Chapter 8: Lustful Ape

After discovering the bloodstains of a Rank 2 magical beast, Xiao Yan and Xu Yang did not hesitate; they picked up the large clump of Blood-Coagulating Grass and quickly rushed with Li Peng toward the place where the main group was resting.

However, they seemed to have arrived a step too late, as the atmosphere within the group was clearly different from when they had left. Xiao Yan looked closely and discovered that there were a few disheveled, unfamiliar figures in the group.

"Xiao Yan, you're back! I was just about to go look for you!" Vice-Captain Cheng Dadao walked over.

"Uncle Cheng, what happened?" Xiao Yan asked.

"It's like this: a team ahead of us encountered a Rank 2 magical beast—a wounded Lustful Ape," Cheng Dadao said. "By the way, why did you return so quickly? Did you run into something?"

"It's like this: while picking Blood-Coagulating Grass, we found a pool of fresh Rank 2 magical beast blood. Worried that a Rank 2 beast was prowling nearby, we came back to report it first. Looking at it now, that must be the blood from that Lustful Ape," Xiao Yan said. "But why would a wounded Lustful Ape attack a human group?"

"Who knows? The Lustful Ape is a creature by nature lecherous; perhaps there was some little beauty in the team ahead who attracted it. Come to think of it, the team ahead seems to be from the Myriad Medicine Pavilion. I heard the Myriad Medicine Pavilion has a young girl who is quite pretty; maybe it was her."

"Myriad Medicine Pavilion? A young girl?" Xiao Yan was startled. Could it be the Little Fairy Doctor? "Uncle Cheng, what is that girl's name, and how old is she?"

"I don't know how old she is, but her name... I think it's Little Fairy Doctor." Cheng Dadao pondered for a moment, then revealed a playful smile. "What, kid, thinking about women? You don't say, although that little girl is a few years younger than you (Xiao Yan claims to be 17), she'll be grown up in two years. It's just a pity; having run into a Rank 2 Lustful Ape, there's an eighty percent chance she'll be ruined, if she even survives to return at all. Don't you go thinking about it."

Xiao Yan ignored Cheng Dadao's teasing and turned to walk toward the few people who had escaped from the team ahead.

According to their accounts, the team ahead had been scattered after encountering the Lustful Ape, and everyone had fled in different directions; now, no one knew where anyone was.

Captain Fei Lei was currently preparing to have Vice-Captain Cheng Dadao lead the main group back to Green Mountain Town, while he himself gathered a few high-end combatants to go search and rescue. Although Xiao Yan felt that since the Little Fairy Doctor was supposed to meet him three years later in the original story, she shouldn't encounter any accidents, he had, after all, soul-transmigrated twelve years ago. What if some butterfly effect had been transmitted here? Thus, he applied to join Fei Lei's rescue team.

Since the Myriad Medicine Pavilion's team had already dispersed, and the Lustful Ape was already wounded, according to the feedback from those few, it should no longer have Rank 2 combat power, only the level of a peak Rank 1. Therefore, Fei Lei decided to split the forces for the search: he would take one route, the other high-level members of the mercenary group would take another, and Xiao Yan—having secretly demonstrated his strength to Fei Lei—would also take a route alone. Every route was issued a Sky-Piercing Arrow for signaling; once danger was encountered, it could be consumed to call for help.

The situation was as urgent as fire, and soon everyone dispersed in the direction of the Myriad Medicine Pavilion.

Time reached the night, and the bright moonlight spilled into the forest, becoming the only light for the people.

On a tree dozens of meters tall, a slender and soft figure was curled up in the tree crotch. Many branches covered in leaves had been pulled over to conceal the girl's figure. Not only that, but the girl had also used the gathered medicinal herbs to concoct a simple sachet to mask her own scent, so as not to be discovered by magical beasts.

"This should be fine now," the girl murmured. The moonlight shone through the gaps in the branches onto the girl's beautiful face, revealing a fresh and ethereal appearance. A pale white dress wrapped around the girl's delicate body, hiding her curvaceous figure beneath the cloth, with only her willow waist, cinched by a thin ribbon, inadvertently revealing the girl's beauty.

It was just a pity that her somewhat messy hair and dress showed that the girl's situation was not good. This person was exactly the Little Fairy Doctor whom Xiao Yan was searching for.

"Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle." Having just rested from the situation of fleeing, her stomach, which had been hungry for nearly a day, could not help but protest. Fortunately, there was no one else around, otherwise the girl would have blushed with shame.

Touching her already empty little belly, the Little Fairy Doctor had no good solution. After all, that Rank 2 Lustful Ape was still wandering around somewhere! If she went out to forage from this hidden spot she had managed to find with such difficulty, she would likely be discovered before long. But if she ignored it, the gurgling sound might also attract the magical beast.

"Bang!" Just as the Little Fairy Doctor was worrying about what to do, a loud noise suddenly erupted in the distance, accompanied by crimson firelight and the screeching of an ape-like magical beast.

On the other side, Xiao Yan, seeing that it was already dark and he still hadn't found any traces of the Little Fairy Doctor, was also getting impatient, so he simply focused his target on that Lustful Ape. By using the personal clothing he had borrowed from the female members of the mercenary group before coming, he quickly lured the Lustful Ape over.

"Roar!" In the pitch-black forest, a large monkey over five meters tall slowly walked out. Seemingly realizing that it had been toyed with by the human before it, it let out an angry roar.

"So noisy, you damn lecherous monkey! What are you howling for in the middle of the night!" The moment Xiao Yan saw the Lustful Ape appear, he immediately condensed a head-sized crimson fireball in his hand and fiercely threw it toward the Lustful Ape.

Because the attack was too fast, there was not much power in the fireball, but Xiao Yan used the light of the fireball to see the full appearance of the Lustful Ape.

A five-meter-tall brown body with thick, sturdy arms long enough to touch the ground; its robust chest muscles bulged high, containing explosive power. On its slightly thin waist and hips was a visible bite mark, emitting a dark green luster; it was clearly poisoned. Besides that, there were other large and small wounds on the Lustful Ape's body; it was clearly not lightly injured.

"This should be the main reason for the Lustful Ape's weakness," Xiao Yan thought, looking at the wound on the Lustful Ape's waist.

The Lustful Ape did not dodge, watching as the fireball thrown by Xiao Yan engulfed it without even defending, which left Xiao Yan somewhat stunned, thinking it had been poisoned into stupidity. The next second, however, the Lustful Ape used Xiao Yan's flames as cover to quickly charge out. Its thick right arm was raised high, smashing down fiercely like Mount Tai pressing down.

"Damn it!" Xiao Yan couldn't help but curse. Unable to dodge, he exerted his full strength into the Eight Extremities Collapse. Taking a step forward, the power of his waist, back, and arms was mobilized in an instant, and the Dou Qi in his dantian and the Volcanic Stone Flame quickly gathered in Xiao Yan's right hand, forming one layer of hidden force after another.

Boom! The thick brown giant arm and Xiao Yan's arm, wrapped in Heavenly Flame, collided with a bang, the immense force sending both Xiao Yan and the Lustful Ape flying backward.

Xiao Yan's feet gripped the ground tightly, and he only stopped after sliding back several meters; the Lustful Ape opposite was the same—it was actually a match! Due to the many times he had tempered his body with Heavenly Flame, Xiao Yan's physical body was now no worse than an average Rank 2 magical beast.

"However, I am still a cut above," Xiao Yan's lips curled up, and he shouted loudly: "Explode!"

As soon as the words fell, one could see a crimson light rapidly expanding within the Lustful Ape's right arm, which had just collided with Xiao Yan.

Bang!

Accompanied by an explosion, a huge wound suddenly appeared on the Lustful Ape's right arm. A large amount of flame gushed out, burning both the wound and the blood into charred black.

"Roar!" The Lustful Ape wailed in pain, but soon the ferocity belonging to a magical beast regained the upper hand.

The Lustful Ape grabbed with its remaining left arm and quickly charged toward Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan set his stance, intending to cripple the Lustful Ape's other hand and end the battle once and for all.

However, this time the Lustful Ape clearly learned its lesson, no longer clashing directly with Xiao Yan, but instead punching the ground beneath Xiao Yan's feet. Xiao Yan was caught off guard and directly shaken off the ground. Immediately following, the Lustful Ape used a sweep to knock Xiao Yan flying.

His cannonball-like body broke through a dozen large trees before finally stopping. A wisp of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth; Xiao Yan struggled to get up, but how could the Lustful Ape give Xiao Yan this chance!

The massive fist smashed down from top to bottom without pause, pounding on Xiao Yan's body, punch after punch. If this continued, Xiao Yan's physical body would be smashed into meat paste!

However, Xiao Yan was not someone who could be beaten down so easily.

Another punch fell, then lifted. Xiao Yan seized this gap, using the Fire-Blowing Palm at his feet, combined with the power of the Volcanic Stone Flame, to quickly launch his body out.

Because it was blocked by the suddenly erupting Heavenly Flame, the Lustful Ape lost the chance to continue pursuing Xiao Yan. It could only watch as Xiao Yan regained his stance, letting out a roar of incompetence.

"Cough!" Spitting out a mouthful of blood foam, Xiao Yan braced his body, which had multiple fractures, to confront the Lustful Ape.

The Lustful Ape did not continue to attack either, but instead looked at Xiao Yan cautiously.

At this moment, both sides were heavily injured; as long as they were hit by the other one more time, they would basically lose the ability to resist. Therefore, the next strike would be the moment that decided life and death!

Feeling the pain coming from his bones and flesh, Xiao Yan felt the scent of death for the first time since his transmigration. But strangely, he did not feel fear; instead, he felt a slight, indescribable sense of excitement, as if a battle-hungry gene had awakened in his bloodline!

At this moment, Xiao Yan only felt his brain was unprecedentedly sharp; some Dou Technique problems he couldn't understand in the past now seemed as simple as one plus one equals two, and were solved easily.

Slowly closing his eyes, Xiao Yan thought of the Fire-Blowing Palm, thought of the Eight Extremities Collapse, thought of the General Outline of Dou Techniques, thought of...

Whoosh!

Flames wrapped around his entire body.

Bang!!!

With a loud noise, Xiao Yan disappeared from where he was.

The Lustful Ape looked at the place where Xiao Yan had disappeared with a look of astonishment, the monkey fur on its body standing up in terror one by one.

But before it could react, a fist struck its chest.

"Volcanic! Eight! Extremities! Collapse!"

Bang!

A surging pillar of fire directly pierced through the Lustful Ape's chest. Before it could even let out a scream, the follow-up attack followed.

"Explode!"

Following Xiao Yan's explosive shout, a full six bursts of hidden energy imbued with Volcanic Stone Flame detonated simultaneously within the heart of the Ape of Union.

In an instant, it tore the Ape of Union's internal organs to shreds and then burned them to ashes! A massive pillar of fire erupted from the Ape of Union's mouth and wounds, illuminating the surrounding night sky.

Watching the massive pillar of fire rise in the distance, the aura of the Ape of Union seemed to vanish along with it.

"Could the Ape of Union have been killed?" Little Fairy Doctor asked in confusion, "But since when has Green Mountain Town had such a powerful expert?"

Although there were some doubts in her heart, looking at her current situation, staying behind meant she seemingly had no way to walk back to Green Mountain Town alone.

Biting her silver teeth lightly, Little Fairy Doctor decided to take a gamble.

Carefully climbing down from the tree, she remained vigilant of the movements around her, walking step by step toward the place where the pillar of fire had surged up.

Because the surrounding magical beasts had all been scared off by the commotion just now, the journey was relatively calm, and nothing happened.

Passing through clusters of woods, Little Fairy Doctor finally saw the battlefield of Xiao Yan and the Ape of Union.

She saw a massive, charred black corpse lying in the center of the earth scorched by the Heavenly Flame.

Atop the charred black corpse, a figure with somewhat tattered clothing sat cross-legged.

On the other side, Xiao Yan, having heard the movement, also looked over toward the sound. The moment he saw Little Fairy Doctor, his somewhat weary eyes instantly lit up.

In the moonlit woods, a graceful young girl held onto a tree with both hands, looking toward him from the side; her slender willow waist was too fragile to be grasped, and her bright, watery eyes seemed to reflect the stars in the sky, sparkling in the night; her waist-length hair and dress fluttered in the breeze, and the fresh scent belonging to a young girl drifted into Xiao Yan's nose with the wind.

Although it was their first meeting, Xiao Yan was certain that the person before him was Little Fairy Doctor.

"You..."

Meeting for the first time, both of them were at a loss for words for a moment. In the end, it was Little Fairy Doctor who broke the silence first, asking the question that would make them remember this moment for the rest of their lives.

"Why don't you have any eyebrows?"