Chapter 165

An icy bright moon hung high in the sky; moonlight showered the endless water flow, reflecting on the stone walls flanking the stone cave behind the water curtain, where a pair of couplets was carved: Flower Fruit Mountain Blessed Land, Water Curtain Cave Cavern Heaven.

"Really the Water Curtain Cave." Feiyanü stepped on the stone blocks in the spring water, looking at the couplet beneath the water curtain, and couldn't help exclaiming in delight.

"Go in!" Zhou Shuo shrugged, stepped on the stones in the water, entered the stone wall from the side of the waterfall, only feeling a burst of cold air rush toward him; scanning ahead, the interior of the Water Curtain Cave was bright even at night, the entrance ground a stone channel with a bridge atop it, beyond the bridge a hall-like space, with pots and utensils left behind, as if someone lived there.

"How tranquil!" Following Zhou Shuo into the cave, Yingnüxia gazed upon the deep and secluded Water Curtain Cave, couldn't help exclaiming; being in this Water Curtain Cave, the pure yet not oppressive spiritual energy rushed toward her, as if all worries were cast behind.

"Great Sage, I've come." Zhou Shuo stood at the cave mouth, sent a call inward, then stepped onto the stone bridge below the stream.

"Didn't you say Sun Wukong was on the summit of Flower Fruit Mountain?" Yingnüxia looked at the speaker, couldn't help raising her heroic brows, she recalled someone earlier saying Sun Wukong was on some peak of Flower Fruit Mountain.

"Who knows if he'll come back to sleep at night; do you expect him to stay in one place waiting for you?" Zhou Shuo retorted, turning his head.

"..." Yingnüxia looked at the earnestly questioning guy, suddenly felt speechless, as if that really was the case.

Not saying much else, the two girls also followed Zhou Shuo, crossed the vine bridge over the stream, and began searching inside the deep Water Curtain Cave.

"Come quick! Here." Feiyanü's shout came; Zhou Shuo heard and rushed over, only to see inside a stone chamber of the Water Curtain Cave, before the pure water curtain, a giant staff hovered in midair, and on the open ground before the staff sat a monkey wearing golden armor and a golden crown, legs crossed, levitating.

The dripping sound of water, the giant staff lying across the cave, and the monkey clad in armor and crown, seated cross-legged and levitating before the staff, all blended perfectly into the tranquil setting, giving rise to faint palpitations.

"Great Sage." Zhou Shuo glanced at the approaching Yingnüxia and tried calling out.

"Useless, I just called." Feiyanü looked at the levitating figure in the cave, her eyes full of curiosity and exploration, the Sun Wukong who had caused havoc in Heaven five hundred years ago.

"You stay here, I'll go take a look." Zhou Shuo looked at the immobile monkey, lifted his leg and jumped into the cave.

This cave had a patch of flowing water pools, with protruding stones in the pools; stepping through those stones one could reach the open ground where the monkey sat, but as soon as Zhou Shuo took the first step, he felt something was off.

"Big Brother Zhou." Feiyanü watched Zhou Shuo step into the cave, her eyes widened, then she couldn't wait to rush out, seeing Zhou Shuo's figure shrink as he entered the cave.

"Yanzi." Yingnüxia looked at Zhou Shuo, feeling Feiyanü dash out from beside her, she reached out and grabbed her; the two stepped forward and back into the cave, then felt the world spin, Sun Wukong had vanished, leaving only a golden staff lying across the empty, secluded cavern.

"I knew it." Zhou Shuo turned his head to glance at the arriving Feiyanü and Yingnüxia, then looked at the giant staff left in the cave, and slightly twisted his shoulders.

"What happened, Sun Houzi?" Yingnüxia seized Feiyanü, gazed at the cave where the monkey disappeared and at the giant staff lying inside, and asked Zhou Shuo.

"We've been thrown into a small world." Zhou Shuo hopped two steps at a time into the Golden Hoop Staff before the oil cave; from the moment he stepped into the cave, he, Feiyanü, and Yingnüxia were cast into a small world, a derived small world.

"Is this the Golden Hoop Staff?" Feiyanü listened to Zhou Shuo's words, hopped to the open ground with her heels, looked at the huge golden hoop in the cave, and saw the staff's body was crimson, each end had a hoop, and the tips beyond the hoops were golden.

"Looks like it." Zhou Shuo gazed at the staff ahead, then turned his head to look at the Water Curtain Cave Heaven, directly activating his omniscient ability, his Primordial Spirit illuminating the universe, to examine the past and future of the place they were in.

"What about Sun Wukong, what did that monkey actually do, wasn't he just here?" Yingnüxia looked at the giant staff lying in the cave, scanned all around the interior.

"He's probably in love." Zhou Shuo felt the news transmitted from his main primordial spirit, and couldn't help but grind his teeth; this little world was no surprise, it's a place where the gods and buddhas of all heavens test Sun Wukong, and that monkey is still lingering in the world of love and affection.

"Dating, and with Zixia Fairy?" Feiyan Maiden blinked her eyes, she recalled the legendary matter: five hundred years ago, the Sun Wukong who caused havoc in Heaven and the Zixia Fairy in the wick before the Buddha had a relationship.

"No, for now it's with someone else. Come on, let's go out; we should be able to see him soon." Zhou Shuo shrugged his shoulders.

"Really? Fake? It feels like you know everything!" The Heroic Maiden wore a doubtful expression.

"Actually, I don't know anything; I just have a broader view." Zhou Shuo said while leading the two out of the inner cave.

"Here, how is it different from when we came in?" Feiyan Maiden looked in astonishment at the Water Curtain Cave; when they entered, the interior of the Water Curtain Cave was deep and secluded, like a fairyland beyond the world, but now the Water Curtain Cave is filled with decay, withered vines everywhere in the cavern, and the passages crisscross.

"Getting out now is a problem." The Heroic Maiden looked at the strange environment, and couldn't help but furrow his brows.

"Jingjing, wait for me?" Just as the three didn't know what to do, a frantic shout came, a gust-like figure dashed out from a passage, running past Zhou Shuo, Feiyan Maiden, and the Heroic Maiden, panting, but after just a few steps, it turned back on its own.

"Sirs/Madams, have we met before?" The newcomer wore tattered clothes, with a heart-protection mirror hanging on his chest, a rather handsome young man, staring with his eyes fixed on Zhou Shuo and the two women.

"No, we've only seen you; you probably haven't seen me yet." Zhou Shuo glanced at the two girls, then extended his right hand and shook it.

"No, how could you be here? Knowing the Bull Demon King can... sigh, forget it, I was asking in vain; this is the Coiled Silk Cave, we can't stay long, hurry and follow me out." The youth looked at the bewildered three, closed his eyes and shook his head, wanting to say something but couldn't, so he simply greeted the three to come out with him.

"Coiled Silk Cave, this isn't the Water Curtain Cave, is it?" Feiyan Maiden widened her eyes.

"Water Curtain Cave?" The youth looked at the astonished Feiyan Maiden, slightly opening his mouth.

"Miss, you must be joking with me, right? This is the Coiled Silk Cave; there's no such thing as a Water Curtain Cave, I've never even heard of it. Forget it, I won't talk to you guys." The youth stood dumbfounded for a moment, forced a joke twice, then turned and ran.

"What on earth is going on?" The Heroic Maiden felt as if the world had changed; he felt that the youth wasn't joking, but how did the Water Curtain Cave become the Coiled Silk Cave?

"Just follow up and you'll find out." Zhou Shuo shrugged his shoulders; he knows everything, but can knowing be spoken, and if spoken, is it useful?