Lin Yue had imagined being carried through the sky before, sure — usually while half asleep and stressed. But she had not imagined being flung across the heavens by the Night Emperor's personal moonlight highway.
Wind tore at her hair, clouds whipped past like startled sheep, and all she could do was cling to her own dignity while Xuan Mo stood beside her completely unbothered, like they were taking a morning stroll through cosmic space.
"Must we… go this fast?" she yelled over the roaring air.
"We are not going fast," Xuan Mo said calmly.
"We're screaming across the sky!"
"The wind screams. I do not."
"Oh well thank you, that clarifies everything—"
He shifted his hand slightly. The wind vanished. Silence fell like a velvet curtain.
She blinked. "You turned off the atmosphere."
"No. I simply instructed it to move around us."
Of course. Because why not boss around gravity, weather, and basic physics?
Below them, the world parted to reveal a massive expanse of obsidian cliffs, silver waterfalls, and a floating fortress crowned with a luminous crescent. Runes stitched the sky like constellations being actively rewritten.
It was beautiful.
It was terrifying.
It was excessively dramatic.
In other words: the perfect home for Xuan Mo.
They landed before the vast gates of the Abyssal Moon Palace, each slab taller than a mountain and carved with symbols that felt like they were watching her.
A guard captain rushed forward and immediately knelt so hard his forehead probably dented the ground.
"Your Majesty! We did not expect— Is that— Is that a girl—"
Xuan Mo simply said, "Prepare the Inner Hall."
The guard swallowed. Hard. "Yes, Your Majesty. Immediately, Your Majesty. Should we also prepare—"
"She will undergo examination."
Every guard went pale.
Lin Yue's stomach flipped. "Wait. Examination? What kind of exam? Multiple choice? Oral interview? Do I get snacks?"
Xuan Mo looked at her with slow, catlike patience.
"An examination of your soul."
"Oh. Right. Great. Lovely. That's so much worse."