The building was surrounded by a barrier that Medicine Master had placed and then Venerable White reinforced, so if someone were to intrude, they would give rise to a ruckus.

　　It was already this late at night… why had True Monarch White Crane come here?

　　“Senior White Crane, did something happen? Wait a bit, I’ll come down to open the door.” Song Shuhang used the ‘secret sound transmission’ method to communicate while leaping out of the window of his room and landing steadily on the ground.

　　Everyone knew that experts had a tendency to just jump out of windows. Song Shuhang might not have understood before, but now that he gave it some more thought, he finally understood why experts had this tendency––it was because it was quicker to just jump out through the window.

　　Especially when it came to four or five floor buildings, if they were to use the stairs, they would have to go down one floor at a time. Between two points, the shortest distance was definitely the straight line from one point to the other, and when jumping out of the window, the distance to travel was definitely the shortest, and the speed the quickest.

　　However, with Song Shuhang’s current strength, he still had to check before jumping out the window.

　　There might be no problem if it were only to be four or five floors. However, when it came to 40 or 50 floors, if he were to simply jump out, he would still be severely injured even if he didn’t die.

　　❄️❄️❄️

　　When True Monarch White Crane saw Song Shuhang, its eyes involuntarily jumped slightly.

　　Although it had long known that Song Shuhang and Venerable White lived together in Medicine Master’s building, every time that it looked for Senior White, the first person it would see was always Song Shuhang. Its heart couldn’t help but be stifled a bit.

　　Song Shuhang opened the door, and looked at True Monarch White Crane.

　　Currently, White Crane was in its ‘male’ form. When compared to its petite and lovely ‘female’ form, its ‘male’ form was way less attractive.

　　He hadn’t seen True Monarch White Crane in the past two days, so Song Shuhang thought that it might have gone back to the West. He didn’t think that it was still in the Jiangnan area.

　　“Is Senior White here?” True Monarch White Crane asked. Its face looked rather dark at the moment, and there was some green energy in the place between its eyebrows that didn’t disperse for quite a while. Was it poisoned?

　　“Senior White has closed up. Senior White Crane, is there some important matter?” Song Shuhang asked. Since True Monarch White Crane was a hardcore fan of Senior White, Song Shuhang didn’t mention that Venerable White was closing up in his ‘Inner World’ in fear of the other getting weird thoughts.

　　“Closed up? It can’t be… this quickly?” True Monarch White Crane smiled bitterly.

　　Song Shuhang asked, “Senior White Crane, did something happen? The color of your face doesn’t seem too good.”

　　As he approached True Monarch White Crane, Song Shuhang’s Inner World seemed to have reacted. True Monarch White Crane’s body had the aura of the Netherworld. Although it had suppressed this aura, Song Shuhang’s Inner World was very sensitive when it came to the energy of the Netherworld, and Song Shuhang was able to sense it.

　　True Monarch White Crane sighed. “I met with unexpected disaster. I thought that it was just a common demon of the Netherworld, but I didn’t think that that guy would suddenly bring out a big magical treasure and wound me.”

　　After entering, True Monarch White Crane and Song Shuhang proceeded upstairs together.

　　Then, it continued to talk to Song Shuhang about what had happened to it. “Last Saturday, I went back to the West due to an urgent matter. Then, yesterday, I finished dealing with this matter and came back here as fast as I could to get ready for the class.”

　　To hurry back from this far just to attend class, True Monarch White Crane, you truly are a model student. If the teachers were to know, they would definitely be moved to tears, Song Shuhang thought to himself.

　　True Monarch White Crane continued, “Then, about two hours ago, I arrived in the Jiangnan area, and… right, I felt that my luck today wasn’t bad.”

　　“…” Song Shuhang.

　　Your luck wasn’t bad?! You met with unexpected disaster and got contaminated with the energy of the Netherworld Realm… Was this your ‘good luck’?

　　True Monarch White Crane didn’t pay attention to Song Shuhang’s expression, and continued speaking, “Right as I got back to the Jiangnan area, I saw Senior White strolling in the sky. My Senior White walking in the sky was exceptionally beautiful, unparalleled in the world. For me to be able to see Senior White right as I returned to the Jiangnan area… my luck today was truly quite great.”

　　“Huh?” Song Shuhang was confused.

　　True Monarch White Crane just said that it saw ‘Venerable White’ treading the air in the Jiangnan area two hours ago?

　　What treading the air, heavens! Two hours ago, Venerable White was definitely in his Inner World, closing up. Ever since this morning—no, it was already past midnight. Then, ever since yesterday morning, Venerable White had been closing up. Therefore, who could he have possibly been walking on air?!

　　It was certain that the person True Monarch White Crane had seen wasn’t Venerable White.

　　However, True Monarch White Crane was Venerable White’s hardcore fan; normally speaking, it would be impossible for it to mistake Venerable White for someone else. In addition, with its eyesight and strength of the Sixth Stage Realm, it shouldn’t have suddenly become this blind.

　　…Unless the person it saw was ‘Senior White Two’.

　　Recently, Senior White Two seemed to have been hanging around the Jiangnan area.

　　Song Shuhang felt that he had already figured out what had happened.

　　Heavens, if Senior White Two had time to stroll through the Jiangnan area, why hadn’t he come to visit him? He still wanted to ask him how that monster fox was doing now.

　　Song Shuhang considered telling True Monarch White Crane the truth.

　　However, after seeing that True Monarch White Crane was this happy even though it had been ‘poisoned’, Song Shuhang couldn’t bear to cruelly tell it the truth, afraid of shocking it too much.

　　But then again, what about the evil energy of the Netherworld on True Monarch White Crane’s body? How was it related to Senior White Two?

　　“Originally, I wanted to go up and greet Senior White. However, Senior White was simply too fast. I lost track of him before I could get near him,” True Monarch White Crane said, filled with regret.

　　If he was ‘walking’ this fast… was he still walking?

　　“The reason I wasn’t able to catch up to Senior White is that I’m too slow. Sure enough, my cultivation still isn’t high enough. I need to become even stronger to be able to keep up with Senior White’s pace. I shall strive to reach the Seventh Stage Venerable Realm within a hundred years!” True Monarch White Crane said confidently.

　　No, you’re definitely overthinking. If you really want to catch up to Senior White Two’s pace, then even the Seventh Stage Venerable Realm isn’t enough. Moreover, why do you keep on going off-topic, why not talk about how you got poisoned… no, contaminated with the evil energy of the Netherworld? I’m more interested in that!

　　“Since I couldn’t catch up to Senior White, I came here to stand guard and wait for Senior White to return. However, I didn’t think that Senior White would return this early and even close up in the meantime.” True Monarch White Crane sighed. It then continued, “Let’s not talk about this first. When I was preparing to come here, I suddenly found a daring demon of the Netherworld Realm who was secretly following Senior White! That demon was just at the Fifth Stage Realm, and its strength was very ordinary.”

　　“So, did you fight against it?” Song Shuhang asked. In the end, Senior White Two was the ruler of the Netherworld Realm, so normally speaking, there wouldn’t be any demon of the Netherworld bold enough to secretly follow him.

　　…Unless, of course, it was someone like the demonic hamster, a pet of Senior White Two, or the direct subordinate of that ‘ball of liquid metal’.

　　However, that ‘ball of liquid metal’ seemed unaware that ‘Senior White Two’ had illegally trespassed into the main world. Therefore, the former was more likely.

　　Anyway, neither Senior White Two’s pets nor the subordinates of that ball of liquid metal were easy to deal with. After all, they were the subordinates of the two big bosses of the Netherworld Realm!

　　“That Netherworld Demon was really seeking death, daring to track Senior White! I didn’t think twice before fighting it!” True Monarch White Crane said. “With my strength, one strike should have been enough to kill that ordinary demon of the Fifth Stage. However, that seemingly ordinary demon of the Fifth Stage had some skills. I hit it again and again, yet it unexpectedly didn’t die. Its realm wasn’t high, but its physical body was definitely extraordinary. I believe it might be a bodily cultivator like Dharma King Creation, or a demon born with a powerful physical body.”

　　“And then?” Song Shuhang asked.

　　After talking for so long, it was finally about to get to the point.

　　He wanted to hear how True Monarch White Crane had met with unexpected disaster.

　　“Then, I fought with it. That demon’s close quarter combat skills weren’t bad, and it had all sorts of strange treasures with it. We unexpectedly ended up fighting for quite a while, without a clear winner. As you know, my realm was higher than it, and my attribute can restrain the demons of the Netherworld,” True Monarch White Crane said with some sadness in its voice.

　　“So, I dared not belittle it anymore. I took it seriously and treated it as someone that could rival me. When I got serious, that Netherworld Demon was no longer my opponent, and after a few moves… well, after a few tens of moves, the demon of the Netherworld could no longer take it. I had forced it into a desperate situation. If it hadn’t been for its countless treasures, it would have long died under my wing attacks! Seriously, I simply don’t understand. How could a single demon of the Netherworld have so many treasures? It was simply like a walking treasure-house.

　　“It wasn’t easy for me to knock it down… but just as I was about to thoroughly purify it, that guy pulled out a cannon-like magical treasure, and shot me at close range. I didn’t expect that it had such a method at its disposal. As such, I met with unexpected disaster and got badly injured. However, that fellow was also done for; its magical treasure was possibly a half-finished product, and it could only be used to perish alongside the enemy. After firing, the main body of the cannon exploded, and the body of that fellow was seemingly blasted to pieces. Fortunately, my strength was high enough, and I didn’t die in the explosion,” True Monarch White Crane said triumphantly.

　　If it hadn’t been for its dark face, Song Shuhang would have thought that it hadn’t taken any damage at all.

　　“By the way, where’s Senior White’s room? I’m badly injured right now, I’ll need to go to Senior White’s room to heal myself,” True Monarch White Crane said seriously.

　　Song Shuhang asked, “Why would you want to go to Senior White’s room?”

　　“Because if I’m in a room filled with Senior White’s aura, I will be able to treat my wound with my heart free from worries. In the field of medicine, this is called psychotherapy,” True Monarch White Crane said proudly. “Don’t try to fool me with other rooms. Whether or not it’s Senior White’s room, I can tell with a sniff.”

　　“…” Song Shuhang.

　　Senior White Crane, are you a pervert?

　　Well, True monarch White Crane was indeed a creature capable of ‘ metamorphosis ¹ ‘. In the future, it would be able to become either male or female~