Chapter 86 The Little Vajra Ape’s Target

Qingxi and Qiu Yingying exchanged a glance and walked over as well. Although they had previously clashed with King Kong Ape Da Huang, today he had slain the extraterrestrial fiend, indirectly saving their lives. Both sentiment and reason dictated that they should go and check on him.

“Come with me,” Qingxi said, pulling along the trembling Dragon Horse as they approached Da Huang.

At this moment, Da Huang had shrunk his form to a two-meter-tall golden-furred giant ape. Even his black iron staff had reduced in size to three meters long. As they drew near, the Fire Marten squeaked warnings, as if alerting them. Da Huang soothed the Fire Marten by rubbing its head, then, with his other hand, gripped the spear lodged in his body and yanked it out with a sharp pull, sending blood spraying.

“Heavens, how terrifying!” Lin Feng and the Dragon Horse clung to each other in fright, shivering uncontrollably.

Da Huang, proud as ever, merely looked down his nose at the pair and declared slowly, “Never seen the world, have you?”

The little King Kong Ape gazed worriedly at Da Huang’s wound, its big eyes full of concern, uttering soft, inquiring noises about his injury. Da Huang, ever arrogant, lifted his chin skyward at a forty-five-degree angle, his face showing not a trace of pain, as if to say, “Your elder brother is always your elder brother; such a minor wound is nothing at all.”

The little King Kong Ape snorted in dissatisfaction at his display.

Qingxi examined Da Huang’s wound and discovered that whether due to his luck or the fiend Roc’s poor aim, the spear had passed through Da Huang’s body without harming his heart. With his life force as vigorous as a blazing sun, the wound would heal quickly.

“Could it be that Lin Feng’s fortune is so strong it not only dispels our own misfortune, but even grants Da Huang a share of it?” Qingxi mused. If so, Lin Feng was truly a bringer of blessings.

His assistant explained, “Lin Feng possesses mysterious fortune. Anyone who treats him kindly may receive a blessing of invisible luck—the closer the relationship, the stronger the effect. At this stage, Lin Feng considers you a good friend, so your bond is quite close. Traveling with him grants you a temporary fortune bonus.”

Qingxi pondered this and asked, “Where does such fortune come from? Does everyone favored by the Heavenly Dao possess it?”

“There are two kinds of fortune,” the assistant replied. “Heavenly Dao fortune is innate, granted directly by the heavens. Saint’s fortune comes from saints blessed by the Dao—it’s secondhand, so to speak, and thus acquired later. Generally, Heavenly Dao fortune is far superior, but there are exceptions… By the way, the system can transmute anything—even fortune. Would you like to try converting Lin Feng’s fortune?”

Qingxi drew a sharp breath. “You can even convert fortune? That’s incredible! But Lin Feng is my friend; I won’t take his fortune. If I meet an enemy blessed with fortune, though… Heh, I’d like to see what it’s like to be so favored.”

He felt that gaining fortune was essential. In the cultivation world, there were often tales of someone falling off a cliff only to survive and inherit a mighty legacy. Perhaps such people were those blessed by fortune.

Through his conversation with the assistant, Qingxi learned that Lin Feng’s fortune was not of the Heavenly Dao, nor was it especially abundant, but its essence was pure, nearly equal to that of the Dao itself. The assistant surmised that Lin Feng’s fortune likely originated from an ancient sage of astonishing cultivation—among saints, one of the greatest.

While Qingxi and the assistant conversed, Da Huang had recovered from his wounds and stood upright.

He exuded the aura of a king, radiating formidable presence. Qiu Yingying and Lin Feng both started in surprise, and the Dragon Horse shrank back, fearing Da Huang might swat it to death with a single blow.

But their fear was misplaced. Da Huang acted, but only to seize the little King Kong Ape by the shoulder, pin it to the ground, and smack its rump with the black iron staff.

“Roar!” The little King Kong Ape howled in pain.

It could not understand why, after caring so much for his brother, he was being so harshly punished. Hadn’t it only snuck out a few times and taken a master? Was that so terrible?

“That’s exactly why you’re being punished!” Da Huang gave a few more strikes before releasing him, glaring at his younger brother’s aggrieved face. “You little troublemaker, that’s what happens when you disobey.”

The little King Kong Ape shrank down, its body reduced to the size of a fist, its face full of pitiful expressions. The others could not understand its chattering, but through the system’s beast speech translation, Qingxi caught its meaning.

Roughly, it was saying, “I just wanted to go out and play. What’s wrong with that?”

Hearing this, Da Huang grew angrier and grabbed the little King Kong Ape for another round of beating. Small as it was, its body was as tough as refined iron, so the blows rang with metallic clangs, as if a lump of iron were being struck.

Although the little King Kong Ape was unwilling, it was too weak to escape and could only submit to the beating, muttering in beast speech and arguing with Da Huang.

Qingxi listened to their exchange, his expression odd. It turned out the little King Kong Ape’s goal was to defeat his elder brother Da Huang. The reason he wanted to take a master was to learn how to surpass Da Huang.

Qingxi felt helpless at this. He wanted to say, “I can’t beat your brother either. What’s the point of making me your master?”

Da Huang, upon hearing this, paused and stopped beating him, casting a scornful glance at Qingxi and saying in the human tongue, “Tch, your master can’t beat me either. Even if you learn from him, you still won’t win.”

“Yaya!” protested the little King Kong Ape, standing upright and gesturing energetically, describing Qingxi’s ability to alter the trajectory of stones.

Da Huang scoffed, “Fine, you go learn human arts from him. I don’t believe you’ll ever surpass me.”

At this, the little King Kong Ape hopped eagerly in front of Qingxi, looking at him with great anticipation.

Qingxi could only sigh. Still, he thought, bringing the little King Kong Ape along might be useful; its presence could put some pressure on the lazy Dragon Horse. As for altering the trajectory of stones, that was a power of space, not something that could be taught. But with Pi Pi’s assistance, perhaps a unique technique suitable for beasts could be developed.

With this thought, Qingxi looked forward to the day when the little King Kong Ape would thoroughly trounce Da Huang.

In the end, the group departed, bringing with them the newly confident little King Kong Ape. Before leaving the ancient land of Guluo, Qingxi stored the shattered body of the fiend Roc in his system space, then went alone to the site of the meteorite impact, where he found over a hundred fallen human-tier fiend beasts.

“My, my, what a treasure trove of elemental essence and blood energy!” Qingxi’s eyes gleamed as he stored all the beasts into his system space for conversion and storage.

Though these fiend beasts had perished some time ago, and their blood energy was slowly dissipating, absorbing them all made up for what he’d gained from the fiend Roc. With these sources of essence and blood, Qingxi believed his own strength was sure to soar to new heights.