Thick fog covered the sea, concealing the stars in the sky.

When Ling Luo followed Yun Shouxi to the ship’s ladder, she suddenly withdrew her hand and said, “Master, I just remembered there’s something I need to do. You go up first, I’ll join you shortly.”

Yun Shouxi was slightly taken aback and didn’t have time to ask what it was before seeing her turn around and trot back.

Yue Liangze knew Ling Luo wouldn’t greet him in front of Yun Shouxi, so he continued walking with the cargo box. After a few steps, he heard someone calling from behind: “Senior Brother!”

“Senior Brother Yue!”

Yue Liangze paused in surprise and looked back to find she had returned.

Ling Luo glared at him huffily and said, “Why are you walking so fast!”

Yue Liangze was speechless.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I’m going down the mountain for training now and won’t be back for two months,” Ling Luo said. “I wanted to find you for sword practice before leaving, but you weren’t there… What are you doing here anyway!”

Yue Liangze answered good-naturedly, “Uncle Chang’s son injured his foot, so I’m filling in for him with the cargo.”

Ling Luo: “…”

You truly are a do-gooder.

“Are they paying you?” she asked.

Yue Liangze: “No need for payment.”

“…You’re too kind!” Ling Luo said irritably. “If anyone gives you trouble while I’m gone, tell that adopted son of yours.”

“If they beat you, remember their names, and I’ll challenge them when I get back.”

She wasn’t concerned about Yue Liangze.

The only one who could defeat Yue Liangze was her, Ling Luo—no one else.

Yue Liangze said, “I’m not so easily bullied.”

Do you even believe that yourself?

Ling Luo looked at him skeptically.

“Chang Fei and the others will often come to freeload, so remember to have them steal more rice for you, otherwise you’ll run out again,” Ling Luo muttered. “You still haven’t made me that teriyaki chicken rice you promised!”

“I’ll make it for you when you return from training,” Yue Liangze said.

“Finish your work and head back early. The hanging clouds and thick fog tonight aren’t good for staying at the foot of the mountain,” Ling Luo said as she turned to leave. “I’m going now. See you when I return.”

Yue Liangze: “Be careful on your journey.”

He watched silently as the young girl departed. The cargo workers separated them, and the departing sea vessel carrying her grew increasingly distant.

The sea vessel moved much faster than other ships, taking very little time to travel from Tianji East Island to East Sea City.

They arrived when the night scene in East Sea City was at its most magnificent. The vast city displayed the prosperity and liveliness of the mortal world. As soon as they disembarked, city guards came to welcome them.

The city commander, General Guan Chen, approached respectfully and said, “Immortal Master San Xi, upon learning of your intention to investigate the Bai Linglong matter, the City Lord has specially dispatched me to assist you.”

“Much appreciated,” Yun Shouxi responded with a warm smile.

Ling Luo looked up toward the highest point in the city.

That was the East Sea City Lord’s Mansion.

The cultivation world and the mortal realm had an inseparable relationship.

Some cultivation clans had even served various royal families for generations.

But cultivators were forbidden from becoming involved in state affairs and grudges.

Among the Twelve Great Immortal Sects, some strictly prohibited their disciples from interfering in court matters. Serious offenders were considered to have betrayed their sect and might even face elimination.

Both sides needed to maintain a balance of power.

Yet this balance was delicate.

Undeniably, the relationship between the mortal realm and the Twelve Great Immortal Sects was good, especially with the four-thousand-year-old great clans, which maintained subtle exchanges of interests.

East Sea City was closest to Tianji. A single word from the Tianji Sect Leader could cause the East Sea City Lord to anxiously ponder for days.

The status difference between the two was thus apparent.

To enter or leave Tianji, East Sea City was the only route.

Yun Shouxi took Yu Xiu to investigate Bai Linglong in East Sea City, while Chu Yi was to take Ling Luo out of East Sea City for training.

“Powerful and troublesome demons usually cause mischief in rural villages and small towns. Such places are secluded with few passersby, suitable for hiding after causing havoc.”

Chu Yi led her through the bustling night market streets, surrounded by dazzling lights from shops and restaurants that overwhelmed the senses.

While Chu Yi was talking about demons, Ling Luo stopped at a roadside stall, bending down curiously to examine various trinkets laid out on the ground.

“What’s this?” she asked, pointing at a small black gourd.

The vendor, a middle-aged man with a mustache, replied, “This is a jade gourd that can hold the moon from the sky.”

Ling Luo couldn’t help but burst into laughter upon hearing this.

Chu Yi, walking ahead, turned back to look.

“The moon from the sky?” Ling Luo picked up the black gourd and asked, “Where is the moon? And how is it stored?”

“Let me demonstrate,” the mustached man took the jade gourd, split it in half, and handed it back to Ling Luo, smiling, “Please look, young lady.”

Inside the half gourd was clear water, with a full moon shimmering brilliantly on the surface.

“That’s interesting,” Ling Luo asked, “How much?”

The mustache man: “Fifteen silver coins.”

Ling Luo paid and bought it, then took the black gourd to catch up with Chu Yi.

Chu Yi stood ahead waiting for her and asked, “What did you buy?”

“I bought the moon from the sky,” Ling Luo handed him the black gourd and said, “For you, a gift from your junior sister.”

Chu Yi: “…”

Ling Luo smiled with narrowed eyes, in a good mood, and without paying him any mind, ran off to other stalls to buy snacks for herself.

The black gourd was small, only about the size of an infant’s fist. Chu Yi looked at it briefly before putting it away and following Ling Luo.

They were heading to a small town called Simo, located deep in the mountains outside East Sea City. Due to its position deep within steep mountains, the roads were difficult to traverse, making contact with the outside world challenging.

On his way back to Tianji, Chu Yi had heard that wind demons frequently caused trouble in Simo Town. When people were climbing treacherous mountain walls to reach the outside world for trade and supplies, the demon would conjure gusts of black wind, blowing people off the high cliffs and into its mouth.

The wind demon only enjoyed eating human eyeballs. Those who were devoured by the black wind and miraculously survived would inevitably lose both eyes.

On the way, Chu Yi said, “Such an evil demon that brings calamity to the world must be eliminated.”

Ling Luo followed beside him in silence.

But her mind wandered to many things.

Yun Shouxi had three disciples in total.

He taught his disciples many things, both principles and techniques.

Ling Luo had once aspired to become someone like her master:

Kind, powerful, serving all beings, upholding justice, saving people.

Yun Shouxi was a good master. Ling Luo respected him, yet also disliked him.

The eldest senior brother was unyielding, the second senior brother was gentle, and the little junior sister was obedient.

It was like that at first.

But circumstances are unpredictable.

Six days later, the senior and junior disciples arrived in the deep mountains.

Ling Luo stood looking at the narrow paths carved into the steep mountain walls with raised eyebrows. Chu Yi hovered in the air on his sword, hands tucked into his sleeves, looking down disdainfully at everything below.

“We’ll wait here until the wind demon shows itself,” Chu Yi said.

Ling Luo, wearing a cloaked robe with a hood, turned to look at him: “Senior Brother, if you were the wind demon, would you dare come out seeing two cultivators standing nearby?”

Chu Yi raised an eyebrow: “Why wouldn’t it dare? Isn’t it quite arrogant?”

Ling Luo thought to herself that in her previous life, she had believed this nonsense and waited for a month without seeing any trace of the wind demon.

“I think it won’t dare because we’re too formidable and it’s afraid,” Ling Luo said as she walked up the mountain wall.

Chu Yi followed beside her on his sword and gave her a strange look: “Junior Sister, between the two of you, you’re more arrogant.”

The path was so narrow that one could only proceed by pressing against the mountain wall. Looking down, the bottom was not visible. People with fear of heights who ventured up would likely experience weak legs and might be unable to walk at all.

Ling Luo took small steps, ignoring his sarcastic tone, and said, “I’ll first pretend to be a traveler to lure it out. Senior Brother, stay far from me so you don’t frighten it.”

Chu Yi gave a contemptuous laugh and flew away on his sword, scouting ahead of her.

Ling Luo leisurely completed the entire mountain wall path, arriving safely at the foot of the cliff.

Chu Yi also put away his sword.

Ling Luo adjusted her sleeves and said, “Bad luck, we didn’t encounter the wind demon.”

Passing villagers: “…”

Not encountering the wind demon is bad luck? Are you crazy?

Chu Yi noticed people approaching, turned to look, and after examining the three people carrying baskets on their backs, asked, “Where are you going?”

One of the villagers was startled, hesitated briefly, and then answered, “Going to the nearby town to buy medicine for my wife.”

“Aren’t you afraid of the wind demon?” Chu Yi said, “The sun has already set. Traveling at night is more dangerous.”

“How could we not be afraid!” another villager said, “But my sister is almost dying of pain without medicine!”

“Then go ahead,” Chu Yi rose into the air on his sword again, “I’ll watch over you and ensure your safety.”

This display of sword flight left the villagers stunned, and they excitedly called out: “Great hero! Immortal master!”

Ling Luo looked up from the foot of the mountain.

Under Chu Yi’s protection, the wind demon dared not attack.

They needed to find a way to make the wind demon act, otherwise, like before, it would demonstrate remarkable patience, enduring for over a month before finally risking an attack out of hunger.

This was Ling Luo’s thinking.

But the reality was:

Three days and then three more days passed. They escorted villagers safely along the mountain path every day. Even when someone accidentally slipped and fell, Chu Yi would catch them with his sword.

Yet there was not the slightest sign of the wind demon.

Instead, they received piles of cakes and sweet melons from grateful villagers.

The people were extremely thankful for their protection.

A month passed. Ling Luo had long since changed out of the cloak she wore upon arrival. Now she had her sleeves rolled up, holding a sweet melon, and lifting her skirt as she stood in the river cooling off.

She glanced toward the mountain wall. Chu Yi descended on his sword and came to the riverside, looking at her with exasperation: “How am I supposed to drink from there if you’re stepping in it?”

“Can’t you just drink upstream?” Ling Luo shrugged.

Chu Yi stood on the bank, expressionless.

Ling Luo pointed elsewhere, “Or you could drink the water they brought us.”

Chu Yi went to their makeshift tent and took a water pouch to drink from.

The tent was mainly used to store gifts from the villagers. Ling Luo slept inside the tent, while Chu Yi slept outside.

“Senior Brother, after more than a month, we’ve practically become the village’s guardian deities,” Ling Luo said, eating a sweet melon. “If we leave, the wind demon might immediately appear.”

“Let’s try it then.”

As soon as Chu Yi said this, they put it into action.

The two pretended to leave the mountain wall for several days, hiding in secret to wait for the wind demon to appear.

But the creature proved more cunning than imagined.

Ling Luo was impressed.

Whether in her previous life or this one, she admired the wind demon’s patience.

But there was no help for it. If the wind demon wanted to hide, they would find it difficult to locate.

After pretending to hide for several days, they finally revealed themselves to save a villager who nearly fell from the cliff.

Ling Luo returned to the riverside by the mountain, sighing.

Chu Yi came back after escorting the villagers and thoughtfully looked at Ling Luo, who was wading in the river: “If you hadn’t gone to save him, the wind demon might have appeared after another day or two.”

He had asked this in her previous life as well.

Ling Luo’s answer was the same as before: “When weighing a life against the wind demon, of course, the life is more important.”

Chu Yi said, “If the wind demon persists in not appearing, we can’t possibly stay here for a year or two. We may save people once, but there will be second and third occasions.”

“Senior Brother, that person’s near-death experience just now had nothing to do with the wind demon,” Ling Luo bent down, scooping water with both hands to cool her arms. “What almost killed him was the steep mountain wall, this great mountain that ordinary people find difficult to overcome, the lack of a flat, wide road connecting them to the outside world.”

“As long as this mountain remains steep, killing the wind demon won’t save them.”

Chu Yi looked at her with deep, steady eyes, as if seeing her properly for the first time.

But Ling Luo was looking at the terrifying mountain wall, now tinted with gorgeous colors in the sunset.

Among the immortal realm’s supreme masters, some could cleave this mountain with a single sword stroke. One needn’t look far—the Tianji Sect Leader could do it.

But cultivators sought the ultimate realm.

The unity of sword and heart.

The ascension to the Great Dao.

Not creating mountain paths or building dragon carriages and cloud transports.

Before falling into demonic cultivation, Ling Luo had carved mountains to make roads, built dragon carriages and cloud transports, fought countless demons and eliminated harm, guarded dangerous cities for three months, and saved innumerable people.

At that time, she was the pride of the immortal sects.

She had once truly devoted herself to goodness and walked the righteous path.