Chaotic Times and Disasters: I Hunt Down Martial Arts Masters and Become a God

...

Yu Fu finally dug out the beauty's bones completely. Su Wen carefully put them into a jade box, patted the lid, and stood up.

An Sheng slung his silver spear over his shoulder. "It's only been half a day since we came in and it's already this chaotic. Who knows how many more fights will follow?"

Fu Qing watched Yunnan Zhi's figure disappear into the depths of the dense forest. "Let's go."

...

The group walked in the opposite direction. The trees in this dense forest were all thousands of years old, with trunks so thick that several people could not encircle them, and canopies that blocked out the sky.

After walking for half a day, Suwen stopped in front of a medicinal garden surrounded by ancient trees. Several spiritual herbs with a faint golden halo grew in the garden, each exuding a rich medicinal spiritual energy.

"Golden Leaf Ganoderma, Dragon Blood Vine, and one more—is this the legendary Bamboo Grass?"

Su Wen was unusually surprised, and squatted down to carefully part the grass.

"Each of these medicinal herbs is over a thousand years old, and there are a few that I have only seen in illustrations in the pharmacopoeia."

"So many?"

Yu Fu's eyes widened in disbelief. "Haha! We're rich!"

"vulgar."

Suwen reached out to pick the nearest golden leaf mushroom, but just as her fingers touched the leaves, a commotion suddenly broke out deep within the flower bush.

Dozens of monkeys pounced simultaneously from the flowers, the treetops, and behind the rocks, moving with incredible speed.

Their fur is grayish-white, their eyes are blood red, and their claws are three inches long.

"Be careful!"

Fu Qing swung his sword backhand and cleaved a monkey that was lunging at Su Wen away. The blade made a crisp sound as it struck the monkey.

The monkey was sent flying by the blow, crashing into a tree trunk. It shook its head and stood up again, with a shallow bloodstain on its chest.

"These monkeys have scales under their fur!"

An Sheng thrust his spear at another monkey, the tip piercing its chest but bouncing back less than half an inch in.

"Even my gun can't pierce it!"

"Back off! Back off!"

Fu Qing held his sword in front of Su Wen, and just as he slashed a monkey away, a muffled groan came from behind him.

He turned around abruptly and saw Su Wen fall to the side of the herb garden. A long gash had been torn open on the outside of her thigh by the monkey's claws, staining the spiritual herbs at her feet red.

She struggled to stand up, but the wound on her leg was too deep, and she fell back down after only managing to prop herself up halfway.

Three monkeys pounced on her at the same time.

"Junior Sister!"

Su Xue exclaimed in surprise.

The dark blue blade cleaved through the three monkeys, sending the first one flying and crashing into a tree trunk, while the other two were swept away by the back of the blade.

Fu Qing landed in front of Su Wen with his back to her, the blade held horizontally in front of him, his eyes fixed on the approaching troop of monkeys.

"Can you still move your legs?"

"No." Suwen pressed her hand against the wound on her thigh, blood seeping out from between her fingers.

"I'll carry you on my back!"

Fu Qing forced the two monkeys back with a single slash, then scooped up Su Wen from the ground with his left hand and carried her on his back.

Suwen's arms instinctively wrapped around his neck, her thighs pressed against his waist.

"Put me down, how can you fight like this—"

"Shut up."

Fu Qing cleaved a monkey that pounced from the side with a single stroke.

"pay close attention."

Suwen paused for a moment, then tightened her grip on his arm.

Her face was pressed against his neck, and she could smell the mixture of blood and sweat on him.

Fu Qing carried Su Wen on his back, charging left and right through the monkey troop, supporting her buttocks with one hand and wielding a knife to slash at her with the other, occasionally pulling her up a little.

Suwen blushed slightly, but dared not say anything.

"These monkeys are all at least at the fifth level of the Meridian Opening stage!"

Song Zhiwen unfurled the bamboo slips and recited a Confucian-Taoist protective mantra. A pale golden light shielded him, and when the monkey's paw struck the light shield, it trembled violently.

"We can't hold on!"

"Tsk... my medicinal mist has no effect on them!"

Su Xue shouted, "They're not afraid of the sleeping potion!"

"Vajra Talisman!"

Yu Fu took out several talismans from his bundle and stuck them on himself and Fu Qing.

"This will keep you warm for a while! Senior Sister Su Xue, here you go!"

He tossed a talisman to Su Xue, then pulled out an old heart lamp. The moment the light came on, the surrounding monkeys visibly flinched.

"They're afraid of this light! You guys hold it for now, I'll look around and see if there's anything else we can use!"

Yu Fu, holding the torch and clearing a path on the left, shouted, "Song Zhiwen, bless him!"

"It's already being blessed!"

Song Zhiwen unfolded the bamboo slips and recited a Confucian and Taoist speed-up mantra. A pale golden light fell on Fu Qing, and his steps immediately became lighter.

An Sheng and Ling Yuxi stood side by side at the front, wielding a gun and a sword amidst the monkey horde.

An Sheng pierced a monkey's shoulder with his spear, but before he could even rejoice, another monkey slapped him in the chest with its paw, sending him staggering back several steps.

"Damn it, each of these monkeys is as strong as me! How am I supposed to fight so many of them!"

"Hit them one by one!"

Fu Qing cleaved a monkey in two with a single stroke, leaving several tiny nicks on the blade.

"Brother Fu, how many can you take down now?" Yu Fu asked, hiding behind and holding up the Heart Lamp.

"Three, it'll be difficult with the fourth one."

"...So how many are there now?"

"Count them yourself."

Yu Fu glanced around at the gray monkey shadows and countless scarlet eyes covering the entire mountainside, swallowed hard, and said, "I'm not counting anymore, my legs will go weak."

Fu Qing was facing three monkeys at the same time, and his sword strikes began to slow down.

Each of these monkeys possessed strength equivalent to at least the fifth level of the Qi Refining Realm, and they coordinated perfectly—whenever he tried to concentrate his power to kill one first, the other two would simultaneously attack from two tricky angles, forcing him to retreat and defend.

When the fourth monkey joined the fray, he finally couldn't hold on any longer. A monkey's tail swept across his back, sending him flying. He adjusted his posture in mid-air and knelt on the ground.

"Damn it..."

Fu Qing spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, opened the system panel, and added the points to the cultivation progress bar.

The blood and qi in his body surged like boiling water, and the bottleneck of the eighth level of meridian opening suddenly burst open.

The blade of the cold iron sword shone brighter than before. He raised his hand and slashed out, sending a monkey flying. The monkey had a gash on its chest that was more than twice as deep as before. It fell to the ground, twitched twice, and then lay still.

"My brother, you've broken through again?" Yu Fu's eyes widened.

"Eight levels of Meridian Opening are barely enough."

Fu Qing flexed his wrists. "Now I can take on five."

"There are still dozens left!"

"It's up to you!"

"..."

He had a little over 100,000 points left, not enough to break through to the ninth level, so he didn't use them for the time being.

Even after breaking through to the eighth level of the Meridian Opening Realm, the number of monkeys was still far beyond what they could handle.

New monkeys keep arriving from all directions. This dense forest is their territory, and they can't win a war of attrition here.

Moreover, these monkeys were extremely intelligent. Fu Qing noticed that whenever he tried to break through to the left, the monkey troop would send more people to the left, and whenever he tried to retreat to the right, more monkeys would appear on the right.

Their movements were as orderly as an army's. Fu Qing frowned slightly and looked around, searching for the Monkey King.

During the fierce battle, Fu Qing caught a glimpse of a monkey, a whole size larger than the others, squatting on a boulder behind the troop.

Its fur is silvery-white, and its eyes have scarlet vertical pupils. It is using hissing sounds to direct the advance and retreat of the monkey troop.

"An Sheng! Do you see that silver-haired monkey on that rock?"

An Sheng followed Fu Qing's gaze and his face lit up with joy.

"I see it! Is that the Monkey King?"

"It's in command; as long as it lives, these monkeys won't scatter."

Fu Qing forced back the monkey horde in front of him with a single strike, then put Su Wen down and pushed her next to An Sheng.

"Cover me! I'm going to kill the Monkey King."

"Are you crazy?"

An Sheng grabbed his arm, "What's the Monkey King's cultivation level?"

"I don't know, but if we don't try, we'll all die here."

Fu Qing charged out with his sword, dashing left and right through the monkey horde, slashing down several monkeys blocking his way. His cold iron sword carved a bloody path through the monkeys.