Yun Ya interjected: “This monkey is called Hu Tian [Heaven]. Shouldn’t there also be a Hu Di [Earth]?”

Feng Miaojun twisted his arm hard: “You should change your name to Hu Nao [Mischief]!” This was a case of the wise seeing wisdom, the benevolent seeing benevolence, and the lustful…

Yu Haizhen gave a light cough: “It did have a brother called Hu Di, but unfortunately he was too weak and died before reaching maturity.”

Feng Miaojun: “…” Why did these monster parents give such thoughtless names? She unconsciously glanced toward the crane demons Da Hei and San Hua dozing by the fire.

Yun Ya shrugged at her, making a “See, just as I said” expression.

That night, Hu Tian indeed didn’t get drunk, because before dawn it returned from patrolling the mountain and growled softly: “Yan people are pursuing us! All cultivators, currently seventy li away.”

Outside were cliffs and precipices everywhere. Ordinary soldiers couldn’t possibly reach this place within two days.

Everyone rose alertly, finding it strange: How could the Yan people arrive so quickly?

Feng Miaojun said gravely: “Someone leaked information.”

Yu Haizhen also said: “Perhaps someone who joined the Prince of Yan betrayed us.” Hu Tian had notified the Xi Kingdom cultivators of her decision, and perhaps among them, someone had gone to inform them. If Yu Haizhen and the others were captured because of this, this act of loyalty would become that person’s ladder to promotion.

Xi Kingdom no longer existed, and she was no longer the State Preceptor. How could past friendships be more important than prospects?

When people leave, sentiments cool—such is the way of the world.

Fortunately, everyone had already packed, and Hu Tian had discovered the threat in time. They quickly retreated, not forgetting to splash snow water on the fire pit before leaving.

When the pursuers arrived, the place was already empty. Not only had the traces on the road been cleaned thoroughly, but even the embers on the ground had grown completely cold.

When the news reached Yinggong City, the Prince of Yan didn’t fly into a rage. He merely tapped lightly on the table a few times, each tap leaving a deep finger hole in the hard ebony wood.

But those familiar with him understood that the Prince of Yan was truly angry.

Why? Just because of a State Preceptor from a fallen country?

The Prince of Yan sneered: “You couldn’t catch even one of them, hmm?” This was directed at the black-robed female drought demon standing not far away. She stepped forward and said expressionlessly: “I investigated that cave. People had lingered there a few hours earlier, and even the soul fluctuations hadn’t completely disappeared. Besides Yu Haizhen, there was also that New Xia Queen you’ve been endlessly pursuing.”

The Prince of Yan narrowed his eyes.

“By the way, your old friend also appeared.”

“Who?”

“The Wei Kingdom’s State Preceptor, Yun Ya.” The black-robed drought demon said, “When he doesn’t conceal himself, his soul fire is both beautiful and unique.”

“The New Xia Queen and Yun Ya!” The Prince of Yan’s voice was like ice. “These two have joined forces! New Xia and Wei Kingdom, heh heh, how delightful.”

He finally couldn’t hold back and slammed the wooden table heavily.

With a crash, the table shattered to dust.

“It seems that the one who rescued the New Xia Queen from Yinggong City that day was the Wei Kingdom’s State Preceptor.” The black-robed drought demon said calmly, “What do you plan to do?”

“Not only has New Xia established an agreement with Wei, but they’ve also divided Yao Kingdom with Xiao Yan. Heh heh, and now they dare to run wild in my territory.” The Prince of Yan said coldly, “New Xia has betrayed me! Perfect, let’s send a gift to its Queen to express my sentiments!”

Feng Miaojun, Yun Ya, and the others left the Great Ten Thousand Mountains in northern Xi Kingdom and continued northward.

At this time, less than ten days had passed since the fall of Xi Kingdom. The Yan people hadn’t yet had time to strictly guard the northern border, so everyone easily crossed the border and entered Wei Kingdom territory.

After traveling non-stop to reach this place, everyone finally took a long breath, their tense nerves relaxing. At the same time, Feng Miaojun could feel the tension spreading from the frontlines. Not only were ordinary civilians affected, but the personnel and material dispatches from several military towns were also particularly frequent, indicating that the Wei Kingdom was already preparing for battle at the front.

The Kingdom of Yan had already annexed Xi Kingdom and now formally shared a border with the great Wei of the Northern Continent. Although knowledgeable people generally believed that this continental hegemony war wouldn’t ignite immediately, who could be certain about war? Preparation prevents mishaps.

Having reached this point, the large group split into two routes, parting ways. One route, led by Lu Ming, headed north to return to Wei Kingdom, while the other followed Feng Miaojun toward the northeast, that is, toward New Xia.

The State Preceptor, who should have led the newly joined cultivators to meet the King of Wei, directly dumped this burden on Lu Ming and brazenly joined Feng Miaojun’s group.

Yun Ya possessed treasures like the Inch Bottle, which could easily accommodate dozens of people. However, many cultivators, including Yu Haizhen, still harbored doubts about him and dared not enter his magical space. Additionally, there weren’t enough avian demons in the group to carry so many people. Therefore, everyone had to return to New Xia by land. The good news was that they didn’t need to buy horses—among Yu Haizhen’s subordinates, more than a third were beast demons who could run faster than horses and had strength greater than elephants, easily carrying three to five people.

This phenomenon was quite interesting. In the current world where humans flourished, few monsters served the royal courts of various countries. This was not only because humans had squeezed the living space of monsters, but more importantly, the depletion of the world’s spiritual energy had drastically reduced the rate at which creatures could become demons.

Living beings other than humans could live very long lives and were called spirits, but only by further awakening spiritual intelligence could they be considered demons. In ancient times, the Imperial Flow Nectar descended from heaven every sixty years. Creatures who obtained it might experience an enlightening effect, awakening their wisdom and starting on the path of demonic cultivation. But now, the Imperial Flow Nectar might not appear even once every two hundred years. Combined with human persecution, the number of demons in the world had sharply decreased.

Without spiritual energy, humans remained humans; but without spiritual energy, wild beasts couldn’t become demons.

How had Yu Haizhen gathered so many demons under her command?

Passing through a small rural city named Yuanxiang City, Feng Miaojun couldn’t help but raise this question. According to her intelligence, demons frequently emerged from deep mountains to serve Yu Haizhen.

It could be said that the Xi Kingdom’s ability to hold out for so long against the powerful Yan army was largely related to the assistance of these brave and powerful demons. Feng Miaojun had personally witnessed the chi-chou and giant armadillo demons fighting for Xi. Of course, they weren’t doing it for the King of Xi’s sake but were obeying Yu Haizhen.

Yuanxiang City was a small town famous for its hot springs. Night had fallen, and fine snow was floating in the sky, yet the two women were soaking in a women-only bath, wearing only thin gauze clothes. Compared to the days of desperate flight before, the comfort now was like being in heaven.

Of course, they hadn’t forgotten to set up a barrier. In such a private space, Feng Miaojun wouldn’t miss the opportunity to get to the bottom of things.

After hearing her question, Yu Haizhen raised her snow-white wrist, revealing the red-gold chain.

Along the way, Feng Miaojun had examined the chain pendant dozens of times. Its pattern was almost identical to the drawing by Xu Linghai, with only three or four minor differences in the fine lines.