Chapter 190 - 186: The Most Important Thing for a Human Is to Be Happy, and for a Monkey Too

Du Youqian led the four Qi Cultivation disciples straight back to the Sect.

Just as they passed through the Sect’s main gate, a jade slip flew toward them.

Du Youqian caught it and probed it with his Divine Sense.

The message inside forbade him and the surviving disciples from revealing anything about the relics to anyone.

It was signed by Supreme Elder Shi Shentong.

Du Youqian considered this for a moment, a few suspicions forming in his mind.

He then led the surviving disciples to Mingfa Hall for questioning.

Just as he expected, he only received a few perfunctory verbal reprimands. The tone wasn’t harsh at all; in fact, it was more comforting than anything.

It was clearly just a formality.

Furthermore, despite the disastrous losses the team had suffered under his leadership, there were no real consequences.

What’s more, the people from Mingfa Hall didn’t even ask what had happened in the relics.

The whole affair was incredibly strange.

Even his master, Feng Xiaoyi, couldn’t make sense of it and specially summoned him to get an explanation.

This detail alone revealed that while Feng Xiaoyi was a high-ranking member of the Sect, she wasn’t part of its core leadership.

There were many confidential matters she wasn’t yet privy to.

Because of the warning on the jade slip, Du Youqian couldn’t say much.

However, his tight-lipped silence was, in itself, a crucial piece of information, and Feng Xiaoyi began to understand.

Finally, she lazily dismissed Du Youqian, telling him to enter seclusion and try to break through to the Foundation Establishment Seventh Layer before the grand competition.

Du Youqian agreed.

He reached the entrance of his cave abode, then turned back, unable to stop himself from asking, "Master, does our Sect possess a crimson sword, one whose blade looks like it’s made of coagulated blood?"

Feng Xiaoyi nodded. "I imagine you’ve heard of the Blood Slaughter Sword. Yes, what you’ve described is indeed the appearance of its true form."

Du Youqian understood at once.

He already knew that the Holy Blood Sect was guarded by a Spiritual Treasure—the Blood Slaughter Sword.

He even knew that the Sect’s supreme sword technique, the Blood Slaughter Sword Scripture, originated from the Sword itself.

He just never realized the Blood Slaughter Sword was so immensely powerful.

To think it could annihilate so many Nascent Soul cultivators and demons—and even those above the Nascent Soul realm—with a single strike.

Of course, Du Youqian had since realized that something had been off about the Cyan Yang Sect cultivators and the demons that day. They might not have been real.

But even if that Monkey Demon King wasn’t real, it could have effortlessly slaughtered him a thousand times over.

The Green-haired Demon King they encountered later was also incredibly strong; even he and Lin Sha together were no match for it.

But before the Blood Slaughter Sword, even that Green-haired Demon King was nothing more than a nuisance to be swatted away.

Du Youqian felt a deep sense of dread toward the Blood Slaughter Sword.

Back in his cave abode, Du Youqian gave a few instructions to Fang Hua, Luo Jinyu, and the others before immediately entering seclusion.

The first thing he did was inspect the Stone Egg.

After absorbing a few drops of the Monkey Demon King’s Essence Blood, the Stone Egg had immediately calmed down and was no longer agitated.

Now, the Life Force it contained was easily ten thousand times stronger than before.

At the very least, this had saved him several hundred years’ worth of time and resources he would have spent feeding it nutrient fluids.

The Stone Egg was now brimming with such vibrant vitality that it felt as if a new life might hatch from it at any moment.

Of course, this ’any moment’ was just his own perception.

In truth, the birth of the "Great Sage Bloodline" within the Stone Egg was unlikely to be so simple.

’Thinking it over, he had no clue how a member of the Demon Race was even born. It wasn’t the kind of thing recorded in any of the ancient texts he knew.’

’Besides, this was no ordinary demon.’

’It wasn’t one of those creatures born of fur and horn, from dampness or an egg...’

’It was damn well born from a stone.’

’He had used all sorts of methods to finally restore its vigorous Life Force, and it was no longer on the verge of death.’

’But where was he supposed to find a mother beast to hatch it?’

Du Youqian tried performing Divination again, but still came up with nothing.

Evidently, the Stone Egg’s tier was simply too high. His Tier Two Divination Art, even when forcefully boosted a tier by his Great Divine Abilities of Knowing the Heavenly Mandate, was still not enough to divine anything about it.

Du Youqian had no choice but to place it back in his Storage Treasure Pouch and wait for the right opportunity.

After inspecting the Stone Egg, he naturally turned to a thorough examination of his own body.

He still had no clue what that streak of light was—the one that had shot into his body the moment he escaped the relics of the Cyan Yang Sect’s Blessed Land.

Du Youqian refused to believe it had been an illusion.

While performing Introspection and circulating his energy for several cycles, Du Youqian finally discovered something. In his Dantian, there was a shadow so faint it was almost impossible to ’see’.

It flickered between real and illusory, so faint it hardly seemed to exist at all.

He felt no sense of a foreign object; the thing simply rested quietly in his Dantian, undetectable by his Divine Sense.

If not for the extremely subtle resistance he felt when his circulating Magical Power brushed against it, it would have been truly impossible to detect.

After a long period of careful Introspection, Du Youqian finally got a clear look at it. The object resembled a carving knife.

’No,’ he thought, ’perhaps it’s more like a pen.’

’A pen for carving words into jade.’

Du Youqian tried to push and activate the object with his Liquid Magical Power. After a great deal of effort, he only managed to make the pen turn by the slightest fraction.

Probing it carefully with his Divine Sense yielded no reaction either.

For the better part of a month, Du Youqian tried everything.

He tried stabbing it with Divine Sense Secret Techniques, striking it with Sword Intent, and even ingesting small amounts of poison, but nothing could stir the pen.

Fortunately, the pen didn’t seem to be causing him any harm for the time being.

This was a secret Du Youqian didn’t dare tell even his master. He could only keep it buried in his heart.

Wasting no more time, he began circulating the Secret Technique, the Seven Elements Purple Mansion Qi Eating Skill, to rapidly advance his cultivation.

~~~~~

After returning to her Sect and reporting the situation to the Sect Leader and the Core Formation Masters, Lin Sha was also placed under a gag order.

Taking the Demon Core with her, she traveled between various Marketplaces for several months before finally managing to trade it for a Core Formation Spiritual Object.

With all preparations complete, she was ready to enter seclusion and attempt her breakthrough to Core Formation.

But whenever she closed her eyes, the face and voice of that person would inevitably appear in her mind.

Sigh!

’What a curse.’

She simply couldn’t quiet her heart.

Attempting a breakthrough to Core Formation in this state was a surefire path to failure.

Overwhelmed with frustration, she left the Sect with a few of her trusted followers, claiming she needed to clear her head.

No one knew where she went.

~~~~~~~~

After leaving her trusted followers behind in the Yu Kun Mountains, Lin Sha piloted a Flying Boat south alone.

When she arrived at the valley, it took a long search, but she eventually found the monkey.

Seeing the monkey decked out in a brand-new set of gear, the corners of her lips curled into a strange expression, somewhere between a sob and a smile.

"He came looking for you?"

The monkey remembered her and chittered excitedly, happy to see an old friend.

"So, he still remembers you, doesn’t he? But he’s forgotten all about me!" Lin Sha’s elegant brows shot up as she let out a string of cold laughs.

The monkey, not understanding why she was so angry, froze.

"This has nothing to do with you. I’m not angry at you," Lin Sha said with a smile, wiping her eyes. "I’m about to reach Core Formation. Core Formation, do you understand? I’ll be... very powerful. Do you want to come with me?"

The monkey shook its head, pointing to the massive, densely packed horde of followers behind it.

"Is that so," Lin Sha said gently. "You’re happy here? That’s good. He once said that the most important thing in life is to be happy. I suppose the same is true for being a monkey. I’ll come visit you every year from now on and bring you some wine. Oh, right, do you want a mate?"

~~~~~~~~

After returning to Yu Kun Mountain, Lin Sha’s expression was calm.

But as her followers looked at her, they all sensed a volcano brewing beneath her tranquil facade. None of them dared to speak as they normally would; they were all as silent as winter cicadas.

"Let’s go. We’re going to the Feixian Peak Blessed Land."

「Several days later, at the Feixian Peak Blessed Land in Wenzhe City.」

Late that night, a dark figure darted across the rooftops like an agile beast, quickly leaping into a courtyard.

"Senior Sister."

Lin Sha was admiring a wintersweet tree in full bloom.

Her white hair and the red blossoms vied for beauty, each complementing the other.

She didn’t turn at the sound of the voice, merely grunting in acknowledgment.

"Senior Sister, the person I found doesn’t dare get involved. I’m afraid we’ll have to find another way."

Still without turning, Lin Sha replied flatly, "Then offer more money."

"But..."

Lin Sha flicked her wrist, and a Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact-level Flying Sword shot out like a meteor, landing in Li Ying’s hand.

"Take this sword. Tell her that I am right here in Wenzhe City. If she helps me, this Flying Sword is hers. If she refuses... then tomorrow, this sword will be in her neck."

Li Ying’s delicate frame trembled. She bowed and replied, "Yes!"

’In her heart, she didn’t understand why Senior Sister Lin was going to such great lengths.’

’Besides, going to another sect’s territory to kill one of their Inner Disciples?’

’Even a True Inheritor from a Second-class Sect can’t just do something like this!’

’Isn’t she afraid that the Guardian Envoy from the Taihe Sect, the one responsible for maintaining order, will come demanding an explanation?’

’Her own Sect might even punish her severely!’

But feeling the forbidding aura emanating from Lin Sha’s lonely figure, Li Ying swallowed the words of caution she was about to say.

’It was better not to ask for trouble.’

’When this woman went berserk, even the Sect Leader was afraid of her. With her own slender limbs, Li Ying knew better than to provoke her.’

The carrot and the stick. As expected, it worked like a charm.

The next day, Li Ying returned with a gray, dusty Life Soul Plate. "I have fulfilled my mission," she reported.

Lin Sha took the Life Soul Plate. She studied the name "Qiu Yuanqing" engraved upon it, gently tracing the spiderweb of cracks across its surface, and fell into a long, pensive silence.

Li Ying knew a little about the history between Lin Sha and Qiu Yuanqing.

Seeing Lin Sha’s behavior, she wondered, ’Is Senior Sister Lin trying to keep a memento? Or does she want to destroy every last remnant of that person and fully commit to the Path of Ultimate Emotion?’

After a long moment, Lin Sha put the Life Soul Plate away and said softly, "You all may return to the Sect. I wish to be alone for a while."

Li Ying hesitated for a moment before replying, "Yes."