Six Jiang Fusheng leaped lightly from a branch, followed by a slender, pretty white fox. A treasure-seeking rat with a coiled tail lazily rested on his shoulder. His blue robes fluttered in the breeze, highlighting his peerless beauty.
He walked alone on a sky bridge, a stone structure spanning the peaks of two high mountains, running north-south along the western coast of Canglan. From the sky, it appeared as a sharp blade’s edge, plunging straight down into the abyss below, a truly peculiar sight.
As he walked on the sky bridge, it began wide enough for two people to walk abreast, shoulder to shoulder, tens of feet high. Further on, the sides grew empty, making it feel like walking on a single stone, the wind deep and imposing, the view below chilling to the bone.
Six Jiang Fusheng walked, his gaze leisurely sweeping his surroundings. He seemed to be searching for something, his steps light as he walked and paused.
Around the wall-less sky bridge were arched stone pillars, immense as the chest cavity of a beast that could swallow the sky. The bridge itself was the “spine,” and the stone pillars were the “ribs” extending from its sides.
With every few steps, a "squeak, squeak—" could be heard from behind the stone pillars.
Six Jiang Fusheng’s eyes flicked sideways, his gaze quickly capturing the “tips” of the stone pillars. Two small monkeys with red faces and golden fur sat atop them, one sitting, the other squatting. The two little monkeys stared with their red eyes, baring their sharp teeth and clapping their hands as they chirped “squeak squeak” joyfully at him.
As they called out, a rustling sound approached from the distance. Before the stone bridge, monkeys of various sizes appeared, swinging from the horizontal stone slabs by their tails like ropes.
There were old monkeys and strong adult monkeys, all squatting quietly, their round, jade-green eyes filled with a strange, focused gaze, staring at Six Jiang Fusheng, as if plotting something.
It had to be said that being watched by hundreds of pairs of eyes was inexplicably chilling.
But this did not include Six Jiang Fusheng.
Found.
Six Jiang Fusheng’s sharp eyes were like rules. He leisurely scanned the spirit monkeys that inhabited this area. These spirit monkeys were not benevolent. They resembled another golden-furred spirit beast, but these were called ferocious beasts—the Jade-Eyed Golden-Haired Apes.
They often disguised themselves as docile spirit monkeys, but in reality, once they attacked, their muscles would swell, their nails would sharpen, and their faces would lengthen, making them incredibly ferocious.
Once these ferocious beasts chose a prey, they would attack. They possessed the habit of hunting collectively in groups.
However, these low-level demonic beasts usually had a leader: the Jade-Eyed Golden-Haired Ape King.
To defeat the king, one must first strike the king. His body flashed as if moving at lightning speed. The surrounding scenery blurred into a void. The apes, startled, dodged, but he abruptly stopped as if meeting the wind. The wind ceased, but his robes still fluttered. With ethereal grace, he made a grabbing motion, and an ape much smaller than all the other golden-haired apes was pulled towards him, falling into his grasp.
This little ape was exceptionally agile. It was fearfully pulled up by Six Jiang Fusheng. His delicate, reed-like fingers pinched its neck. Its long tail curled, and it let out a sharp, threatening "squeak squeak" from its throat.
Seeing their king captured by this human, all the Jade-Eyed Golden-Haired Apes were enraged. They immediately tore off their disguises, their jade-green pupils glowing with poisonous intent. Their bodies suddenly grew robust, reaching the height of a person.
At this moment, the impatient treasure-seeking rat suddenly stood up, its fine, short white tail stiffening like needles. It was like a pufferfish that had exploded with anger, letting out a fierce squeak.
This sound, carrying a hint of arrogance, echoed through the vast space. It caused the Jade-Eyed Golden-Haired Apes to tremble and begin to retreat.
This was a display of rank pressure. The more animalistic the creature, the less it could resist the imprint of its bloodline.
Six Jiang Fusheng shook the somewhat limp Jade-Eyed Golden-Haired Ape King, a light chuckle escaping his throat. He said gently, "Little monkey, where is the most dangerous place around here?"
The Jade-Eyed Golden-Haired Ape King clearly saw him smiling, but for some reason, a chill began to creep up its spine.
"Squeak… squeak squeak… squeak."
It chattered for a while. Unfortunately, Six Jiang Fusheng was a sword cultivator, not a demonic beast. If the other party could not communicate in human language, or had not formed a master-servant contract with a human cultivator, he naturally would not understand what they were saying.
He looked at the treasure-seeking rat. The treasure-seeking rat naturally understood and translated for the Jade-Eyed Golden-Haired Ape King: "It says it doesn't know where the most dangerous place is, but it heard from other demonic beasts that they should never approach White Tower City, or they will become unfortunate."
He asked, "Where is White Tower City?"
The Jade-Eyed Golden-Haired Ape King scratched its claws: "Squeak squeak squeak…"
"It says it's on the dragon's back."
Dragon's back?
"Where is the dragon's back?"
"Squeak."
"The dragon's back is the dragon's back."
Although the Jade-Eyed Golden-Haired Ape King was considered intelligent among its species, it was not a high-level demonic beast. Therefore, when questions exceeded its understanding or ability to express in words, it would result in a situation where they were talking past each other.
"Point to it, in which direction is it?"
The Jade-Eyed Golden-Haired Ape King was like an ornament, held aloft by Six Jiang Fusheng.
It pointed in one direction, and then all the other Jade-Eyed Golden-Haired Apes looked in the same direction.
"Squeak squeak squeak—squeak squeak squeak!"
The treasure-seeking rat translated: "In that sea of fire, in that cold tide—they cannot approach it. Even the most powerful demonic beasts on the island dare not approach."
Was this not precisely the most dangerous place Six Jiang Fusheng was looking for?
The "Dragon Island Secret Realm" opened once every fifty years. This meant that many cultivators had visited before, so the good items at the edges of the Dragon Island Secret Realm were likely already swept clean, and the best items would undoubtedly be found in the most dangerous places.
Furthermore, he also wanted to test whether his previous guess was true.
"White Tower City."
He silently repeated the name and said, "Let's go to White Tower City."
—
In the lush red mangroves on the western shore, the setting sun cast dappled light. Dan Ya, with his delicate, pure white face, was covered in cold sweat. He was meditating and healing, but he found that no matter how he circulated his spiritual energy, he could not stop the surge in his Qi Sea. The impact was like surging white waves, like an army of thousands charging against reefs with thunderous roars, creating thousands of layers of rolling green waves.
*Puff—*
His Qi meridians were blocked, and he couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood. However, he found that this time, the blood he spat out had turned black.
"...Poison?"
Dan Ya stared in shock at the blood splashed on the ground. It was not its normal color, but a corrosive, murky black.
*Hiss~*
That small patch of grass turned scorched black and smoked, solidifying into chunks of foul matter, a truly shocking sight.
He was poisoned?!
He braced himself with his arm, preparing to get up, but found that the pain from the wound inflicted by the Ghost Infant on his chest was deepening. At first, it was a cold, stinging pain, but now it had become a burning, searing agony.
He gasped for breath, his hand tightly clenching a piece of his robe and pulling it open. He saw that his fair, firm skin was beginning to turn black. That black energy, like mist or smoke, was constantly circulating and drilling under his skin, and the area of expansion was growing larger and larger…
At this moment, an icy finger appeared out of thin air and touched his blackened, numb skin. He should have felt nothing, because the pain a moment ago was so intense that he thought even a sharp knife slashing across it would elicit no sensation.
But now, he shivered with cold. He suddenly looked up, his ink-like, flowing eyes showing a ripple of moisture, a mixture of pain and surprise. He saw a shadowy figure gradually materializing from the air.
A cloak made of extremely thin black silk, utterly dark, as black as a starless deep night sky, with no impurities. Yet, as it flowed and moved, it seemed to refract waves of light. The floor-length hem trailed on the ground and then danced and fluttered in the wind.
Dan Ya’s pupils contracted.
This shadowy figure was the person who had been talking with the Ghost Infant in the darkness earlier.
Although he hadn't heard what they discussed when they gathered, nor could he see the person's true face beneath the cloak, he wouldn't mistake someone who exuded such a chilling aura of danger.
Hadn’t they left? Why were they here? Had they been tracking him all along?
A multitude of questions flashed through Dan Ya’s mind, but then he heard the other party ask him—"Do you know what this on your body is?"
A rough, deep male voice came calmly from beneath the black hood.
Dan Ya’s long eyelashes fluttered, his pupils mixed with various emotions, momentarily spreading like ink dissolving into water, delicate and touching.
Judging by the voice, he should be an adult male, but not very tall and with a small frame. At least, standing before Dan Ya, he felt at least half a head taller than the other person.
A finger wrapped in black mist gently touched his chest. Dan Ya suddenly reached out and grabbed his slender wrist, a moment of doubt crossing his mind, but then quickly returning to the present matter: "What do you want?"
Although his wrist was gripped tightly, the other party made no extraneous struggle. He simply asked in the same calm tone, "Do you know what this on your body is?"
"It was left by the Ghost Infant. You know him. He risked bringing an evil entity like you into the Dragon Island Secret Realm, so your relationship must be extraordinary." Dan Ya, always adept at rhetoric and communication, did not ask directly. He wanted the other party to confess voluntarily.
"My relationship with him is indeed extraordinary."
He admitted it directly.
Dan Ya was momentarily unsure how to respond.
"Aren't you afraid I'll reveal your relationship with the Ghost Infant?" Dan Ya asked.
"You're about to die, do you think I'm afraid?" the other party said lightly.
Dan Ya furrowed his brow, his eyes hardening like ice shards as he stared intently at her.
"Don't believe me?"
Gu Junshi withdrew her finger. Instantly, Dan Ya's face turned ashen white as snow. Especially when she stopped touching him, the world-destroying pain almost swallowed him whole into the deep sea.
He almost lost his footing, his knees buckling, and as he was about to collapse, a hand gently steadied him.
The moment she touched him, he felt as if he had regained his breath from a suffocating abyss. He couldn't think of anything else, only gasping for air.
"Believe me now?"
Dan Ya's vision went white. In that moment, it was as if the oxygen to his brain had been completely depleted, his consciousness numb and chaotic. He couldn't answer for a moment.
Her hand started to let go, the loosened grip of her fingertips gradually withdrawing. This also caused Dan Ya's fear to intensify.
Without a second thought, he reached out and embraced her tightly.
He was stunned.
Gu Junshi was also surprised for a moment.
Dan Ya’s thought was very simple: since her touch could temporarily alleviate his physical pain, he didn't want to let go. His body had taken on a will of its own, refusing to leave her.
"...What is it?" Finally, he compromised. Dan Ya was now like a tamed wolfhound, retracting his sharp fangs and curling his claws. "Tell me."
Gu Junshi did not push him away. She knew that the deathly aura on her body could temporarily suppress the demonic energy within him from spreading further. She told him, "Demonic energy."
Dan Ya's throat tightened, and his expression changed.
"Demonic energy?"
How could it be demonic energy?
"It is indeed demonic energy, but what kind of demonic energy requires careful observation to determine the result," Gu Junshi said.
Extract it?
Dan Ya keenly caught this phrase. He guessed that this person might have a way to save him, but at the same time, the other party likely needed him to do something, otherwise, she wouldn't have explained so much to him.
That's right, it was her. From that embrace, being close enough, Dan Ya had easily discovered through physical contact… that the other party was actually a woman.
However, this also better explained her height and her slender, graceful frame.
"What do you want me to do?"
Gu Junshi told him, "Extracting the demonic energy will be very painful, but no matter how painful, you cannot faint. If you faint, the demonic energy will rapidly invade your body. Therefore, extracting the demonic energy might put you through a process more painful than death."
Dan Ya was silent for a moment after hearing this, then chuckled wryly, "Do you think I haven't experienced such things often?"
Gu Junshi had no intention of delving into his past. Hearing his words, she coldly threw out a sentence: "If you agree, I will extract the demonic energy for you immediately."
"Why are you helping me? The one who hurt me was the Ghost Infant. Since you are related to him, you shouldn't be saving me." Dan Ya was still uneasy, so he wanted to clarify things.
Gu Junshi, still being held by him, found this person quite strange.
He didn't trust her, yet he was willing to embrace her so openly. He said he had experienced many things more painful than death, and he seemed very strong, but when in pain, he didn't hesitate to embrace her, which indicated he was not accustomed to such pain.
"I am not saving you; it is because the demonic energy on your body is what I want."
Gu Junshi had waited for so long, keeping the Ghost Infant close and observing him for so long, waiting for this moment.
Waiting for the "red eyes" within him to show a flaw, allowing her to seize the clue it left behind and follow the thread.
In fact, when Dan Ya was hiding in the darkness, she had already noticed it. Therefore, she had blinded Dan Ya's sight and hearing, making him only aware of such a mysterious black shadow, but not guessing who it was.
After she left, she wanted to know why Dan Ya was looking for the Ghost Infant and what the Ghost Infant would do.
But what happened next was an unexpected pleasant surprise.
She had finally found a trace left by the "Red Evil Eyes" that had managed to escape.
She followed Dan Ya, who had been seriously injured by the Ghost Infant whose body had been taken over by the "Red Evil Eyes," and wanted to know what power had injured him. When she saw the discolored blood Dan Ya vomited, and the spreading wound on his chest, she knew the answer.