Chapter 8: Skybound Gardens

Flying at the speed of sound was truly something he would never forget, feeling the wind in your hair and face, and seeing the ground from a bird's eye view brought a whole new meaning to life for him.

They have been flying for a couple of hours now with Yinling in the lead and occasionally having a conversation, it was mostly her explaining some of the sights they saw.

Occasionally they ran across some cultivators flying in the sky as well, some of them flying almost too fast for his eyes to see which almost made them crash from the wind force generated when passing nearby.

"Not to be that guy but are we going to take a break soon I'm getting bored" he asked Yinling.

Without looking back she answered "Our next stop is a city 10 minutes from here called Skybound Gardens and it is very special so don't freak out when you see it" 

"Humph... you think I would lose my composure over a boring city" Being a person from the modern age with towering skyscrapers and beautiful architecture, he doubted that a city that didn't even know the concept of skyscrapers could live up to his expectations.

1 minute later, in the distance, he noticed something long and dark which pierced the clouds, is the city a giant stick or something?

Soon they arrived an what he saw shocked him, in front of him was the biggest tree trunk he had ever seen in his life, just the width alone already surpassed the size of the moon from his previous world. 

Regaining his composure, he asked in a steady voice "Cough... it's better than expected but where are the people, all I see is a tree trunk".

Looking at her, he saw her pointing up which confused him, looking up he saw nothing but clouds and asked "You mean above the clouds?".

"Just follow me" she said and flew up toward the clouds.

Not one to question her knowledge he followed her. Instantly they broke through the cloud cover and what he saw left his jaw hanging off his face.

A ginormous tree that reached the heavens stood in front of him, thousands of cultivators were roaming the skies. Beautiful buildings that were carved from the tree trunks themselves. Bustling streets filled with vendors and even mortals which shocked him. How the heck did they even get up here?

He saw a huge lake carved into the wood of the tree, trees growing from the enormous branches, giant public arenas for practicing, and beautiful gardens which is where the name probably came from. 

Looking at Yinling, before he could ask she said "Let's go check in at an inn" and flew away.

Close behind her, he followed her in the direction she went. Soon they arrived at a building carved into a branch of the tree. Looking at the front of the inn he read "Mistfall haven huh..."

Going into the inn he was greeted by a bunch of cultivators at tables eating and drinking very loudly. Following Yinling they quickly arrived at the front desk where a beautiful women with golden hair greeted them.

"I assume you want the couple's room" she asked teasingly.

Looking at each other, he looked at her with nothing but contempt, the same on her end as well. 

Not that she wasn't beautiful... In fact, one could say she is drop-dead gorgeous. All this time he has been holding back from staring too much but occasionally he feasts his eyes upon her. 

"Sorry, he's just a friend but do you have two rooms available?" she asked.

"We are very sorry but we only have 1 room available" said the front desk woman.

"I see... well I guess we will go to another place" said Yinling. But before they could leave the front desk woman spoke "Before you leave, I would suggest you take this room since right now inns all around the city are fully booked since right now the city lord is hosting a local martial arts event for hundreds of cities nearby to come".

Still a little reluctant she agreed "Fine well take the room"

"That will be 2 low-grade spirit stones" she asked

Taking 2 low-grade spirit stones from her ring, she handed them over and got the keys to their room. 

"Just go up the stairs to the 4th floor to the right, it's the last room of the hall"

Nodding they went upstairs and arrived at their room. Before opening the room, Yinling looked at Jun with a serious expression and spoke "Dont get any funny ideas while we are here, you're sleeping on the ground"

While walking in he said "We don't even know if there is a couch, why do I automatically have to sleep on the ground"

Upon entering, there was a beautiful couch calling his name in the middle of the room. Finally having time to rest he sat on it "Finally... it gets tiresome just flying all the time"

They spent hours flying here so their energy right now is low and needs time to recuperate. 

Seeing Yinling walk over he closed his eyes and leaned back on the couch, but after a few seconds he felt the left side of the couch move a bit. Opening his eyes he looked over and saw her sitting down.

"For a person who wants me to sleep on the floor, you sure do like to be near me" he joked.

Hearing this, she turned to glare at him and left to the bedroom leaving him alone. 

"alass... my rizz is too good for this world"

Laying down on the couch he closed his eyes and let the darkness consume him.

Jolting awake, he noticed it was nighttime already, the moon was hanging outside of a window near him bringing in enough moonlight to see the layout of their room. 

"I must have been exhausted if I fell asleep that fast" he thought. As he was thinking about whether to cultivate a noise coming from the bedroom caught his attention.

"Strange... the only person there should be her but why is she up at this hour" he thought. Although cultivators, especially foundation establishment experts don't need to sleep, they aren't immune from being exhausted mentally. Sleep is one of the major ways to recover your mental energy as fast as possible.

Curious, he slowly floated up moving his body towards the room. Getting closer he heard the sound again but this time only louder.

Concentrating, this time he recognized what it was... it was Yinling but... she was crying?

But why was she crying? 

Hearing her cry bothered him more than he expected, although they hadn't known each other for long, they had accompanied each other in their darkest moments, when he was alone in this strange world and when she was on the verge of death.

At this point he didn't know what to do, should he open the door and comfort her or ignore her? They don't know each other on that level but he couldn't just ignore her and meet her tomorrow like nothing happened.

Lost in his thoughts, he was abruptly pulled back to the present by the sound of her crying. It was a quiet, heart-wrenching sound, her attempts to stifle her sobs with her hand only making them more noticeable. Each muffled whimper sturred something within him that he couldn't ignore. With a sense of urgency, he quickly but quietly opened the door.

Seeing her on the edge of the bed crying made him quietly approach her, sitting on the edge of the bed, he softly placed his hand on her shoulder. Seeing her terrified tear-filled eyes staring at him made his heart drop.

Something about seeing her so helpless just didn't sit right with him. Seeing her not resist his touch, he kept his hand on her all night trying his best to comfort her.