Chapter 168: Heart Demon

"What is 'destroying three views', and why destroy three views?" Feiyanü stared with wide eyes; she had heard the new term and didn't quite understand.

"Anyway, kids just shouldn't watch; cover your eyes." Zhou Shuo didn't want to explain further.

"Oh!" Feiyanü obediently raised both hands, covering her eyes with clean palms, though she still peeked between her fingers at the heroine and Qingxia.

Zhou Shuo watched Feiyanü's "covering ears while stealing a bell" gesture, couldn't help laughing, reached out and knocked her hands down; Feiyanü stuck out her tongue in response, looking cute and mischievous, but compared to Feiyanü who could still play around with Zhou Shuo, the heroine was on the verge of breaking down.

"What exactly do you want?" the heroine looked at the woman constantly pestering her, feeling a wave of collapse.

"I once swore an oath." Qingxia raised the long wooden box in her hand; Zhizunbao reached to take the box, but didn't expect her hand to drop, then he raised his other hand holding the treasure sword.

"Whoever can pull out that Purple Azure Treasure Sword is my ideal partner!" Facing Qingxia's words, the heroine nearly turned to stone; not only the heroine, but even Zhizunbao, who had been staring at the Moonlight Treasure Box, couldn't help widening his eyes, shifting his gaze from the box to Qingxia.

"But I'm a woman." The heroine felt as if the sky were collapsing; why would she have to pull that sword?

"What's the big deal? I'm just a wick; men and women are limited by worldly views. I've sworn an oath: if anyone can pull out my Purple Azure Treasure Sword, even if he's a demon, I'll follow him to the ends of the earth." Qingxia curled her lips into a beautiful smile, yet the heroine facing that smile got goosebumps all over.

"How impressive!" Feiyanü looked at Qingxia's lovestruck expression and the heroine's discomfort, her face full of amazement—women loving women seemed quite interesting.

"I said it would be very worldview‑shattering." Zhou Shuo looked at Feiyanü's dazed, cute look and couldn't help laughing while shaking his head.

"Kid, I'm telling you, don't think that knowing a bit of martial arts lets you act recklessly; out of respect for her, I won't hold it against you this time, but if you keep talking, I'll kill you." Qingxia glared at the shaking Zhou Shuo and pointed her treasure sword at him.

"Hurry up and finish him off—I don't need you to spare my feelings." The heroine looked at the vigorous Qingxia Immortal Maiden, shaking her head and stepping back.

"What's wrong with you? She's shown you such deep affection—accepting her wouldn't cost you a piece of meat, and you still have me." Zhizunbao looked at the heroine, ill at ease and distancing herself from Qingxia Immortal Maiden, scolding her while also glancing at Qingxia Immortal Maiden, his nominal master.

"She's already rejected you like that—do you really need to be so low‑clinging to her? Actually, relying on her isn't a problem, but if you could get the Moonlight Treasure Box…" Before Zhizunbao could finish, he felt a sting on his right cheek and was sent flying backward.

"Get lost—why won't you accept me?" Qingxia slapped Zhizunbao away, glaring at the heroine who was shaking her head and retreating, her expression flickering with slight resentment, but she didn't expect Zhou Shuo to step in between.

"Of course I won't accept you—you and he are both heartless people, unwilling to face your own identities; accepting you would be of no use." Zhou Shuo stepped in front of the heroine, pointing at Qingxia, then at the Zhizunbao she had slapped away.

"Heartless? I'm just a wick—what heart would I need?" Qingxia said matter‑of‑factly.

"Exactly! She's a wick, and I'm a bandit—what heart would we need?" Zhizunbao, after taking a slap, got up with a wooden stare and looked at Zhou Shuo.

"Heartless—what do you have to love others with? You really think you're a bandit? Take a look in the demon‑revealing mirror." Zhou Shuo wore a wanton smile, while Feiyanü and the heroine also sensed something off; regardless of Zhizunbao or Qingxia, their expressions instantly turned dark and ferocious.

"If I have no heart, then lend me yours?" Qingxia's face instantly turned ferocious, while Zhizunbao, as promised, picked up a copper mirror; looking into it, he saw not his own face but a grinning monkey face.

"Turns out I'm not Zhizunbao—I'm Sun Wukong." Zhizunbao, or rather Sun Wukong, looked at himself in the mirror; the shadows in his eye sockets instantly covered his eyes, and his body released an overwhelming aura of ferocious violence.

"Since I'm Sun Wukong, if you dare offend me, you'll die." The Sun Wukong inhabiting Zhizunbao's body curled his mouth, stepped toward Zhou Shuo, and meanwhile Qingxia also advanced step by step beside him.

"Give me your heart."

Two waves of hostility surged skyward; the demon wearing human skin stepped closer, Zhou Shuo only felt his breathing grow ragged, while the heroine and Feiyanü behind him were even worse—their bodies went rigid.

"Wait." Zhou Shuo looked at the two approaching monsters, barely managed to raise his hand to block them, then spoke slowly.

"My heart is only one; my life resides in it—who wants it?"

"My heart is mine, your life is yours." Qingxia's eyes glowed with azure light as she glanced at the ferocious ape Sun Wukong beside her.

"I want it all." Zhizunbao strained to grin like a baring‑teeth ape; as he spoke, his body jerked, his human skin burst apart, turning into a fur‑covered giant ape over three zhang tall; he swung a fist at Qingxia to smash her into mincemeat, but Qingxia transformed into a handful of azure sparks that scattered under the blow.

"Sun Wukong, you dead monkey, actually daring to be greedy and snatch my stuff—today I'll kill you." The azure sparks surged together like a gust of wind, forming a ferocious handsome face, then turned into azure flames that blazed toward the giant ape.

"Shameless slut, today this old Sun will kill you." The giant ape bared its fangs, let out a roar; the sound wave pushed the azure flames aside, its fur rose up, twisting into a spiritual snake trying to coil the flames, but its fur got scorched instead.

"Trying to steal a chicken but losing the rice—his fur scorched, the ferocious ape Sun Wukong howled, then inhaled; instantly a gale blew, the azure sparks got caught in the airflow and seemed about to fall into his mouth, but the sparks, like a spiritual snake, flew against the wind, gathered into a human shape, and he flung the long sword in his hand."

"Go!" Accompanied by Qingxia's soft shout, the Purple Azure Treasure Sword instantly turned into spiritual light and shot straight at the ferocious ape Sun Wukong.

Releasing the flying sword wasn't enough; Qingxia Immortal Maiden also shook the chain bell on her fingers, the ding‑dong sound filling the mountains and fields, making anyone who heard it feel their soul stirred—but before the chime could sound again, a mass of jade spiritual light crashed down from the sky, instantly turning the bell‑shaking Qingxia into countless azure sparks; before the sparks could scatter, the jade light wrapped them up and sucked them inward.

"Go." Zhou Shuo used the Spirit‑Treasure Jade to collect Qingxia Immortal Maiden, then waved out a fan resembling a broken cattail fan—a dustless fan—swung it fiercely at the ferocious ape Sun Wukong, but the fan turned to ash in the wind.

"Damn, the hostility is too strong." Zhou Shuo looked at the fan reduced to just a handle, couldn't help twitching his mouth; the monkey's heart was too full of hostility, the dustless fan couldn't dispel it—one sweep wouldn't purify the mind, instead it drew the anger back, burning the fan.

"Go die!" The ferocious ape Sun Wukong saw Zhou Shuo's swing miss, and bared his jagged teeth.

"Look, aliens." Zhou Shuo pointed at the distant sky, then, taking advantage of the monster's momentary glance away, caught the Spirit‑Treasure Jade falling from heaven, turned, scooped up the limp heroine and Feiyanü, and retreated into the Water Curtain Cave.

"Don't even think about running." The monster realized he'd been tricked, turned to look at the figure darting into the cave, and roared as he burrowed inside.