Xu Yi had no reason to refuse.
The Monkey King now needed a promise.
And this promise was almost effortless for Xu Yi to fulfill.
Because fulfilling it required a prerequisite: the human race achieving a great victory.
If such a time truly came, Xu Yi would not be able to pursue the demon race to extinction.
After all, the demon race and the human race were not completely antagonistic; they could be interdependent and mutually beneficial.
The Monkey King's face showed a look of relief upon hearing Xu Yi's agreement.
"You've always wanted to know where the new Demon King is, haven't you? The truth is, no beast can answer that. Even I don't know the whereabouts of the Demon King."
Xu Yi felt she had heard too many shocking pieces of news today. She had progressed from initial bewilderment to a gradual numbness.
The new Demon King was missing, which explained why the demon race was leaderless and in disarray.
But...
"What exactly happened between you and the Demon King back then? Why is one severely injured and unable to recover, and the other missing?"
The Monkey King gave a wry smile, its eyes filled with remembrance.
"This is what happened..."
A thousand years ago, the previous Demon King was on the verge of ascension. Witnessed by many great demons, he selected a successor.
Shortly after taking office, the new Demon King was attacked one day.
The Monkey King happened to be guarding near the Demon King at the time and joined forces with the Demon King to resist the enemy. However, what they did not expect was that the enemy's cultivation far surpassed theirs.
The Monkey King was gravely injured, and a wisp of the Demon King's soul was extracted, rendering him foolish and muddled.
But at that critical juncture when the previous Demon King was about to ascend, the Monkey King took it upon itself not to reveal this matter to the Demon King.
After the previous Demon King ascended, the Monkey King intended to find a solution for the new Demon King, but the new Demon King had already disappeared.
In previous years, the Monkey King mobilized most of the demon beasts to search for the Demon King's whereabouts, but all efforts were in vain.
Fortunately, the demon race was confined within Shenzhou and faced no external threats, so there was rarely a need for the Demon King to appear.
The Monkey King used some minor methods to conceal the news of the Demon King's disappearance until today.
"Eight-tailed White Fox and the others must know the inside story, which is why they act so recklessly. I anticipated they would move prematurely, but I didn't expect them to be so impatient."
The Monkey King was deeply disappointed by the actions of the great demons.
If its cultivation were not impaired, it would have long since taken its Ruyi Golden Cudgel and dealt with them, not allowing them to be so rampant.
Xu Yi frowned. She had not expected the new Demon King to have met with an accident a thousand years ago.
Not many beings, human or demon, could gravely injure the Demon King. And at that time, neither Liu Jinghong nor the previous Demon King had ascended yet. Could they be involved?
Upon closer thought, Xu Yi found such speculation illogical.
The new Demon King was the successor personally chosen by the previous Demon King.
If the latter was dissatisfied with the former, why would he have chosen it as the Demon King? That would be an unnecessary act.
"What is the true form of the new Demon King?" Xu Yi suddenly asked.
The Monkey King replied, "The new Demon King's true form is the Great Roc Golden-Winged Bird."
"Great Roc Golden-Winged Bird?" Xu Yi murmured.
"Yes, the new Demon King has a pure bloodline, possesses the most superior innate talent of the demon race, and was favored by the previous Demon King due to its innate intelligence and excellent disposition. Had it not met with an accident, its current cultivation would have already enabled it to ascend."
The Monkey King spoke with great admiration for the Great Roc Golden-Winged Bird, indicating that the new Demon King likely held considerable prestige.
Something flickered in Xu Yi's mind, yet it was too vague for her to grasp.
She suppressed her restless thoughts and continued, "Then, when you said you would help me connect with the Demon King, were you bluffing?"
"Of course not," the Monkey King said with a serious expression. "The second treasure I asked you to find, the Soul-Unbinding Bell, I presume you have already found it."
Xu Yi nodded.
The Monkey King smiled. "Take the Soul-Unbinding Bell to the Demon King's palace. There, you can break the seal on the Soul-Unbinding Bell and awaken a wisp of the Great Roc Golden-Winged Bird's soul. Through the soul, you can find the whereabouts of the Great Roc Golden-Winged Bird."
As the words fell, a lightning bolt flashed through Xu Yi's mind, instantly connecting all the pieces.
Such deep scheming, such ruthless methods.
Xu Yi's eyes shifted, and she shook her head repeatedly, letting out cold laughter.
"What's wrong?" the Monkey King, drawn by Xu Yi's expression, asked curiously.
"How did you know that the Great Roc Golden-Winged Bird's soul was sealed within the Soul-Unbinding Bell?" Xu Yi asked, not answering.
The Monkey King scratched its head. "I am ashamed to say, after the Demon King disappeared, I dispatched many subordinates to investigate, but none yielded any clues. However, five hundred years ago, at the time the West Water Domain secret realm opened, a voice suddenly told me that the Great Roc Golden-Winged Bird's soul was within the Soul-Unbinding Bell there, and only then did I learn of it."
"A voice? What kind of voice? Can you describe it?"
"I only remember the pitch of that voice was very peculiar, quite different from how you speak." The Monkey King seemed to recall something and suddenly said, "That's right, it was when you all came to Shenzhou that the voice appeared again. It was that voice that told me the West Water Domain secret realm was about to open again, which is why I made the second request."
Xu Yi closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh.
She had finally pieced together the truth.
Xu Yi never imagined that the demon race's conspiracy had begun planning a thousand years ago.
"Monkey King, let me tell you a story too."
Xu Yi slowly opened her eyes and said softly.
The Monkey King blinked in surprise, then waited with a serious expression for Xu Yi's next words.
"A thousand years ago, Liu Jinghong made a peace treaty with the demon and devil races, confining the demon and devil races within Shenzhou and Zhu Prefecture respectively."
The Monkey King blinked a little in confusion, not understanding why Xu Yi was mentioning this well-known story.
"However, the Devil King was unwilling for his people to be eternally confined within Zhu Prefecture, but he was also unable to contend with the then-ascendant Liu Jinghong. Therefore, he decided to make arrangements in advance.
He knew that the new Demon King was not a warlike demon and worried that the demon race would not join forces with the devil race to resist. Thus, he chose to attack the new Demon King before its ascension, extracting a wisp of its soul, rendering the Demon King alive but unable to manage the affairs of the demon race.
Because he feared the Soul-Unbinding Bell would be discovered, he deliberately sealed it within a corpse from beyond the heavens and left his demonic inscriptions on it to prevent anyone from breaking the seal.
But the Devil King did not anticipate that the corpse contained the will of its original owner. When someone inadvertently opened the passage to the heavens, the will on the corpse was awakened, leading to the subsequent opening of the West Water Domain secret realm and the reminder you received."
The Monkey King took some time to process the story it heard from Xu Yi.
After understanding the cause and effect, its expression turned into intense anger, its eyes turning red. "So, it was the devil race's doing."
The Monkey King had indeed suspected the devil race before, but it felt that there was no enmity between the devil race and the demon race, and the devil race would not go so far as to kill the Demon King, so it did not think much of it.
But after hearing Xu Yi's analysis, it finally realized the devil race's scheme.
What made it even more chilling was that this seemingly bizarre plan had actually succeeded.
The demon race, due to the Demon King's disappearance, had indeed been incited by the devil race and became their ally.
"The devil race deserves to die!"