Before descending the mountain, Du Xinghe visited the ape demon and explained the situation to it with a mix of truth and fabrication, asking if it wished to follow her and learn skills.
The ape demon had never dreamed that its ancestors could possess such great power. Spirit Beasts were divided into hierarchies—creatures like the Qilin were born with intelligence upon hatching, while ape demons depended on fate. Recalling its past, it remembered both its parents were ordinary apes, at most stronger and longer-lived than their peers. Only it was different from the rest.
Seeing Du Xinghe willing to take it in, it eagerly knelt and kowtowed, cementing the master-disciple rites first, afraid she might change her mind.
Yet after kowtowing, the ape demon hesitated again: “If I leave, what will become of them?”
“Them” naturally referred to the brood of ape offspring in Little Yun Mountain.
This was a demon with loyalty and righteousness.
“The previous Corpse Refining Formation has been broken by me. Haven’t you noticed how all life on the mountain has recovered this past month? But if you’re reluctant, then forget it.”
Du Xinghe had promised the Golden Core Ape God to give it a hand, but if it was unwilling, she wouldn’t force it.
“I beg you, Master, to wait a moment. I wish to bid farewell to my wife and children.”
So, with Du Xinghe’s permission, the ape demon returned to the cave and entrusted its wife and children to the second-in-command of the troop. It asked the deputy to accept the female ape and spare its offspring’s life for its sake, leaving behind all the bananas and fruits it had stored.
For apes, this was a normal transition between old and new leaders, carrying little sentimentality.
“All settled?”
Seeing the ape demon return to her side cheerfully, Du Xinghe asked.
“Everything’s taken care of. Before, when there was no food on the mountain, I always found ways to go down and bring back supplies. He and I are sworn brothers who’ve faced life and death together. He promised to take good care of my ex-wife, ensuring she bears two children in three years and spreads our branches wide.”
Du Xinghe gave a slight twitch of her lips.
The demon spoke human language, having mingled in Yunshan Township and picked up some nonsensical idioms. Its ethical views were jumbled, reflecting a simple, natural outlook of just getting by.
“Speaking of which, I never asked your name.”
Just as Du Xinghe was about to enlist the ape demon into her entourage, she realized she hadn’t inquired about its name.
“I don’t have a name. Please give me one, Master.”
Du Xinghe wasn’t skilled at naming either. She opened the System and silently asked if it had a name generator.
A second later, she stared silently at a screen filled with options like “Chunxiang,” “Xiaxiang,” “Qiuxiang,” “Dongxiang,” “Siqin,” and so on.
The vibe was too strong—Du Xinghe could come up with a basketful of palace maid names following this pattern.
After a moment’s thought, Du Xinghe named it Shenshui, drawing from the “Shen Water Ape” among the White Tiger’s seven mansions. The ape demon didn’t understand the meaning, but it felt that having a name set it apart from millions of other apes, filling it with joy.
“Shenshui, Shenshui, Shenshui…”
“Stop chanting. Get on.”
Du Xinghe formed a hand seal, lightly stepped onto the sword hovering before her, and pulled Shenshui up behind her.
It had transformed into the appearance of the former Lu Family Concubine, but without a stitch of clothing, which was rather hard on the eyes. She told it to keep its distance on the flying sword: “You don’t need to serve Master Lu anymore, so you don’t have to take a woman’s form.”
“If I turned into a man, Master would probably kick me off the sword.”
Shenshui said shrewdly.
It had a bit of animal instinct in it.
Du Xinghe thought it over and found it reasonable, so she stopped worrying about it: “I’ll find you some clothes in Yunshan Township to wear for now. Bear with it a little longer.”
“It’s alright, Master, I don’t mind.”
Du Xinghe: “But my eyes mind very much.”
Shenshui didn’t seem to fully understand the purpose of clothing for modesty. Previously, it wore bright colors to attract Master Lu. If given the choice, it preferred thick winter clothing for warmth, prioritizing practicality:
“Then I’ll trouble Master to take me back to the Lu Family once. All my clothes are there.”
Those in the Lu residence were all women’s clothing.
Du Xinghe paused: “As long as you’re properly dressed, I won’t drive you away even if you transform into a man.”
But Shenshui had noticed that when it took on a female appearance, its master would show it more leniency.
Little did it know that its master was already registering it in her follower list—
[Acquired one palace maid, obtained +100 points!]
…
After hearing the whole story, A Qi became even more upset: “The master even gave it a name!”
“You have the name your parents gave you…”
“My parents sold me off. When I entered the path of cultivation, I severed all previous ties. Please give me a Daoist name, Master.”
It was reasonable for a master to give a disciple their Daoist name.
Du Xinghe decided to follow the celestial constellations. Since A Qi was a girl, she wanted to choose a pleasant-sounding one and selected Xinyue: “The essence of the Heart constellation belongs to fire, taking the form of a fire fox, which just happens to contrast with your Spiritual Root.””
Learning that Du Xinghe was willing to take her as a disciple and receiving her Daoist name, Xinyue was overjoyed:
“Master has worked hard. Let me heat water for your bath.”
With that, Xinyue busied herself. During this period, she had grown accustomed to handling daily chores with one hand, and soon prepared a full bucket of slightly hot water for her master. Du Xinghe asked how her training was progressing and if there were any hindrances.
Xinyue thought for a moment: “…When refining Qi and circulating energy, it seems to take less time than Master mentioned?”
After all, when spiritual energy circulated through her body, it had one less arm’s pathway to travel.
Du Xinghe removed her clothes and sat in the wooden tub.
Noticing the injury on her shoulder, Xinyue expressed surprise and concern, offering to try healing her.
“You can try, but your cultivation is still shallow. If there’s no effect, don’t be discouraged.”
Du Xinghe recalled how Xinyue’s previous attempt at healing had nearly frozen her into a corpse.
Xinyue gently pressed her hand on Du Xinghe’s shoulder, clumsily channeling her limited spiritual energy into it using the healing method included in the “Rainbow Skirt Sword Sutra,” of which she had only learned the most basic aspects.
After all, without her right hand, she couldn’t wield a sword either.
A cool sensation seeped in, making Du Xinghe feel as comfortable as if she had received painkillers. The pain actually subsided significantly. But after just this short while, Xinyue’s face had turned pale, and she was sweating profusely. Du Xinghe quickly stopped her: “Enough, stop healing.”
“But Master isn’t fully recovered yet!”
Xinyue insisted.
Du Xinghe pinched her cheek, preventing her from continuing to circulate energy: “Before I fully recover, you’ll collapse from exhaustion.”
After resting briefly in the room and changing into fresh clothes, Du Xinghe allowed Shenshui inside to teach him the Rakshasa Staff Technique. However, she kept a card up her sleeve, not revealing anything about the Rakshasa Staff itself. She didn’t engage in transactions without returns—if she poured out all the benefits at the beginning, no one would remember the favor.
After learning that the calamity at Little Cloud Mountain originated from a human cultivator, Shenshui also yearned to possess such power and began training gratefully.
Cultivation was arduous, a stark contrast to the carefree days it had spent eating, drinking, and sleeping on the mountain.
But Shenshui insisted it could endure the hardship, saying, “Many cubs starved to death on the mountain before. They say that cultivator pursued cultivation for a reason—I want to see what makes it so great. I too seek immortality. And what about you, Master?”
Du Xinghe swept her damp hair back, flicking her fingers to dry and fluff it instantly.
“I’ve been the fish on the chopping block for too long; now I want to try being the cleaver.”
…
The next morning, Du Xinghe bid farewell to Xiang Zheng and his family. Before leaving, she pinched Ya’er’s thin cheek, eliciting a resentful yet subdued expression that, for once, amused her.
With no room for three on her sword, Du Xinghe bought three horses for the journey.
Xinyue was flustered: “I can just walk alongside the horses—how could I let you spend so much, Master?”
Shenshui, robust and tireless, had no issue with walking.
Du Xinghe ignored them and made the purchase anyway.
For one, three horses weren’t expensive; for another, she couldn’t bear the image of herself riding a horse while a monkey trotted alongside—it would make her feel like some eminent monk.
“Where are we heading next, Master?”
Du Xinghe replied, “To establish my own sect.”
She needed a tranquil place to cultivate and experiment with her ideas.
Back when she rented a cave dwelling at the merchant guild’s outpost, she’d joked about hiring a monkey as a guard—little did she know it would come true.
(Making a bet with a male-oriented novel friend about December update quotas—Quebao can’t imagine how diligent she’ll be (though every update is written on the spot, burning out daily). So eager to unleash a burst of updates!)