The night before Wen Shuangbai and her group of five arrived at the valley, not too far away in a cave, the healer of Yu Xiaoxiao's team was refining fasting pills.
After their conflict with Li Zhuohua that day, their journey had been far from smooth. Lu Ying, in particular, had been in a foul mood, his face perpetually dark, casting a heavy atmosphere over the entire team.
Lu Ying was the eldest legitimate son of the Lu family, the next head of the household. From a young age, he had displayed exceptional talent, especially in the art of formations and divination. Even sword cultivators, widely regarded as the strongest fighters on the Xuantian Continent, often found themselves trapped in his formations.
Yet, to his shock, Li Zhuohua had not only broken his formation but also snatched away the dragonflame serpent demon core they had spent so long searching for.
Humiliated in front of everyone, Lu Ying felt utterly disgraced.
As the highest-ranking cultivator in the team, the others tread carefully around him—except for Yu Xiaoxiao, who remained unafraid. She leaned close, whispering playful words to cheer him up.
Lu Ying sighed. "Xiaoxiao, I just blame myself for letting you get hurt."
Yu Xiaoxiao smiled. "It’s fine, Brother Lu Ying. My injuries healed ages ago… Oh! Brother Lu Ying, look—what’s that?"
In the grass not far away, a pair of rabbit ears flickered in and out of sight.
Yu Xiaoxiao stood up and trotted over, parting the grass to reveal a lively little rabbit. Unfortunately, it was injured—likely by some monkey-like demon beast—its wounds still bleeding, staining half its body red.
Strangely, the rabbit seemed to take an immediate liking to Yu Xiaoxiao. Instead of fleeing, it nuzzled against her, its eyes pleading for help.
Her heart softened, and she scooped it up, carrying it to the team’s healer. "Senior Brother, this poor rabbit is hurt. Can you help treat it?"
The healer hesitated.
With so many injured team members lately, he had been busy refining medicines and healing, draining much of his spiritual energy. He was already stretched thin.
More importantly, they hadn’t gathered many spirit herbs recently. If he used their limited supplies on a rabbit, what would they do if someone else got injured later?
"Junior Sister, it’s not that I don’t want to help, but—"
Before he could finish, Lu Ying shot him a cold glare and cut in decisively. "If Xiaoxiao says treat it, then treat it."
---
According to the texts, the Taihua Stone, as a rare spiritual treasure, did not attack humans like demon beasts. Instead, it actively avoided them.
Thus, they were exceptionally skilled at hiding.
A treasure like the Taihua Stone, capable of sustaining an entire secret realm, could even create its own pocket dimension and conceal itself within.
In the original story, the protagonist’s team had relied on that rabbit to guide them inside effortlessly.
Now, without the rabbit’s guidance, Wen Shuangbai and her group were left staring helplessly at the vicinity of the Taihua Stone, unable to find the entrance despite knowing it was nearby.
What a tragedy.
Wen Shuangbai sighed. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been transmigrated for long and hadn’t yet made progress in formation techniques. She turned to Shen Hefeng. "This is a spatial formation, right? Are you really telling me there’s no way to crack it?"
Shen Hefeng’s gaze drifted away. "Well, to put it bluntly, I excel in divination—even Lu Ying can’t compare to me there. But talismans and formations…" He paused, searching for the right words. "Let’s just say they clash with my destiny. Got it?"
Wen Shuangbai: "..."
Bro, you’re just admitting you’re bad at it.
Xie Ziyin, the straight-A scholar who had never struggled with any subject, immediately mocked, "Just say you can’t learn it."
Shen Hefeng bristled, ready to fight, but Lu Jiayao—who had just finished washing their senior brother’s silver hair—hurried over to pull him back. "Brother Shen! Patience! Let’s secure first place first—settle this outside!"
Xie Ziyin mused, then said thoughtfully, "I believe you must have read about this in books or heard the elders lecture on it. You’ve just forgotten."
Shen Hefeng scoffed. "No kidding."
Spatial formations were a crucial branch of formation studies—of course the elders had covered it.
Xie Ziyin’s lips curled into a faint smile. His usually cold peach-blossom eyes suddenly took on a mesmerizing glint. "I might be able to help you remember. Would you like to try, Brother Shen?"
"?" The last time this poison doctor had spoken like this, he’d wanted to test toxins on Shen Hefeng’s soul-absorbing banner. Shen Hefeng instantly refused. "No thanks!"
Wen Shuangbai, however, was intrigued. "Oh? Do tell."
"Generally speaking, everything you’ve seen or heard is stored in your mind." Xie Ziyin, a former neurosurgeon in his past life, hadn’t performed surgery in a while. His fingers tapped lightly against his thigh, his tone calm, but his words sent chills down Shen Hefeng’s spine. "Lend me one of your Thousand-Leaf Needles. I’ll guide it into your brain and stimulate certain areas. You might recall then."
Shen Hefeng: "..."
Wen Shuangbai hummed, glancing at him. "You sure you don’t want to try?"
To be fair, setting aside his personality, this antagonist’s medical skills were genuinely impressive in the original story.
Shen Hefeng: "…………"
He immediately retreated several steps, putting as much distance as possible between himself and the two. "No need! I’ll remember on my own!"
Wen Shuangbai shook her head. Xie Ziyin sighed softly.
---
For five days, they had traveled almost nonstop, with little rest.
The bad news? Even after arriving, they were stumped.
The good news? They’d gotten here before the protagonist’s team. If all else failed, they could just lie in wait and ambush them.
Xie Ziyin set up his cauldron to refine pills, while Wen Shuangbai crafted small, handy artifacts from demon beast claws, fangs, and hides.
The other three rested—they simply couldn’t keep up with these two’s stamina.
Before dozing off, Lu Jiayao muttered, "Do they even need sleep? How are they still going? I’m completely spent."
Xie Ziyin was used to it. As a doctor, pulling all-nighters had been routine.
Wen Shuangbai, in her past life, had studied computer science to make money. After graduating, she’d joined the gaming industry as a programmer—where 24/7 work schedules were considered a blessing.
Without Shen Hefeng and Lu Jiayao’s chatter to lighten the mood, the two worked in silence, neither acknowledging the other, as if speaking first would make them the loser.
The sky darkened, the moon rising above the willow branches.
A small stream trickled through the valley, its waters chiming melodiously against the rocks.
Suddenly—something shot through the air at breakneck speed. Wen Shuangbai’s eyes flickered, her Fire-Plume Whip unwinding from her waist in an instant, lashing out to strike the projectile away.
Xie Ziyin swiftly secured his pills and activated the defensive arrays on his cauldron, ducking behind its enlarged form.
Yin Xuan, eyes still half-shut, summoned his sword and took flight—not forgetting to kick the two soundly sleeping idiots awake.
Shen Hefeng yelped. "Ow!"
Lu Jiayao shrieked. "That hurts!"
Splat—splat—
In the thick of the night, several more projectiles struck the two slowest reactors.
A foul stench assaulted their senses. Shen Hefeng froze, wiping his face. When he saw what it was under the moonlight, his expression twisted into sheer horror.
"WHO THE HELL THREW SHT AT ME?! I’LL CURSE YOUR ENTIRE BLOODLINE, YOU SON OF A—!!!"
Lu Jiayao stood paralyzed, the stench rendering him incapable of thought.
What a vicious attack!!
From the forest across the valley came familiar, gleeful laughter.
The lead long-armed monkey clapped its hands in delight, rocking back and forth on the branch.
"Hehehe… hehehe…"
The other long-armed monkeys followed suit, giggling mockingly: "Heeheehee, heeheehee..."
Who would have thought? They had crossed mountains and rivers, chasing them all the way here!
Damn, it was those cursed monkeys they had encountered on the first day in the secret realm.
Wen Shuangbai lashed her whip into a blur, shielding herself tightly to keep the monkey dung at bay, all while wondering—what kind of monkeys were these? To chase them this far?
Practically supernatural.
Wait… supernatural?
In a flash, Wen Shuangbai recalled something.
On the Xuantian Continent, there were demonic cultivators—beasts that had evolved into sentient beings.
When a beast awakened intelligence and understood human nature, it became a spirit beast.
The rabbit Yu Xiaoxiao had encountered was one such spirit beast.
Then, by learning human speech and eventually taking human form, a spirit beast could ascend to become a demonic cultivator.
Each step was arduous, akin to a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate, making demonic cultivators an exceedingly rare existence on the Xuantian Continent.
Generally, beasts had their own territories and rarely strayed far.
Yet these monkeys had followed them from the edge of the secret realm all the way here—no ordinary beasts could manage that.
Among the monkey troop, there had to be a leader, and that leader was undoubtedly a spirit monkey.
If a spirit rabbit could guide Yu Xiaoxiao and the others to the location of the Taihua Stone, could a spirit monkey do the same?
Wen Shuangbai had a plan.
But these long-armed monkeys were a nightmare to deal with.
Individually, they weren’t strong, but they moved in swarms, excelled at long-range attacks, and hid their true forms, only sending their endlessly regenerating monkey hands scurrying about.
Worse, they’d grown cunning—now hurling their own dung, a physical assault compounded by psychological warfare.
Under the alternating barrage of feces and flailing limbs, Wen Shuangbai and her companions were gradually forced into retreat, taking humiliating shelter behind a cauldron.
Even after using cleansing spells to scrub every inch of himself, Lu Jiayao still felt foul. He groaned, "What do we do now?"
Wen Shuangbai lifted her gaze, determination gleaming. "To catch the thieves, first catch their chief."
Her eyes swept over the group before she crooked a finger, signaling them to huddle closer. In a hushed voice, she laid out her scheme.
Moments later, Wen Shuangbai, Yin Xuan, and Shen Hefeng fanned out in three directions.
Lu Jiayao and Xie Ziyin stayed behind the cauldron, playing their flutes while Xie Ziyin flitted about with theatrical flair. Wen Shuangbai, seemingly overwhelmed, occasionally ducked back for cover.
Near a thicket, a small fasting pill "accidentally" slipped from Xie Ziyin’s person.
He appeared not to notice, moving off with Lu Jiayao.
Among the countless monkey hands, one that had been about to strike Yin Xuan suddenly paused, catching a whiff of something. It stealthily diverted, snatched the pill, and darted back.
Hidden in the most secluded branches sat a half-human-tall monkey, its fur a lustrous gold. As the night breeze rustled the leaves, moonlight spilled over it, glinting like molten treasure.
The monkey nearly trembled with glee, barely containing its excitement. Oblivious to the missing figure in the valley, it grabbed the pill and raised it to its mouth—
A crimson whip, serpentine and swift, coiled around the tree trunk, closing in. Just as the pill touched its lips, the whip lashed out, binding the monkey in an instant.
Thud! The monkey tumbled from the branches, screeching wildly.
A flash of cyan robes—Wen Shuangbai gave no time for the other monkeys to react. She yanked the Flaming Phoenix Whip, hauling the monkey to her side and pressing a jagged fang against its throat.
Perched on the branch, she glared at the encircling horde and declared, "One move, and I’ll roast your king’s head for dinner!"
The female human’s killing intent was palpable; the fang at its throat gleamed coldly under the moon. The monkey king hastily barked at its underlings: "Ook-ook-ook!"
The troop scratched their heads in agitation but dared not advance, forced to watch as Wen Shuangbai marched their king away. The humans then plopped him onto the cauldron, stoking the flames beneath.
The cyan-robed woman even ruffled the monkey king’s glossy golden fur, smiling sweetly. "Be good. Do as we say, or you’re tonight’s roast. Understood?"
Oh no—their king was about to be eaten!
