Chapter Ninety-Four: The Ambush Kill

Seeing the youth before it, who dared to throw the first punch without the slightest regard for his own life, as though he meant to meet force with force, the Sky-Devouring Ape flew into a towering rage.

This Sky-Devouring Ape was only in its late eighties or early nineties. If it had been human, it would already have been an old man on the verge of senility, but among the Sky-Devouring Ape line, which often lived for two or three thousand years, it still counted as a mere child.

It beat its chest with one fist and slammed its head against the ground, letting out a low roar. Its emaciated body, scarcely more than three feet tall at first, began to swell visibly.

In just a few breaths, it had grown into a monstrous creature over ten feet tall, arms hanging down to its feet, a crimson birthmark the size of a fist between its brows, radiating a soul-shaking blood-red gleam.

With a sudden bellow, the ape raised its head and roared to the heavens, pounding its chest with fists as large as a dog’s head. The sound rang out like metal striking stone.

Tendons stood out all over its body, and its aura surged violently.

In terms of sheer martial strength, it was already above the sixth rank.

The Sky-Devouring Ape suddenly opened its eyes and looked ahead, only to find itself momentarily bewildered.

Where had that human gone? The one who had dared to stand against it head-on had vanished in just a few breaths. What, was he playing tricks on it?

The ape was formidable beyond measure. Ever since it was two or three years old, it had been taken through mountain wildernesses, great marshes, and desert wastes under the protection of elder apes of its clan and experts sent by the Buddhist realm, fighting all manner of fierce beasts and monsters. It had always relied on brute force.

This, however, was its first real fight with a human.

It had intended to batter that thin, scrawny human into pulp with a storm of punches, then devour his flesh and bone fragments. Yet in the blink of an eye, the human had slipped away.

What a shameless bastard.

The Sky-Devouring Ape stamped down, and a boulder instantly shattered into rubble. It swung a fist and split a pine trunk as thick as a basin clean in two, its manner brazen and overwhelming, astonishing to behold.

It bent down, scooped up the broken tree in both arms, and, roaring as it charged, flung and smashed it wildly about. Before long, a large stretch of woodland had been stripped bare.

Only then did the white-furred beast fall quiet. Crouching low to the ground, it twitched its broad, wind-catching ears, trying to locate where He Chang'an was hiding.

...

On the other side of the ravine, four young monks were besieging Ajiu. Each had brought out Buddhist implements such as alms bowls and wooden fish drums, murmuring scriptures under their breath as they formed a strange array, seemingly intent on sending the gaunt black-clad girl on her way.

Ajiu’s eyes were dark and steady. She kept her body half-crouched, ready to draw her sword at any moment, and retreated with light, careful steps.

She was slowly backing away.

The four monks practiced a peculiar art. Though their cultivation was only on par with a seventh-rank martial artist, the sword energy that entered them seemed to have little effect.

But she quickly found their weakness: their movement speed was not especially fast. They were likely practicing some Buddhist defensive method, such as a Diamond Scripture.

It had once been said that Buddhism was profound, Daoism lofty, and Confucianism full of rules. That profundity was no trivial matter; perhaps it had something to do with its unmatched defenses.

Ajiu knew nothing of such lofty theories. Her swordsmanship was pure to the point of having only one move: draw the sword, return it to the scabbard.

One inhale, one exhale, and life and death were divided.

Facing these four monks, whom she could neither strike down nor shake off, she felt constrained on every side. For the moment, she only wanted to hold them here longer and buy time for He Chang'an.

She was a good hunter.

Thus her judgment of danger, prey, and risk was keen beyond compare.

She simply felt that holding the four monks here and slowly drawing them seven or eight zhang behind her might be advantageous, and so she made the decision without hesitation, stepping backward all the while.

The four monks caught on to Ajiu’s intent. They exchanged glances, communicating through a minor Buddhist divine art, and at once changed their formation, hoping to trap her firmly in place.

This black, slender girl drew her sword too quickly, and her movement was strange and swift. She would not be easy to handle.

Ajiu retreated slowly to a pine tree and leaned her rough back against its trunk, drawing a deep breath.

Then she drew her sword.

With a crisp ring, one monk had a red point appear between his brows, only for it to vanish a moment later.

He merely paused slightly in his step, his face paling for an instant, before he carried on as though nothing had happened, striding forward and sending the wooden fish drum in his hand straight at Ajiu’s face.

Three more crisp rings followed in quick succession.

The other three monks likewise only faltered for a moment before all three stepped forward and hurled the Buddhist implements in their hands.

The instant Ajiu’s sword came out, she did not even glance at the monks. Using both hands and feet, she scrambled up the tree in a flash and stood on a branch thicker than her own waist.

A flash of joy appeared on the four monks’ faces. They quickly spread out, surrounding that tree at a moderate distance.

At once, Sanskrit chanting drifted through the air, Buddhist implements trembled softly, and a layer of pale golden light emerged over the four monks. Like four gilded arhat statues, their bearing solemn, they seemed ready to suppress a demon.

Suddenly, one monk’s foot tightened. Before he could even react, he was caught by a thin rope.

His expression changed slightly as he was about to cast a Buddhist secret technique, but the rope around his ankle abruptly cinched tight, and his whole body was hurled violently away.

The other three ignored it entirely and intensified their chanting, each taking another heavy step forward.

They had looked carefully. The thing that had snared their companion was merely an ordinary hunter’s rope. It must have been a trap set beforehand for boars, tigers, wolves, and other stout beasts.

So the three monks paid it little heed.

Their main targets were still Ajiu, and the little spirit fox hidden in the spirit-beast pouch at her waist.

Or rather, they had come simply for that little fox.

Then, just as they took their second step, one of the monks was also caught in the trap, a tremendous force hurling him directly into a nearby thicket.

Only then did the remaining two realize something was wrong. They halted and looked uncertainly toward the bushes.

The two monks who had been taken away showed no sign at all.

Could it be...

The two exchanged a glance. One continued to keep watch on Ajiu atop the tree trunk, while the other slowly made his way toward the thicket.

“Bald donkey, taste my sword!” Ajiu struck suddenly.

From her elevated position, she drew and thrust in one breath, pointing her sword straight at the monk keeping her under watch.

The sword came like thunder, its energy thin as silk. Even though the monk had practiced a special method, he still did not dare be careless. His feet stopped, and both soles sank half a foot into the soil as he chanted Buddhist verse, preparing to take the strike head-on.

At that very moment, he saw a sword flash out from the thicket, plunging straight into his companion’s forehead. The momentum did not stop; it bored through the skull and nailed the body to the ground.

The monk’s heart slammed wildly.

That sword had come too suddenly, too ferociously. His companion’s supreme Buddhist body-protection art had been broken through without the slightest resistance.

The next instant, a figure burst out of the bushes.

It was He Chang'an, the human youth the Sky-Devouring Ape had been left to test himself against.

The monk’s mouth turned bitter. He inwardly regretted it: this time, they had indeed been too arrogant. Too rash.

With the combat strength of the four of them and the ape, they should have had the upper hand by far even against five seventh-rank martial artists, crushing them with overwhelming force, perhaps even killing them all.

Yet instead, they had fallen to these two nobody’s.

What of the Sky-Devouring Ape? Could it have been slain by this youth?

The thought that even the ape might have been killed by him made the other’s strength seem terrifying beyond belief.

A chill swept through the monk’s heart, and his fighting spirit weakened at once.

So he simply hardened his heart, cast a secret art, and paid with more than ten years of bitter cultivation to activate the Buddhist grand technique of Diamond Body Protection. Wrapped in a mass of golden Buddhist light, he began to silently recite an incantation.

Not good. He’s charging up something big.

Once He Chang'an made a move, he never showed mercy. Having already assassinated three monks, he had long resolved to cut the weeds at the root and leave no hidden danger behind.

He could no longer concern himself with exposing his presence and drawing the Sky-Devouring Ape after him. With a low growl, he stepped forward and punched straight at the golden light barrier around the monk.