Just as I was thinking, Xiaoshu interrupted my thoughts, climbing the cloud ladder while calling out loudly, "Let's find the Monkey Clan first and see what their origins are." I agreed, "That sounds good. Knowing more will definitely help us in the future." I recalled the Old Matriarch mentioning that this Monkey Clan was a faction within the Demon Realm, historically isolationist, only engaging with others in times of dire necessity. I seemed to remember one of the books Xiaoshu had brought out last time was titled The Demon Realm.

I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to find it and check, so I reminded him, "You brought out a book called The Demon Realm last time; it might be useful." "Brought out The Demon Realm last time...?" Xiaoshu was about to say he didn't recall taking that book out before. However, before the character for "Realm" even fully left his lips, the cloud ladder began to whir and spin, catching Xiaoshu halfway up completely off guard. His body swung violently with the ladder, and he nearly tumbled off.

Fortunately, he was agile enough to grab the handrail just in time to steady himself. "Heh, this system is quite responsive," Xiaoshu said to himself, gripping the rail with a self-deprecating chuckle. From below, I looked up at him ascending to his previous position.

He pulled out a black-spined book and eagerly called down, "Toss it down, I'll catch it." The moment the words left my mouth, the cloud ladder suddenly dropped from several meters high right down to the ground, causing Xiaoshu to stumble again. His body tilted, and he instinctively let go of the book to grab the rail. The book fell freely to the floor and lay open.

Both of us were startled by the ladder's sudden movement. We looked down at the fallen book, then at each other, and after a long pause, burst into mutual laughter. It seemed this cloud ladder had an uncanny knack for reading minds.

Then, Xiaoshu called out, "Bodysuit," and the ladder whooshed upwards to its very top. There seemed to be quite a few books related to bodysuits, as he settled down on the ladder, pulling out the volumes before him and flipping through them one by one. Seeing that he had settled down to read in earnest, I picked up the book that had fallen to the floor and began to browse its contents page by page.

The Demon Realm was composed of creatures that absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. The Fox Demons, Cat Demons, Wolf Demons, and others we often hear about in ghost stories all belonged to the races within the Demon Realm. Unlike the humanoid demons frequently depicted in tales, the book described the Demon Realm as one where transformation into human form did not occur.

After gaining spiritual energy and surpassing natural intelligence and power, these animals retained their innate forms. Most lived communally or solitarily in the valleys surrounding the Sea of the Departed, never making contact with the outside world throughout their existence. I flipped directly to the chapter on the Monkey Clan and began to study its contents closely.

It turned out the Monkey Clan was the faction in the Demon Realm closest to humanity. After acquiring spiritual energy, they possessed not only immense explosive power and superior climbing ability but also transcendent wisdom. They were the finest forces within the Legion of Slaughter, capable of uniting with the Undead to command the other races of the Demon Realm.

However, where there is oppression, there is resistance. Following several major wars within the Demon Realm, the Monkey Clan was forbidden from interacting with the Undead, which subsequently caused them to become the most isolationist of all the demon races. Viewed this way, the Monkey Clan's sudden intrusion into Miao Village and the abduction of Ali and Xing'er seemed highly inconsistent with their habit of minimal external contact; it was indeed a strange affair.

I wondered what reason could have driven them to mobilize such a large force to commit such an act.