Chapter 18: Back Mountain, Skeleton Monkey Group

The seventh day, afternoon.

There were only three hours left until Chu Danqing's trial mission of surviving for seven days was over.

The Village Chief had already urged Chu Danqing for the fifth time.

But Chu Danqing said he wasn't in a hurry every time, until the very last three hours, when he leisurely set off with Da Bao.

He wasn't walking up the mountain, but driving a donkey cart, which was loaded with crude iron-sand gunpowder.

He had tested its power; it was very strong.

The gunpowder wasn't in a normal ratio, but 9:0.5:0.5 of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur. Gunpowder with this ratio had extremely high explosive power but was also very sensitive and easily detonated by accident.

One might blow themselves up if they weren't careful.

And it was mixed with iron sand, so it would have shrapnel and armor-piercing effects when it exploded, so it wasn't just used for demolition, but could also kill enemies.

On the way, Da Bao seemed a bit restless, with blood-colored aura appearing on his body from time to time; he seemed impatient to eat that Cave Beast Priest.

"Da Bao, actually, I have a question I've always wanted to ask you." Chu Danqing opened his mouth.

"You, ask." Da Bao's way of moving now wasn't walking on two legs like a human; his arms were too long, so he moved like an ape, using his forelimbs as support.

His speed wasn't slow at all; he had 7 points of Agility, after all.

"The Cave Beast Priest was also a human in his previous life. Isn't it a bit..." Chu Danqing didn't finish the rest of his sentence; the meaning was clear enough.

Da Bao really hadn't considered this question. Chu Danqing's words made him fall into thought.

"Little Chu, you yourself, also said, previous life, was human." Da Bao quickly found the logical blind spot. "Now, not."

Chu Danqing looked at Da Bao and always felt that his brain shouldn't have been able to come up with this answer; it might have been an intuitive answer brought by the Beast Instinct skill.

He opened his mouth, wanting to refute it through philosophy and biology, but in the end, the words didn't come out.

Things Da Bao didn't care about, even if he won the argument, it would be useless, and if he said it too complicatedly, Da Bao would most likely not understand.

His Spirit attribute was locked at 1 point, which didn't represent intelligence but had some relation to it.

"You're right." Chu Danqing had objections, but he swallowed them all back into his stomach.

"Coming." Da Bao grabbed the donkey and steadied the cart.

He stood up, his two-and-a-half-meter frame looking very sturdy.

Rustling sounds were approaching from not far away.

"Squeak~" Sharp monkey sounds appeared, and from between the trees and grass, small monkeys that were skin and bones like skeletons leaped out.

Their size wasn't large, only about fifty centimeters, with sharp teeth and claws and no hair.

Most importantly, there were many of them; at a glance, there were at least dozens.

At this time, they were only a short distance away from the Falling Flower Cave on the back mountain, at most about three kilometers.

Da Bao was just about to make a move but was stopped by Chu Danqing.

"Protect me, I'll handle them." Chu Danqing said, taking out a fire starter, directly lighting the fuse of a gunpowder bag, and throwing it into the monkey group.

A skeleton monkey nimbly caught it, but because its strength and attributes weren't high, it was directly smashed back into the surging monkey group.

Boom!

The sound of the explosion rang out, and surging heat waves accompanied by iron sand spread through the skeleton monkey group at a terrifying speed.

All the skeleton monkeys within range were swallowed, creating a blank area in the skeleton monkey group.

At the same time, the violent sound also gave the skeleton monkeys a serious fright.

But this was just the beginning. A second gunpowder bag was thrown out again.

This time, the skeleton monkeys had learned their lesson; when they saw the gunpowder bag, they all scattered.

It was just a step too slow; the gunpowder bag Chu Danqing used this time had a shorter fuse, so it exploded faster.

The second explosion sounded, and the skeleton monkeys didn't dare to continue moving forward.

And the skeleton monkeys that approached the donkey cart had an even worse fate, directly torn into pieces by Da Bao's sharp claws.

One by one, the skeleton monkeys kept a safe distance, chattering and glaring at Chu Danqing, and making rustling sounds.

"They, are cursing." Da Bao could understand the meaning of the skeleton monkeys' rustling.

Chu Danqing was unmoved. "Tell these little monkeys, we are going up the mountain to kill the Cave Beast Priest."

It was just provocation, who couldn't do that?

As soon as Chu Danqing said this, all the skeleton monkeys went quiet.

They could understand human speech; they didn't need Da Bao to translate.

All the skeleton monkeys simultaneously bared their fangs at Chu Danqing, and the next moment, they rushed over crazily.

It was as if they had overcome their fear of the gunpowder's power and sound.

Clearly, Chu Danqing's words had touched their bottom line.

"I'm not afraid of you having many, I'm afraid of you not coming." Chu Danqing gave a cold laugh, lighting the gunpowder bags one after another and throwing them out.

The sounds of explosions followed one after another; with Da Bao protecting him in close combat, they couldn't threaten him at all.

He used a donkey cart to transport the gunpowder bags, which was enough to show that the amount he brought included a share for this group of skeleton monkeys.

After the last skeleton monkey was torn apart by Da Bao, a common-tier treasure chest appeared.

Regarding the rules of treasure chests, he had some guesses after these few times.

Small monsters had to be cleared out completely before a treasure chest would drop from the last one; the wolves, the Bai Longyu offspring, and this group of skeleton monkeys were all like this.

And for elites or bosses like the Bai Longyu, it was highly likely that they would drop one upon being killed.

"Looks like a lot, but counting the number, there were only about a hundred."

"This group of skeleton monkeys doesn't have high attributes; three Bai Longyu offspring working together could kill them all." Chu Danqing counted the number, while Da Bao grabbed the treasure chest and came over.

After becoming Chu Danqing's permanent summon, he could naturally see the treasure chest too.

"Weak, I'll kill, very fast." Da Bao handed the treasure chest to Chu Danqing.

Chu Danqing opened it directly and said casually, "You need to maintain your state to kill the Cave Beast Priest; it's not worth it."

【You have opened: Treasure Chest (Common Tier), obtained: Monkey Wine, Paradise Points × 100】

【Monkey Wine】

【Type: Consumable】

【Quality: Common】

【Effect: After drinking completely, recover 10 points of energy within 10 seconds.】

"The recovery amount is a bit low." Chu Danqing threw it to Da Bao casually. It seemed that even if they were both common tier, there was a difference in quality between treasure chests.

He didn't have skills, so he had no place to consume energy, but Da Bao was different; he had active skills he could use.

This portion of Monkey Wine would only be enough for him to activate Tearing Claws for one minute.

Da Bao tucked it into the pouch at his waist; as a permanent summon, he didn't have a storage space.

"Big White Ape." After putting it away, Da Bao raised his head and looked at the end of the mountain road.

A figure not much different from Da Bao was slowly walking down.

There were differences, too; Da Bao's hair was red, while the other's was white.

(End of chapter)