"Ha, this time it'll be easy work."

Upon sensing those faint presences down below—

The black bear let out a breath of relief and patted its belly. "Have we grown so lazy that even Mixed Origin cultivators now dare to venture this deep?"

With that, it was just about to make a move, when the silver-backed ape emperor yanked it back.

"What are you doing?" The black bear turned back, puzzled.

"I—"

The silver-backed ape emperor glanced at the utterly motionless lion, then glared at the black bear, before cursing at last with obvious reluctance: "Use that dog-brain of yours and think. Even Xuanguang Cave cultivators showed up last time — you think they'd let this one slip by?"

"You think this lot of rogue-cultivator riff-raff could get their hands on news of a steward's cave estate?"

At this, the black bear nodded with vague half-understanding. "So we're not standing guard, then?"

The silver-backed ape emperor drew its gaze back, exasperated at the bear's uselessness.

Did it really have to spell it out with its own mouth — that it wanted this lion to go first?

After a long moment, the ape emperor finally spat. "In!"

Whatever else, if this business got botched, the Thunder-Hoof Demon Emperor would not let them off lightly.

Shen Yi still stood quietly in place.

Only once Qinghua had hurried back did he set off, shooting toward that light-curtain.

The three great demons sank into the light-curtain one after another.

Roughly the time it took an incense stick to burn later—

two figures finally appeared in the sky.

The one in front had the look of a middle-aged man, clad in a clean dark robe, while the woman behind him wore a Daoist robe of black and white.

"Master, do we go in now?"

The woman held out her palm, in the center of which sat a strange, faintly revolting-looking seed.

The seed pulsed slightly, as though drawing on something.

"Just about."

The man in the dark robe lowered his gaze toward the light-curtain.

He'd come today with the exploration of the cave estate as…