Chapter 266 - 265: Pursuit
Seeing that their commander wasn’t dead, the Xiazhou Army breathed a collective sigh of relief, their minds once again turning to the matter of the bounty.
Just as Hee Chunhua escaped the Giant Ape, Hee Lingchuan had already rushed in from the opposite direction. With a sweep of his hand over his Storage Ring, he produced the Soaring Dragon Spear and thrust it straight at the Giant Ape’s right eye. The massive ape was over ten feet tall when standing upright; even on horseback, Hee Lingchuan needed the Long Spear just to reach it.
When the Giant Ape saw him, its eyes immediately turned red, obviously recalling the humiliating experience of being pinned beneath the Walnut Boat. An instant later, the Bone Armor above its eye suddenly extended, completely covering its right eye.
Hee Lingchuan’s Long Spear crashed into it a moment later.
The Black Gold Spearhead had been forged with Extraterrestrial Meteorite Iron, its sharpness and hardness far surpassing any ordinary blade.
The plate of bone shattered. The Soaring Dragon Spear pierced the Giant Ape’s right eye, and blood sprayed out instantly.
However, the Bone Armor provided immense resistance. With his momentum spent, the spear tip didn’t penetrate deep into the eye. As Hee Lingchuan hung in mid-air, just about to figure out a way to withdraw the spear for another thrust, the Giant Ape let out a heaven-shaking roar and snatched him out of the air!
It moved with even greater speed than before.
Hee Lingchuan, thinking it was still slowed by the Verbal Curse, was caught completely off guard. Simultaneously, the character for "Sluggish" on its forehead shattered and vanished. This single spear thrust had clearly enraged it to such a degree that even the Word Spirit Spell could no longer hold it.
Hee Lingchuan felt his body being crushed. All the blood in his torso was forced into his limbs and head, and only one of his hands was free to wave about. ’I’m like a balloon,’ he thought, ’one more squeeze and I’ll pop.’
His Floating Life Blade was pinned at his waist, impossible to draw.
Witnessing this, Elder Liang cried out in disbelief, "How is that possible?!"
He had cultivated this school of Word Spirit Spells for a full twenty-five years. For fifteen of those years, he had also practiced the Silence Technique, which meant he had lived as a mute, not uttering a single word. This allowed all the effort of his usual cultivation to be channeled into nurturing the Word Spirit, letting its power steep and deepen.
This single-character Verbal Curse placed little strain on him and had minimal backlash, yet it was so powerful that even if it were cast on the Pavilion Master of Cloud-Piercing Pavilion, it could not be broken in a matter of moments.
’But this Giant Ape managed it. How?’
Hee Chunhua’s eyes widened in horror. "Chuan’Er!"
The other Xiazhou Soldiers plucked up their courage and jabbed with their spears, but how could they possibly pierce the Ghost Ape’s Bone Armor?
It was like trying to tickle it.
The Giant Ape wasn’t about to be gentle. The moment it caught Hee Lingchuan, it squeezed with all its might! With its grip strength, it could have easily crushed him to a pulp.
But suddenly, its hand felt empty. The satisfying resistance was gone.
It opened its palm and saw that the little thief who had wounded it twice had well and truly vanished into thin air!
However, something had been left in its palm—something tiny and light. Before the Giant Ape could get a good look, it was blown away by the wind.
At that same moment, Hee Lingchuan abruptly appeared behind it. Before the Ghost Ape could react, Floating Life was already drawn.
A cold glint of light flashed across the Ghost Ape’s ankles, slicing through a gap in the Bone Armor and severing an Achilles tendon!
The Ghost Ape howled in pain, whirling around to grab him while taking a step back.
That single step sent a jolt of agonizing pain through its body.
Hee Lingchuan’s own heart was pounding.
If he hadn’t tossed out the Ghost Shadow Cicada Shell in time to use the Substitution Skill, he would have been popped like a balloon.
Hee Chunhua’s emotions whipsawed from despair to relief. "Chuan’Er, give me the Ghost Eye Bow!" he called out immediately.
Hee Lingchuan dodged the Ghost Ape’s attack, retrieved the Ghost Eye Bow and Arrow with one hand, and tossed it over without a second thought.
’That’s right, how could I have forgotten about this Supreme Treasure?’
’Then again, I’m not about to trade my own life for its power.’
Hee Chunhua caught the bow and arrow but didn’t use them himself. Instead, he thrust them into the hands of a nearby Guard and ordered in a grim voice, "Shoot!"
The Guard accepted without hesitation, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the Giant Ape.
The Ghost Eye on the bow began to spin erratically, whispering temptations into his ear. The guard declared in a firm voice, "I sacrifice five years of my life!"
Having accepted the offering, the Ghost Eye immediately snapped wide open, locking onto the Giant Ape’s face.
WHOOSH! The arrow flew from the string.
The Giant Ape, not far off, seemed to sense the danger. It dropped to its haunches, dodging the arrow aimed at its face.
But it knew nothing of the Ghost Eye Bow’s unique properties and paid dearly for its ignorance. The arrow flew past it, then whipped around in a sharp turn, accelerating as it came back.
Still, it did have eyes in the back of its head. A hand sprouted from its back and swiped viciously at the arrow.
But it was too late.
With a wet THUMP, the arrow struck the Ghost Ape in the right side of its back, blasting away a huge chunk of flesh and blood.
From Hee Chunhua’s vantage point, he could see a massive hole had been blown clean through its right chest.
"Kill it!" At his command, the Xiazhou forces charged forward.
The Ghost Ape was severely wounded in its right eye and chest, and its left Achilles tendon had been severed. It had lost its former fearsome might. It’s like they say: kick a man when he’s down. The Bone Armor around its wounds had fallen away, leaving it vulnerable to the men’s blades and spears.
The pain from its injuries made it beat a hasty retreat. The Ghost Ape pushed itself up and fled toward the wilderness, hopping and crawling at a surprising speed. It ignored the stray arrows and javelins from behind, simply smashing through any obstacle in its way.
It couldn’t put weight on its left leg, but it could still run on its other three limbs. Fleeing for its life, its speed was nothing to scoff at.
Meanwhile, the Xunzhou people knew the battle was lost. There was no hope of victory today. The Xiazhou people seemed to fight harder as the battle wore on, and there were quite a few Cultivators mixed in their ranks. The Divine Techniques, empowered by Primordial Power, were simply too much to handle.
If they didn’t flee now, they would be wiped out. The one-armed Lord Baili, under the protection of his personal guards, sounded the gongs for a retreat.
It was called a retreat, but it was closer to a rout.
The spirits of the Xiazhou Army were soaring. Hee Chunhua ordered Zeng Feixiong and another general to give chase and press their advantage.
Back in the camp, Hee Lingchuan hurried over to Hee Chunhua. "Dad, are you okay?"
"I think I have a broken rib," Hee Chunhua said, his face a little pale. "It’s nothing serious."
Hee Lingchuan glanced around. The Xiazhou Army had suffered heavy casualties. The projectiles hurled by the Ghost Ape alone had crushed more than twenty men to death. Several disciples from Cloud-Piercing Pavilion, joining the army in battle for the first time, had also been wounded.
The Medicine Ape Ling Guang appeared from out of nowhere and began treating the wounded.
Grain was strewn everywhere, and many tents and wagons were still burning.
But compared to the dire consequences of having their military provisions plundered, these losses were negligible.
If this shipment of grain had truly been lost, not only would the northern front have been destabilized again, but the authority Hee Chunhua had worked so hard to establish would have been shattered.
He said to Hee Chunhua, "Dad, you take command here. I’m going after that Monkey."
Hee Chunhua knew the Ghost Ape was gravely wounded and far less of a threat, so he nodded. "Be wary of Dong Rui."
Hee Lingchuan whistled, and his mount, the Bo Beast, galloped out from somewhere and stopped before him. He had worried it might have been injured in the chaos, but it seemed the clever creature was completely unharmed, its coat still sleek and glossy.
After mounting his beast, he called over Fuzzy Peach, Shan Youjun, and a few others, and set off in pursuit, following the trail left by the Giant Ape.
As he was leaving the camp, he thought he heard Hee Chunhua issuing another order: "You, go to Bailu Town and assess the situation. Quickly!"
’That’s right,’ he thought. ’Xinhuang was attacked, so I wonder what’s happening in Bailu Town. The routed Xunzhou Army retreated in that direction.’ However, the Giant Ape was fleeing the opposite way, so he couldn’t check on the town himself.
Tracking the Giant Ape wasn’t difficult. The creature’s wounds gushed blood like waterfalls, leaving a trail that was obvious even in the dead of night.
The most important thing was to keep it in sight. Hee Lingchuan hadn’t forgotten that this thing could grow and shrink at will.
Fortunately, the terrain outside Xinhuang Town was quite flat. Small hills only appeared every few miles, large trees were scarce, and the ground was mostly covered in shrubs.
This was not the kind of terrain a monkey would like.
Hee Lingchuan led his men in pursuit, simply keeping the Giant Ape’s retreating form within their line of sight.
A wounded beast is the most dangerous. With fewer than ten of them and no army for support, the best strategy was to wear down the Ghost Ape’s stamina.
Its great size came at the cost of endurance.
Sure enough, after about three miles, the Ghost Ape’s pace slowed noticeably.
It wasn’t easy moving on three legs, to say nothing of its many bleeding wounds. The faster it ran, the more blood it lost.
Just then, Shan Youjun suddenly called out, "Master, in the sky!"
Hee Lingchuan looked up. A large bird was circling in the night sky.
To be precise, it was circling directly above the Giant Ape.
"That’s another one of Dong Rui’s Demon Puppets," Hee Lingchuan said, narrowing his eyes. He couldn’t make out if anyone was riding it in the dark.
’Which means the Rock Wolf failed its mission.’
Just then, a few wolf howls echoed from the distance.
Hee Lingchuan looked toward the sound and soon spotted a black dot racing toward them, growing larger with each passing moment.
Speak of the devil, and the Rock Wolf appeared.
Its tongue was hanging out, its breath fogging in the air, and they could all hear its heavy panting. By the looks of it, it had been running for a very long time.
"What happened?" Hee Lingchuan asked as the Rock Wolf fell into pace alongside his Bo Beast. "Where’s Dong Rui?"
"On the bird’s back!"
It turned out the Rock Wolf had left the battlefield after receiving its orders and had been backtracking the Ghost Ape’s scent. Since Dong Rui had sent the ape, tracking its scent in reverse should lead back to its master, right?
The logic was sound. Soon enough, it spotted Dong Rui several hundred yards from the Xiazhou Army’s camp.
He was crouched on the roof of a house, gazing at the battlefield, wearing that same Bronze Mask. A bald-headed bird was perched on his shoulder.
As it drew closer, the Rock Wolf could smell his scent—
a scent it would never forget. Old grudges and fresh hatred surged through it.
It used the shadows of the building to conceal itself as it approached in silence.
But Dong Rui’s Spiritual Sense was too keen. The bald bird on his shoulder seemed to sense the approaching danger and let out a loud SQUAWK, forcing the Rock Wolf to launch its attack prematurely.
Unfortunately, it was a step too slow.
The bald bird suddenly swelled in size, pushed off with its talons, and took flight, carrying Dong Rui with it.
The Rock Wolf missed its first pounce. It got a running start across the rooftop and leaped again, this time clamping its jaws onto the giant bird’s tail and trying to drag it back down with all its might.
The giant bird frantically clawed at it, nearly gouging out its eyes.
As they struggled against each other, Dong Rui seized the opportunity to unleash a Technique, injuring the Rock Wolf’s front paw.
The massive bird was incredibly powerful. Beating its wings, it surged upward and finally shook off its unwanted passenger.
The Rock Wolf was left with a mouthful of feathers.
Unwilling to give up, it had chased the great bird through the sky all the way here, where it now met up with its master.