One person: Senior brother Zhang Zhiwei, the Celestial Master begged me to descend the mountain.

In the early hours of the morning, the Qinling Mountains were shrouded in such thick fog that it seemed to swallow the entire world.

This is no ordinary mountain forest. It is filled with a damp, cold, and bone-chilling miasma, and the visibility is extremely low. Even if you turn on a strong flashlight, the beam of light is like hitting cotton, and it can't even shine five meters away.

"It's just ahead."

At the very front of the group, Baron stopped.

He was no longer the disheveled man he had been. Although he was still wearing that thin vest, once he got into work mode, this top international hunter's aura instantly became sharp.

He lowered his body slightly, his nostrils flared rapidly, and his eyes, enhanced by the Six Treasures Immortal Thief, were fixed on the churning white mist in front of him.

There's something there.

Barron's voice was low, carrying a hint of barely perceptible gravity:

"There are many of them... and they're not people."

"Not human?"

Zhang Chulan shrank back, instinctively moving closer to Zhang Taichu's back, his hand already forming the incantation for the Golden Light Spell:

"Old ghost, don't scare me."

"What else could those things in these deep mountains and forests be but humans? Zongzi (rice dumplings)? Or wild men?"

"It's not that kind of inanimate object."

Wang Ye frowned at this moment, one hand tucked into his sleeve, and he lightly stomped his foot on the ground:

"The feng shui of this place is a bit strange. It gathers energy and doesn't dissipate it. Anything raised here... might even have some kind of spirituality."

That is life energy.

Barron interrupted everyone's speculations; his muscles were completely taut, his entire body resembling a fully drawn bow.

"Extremely vigorous life energy, even stronger than that of ordinary superhumans."

"They...are watching us."

Before he could finish speaking...

call--

A sudden gust of cold wind swept in from the depths of the dense forest, forcefully dispersing the thick miasma ahead.

Followed by.

Pairs of golden eyes, like will-o'-the-wisps suddenly illuminating the night, appeared densely in everyone's field of vision.

Those were a group of monkeys.

But it's definitely not the kind of mischievous monkey that snatches snacks from tourists like you'd find on Mount Emei.

These monkeys are enormous, each over 1.5 meters tall, covered in golden fur that glows faintly in the darkness.

They were either perched on treetops or hanging upside down on vines, and they were all holding weapons in their hands.

Some held white animal bones, while others gripped sharpened stones.

Those dozens of golden eyes held no trace of wild beastly ignorance, only a chilling indifference and murderous intent.

"This is... the guardian spirit beast of the mountain?"

Zhuge Qing adjusted his glasses, looking at the well-organized troop of monkeys, a hint of surprise in his voice:

"That's interesting."

"Judging from their positions, they actually subtly resemble some kind of formation."

"It seems that Wugensheng disciplined these beasts quite a bit back then."

squeak! !

A sharp and majestic hiss suddenly rang out from behind the monkey troop.

The previously restless monkey troop instantly quieted down, retreating in unison to both sides to make way.

Boom!Boom!Boom!

Heavy footsteps sounded, and the ground trembled slightly.

A giant ape, two meters tall and with muscles as bulging as granite, slowly emerged from the shadows.

It was wearing a tattered human Taoist robe, and in its hand it was carrying the thigh bone of some unknown creature, which gleamed with a metallic sheen.

This is the king of this group of golden monkeys.

The monkey king walked to the front of the group but did not launch an attack immediately.

It actually imitated humans, raising the huge bone club with one hand and setting its feet apart in a very standard martial arts starting stance.

"Good heavens!"

Wang Zhenqiu's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and he raised his phone to start snapping photos like crazy:

"This monkey must be some kind of spirit!!"

"This stance...it looks like the San Ti stance from Xingyi Quan?!"

"What kind of nonsense did Wugensheng teach them in the mountains?"

The Monkey King's golden eyes were fixed on Baron, who was standing at the very front.

Its instincts, like those of a wild animal, told it that the silver-haired man before it was dangerous.

roar--!!!

The Monkey King suddenly opened his blood-red maw and let out a deafening roar.

The sound, mixed with a fishy wind, rustled the surrounding leaves.

This is the final warning.

Take one more step and you'll be killed without mercy!

"Master Dao..."

Barron didn't turn around, but simply gripped the military knife at his waist with his other hand, his voice tense:

"This beast is not easy to deal with."

"It has abundant Qi, and... it is gathering its strength."

"Shall we take action?"

Zhang Taichu stood still, his hands still in his pockets, his face expressionless.

He merely glanced indifferently at the monkey king who was swaggering around, a disdainful sneer curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Need not."

Zhang Taichu's voice was soft, yet it reached the ears of everyone present clearly:

"This monkey has been reserved."

"Is anyone there?"

Baron was stunned for a moment, before he could react to what Zhang Taichu meant.

A sudden change occurred.

Just as the monkey king's momentum reached its peak, preparing to unleash a thunderous strike with its bone club...

A dark shadow.

Without warning or a sound, it fell from the dense canopy above the monkey king's head.

There was no murderous intent.

There was no fluctuation of Qi.

Even the sound of the wind is perfectly integrated into the surrounding environment.

Even Baron, who possessed the Six Treasures Immortal Thief and had an abnormally high level of sensitivity to aura, did not notice anything at this moment!

Until the dark shadow landed less than half a meter above the Monkey King's head.

A mud-covered, rusty shovel traced an extremely beautiful and tricky arc in the moonlight.

then.

when--!!!!!

A crisp, melodious metallic clang, like the sound of a great bell, suddenly rang out in the deathly silent mountain forest.

The shovel landed squarely and precisely on the Monkey King's bald head.

The force of the blow was so great that it even produced sparks.

"Squeak... Uh..."

The Monkey King, who had been so majestic and ready to wreak havoc, didn't even have time to let out a scream.

Its golden eyes rolled back instantly, and its enormous body swayed three times in place as if it were drunk.

then.

With a loud bang.

Like a mountain of gold and a pillar of jade collapsing, it crashed straight to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The entire room fell silent.

The little monkeys who were originally ready to charge with the king were now frozen in place, baring their teeth, with the stones and bones they were holding awkwardly hanging in mid-air.

And on the back of the unconscious monkey king.

A figure wearing a loose-fitting windbreaker and with disheveled hair was squatting there.

She still held the shovel she had used to commit the crime in her hand, and casually wiped the mud off her face with her other hand, revealing a blank, expressionless face with vacant eyes.

"A zebra..."

The figure exhaled a breath of stale air and, speaking in a thick, authentic Sichuan dialect, muttered curses:

"I'm exhausted."

"We chased him all the way, and only managed to catch up."

"Why is this monkey's head so hard? It's made my hands go numb from all the shaking."

Look at the figure squatting on the monkey king, checking if the shovel is dull.

Zhang Chulan's chin almost hit his foot.

He rubbed his eyes, and after confirming he wasn't hallucinating, he let out a high-pitched scream:

"Bao... Sister Bao'er?!!!!!"

"What are you doing here?!"

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Feng Baobao slowly turned her head.

She blinked her large, clear eyes twice, looked at Zhang Chulan, and said with an air of matter-of-fact certainty:

"I'm so smart, of course I ran here."

"You...you ran here?"

Wang Ye's lips twitched slightly. He looked at the treacherous terrain around him, then at Feng Baobao's muddy canvas shoes:

"This is deep in the Qinling Mountains, sister..."

"It's hundreds of kilometers, how did you find your way here?"

Feng Baobao pointed to her nose, her tone as calm as if she were asking what she ate that day:

"We came here because we could smell it."

"I can smell Zhang Chulan's scent from 800 miles away."

"This kind of thing isn't difficult."

Upon hearing this explanation, everyone present, except for Zhang Taichu, fell silent.

Especially Baron, who was standing at the very front.

The international tycoon was staring intently at Feng Baobao, his eyes wide as if he had seen a ghost.

Cold sweat trickled down his forehead, and his throat went dry.

It wasn't because the other party knocked out the Monkey King with a shovel.

Rather, it's because...

Until this moment, until this woman appeared in his sight, squatting there and speaking.

He still couldn't pinpoint her presence through his senses!

In his perceived world, that position was empty.

There was no flow of Qi, no life magnetic field, and even the rhythm of human breathing seemed to melt into the air.

"What...what kind of monster is this...?"

Barron's hand gripping the saber trembled slightly; his confidence as a top scout had suffered a devastating blow at this moment.

"I... I didn't even notice she was following me..."

"If she had hit me on the head with that shovel..."

Thinking of this, Barron felt a chill run down his spine and subconsciously touched his neck.

"Alright."

Zhang Taichu's voice rang out at the right moment, breaking the awkward and strange atmosphere.

He put his hands in his pockets, walked slowly forward, and stopped two meters away from Feng Baobao.

He looked at the filthy woman with hair as messy as a bird's nest, a fleeting hint of tenderness flashing in his eyes, but his tone remained as irritating as ever:

"After following us all this way, you've finally decided to leave?"

"I thought you were going to stay in the tree like a monkey forever."

Feng Baobao tilted her head and looked at Zhang Taichu, but did not refute him.

She jumped off the Monkey King, dusted herself off, and then casually walked over to Zhang Chulan, hoisting the shovel she was holding onto her shoulder.

"Who wants to be a monkey?"

"I thought this monkey was too arrogant, so I wanted to loosen its skin."

Just then.

"roar……"

The monkey king on the ground, who had been knocked unconscious, let out a painful growl and actually woke up, swaying unsteadily.

It touched its forehead, which was swollen with a large bump, and its golden eyes instantly filled with rage.

As the king of this mountain forest, when has it ever suffered such injustice?

It sprang up from the ground, baring its teeth, grabbed a bone club, and was about to smash it down on the woman who had attacked it.

When the surrounding monkeys saw that their king had woken up, they all let out sharp hisses and grabbed stones, ready to swarm him.

"careful!!"

Zhang Chulan was shocked, and the golden light on his body shone again.

But Feng Baobao didn't even turn her head; she was still intently picking at the mud under her fingernails.

Because she doesn't need to take action.

"Kneel down."

Only two words.

Zhang Taichu merely turned his head slightly, his indifferent eyes coldly sweeping over the enraged monkey king.

Buzz—! !!! !

An invisible yet terrifying pressure instantly erupted from Zhang Taichu's center.

That wasn't a physical attack.

That was an absolute crushing of the inferior by the superior, from the level of the soul.

It's like a dragon looking down at the ants at its feet.

The monkey king, who had been fierce and ready to fight to the death, bristled with fur the moment he met Zhang Taichu's eyes.

Its golden pupils contracted violently, a sign of extreme fear stemming from its biological instincts.

pat.

The bone club in his hand fell to the ground.

Pfft!

next second.

The enormous monkey king's knees buckled, and he knelt heavily before Zhang Taichu.

It buried its head deep in the ground, trembling all over, and making mournful whimpers. It was no longer the mountain overlord it appeared.

As the Monkey King knelt down.

The dozens of monkeys in the surrounding trees also jumped down like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

They lay neatly on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly in the direction of Zhang Taichu, not daring to even breathe loudly.

"this……"

Wang Zhenqiu stared at the sight of thousands of monkeys paying homage, his mouth agape, almost dropping his phone.

"This is even possible?!"

"Wow, this is Conqueror's Haki!"

Zhang Taichu ignored the worship of these beasts.

He walked up to the monkey king, stretched out his toe, and gently nudged its enormous head:

"Stop playing dead."

"Now that you're awake, let's get down to business."

"lead the way."

"Let's go to Ziyang Cave."

Upon hearing this, the Monkey King trembled violently.

It quickly raised its head, and a fawning expression appeared on its wrinkled monkey face as it nodded frantically.

It got up from the ground, ignoring the large bump on its forehead, and walked forward respectfully with a hunched back, gesturing for it to proceed.

"Let's go."

Zhang Taichu turned around and glanced at the crowd who were still in a daze:

"With this local expert leading the way, it should save us a lot of trouble."

"in addition……"

His gaze fell on Feng Baobao, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly:

"Since you're here, stay close."

"The road ahead might just require the shovel in your hand."

Feng Baobao nodded, seemingly understanding, then shouldered her shovel and followed with an air of indifference.

"oh."

"I understand."

The group of people, along with a troop of monkeys, embarked on another journey into the deepest part of the Qinling Mountains in this bizarre combination.