CHAPTER 59: CHAPTER 58: STONE APE (PART 2)

’Hoo!’

Lou Yi’s figure flickered, leaping a dozen meters away, and soon arrived at the place where the commotion had occurred.

On the ground lay an injured mountain bandit, clutching his stomach and groaning, but fresh red blood continuously seeped through his fingers.

On the nearby treetop, a grey monkey, about the height of an adult man, stood upright.

It was baring its teeth, glaring at him with eyes filled with an anthropomorphic malice.

Its front claws kept waving in front of it, displaying a strong desire to attack.

Seeing the monkey’s demeanor and actions, Lou Yi was shocked in his heart, it was highly likely it had become sentient.

He took out the Slingshot, just about to swing it.

The grey monkey ’whoosh’ed onto another tree and quickly hid in the dense foliage, thwarting Lou Yi’s attack intention.

"How is it, did you find it?" Zhu Darui, Lu Yang, and Huang Lei ran over from behind, panting heavily.

Just as the words fell, the treetop above rustled, and a shadow suddenly descended from the sky, targeting Zhu Darui, who was furthest from Lou Yi.

Zhu Darui had no time to react, so he had to raise both arms in front of him.

"Ah!"

He cried out in pain, his sleeves torn apart, revealing deep bone-visible scars on his arms.

The shadow used the momentum to jump onto a treetop, looking at everyone with a defiant face, a mocking smile even appeared at the corner of its mouth.

"Fuck you!" Huang Lei angrily drew his longbow, nocked an arrow and shot at the grey monkey with a ’whoosh’.

But the archery skill that was usually a hundred shots a hundred hits with birds and beasts suddenly failed.

The black monkey just clawed at an overhead branch, its lower body swinging like a pendulum, nimbly dodging Huang Lei’s arrow.

Huang Lei was furious, continuing to shoot, but the arrows didn’t even touch the monkey’s fur.

However, when Lou Yi took out the Slingshot.

The grey monkey craftily scurried to the dense treetop, preventing him from aiming.

"This monkey is extremely alert, and its speed is far beyond ordinary beasts." Lou Yi sighed.

This instead stirred his competitive spirit, could it be that he was unable to deal with a wild monkey?

"Take care of yourselves." Lou Yi said, then stomped his right foot hard on the ground, shooting towards the treetop like a stone.

Then using both hands and feet, ’thumping’ several times, he climbed to the treetop, seeing that grey silhouette.

Lou Yi swung his waist, forming his right hand into a hook punch, and struck fiercely towards the monkey, but the monkey nimbly jumped to another tree.

At this moment.

"Splitting Mountain!"

Lou Yi without hesitation used the advanced skill, an invisible aura spread towards the grey monkey, causing its figure to suddenly freeze in mid-air!

Lou Yi also leaped, arriving above the monkey, transforming his fist into a knife, and struck the monkey’s head brutally.

Lou Yi’s strength at this time, was as strong as a thousand pounds, the wild monkey shot downwards like a cannonball.

A ’bang’ was heard, a visible pit immediately appeared on the ground, and the earth seemed to quiver for a moment.

"This monkey should be dead, right?" a mountain bandit laughed as he approached, peering into the pit.

"Get back!" Just after landing, Lou Yi’s facial expression changed, warning.

But it was already too late.

From the pit, a thick grey-white arm emerged, its hairy hand like a fan, directly gripping the mountain bandit’s head.

"Ah!"

The mountain bandit screamed, trying to break free.

But the opponent’s strength was astonishing, his eyes bulged, temple veins swelled with blood, blood surged fiercely across his face.

’Poof!’

Eventually, the strength exceeded the bandit’s endurance.

Torrents of blood oozed from his ears, nose, and mouth, the sound of his skull cracking ’krak krak’ echoed.

From being grabbed to having his head crushed, it happened in an instant.

He was tossed aside like trash, while the wild monkey in the pit climbed out, revealing an appearance entirely different from before.

Towering two meters, its body covered in grey-white fur seemingly sculpted from stone, with puffed-up chest muscles, more defined features, bloodshot deep-set eyes, black menacing fangs protruding from its mouth...

It bore a slight resemblance to the Jin Gang Lou Yi had seen in his past life.

"Die!"

After this mountain bandit died, Lou Yi was enraged.

He pulled out an axe and decisively swung it at the White Ape, which was evidently at the spirit creature level.

But the White Ape’s eyes showed a hint of mockery, and with claws gleaming coldly on its furry palms, it fearlessly lunged at Lou Yi.

A series of ’clang clang clang’ sounds echoed continuously.

Faced with Lou Yi’s weapon assault, the White Ape, despite being struck several times, did not have its defense broken, only bearing deep scars that did not bleed.

The axe found in the Sunset Mountain, was of questionable quality, and soon its blade was chipped.

Lou Yi simply threw the axe away and engaged in a fistfight with the White Ape.

His Basic Boxing Technique was at a mastery level, no worse than his Axe Skill.

Smash, chop, hammer, block... straight punches, hook punches, jabs, whip punches...

But what he didn’t expect was that the White Ape also possessed an innate boxing technique, flexible and diverse, fighting on par with him, give and take.

No wonder so many people learn boxing from monkeys; it turns out they are natural pugilists.

Later on, both sides fought ferociously, turning into a complete close-quarters brawl.

You hit me with a punch, I hit you with a claw.

The surrounding flowers, grasses, and trees suffered terribly, either broken or uprooted.

Moments later, Lou Yi’s whole body was covered with wounds, his fists bloodied and raw.

Meanwhile, the White Ape’s fur dulled in color, and the fierceness in its eyes greatly diminished.

To outsiders, it seemed Lou Yi was at a disadvantage since the White Ape had a much stronger defense, having not been breached till now.

The mountain bandits were anxious but dared not intervene recklessly, fearing their arrows might injure their own people.

Lou Yi knew himself that as long as he had sufficient energy, he feared no one in terms of prolonged endurance!

He continued to clash with the White Ape.

At a certain moment, the White Ape grew tired, fear showing in its eyes, wanting to retreat.

Taking advantage of this, Lou Yi executed ’Splitting Mountain,’ delivering a flying kick that struck hard at the White Ape’s jaw, spreading an invisible energy that left it momentarily stunned.

Then, Lou Yi’s body curved like a bow, and his fist like an arrow, fired another straight punch forward with a ’whoosh,’ piercing the air and striking the side of the White Ape’s temple.

That still wasn’t enough; activating the ’Dragon-piercing Technique,’ Lou Yi’s Candle Dragon Acupoint on his chest was stimulated, instantly boiling with Qi-Blood.

The immense kinetic and potential energy transformed into a newfound force in his right fist, striking the White Ape’s temple once more in an instant!

Under the double impact of the force, the point of contact erupted with a loud ’bang.’

The White Ape’s eyes went blank, its temple deeply caved in, and tears of blood actually flowed from its eyes.

Then it fell to the ground with a ’thump,’ motionless.

Its fur turned gray-white, then slowly returned to a normal gray, and its size shrank back to its original scale.

’Finally killed it.’ Lou Yi exhaled and sat down heavily on the ground.

It wasn’t easy at all; this Stone Ape was much harder to deal with than the big tiger before, probably having a longer essence-cultivating lifespan.

"Fourth Brother is truly incredible!" Zhu Darui, who was not lightly injured, showed admiration in his eyes, "This Stone Ape was really tough to handle; most martial artists would probably suffer heavily if they encountered it."

As for Huang Lei, Lu Yang, and Liu Yuan, each cast looks of respect towards Lou Yi.

’Clap, clap, clap!’

At this moment, rhythmic applause sounded from behind the woods, and a familiar figure walked out.

"Fourth Brother, oh Fourth Brother, you are truly remarkable, solving such major troubles for your Big Brother."

The person was none other than the old Daoist Wu Yiping.

He looked at Lou Yi with a concerned expression, his crafty eyes sweeping over Lou Yi’s bloodied wounds.

"But, your injuries aren’t too serious, are they?"

Just after Wu Yiping finished speaking, a group of people emerged from behind him, fully armed with bows and swords.

Leading them, with a tiger-like stride, and a jingling sound now and then at his waist, was none other than the highly esteemed leader, Xu Xi, with his Nine-Ring Great Cleaver.

Xu Xi, full of concern, quickly stepped forward, "Fourth Brother, why are you injured? Let your Big Brother check your injuries!"

...