The Great Martial Arts World: Hot Topics and Great Heroes

A stick struck Chu Luren, but Chu Luren's body, defying all laws of physics, merely swayed slightly. As it swung back, Chu Luren secretly exerted force to counteract the impact.

The giant ape not only lost its grip on the giant tree, but also lost its footing on the cliff and was thrown off!

"Who goes there? Come over here!" A voice that sounded familiar to Chu Luren rang out from the lower left.

Before Chu Luren could think it over, several angry howls of apes were heard from the clouds, and it seemed that... it wasn't just this one giant ape!

Chu Luren instinctively swung towards the direction from which the sound had come, and after a short distance, he found a slightly crooked opening that he could squeeze into.

Thinking of all the giant apes outside, Chu Luren felt that it would be good to guard one of the cave entrances, so he twisted his body in mid-air and disappeared into the cave!

But just then, a black, hairy ape hand reached out and grabbed at Chu Luren...

These mischievous monkeys actually know how to ambush?

Chu Luren reacted quickly and immediately engaged in combat with the monkey. However, he was startled as soon as they made contact—this monkey could actually use true qi to attack!

Throughout history, the Chu Lu people have encountered "strange beasts" in roughly three types: one type is Liang Ziweng's treasure snake, the dragon god of White Camel Mountain Villa, and even creatures like Xiao Hong and Bing Bing, which possess extraordinary intelligence and peculiarities, but do not have internal strength.

One type is the Yeti, which possesses a certain amount of internal energy, but only uses it to temper the body—the giant ape we encountered outside should also belong to this type, as it did not release its true energy.

The last category is those who can use true qi to attack, such as... the Zhenwu from the back mountain of Wudang!

Could it be that the monkey lying in ambush is at the same level as Zhenwu?

Under pressure, Chu Luren unleashed his full power and captured the monkey in just a few rounds.

That's right, Chu Luren was too nervous. Although this monkey can release his true energy, his strength is only second-rate.

"Young Master Chu? That's wonderful!" A young man exclaimed excitedly, jumping up and down.

"You two brothers' 'Young Master Chu' are both quite frank," Chu Luren muttered to himself upon seeing the man.

"Huh? Young Master Chu, what did you say?" Little Fish asked.

"Nothing... What are you doing here, kid? This monkey isn't yours, is it?" Chu Luren twisted his arm and lifted the "monkey" he had already captured.

The person who spoke earlier, and the person who is calling out "Young Master Chu" now, is none other than Hua Wuque's twin brother—Xiaoyuer!

When Hua Wuque addresses Chu Gongzi, one can feel the sincerity that comes from his "calmness," while Xiaoyuer... simply judges Chu Luren's preferences and scratches the itch, relying on "technique" to make it seem as if it comes from the heart.

"Haha, Young Master Chu, you've guessed wrong this time. This monkey isn't mine, but the famous Fruit Offering God from the Twelve Constellations!" Little Fish revealed the "monkey's" identity to Chu Luren.

In fact, Chu Luren had already guessed it when he saw Xiaoyuer...

No wonder he's still so weak even after cultivating true qi. It turns out he's not a strange beast, but one of the twelve constellations that has cultivated himself into something neither human nor ghost!

"Oh, that's the one whose Twelve Constellations I crippled Si Chenke and Black Dog Star, scared the Deer Eater into fleeing in panic, and even killed a Black-Faced Lord!" Chu Luren said modestly.

"The God of Offering Fruit? Shouldn't the monkey in the twelve constellations be the Golden Ape Star? There's also a God of Offering Fruit?" Chu Luren asked again, feigning ignorance.

Just then, a hoarse voice came from the corner: "If... I had known earlier that there was a Fruit Offering God, how could I have ended up in this state today!"

Chu Luren looked over and saw that the person was dark-skinned and thin, with a heavy aura, and did not look like an internal martial arts master at all.

Although he had somewhat expected it, upon seeing this person's appearance, and then looking at the "Fruit Offering God" who was as strong as a gorilla, Chu Luren couldn't help but secretly marvel at the uncanny skill of the Twelve Constellations...

More than a decade ago, when Xiaoyuer and Hua Wuque were born, and when Yulang Jiang Feng got into trouble, among the twelve constellations, not only did several people try to kill Jiang Feng because of Jiang Qin's betrayal, but several others were also on another "business" trip at the same time.

At that time, Shen Qinghong, the chief镖头 (bodyguard/escort) of the three major镖局 (escort agencies) of Weiyuan, Zhenyuan, and Ningyuan, also took on a shipment of goods that aroused the interest of these great thieves from the Twelve Zodiacs.

Shen Qinghong herself knew that things were not going well, so she sent people to seek help from Yan Nantian while activating the escort agency's traditional skill - the Yin-Yang Dart.

Shen Qinghong herself protected the open-top escort, while she sent her deputy escort to protect the hidden escort, which took a different route.

Yan Nantian was originally too busy rescuing his sworn brother Jiang Feng to pay attention to Shen Qinghong's pleas for help. However, it was just bad luck for the twelve constellations. After Yan Nantian picked up Xiaoyuer, he happened to encounter the Dog and Monkey, who were robbing Shen Qinghong's caravan. Enraged, Yan Nantian went on a killing spree, slaughtering all the previous generation of Dog and crippling the Monkey's eyes...

The monkey used Jiang Feng's betrayal of Jiang Qin's whereabouts as leverage to save his life from Yan Nantian. It was also he who tricked Yan Nantian into going to the Valley of Villains.

The blind monkey, after Yan Nantian left, used the whereabouts of the hidden dart to save his life from Shen Qinghong—they already knew about the Yin-Yang Dart, the hidden dart had been stolen, and they were only here to kill Shen Qinghong!

Shen Qinghong, who valued integrity above all else, didn't want to lose this shipment, so she spared his life and had him lead her to find it...

However, Shen Qinghong was unaware that of the chickens, dogs, monkeys, and pigs that came to deal with him, some were dead and others were crippled, but in reality, there was still one "monkey" left.

After Shen Qinghong learned that the treasure was hidden on this cliff, she was also targeted by the Fruit Offering God.

Shen Qinghong was quite resourceful. Back then, there were no "giant apes" here, but the cliff itself was enough to stop "experts" like them.

After Shen Qinghong led the Fruit Offering God to this place, she set fire to the rope that was hanging down, ending the matter once and for all—no one could go up!

Over the years, the Fruit Offering God, fearing he would go mad from being alone, did not kill Shen Qinghong. Instead, he took advantage of the monkey's personality by throwing fruit pits at it to provoke it, and the monkey would retaliate by throwing things, including edible fruits. The two of them lived like this...

Shen Qinghong had been eating fruit for over a decade and had become so thin that she was barely recognizable as human. Her internal and external martial arts skills had also declined considerably. On the other hand, the Fruit Offering God was just like a monkey. Despite eating fruit for so many years, he was still strong and healthy!

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 501 Hand

"So you were the one who started this treasure rumor?" Chu Luren had now confirmed that the reappearance of the treasure rumor in Emei was indeed Xiaoyuer's doing!

Xiaoyuer and Tie Xinlan had gone around in circles and returned to Emei—the most dangerous place is the safest place.

They were certain that Hua Wuque would never expect them to be hiding in Emei.

However, she still encountered an accident. First, a monkey stole Tie Xinlan's luggage, and then when Tie Xinlan tried to take it back, she lost her footing and fell off a cliff...

At first, Xiaoyuer found her monkey-playing amusing, but as soon as she fell, he couldn't sit still any longer and leaped out to save her.

Unfortunately, Xiaoyuer didn't practice martial arts diligently, and he didn't learn much of Yin Jiuyou's lightness skill. He could only hold onto Tie Xinlan and stick a dagger into the crevice of the rock to temporarily save his life, but he couldn't fly up and could only crawl little by little.

After much effort, Tie Xinlan finally managed to climb onto the rock face, but just as the two were about to climb up, they were attacked by a troop of monkeys...

Xiao Yu'er covered Tie Xinlan's way up, but he fell down himself. Fortunately, the God of Offering Fruit wanted one more person to talk to, so he rescued him and brought him to the cave!

After learning the whole story, Little Fish immediately came up with a way to escape—to throw the treasures out one by one.

By taking advantage of monkeys' love of throwing and picking up things, you can lure them to retrieve these treasures and show them to others.

In this way, the news will spread quickly, and sooner or later, as long as someone successfully finds the cave, they will have a chance to get out!

Of course, in the past few months, giant apes have started to appear around them. Although they cannot enter the cave due to their size, it has made their escape much more difficult.

Fortunately, through observation during the fruit offering, it was discovered that these giant apes do not seem to leave the area of ​​the clouds and mist. When the fog is thin, as long as someone lowers a rope down from above, they still have a chance to go up!

Little Fish kept throwing out rare treasures every day, but Jiang Xianguo was heartbroken and even wanted to give up the plan several times.

But every time this happened, Xiaoyuer would persuade him with the concept of "sunk cost"—if he didn't keep throwing, all the previous throwing would have been for nothing!

"Hehe, even Young Master Chu has come. The whole city must be in an uproar by now, right? We just need to wait for the clouds to clear up a bit..." Little Fish was very happy at this moment.

Not only did someone come looking for us, but we were also glad that it was a Chu Luren who came—in that case, offering fruit was nothing to fear!

"No, the news from outside is still very vague. It's true that some experts have gone missing nearby, but given what happened at the Emei Ancestor's Mausoleum, most people are unwilling to risk trouble. I felt something was off about this place before. Those giant apes must have awakened after Master Zhang knocked on the Heavenly Gate, so I wanted to come and take a look." Chu Luren didn't explain much about what "knocking on the Heavenly Gate" meant.

Even Xian Guo and Shen Qinghong, who didn't know Chu Luren before, didn't think he was just bragging.

After all, although they didn't see it, they could tell from the sound that Chu Luren had "dealt with" a giant ape on the cliff, and that he dared to move up and down this steep, bottomless cliff using only his lightness skill!

Not to mention, they finished off the offering of fruit in just a few moves!

"That's a bit strange. Those monkeys showed off the treasure, it's impossible that everyone who saw it was so brave and didn't even bother to go back and call for help, right? And even if they were fighting amongst themselves, it's a bit too clean that everyone died!" Little Fish wondered.

Xian Guo, who had been immobilized and left aside, now cried and begged Chu Lu Ren with snot and tears streaming down his face: "Young Master Chu! I was blind and didn't recognize your greatness. Please have mercy and rescue me too!"

Seeing that Chu Luren ignored him, Xian Guo continued to wail, "Although I am a wicked person, it's been almost twenty years! Even if I deserve my punishment, I have reformed myself in the past ten years! As long as you save me, I will definitely obey you from now on..."

Chu Luren looked at Shen Qinghong curiously and asked, "Does Chief Escort Shen think this person is trustworthy?"

Shen Qinghong looked at the pair of monkey eyes staring hopefully at the offering of fruit, and sighed, "Although it is said that 'it is easier to change mountains and rivers than to change one's nature,' after more than ten years... after more than ten years of having nothing to do but argue with an old rival, people can still change."

Back then, I, Shen Qinghong, was also fiercely competitive. I would take on any mission that others dared not… But now, if I could leave this place alive, I would surely retire from the martial world, farming and supporting myself, spending my leisure time brewing tea and wine, having extinguished my former ambitions. As for what a notorious bandit like him thinks, I have no idea.”

Shen Qinghong said she didn't know, but she still indirectly said half a good thing about Xianguo—people can change.

Over the past ten years, the two have argued every day, especially since Shen Qinghong was no match for Xian Guo and suffered a lot of humiliation from him. However, over this long period of time, their arguments have become a kind of spice in their lives. If they don't argue, they don't even feel like they are alive.

And it was indeed by offering fruit to him that they both survived...

Although Shen Qinghong wouldn't guarantee the fruit offerings, she used herself as an example.

Of course, as a seasoned veteran, Chu Luren could also understand that Shen Qinghong's example had another meaning—after leaving, I will go into seclusion and no longer compete or insist on protecting this shipment... If Master Chu is interested in this valuable item, he can handle it himself and doesn't need to worry about me, surnamed Shen!

Just then, a gust of wind suddenly came, and Chu Luren turned around to catch it.

A knife landed in Chu Luren's hand. Chu Luren gripped the blade, and on the hilt... there was another hand!

There was only a lonely hand.

"Who goes there!" Chu Luren shouted.

However, all that could be heard from outside were the hoarse, cold cries of monkeys that sounded like cold laughter, sending chills down one's spine.

“This knife is…” Shen Qinghong was a little excited, as if she recognized something.

"Does Chief Escort Shen recognize this knife?" Chu Luren handed the knife and the hand that was gripping it tightly to Shen Qinghong.

Shen Qinghong took the hand with trembling hands, examined it closely, and after seeing the scars, said with regret, "There's no mistake! It's Brother Tie's hand, and it's also Brother Tie's Golden Knife! Back then, when I was vying with him for the position of chief镖头 (chief镖师, a high-ranking镖师 in the bodyguards), I accidentally injured his hand, and I bandaged this wound myself!"

This wasn't the first time monkeys had thrown weapons in, which is why they previously thought people were killing each other for the treasure.

"Golden Knife Iron Dragon? Now that the Golden Knife and his hand are here, seeing him means he's probably in grave danger." Chu Luren said, then suddenly remembered something, drew the suona from his waist, and imitated the way he held the knife, making a couple of casual gestures.

Then he looked at Shen Qinghong seriously...

Shen Qinghong exclaimed in surprise, "Hero Chu, have you seen Brother Tie before? This is indeed Brother Tie's swordsmanship." He could also tell that this swordsmanship was merely superficial, and Chu Luren probably just wanted to demonstrate it.

"Young Master Chu, what's wrong?" Little Fish noticed that Chu Luren's expression was strange.

"The giant ape I encountered outside used the same sword technique, except it used a tree trunk instead of a sword," Chu Luren said solemnly.

Upon hearing this, the three felt a lump in their throats, and then... a chill ran down their spines.

"Could it be... that those people weren't killing each other, but were captured by these monkeys just to... to learn their moves?" Little Fish said an unbelievable answer.

Chapter 502 Beware of Women

Chu Luren suspected that the monkeys on Mount Emei were more intelligent than he had imagined, and he also released Xiao Hong to go back and inform Murong Jiu.

No matter how agile these giant apes or monkeys are, they can only move on the cliffs and cannot fly. Therefore, it is relatively easy and safe for Xiao Hong to enter and exit.

Furthermore... this time, Chu Luren learned his lesson and brought charcoal sticks and paper with him!

He wrote down the situation concisely and asked Xiaohong to take it back to avoid any inexplicable misunderstandings.