After returning to their home, Yu Rou and Yuan quickly dived into the world of cultivation known as Cultivation Online.
"Welcome back, Brother Yuan," Xiao Hua said to him after sensing that his presence had returned to the world.
"Hello, Xiao Hua." Yuan greeted her.
"What are we going to do today? Do you still want to continue practicing Wind Blade?" Yuan asked Yu Rou afterward.
"Yes, but I don't want to slow down your progress with my boring training," she sighed.
"What are you saying? It's called training for a reason. If you don't train, you won't get better," Yuan said to her. "Although it might be time-consuming, you'll have to do it eventually."
"I guess so…" Yu Rou nodded.
And since they last logged off while they were still in the wilderness, they didn't need to do any traveling and were able to continue hunting monsters instantly.
A few hours later…
"Congratulations, Yu Rou. You can finally slay the monsters without making a mess," Yuan said to her as he looked at the cleanly separated monster corpse with a smile on his face.
"Yes! And my mastery level for it increased by 1!" Yu Rou said with an excited expression on her face.
"And now that I am pretty confident in my own control of the skill, we can do something harder! Of course, it probably won't be a challenge for you no matter what we do at my level, though..."
"Something more difficult, huh? What do you have in mind?" Yuan asked her.
"A dungeon!" she quickly said. "There are multiple strong monsters in dungeons, and if we can find one that has never been discovered before, there's a high chance we might obtain valuable treasures!"
"A dungeon? Where do we find those?" Yuan asked her.
"Well, there are many known dungeons around this place, but they have already been searched by the other players so we won't find any treasures inside." Yu Rou said.
"Hmmm… What do you think, Xiao Hua? Do you know of any dungeons around here? Something like the Demonic Spider's Silent Cave." Yuan decided to ask her, who seemingly knew everything.
"Demonic Spider's Silent Cave… Do you mean Beast Nests? It's where wild beasts gather and make their home, and there are usually treasures inside because beasts instinctively pick up anything that has Qi." Xiao Hua asked him.
"Yes! That's exactly it! Do you know where we can find one?" Yu Rou asked her.
"Xiao Hua should be able to find some with her Divine Sense…"
Xiao Hua then closed her eyes, and a profound feeling expanded from her small body a moment later, sweeping many miles in an instant.
'Wow… What a powerful Divine Sense. I wonder how it feels to see so many things and so far at once… It's probably like having eyes in the sky.' Yuan watched with slight envy, wondering how long it'll take before he can start doing the same thing.
'If I can also Divine Sense in the real world, that would be great, too.' Yuan sighed inwardly.
About a minute later, Xiao Hua opened her eyes again and said, "There is a Beast Nest a few kilometers from here, and there are about 30 beasts inside between the second level and sixth level Spirit Apprentice realm."
"Sixth level Spirit Apprentice… Do you think you can handle those, brother? I will take care of the ones below the fourth level." Yu Rou asked him.
"Of course," Yuan nodded.
"As for Xiao Hua… You can just stay behind us until we need you since it won't be challenging at all if someone as overpowered as you also fought the monsters alongside us." Yu Rou said to her.
"Well, although brother is also quite overpowered, at least he can't snap the monsters out of existence with his cultivation base…" Yu Rou then added.
"Okay," Xiao Hua nodded. She wouldn't do anything unless Yuan asked her to either way.
"Then let's go to this Beast Nest!"
Xiao Hua then led them to the location.
Many minutes later, once they reached the area, a notification popped up for both Yuan and Yu Rou.
«You have discovered 'Silver Ape Cave'»
"Silver Ape Cave… I don't recall seeing this name on the forums so we should be the first ones to have discovered this dungeon," Yu Rou said.
"That's good. Then let's clear this place up real quick—"
However, before Yuan could even take a step towards the dark cave, Yu Rou grabbed his arm and said, "Wait a second, brother! Have you forgotten? If we clear this dungeon together, our names will be announced to the entire world!"
"Oh, right… That would be disastrous for us. I don't want you getting caught up in my mess, after all." Yuan nodded.
If people see that Player Yuan has a teammate, the other players would also begin looking out for Yu Rou to find him, something he did not wish to see.
"Then what should we do?" Yuan asked her.
"How about this? Brother will go inside first and clear out the stronger monsters and then come back outside, then I will go inside and clean out the rest of the weaker monsters," Yu Rou suggested.
"That doesn't sound too bad, but I still don't want to leave you alone inside… Although they may be weak, accidents might happen," Yuan said to her, being extremely cautious when it came to Yu Rou's safety.
"Then why don't Xiao Hua come with me? Since she's an NPC, she won't appear on the announcements," Yu Rou said after a moment of pondering.
"Oh… Now that you mention it, that's true!" Yuan nodded. "Okay, let's do that."
A few moments later, Yuan retrieved his Starry Abyss and went inside the dark cave.
However, once he was inside, the entire place was well lit, almost like there were lamps inside.
Once he reached the end of the cave, there was a spacious area that resembled the Demonic Spider's Silent Cave boss area. However, in the middle of this spacious area were a dozen apes with silver fur and a massive glowing tree. This tree nearly reached the ceiling of the cave which was over 30 meters in height, and most of the Silver Apes were deep asleep around this gigantic tree with a few of them playing on the thick tree branches.
After taking a minute to analyze the situation and the Silver Apes, he counted 6 Silver Apes at the sixth level Spirit Apprentice and 8 of them at the fifth level. The rest of them were between the second level and fourth level Spirit Apprentice realm.
Once he found his targets, Yuan casually approached the glowing tree.
"Hooo! Hooo! Hooo!"
"Ooo! Oooo! Oooo!"
When the Silver Apes playing on the tree noticed Yuan's presence, they began screaming to alert those that were asleep, immediately waking them up.
"Ooo! Ooo! Aaaah!"
"Hooo! Hooo! Ahhh!"
Very quickly, 36 screaming Silver Apes surrounded Yuan, who stood there with a calm expression on his face, seemingly unfazed by the situation.
A few moments later, some of the more powerful Silver Apes suddenly jumped at Yuan with their sharp claws spread wide open.
Seeing this, Yuan skillfully maneuvered the black dagger in his hands.
"Thousand Knife Techniques!"
The black dagger flickered, and multiple black arcs of lights appeared around him.
A second later, the Silver Apes that rushed at Yuan fell to the ground without any signs of life from their eyes or bodies.
When the other Silver Apes saw this, they began panicking. However, they did not run away.
After killing a few of the Silver Apes, Yuan began his own assault, specifically aiming for the Silver Apes with a higher cultivation base.
A few minutes later, all of the Silver Apes above the fourth level Spirit Apprentice were slain, leaving only the weaker ones.
"..."
After witnessing their strongest members being slain by Yuan without any efforts, the Silver Apes no longer dared to surround him and even began backing up to the massive tree.
Yuan approached the tree, but he did not attack the Silver Apes, puzzling them.
After looking around the tree and making sure there was nothing that Yu Rou couldn't handle, Yuan turned around and left the scene, dumbfounding the Silver Apes.
"Brother! Are you okay?" Yu Rou asked him after Yuan left the cave faster than she'd anticipated.
"Yes, and I have dealt with all of the Silver Apes above the fourth level Spirit Apprentice realm. Though, I do feel a bit sinful after storming in there and killing them when they were minding their own business…" Yuan sighed.
"You shouldn't feel pity for beasts, Brother Yuan. Although they may seem peaceful at glance, Silver Apes are vicious creatures that attack people in groups once they are hungry, and countless merchants and travelers have fallen to Silver Apes," Xiao Hua said to him.
"Is that so…" Yuan nodded.
"Anyway, it's my turn to have some fun!" Yu Rou said as she retrieved her Spirit Weaver.
"Be careful in there, Yu Rou. Although Xiao Hua is with you, don't get too ahead of yourself, as there are still over a dozen Silver Apes inside, and half of them are at the third level and above." Yuan said to her.
He then turned to look at Xiao Hua and said to her, "And Xiao Hua, make sure you protect my sister properly! Although she won't really die, it might affect her cultivation, and I cannot imagine seeing my sister's corpse even if it's just a game."
"Don't worry, Brother Yuan. Xiao Hua will protect your sister at all costs!" Xiao Hua nodded with a serious expression on her face.
Yuan nodded, and Yu Rou entered the Silver Ape Cave with Xiao Hua by her side a moment later.