After Cyrus threw a tantrum, Ace decided not to tease him anymore and agreed to give him 'food' that he liked. Whether they discovered it or not was a whole different matter, though.
Nevertheless, Ace put the little guy on his shoulder before activating a grade-7 formation which cost him fewer precious Qi stones, and then he fell into a meditative state while waiting for the system scan to be complete.
However, just fifteen minutes later, the silver sand around Ace suddenly started to tremble, breaking his focus.
'What's happening?' Ace frowned as the tremor was clearly growing with every moment. He quickly opened the fate map to see what was happening.
Ace's eyes went wide at this moment when he saw hundreds or probably over a thousand red fate points charging right at his position.
'Am I exposed?' Ace thought grimly as he looked toward the silver sand dunes, but he clearly couldn't see anything coming his way. Instead, the sand under him was churning like crazing, and then it suddenly hit him before Cyrus exclaimed.
"Wow, so many worms!" Cyrus cried in alarm at this moment.
Ace's heart sank as he instantly reacted, and a sword appeared under his feet, and he flew off the sand before he looked at Cyrus, "You can see them?"
Cyrus strangely shook his head before replying proudly, "What there to see? Only worms move underground! I've learned it!"
Ace rolled his eyes, "There are many things that can crawl underground, not just worms. It seemed you only remembered worms and forgot about others."
"It's not true!" Cyrus chirped in protest, but a hint of panic was apparent in his eyes like a child whose secret had been exposed.
Ace was really out of words and wondered if he was spoiling him too much. Nevertheless, there were more pressing matters than worrying about the little guy's education.
Looking down, the silver sand seemed to be moving like sea waves, and he couldn't help but think those ripples were all directed in his direction. But he couldn't make sense of it since there were thousands of enemies all at once.
How can they target him, a person who has just appeared in this place?
Furthermore, the surrounding temperature suddenly plummeted as those mysterious attackers grew closer and closer.
Ace was still mulling over this strange turn of events when an ethereal, imposing voice rang from the purple sky.
"Heretic! Surrender yourself to the will of the Sun and Moon!"
Ace fluttered as a chill ran down his spine as he looked up in shock, 'Don't tell me...'
Ace had a terrible feeling about this when he remembered the feather's last words and couldn't help but think that this voice might belong to another entity like the talking feather.
Nevertheless, he didn't reply as he was still in stealth, and he even took the grade-8 formation again to strengthen it further. Thereafter, Ace used the sword to fly swiftly. He wanted to escape this place.
But right at this moment, the same voice rang, "Hmph! You dare to use the Windfall of Space Formation in front of me! Have you forgotten from where you got that formation, you sacrilegious mortal!"
Just as the voice trailed off, the ripple under the sand turned in the same direction where he was heading.
Ace's heart palpitated when he heard this rageful yet disdain-filled remark, 'Damn it! It's really the guardian of this realm like that devious feather. So, even a grade-8 formation is useless!'
In the end, Ace calmed his panicked heart and stopped using formation and stealth, revealing himself.
While looking at the sky, he respectfully saluted and said dryly, "Sun Chaser and Moon Seeker, White, greet the mighty Moon Secret Realm Guardian. It seemed we have a misunderstanding between us!"
Ace appeared extremely polite and innocent, but he was growing nervous because, in the fate map, he could see the red fate points were growing as more and more were coming like a swarm of ants, almost dying the fate map in red.
The entire silver sand now seemed to be moving at a startling pace, just an ocean!
"You dare to profane the name of the Sun and Moon! Even ten thousand deaths won't be enough for what you did to the Sun Mountain, and now you took your blasphemous feet into the Moon Mountain. How bold! A mortal wants to defy the will of heaven. Only annihilation can erase your sin!"
Ace's expression went cold, especially when he heard the last part, but he hadn't lost his composure over it.
"How could I, Senior? I think there has been a misunderstanding. The truth is senior Sun Realm Guardian found my potential to his liking and worthy of carrying the mission of Sun and Moon God!
"That's why Senior decided to give away his life for me, and I will be forever in debt to him and carrying the will of Sun and Moon till my last breath!" Ace declared without any hint of discomfort.
"Hmph, sacrilegious mortal, your tricks won't work on me! You shall be obedient and surrender, and I shall grant you a painless death! Resist, and you will know the wrath of heaven!" The oppressive voice coldly stated.
"Tsk, you're determined to kill me, huh?" Ace's tone suddenly changed, "Well, it is a bummer that I can't rest. Whatever, but let me ask you this since you aren't here yourself, does this mean you can't come here, or are you afraid of my little friend here?
"Or could it be since I was able to enter this space, and despite knowing the threat I posed, you still didn't close it? This could only mean you are still bound by rules. Or should I say you calling me a heretic or believer had nothing to do with this token?
"So, as long as I'm qualified and have my token, I can still take those trials since they were designed this way, and you can do nothing but sit on your ass in the final trial and wait for my arrival before I kill you as I did with your friend..."
"Shut up!" The voice boomed with boundless fury, "Let me show you why you should not go against the flow, O' sacrilegious mortal!" n.-0ve1b1n
The next moment, thousands of one-meter-long purple worms crawled out f silver sand with sharp claw mouths, and they had thin translucent wings. They flapped their wings, creating buzzing sounds, and directly swarmed toward Ace like an unstoppable wind wave.
"Going against the flow is kind of my specialty..." Ace sneered while looking at the sea of strange worms coming his way to swallow him whole.
He chuckled with killing intent before transmitting his voice, "It seemed you were right about them being worms. Now, I give you the permission to burn them all!"