Wen Qingtian and the others saw from afar that the once impregnable Azure Dragon Base had been reduced to ruins. They all assumed it was Mingyue's doing and marveled at her power. They scrambled out of their transforming vehicles onto the ground. They saw Mingyue standing with Bajiu and Baobao, staring blankly at the dilapidated base. Mingyue exuded an aura of chilling intent, her expression as dark as water. Wen Qingtian and the others dared not approach.
"Queen Mingyue, look at this mess. It's all Shi Henian's fault for driving too slowly. I couldn't help with our affairs at all; it's not that I wasn't eager to avenge my brother. Queen Mingyue, you're truly magnificent, demolishing such a large base with a mere word. Where is that dog Zhao Wumian? Was he utterly annihilated, reduced to dust and fragments by you?"
Only Ren Jian, unafraid of death, ran forward to make his presence known, babbling incessantly to curry favor. Watching Ren Jian buzz around Mingyue like an annoying fly, everyone inexplicably held their breath for him. As expected, Mingyue's eyes flashed, and her delicate, jade-like hand struck Ren Jian. Ren Jian initially dismissed the blow, thinking Mingyue was joking, but his expression quickly changed. He felt as if an entire mountain had slammed into him with that seemingly casual slap. His strong, muscular body shot through the air like a cannonball, disappearing into the distance in a parabolic arc.
"All of you return to the base. I'm going to track down Zhao Wumian. I'll be back in a few days."
After sending Ren Jian flying, Mingyue's expression remained grim. She gave Wen Qingtian and the others a curt instruction with a poker face, then leaped onto her Qingluan and vanished into the horizon.
"What's going on? Did Zhao Wumian escape again? Bajiu, Baobao, you arrived earlier than us. Do you know what happened?"
Mingyue's sudden departure to pursue Zhao Wumian left everyone bewildered. They could only question Bajiu and Baobao, who were equally clueless. When they arrived, the Azure Dragon Base was already in this state, and they had only seen Mingyue standing motionlessly. They lacked Ren Jian's courage and dared not ask or say anything. They simply stood silently behind their sister, and soon after, Wen Qingtian and the others arrived. Since no one knew the reason, they could only follow Mingyue's instructions and return to the base. All they could do now was to guard the base in place of Ji Shiyou, so Mingyue wouldn't have to worry.
"Wait for me! Didn't you notice we're one person short in the car compared to when we arrived?" Ren Jian, who had finally managed to run back from afar, cried out tearfully as he watched the transforming vehicles and the Floating Light Palace disappear into the sky. He wailed to the heavens, thinking how insignificant and looked down upon he was for being small.
Mingyue stood atop her Qingluan, her chest filled with pent-up frustration and nowhere to release it. She had quickly reached the Azure Dragon Base, her heart burning with the desire to kill Zhao Wumian and avenge Ji Shiyou. However, she never expected to be greeted by a desolate, empty city. The Azure Dragon Base was a ruin, devoid of any people, and everything of value had vanished. Not only that, but anything that couldn't be taken was destroyed, including the buildings. The entire base showed no signs of zombie presence, so it couldn't have been a zombie horde that caused this. The air was thick with residual energy from the widespread use of abilities. Mingyue understood: Zhao Wumian must have anticipated her revenge. He had led the base's inhabitants to relocate, and with decisive action, had destroyed the Azure Dragon Base to prevent it from falling into anyone else's hands. She swore to find Zhao Wumian and tear him to shreds.
Initially, she was full of confidence. After all, with tens of thousands of people in the Azure Dragon Base, there would surely be some trace, no matter how careful they were. But after two days of searching with her Qingluan, her confidence waned. In those two days, she had scoured an area of nearly ten thousand miles, finding not a single clue. She had the Qingluan; the Azure Dragon Base did not. It was impossible for them to have escaped a thousand miles away in just two days, especially with ordinary people among them who couldn't possibly be faster than her. Zhao Wumian and the people of the Azure Dragon Base had vanished as if they had evaporated into thin air.
During her search, she discovered that the Black Tortoise Base had also disappeared, just like the Azure Dragon Base. The remnants left behind were identical to those of the Azure Dragon Base, the methods precisely the same. She searched for five days and five nights without rest, yielding nothing. Dragging her exhausted body, she returned to Cloud Dream Mountain at midnight. The base's inhabitants were all asleep. Not wanting to disturb them, she went directly to the mountaintop, to Ji Shiyou's grave.
"Ji Shiyou, I'm sorry, I couldn't avenge you. Zhao Wumian and the entire Azure Dragon Base have disappeared. But I promise you, I will find him and kill him to avenge you." She put away her Qingluan and knelt on the ground, stroking the tombstone and murmuring to herself.
"Ji Shiyou, I miss you. I'm hungry, I want to eat your handmade noodles." Tears flowed silently, unnoticed by Mingyue herself. Had she noticed, she would have held them back. After talking to Ji Shiyou for a long time, Mingyue's mood calmed somewhat. She took out a bottle of wine from her spatial storage. She wasn't a drinker, but at that moment, she craved it, wanting to use alcohol to numb her longing for Ji Shiyou. She wanted to use alcohol to numb the pain in her heart caused by Ji Shiyou's departure. She thought that perhaps if she got drunk, she could see Ji Shiyou again. She truly wanted to see him one more time, that man who had unconditionally cared for her, and to hold him again. However, her Witch Clan bloodline rendered the world's wine ineffective. The more she drank, the clearer-headed she became, her longing intensified, and her heart ached more.
"Are you the same as the moon in the Primordial Era? Can you hear me?" She looked up and saw a bright disc in the sky, the moon hanging high. Mingyue began to speak to the moon. "It seems you're not, you haven't responded at all." Mingyue was very disappointed. With a flicker of her divine sense, a moonlight filled with Taiyin energy appeared within her, enveloping her body. It was a hundred times brighter than the moonlight cast by the moon in the sky, and it seemed to carry warmth. The moonlight danced gently on her body, soothing her sorrowful heart. Mingyue felt a little better, less distressed.
When she was in the Primordial Era, she had a little secret that no one knew: in the quiet of the night, she would sneak out of her room and talk to the moon in the sky. Every day, she would tell the moon everything, both happy and unhappy. Over time, she discovered that the moon seemed to understand her words. When she was happy, the moonlight that fell upon her was joyful. When she was unhappy, the moonlight would become gentle, as if comforting her. They accompanied each other, and over time, Mingyue came to regard the moonlight that accompanied her as her best friend.