It was over eight hundred li from the Lingyun Mountain Range to Southern Shu’s west coast. All of this was given over to the spiritual beast farm. 

The spiritual beast farm backed against the spiritual mountains and was surrounded on the other three sides by the sea. Its size far exceeded Zhao Qindan’s imagination. 

The nominal stewards came here rarely, only used their consciousnesses to give it a sweep at fixed intervals. Zhao Qindan used a spiritual image mask to turn herself into a Turmoiler and infiltrated the spiritual beast farm following Li Manlong. 

“No need to worry, Miss Zhao. The cultivator lords can’t tell us apart,” Li Manlong said, “and no one will look closely at us.” 

In fact, Zhao Qindan herself didn’t dare to take a casual glance at her reflection when she passed by bodies of water. Though she couldn’t bear to comment, the reality was that the Turmoilers looked less human than a shaved monkey. 

Large-scale aquatic spiritual beasts encircled the main island, dwelling in the surrounding seas, their songs mixing closely with the sound of the waves. 

On land, to the south was rainforest beyond what the eye could take in, extending all the way to the feet of the Lingyun Mountains. In the center was a wide swath of mixed wetlands and inland lakes, and to the north were grasslands. 

Howls and shrieks came in waves one after another. They were a little frightening. Hearing the whistling wind, Zhao Qindan raised her head and saw an enormous avian creature that blocked out the sky as it passed. It was over ten zhang long. When the bird’s body brushed against the tops of the ancient trees, it knocked down all the water droplets preserved on the branches and leaves. It was as if a small rain shower were falling. 

“That is a west winder. It’s only a youngster, not fully grown. It’s a little mischievous,” Li Manlong said unhurriedly, hands behind his back. “The west winder is large, but its disposition is docile. Once it gets to know you, it is even willing to let you fly it. So it’s raised free range… Ah, and here’s this wretched bunch.” 

Hardly had he spoken than they passed by a range of small hills. There were many openings in the hills, from which surged a particular musk. When they passed by, a Turmoiler’s head emerged from each opening and spun around. 

Zhao Qindan: “…” 

Who were they trying to scare? 

Li Manlong let out two shrieks. The heads heard and turned a full circle in unison, revealing their true appearances—they were a group of big-eyed monkeys, grinning as they laughed indistinctly. 

“These monkeys are called bluffing monkeys. They can imitate the appearances of living creatures around them. Sometimes you see a spiritual beast or a person acting strange and then smell that musk—most likely it’s them playing with you. But while these monkeys like scaring people, they also function as an early warning. The spiritual beasts from the free range area can’t get into the sealed area. If we see the bluffing monkeys turn into some violent beast, we know to be careful, because most likely an array has broken somewhere and a dangerous spiritual beast has escaped.” 

Soon after, they encountered a spiritual snake that traveled underground, a giant clam frog that belched out one dreamland after another, a knowing fish that could suddenly grow legs and walk up on shore… Medicinal herbs and spiritual beasts that Zhao Qindan had only read about in books appeared along the way in numbers too great for the eye to take in. It made her forget her own frightening appearance for a time. 

Suddenly, she heard an excited whistle from a Turmoiler not far off and looked in the direction of the whistle. She saw that there was a spiritual beast the size of a water buffalo not far away, with an enormous pair of horns curving like a full moon behind its head. Its breast was thrown out, its four limbs long and slender. It was unbelievably graceful. Its whole body was pitch-black. Standing in the forest, it was like a lithe silhouette. It wasn’t afraid of people. It nodded towards them as if presenting its compliments, then slowly strolled away. 

“It’s so pretty. What is it?” 

“A sable sheep,” Li Manlong said softly, as if afraid of startling something. “One of the three auspicious omens of Southern Shu. They don’t permit themselves to be kept, and they don’t accept masters. They live free and unrestrained… We see them very rarely. You have brought us good luck, miss. Something good will happen soon. All wishes will be granted.” 

Zhao Qindan smiled politely and didn’t take it to heart. Back when her group had entered the Latent Cultivation Temple, there had been blue luan and white deer to greet them. The steward seniors had also said they were “auspicious omens,” but ultimately no one had had rapid success. Instead, just at the start of autumn, the Latent Cultivation Temple had blown up, and at the end of the year had come the fire in Jinping’s southern outskirts that had nearly burned down Great Wan. And after that…

A shadow flitted over her heart, so she quickly pulled back her train of thought to keep it from sweeping away her interest in sightseeing. 

After walking longer towards the depths of the forest, Zhao Qindan sensed very powerful arrays in the vicinity. 

“Further in is the sealed area. This is the terrestrial beast area. All the spiritual beasts inside the ring are dangerous. Please don’t approach carelessly, miss. Those of us who look after them must go in to feed and clean at fixed times and follow fixed paths. When the arrays are intact, they can hide a person’s scent. Despite this, we still have to be extremely alert. When these beasts run mad, it is hard for even a half-immortal to withstand them. As for us, if we run into them… Heh, when it’s someone’s turn to enter the sealed area, they’ll bid farewell to their friends and family before leaving.” 

Zhao Qindan’s heart tightened. She was just about to say that she could help deal with it, but she heard Li Manlong add softly, smiling, “It’s a glorious period of time. Any discord you have with anyone automatically disappears. You feel that the human world is vast. Even a breath of morning mist is delicious. It’s us old things who take up this fine assignment. We can let the young people store up experience and wait.” 

For a time, Zhao Qindan couldn’t speak. 

Li Manlong went on to caution her, “This place is already within the scope of the great mountain array. Miss Zhao isn’t one of Lingyun Mountain’s people. Remember Tai Sui’s instructions. You absolutely must not use spiritual energy carelessly. Also, don’t take out your reincarnation wood lightly. If you need to send him a message, you need only to tell me.” 

Xi Ping hadn’t come with them. 

Zhao Qindan could enter this spiritual beast farm, but he couldn’t. Because a half-immortal had no essence and couldn’t retain spiritual energy, as long as Zhao Qindan didn’t take it upon herself to draw a talisman or use an immortal tool and kept wearing her spiritual image mask, she could appear like a mortal. 

But an ascended spirit master was different. 

Last time, Xi Ping had only been an established foundation. Adding in that Sanyue was full of all kinds of people, that had allowed him to sneak in. Now he was an ascended spirit, like a giant weighing hundreds upon thousands of jin. While the Replica could hide his aura and spiritual image, his “weight” was still on display. Unless Lingyun Mountain’s great mountain array split apart like Sanyue’s had back then, if he took a step inside, the spiritual energy he disturbed would immediately summon Lingyun Mountain’s divine tool. 

“You can have a peaceful stay. If you take a liking to anything in the spiritual beast farm, go ahead and take it. No need to be polite,” Xi Ping had told her before leaving. “Then wait.” 

“Wait for what?” 

“Wait for the divine tool of the mountains to become restless and the Lingyun Immortal Mountains' spiritual energy to leak out,” Xi Ping had said, smiling brightly. “When the whole crowd of evil cultivators has assembled, if the immortal mountains still don’t look lively…then they’re really good for nothing. Don’t worry, if that’s really the case, I’ll drop them a ‘hint’ when the time comes.” 

This veteran shit-stirrer’s statement had rendered the young mistress speechless. She could only dryly say, “Well…th-thank you, senior?” 

“Before that, you can continue to refine your Way of the Heart.” At this point, Tai Sui once again became serious. He changed in an instant, once again becoming the mysterious ascended spirit senior. “Your Way of the Heart originates from your own heart. You must seek everything out on your own, not like those who copy their Ways of the Heart straight from their elders… I once had a friend who spent a whole sixty-year cycle refining his Way of the Heart before it turned a corner. If you wish to, you can also tell those Southern He people about it. They can only listen, not talk. They won’t ask a lot of questions to disturb your resolve. It won’t be comfortable for you to live there, but it will benefit you.” 

He hadn’t been lying about the benefit. The spiritual energy here was more plentiful than in the Latent Cultivation Temple. Precious medicinal herbs that could hardly be bought for any money outside were spread over the ground like wild grasses. She could use them to restore her meridians whenever she wanted to. The only problem was that it was a little difficult to talk to the Turmoilers. 

Apart from Li Manlong and a small number of people who could communicate simply, gesticulating and stuttering, the vast majority of the Turmoilers couldn’t really talk. Among themselves, they used whistles of varying pitch to communicate. An outsider couldn’t tell where to start interpreting it. 

Chief Li was the uncrowned king of the whole spiritual beast farm. Every Turmoiler who saw him would stop to greet him, lower their heads and let him stroke their bald pates. 

It was very difficult to distinguish gender and age among these Turmoilers. Their bodies were all huddled, their voices were all sharp, and they were covered up in colorless rags. Only looking very closely could you tell that the women had slightly more strands of hair and slightly finer bones under their thin skins. 

“The women live here. I had them clean up a house for you ahead of time. We aren’t very attentive hosts. Please don’t take offense, miss.” 

“Of course not, thank you, Chief Li.” In fact, Zhao Qindan had prepared herself to live in a cowshed—and that was nothing; a half-immortal’s body could remain unstained, and she didn’t have an obsession with cleanliness. To establish a foundation, she would have to endure rebuilding her meridians. Was she afraid of living in a slightly bad place? 

But the house surprised her. 

Southern Shu’s climate was warm. There was no need to shut the doors and windows year round. The natural lighting in the house was very good. A mugwort leaf curtain to repel mosquitoes hung over the window, the ends of it made into exquisite little embroidered pouches. There wasn’t a speck of dust on the walls or floor. There was a hand-woven blanket of straw laying on the cogongrass bed. Someone had been very thoughtful—at the window was a bunch of small, light yellow flowers the same color as the straw.

The Turmoilers, knowing that she wasn’t one of them, worried that she would find them distasteful, kept away and peeped at her from afar, not daring to approach. 

Li Manlong said something in the ancient Southern He language, pointing at the bunch of flowers. Probably it was praise. Only after he had said it several times did a slender Turmoiler run over somewhat mincingly and present her head for Chief Li to pat. 

Her features clustered horrifyingly at the center of her face. A hole seemed to appear in that face… This was the frightening smile of the Turmoilers. She ran over hastily and gave Zhao Qindan an ancient Southern He salute that nowadays could only be seen in books. Not waiting for her to return the salute, she slipped away. 

But for a moment, Zhao Qindan had realized with perfect clarity that this was a Southern He girl trapped in a monster’s body. 

“Chief Li,” Zhao Qindan couldn’t resist saying, “I don’t mean to offend, but…you people aren’t at all like the rumors I heard before.” 

“The rumors aren’t fake. We who have been abandoned by the spiritual mountains are unable to live decently. Many people do not live past twenty or thirty before dying young. Nearly half of us are born witless, and then there are those who aren’t originally witless…but later find they can’t make it if they aren’t witless, so they have to go with the flow. It’s Wei-laoban who gave us a way to survive, and Tai Sui who gathered us. As long as there is a path, we will walk it to the end no matter what,” Li Manlong said. “Or else who will there be to remember our old homeland?” 

On the immortal islands in the South Sea, the Queen Mother of the West stilled a pipa. The lingering music of ancient He dissipated. 

She let her mind wander for a while, seeming to be waiting for an echo to appear out of empty space, but there was none. 

The Queen Mother of the West sighed. “You’re back. Well?” 

Lord Guang’an appeared as if out of thin air and landed behind her. “With my cultivation level, I cannot break through it. The arrays around this island are comparable to a spiritual mountain’s great mountain array. The inscriptions at the bottom of the sea are unheard of… Forgive me.” 

The Queen Mother of the West shook her head. “I heard a rumor that says that Southern Shu’s Three Islands and its main peninsula are in fact connected, but the connection was somehow covered by water. Underneath, a branch of the Lingyun Mountains’ spiritual veins actually extends to them… Could it be that the so-called South Sea Hidden Realm is that spiritual vein?” 

Just then, an unusually soft and low masculine voice sounded: “That is correct.” 

“Who’s there!” 

Lord Guang’an had already sent a beam of sword energy flying towards the sea, but it came up empty. 

A human figure emerged above the sea. The sword energy cleaved a deep gouge in the seawater, but it couldn’t harm that image one bit. The image gave the two of them a Southern He salute and said in not very smooth but very genuine He language, “I am Wangge Luobao. This event was prepared in haste. I have not been an attentive host. Your Highness’s pipa song just now provoked a myriad of thoughts in me. I came without invitation. I did not deliberately overhear. Please forgive me, Your Highness.” 

The Queen Mother of the West flatly said, “Merely a stray dog’s tune of a vanquished nation.” 

“The Miah feel your pain,” Wangge Luobao said, sighing. “I suppose the two of you must have heard about my clansmen’s predicament in recent years. The threshold for my clansmen to enter the immortal sect has become higher and higher, and furthermore, apart from the ways of medicine and toolmaking, there is practically nowhere they can go. Not that there is anything wrong with the ways of medicine and toolmaking. It is only that they both require a concentrated consciousness and a keen spiritual sense. Not just anyone can make headway in them. Moreover, neither of these two ways excels in fighting. Over time, my clan has become increasingly oppressed in the spiritual mountains. The winds of Miah exclusion in the mortal world have also grown more and more fierce. My clan no longer has a place on the main peninsula.” 

The Queen Mother of the West and Lord Guang’an exchanged a look. They hadn’t expected Wangge Luobao to be this frank. 

The Queen Mother of the West asked, “Fellow cultivator, do you mean to say that you have the support of Lingyun Mountain’s Miah behind you?” 

“That is correct. I myself began as a walker in the mortal world in the Dragon Subduing Knights. Because the Way of the Heart I found was not of the ways of medicine or toolmaking, the spiritual mountains would not permit me to establish a foundation,” Wangge Luobao said. “My clan leader shishu couldn’t win in a fight. He ordered me to fake my death and escape. Relying on the strength of my whole clan in my cultivation, I was able to succeed in becoming an ascended spirit as I am now.” 

“You must be extraordinarily gifted, fellow cultivator.” 

Wangge Luobao shook his head. “You flatter me. I was lucky. The Way of the Heart I inherited comes from Lingyun Mountain’s founder, Tianbo-zhenren.” 

As Wangge Luobao spoke, his form turned into mist and swirled upwards. His voice resounded above all the islands. When it fell into different people’s ears, they heard it as different languages: “For many years, the Way of the Heart of Tianbo-zhenren has been scattered among the islands of Southern Shu, protecting the nation and the people, not appearing in the world. He himself was of mixed Xiuyi and Miah blood. It was only owing to him that our two clans were united in the past and cleared away all evil, forming the Lingyun Spiritual Mountains. Before leaving behind the mundane dust, the ancestor left a secret message. If the two clans remained happy and harmonious, his Way of the Heart would never appear in the world. If one day the two clans split apart…the one who inherited his Way of the Heart could find the Lingyun Mountains’ hidden realm at the bottom of the sea to protect his clan.

“This ought to have been my fate, but opening the hidden realm requires the cultivation of a shed skin, and the Xiuyi are already impatient to wipe us all out. That is why I invited all of you fellow cultivators to aid me, in spite of my honor. The Miah are willing to share all the resources in the hidden realm with you. Wangge Luobao is prepared to swear a heart demon oath with you all!” 

Just then, on the heartless lotuses in the depths of the sea, all the eyes opened simultaneously. Zhuoming abruptly emerged from the lotus stalks—someone had touched reincarnation wood; as expected, someone was in constant contact with Tai Sui! 

“Caught you.” 

At the same time, Xi Ping’s true body crushed a slip of paper and sent separate messages to the Luwu and Li Manlong. He attended briefly; the reincarnation wood seeds had already been hidden in the spiritual beast feed and passed through the viscera of some spiritual beasts, falling in corners of the Lingyun Mountains. 

Meanwhile, Zhao Qindan had already spent ten days in the spiritual beast farm. 

At first, she would often be startled by roars coming out of nowhere, and she couldn’t communicate with the Turmoilers. After only a few days, while Li Manlong was teaching the Turmoilers to speak the ancient Southern He language, Zhao Qindan quietly walked over. Though she was wearing a Turmoiler spiritual image mask, her each and every movement was still out of place. Everyone recognized her as different from themselves at once and cautiously shifted aside to make an empty space for her. They didn’t dare to approach out of a sense of inferiority. 

As Chief Li taught a sentence, even his voice reading it out became quieter. 

But Zhao Qindan openly repeated after him—Southern He had been vanquished and its language had long ago fallen out of use. Even as learned as Zhao Qindan was, she had only studied a bit of it for fun when she was little. She could only get a general sense by guesswork, and she was thick-tongued in speaking it. 

Li Manlong unflappably corrected her pronunciation. Zhao Qindan didn’t seem to find this humiliating at all. Like a clumsy child, she loudly repeated it again. The Turmoilers found to their astonishment that this cultivator young mistress with her nimble tongue and throat also spoke haltingly, often forgetting the words and coming up short. 

The second day, a few bold young people worked up their nerve and recited along with her. 

The third day, the fourth day…

Bit by bit, the Turmoilers became accustomed to this voice that recited loudest and made the most mistakes and forgot that she was different from them. When Chief Li suddenly asked a question and she didn’t react fast enough, someone would sneakily poke her and gesticulate. Hearing her make a funny mistake, the features of the Turmoilers would sink inwards and they would rock back and forth with laughter. 

The empty space around the cultivator young mistress gradually disappeared. 

She still couldn’t really tell the whistles of all different pitches apart, so she tried to put her learning into practice, using the Southern He language she had just learned to speak to the Turmoilers. She would often use the wrong expressions, and everyone would laugh benevolently at her. 

The night wind that carried spiritual energy touched her meridians. The Way of the Heart Zhao Qindan had always felt to be a little faltering because she hadn’t inherited it suddenly became fixed amid the mournful-seeming laughter of the Turmoilers. 

People were born different. Some people were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, and some people’s swaddling clothes served as mourning garb for their deceased parents; some people were born full of wits or with the strength to lift a cauldron, and some people were naturally deformed, bedridden all their lives; all people were divided among male and female, strong and weak, clever and foolish, their natural endowments separated into many grades…but so what? 

If you were frail and sickly, did that mean you should lie in bed and wait to die? If you were born lowly, did that mean you had to be lowly all your life? Should a woman marry and take on a slave’s brand, be a playing chip with no freedom of her own, birth another’s children? 

She wanted every person in the world to be able to live for the sake of achieving their own goals, even if their whole life was spent exhausting their strength in a struggle to remain human. 

Just then, a rumble like thunder suddenly came from underground. 

The Turmoilers who had been laughing playfully suddenly became nervous. The countless spiritual beasts around them let out uneasy quiet howls. Spiritual beasts called moonlight birds rose collectively into the sky, arranging themselves into a triangle. 

Zhao Qindan quickly stood up and formed a hand seal—she had read about moonlight birds in ancient texts. They were the wisest of birds and could predict a crisis. 

“Keep calm, don’t panic.” Li Manlong efficiently directed the Turmoilers to inspect all the spiritual beast cages and arrays. “Miss Zhao, come with me.” 

Zhao Qindan quickly followed. She saw Li Manlong return indoors, carefully inspect the surroundings, then open a hidden compartment behind the bed. Inside was a machine very familiar to Zhao Qindan…

It was the “new goose” machine¹ that had just sprung up in Southern Wan in recent years. 

Zhao Qindan didn’t especially grasp the principles. She only knew that this thing was neither an immortal tool nor a downgraded immortal tool. It was made entirely through mortal means, but it could encode writing and send it from one place to another. 

A slip of paper came out of the machine. Li Manlong briefly checked it against a densely-written codebook and translated the encoded writing. It said: The time has come.