All beasts submit, and the peerless imperial princess is about to defy the heavens!

The little monkey struggled violently, crying out, "Ah, help! Let me go! You're killing me!"

Feng Ning held its arm with one hand and patted its head with the other. "Shut up, let's talk this out."

The little monkey struggled several times but couldn't break free. Its arm was almost torn off, so it could only turn its head and look at her with a frustrated expression.

"You wretched brat!"

With a gentle smile on her face, Feng Ning grabbed it and patted its rump.

Snapped!

The little monkey was stunned.

He stiffly turned his head to look at her, "You! You hit me?"

Feng Ning nudged her head closer to it, "If you dare call me 'brat' again, I'll beat you up."

The little monkey covered its bottom with its hand, its face turning red with anger. "How can you be so young and not learn good things? How can you not respect the elderly and care for the young? How can you hit your elders?"

Feng Ning was speechless. "Who do you think you are as an elder? We're even different species. Even if you are an elder, you don't count as one above me."

"You're talking nonsense. I'm older than you; I'm your senior."

Feng Ning nodded. "It's somewhat plausible to call you a senior, but calling you an elder is a bit of a stretch."

"Then you are disrespecting your elders!" the little monkey roared indignantly.

"Then which senior have you ever met who would scratch someone's face with a tree branch while they're sleeping?"

The little monkey was speechless. "I was trying to wake you up."

Feng Ning rested her chin on her hand and looked at it. "Do I need you to wake me up? I was sleeping soundly, and you came to disturb me out of nowhere. I haven't even questioned you yet, and you still act like you're in the right?"

"I didn't call you out of the blue. Do you even know why you're here? How can you be sleeping?"

Feng Ning did think about it seriously for a moment, and then fell into deep thought.

What is she here for?

It seems like he didn't do anything, except get beaten up by his master and end up lying on the ground.

Then she inexplicably appeared in this icy and snowy place. Could it be that her master punished her and she came here to receive the punishment?

Thinking about it, I began to believe it was possible.

Nian Zhao's thought process is beyond the comprehension of normal people. Perhaps she felt that Nian Zhao wasn't working hard enough, so she sent her here to gain experience.

The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed, so she replied, "I must have been sent here by my master. As for what I'm supposed to do, he didn't tell me. Maybe he wants me to be punished?"

The little monkey was upset.

"Don't you know why you're here?"

Feng Ning shook her head. "I don't know. I got beaten up and must have passed out. I woke up here."

It lowered its head. "You're really lucky. You were able to comprehend sword intent after just one beating."

Upon hearing its words, Feng Ning suddenly awoke with a start, "What sword technique?"

The little monkey instinctively replied, "It's the sword technique you need to comprehend yourself."

Its mouth moved faster than its brain, and it panicked immediately after realizing what it had said.

"Are you trying to trick me?"

Feng Ning glanced at it and said, "You're overthinking it. I have no intention of trying to trick you. You just blurted it out."

The little monkey looked utterly dejected. "You're so awful! You humans are definitely the most cunning people."

Feng Ning nudged him, "Since you've already said it, why not explain it more clearly? Where exactly is this place? If I want to comprehend sword intent, shouldn't I be meditating and practicing properly? But no one has ever said that meditating is like this."

The little monkey immediately raised its chin, "You can beg me, but even if you beg me, I still won't tell you."

Feng Ning sneered, "Looks like you still want to get beaten up."

The little monkey immediately covered its bottom, saying, "Don't even think about me telling you, if you dare hit me again, you'll never be allowed to leave this world again."

Feng Ning scoffed, "Who are you trying to scare? If you don't want to go out, then don't. I'll just stay here and waste my life with you. Let's see who can outlast whom. It doesn't matter to me whether I go out or not."

Upon hearing her words, the little monkey panicked. "No, how could you think like that? You can't think like that! You need to comprehend the sword intent, you need to get out of here as soon as possible!"

Feng Ning shook her head. "No, no, no, I don't want to cultivate at all. I just got beaten up and accidentally came here. It's not like I wanted to cultivate on my own. I'm not interested in any sword techniques or anything like that."

The little monkey was so focused on how to persuade her that he missed the fleeting glint of cunning in her eyes.

"Why are you so unambitious? As a cultivator, how can you achieve immortality like this?"

Feng Ning, with a nonchalant attitude, said, "Why should I work so hard? At most, I'll only reach the Nascent Soul stage. Even if I work myself to death, I'll only live for a thousand years. Why should I care about what happens after I'm alive? Living well in the present is what I truly desire."

The little monkey looked at her with some confusion, "What Nascent Soul? What thousand years? What nonsense are you talking about? How can a thousand years be called immortality? I'm talking about helping you cultivate to become an immortal and ascend to the upper realm. Are you satisfied with just a broken Nascent Soul?"

Feng Ning looked at it and said, "Then you will never be able to contact the outside world."

The little monkey froze. "Who told you that? Of course I know what the outside world is like. How could I not know? You're hilarious."

Ignoring the discomfort in its tone, Feng Ning went straight to the point, saying, "The outside world is not what it used to be. At most, everyone can only cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage, and then it is difficult to make any further progress, unable to break through the shackles, and unable to go to higher-level continents, let alone become an immortal."

A look of disbelief flashed in the little monkey's eyes as he stared at her in shock. "You're not kidding me, are you? How could this be?"

Feng Ning looked very serious, and the little monkey couldn't help but feel flustered.

"You can't be telling the truth, can you?"

Feng Ning didn't answer, but her expression showed no sign of lying. Of course, she wasn't lying; it was the truth.

The little monkey slumped down, wondering, "How could this happen? Why is this happening?"

After doubting itself, it quickly raised its head to look at Feng Ning, "Which continent are you from?"

"Xuanling Continent".

"That shouldn't be the case. How could it be the Xuanling Continent? Only a short time has passed, how could it be impossible to become an immortal?"

Feng Ning recalled the ancient book she had read back then, "It's been about ten thousand years since the teleportation array of the Xuanling Continent stopped connecting to the outside world. Moreover, the array masters of the entire Xuanling Continent lost their lineage overnight, making it even more impossible to repair the array, which has been dragging on for so many years."

The little monkey plopped down on the ground and didn't say a word.

Feng Ning gave it time to react, and the little monkey spoke again after sitting for a while.

"Is it really that bad outside? Is there not a single immortal left?"