Having witnessed Du Xinghe’s divine methods, Xiang Zheng dared not delay and immediately presented the spirit stones with both hands.
She counted them briefly before storing them away.
Next, she requested coarse hemp rope from the village chief, infused it with spiritual power, and tied it around the Monkey Demon’s neck: “Lead the way.”
Following the monkey demon up the mountain meant entering its familiar territory. Even though it claimed to only eat fruits and vegetables without harming humans, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t suddenly attack her. The best approach was to make it weigh its own life in her hands before any malicious thoughts could arise.
“Please follow me, honored one.”
The monkey demon’s leg was injured, making its pace rather slow. It simply reverted to its true form, shedding its elegant garments and transforming from snow-white skin back into deep brown fur. Turning back with a grin that revealed a gaping maw, it said: “This form feels much more comfortable.”
“It really is just a monkey after all!”
Master Lu, unable to accept the truth of the male cross-dresser removing its disguise, let out a horrified cry before collapsing straight to the ground in a faint.
Xiang Zheng hurriedly caught him and helped him back to the house to rest.
“A misunderstanding, my adversary – I am an ape, not a monkey,”
It paused, flattering Du Xinghe: “The honored one must have seen through my true form long ago.”
“Hmm.”
Du Xinghe nodded coldly, while inwardly wondering—
So they’re actually different?
Looking closer, the ape demon’s true form lacked a tail on its rear, indeed distinguishing it from monkeys.
…
Yunshan Township featured steep and treacherous terrain with many peculiar formations. What appeared to be the second layer might actually be the fifth. The mountain where the ape demon resided lay beneath Yunshan Township – what it called “going up the mountain” appeared more like “descending” from Du Xinghe’s perspective. With trees growing exceptionally tall here, the ape demon abandoned bipedal movement altogether, using its hands to grip sturdy branches and swing between trees. Meanwhile, Du Xinghe uttered a sharp “Rise!” causing her sword to hover mid-air. She stepped onto the blade and sped forward to keep pace.
“We’re almost at my home.”
The trees ahead began thinning out, opening into a sudden clearing where an emerald stream came into view.
“Everyone come out, I’m back!”
The ape demon called out loudly, prompting a dozen young apes of varying sizes to emerge from hiding, gazing expectantly at their elder. It crouched down to explain there was no food brought back this time, and they quieted down. As the animals closest to humans, Du Xinghe could actually read disappointment on their faces.
After comforting the young ones, the ape demon stood up and said: “Forgive the undignified sight, honored one.”
“Tell me about this place.”
The ape demon respectfully complied. Through its narration, Du Xinghe learned this mountain was called Little Yun Mountain, while Big Yun Mountain was where most villagers lived under the mountain god’s protection. Both mountains enjoyed fertile land…
“Wait, mountain god?”
Du Xinghe keenly caught the key term.
In the cultivation world, mountain gods weren’t mere fictional concepts but often real entities: “Is there a temple on the mountain?”
Taking Du Xinghe’s inquiry as request, the ape demon led her to the mountain shrine on Little Yun Mountain.
“Right there.”
She followed its pointing direction.
The structure could barely qualify as a temple – barely over a meter tall, surrounded by desolate atmosphere, with wind whistling through cracked door panels. Inside, a few mud-stained spirit money notes were weighed down by stones. The ape demon explained awkwardly: “We truly have no extra food for offerings. Last month when Master Lu’s father passed away and they held funeral rites, I… borrowed a stack of spirit money.”
Du Xinghe: “If there are any offerings left in front of Master Lu’s father’s grave, it would only be because you still hold some affection for him.”
“The offerings… I brought them back for the little ones to eat.”
The ape demon lowered its head in shame.
“…”
Forget it. The living take precedence. May Master Lu’s father drink more Meng Po soup to stave off hunger on his journey.
Though it was called a mountain temple, Du Xinghe couldn’t sense any spiritual energy fluctuations within this mountain shrine.
She frowned. This was unusual.
While the spiritual energy concentration in the mortal world couldn’t compare to that in secret realms, there should still be some—even if it was so sparse that meditating here for a year would barely fill one’s Spiritual Root. Yet the area around the mountain shrine felt artificially severed from spiritual energy, deathly still.
“You have cultivation. Haven’t you noticed there’s not a trace of spiritual energy here?”
“If there’s none, then there’s none. What matters is sincerity in worship.”
The ape demon scratched the back of its head.
Even when demons took human form and possessed intelligence, their thought processes differed greatly from humans’.
After a moment’s thought, Du Xinghe exchanged with her System for one use of [Glimpse the Emperor’s Shadow] to trace intangible fortunes.
From the ape demon’s perspective, the female cultivator simply flipped her hand, and a compass with gilded patterns instantly appeared in her palm. Its eyes shone with envy—was this the legendary Magical Treasure?
“Pointing forward…”
Du Xinghe’s heart stirred. She brushed aside the paper money and slipped into the mountain shrine.
The shrine was extremely narrow. Being tall, she had to hunch her back and lower her head even to meditate inside, making it quite uncomfortable.
But soon, Du Xinghe noticed something wonderfully unusual.
Sitting here, spiritual energy subtly welled up from below—its purity and intensity rivaled what she had felt in secret realms!
Could it be that this mountain deity was the real deal?
Remembering how the Qilin had recognized the trace of Gonggong Divine Power that A Qi had summoned, Du Xinghe woke it and asked if this spiritual energy source was related to deities. Ning Lin raised its dragon head: [It’s not related to deities, nor is it the Incense Divine Path… I can’t discern it. Mother should investigate further.]
She indeed wanted to investigate further.
This was dense spiritual energy comparable to that in secret realms—highly beneficial for her cultivation progress!
However…
Du Xinghe looked up at the eagerly expectant ape demon outside. After some thought, she took out five Low-Grade Spirit Stones from her storage bag: “There’s an evil presence here. I need to go into seclusion to neutralize it. Take these spirit stones back to Great Yun Mountain to compensate the villagers for previous losses. Use what’s left to buy some provisions from Xiang Zheng to tide you over.”
The ape demon was puzzled:
“I’ve often come here before. How come I never detected any evil presence? Yunshan Township has never had any sinister occurrences all these years.”
“My cultivation is higher than yours. It’s normal you wouldn’t detect it.”
“So that’s how it is. Then I’ll trouble you, Honored One.”
The ape demon breathed a sigh of relief and gave her a grateful smile: “When I return, I’ll guard outside to protect you during your cultivation.”
Du Xinghe: “…That won’t be necessary.”
Truthfully, she just thought this was a precious cultivation spot not to be missed.
Neutralizing the evil presence was her excuse for meditating in someone else’s territory, and she already had the Qilin to protect her.
The ape demon took her at her word and, concerned about its ape descendants, said no more and set off back to Little Yun Mountain.
Once it was far away, Du Xinghe began meditating to practice the Cultivation Method of the “Rainbow Skirt Sword Sutra.”
The scattered paper money around her grew damp from her leaking spiritual energy, then developed a thin frost. It was said that high-level cultivators with wood and earth Spiritual Roots could cause withered wood to sprout anew after entering deep meditation, with lotus flowers blooming with each step they took.
But as Du Xinghe closed her eyes, the surrounding trees began to shrink and wither…
Slender threads of vitality flowed into her Qi Sea.
This cultivation session lasted a full month in the blink of an eye.
The abundant spiritual energy, endlessly absorbed by her, allowed her to break through to the second level of Foundation Establishment without any pain, and showed no signs of drying up.
What exactly was the source of this spiritual energy?
Du Xinghe was a little curious, but she decided to claim it for herself first and think about it later.