Chongxu Sect.
Red Dust Town lay within its territory, so both sentiment and reason demanded they send someone to investigate and resolve the issue.
Yet the Daoists dispatched there had gone silent for a long time, and even the fellow sect members from other sects who came to assist had vanished without a trace. How could Chongxu Sect rest easy? Just then, a disciple at the Nascent Soul Third Layer emerged from seclusion, and Chongxu Sect’s sect master immediately sent her to probe the matter.
This Daoist was named Lin Hanzhi, a direct disciple under Cave Heaven True Person Jin Posha of Chongxu Sect. She had been cultivating for nearly a century, just one step away from Soul Transformation, second only to her chief senior sister Fu Mingdu, who was still in closed-door cultivation. Chongxu Sect had always selected its “Ten Greats,” and she was one of them, receiving the sect’s full support with vast resources poured into her.
After receiving her orders, Lin Hanzhi set off at once to investigate near Red Dust Town, arriving just as Zhan Yujie and Yan Zhichuan did too.
Due to the matters involving Liu Yanqing and Liu Lizhu, relations between Nine Abyss and Chongxu had soured. Zhan Yujie had little desire to travel with Chongxu Sect Daoists, so per her master’s instructions, she merely gave them a greeting upon arrival. The Chongxu cultivators on the other end couldn’t be bothered to engage either and let them pass after verifying their identities.
Lin Hanzhi had been in seclusion recently and emerged only to take on resolving the demonic disaster at Red Dust Town. Unaware of the grudge between Nine Abyss and Chongxu, she spotted Zhan Yujie and Yan Zhichuan and immediately transformed into a streak of escaping light, calling out, “Fellow Daoist, hold on!”
Zhan Yujie raised her hand in a slight salute, her expression calm and indifferent.
Yan Zhichuan poked her head out, staring at Lin Hanzhi with eyes full of doubt.
“Junior Sister Zhan.” Lin Hanzhi returned the salute. She knew Zhan Yujie, but the other one was unfamiliar—someone she’d never seen. Perhaps a new disciple of Nine Abyss? Lin Hanzhi pushed down her puzzlement. “Did you come for the Peach Blossom Miasma outside Red Dust Town?”
Zhan Yujie nodded slightly and said flatly, “Senior Sister Yusha is trapped inside.”
“Hm?” Lin Hanzhi’s brows furrowed as she muttered to herself, “Even she’s been caught?”
Fuyu Sha roamed far and wide, wielding her blade with extreme ferocity. She didn’t just challenge foes in the Overlord Arena; she sought out fights with orthodox Xuanmen cultivators of higher realms. Lin Hanzhi had dueled Fuyu Sha before. Though her longer cultivation and higher realm had secured victory, she knew well that if their realms were equal, she might not have the upper hand.
Zhan Yujie said “yes,” and seeing Lin Hanzhi showed no sign of leaving, added, “Does Senior Sister Lin know the situation at Red Dust Town?”
Lin Hanzhi shook her head. “The sect master and my master didn’t elaborate.” She thought for a moment, then extended an invitation to the pair. “Since we share the same goal, shall we travel together? We can watch each other’s backs.”
Her gaze was clear and bright, as if oblivious to the rift between the sects.
Zhan Yujie couldn’t find a good reason to refuse. After a moment’s consideration, she nodded and said, “Alright.”
Lin Hanzhi laughed briskly at that and took the lead toward the Peach Blossom Miasma.
Zhan Yujie and Yan Zhichuan followed closely behind.
The miasma roiled like pink mist, exuding a bizarre, decadent aura from all sides.
Yan Zhichuan reached for her pills and popped them into her mouth like candy beans. Before she could even share any Spirit Dividing Pills, ripples of light flowed over Lin Hanzhi like water, a hazy silver glow enveloping her. On closer inspection, it was countless tiny sword lights like star rays shuttling about, keeping the miasma from approaching her body.
The gaze shifted to Zhan Yujie, who clearly refused to lag behind. A shimmer rippled across her Daoist robes, releasing an endless stream of radiant light that blocked the miasma. As the pink fog surged in, the glow rippled like waves, gently pushing it away.
Yan Zhichuan: “…”
Are all sword cultivators like this? Toughing it out without pills? She silently pocketed her pills and fed one to the quiet Little Fat Chirp instead.
The miasma was strange, but with sufficient cultivation or protective treasures, entering the Peach Blossom Miasma wasn’t difficult. There were no odd formation shifts or illusory mazes to trap people, so the chances of getting lost in it seemed low. As the thought crossed Zhan Yujie’s mind, Lin Hanzhi turned to her and said, “The Peach Blossom Miasma itself isn’t the threat.”
Zhan Yujie murmured agreement and lifted her gaze to the dense peach groves ahead.
A winding stream cut through, its waters murmuring softly. Vibrant fallen petals were swept up by the wind, carpeting the ground in pink shade and dotting the stream with flecks of peach-blossom color. Less than a quarter-hour after entering the miasma, the thick fog thinned dramatically, revealing a secluded peach blossom paradise cut off from the world.
“I wonder where the Demon Sect members are hiding,” Lin Hanzhi said.
Zhan Yujie didn’t respond, her gaze darkening. The peach-scented breeze carried faint rustling sounds, mingled with the crack of breaking branches. “Something’s approaching,” she said. No sooner had the words left her lips than a shrill screech echoed, followed by a horde of half-human-tall monkeys swinging out from the peach groves.
Lin Hanzhi paid the barely sentient Demon Monkeys no mind. As long as they didn’t harm people, she wouldn’t bother slaying them. But the monkeys swarmed out, encircling them in rings, chittering nonstop. They started by hurling rotten fruit at Zhan Yujie and the others, then escalated to sticks and stones. One mischievous little monkey hung from a branch by its tail, baring its teeth as it lunged with a long arm straight for the Heavenly Dao System.
Little Fat Chirp hurriedly burrowed into Yan Zhichuan’s embrace.
Zhan Yujie’s brows knit tight as the approaching monkey whipped up a fierce gust. Her Dharma sword spun, still sheathed, parrying the creature. The move stirred up a hornet’s nest—the Demon Monkeys grew frenzied, their cries sharpening to pierce the clouds. They swung sticks and stones at the trio.
Lin Hanzhi grew impatient and unsheathed her Dharma sword. A razor-sharp sword glow spun in a circle to drive off the pests. But when it struck an ordinary-looking stick, it only produced a dull thud. With Nascent Soul might, even her mere pressure should have scattered them—yet her strike achieved nothing.
“Something’s wrong!” Lin Hanzhi’s expression shifted. These monkeys were barely sentient, at most Foundation Establishment level. Why were they so fearless? The fang-baring monkeys leaped in waves, their wild swings battering relentlessly. Lin Hanzhi’s annoyance flared; her sword intent howled as she held nothing back. Yet somehow, her fierce assaults barely harmed them!
It wasn’t just Lin Hanzhi—Zhan Yujie’s sword fared the same.
Her icy sword glow flashed like lightning. Sweeping away a pack of mischievous monkeys should have been effortless, let alone leveling the peach groves. The glow did strike true, but it was as if the force had been nullified midair—Nascent Soul momentum without Nascent Soul power.
Meanwhile, these at-most-Foundation Establishment monkeys? Their chaotic attacks unleashed ferocious power; a single grab left bloody gashes.
Between them and the monkeys, everything felt inverted!
Zhan Yujie’s heart sank slightly, her thoughts racing like lightning. If realms are inverted here, that explains why Senior Sister and the others are trapped.
Of the three, Yan Zhichuan had it easiest.
She lounged atop Cloudy, figuring mere monkeys meant she could spectate. Who knew it’d be this tricky?
She’d even suspected her senior sister and Lin Hanzhi were holding back.
With monkeys swarming the trio, some swung toward her side.
They didn’t strike her, but targeted Little Fat Chirp or rummaged for her Qiankun pouch.
Robbery? Yan Zhichuan froze, then flew into a rage. She whipped out Nameless Plainness and slashed at the nearest monkey.
Without system buffs, Yan Zhichuan’s swordplay was all flash, no substance—just her usual flourish. A cold gleam flashed, and the monkey pawing at her was decapitated clean.
Yan Zhichuan: “…”
She glared at Little Fat Chirp. “Xiao Tian, it’s just a few monkeys—don’t waste energy! Refining pills tires me out too.”
Little Fat Chirp flapped its wings innocently—it wasn’t its fault.
The scent of blood lingered on the wind, igniting the Demon Monkeys’ savagery.
Lin Hanzhi’s brows locked tight. She’d never imagined being forced to scramble by Foundation Establishment Demon Monkeys.
Word of this would make people die laughing.
But Yan Zhichuan hacked wildly with her sword, somehow creating a devastating, all-conquering momentum.
Zhan Yujie’s mind whirred. Suspecting the issue lay in their Dao arts, she ceased channeling spiritual power, relying solely on the sword skills honed at Pure Prison Peak and Forbidden Law Peak against the monkeys. Her sword flashed like a startled swan; her blade was a spirit treasure that grew with her, too sharp for the monkeys to withstand. As they swept in with gale-force winds, evoking a sense of collapsing heavens, Zhan Yujie’s expression remained unchanged. She thrust forward, sidestepped razor claws—rip—and a snarling head spun high into the air.
With the method found, Zhan Yujie’s movements grew smoother, her strikes flowing like clouds and running water. Though she couldn’t unleash free sword lights or raging sword qi, a single blade in hand commanded the winds in all directions—no monkey came within a step of her.
After some fell dead, the frenzied Demon Monkeys finally learned fear. Bullies at heart, they feared the strong; a whistle sounded, and they retreated like the tide, vanishing into the dense woods in moments.
Lin Hanzhi wiped sweat from her brow and exhaled heavily, her complexion far from pleased.
Yan Zhichuan noted her wounds and tossed over a bottle of premium Blood Coagulation Pills.
Lin Hanzhi said softly, “Thank you.”
Yan Zhichuan blinked and extended her right hand.
Thanks were useless—she was Chongxu Sect. Pills meant Dan Jade.
Zhan Yujie ventured, “This place is off. It seems inverted: the strong become weak, the weak become strong.” Not a natural inversion secret realm, likely the work of Sky Nether City’s Cave Heaven arts.
Lin Hanzhi’s face darkened further. “Red Dust Town isn’t prosperous, with sparse people and rampant beasts. If everything’s truly inverted, the beasts inside will be brutal to deal with.”
Zhan Yujie nodded, then added, “The ones appearing here are all Foundation Establishment Demon Cultivators.” Outside, they’d be crushed with a finger—here, they’d flip the script into deadly foes. But there might still be a way out. Her gaze fell on Yan Zhichuan.
Pondering paths forward was never Yan Zhichuan’s job.
Her eyes had long skipped the monkey corpses, fixating on the brilliantly blooming peach trees.
She snapped off a branch, tucked it into her hair, and waved it before Zhan Yujie, beaming. “Pretty?”
Zhan Yujie replied offhandedly, “Pretty.”
Yan Zhichuan’s smile widened. She shook the branch; petals rained down like pink flurries, speckling Zhan Yujie’s robes.
Lin Hanzhi’s eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Zhan Yujie. “You two—”
Yan Zhichuan turned to her. “Hm?”
Lin Hanzhi stammered, “My Junior Sister Liu, you, the engagement…”
Yan Zhichuan drawled slowly, “Didn’t your Junior Sister Liu invite you to her wedding feast with that Miracle Hand Sect cultivator?”
