In a forest deep in the Millet Mountain Range, Chu Qiguang followed Qiao Zhi's directions down a long, narrow mountain path.

The deeper he went, the narrower the path became. Before long, it was barely wide enough for one person to pass through. However, after rounding a corner, a spectacular view suddenly appeared before him.

Up ahead was a flat, wide basin surrounded by mountains. Standing on the mountain path, Chu Qiguang could see that it was riddled with canals, and there was also a large forest in the distance.

Chu Qiguang was quite surprised to find such a huge basin hidden within the mountains. He quickly examined the area and found that it had fertile soil, abundant water resources, and a temperate climate, making it an exceptional place for farming.

This place would've been claimed long ago if it wasn't in such a secluded area.

However, it then occurred to him that this wasn't necessarily true. At the moment, there was no shortage of arable land in the world. The real problem was that the people were being exploited so heavily that fewer and fewer of them wanted to be farmers.

Qiao Zhi led Chu Qiguang to an unremarkable-looking cave, where he spotted a crude burial mound. It was the grave of Ergou's father and brother.

Chu Qiguang earnestly paid his respects before the grave, and he could feel what little remaining influence that Ergou's memories had over him completely fade away.

From this day forth, Ergou is truly dead, and there exists only Chu Qiguang in his place.

After paying his respects, Chu Qiguang worked with Qiao Zhi to move away the rocks piled in front of the cave. They then waited for fresh air to flow inside before lighting a torch and entering.

The light of the torch illuminated the cave's interior, revealing that the ground was paved with bricks. The walls were also covered with damaged murals and carvings, clearly indicating that this was a set of man-made ruins.

Chu Qiguang moved the torch closer to the wall and discovered that the murals seemed to depict wild beasts in all kinds of menacing poses, but there were no humans illustrated. Furthermore, all the wild beasts in the murals seemed to belong to the same species.

The carvings were heavily eroded, but after examining several of them, Chu Qiguang concluded that they appeared to be carvings of bears.

"No one knows who created this place, nor does anyone know how the Vajra Monastery discovered it," Qiao Zhi said. "However, for some reason, the Vajra Monastery chose to hide the Sumeru King Scripture here."

Judging by the heavily eroded condition of the walls and the rustic style of the murals and carvings, this place was clearly a relic from the distant past, long before the founding of the Great Han Empire.

Chu Qiguang followed Qiao Zhi deeper into the cave, and they soon arrived in a round hall. As soon as Chu Qiguang set foot in the hall, he felt an invisible force sweep over his body. Immediately afterward, rays of purple light lit up the dark hall.

The purple light came together to form a single sentence: "Once the four books are gathered, the purple mansion will be revealed."

"Have you seen this before, Master Qiao?" Chu Qiguang asked.

"No, this has never appeared before," Qiao Zhi replied, examining the glowing purple characters with a bewildered expression.

Does this mean that once I gather four particular books, I'll be able to obtain the Purple Mansion Sacred Scripture? But which four books am I supposed to look for?

At that moment, the glowing purple characters began to swirl together, forming a purple vortex. A cold male voice then rang out from within it.

"Can you hear me, Chu Qiguang?"

"Who're you?" Chu Qiguang asked instinctively.

The male voice was completely devoid of emotion as it replied, "My name is Shi. We don't have much time, so listen carefully and remember what I'm about to tell you. Find those four books, and the !@#$% will appear. You must bring it with you as you ascend."

There was some strange background noise interfering with the voice, so Chu Qiguang was unable to make out several of the words.

"Make sure you work hard in your cultivation. The demonic tainting will only grow stronger, and people will become more and more susceptible to demonification..."

By this point, the purple vortex had already shrunk to the size of an average person's hand, and the voice was becoming increasingly faint.

"What is demonic tainting, and why does demonification happen?" Chu Qiguang asked.

"Even if I told you, it won't do you any good," Shi replied, his voice fading further with each passing second. "Go north. I left a pair of Chongming Birds for you there. Find them, and I'll contact—"

The voice abruptly cut off as the purple vortex disappeared.

Qiao Zhi was completely rooted to the spot as he murmured, "Who was that just now? I don't remember this at all!"

He then hurriedly began grooming himself to regain his composure.

"I'm no less confused than you are right now, but we can go and see if what he said about the Chongming Bird is true," Chu Qiguang suggested.

Thus, the two of them left the cave, then set off northward to search for the Chongming Birds that Shi claimed were waiting for them there. After traveling for close to a kilometer, they spotted a pair of black specks soaring across the distant sky.

"Those are Chongming Birds!" Qiao Zhi exclaimed. "Is one of them the one that attacked Ding Daoxiao?"

Qiao Zhi had mentioned before that Ding Daoxiao had been severely wounded by a migrating Chongming Bird while out on a hunting trip, and it was only after sustaining those injuries that he encountered Ergou's father and brother.

All of a sudden, the two birds paused in the sky, then swooped down toward them at an alarming speed.

In what seemed the blink of an eye, the two Chongming Birds were already directly above them. Their crimson feathers made them resemble a pair of giant fireballs, and the tall, proud crowns on their heads were reminiscent of those of the legendary phoenix.

Of course, what was most striking about them was the two pupils in each of their eyes, which was their signature trait.

This was Chu Qiguang's first time coming face to face with beast fiends, while Qiao Zhi glowered up at the pair of avian fiends with a wary and fearful look in his eyes.

The two birds were over five meters tall, and their wingspans exceeded ten meters. In Chu Qiguang's eyes, they were comparable in size to a pair of small planes.

"Chongming Birds are incredibly powerful birds with combat prowess on par with fifth-state martial artists, and that's not even mentioning the fact that they can fly," Qiao Zhi said grimly.