Leaving the peril-ridden Moonfall Cliff, Li Wuyang and Xuan transformed into two nearly imperceptible chaos streams of light. Rather than fleeing deep into the Chaos Sea, they moved against the current, heading straight for East Victory Divine Continent. It seemed like a dangerous move, yet it perfectly embodied the principle of hiding in plain sight—Heavenly Court and The Finality Council had just suffered heavy losses and would surely assume the two had fled beyond the heavens or hidden along the fringes of chaos. They would never expect them to dare return to the heart of the Primordial World, much less to this troublesome place that had long been at odds with Heavenly Court and was deeply entangled in karma.
A few breaths later, the two had silently arrived within the territory of Aolai Country in East Victory Divine Continent. Beyond the vast misty waters lay a mountain island, with crimson cliffs and strange rocks, sheer walls and soaring peaks. Rare grasses and wondrous flowers never withered, while green pines and emerald cypresses remained evergreen. This was Flower Fruit Mountain, "the ancestral vein of the Ten Continents, the dragon vein of the Three Isles"!
Yet Flower Fruit Mountain was no longer the blessed immortal mountain it had once been. Spirit monkeys still frolicked among its peaks, but the Innate Spiritual Qi shrouding the mountains carried a faintly oppressive sense of order, as though bound by invisible shackles. Before Water Curtain Cave, the banner of the former Great Sage Equal to Heaven had long vanished. In its place was a faint glow from a Buddhist restriction, declaring that this place had fallen under the order established after Journey to the West Success.
Li Wuyang and Xuan concealed their auras and landed in a secluded valley behind Water Curtain Cave. A spiritual spring