid it by sidestepping just like he had been doing all this time.

'This ball of fire seems...' He wasn't just dodging attacks all this time, he had been trying to find the weaknesses in the opponent's battle style and exploit, but after fighting her for a few minutes, Xue Mo wasn't able to find one. Instead, he was the one starting to show openings as his body was giving out on him.

'Playtime is over.' He had done nothing through the battle but dodge the girl's attacks and study her moves, after seeing how efficient she moves, he saw that she had trained herself and wasn't just throwing random strikes, her offense seems to have been honed through countless battles.

After he dodged another fireball strike, Xue Mo released a dark menacing shadowy energy and turned it into a needle. Using the girl's fireball, he hid the needle and threw it in the same direction the fireball came from.

The girl hadn't expected her fireball to hide an attack, but she was able to avoid it even so. The girl split a second of her attention to check what was thrown at her, finding a black colored needle with terrifying energy contained in it caused her face to drain.

When she saw how a rock was erased when the needle made contact with it, she just found out how terrifying the needle was. If it hit her, she would also be devoured and disappear into nothingness.

The girl wasn't giving it her all before. However, now that she saw her opponent aiming for the kill, her killing intent was also triggered. She suddenly stopped, and while her right hand continued unleashing a fireball after another onto Xue Mo, her left hand started emitting black-colored energy different from his.

He already noticed the girl's moves and the killing intent that she was directing at him, coupled with his energy consumption, he felt that if he didn't end the battle soon, he would die.

While Xue Mo currently only had Shadow Soul Pressure as an attack, the girl appeared to have many different offenses, showing the difference between them.

'It seems there is only one way to survive this.' He thought before recklessly running toward his opponent.

The girl hadn't expected Xue Mo to suddenly get near her. After all, he had been dodging her physical attacks all this time, and although he was able to avoid her ranged ones, it was evident that it took a lot more of him to do that.

The girl didn't break her concentration because Xue Mo took her unexpectedly, and threw a barrage of fireballs while prepping the black energy in her left hand.

Xue Mo's speed that was already weak and slow had become slower, as his energy drained, his body gave out, the only reason that he could still fight is because of his strong will and reflexes he had honed over the years.

Bang

Due to his exhausted physical state, Xue Mo's body that had been avoiding fireballs was finally hit by one. Fortunately, the damage sustained was negligible as the fireball he was hit with was almost entirely devoured by his Shadow Soul Pressure needle that he unleashed in the nick of time.

The girl had noticed the opening that he left when he was attacked, making her use the timing to unleash the black energy upon him.

Huff huff

Xue Mo started heaving while taking deep breaths as his energy was almost drained, but at that moment, the black energy the girl hit him with seeped into his body, further decreasing his physical power.

He had tried everything from finishing the girl off by a sneak attack to try and slowly take her out. Still, no matter what he did, the girl was above him in terms of energy concentration, physical power, and variations of attacks.

The only thing Xue Mo had over her is his good reflexes and senses that coordinated with his senses to help him.

'Is this the end?' He suddenly thought seeing how bleak his future seems, though Xue Mo wasn't someone who ever had thoughts of giving up, so he didn't know where this thought had come from.

During the time the girl was recharging her attack, and Xue Mo was almost down, a dam seems to have opened inside, as his body was reinvigorated.

From deep inside his Soul, Xue Mo felt his 'Dark Soul' had merged entirely, and with it, a flood of Shadow Soul Pressure came.

The girl took it easy as she knew that the black energy she had unleashed could drain and sap the power out of people, that's why she had been confident in using it to take him down.

Out of nowhere, Xue Mo, who she thought had been taken down, arrived in front of her with newfound power, and let all his energy erupt.

He didn't try another attack as he felt that the energy he currently has isn't enough to take her down, and even if he could, he would end up with his energy drained out and die.

Although Xue Mo has decided to unleash all his energy, hoping that the resulting burst is enough to take her down, he made sure that he had enough power to last him a while.

Xue Mo could have used the wish that he had to instantly defeat the girl or become a god. But Xue Mo felt that it was a waste, as he doesn't know what is after these levels, if there is a realm above them, and if he wasted the wish on something like this, he would regret it later.

As even in his desperate situation Xue Mo was clear-headed and didn't rush into things, although if his life depended on it, he would use it without hesitation.

The explosion of his energy made both Xue Mo and the girl launch backward in different directions. Yet, this time, it wasn't only him in a precarious situation, the girl too seemed to have suffered as the energy surrounding her, calmed down and returned to the static state it was in, when Xue Mo first saw it.

The last thing the girl saw was his exhausted naked body hitting the ground, but she could see that his eyes weren't asleep, making her think 'I'm doomed' before losing consciousness.

The girl was overthinking things as Xue Mo wasn't in a state that allows him to move around. He had overexerted his body, and his energy wasn't in a position to provide him with anything other than sustaining his life functions.

*****

A few days later

The girl groaned while waking up, showing her exhausted body that even after several days seemed to be tired.

Her eyes gently fluttered open, greatly contrasting to the scene she displayed to Xue Mo when she woke up.

The girl woke up to find the still naked Xue Mo sweating bullets while standing in a horse stance, seemingly practicing.

The girl immediately averted her eyes to the side before shouting in a cold voice, "Can't you put some clothes on?!!!"

He had noticed the girl waking up but didn't pay her any heed as he continued to practice after several minutes of exercising the Bovine Monkey Learns to Hit stance, he stopped.

The girl had noticed that he hadn't attacked her again after that time, if he had, she would have been dead by now or so she speculates.

He approached the girl who still hadn't looked in his direction and stood in front of her. The place they were currently in was the cave that he had been training for several months. It seems that as long as he doesn't harm her, the energy surrounding her won't interfere, and that's why he was able to take her here.

Xue Mo had already recovered by then, but he didn't attack again, seeing how annoying and hard it was for him to kill her, and he also had no reason to. He might even be able to extract information about her origin.

He had learned through Primordial Origin's fragmented memory that he received that this Universe they live in doesn't have life forms or one's that it could find, but here in front of him is a girl that proved otherwise.

Xue Mo sat in front of her and didn't say anything. The atmosphere wasn't awkward, though, as somehow the both of them felt peaceful at that moment. Two beings who had been fighting a few days before were now sitting and enjoying the silence.

The girl wasn't annoyed and actually liked the company, which to her was something weird as she hates men, and her disgust for them is to the point of vomiting. But she had been with this man for some time now, but she doesn't feel disgusted or anything of the sort towards him.

He also looked at the girl, unknown to them. They have some things in common such as their hate for humans and disgust with the opposite gender.

The girl in front of him had blood-red eyes with a dark-colored pupil that gives off the feeling of sucking someone inside them. It gave out a ceaselessly cold atmosphere that wasn't unfamiliar to him, someone who is cold to everyone, he was used to this.

Her hair was royal blue that reached all the way to her back with pale as white skin but not to Xue Mo's level. Her body displayed a murderous atmosphere that seemed to surround her perpetually.

Xue Mo had found himself lost in his thoughts, as someone who wasn't used to interacting with people he didn't know what to say.

Fortunately, he didn't have to as the girl initiated the conversation, "Why did you suddenly attack me?" It seemed that the girl attacked him when she woke up because he began the offensive.

He didn't know what to say, as his reason for attacking was because she was unconscious, and the energy around her seemed dangerous to him, so to eliminate the danger, he wanted to take her out before waking up.

Xue Mo was someone who was used to lying, so it wasn't hard for him to come up with a reason. "I attacked you because your energy attacked me first; I was just retaliating." He shrugged while speaking in an equally cold voice as he lied through his teeth.

Lu Yao had found his reason sufficient, and because he was so used to lying, she couldn't pick up on the signs. She was embarrassed after hearing the cause, but her face didn't show it, even more, she didn't know how to continue the conversation.

Xue Mo saw this as his mind gears kicked into action as he thought, 'I can use this.'

"Don't you think you need to compensate me? I almost died back there." He didn't lie as he did almost get killed many times due to her barrage of attacks.

"What do you want?" It was the first time since forever that the girl was in the wrong, and with a man at that, she would usually ignore him or just shrug it off, but for some reason, she felt responsible this time.

Hearing the wavering voice that ordinarily people wouldn't be able to detect, Xue Mo thought 'Jackpot.'

"Give me information on where you come from. I also want to know how you got here from the debris on you; it would, at the very least, a thousand years to accumulate." He directly relayed his most concerning questions.

As for things such as what her energy was or how she got here, although he was curious about them, they were secondary things, in his opinion. If things worked out how he imagined they might not even see each other again.

Xue Mo's words had triggered a memory as the cave they were in was flooded by killing intent that, although it wasn't comparable to his, it showed that she wasn't unused to killing.

Lu Yao released her killing aura after calming down and glanced at him before turning her head to the side as Xue Mo was still naked.

"Can't you put some clothes on??" The girl asked in an exasperated voice. Only for the reply to shut her up, "If I had clothes on me, you think I would be naked?"

As if she thought of something, the girl looked at her finger where an ordinary-looking ring was, she let her energy permeate it, and out of nowhere, she took out a white-colored robe and some shoes.

Throwing the items on Xue Mo, the girl said: "I won't talk before you put thes-..... on!" The girl paused as she saw her space ring crumble into dust in front of her eyes.

Xue Mo didn't say anything more or pay attention to the girl, he took the clothes away and went outside the cave to change, after entering, he saw the girl staring into nothingness as if she just lost her soul.

"Ok, now I'm clothed, answer my questions." He snapped the girl out of her weird state and demanded, not caring in the slightest that she had just lost all her possessions.

For some reason, the girl didn't get annoyed and instead answered: "I come from another Universe. It's called Hollow Sky."

Xue Mo's expression had finally changed, and for the first time since forever, he showed a shocked expression on his face.

Even though he believed in higher realms and other worlds, he hadn't seen anything to confirm their existence. The memories he received from Primordial Origin negated such thoughts as even after an unknown amount of time wandering, the remnants that fused with him hadn't found any signs of life other than in the Divine Hell Universe where he lived.

After remembering that his mind strayed as he thought, 'Why is the Divine Hell Universe the only known world here? Why was it closed off?' Although he had many questions regarding this issue, Xue Mo didn't think any more about it.

He quickly regained his calm after hearing the girl's words and waited for her to continue.

"This Universe is known as the Chaosverse. I ended up in this barren Universe after fighting with the Azure Luminous Kingdom on the Moon Rift Planet. Their Emperor like me had space magic though his spells were of higher grade, and his stats were also not bad. Thus he was able to defeat me.

Though I was able to destroy his kingdom with one last strike before I was ejected out, through a rift in space, I entered a black hole, making me end up here." Although he wasn't social, Xue Mo knew that girls tend to talk a lot, but this girl in front of him was just like him, the silent type.

Hearing the girl's words, he was able to infer some things: this Universe is called the Chaosverse. The Chaosverse is a barren land where signs of life are almost nonexistent. She comes from a different Universe, a planet known as Moon Rift.

Although small details, Xue Mo was able to confirm a few things, and one of them made him sweat bullets, 'If this is a barren Universe, doesn't that mean I would have died without finding another to live on?'

His expression cold as always, made Lu Yao unable to guess what he was thinking.

Seeing that Xue Mo finished contemplating, Lu Yao decided to ask: "Can I ask you some questions of my own?"

He thought for a while before answering her: "You can ask, but I won't answer everything." He had his reasons for allowing her to question him. Among them was to test why she didn't repulse him as he had always been with other girls.

Lu Yao gathered her thoughts before asking: "What are you?" Lu Yao's question can be interpreted and inferred in many ways, but the underlying meaning was that she didn't recognize him.

"I can ask you the same thing." Xue Mo retorted, but this time his voice was colder than before, showing that he didn't want that question to be asked.

Lu Yao gave up on that line of questioning for now as she felt that if she kept pressing, they would have another fight that she doesn't want.

"I am Lu Yao, what's your name?" Seeing that he wouldn't answer casually, Lu Yao decided to go with the 'give and take' approach.

Seeing the way Lu Yao wanted to ask in, Xue Mo smiled inwardly, thinking, 'It seems more information is coming my way.'

"Xue Mo," His answer was neither long nor short. He replied to the question only.

"I don't know how I got my other energy. Do you know how you got yours." Lu Yao asked again this time, giving more information.

Xue Mo read her expression carefully, and what he concluded was that she genuinely didn't know but some speculations. Other than that, she mentioned another energy.

Xue Mo had speculated that she referred to the one that seemed a little more powerful and versatile than Arch energy but weaker than his Shadow Soul Pressure and Lu Yao's energy.

"My energy is inborn." His answer made the expression on Lu Yao change as she went into thought.

"My other energy is also inherent." Lu Yao suddenly remembered that her mother once talked about her father and said he had weird inborn energy. She guessed that she must have gotten it from her father.

Seeing Lu Yao reveal information that she had just realized, Xue Mo thought to himself, 'Does she trust me?' He had the right to question that after all, he didn't know Lu Yao enough to talk about personal stuff with her, but she readily told him something she discerned. he was actually overthinking things as Lu Yao told him because he helped her.

"What's your other energy, the one you summoned fire and that dark energy with?" Xue Mo suddenly asked.

'It seems he doesn't know of Mana.' Lu Yao thought before answering, "The energy is known as Mana, and everyone in my Universe uses it." Lu Yao's meaning was clear, 'I know you aren't from my Universe.'

He didn't care if she knew that he is from this Universe, as that doesn't mean anything. She won't find the Divine Hell Universe if she tried, and if she didn't, he wouldn't care either.

Seeing that she has been highly cooperative, Xue Mo decided to give her a freebie. "Yes, it's as you suspect this barren land as you called it is my Universe."

His confirmation gave rise to many questions in her, but seeing how Xue Mo easily told her something like this. She figured that the reason is he doesn't know anything about it.

"How are you able to utilize the elements so freely? What is the Magic that you talked about before?" His questions didn't surprise Lu Yao.

"Magic? Hmm," Lu Yao went silent as if contemplating how to explain things to Xue Mo.

"Magic is how mages utilize the elements by making spells. Spells are chants that follow a specific direction that appropriates Mana in a way that lets us use the properties easily. For higher leveled mages or more experienced ones, silent casting isn't impossible." Lu Yao returned the freebie Xue Mo had given her using a thorough explanation of Magic.

Understanding dawned on Xue Mo as he thought, 'This is entirely different than how Cultivators use the elements.'

"Will you come with me?" Lu Yao suddenly asked, startling him.

There are many reasons why Lu Yao would want Xue Mo to go with her, and he honestly didn't mind since he didn't have anywhere else to go.

"Why?" He retorted. For the first in thousands of years, Xue Mo had enjoyed conversing with anyone, especially someone who shares similar things with him, but he wants to know the reason. His vigilant and introverted self wouldn't allow him otherwise.

Lu Yao knew what Xue Mo meant with why, as she herself was someone who had always been alone, antisocial, and unfriendly.

Lu Yao had thought for several minutes before answering, "Why not? It's not like you have anywhere to go. If you did, you wouldn't have asked me those questions. There must be a reason you aren't going back to the place you came from if you don't want to tell me, don't. I'm not going to pry.

Besides, what do you have to lose if you come with me, at least you will find more things to see. A vast Universe awaits." Lu Yao wasn't trying to tempt him or goad him. She felt for some reason that going with Xue Mo would be good for her.

"What's the catch?" His voice that had unknowingly gone amiable while conversing with Lu Yao returned to the chilling cold it was when he talked before.

"No catch. You just have to become my partner; wherever I go, you follow. Wherever you go, I follow. It's an equal partnership where both companions have each other's back. So, what do you think, are you in?" Lu Yao asked, her tone a little too eager. It seems that spending all this time alone, although it didn't bother her, it made her long for a friend or a companion, but because she couldn't find anyone to trust or share anything with her, she was bound to stay alone.

However, right in front of her sat someone who shares many affable things with her. There might even be more in common that she doesn't know about.

Seeing that Xue Mo went silent and is contemplating things. Lu Yao added: "Take your time and think things through, I don't want to force you, as no real partnership works that way."

After saying this, Lu Yao left the cave, seemingly wanting to lessen the pressure on Xue Mo, so he won't think she is giving him an ultimatum.

'Partnership? To think that someone would even suggest having to associate with me, the Sage of Nightmares, and a woman at that.

Well, it does not seem like a bad idea. I have always been alone and had no one with me, but this is a new life. Finding someone who shares similar ideals is very rare, and what's more interesting is that this woman doesn't disgust me in the least.

Fine, then. Lu Yao, I shall be your partner." Although Xue Mo didn't know how he knew that he and Lu Yao have similarities in their personality and preferences, his instincts told him to go with her. Even if things ended up in a bad situation, he would still not lose anything, but if things went accordingly, he would have found himself a partner, a friend. For the first time in his life, Xue Mo considered having a relationship with someone, and it turned out to be a woman.

'Even still, I cannot let my guard down. She might have some plans, and this is all a façade'. Even if he accepted the fact of getting a partner, his calculative self wouldn't leave him without considering the worst-case scenario.