Chapter 54: She Was Meant to Be So Pure

Actually, the Monkey Girl didn’t dislike having someone accompany her.

For a demon who lived on the monkey mountain but had almost no contact with the monkey tribes, she never truly felt that she had anything in common with those idle, inward‑struggling monkeys.

At most… she just looked a little like them.

“I say~ TaoTao, what’s your relationship with that little monkey? They’ve been guarding you over there for three days!”
The girl still sat upright on the tree branch, her freshly washed stockings hung nearby to dry, her white, alluring little feet exposed, playfully dangling in the air.
Quite adorable.

But Monkey Girl didn’t think this person was cute at all.

Before, she must have been blinded by foolishness to think Jiang Cha was a low‑maintenance lamp (i.e. easygoing).

“Calling me ‘TaoTao’… such a soft name…”

“So that little monkey has nothing to do with you, then? I’ll go play with her?”

“She once saved my life. I’m just repaying a debt.”

“Oh~~”

The girl pulled out the “oh” playfully, her tone full of teasing, “I thought maybe you had feelings for her.”

“Nonsense.”

Monkey Girl glared at her in annoyance, then looked toward the little one hiding off in the distance, sighing helplessly.

She was not part of the monkey tribes. In such a place where complexity rivals that of humanity, it was best for her as an outsider not to engage with them.

But she could see things clearly that not everyone could.

On this front, ironically, she somewhat preferred Jiang Cha: at least this girl sensed boundaries and understood the situation.
She just talked too much.

Days passed one after another. Perhaps because fantasy worlds are generally insensitive to time measured in days, a month slipped by, and Jiang Cha was nearly impatient. At last, the monkey tribes made a move.

“The three main tribes have merged. Let the Monkey King return!”

An elder monkey, fur graying even on its face, spoke. It was among the wisest in the tribe.

It knew that the tribe’s ability to hold this land was purely because before Water Curtain Cave appeared, Flower-Fruit Mountain had no resources besides peach trees.

Now the situation was different. They urgently needed a strong leader to provide protection.

But Monkey Girl’s answer was simple—just one word:

“Go!”

Jiang Cha remained silent, watching the spectacle with interest.

For a drama, the opening is important, but if the ending is fixed, its overall effect on the world is minimal.
Rather than acting rashly now and breaking the trust she had painstakingly built with Monkey Girl, she thought it better to wait for the right moment.

“I think you still can’t escape it, you know?”

After the elder monkey was beaten and driven off by Monkey Girl, the girl looked up at the sky. Her words carried a hint of meaning.

“Some things have been arranged early on. No matter how you resist, it’s useless.”

“Stupid Heaven?” Monkey Girl paused, then sneered, “When that day comes, Monkey Sister me will be the one to stab it through!”

“A bold line you speak there~”

The girl smiled lightly, her gaze playful, but she said no more.

“Hey, when do you plan to leave?”

Three more days passed. In their casual daily chatter, Monkey Girl suddenly changed expression and asked gravely.

“Hm? Oh~”

Jiang Cha paused, then suddenly realized: “I’m not planning to leave yet, you know? The things that are going to happen next are more interesting.”

“Ugh, don’t die on me then!”

“Don’t worry~ If we go out, I won’t say I know you~”

Monkey Girl picked up her iron staff and dashed toward the Water Curtain Cave, speed blazing, furious posture, while the girl followed at a leisurely pace as though purely a spectator.

Monkey Girl glanced back at the human girl. Inwardly she hesitated a bit, then intentionally quickened her pace slightly to see that Jiang Cha could still keep up. Then she abandoned that meaningless test.

For a human individual, a plot of land in this wild, demon‑filled continent isn’t worth much, and Monkey Girl was certain Jiang Cha wasn’t one to crave competition.

So there was no need for defense.

“Sun Thief! How dare you rampage here!”

The intruder was not particularly strong.

Monkey Girl charged in, smashing a leopard demon with one strike, kicking a deer demon to death, her aura swirling like ghostly or immortal energy. She looked nothing like a mere demon.

Which is fitting—she wasn’t a demon in essence.

“Great Sage Equaling Heaven, emerging with vigor.”

Jiang Cha stood back and watched, her smile blooming.

She was genuinely happy—happy that the world’s script wasn’t vastly different from what she had anticipated, so she would not waste too much time in confusion.

“That was amazing~ Amazing~ TaoTao, you’re the strongest!”

The girl applauded enthusiastically, welcoming Monkey Girl’s victorious return to the monkey tribes amid their fearful gazes.

She was meant to be so pure—a spirit born of nature, destined in reality to exist in the mountains, eating wild peaches, sleeping peacefully.

Yet worldly perversity forced her into a choice between demonhood and Buddhism.

One thought to be the Great Sage; another to be the Victorious War Buddha.

No one cared that this little monkey girl originally only wanted to roam the mountains, eat peaches, and sleep well.

“Don’t call me that name.”

Monkey Girl shook off the bloodstains on her staff, glancing back at the carnage-littered battlefield and the small monkey she recognized, dead in the fray.

Suddenly sapped of interest.

“Let’s go back.”

“Alright~ TaoTao, don’t be so fierce!”

“Who’s fierce to you?”

“You are!”

“… Next time I’ll hit you first.”

“See! You just admitted it!”

“…..”

Monkey Girl had gradually grown used to the girl’s teasing.

What’s wrong with not getting used to it? If you try to hit, you feel bad; if you hide, you can’t avoid it. Having someone to bicker with at least gives this boring world a little bit of expectation.

Just a tiny bit.

In the days that followed, Monkey Girl spent more and more time in battle.

The demons invading that day were merely underlings of a powerful demon. Since she intervened and saved her tribe, she had to take up the resulting causality.

Demons don’t reason—they only measure by strength.

She fought flying eagle demons in the sky, powerful tiger demons among the demon clans, and even the ox demon with divine bloodline.

With each battle, her strength grew stronger, as though without training. Even if she did nothing, her power would surge before battle.

The demonic aura on her body grew heavier.

“TaoTao, which hillside is this?”

“Can’t recall. Why do you care so much? Finish quickly and go rest.”

It was the forty-eighth one.

Of the entire demon domain, one-quarter of the territory had been brought under Monkey Girl’s control.

Jiang Cha, having always helped scout these hills for her, remembered every detail clearly.

“There’s no threat inside. TaoTao, you can go on in.”

“Alright, I’ll go and be back soon!”