A Strange Journey to the Heavenly Palace Part 2

“Do you want to go see that medicine-pounding Moon Rabbit?”

Xun Xue mistook Lu Qiancha’s curiosity for the Moon Rabbit up ahead and, with a smile on her face, took her hand and said, “Come on, I’ll take you for a look.
This kind of rabbit is even more well-behaved than the last one, oh, and its fur feels like cool jade.
You can touch it as you please~”

With that, the two of them arrived in front of the medicine-pounding Moon Rabbit.

The cold, medicinal fragrance emanating from the pestle grew stronger.

Lu Qiancha’s curiosity was piqued.
She couldn’t help but walk to the side of the stone mortar, stand on her tiptoes, stretch her neck, and peer inside with all her might.
Unfortunately, her height was a critical flaw; her view was completely blocked by the high walls of the mortar.

“Ngh… what kind of medicine is this?”

Just as the question left her lips, the next second—

“Whoa!”

A familiar warm current enveloped her waist and legs.
Lu Qiancha’s body was instantly lifted into the air, her perspective forcibly raised.

She had been picked up by Xun Xue again.

Looking down from above, she could finally see clearly inside the stone mortar—

A fine, cloud-like, pure powder emitted a cold, jade-like radiance.
As the jade ball stirred, tiny yellow, star-like motes of medicinal qi would occasionally escape.

“Jiji! Ji!”

The jade rabbit pounding the medicine stopped its work, tilted its head, and its large, crystal-clear, glass-like eyes looked curiously at the pair of suddenly “elevated” visitors, letting out a few low, unintelligible chirps.

From its appearance, it seemed to be answering Lu Qiancha’s earlier question.

Unfortunately, Lu Qiancha couldn’t understand what it was saying.

“This is Moon Essence Powder, a healing medicine.”

Xun Xue answered.

“?”

Lu Qiancha tilted her head up and looked at Xun Xue with a face full of confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

Xun Xue was equally confused.

“Mother, can you understand what this rabbit is saying?”

Lu Qiancha tilted her head and asked.

“Ahem!”

Xun Xue almost broke character and burst out laughing.

Of course, she couldn’t understand what the rabbit was chirping about, but she recognized the medicine.

But at this moment, Xun Xue looked at her daughter’s innocent and adoring expression…

Suddenly, a mischievous idea began to ferment in her mind~

Xun Xue immediately straightened her face, her deep blue eyes filled with certainty and seriousness, and she slowly nodded.
“Yes, I can understand it.”

“!”

The expression on Lu Qiancha’s face was more shocked than if a certain grim reaper elementary schooler had announced the end of his series.

But on second thought, Xun Xue was a Celestial Immortal and a member of the demon clan.
It wasn’t that strange for her to know a bit of animal language.

“Jiji?” The Moon Rabbit pharmacist saw that they weren’t moving and chirped twice, as if urging them on.

Lu Qiancha came back to her senses.
With a bit of reserve, she blinked her large eyes at the medicine-pounding Moon Rabbit and said politely, “Excuse me, may I take a little of this medicinal powder?”

“Jiji!”

The Moon Rabbit chirped twice.

Couldn’t understand.

Lu Qiancha turned her head to look at her “translator.”

“Ahem!”

Xun Xue, fully in character, cleared her throat, listened with great solemnity, and then translated with a smile, “Mm… this medicine-pounding Moon Rabbit says, seeing that your foundation is pure and remarkable, you are… uh… a promising seedling for medicine refining! It has specially permitted you to take a little Moon Essence Powder back to study.”

After saying this, Xun Xue was laughing so hard on the inside she was cramping.
Anyway, there was plenty of this medicinal powder in the Moon Palace, so taking a little bit was no big deal.

“Really?!” Lu Qiancha’s eyes lit up, not a shred of doubt in her heart.

“Okay! Thank you, Moon Rabbit!” She quickly jumped down from Xun Xue’s arms, trotted to the side of the stone mortar, and nimbly stepped onto a protruding ledge.

She took out a small cloth bag, reached in with her little paw, and unceremoniously scooped out a large spoonful of the white medicinal powder.

“Jii—jii—!!!”

The medicine-pounding Moon Rabbit, which had been docile and amiable just a moment ago, suddenly erupted in a heaven-shattering, sharp, and angry screech.

Its crystalline jade fur stood on end like silver needles, and the immense aura of a peak Golden Core realm expert exploded forth.
The muscles in its two front paws bulged.

“Whoosh—!!!”

The mountain-heavy medicine-pounding pestle, with a terrifying whistle, came crashing down toward Lu Qiancha’s little head.

“Insolence!”

Xun Xue’s reaction was also incredibly fast.
A cold light flashed in her eyes, and her jade-like fingers quickly formed a seal.

“Freeze!”

A bolt of immortal energy, as condensed as a solid object and emitting a bone-chilling, ice-blue divine radiance, shot out, arriving first despite being launched second.

“Om—!”

It accurately wrapped around the terrifying pestle that was halfway down and the enraged jade rabbit.

The jade rabbit, along with the weapon in its hand, was instantly frozen on the spot.

The huge, heavy jade pestle was now less than three inches from Lu Qiancha’s smooth forehead!

The biting wind it generated even messed up the bangs on her forehead.

“…….”

Lu Qiancha stiffly turned her neck, first glancing at the huge pestle head so close she could almost feel the chill of the jade, then slowly turned her gaze to Xun Xue at her side, her little face filled with speechlessness.

‘If I hadn’t used a spiritual shield to block, with my small frame, one blow would probably have hurt for a long time.’

“Ahem, ahem.”

Xun Xue coughed dryly a few times, then turned back to her daughter with a straight face, a very friendly smile on her face, and explained with great solemnity, “Ahem, Mama didn’t hear everything just now.
Actually, what this Moon Rabbit was saying is…”

She pointed at the huge pestle frozen in mid-air.
“It wants to give you this ancestral medicine-pounding pestle as a souvenir to take home.”

“Hiss!”

Lu Qiancha leaned back slightly at these words.
‘This mother of mine, she doesn’t even blink when she tells a lie.’

Skipping over this little episode, Lu Qiancha still chose not to snatch the big rabbit’s livelihood.
Before leaving, she even returned the Moon Essence Powder she had taken.

She was no robber.
If others wouldn’t give it to her, she naturally wouldn’t take it without permission.

As the two of them drew closer to the main structure of the majestic Guanghan Palace, the number of leisurely Moon Rabbits and Golden Toads around them visibly decreased.

However, the aura that could be felt from each one was like a continuously stacking mountain peak, climbing higher and higher, becoming more and more profound and terrifying.

As they passed through a small, shaded path filled with a faint purple star mist.

Plop!

Lu Qiancha’s figure suddenly sank, her blue fur almost standing on end.

A powerful pressure instantly enveloped her.

The source of the pressure was actually a small, white-furred rabbit, lying on the ground, lazily dozing.

Its size was only slightly smaller than the previous medicine-picking rabbit, but its aura was clearly the majesty that only a Mahayana realm demon venerable could possess.

Almost at the same time—

“Om~”

Accompanied by an extremely faint hum of immortal energy, a transparent shield as thin as a cicada’s wing instantly enveloped Lu Qiancha from head to toe.
The terrifying external pressure was isolated by the invisible barrier and instantly vanished.

“Phew…” Lu Qiancha felt the pressure disappear and let out a long sigh of relief, her tightly knitted brows quietly relaxing.
However, she did not immediately move away from her position pressed close to Xun Xue.

The two continued forward, and soon, the main hall of the Guanghan Palace, which seemed to be carved from billions of years of cold ice, soared into the sky, emitting an endless aura of proud and cold solitude, was within reach.

In front of the main hall, there were no stone lions standing guard.

Instead, there were two crimson-eyed golden toads, crimson-gold all over, shaped like millstones, with thick limbs, squatting on cold jade lotus pedestals.

Their eyes were like two blazing, blood-red golden lamps.
Their bodies were covered in dense, crimson-gold scales, reflecting the icy light of the cold palace, as if they were clad in divine armor.

Merely by squatting there, they emitted a profound and immeasurable pressure.

Lu Qiancha felt the pressure multiply.
The paw she was using to hold Xun Xue’s large hand tightened unconsciously.

Xun Xue, however, seemed to ignore this scene.

She led Lu Qiancha, her steps composed, up the nine steps of the cold jade staircase and came before the two toad venerables, who were like crimson-gold statues.

Her smile was tinged with a familiar playfulness.
“Zhao Cai! Jin Bao! Are the two venerables well?~ Would you trouble yourselves to announce me to Sister Yuanjun?”

Her voice was very clear, breaking the frozen, cold air in front of the gate.