Tomb Raiding: The Bloodline of Dragons and Snakes, Starting from the Kunlun Divine Palace

So it obviously can't be considered a chimpanzee, since a chimpanzee's nose is collapsed.

It has thick fur on both sides of its mouth, which is yellowish-green and even has some gold edges.

But the hair on his forehead is snow-white, not because of aging, but because it is naturally snow-white.

Yes, it's as white as snow.

It is estimated that this is a protective coloration that has evolved from living in the snow-capped mountains for many years. The yellow-green color with gold edges around its mouth makes it look like withered grass growing from a crack in the rock when viewed from a distance.

Therefore, when this thing is hiding and not moving, it can easily be mistaken for a barren pile of rocks.

Although it was dead, its eyes were still open, but they appeared cloudy and dull, and the eyes were very small.

This is also one of the reasons why it is not easily detected.

"This, this is a mountain spirit!" Chu Yi exclaimed in surprise. He had seen this kind of monster before. The seriously injured old hunter had introduced it to his people, but of course, he only had corpses and descriptions, making it sound very mysterious.

It seems the hunter encountered it and had only a slim chance of survival. He then recounted its appearance and abilities to the tribe's children, and the story was passed down orally.

"What the hell?" The fat man felt a chill run down his spine. "You call this thing a mountain spirit? That sounds pretty creepy! But to me, it's just a monkey with a strange face and no long tail!"

Chu Yi's face turned ugly, and then he explained very seriously, "It's definitely not a monkey, it's a mountain spirit!"

"The tribal elders said that when the mountain spirits appear, they not only attack humans, but also devour their souls, which is why they look and behave like humans, wearing clothes and hats!"

"Because of this, hunters from other places are unaware of the characteristics of the mountain spirits. When they see their clothes, they don't shoot in time. By the time they get close, it's too late to fight back," Chu Yi described. "Even our best old hunters suffered when they got close to them, and they dragged themselves back to the tribe half-dead."

"They also carried the corpse of a mountain spirit, which the tribe's elders drew into a picture and carved on the stone wall so that everyone would never forget it."

“I’ve seen quite a few pictures of this thing,” Hu Bayi said, resting his chin on his hand. “There are quite a few in the cemeteries in the south.”

In the deep forests of southern China, some experienced hunters have also seen such things.

What they fear most is not wolves, tigers, leopards, snakes, insects, rats, or ants.

"Old people in the south call them mountain spirits or mountain gods."

“A mandrill!” Shirley Yang said with certainty, taking out her father’s archaeological notes, flipping through them, and comparing them with the pictures and text descriptions, she said with certainty.

"They are either male or female. Male mandrills love to eat adults and even humiliate human women."

"The female mandrill, on the other hand, likes to eat children. She often disguises herself as a human child and blends in with them, waiting for an opportunity to abduct the children."

"The male mandrill is twice the size of the female mandrill, so this one must be female."

In other words, if you encounter a male slash demon, its fighting power will likely be even stronger.

"I've heard some legends about mandrills, but I've never seen a picture of one, so I didn't realize this was a mandrill!" Fatty Wang rubbed his hands together, showing off the strange rumors he'd heard. "I heard that mandrills wear hats, and that they can even become invisible when they wear hats!"

Of course, it's impossible for living things in this world to become invisible.

It's possible that some mandrills are small enough to hold a human hat on their heads, just like some crabs use conch shells as mobile nests.

When faced with danger, they simply curl up into a ball, covering themselves completely with their large hat, as if they had become invisible.

Everyone here is a worldly person, so naturally they wouldn't believe Wang Pangzi's bizarre rumor.

Just like when we were kids, our elders would tell us that if we closed our eyes and tried to catch a sparrow, the sparrow would see us.

If the mandrill's hat had made it invisible, it wouldn't have been hit by Fatty Wang 637 and captured by Wu Yutian.

Clearly, the culprit that caused everyone's unease is now dead.

The gloom in everyone's hearts gradually dissipated.

Peter Huang even showed a hint of disdain in his eyes. With a mandrill of this size, even without a gun, he could probably take on seven or eight of them by himself with just a dagger.

It's just that I can't run as fast as Wu Yutian, so my tracking ability is probably not as good as Wu Yutian's.

They believe they are invincible in close combat.

Of course, he had never seen Wu Yutian and Xiao Ge's true fighting power.

Based on other people's descriptions, it's probably just like Fatty Wang's boast about shooting the mandrill—an exaggeration.

"This thing is only a little scary in appearance," Han Shuna said dismissively. "With its thin arms and legs, you can't tell how capable it is. It even kept me up all night."

"You guys have fun, I'm going back to catch up on my beauty sleep," Han Shuna said, yawning.

The others also started to feel sleepy, and no one slept well.

However, Fatty Wang and Hu Bayi had witnessed Wu Yutian's skills and believed that dealing with this mountain demon would not be so simple.

Otherwise, they could have just captured him alive; there wouldn't be such obvious signs of a struggle.

If they had walked another two hundred meters in the direction Wu Yutian had chased after, they probably would have seen a terrifying sight.

The ground was littered with flying pebbles from the fight, shallow craters from punches, and broken dead trees.

It wasn't that the mandrill had such great punching power, but rather that Wu Yutian repeatedly failed to directly hit the dodging mandrill.

The story the fat man told about the mandrill's ability to become invisible is actually related to its amazing dodging skills.

There are also claw marks carved into the rocks, which are the work of mandrills.

You can still see stone fragments peeled off the rocks in the claws of mandrills.

That is probably why Wu Yutian had to use force to kill him.

Otherwise, bringing them back to camp alive could easily harm others.

Chapter 88: The Twenty-Four Bells of Rebirth, A New Journey Begins

Fatty Wang picked up the cowboy hat with the folded brim that he had just lifted, wanting to see if he could wear it.

The mandrill's clothes were tattered, but its hat was still intact.

However, just as he was about to put it on, he frowned repeatedly.

"My god, it stinks!" Fatty Wang exclaimed in disgust, quickly throwing the hat back on the ground. "Did this mandrill use its hat as a chamber pot? It smells so strongly of fishy stench."

At this moment, Wu Yutian also recalled the scene from just now.

Before delivering the final blow that killed the mandrill, it seemed to be behaving in a strange way.

In the end, it bared its teeth and looked fierce, no longer dodging, but instead raising its wrist.

Wu Yutian didn't think much of it at the time, because he was protected by the Divine Turtle Iron Armor and believed that the mountain demon wouldn't cause him any harm.

Now that I remember this detail, I went to the mandrill's corpse and squatted down.

Then it lifted its tattered clothes.

"Holy crap, Brother Tian has such a heavy taste?" Fatty Wang exclaimed in surprise. "I only liked its hat that's been soaked in urine, does Brother Tian also like its clothes that it's been wearing for who knows how many years?"

Wu Yutian ignored Fatty Wang's lame joke.

Then he noticed a bronze bell on the mandrill's wrist.

Sure enough there is a problem!

"Hey!" Fatty Wang also noticed something strange. "Why is there a bronze bell on this mountain demon's claw?"

This bronze bell has a simple and ancient design, and it appears to be an object.

Although it was covered in a layer of mud and rusted, Wu Yutian activated his Appraisal Divine Eye and had already sensed it.

Wu Yutian took off the bronze bell, held it in his hand, and examined it closely.

The system voice sounded in my mind again.

[Ding! Congratulations, host! You have discovered that the [Twenty-Four Rebirth Bells] set is incomplete. You must collect the complete set to unlock the encyclopedia!]

[The Twenty-Four Bells of Rebirth: The Queen Mother of the West delights in music, and ordinary sounds are difficult for her to hear. Because the musicians were not performing well, she killed the twenty-four musicians.]

Later, an artist created this set of chime bells, which were believed to guide people to rebirth in the Pure Land. The souls of twenty-four musicians were said to have entered into these bells, hence the name "Twenty-Four Rebirth Chime Bells."

After listening to the system's explanation, Wu Yutian began to understand.

The chime bells come in various sizes, and this object that looks like a bell must be the smallest one among them.

I have no idea where this mandrill came from, and how it ended up on my wrist.

Moreover, the strange action of the mandrill in the last scene suggests that it knows the function of the chime bells.

That's why he gave up dodging and took the final, fatal punch head-on.

"Brother Tian, ​​is this thing still worth something?" Fatty Wang grinned and came over. "Did I get some credit for hitting this mandrill's arm?"

In Wang Pangzi's eyes, there were only two kinds of these items.

Valuable, or worthless.

If you come across something valuable, you should consider whether you can get a share of it.

“I do know a little about it,” Uncle Ming interjected. “This should be a Shang or Zhou dynasty craft, or even earlier.”

"Moreover, it doesn't look like a bell to me; it's hollow inside. It should be a set of chime bells."

Uncle Ming was indeed an experienced man. "Individually, it's just a nice little item. However, a set of chime bells usually consists of dozens of pieces. If you collect them all, they're definitely worth a lot."

"Dozens of items?" Fatty Wang's face darkened. "That means they're not worth much anymore. If it's this hard to even find one, how long would it take to collect them all?"

“That’s not necessarily true,” Wu Yutian analyzed. “Since this mandrill has chimes on its body, it or its companions must know where these chimes came from.”

"Ah, I understand!" Fatty Wang rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Mandrills are social animals. If other mandrills appear, perhaps we can find the whereabouts of the other chime bells."

"Yes, that's roughly the idea. You're a promising student," Wu Yutian praised.