The Monkey King's Death, Grief

Xiao Wu shuddered at the sight of his smile, an ominous feeling rising in her heart. Tang San, standing beside her, noticed something was wrong and took her small hand, comforting her.

"Don't worry. Teacher Zhao is here with us. Lu Mingchuan wouldn't dare force us into a fight to the death."

Xiao Wu nodded silently, but the sense of danger in her heart grew increasingly intense as Er Ming approached, reaching its peak moments later. By then, Er Ming had already arrived where they stood.

Boom!!

Amid the crashing of falling trees, a massive shadow slowly blanketed the ground around them. It was a creature like a mountain, standing seven meters tall at the shoulder and perhaps fifteen meters tall when upright.

Its muscles bulged like diamonds, its dark skin gleamed faintly like steel, and its lantern-sized eyes continuously searched through the crowd for something.

Zhao Wuji's hair stood on end as he looked at the newcomer. He suddenly roared at Lu Mingchuan, "That thing is the uncrowned king of the Star Dou Great Forest, the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the Titan Giant Ape! We need to put aside our grudges and join forces now, or none of us will get out of here!"

Even as Zhao Wuji panicked, Lu Mingchuan remained utterly calm. The only change was the faint curiosity in his eyes upon seeing a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast for the first time.

"You can leave first. After all, I came here precisely for this fellow." As he spoke, he cast a meaningful glance at Xiao Wu among the crowd. Her body trembled when she sensed his gaze.

She understood now. It was not that Lu Mingchuan had failed to recognize her identity. He had been using her as bait to catch a big fish, while she had foolishly played her role perfectly and drawn Er Ming directly to him.

But Zhao Wuji had no time to care about any of that. He urged the students to leave first, while he himself went to stand beside Lu Mingchuan to help him hold the creature off for a while. In his estimation, Lu Mingchuan's side could not be much stronger than his own. If he did not help, the outcome would still be the same.

Though Xiao Wu understood Lu Mingchuan's intentions, there was still nothing she could do. She could only pray that the strength at his side would be insufficient to kill Er Ming. At that moment, Er Ming, who had been searching for his target, spotted Xiao Wu. His lantern-sized eyes lit up slightly.

He reached out to grab Xiao Wu, but halfway there, his hand suddenly recoiled. He had sensed sword energy flying from Lu Mingchuan's side. Like cold moonlight, it effortlessly sliced off one of Er Ming's finger joints.

Zhao Wuji fell silent as he looked at the enormous severed finger joint on the ground. It seemed Old Zhao had truly underestimated Lu Mingchuan. But then he was overcome with relief, grateful that Lu Mingchuan had merely been toying with them and had not truly intended to wipe them out.

Otherwise, Zhao Wuji would not be standing here safely, marveling at the scene. Even all of Old Zhao put together would not be enough to withstand a single finger of the Titan Giant Ape, yet something stronger than him was now lying before him.

Unlike the relieved Zhao Wuji, Xiao Wu had already sunk into grief. She was about to witness the same tragedy of seeing her mother die before her eyes once more. Only this time, the one dying would be her good friend, Er Ming, one of her two devoted beasts. And she herself would likely remain here as well.

The Titan Giant Ape, meanwhile, was consumed by rage.

If he had been any slower in pulling back, what fell to the ground would not have been a finger, but his entire hand. Even so, intense pain still shot through his finger. Ever since he had become a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, he had never experienced such pain.

"Roar!!!"

The enraged Titan Giant Ape roared and clenched his other intact hand into a fist, smashing it toward Mirror Flow. Watching the attack, Lu Mingchuan could only sigh that it was inferior to the Ape God.

Mirror Flow's eyes grew ever redder. The Ephemeral Flower Sword, which had somehow appeared in her hand, was now wreathed in wisps of cold air. With a swing of her blade, another sword energy shot toward the Titan Giant Ape's forehead. Faced with this sword energy aimed straight at his monkey brain, the Titan Giant Ape's barely visible fur stood on end.

He immediately withdrew the punch and instead used his astonishing strength to propel his massive body in a leap to the side.

Boom!!

As Er Ming landed, more trees in the forest suffered an undeserved disaster. Before he could steady himself, he saw another blast of sword energy flying toward him. This time, he had no time to dodge. He could only raise his thick arms, coating them with a great deal of Soul Power as he forcibly endured the blow.

Deep, bone-revealing wounds appeared across both arms, but he successfully blocked the attack. Seeing the monkey withstand her casual strike, Mirror Flow's interest rose slightly.

The red in her eyes deepened once more. "Grass Beneath the Sword!" She swung again, releasing an even more dazzling ray of moonlight. At the sight of it, the rage in Er Ming's eyes vanished. He slowly gathered power in his mouth before finally spitting out a beam of light toward that moonlight.

Titan Sky Shatter!!

Yet after only a brief stalemate, the beam was slowly cleaved apart by the dazzling moonlight. His pupils contracted sharply, and he immediately activated another domain skill on top of it.

Gravity Mire!! The ray of moonlight was successfully slowed somewhat. Delighted, he hurriedly dodged to the side.

The Shrek group below was already dumbfounded. This was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, one that required even Teacher Zhao to risk his life holding it back just to give them a slim chance at survival. Yet in the hands of this white-haired woman, it was like a toy. She had forced it to reveal all its trump cards without even using a soul skill.

Seeing that the Soul Beast could still evade her normal attack, Mirror Flow's lips curved slightly. Then she flashed away from where she stood. Watching Mirror Flow vanish from beside him, Lu Mingchuan took out a small stool and sat down right where he was, then casually pulled out a wedge of watermelon and watched while eating it.

The Shrek group was speechless at Lu Mingchuan's behavior. This was such a critical moment, and this was his attitude?

Elsewhere, Er Ming had just dodged an attack and had yet to breathe a sigh of relief when he turned and saw the white-haired woman who filled him with fear suddenly appear before his eyes. Then pain exploded in his eyes, and his vision plunged into darkness.

He had no time to roar, because agonizing pain suddenly erupted from his hands, shoulders, and hind legs. After that, he could no longer feel any connection between those body parts and himself. Regret had already begun to rise in his heart, but Mirror Flow gave him no time to regret.

She flashed to his back and swung her hand, carving a brilliant streak of sword light across the back of his neck. As blood sprayed into the sky and the monkey's head fell to the ground, Xiao Wu below was on the verge of collapse.