Du Xinghe was taken aback.
She had originally thought that with Lu Youwei setting up arrays and establishing a temple here, any hidden mechanisms or dangers in the Golden Core Ape Corpse should have long been tested by him. But matters of luck were never certain.
Yet after a moment of tension, Du Xinghe’s brows and eyes relaxed.
She already had a thirty percent plan in mind.
“Why aren’t you speaking?”
At that moment, something even stranger occurred—the voice sounded again, but its source came from the sky. She looked up to see the sky transforming into an extremely clear and transparent well, ripples spreading across its surface as a massive ape face emerged from the water, silently gazing down at her.
It was evident that this Golden Core Ape God had long been dead. It wasn’t in a living state but resembled something like a Golden Core Projection—a lingering wisp of aura remaining in the world.
Within two short breaths, multiple contingency plans flashed through her mind.
Finally, Du Xinghe steadied herself and said, “This junior Du Xinghe was entrusted by an ape demon to investigate the situation on Little Cloud Mountain. I discovered that a cultivator who strayed onto an unorthodox path built a Mountain God Temple upon your remains and set up arrays attempting to refine your corpse, causing suffering to all living beings on Little Cloud Mountain. After confronting and battling him to the death, I have restored peace to your resting place.”
The gap in their cultivation realms was too vast. Even if it was merely a projection, she dared not underestimate it.
After careful consideration, Du Xinghe decided to speak the truth, though she employed subtle wording to make herself appear truly loyal and righteous.
The Golden Core Ape God remained silent, seemingly scrutinizing the veracity of her words.
Little Cloud Mountain was entirely within its grasp—Du Xinghe’s conversation with the ape demon had been clearly observed by it, matching her account perfectly. Moreover, it was ultimately just a projection.
Besides, even with awakened intelligence, Golden Core experts who fought their way up among Spirit Beasts were often rich in combat experience but far less cunning than deceitful humans.
The best lies were eighty percent truth.
Immense pressure enveloped Du Xinghe, making her heartbeat accelerate and breathing difficult—half from survival instinct’s fear, half from excitement. Such a powerful Golden Core projection—even obtaining a fragment from it would bring her tremendous benefits.
After what felt like half a century, a mournful sigh finally echoed from above:
“My descendant is actually so useless! What shame!”
“After all I left for it, such an unworthy descendant.”
The Golden Core Ape God began complaining:
“Eh? Did I leave anything? Can’t quite remember. But since it gained intelligence, it must be my blood relative after all. Can’t let it starve to death, but selling itself downhill for mere scraps—too shameful.”
Though Spirit Beasts held no concept of chastity, mounting among animals represented power dynamics, and the Golden Core Ape God grew displeased.
Then, its muttering ceased as it fixed its gaze on Du Xinghe.
“Young friend.”
Du Xinghe responded promptly, “Senior, please command me as you wish.”
“You’ve helped it twice and killed the array-setting cultivator for me. Help me once more,”
Its snow-white fur drifted like aquatic grass in the sky, crimson eyes narrowing slightly. “Go kill every last member of the Lu Family. Wash clean the humiliation my descendant suffered, help me reclaim my dignity, and I shall grant you an opportunity.The low voice reverberated through the valley.
Du Xinghe’s expression froze.
Cultivators wandering everywhere already carried their heads on their belts—death was nothing unusual.
But ordinary people are different. They live the most mundane lives, untouched by the benefits of cultivation, and end up like residents of Gotham City—supervillains kill ordinary people, superheroes accidentally damage their property while saving the world, and they become mere ingredients to make the scene appear more tragic and grand.
Just moments ago, while listening, Du Xinghe frantically scoured the System mall, searching for items that could aid her. Finally, with her rapid scanning, she found something usable.
【Affinity Talisman】: After using it on a target of your thoughts, it will confuse their perception of you for ten days, making them believe you share a kinship. This talisman is suitable for hosts from poor backgrounds seeking a better origin story, allowing them to be recognized as long-lost descendants by various princes and dukes.
For ethical reasons, it is not recommended for hosts to use this talisman to secure a royal household registration for a child conceived with a lover.
Du Xinghe was overjoyed.
The talisman’s effect lasts only ten days, so it’s cheap. It seemed designed merely to secure a noble background—once you enter the palace under a prestigious identity, even if the prince or duke regains clarity, you’ll already be established as a consort, and they’ll have no choice but to accept it.
This suited her perfectly.
After all, she didn’t actually want to acknowledge kinship with the Golden Core Ape God—she just wanted to scrape together some benefits.
A rogue cultivator must learn from a hundred schools—there’s no shame in that.
“Speaking of which, Senior and I share some fate,” Du Xinghe said, crushing the Affinity Talisman and persuading the other party as quickly as possible. “The Lu Family showed it kindness by offering food, and committing slaughter hinders cultivation. Instead of wiping out the entire Lu Family, why not let Master Lu alone bear the consequences? Sleep with him to set things right and cleanse the humiliation! Moreover, it may be useless, but I am capable. Any opportunities or treasures should come to me—I’ll teach it later.”
The Golden Core Projection in the sky flickered with a moment of confusion.
Somehow, it found the cultivator before it much more endearing.
It was merely a lingering obsession left by the main body, not as thorough in its considerations as a Golden Core cultivator, and only wished to assist when encountering a fated descendant. “But you are human.”
“But setting aside race, can’t Senior and I still be relatives?”
“…”
The Golden Core Projection grew even more perplexed.
It scrutinized Du Xinghe carefully and raised a suspicious point: “You have no fur.”
Du Xinghe lifted her long hair. “It’s all on my head.”
It was convinced once again.
Du Xinghe speculated that the System operated on rules far beyond the Golden Core stage, but she didn’t dare test its limits. Otherwise, she’d simply find a way to claim kinship all the way up to a Great Ascension Stage expert. The fear was that such an expert might see through her scheme and obliterate her on the spot.
“Very well, you do seem more promising than that unfilial descendant, worthy of my true teachings.”
With that, the ground began to rumble violently.
Du Xinghe steadied herself and saw a massive fissure splitting open among the corpses beneath her feet, revealing a snow-white long pillar covered in strange patterns, with flesh and blood clinging to it. “This is my Rakshasa Staff, along with the Rakshasa Staff Sutra—I pass them all to you. That cultivator thought my corpse was quite useful, didn’t he? It’s yours to handle now. But since you said earlier that you’d teach it later, you must teach it properly—don’t complain if it’s slow.”
“Wait…!”
Only after the Golden Core Projection spoke did Du Xinghe realize it wasn’t a pillar at all!
Come to think of it, given the Golden Core Ape God’s massive size, this would indeed make a perfectly weighted staff for it. But how was she supposed to use it? She wasn’t exactly a staff wielder… Before she could voice her doubts, a stream of light shot into her Divine Sense, completing the transmission of the technique.
“Senior!”
By the time Du Xinghe looked up again, the sky had returned to normal.
Silence enveloped the surroundings as if everything had been an illusion.
“No, it wasn’t an illusion.”
She gazed at the ape corpse’s torn-open chest cavity, where a staff lay quietly, though significantly reduced in size. She stepped forward, pulled the staff from the flesh and blood, and washed it in the underground river. What the Ape God left her wasn’t just the staff technique, but also the story of how it obtained this true inheritance. The Rakshasa Staff had been borrowed by it from the Compassion Sea west of Pingyun Continent, with a promise to return it after a hundred years.
Doing the math, the deadline was approaching.
“But the staff was borrowed by the Ape God. What does that have to do with me, a human cultivator?”
Du Xinghe stored the Rakshasa Staff in her storage bag.
The original formation for refining the ape corpse had been destroyed, but since the Golden Core Ape God willingly left its body to her, she could still benefit from its residual power before it completely dissipated by cultivating nearby.
She sat cross-legged in meditation, circulating her Cultivation Method.
The century-old corpse, once impervious to wind, rain, and insects, now hosted countless tiny creatures burrowing inside. It decomposed at an astonishing rate, dissolving and merging with the earth, nourishing the land anew. It had achieved its wish of becoming an oasis for Little Yun Mountain, its spiritual energy returning to heaven and earth.
And Du Xinghe became the greatest beneficiary of this whale fall.
A month later, she reluctantly rose to her feet.
“Even someone as powerful as a late Golden Core stage cultivator can die, and their spiritual energy returns to heaven and earth. Does that mean when I absorb spiritual energy to cultivate, I’m borrowing power from the Heavenly Dao?”
“Then I’d better borrow as much as possible and repay it after death.”
…
Midnight in Yunshan Township found every household’s lights extinguished, its residents deep in sleep.
A Qi, staying in Xiang Zheng’s house, was practicing the energy-gathering Cultivation Method her master had taught her.
After Du Xinghe’s long absence, Xiang Zheng had begun to suspect she might have died out there, though he didn’t say it aloud. Seeing that A Qi ate little and spent her days meditating and cultivating, he hadn’t considered driving her away. After all, cultivators often entered seclusion without regard for time. What if the immortal master returned to find her disciple expelled and killed them all in anger?
Better to keep her—she didn’t cost much in food anyway.
A Qi’s heart was troubled with fear she dared not voice. Sold by her family and treated as a premium Cauldron by the Xuan Kingdom, she had nowhere to return to, clinging desperately to Du Xinghe as her savior.
In the midst of her turmoil, a dark shadow blotted out the moonlight from the window.
A Qi, who had been cultivating, opened her eyes alertly. “Who’s there?”
“It’s me.”
With a snap of fingers, light filled the room, illuminating the visitor’s face—none other than the Du Xinghe she’d been thinking of day and night.
“Master!”
A Qi stared in disbelief before erupting in ecstatic joy. She scrambled forward on hands and knees, throwing her arms around Du Xinghe while sobbing uncontrollably. “You’re safe! What would I do without you?”
“Alright, I’m not dead. I’ll remember to bring you along next time.”
“Wherever you go from now on, I’ll follow. Even if it’s just to take a blade for you.”
During this touching reunion, a shadow emerged from behind Du Xinghe and awkwardly said, “Um… and me too.”
A Qi looked over through tear-blurred eyes and was astonished to see that it was the ape demon transformed into the Lu Family Concubine.
“Does this have anything to do with you?” A Qi wiped away her tears, puzzled.
“Yes, yes! I’ve been accepted as Master Du’s disciple.”
“…”
At that moment, A Qi and the Lu Family master reached a perfect agreement in their thoughts—
They should have killed this damned monkey earlier!
A Qi: Damn it, why? Why? Why did it turn out like this? Clearly, I was the one who came first!