Chapter 265: Pursuit

Seeing that their commander was not dead, the Xiazhou army breathed a sigh of relief and began to worry about the "bounty" again. While He Chunhua escaped the giant ape, He Lingchuan had already rushed in the opposite direction, reached into his storage ring, grabbed the Soaring Dragon Spear, and thrust it straight at the giant ape's right eye. This big monkey was over a zhang tall when standing straight; even if he were on horseback, he would still need a long spear to hit it.

Seeing him, the giant ape's eyes turned red instantly, clearly remembering the suffocating past of being suppressed under the Walnut Boat. Immediately after, the bone armor above its eye suddenly lengthened, completely covering its right eye.

He Lingchuan's long spear followed and slammed into it.

The black gold spearhead had been forged with extraterrestrial meteorite iron, its sharpness and hardness incomparable to ordinary blades.

The bone plate shattered, and the Soaring Dragon Spear pierced into the giant ape's right eye, blood instantly spurting out.

However, the resistance of that bone armor was great, and He Lingchuan's remaining force was spent, the spear tip not piercing deep into the eye. He was hanging in mid-air, just thinking of a way to pull the spear out and thrust it again, when the giant ape let out a heaven-shaking roar and grabbed him! Its reaching speed was faster than before.

He Lingchuan thought it was slowed by the speech spell, so he was caught off guard. The "Stagnation" character on its brow shattered at the same time, vanishing into nothingness. It was clear that this spear strike had greatly stimulated its ferocity, making it immune even to the speech spell.

He Lingchuan immediately felt his body constricted, all his qi and blood squeezed into his limbs and head, with only one hand waving outside available to use. He felt like a balloon, easily squeezed to the point of bursting.

The Floating Life Blade was also stuck at his waist, unable to be drawn.

Elder Liang witnessed this scene and gasped: "How is that possible!"

He had practiced this speech spell for a full twenty-five years, fifteen of which were spent practicing the "Silent Mantra," meaning he had been a mute for fifteen years, not saying a single word. In this way, all his usual cultivation efforts were gathered into the nourishing speech spell, becoming deeper and deeper.

This one-character speech spell caused little burden and little backlash on himself; in terms of its power, even if it were cast on the Pavilion Master of the Cloud-Piercing Pavilion, it wouldn't be something that could be dispelled in a few breaths.

Yet this giant ape had managed it; how? He Chunhua's eyes were splitting: "Chuan'er!"

Other Xiazhou soldiers mustered their courage and extended their spears to poke, but how could they break the Ghost Ape's bone armor? It was just scratching an itch.

The giant ape wouldn't be polite; as soon as it caught He Lingchuan, it squeezed hard! With its hand strength, squeezing He Lingchuan until he turned yellow would be easy.

However, it suddenly felt empty in its hand; the solid feeling of squeezing was gone.

Opening its palm to look, the little thief who had hurt it twice had indeed vanished into thin air! However, something seemed to have fallen into its palm, extremely small and light; before the giant ape could look closely, it was blown away by the wind.

At the same time, He Lingchuan suddenly appeared behind it, and before the Ghost Ape could react, the Floating Life was already out of its sheath.

The cold light slashed across the Ghost Ape's two ankles, cutting in from the gaps in the bone armor there, severing the Achilles tendons with one blade!

The Ghost Ape let out a painful howl, turning to grab him while retreating a step.

Just this step was heart-wrenchingly painful.

He Lingchuan was also shocked.

If he hadn't thrown out the Ghost Shadow Cicada Shell in time and performed the "Li Dai Tao Jiang" (substituting a peach for a plum) technique, he would have been squeezed like a balloon by now.

He Chunhua's sorrow and joy switched instantly, immediately saying: "Chuan'er, give me the Ghost Eye Bow!"

He Lingchuan dodged the Ghost Ape's attack, took out the Ghost Eye Bow and arrow with one hand, and threw it over without hesitation.

Yes, how could he have forgotten this supreme treasure?

But he couldn't bear to trade his life for power.

He Chunhua took the bow and arrow in hand, not using them himself, but stuffing them into the hands of a nearby guard, saying in a deep voice: "Shoot!"

This guard also took the bow and arrow without hesitation, aiming at the giant ape.

The ghost eye on the bow began to spin wildly, whispering and persuading in his ear. The personal guard said in a concentrated voice: "I offer five years of my lifespan!"

Accepting the offering, the ghost eye immediately opened, locking onto the giant ape's face.

With a "whoosh" sound, the arrow left the string.

The giant ape not far away seemed to know the danger, sitting down on its butt to dodge the arrow aimed at its face.

However, it knew nothing about the Ghost Eye Bow's traits, and it suffered a great loss; the arrow flew to the back, turned a corner, and accelerated back for a second time.

After all, it actually had eyes growing on the back of its head, and it temporarily grew another hand from its back, fiercely grabbing at the arrow.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

With a dull "thud," the Ghost Ape was struck in the right back, a large chunk of flesh and blood blown away.

From He Chunhua's angle, he could see a large hole pierced through its right chest.

"Kill it!" He ordered, and the Xiazhou troops charged up.

This Ghost Ape had suffered heavy damage to its right eye and right chest, and its left Achilles tendon had been severed, no longer possessing its former bravery. As the saying goes, "When a drum is broken, ten thousand people beat it"; the bone armor at the wound had fallen off, unable to resist human blades and spears.

The pain of the wound made it want to retreat; the Ghost Ape propped up its body, jumping and crawling, quickly running toward the outskirts, ignoring the stray arrows and throwing spears behind it, smashing through any obstacles in front of it.

Its left leg couldn't touch the ground, but it still had three limbs to run with, and since it was fleeing for its life, its speed was truly not slow.

On that side, the Xunzhou people also knew the situation was gone; it would be difficult to achieve success today, and the Xiazhou people fought better the more they fought, with many practitioners mixed among them, the divine arts and spells imbued with yuan qi truly making people unable to bear it.

If they didn't leave now, they would be wiped out here. Lord Baili, with his severed arm, signaled for a retreat under the protection of his personal guards.

Calling it a retreat was about the same as fleeing.

The Xiazhou army was in high spirits; He Chunhua pointed to two generals, Zeng Feixiong and another, ordering them to pursue fiercely.

In the military camp, He Lingchuan rushed to console He Chunhua: "Father, are you alright?"

"Maybe a broken rib." He Chunhua's face was a bit pale, "It's not a major problem."

He Lingchuan looked around; the Xiazhou army had suffered many casualties, especially from the Ghost Ape's few throws, which had directly crushed over twenty people to death. The disciples of the Cloud-Piercing Pavilion were participating in battle for the first time with the army, and several had also been injured.

The medicine ape Ling Guang didn't know where it had crawled out from, starting to help treat the wounded.

Grain was scattered everywhere, and many tents and horse carts were still burning.

But compared to the serious consequences of the military supplies being looted, this loss could be considered negligible.

If this batch of military grain had truly been looted, not only would the northern front be shaken again, but the prestige He Chunhua had worked so hard to build would also be struck down.

He said to He Chunhua: "Father, you preside here, I will go pursue that monkey."

He Chunhua knew the Ghost Ape was heavily injured and its threat greatly reduced, so he nodded: "Be careful of Dong Rui."

He Lingchuan whistled, and his mount, the Bo Beast, didn't know where it had run out from, stopping before his eyes. Just now it had been chaotic, and he had been worried about the Bo Beast getting hurt, but now it seemed this creature was very clever, its body still sleek and undamaged.

Changing horses, he called Mao Tao, Shan Youjun, and others, following the clues left by the giant ape to pursue.

Before leaving the camp, he seemed to hear He Chunhua issuing another task: "You go to Bai Lu Town to check the situation, be quick!"

Right, Xinhuang was attacked, he didn't know the situation in Bai Lu Town, and the Xunzhou army that had been beaten away was also retreating there. However, the direction the giant ape was fleeing was exactly opposite to the Xunzhou people, so he had no way to check on the way.

Tracking the giant ape was not difficult; the creature's wounds were like a waterfall, and the bloodstains left behind were very obvious even in the dark night.

Most importantly, it could not be allowed to disappear from his field of vision. He Lingchuan hadn't forgotten that this thing could become large or small.

Fortunately, the terrain outside Xinhuang Town was quite flat, with only one or two small hills every few li, very few large trees, and the ground was full of shrubs.

This terrain was the least liked by monkeys.

He Lingchuan led his men to follow it, only needing to keep the Ghost Ape's back in his field of vision.

An injured beast is the most terrifying; now they had fewer than ten people, without the army's assistance, the best solution was to exhaust the Ghost Ape's stamina as much as possible.

Large size makes it difficult to endure.

Sure enough, after following for ten li, the Ghost Ape's speed slowed significantly.

Walking on three legs was not easy, not to mention the many wounds on its body that were bleeding; the more urgently it ran, the faster the blood flowed.

Just at this moment, Shan Youjun suddenly reminded him: "Employer, look up!"

He Lingchuan looked up and saw a flying bird circling in the night sky, not small in size.

Strictly speaking, it was circling above the Ghost Ape's head.

"That is Dong Rui's other demon puppet." He Lingchuan narrowed his eyes, but he couldn't tell if there was anyone on its back in the night.

In other words, the Rock Wolf hadn't completed the mission.

Just at this moment, several wolf howls came from not far away.

He Lingchuan followed the sound and soon saw a black dot running from afar, becoming larger and larger in his field of vision.

Speak of the Rock Wolf, and the Rock Wolf arrives.

Its tongue was lolling out, white mist rising from its mouth, and everyone could hear its panting breath. Looking at this appearance, it had been running for a long time.

"What happened?" As the Rock Wolf ran alongside the Bo Beast, He Lingchuan asked it, "Where is Dong Rui?"

"On the bird's back!"

It turned out that after the Rock Wolf received the order, it left the battlefield, sniffing the Ghost Ape's scent and tracking it back. Since Dong Rui had sent it, then sniffing back in the opposite direction should lead to its master, right?

This line of reasoning was indeed correct; soon, it discovered Dong Rui's figure more than a hundred zhang away from the Xiazhou military camp.

He was squatting on the roof of a civilian house, overlooking the battlefield, wearing that bronze mask, with a bald bird perched on his shoulder.

Closer now, the Rock Wolf could also smell his scent—

This scent, it would absolutely not mistake. Old grudges and new hatreds surged into its heart all at once.

It hid itself in the shadows under the house, approaching silently.

However, Dong Rui's spiritual sense was too sharp, especially the bald bird on his shoulder, which seemed to sense the impending crisis, letting out a loud "quack," forcing the Rock Wolf to jump early to attack.

Unfortunately, it was a step too late.

The bald bird suddenly grew larger, kicked its feet, and spread its wings, flying with Dong Rui.

The Rock Wolf missed its first pounce, accelerated its run on the roof, pounced a second time, bit its tail, and dragged it toward the ground with all its might.

The giant bird desperately extended its claws to scratch it, almost scratching out its eyes.

Both were struggling, and Dong Rui took the opportunity to cast a spell, injuring the Rock Wolf's front paw.

This giant bird was also quite formidable, flapping its wings upward and finally shaking off the extra burden.

The Rock Wolf only bit a mouthful of feathers.

It was unwilling to give up, following the giant bird in the air all the way here, just in time to meet its master.

(End of Chapter)