"Go ahead, what's so urgent that you had to find me?" Anna Yang lifted her face and smiled.
Switching the Cloudwalker Staff to his right hand, the Monkey King extended his left palm toward Anna Yang.
In his palm was a complex magic array, resembling a tattoo.
Anna Yang glanced down, frowned, and asked, "Broken again?"
The two found a better spot to sit. Anna Yang gripped the Monkey King's left wrist with one hand, and with the other, she delicately traced the array on his palm using a slender brush dipped occasionally in potion.
"I didn't dare kill just now. Otherwise, those three Skyward Rangers would have lost a lot of their malice, and my cultivation would have improved quite a bit."
"Doesn't the White Ape have some kind of Spirit-Binding Array?"
"He does, but I don't really trust his stuff. What if it fails at a crucial moment? If a couple of wandering spirits escape, Lord Lao would probably find this place in no time." The Monkey King looked up at the towering mountains in the distance.
"It wouldn't be that quick." Anna Yang put away the brush, took out two stones and carefully ground them, sprinkling some powder onto the array on the Monkey King's palm. "By the way, the Heavenly Court just finished a meeting about Avalon Mountain."
The Monkey King turned to look at the focused Anna Yang and asked, "What did they say?"
"What else could they say? Meetings in the Heavenly Court are always like a marketplace. The Heavenly Fleet lost a batch of people, and their souls were all taken by Skylar Loft. Of course, they don't know it was Skylar; they think you used some trick to take them. Naturally, they're anxious. But during the report, General Percy mentioned Nathan Young's name."
As she spoke, Anna Yang looked up, biting her lip and smiling sweetly at the Monkey King.
"And then?"
She burst out laughing. "Then Nathan Young exploded on the spot, waving a stack of memorials and cursing General Percy’s ancestors for eighteen generations. He exposed every flaw in the Heavenly Fleet's administration, making it look like he was about to impeach General Percy."
"That Nathan Young, he's something else," the Monkey King couldn't help but sigh.
"Something else? I bet my brother helped him prepare. After that, General Percy accused Nathan Young of letting me escape, and Nathan Young accused General Percy of dereliction of duty. Giant Spirit God popped up to dredge up Nathan Young’s old scandals, the Four Dragon Kings chimed in to scold Giant Spirit, the Nine Star Lords stirred up trouble, Grandmaster White muddied the waters, King Li tried to mediate, and the Jade Emperor just sat on his throne in a daze. They all forgot about you… Hehehe. Sometimes I wonder, how can this bunch possibly rule the Three Realms and Six Paths?"
"So what happened in the end?"
"Nothing, of course. This move is called 'using the internal conflicts of immortals.' When immortals get chaotic, they're scarier than mortal courts. As long as General Percy can't get solid evidence to classify the incident, the Heavenly Court will never reach a real conclusion. Hehehe, and the key is, the Heavenly Fleet isn't clean either, and for now, the Jade Emperor doesn't see you as any real threat, so he can't be bothered to care about some unknown little demon. Okay, all done!" Anna Yang infused a barely perceptible trace of spiritual energy into the array, making the whole formation come alive.
The Monkey King gently clenched his fingers, rubbed his palm, then opened it to check. He nodded silently and withdrew his hand.
"By the way," Anna Yang said as she put away the stones, "You're almost at the Spirit Refinement stage, aren't you?"
"Yeah, almost there."
"Ease up on your cultivation for a few days. I'm still missing two ingredients. Spirit-Refinement is the process of externalizing your spiritual power into tangible form. Your spiritual power is too vigorous—if you're not careful, you could easily lose control of your mind. I need to prepare some medicines for you, otherwise the breakthrough could be dangerous."
"Got it. Thanks for your help."
Anna Yang shook her head and smiled. "I'm helping you for a reason, so what's there to thank me for?"
The Monkey King smiled faintly as well.
After a moment of silence, Anna Yang asked, "How long do you plan to stay with them?"
"I don't know. I'll just stay for now. Anyway, the pill that suppresses malice has stopped working, so I need to kill to dispel it. Otherwise, I'll either lose control or my cultivation will stagnate."
Anna Yang tilted her head in thought and sighed, "Maybe that's for the best. All right, I have to go. Once I gather all the materials, I'll come find you again."
"Okay."
With a turn, Anna Yang transformed into her Birdie form and flew off into the distance.
Watching her figure disappear into the distance, the Monkey King gave a bitter smile.
After wiping away the traces and cleaning up the battlefield, the demon gang resumed their slow march toward Dragon's Pool. They barely managed twenty li by sundown, leaving Big Bull cursing the whole way while Jackal kept grinding his teeth menacingly.
When night fell, Big Bull and Jackal wanted to keep going, but White Ape saw that some in the group couldn't keep up and refused. After some arguing, they finally settled for a night in an abandoned earthen hut halfway up a small mountain.
The hut had been abandoned for years, likely once used by hunters. Now, the wind whistled through its walls, and you could see the moon from inside.
Even so, the more prominent demons in the group were perfectly satisfied with such a place.
From a certain point of view, this was less a roving band of criminal demons than a branch of beggars—just one with plenty of disagreements.
When the moon rose above the trees, the five demons crammed into that little hut began to argue again.
The Monkey King never took part in these things, preferring to sit outside under a small tree, lost in thought.
The ragtag little demons, like refugees, all clung to the walls to eavesdrop. No doubt those inside knew they were listening, but couldn't be bothered to care.
To everyone except White Ape, those little demons were entirely dispensable.
Watching those little demons from afar, the Monkey King suddenly thought of the silly monkeys back on Blossom Mountain.
He wondered how they were doing now—were they still being chased by leopards every day?
After leaving Avalon Mountain, the Monkey King had considered returning. He was no longer afraid of wild beasts, and living and cultivating on Blossom Mountain sounded much better than wandering homeless.
Besides, he'd promised to go back once he finished his training.
But in the end, he gave up on the idea—mostly because of Lord Lao.
Even if he did go back, he should at least wait until he'd mastered techniques like the Somersault Cloud. If something went wrong, he'd still have a way to escape.
With a helpless sigh, the Monkey King turned and noticed a lone little fox demon watching him from afar.
She looked about the size of a ten-year-old human child, partially transformed but still had two fox ears.
Her clothes were fairly clean, her fiery red hair was somewhat tidy, and though her face was smudged with mud, she looked rather delicate.
Because of her red hair, the Monkey King had given her the name Ruby.
The first time he saw her, she was crouched by a creek drinking water. When she spotted the Monkey King, she was terrified.
But seeing her reminded the Monkey King of Belle—or rather, of the little fox demon Belle once took in, and by extension, of Belle herself.
He wondered how that girl was doing now. If she knew the Monkey King had left his sect, she’d probably cry her heart out.
Next time... who knows when they'll meet again.
That single thought was why the Monkey King let Ruby stay.
And because she was under the Monkey King's protection, she always received special care—at the very least, Big Bull didn't dare send her out as cannon fodder.
Watching her pitiful little figure from afar, the Monkey King smiled gently and asked, "What's wrong?"
The little fox demon padded over on bare feet and placed a wild tangerine into the Monkey King's palm.
"For you." She lowered her head, frowning. Her speech was still awkward, but her voice was lovely...
Yes, it sounded just like Belle's voice.
The Monkey King peeled the tangerine, popped a slice into his mouth, chewed, and smiled. "Delicious. What about you? Have you eaten yet?"
"I have." The little fox demon lifted her head, thought for a moment, and said, "Shortbeak caught a fish for me, and I shared half with Blackie."
"Blackie?"
"That's him." The little fox demon pointed to a mouse demon about her size, sprawled on the wall in the distance.
The mouse demon had only joined the group a few days ago. Seeing the little fox demon sitting beside the Monkey King and pointing at him, he shuddered and quickly ducked his head.
Most of the little demons in the group, except for the little fox demon, didn't dare approach the Monkey King—maybe because he was always so aloof.
Meanwhile, the five big demons in the hut were in the middle of a heated argument.
Big Bull pointed at White Ape and roared, "Stop going on about 'demon clan'! I'm a bull, you're an ape—what about those out there? Who's the same clan as them? If you want to die with them, don't drag us down!"