North Sea, the world of immortals.

The two scarlet apes had employed tremendous force to move Levitating Island to the center of the North Sea.

Ever since the school of monster spirit dao was established at the Dao Academy and the identity of the school’s dean revealed, the entire world of monster spirits had turned on the two scarlet apes.

Though current monster spirits didn’t know of the monster spirit ancestor of the great wilderness, the little fox was also the monster spirit ancestor from a hundred thousand years ago. At the same time, she was the monster celestial master of the ancient immortal court and had protected the entire race all this time. That identity alone was enough to compel the monster spirits of the world to fall under the Dao Academy’s banner and become part of the school for monster spirit dao.

In comparison, the monster spirit sacred land that Goldenlight had created by sheer force on Levitating Island seemed rather illegitimate and misbegotten.

The other two heavyweights of the North Sea—the Dark North Sword Sect and Ingress Island—had already joined the Dao Academy and become part of their forces. They remained in the North Sea still, observers for the academy in this part of the world.

……

Levitating Island was almost an empty island these days. Apart from a few tribes still loyal to the scarlet apes, there was no one else here.

Crash. Crash. Crash.

The North Sea’s waters howled and churned as tempestuous waves, crashing repeatedly onto the shores of the island. Goldenlight and Silverlight were in human form and sitting cross-legged on the peaks of the island, staring into the distance of the North Sea’s horizon.

They didn’t know what to do or where to go anymore. That day, Silverblaze’s resounding question had almost shaken their dao hearts.

Do you want the monster spirit race that is with you, or the race of your ideals?

“Have we really done wrong?” Deep dejection shone from Silverlight’s beautiful face. She’d entertained no thought of any other action after learning of the little fox’s true identity, and neither did she dare face the monster spirit ancestor.

Silverlight was a monster spirit from the time before Emperors Fall and had once listened to Daoist Yuyu’s lectures. The daoist had casually taken her as an honorary disciple, which was why she’d dared contend against Lu Yun and the Dao Academy.

But when Tushan appeared, Silverlight’s self assurance faded away.

This was the ancestor of their race! The one who’d safeguarded monster spirits and gremlins in the great wilderness and seen to their survival, so that they could later evolve into the monster spirit race of modern times.

Tushan had never called herself the ancestor of their kind, it was the monster spirits and gremlins of the great wilderness who’d bestowed this title of veneration on her. However, she’d disappeared during the human dao era. Some said she’d entered the chaos with the Flame Emperor and journeyed the outer realms, while others said that she’d already died.

All of the stories and legends about Tushan came from Daoist Yuyu. He taught mostly monster spirits and he greatly respected Tushan, often regaling his disciples with her stories. That was when Silverlight had learned of the monster spirit ancestor’s existence.

But now that both Daoist Yuyu and the ancestor were in the Dao Academy, Silverlight didn’t have the face to go see them.

“If Lu Yun and Qing Yu could forgive even the akasha ghosts, then there’s still time enough for us to take stock of our errors and turn back…” Goldenlight said softly as he looked at his dao partner.

Silverlight leaned against his shoulder and shook her head gently. “I can’t forgive myself. The monster spirit race of our ideals is a golden age of our race, an era that truly belongs to us! But when we can’t even protect the monster spirits by our side, what right do we have to speak of ideals?”

Indelible pain flashed through her eyes.

Boom!

An enormous wave reared in the North Sea as a gray figure stood up from the depths. It was an enormous monkey several thousand kilometers tall, towering over the waves like a hulking mountain. Its fur was gray and two black flames burned in its faintly golden eyes; it wielded a mammoth wooden club that almost overturned the entire North Sea when it was raised.

“What in the?!” Goldenlight shot to his feet and summoned the Divine Seaquell Staff into his hand, taking his true form as a scarlet ape.

Silverlight remained in human form but stood up as well, ready to fight. This giant monkey was no friend to suddenly appear in front of Levitating Island like this. Its presence was also terrifying—it dwarfed the two scarlet apes, despite them reaching peak human king realm!

“Who are you?!” Silverlight demanded from the giant monkey.

“Wuzhiqi of the Huai River.” The monkey voiced a few simple syllables that were different from modern language, but they came with his will and so the two scarlet apes could still understand him. [1]

“Interesting, interesting!” Wuzhiqi grinned broadly. “To think that I would meet two descendants right upon breaking free of my seal, and that one of them would be a female!”

“Wuzhiqi?!” Silverlight gaped. “Connate demon god Wuzhiqi, first monkey beneath the heavens!”

Wuzhiqi was a connate demon god born of the Huai River and accustomed to raising all manner of trouble. There was no wrongdoing he didn’t try. Taiyi had subdued him at some point and dubbed him river god of the Huai River. In the great wilderness, the Huai River was the second greatest water system of the land. That made Wuzhiqi’s position even greater than river god Bingyi of the Yellow River.

Everyone had thought him dead, but here he was, alive and well!

“I, am, your ancestor!” Wuzhiqi stared fixedly at Silverlight. “Good, good, very good! Mine bloodline has declined in this age, but to think that I’ve run into a descendant! The days of mine tribe’s flourishing are within sight.”

He reached out and grabbed at Silverlight.

“How dare you!!” Goldenlight swung his metal club forward to smash it down on the big monkey’s head.

BAM!

Goldenlight flew backward after a muffled impact and splashed down far into the distance.

“Little monkey, you are my descendant so I do not wish to take you to task. I will eat you if you offend me again,” Wuzhiqi cackled, his hand wrapped around Silverlight. Shrinking to the size of a regular human, he set foot onto Levitating Island.

“This is… the work of Tushan and that she-demon Ah Zhi!” Taking a close look at the island’s layout, the monkey cackled again. “I have yet to find shelter after breaking free of Di Jun’s seal. This shall do.” [2]

He tapped the center of Silverlight’s forehead between her brows, forcing her back into scarlet ape form.

“Scarlet apes… are not purebloods. There are too many bloodlines from other races mixed within.” Wuzhiqi smacked his lips together. “But no matter, my bloodline is domineering. The offspring you and I produce will still be my children and pureblood, gyakakakaka!!”

Blanching, panic chased dread chased horror in Silverlight’s eyes.

1. Wuzhiqi is a supernatural being in Chinese mythology popularly depicted as a monkey-like aquatic demon and first described in the early 9th century.

2. Di Jun, also known as Emperor Jun, is one of the ancient supreme deities of China known primarily through five chapters of the Shanhaijing. Di Jun is also associated with the agricultural arts, either directly or as the progenitor of other innovators of farming practice, including especially his son, Houji, the Zhou ancestor.