Late at night, the moon slowly peeks out from behind the dark clouds.
By the shimmering, rippling pool at the entrance to Cascade Cave, Little Grass sits quietly on a rock, watching Monkey squat beside her, taking off his leather armor to wash it.
The armor is stained with blood.
"Don’t you have plenty of subordinates? Why do it yourself?" Little Grass asks.
"I don’t know." Monkey dips his hand into the water and splashes it over the armor, scrubbing. "Maybe I’m just too lazy to call anyone."
"Too lazy to call, but willing to wash?"
Monkey doesn’t answer.
Bathed in moonlight, Little Grass quietly watches the monkey crouched by the deep pool.
After five years together, she’s come to understand Monkey a bit.
She knows he is stubborn, proud, and solitary. Most of the time, he prefers being alone—nothing like a demon king at all.
Perhaps it’s because he was born from stone.
But shouldn’t a stone monkey like him be hiding somewhere, living out his days in peace? Why would he go to such lengths to strengthen the demons?
She’s never figured that out.
When he’s quiet and alone, that cold indifference seems to be forever weighed down by thoughts.
A petite figure quietly slips behind a rock not far from Monkey.
Monkey pauses, lifts his head slightly, and says, "Come out, is that you, Yisu?"
Fiery red boots step onto the lush green grass, and out comes a girl with a swaying red fox tail behind her.
She purses her lips, glances at Little Grass, then widens her eyes and tilts her head at Monkey. Her two furry red ears twitch slightly. "I still like it when Monkey calls me Ruby. Yisu is for everyone else."
"Anna Yang gave you that name, so you should respect your master."
"Anna wouldn’t be so petty."
"Really? I always thought she was exactly that petty."
She gently brushes back her hair. Dressed in red leather armor, the little fox demon steps toward Monkey—her flawless, delicate face, eyes like rubies, and long red hair flowing like burning flames, dazzling and peerless in the night.
Perhaps it’s her nature as a fox demon—her eyes always carry endless charm, a dreamlike allure that’s impossible to resist.
She crouches beside Monkey. Seeing the blood-stained armor he’s taken off, she reaches out to grab it. "Let me do it."
"I’ll do it myself," Monkey says, gently stopping her.
Quietly crouching beside him, the little fox demon softly asks, "You went already?"
"Mm."
"Did the talks fall apart?"
"No, I didn’t talk. I went there intending to renegotiate, but after meeting that guy, I suddenly didn’t feel like talking anymore."
"Oh." The little fox demon lowers her head, silent for a moment, then asks, "Did they do something to upset you?"
"They said some things that disgusted me."
Staring at the faintly trembling fur on Monkey’s cheek, the little fox demon takes a deep breath and asks, "Did you kill them all?"
"No, just the ringleaders. The rest got off with a light punishment. Tomorrow, send someone to take over the place. Tell our brothers to be careful—if things look bad, survival comes first. That place is complicated."
The little fox demon nods, staring at the armor for a long while before asking, "Why not use magic to clean it? It’d be faster."
"Don’t want to." Monkey glances at her and asks, "Why are you out so late instead of sleeping?"
"I came to find you."
"Me? You haven’t even reached the Spirit-Refinement Stage. It’s best not to run around at night."
"You’re the one who insisted I take the Sage’s Path!"
"It’s for your own good. You’re a girl—do you really want to be like me, swinging a staff and charging into battle? You could lose your life. There are plenty of people for that. You don’t need to."
The little fox demon smiles sweetly. "With you here, I’ll never be in danger."
After speaking, she sneaks a glance at Monkey, whose face remains expressionless.
She sighs silently, then says, "So just because I haven’t reached the Spirit-Refinement Stage, I can’t even walk around at night? I am a demon, you know."
On Blossom Mountain, every demon knows how much Monkey cares for the little fox demon. Ruby herself has always been proud of this—here, she’s treated like a princess.
That pride lasted until the day Monkey, drained from a breakthrough, accidentally called her by the wrong name.
Because of that, Ruby avoided Monkey for quite a while.
"So, what is it?"
Ruby pouts. "Horace Coil is back. He’s waiting for you in Idle Clouds Cave—Shortbeak and Louis Quickpaw are there too. It sounds like bad news."
Horace Coil is a horned serpent demon who just reached the Spirit-Refinement Stage. Before joining Blossom Mountain, he had his own territory, but the Heavenly Fleet wiped it out. He fled to the Eastern Sea, only to be crushed again by the Eastern Sea Dragon Palace.
He eventually took refuge under Blossom Mountain and now commands its water forces.
Even now, he’s still infamous on the Heavenly Court’s wanted list, with a bounty of thirty thousand.
Among all the demons at Blossom Mountain, only Monkey’s head—with its hundred-thousand Gold Essence bounty—is worth more.
After scrubbing for a while longer, Monkey shakes out the armor and puts it on. He touches it lightly, and the leather instantly dries.
He glances up at the moon, now fading behind the clouds, and says calmly, "Let’s go."
Idle Clouds Cave is a modest cavern beneath Blossom Mountain, usually just a place for casual conversation, though sometimes used for secret meetings.
Entering the torch-lit, rough-hewn cave, Monkey sees a demon with two long horns, brown leathery skin, and a towering, slender frame curled up on a tiny chair. Beside him stands a tall shark demon wielding a trident.
Louis Quickpaw sits nearby, chatting with him, while Shortbeak stands off to the side, arms folded, looking grave.
"My king." Seeing Monkey, Horace Coil quickly stands. As he does, Monkey notices a bleeding wound on the back of his hand.
Monkey stares at the wound, then slowly sits down and asks, "What happened?"
"The Eastern Sea Dragon Palace discovered we were dumping rubble from our tunnel excavations into the Eastern Sea. A patrol found us and there was a fight—we captured a few, but some escaped. The prisoners are at our base now. According to them, the Dragon Palace’s main army will arrive in a few days."