Black mountain peak.

  After setting foot on the mountain peak, a strong and pungent smell had been lingering in the air, somewhat choking, with a hint of sulfur. Gui Li and Jin Ping'er were both deeply cultivated individuals who could still tolerate such an odor, but as they gradually ventured deeper into the mountain peak, the increasingly intense yin wind was starting to make them frown.

  That was a piercingly cold wind, and for some reason, when it blew across my face, although the force of the wind wasn't particularly strong, the gloominess was indeed enough to make one's heart feel chilled to the bone. Added to that were the faint, mournful howls coming from somewhere deep within the mountain peaks in front, rising and falling in a seesaw pattern, sometimes high, sometimes low, like the nocturnal cries of apes, or the mournful laughter of malevolent spirits, which when heard with one's own ears was also enough to make one's hair stand on end.

  The little gray monkey sat on the shoulder of the fierce ghost, finished eating the last wild fruit, and casually threw away the core. Three eyes opened wide, looking around privately, as if it was not affected by these strange images at all.

  Jin Bier's eyebrows furrowed tighter and tighter, and suddenly she said: "It seems a bit off."

  The ghost's expression changed, and he stopped in his tracks, saying: "What's wrong?"

  Jin Ping'er hesitated for a moment, then said: "I followed you here last time, and there weren't all these wailing ghosts and howling wolves, nor was the wind so gloomy. It wasn't until we arrived at the Town Demon Cave that things started to get strange. How is it that after some time has passed, this place has become just like the Netherworld Prison?"

  Gui Li looked into the distance and said faintly, "Perhaps this is a beast demon's lair, the evil energy is too heavy, it should be like this. When you came over that day, he had just been reborn, of course, he didn't have today's aura."

  Jin Ping'er thought for a moment, and this was the only explanation. On that day, at the top of Qingyun Mountain, the Beast God and the Exterminating Sword Array had a bloody battle. He was severely injured by the ancient sword of the Exterminating Sword Array. Anyone could see that the power of that one sword was enormous. However, even under the Exterminating Sword Array, the Beast God could still escape. His cultivation was already enough to shock the world.

  Jin Ping'er's eyes flowed, and she suddenly said: "You say, what if we really find the Beast God in the Demon-Suppressing Ancient Cave? Although he is already injured, can the two of us really deal with him?"

  The ghost shook his head and said, "How would I know?"

  Jin Bier looked at him and suddenly smiled: "Looking at your appearance, I'm afraid you don't have much confidence. Since that's the case, what are you doing following me here?"

  She gazed at Gui Li, with a hint of a smile and said: "Don't forget, in Huqi Mountain, there's still Bi Yao waiting for you to rescue her. If you die here, wouldn't that be too unfair to her?"

  The ghost let out a cold hum and walked forward, saying: "This matter was her father's order to me, I owe Bi Yao too much, no matter what, I have to do something. But you," he smiled coldly, "if you unfortunately die here, it would be a death with your eyes open."

  "Good heavens, you're really a sight to behold! As long as we die together, it doesn't matter if it's this beast's lair or a pigsty, it's all the same."

  Guilei sneered coldly and walked away, clearly not believing a word of what Jinpinger had said. He didn't show the slightest bit of emotion. However, the monkey on his shoulder turned its head around, looked at Jinpinger, and cracked a rare smile, seeming to be in a good mood.

  Unlike the several women who had been in contact with Gui Li before, Xiao Hui was not as affectionate with Jinpinger as she was with Xiaobai and Xiaohuan. It wasn't until after a few days that she smiled like this for the first time, with a cheerful and relaxed expression.

  Jin Bier was somewhat unexpected, but it wasn't a bad thing, and she felt quite happy. With a smile on her face, she was about to walk up and tease the monkey when suddenly the monkey's mouth opened wide and spat out something black and blurry at an extremely fast speed, flying straight towards where Jin Bier was standing.

  Jin Bier was startled, but she wasn't an ordinary person and didn't panic. She slightly rotated her feet to exert force, and her body stiffly moved sideways to make way for that strange thing to pass by.

  There was a dull thud, and the thing fell to the ground, but instead of bouncing back up, it directly smashed into the ground. Jinping turned her head to look, and it was a wild fruit pit, she didn't know when Xiaohui still had one left in his mouth, savoring the taste, and now he used it to tease her.

  Jin Bier was teased by a monkey, her face slightly pale with anger, and she glared sideways. However, she only saw the gray-haired monkey sitting on Gui Li's shoulder, facing her with its hands clasped to its chest, feet dangling back and forth, three eyes gazing upwards, and an arrogant expression on its face, as if it were a legendary rogue. Even its long tail was swishing back and forth behind it, as if saying: "I'm bullying you, I'm a rogue, who's afraid of me?"

  Jin Bier didn't look at first, but when she did, she was even more furious. She quickly walked a few steps to catch up with Gui Li and scolded: "You monkey, how can you be so ill-mannered? Do you know it's rude to spit fruit pits at people?"

  The ghost slowly turned its head and looked at Jinpinger, with a somewhat strange expression on its face. After a while, it said: "Are you scolding him?" As it spoke, it pointed to Xiaohui.

  Jin Bier nodded.

  Xiao Hui suddenly became angry, jumping up from Gui Li's shoulders, chattering loudly, eyes wide open, fists clenched, and gesturing wildly, as if furious and ready to fight Jin Ping'er.

  Jin Ping'er didn't expect that this grey-haired monkey would understand human nature to such an extent. She was stunned for a moment, took a step back, and then ignored it, shouting loudly at Gui Li: "I am scolding it, this beast is really too detestable, you raise it and you should teach it well!"

  "Ah!" Suddenly, Gui Li Shao opened his mouth loudly and shouted at Xiao Hui, interrupting Jin Pinger's words.

  Xiao Hui was startled and stopped in his tracks, Jin Ping Er was also shocked, looking at Gui Li. Only to see Gui Li frowning, with a serious expression, scolding Xiao Hui: "I told you long ago, you must read more books, only by reading can you understand the truth, but you never listen. Last time I taught you that book 'Shen Mo Zhi Yi', why didn't you study it? Go back and copy it three hundred times before coming to see me again!"

  Xiao Hui's three eyes widened together, blinked a few times, touched his monkey head with his hand, scratched again, and then touched it again, apparently a bit dazed. However, on the other side, Jin Ping'er wasn't doing much better either. After being startled, he couldn't help but sneer: "What are you talking about? This monkey, even if it's extremely intelligent, has never been known to be able to read or write!"

  The ghost turned his head and looked at her, "Oh" he said, as if he had just come to a realization. He spoke in a light tone: "If that's the case, and you're also saying this, then it's not my fault that this monkey is uneducated. Heaven has created all things, but why can't monkeys read books? Alas, alas."

  He gazed at Jin Bao'er, let out a perfunctory sigh, and without another word, turned around and continued walking forward.

  Jin Bier was so angry that her face turned pale.

  The little monkey Xiao Hui fell from Gui Li's shoulder with a thud, landing on the ground. However, it didn't seem to be in any pain and instead let out a loud shriek, waving its arms and legs wildly as it laughed uncontrollably. Sometimes it would clutch its belly, sometimes it would pound the ground, and at other times it would throw its limbs up towards the sky, swinging its tail back and forth. In short, its laughter was as wild and crazy as could be.

  Jin Bier became angrier as she looked, just about to erupt, when Xiao Hui suddenly jumped up, "Squeak squeak squeak" making a strange cry towards Jin Bier, made a big ghost face, and then quickly retreated with a few jumps, jumping onto Gui Li's shoulders, before lying down again, looking back at Jin Bier with a smug expression, and another ghost face.

  Jin Bier's anger intensified, her entire body seemingly trembling with rage. She gritted her teeth and raised her hand to strike forward. Under the warm sunlight, a faint purple glow emanated from the edge of her palm, eerily ominous.

  The palm was raised halfway, but it stopped in mid-air, under the figure of the man in front, and a faint blue light seemed to emanate from his hand.

  Jin Ping'er's pupils constricted.

  After a while, she suddenly stopped in her tracks, then put down her hand, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After her chest heaved several times, her face had returned to its usual calm state. Meanwhile, the eerie green glow on Ghostly Hand's side also slowly dissipated, and as for his figure, it had already slowly disappeared into the distance amidst the ear-piercing strange laughter of Gray Fur Three-eyed Monkey.

  Jin Ping'er composed herself, still with a hint of anger in her heart, but at the same time, she felt a flush rise to her face. She was used to playing tricks on people and toying with their emotions, but somehow today she had been outsmarted by a monkey.

  She hummed, pushing these things aside and not wanting to think about them, just as she was about to move forward. Suddenly, her brow furrowed, as if she had thought of something again, turned around and slowly walked back. Before long, she had already arrived at the place where Xiaohui had just provoked and spat out the fruit pit.

  The fruit core was an ordinary wild fruit in the mountains, nothing strange about it. But at this moment, that fruit core had actually sunk into the ground, with only a few hard shells exposed on the outside. And on this dark and eerie mountain peak, unlike other places in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, there was no soft mud, but instead, everywhere was covered with hard rocks.

  Xiao Hui's single blow was so powerful that it actually struck the pit into the hard stone.

  Jin Ping'er's eyebrows slowly furrowed, and she slowly stood up, looking in the direction where Gui Li's shadow had disappeared. The cold wind blowing from that direction seemed to still carry the eerie laughter of the little monkey Xiao Hui.

  "Low and soft, as if she was muttering to herself: 'How can even this monkey have such a high level of cultivation, advancing so quickly? Who is this person after all?'"

  ※※※

  The vast black forest welcomed new visitors again. This time, the number of guests was much more than before. A team of over a dozen people marched through the dense woods, advancing among the lush branches and giant trees, as well as the thorny thickets.

  It turned out that this section of the journey, except for the unexpected beast attack, went somewhat unexpectedly smoothly.

  The people walking at the front of the team were not ordinary people. Lu Xueqi's eyebrows furrowed slightly, but she didn't say anything. Zeng Shu had already spoken up and said to Li Xun, "Li Shixiong, this place seems a bit off."

  Li Kun stopped in his tracks, looked around, then turned to Zeng Shu Shu, hesitated for a moment, and turned back to the crowd of disciples from Fengxiang Valley, saying loudly: "Everyone rest here for a while, we'll continue on our way later."

  Everyone responded in unison, it was clear that walking this distance was not an easy task for anyone.

  After settling the others, Li Xun and Zeng Shu walked a little further ahead, approaching Lu Xueqi. Lu Xueqi furrowed her brow, but took a step back. Li Xun's face sank, and Zeng Shu, being quick-witted, immediately spoke up to divert attention, saying: "Li Shixiong, you've also noticed it, right?"

  Li Kan nodded, his eyes falling to the foot of the three people standing, in the dense thorny bushes, although blurry, but faintly visible thorns were broken after someone trampled over the vague imprint.

  "Somebody has been here before us, and not very long ago either," he said positively, while a faint shade of anxiety crossed his face.

  "Could it be that he is your fellow disciple, Li?" Zeng Shu asked hesitantly.

  Li Xun shook his head and said, "It's impossible. Only our team has ventured deep into the Ten Thousand Great Mountains in Fengxiang Valley. The young elites of the valley are mostly here, there won't be anyone else coming in."

  Zeng Shu furrowed his brow and said, "That's strange. According to what the Cloud Valley Master said that day, this news shouldn't have been leaked out in the first place. Could it be that other sects also know about this news and have entered the Ten Thousand Great Mountain?"

  Li Xun hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I think it shouldn't be. First of all, this matter is still confidential, only our two factions know about it." He coughed lightly and lowered his voice, saying, "The Beast God is the mastermind behind the catastrophe. If someone else takes advantage of the situation, we two factions will have fought a bloody battle on Qingyun Mountain for nothing."

  Zeng Shu stretched out his hand, beaming with joy, patted Li Xun's shoulder and laughed: "Brother Li's words are exactly what I wanted to say, indeed heroes think alike! Haha, haha!"

  The two of them looked at each other and smiled, but suddenly a cold hum came from beside them, which was from Lu Xueqi's mouth. The two were taken aback, turned their eyes to look over, and Zeng Shushu asked in a low voice: "Lu Shijie, what's wrong with you? Did we say something wrong?"

  Lu Xueqi gave him a cold glance, turned her head away and sneered: "Abominable!"

  Zeng Shu was stunned for a moment, unable to understand the meaning of Lu Xueqi's words, and didn't know if she was scolding himself or Li Xu, or if she was scolding both of them. He turned his head to look at Li Xu, and the two of them stared at each other in embarrassment, unsure of what to say next.

  After a moment, Bi Shu's face was thicker, and he laughed, pretending that he hadn't heard anything, saying to Li Xun: "Li Shixiong, since the news hasn't leaked out, and it's not one of your fellow disciples from Fengxiang Valley, then with such traces here, I'm afraid there's something fishy going on."

  Li Kun furrowed his brow, apparently also bitter from thinking and unable to speak, just as he was about to open his mouth, Lu Xueqi, who had just turned around, coldly said another sentence:

  "Beast God!"

  Zeng Shu and Li Xun's faces both showed a look of shock, their expressions stunned. After a while, Zeng Shu slowly nodded her head, although somewhat hesitant, and said: "What Lu Shixiong said may be a bit far-fetched, but thinking carefully about it, it's actually quite possible."

  Li Kun's expression was different from Zeng Shu's, he wanted to speak but hesitated, shook his head and said: "Forget it, let's continue on our way and see what happens next, there's no use in making wild guesses here."

  He said, "You two rest for a while, I'll go back and take a look at those junior brothers."

  Zeng Shu nodded and said, "Please go ahead, Master Li."

  Li Xun again instructed a few words of caution and turned around to leave.

  After Li Kun had walked far away, Zeng Shu finally turned her head and smiled suddenly at Lu Xueqi's back: "Lu Shijie, were you just scolding me?"

  Lu Xueqi let out a cold hum, neither admitting nor denying it, but the implication was more affirmative. Zeng Shu smiled wryly and walked slowly to Lu Xueqi's side, lowering his voice to say: "Lu Shijie, I have something to ask you."

  Lu Xueqi looked at him and was slightly stunned, only to see that Zeng Shushu's face was unusually serious and solemn, very different from usual. "What?" she asked.

  Zeng Shu took a deep breath, looked around and then said in a low voice: "Lu Shi Jie, be honest with me, was the sect's Exterminating Immortal Sword really damaged?"

  Lu Xueqi's face turned pale, her eyes flashed with a sharp light, staring at Zeng Shushu. Even the Tianyuan divine sword in her hand, with its autumn water-like pale blue glow, seemed to emit an invisible humming sound, stretching out instantly and then slowly retracting back.

  Zeng Shu's complexion changed slightly, and he felt that the white-clothed woman in front of him had turned from icy to extremely sharp and terrifying in an instant. He involuntarily took a step back, and whispered with a bitter smile: "Lu Shi Jie, don't be like this."

  Lu Xueqi stared at him coldly and said, "What do you mean by asking this question?"

  Zeng Shu smiled slightly and said, "How can I not care about this matter? As a disciple of Qingyun, it's impossible for me to be indifferent. Sister Wen Mian returned to the mountain in a hurry, probably just to report this matter to the various masters."

  Lu Xueqi didn't say a word, she just coldly stared at him. Zeng Shu nodded and said: "Alright alright, Lu shijie, you see, I don't have any malicious intentions, it's just that there are some suspicious things going on here, and we rarely have the opportunity to talk along the way, so let's take this chance to discuss them."

  Lu Xueqi looked at him and said, "What's up?"

  Zeng Shu coughed and said in a low voice, "What kind of person do you think Yun Yilan, the master of Fengxiang Valley, is?"

  Lu Xueqi furrowed her brow and said, "What do you mean?"

  Zeng Shu smiled slightly and said, "So, do you think the master of Cloud Valley is a simple-minded person? Or perhaps he's someone who hates evil as much as he loves justice, taking it upon himself to uphold the righteous path, yet has no guard against fellow righteous disciples like Qing Yun?"

  Lu Xueqi hummed, not saying a word, but her face showed disdain and disapproval, clearly indicating that she completely disagreed with Zeng Shushu's questions. Zeng Shushu didn't get angry, seemingly having expected Lu Xueqi's reaction all along, and continued: "Since we both know that Yun Gu's master isn't the kind of person who is narrow-minded or simple-headed, then why did he suddenly ask us three people about the 'extermination of immortals' in Shan He Hall that day? Isn't it quite strange?"

  Lu Xueqi took a deep breath and stared at Zeng Shushu without saying a word. Zeng Shushu felt somewhat embarrassed and said, "Alright, I know it's not right to talk about a respected elder behind their back, but think about it, these things are really strange."

  "There's nothing wrong with that." Lu Xueqi said coldly, seemingly too lazy to care about Zeng Shushu's slightly agape mouth, and continued coldly: "Say it if you must, what's there to be reserved about? From Qingyun Mountain till now, I don't think he's a good person either!"

  "Uh" Xiang Shu was both shocked and amused, unable to speak for a moment. He never dreamed that Lu Xueqi, who had always been so proper and demure, would be even more outrageous than himself, directly saying something disdainful about a respected senior. But thinking back, this stunningly beautiful woman seemed to have quite a history with the respected senior and his disciples.

  Looking at Lu Xueqi's face, Zeng Shushu felt a chill on the back of her neck for some reason. She instinctively thought that she might have accidentally poked a hornet's nest. Coughing, she quickly changed the subject and said: "This... uh... let's not talk about his character for now. I'm saying, in this matter, at least there are several unusual places on Cloud Valley Master."

  "How did he know that the ancient sword of the Exterminating Immortals was damaged? That's one thing. Lu Xueqi interrupted, her expression unchanged, but a hint of brightness flashed in her eyes, like dazzling crystal,"Secondly, after he knew about it, why would he tell us? He clearly knows that once this news comes out of his mouth, we will inevitably report back to the seniors of Qingyun Gate. Wouldn't that immediately lead to changes between Fengxiang Valley and Qingyun Gate?"

  Zeng Shu nodded repeatedly and said, "I knew that with Lu Shi's intelligence, she would definitely not miss this crucial connection." After a pause, he continued, "Thinking carefully about this, there are only two possible situations for Yun Gu. First, Qingyun Gate has an informant who tipped him off, and this news that even I, as a Qingyun disciple, was kept in the dark about, he actually knew about it, which shows that this informant's identity and position cannot be underestimated. But by saying so, isn't it possible that he might inadvertently expose the informant's identity?"

  Lu Xueqi hummed and said, "Secondly, what is the purpose of him telling us these things? Is it to remind Qingyunmen that he already knows this secret, or to warn all the senior masters that Fengxiang Valley no longer fears Qingyunmen?"

  Zeng Shu looked deeply at Lu Xueqi, sighed and said: "What I thought in my heart, you had already thought of it earlier, so there's no need for me to remind you. But thinking about it now, it makes sense that when you let Wen Min shi jie turn back to Qing Yun on the spot, it was to inform the seniors about these matters."

  Lu Xueqi nodded silently and nodded.

  Zeng Shu's mouth twitched slightly, and he let out a long sigh. His voice was filled with emotion. Lu Xueqi looked at him in surprise and asked, "What's wrong?"

  Zeng Shu smiled wryly and said, "I... I was sighing for the sake of our sect's ancient sword that slays immortals. To be honest, although I've thought about it these past few days, my heart is still extremely unwilling to accept it as true. It would be better if I had guessed wrongly."

  Lu Xueqi didn't say a word, she silently turned her head and looked forward. In the depths of the dense forest, it was dark and gloomy, and there wasn't even a glimmer of light ahead.

  Zeng Shu let out a sigh, shook his head and said: "Forget it, there's no other way to think about it. We can only take things one step at a time now. I'd like to see what kind of tricks that Cloud Valley Master has up his sleeve."

  Lu Xueqi didn't respond, her gaze inadvertently shifting to the blurry mark she had discovered earlier. Zeng Shu Shu whispered beside her, "Actually, what you said about the Beast God is possible, but I always feel it shouldn't be him."

  "What do you think it is?" asked Lu Xueqi.

  Zeng Shu hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice: "If what that Li Xuan said was true, and it wasn't the other disciples of Huixiang Valley, I'm afraid these marks were mostly left by the remnants of the demonic sect."

  Lu Xueqi's body shook slightly as she turned her head around, and for the first time, a ripple appeared on her usually calm and beautiful face. "Why do you say that?"

  Zeng Shu pointed to the mark and said, "Look at this mark. Although it's blurry, it's clearly a trace left by humans who have passed through here. Since Tian Xiang Gu hasn't been here before, there shouldn't be any other sects in the righteous path that are more familiar with the Ten Thousand Great Mountains than they are. It's also hard to imagine that anyone would track them down to this place. But the demonic cult is different. After the great battle between good and evil back then, the demonic cult was expelled from the Central Plains by the righteous path. In a desolate and barren place like this, it's likely that they have been here before. So I think it's highly possible that it's them."

  "What do you think, Lu Shijie?" Zeng Shushu turned her head to ask, but looking at Lu Xueqi's expression, she was taken aback.

  That beautiful woman, staring blankly at the footprint, her face slightly pale, yet unexpectedly with a hint of blush, from the depths of her skin, faintly emanating, standing alone in this desolate and ancient forest, as if she had fallen into a strange dream, no longer hearing the words of those beside her.