Demonic Demeanor

Chapter 38: Demonic Demeanor (Happy New Year)

Even the usually composed Flower Fox couldn't help but exclaim indignantly, "You only charge once, but you're charging twice! You're just inventing excuses!"

The ape demon drew the saber from his waist, its gleam blinding, and chuckled, "You don't have to cross the bridge. I'm not forcing you to pay the toll. Less nonsense, either pay up or stick your head out for me to chop!"

Behind Su Yun and the others, the ape demon who had collected the bridge toll said leisurely, "Gentlemen, ever since we started charging tolls for building bridges and roads, we haven't engaged in murder and robbery. Don't force us to go back to our old ways."

Su Yun glanced at the village on the slope, then at the two ape demons in front of and behind him, and said, "Charging for the bridge is not excessive, and charging for crossing the bridge again is naturally not excessive either."

He stepped forward and counted out ten Five Zhu Coins from his money pouch. The ape demon snatched them away and then glanced at his money pouch, chuckling, "There's still a lot inside. Where are you planning to go?"

Hu Buping said, "Into the city..."

Su Yun quickly covered his mouth and said with a laugh, "We're going to visit relatives up ahead."

Hu Buping understood and changed his tune, "We're going to the village up ahead to visit relatives!"

"Visiting relatives in the snow, how unusual."

The ape demon's eyes flickered. He saw Su Yun put the money pouch back into his bundle, but a dozen Green Rainbow Coins fell out.

Flower Fox quickly stepped forward and stuffed the Green Rainbow Coins back into the bundle.

Su Yun and the others packed their belongings and hurried forward.

The ape demon watched them leave and suddenly said, "Old Six, I've got business!"

The other ape demon frowned and advised, "They're just a few children, leave them some way to live. Yuan Wu, just let them go. When they come back, you can collect double the money."

Yuan Wu laughed, "They're going into the city! These little brats, planning to enter the city before they've even grown their fur. They definitely won't make it to the post station alive, they'll die on the way! They're carrying quite a bit of money, so it's better to let me have it than someone else!"

Just as Yuan Old Six was about to speak, Yuan Wu had already strode off.

"Killing children, what a guy who doesn't accumulate good karma," Yuan Old Six shook his head but didn't chase after him.

Su Yun and Flower Fox hurried forward. Su Yun whispered, "Let's go a bit further."

Flower Fox and the others understood. Four small demon children per person rushed forward. The snow on both sides of the road was very deep. Unknowingly, they reached a bend in the road. Suddenly, Flower Fox and the others leaped, disappearing into the snow on both sides of the road.

Yuan Wu, relying on his saber, moved with incredible speed, leaping like an ape and a monkey. When he reached the bend, he saw Su Yun standing ahead.

The young man had his back to him and had taken off his upper garment, folding it neatly to the side, revealing his well-muscled back.

Yuan Wu was surprised and chuckled, "This child is so sensible. Is he afraid of blood staining his clothes? That's good too. I'll stab him with a clean knife and draw blood, and if the clothes are stained, they won't be worth as much."

At that moment, he suddenly saw Su Yun's back bulge, as if he had grown twelve more ribs, and his back muscles seemed to have doubled in size!

On Su Yun's back, tendons tightened, twenty-four ribs attached to the spine, and massive back muscles connected to the spine, with tendons linking muscles and ribs.

"So strong!" Yuan Wu's heart trembled.

Suddenly, a Flood Dragon seemed to swim within Su Yun, moving to his back and combining with his back muscles to form a Dragon Coiling Heaven diagram.

The Blood Essence Flood Dragon's whiskers drifted, its head emerging from Su Yun's back, roaring at Yuan Wu.

"Gurgle—"

Snow fell from the pine trees on both sides of the road, rustling as it landed.

Yuan Wu was struck by the impact of his Blood Essence and couldn't help but let out a long roar. The surging Origin Energy within him mixed with blood and rushed to his skin, his fur being buffeted and fluttering!

"Foundation Establishment sixth level? Me too!"

Jingle bell!

The long saber in his hand let out a crisp cry. It couldn't withstand his violent Blood Essence and was increasingly impacted by it, like a thin piece of iron vibrating faster and faster, suddenly tearing apart!

His violent Blood Essence formed an apparition of a burly ape-man behind him. This ape-man's fur was golden, its fangs ferocious, with four fangs measuring five to six inches long. Its size was more than double that of Yuan Wu.

Immortal Ape Qi Cultivation Chapter.

This cultivation technique was from the Old Sage Classics era, a method for cultivating Qi and establishing a foundation. However, it was not promoted in the official academies of the Shuofang region but was a Foundation Establishment technique in other prefectures and counties.

Different prefectures and counties often had different Qi cultivation and Foundation Establishment techniques. For example, Shuofang used the Bifang Divine Movement Qi Cultivation Chapter.

The ape demons of Yuanjia Ridge likely came from other prefectures and counties and learned the Immortal Ape Qi Cultivation Chapter.

The biggest difference between the Immortal Ape Qi Cultivation Chapter and other Foundation Establishment techniques is that cultivating this technique can improve bone marrow blood production, increase bone density, strengthen tendons and membranes, and train every muscle in the body, greatly enhancing one's strength!

The lower part of this cultivation technique is called the Ape Master's Art, which also has six moves and consists of extremely violent techniques.

Compared to humans, the Immortal Ape Qi Cultivation Chapter is more suitable for the ape race. Ape demons cultivating this Foundation Establishment technique can achieve twice the results with half the effort and possess greater power!

Yuan Wu's Blood Essence was violent, and his body suddenly grew taller by a foot in an instant, his arms thickened, his legs thickened, his eyes turned blood red, and he suddenly crouched and leaped.

Su Yun was about four zhang away from him. With Yuan Wu's leap, he landed less than a zhang away from Su Yun.

The berserk ape landed, took a step forward, pulled his right shoulder back, and unified his stance. The Golden Ape behind him performed the same action, pulling its right shoulder back and unifying its stance, throwing a punch!

The fist wind whistled, and the roadside pines were swept up into the air by the wind, swirling and falling.

Su Yun turned, the dragon diagram on his back coursing through his entire body, and raised his hand to unleash the first move of the Flood Dragon's Chant, Flood Dragon Emerging from the Abyss!

Every muscle and tendon in his body vibrated, transferring power from the ground to his legs, from his legs to his waist, his waist muscles pulsed, his spine moved like a Flood Dragon, sending this power into his punch!

This punch caused his body to lean forward, and Dragon Claws and Dragon Tails formed by Blood Essence surged out from his body. The Dragon Claws gripped the ground, and his four dragon legs exerted force, pushing the power of this strike to its extreme as he met Yuan Wu!

After refining the Dragon Bones in the Dragon Burial Mound, his comprehension and understanding of the Flood Dragon's Chant had reached an extremely high level, circulating Blood Essence in a dragon form to strengthen himself.

This was his first battle since he started investigating things!

He wanted to test the results of his efforts in investigating things these past few days!

Yuan Wu's fist was like a wine jar, several times larger than Su Yun's. In a flash of lightning, their fists collided.

The accumulated snow on the sides of the road seemed to suffer an invisible impact. Snowflakes flew upwards, and Yuan Wu's expression changed drastically as he heard the vibration of his hand bones.

The vibration was crisp, the sound of his middle finger's metacarpal bone cracking, just like the sound of a sharp axe splitting dry wood.

The sound transmitted through his bones to his eardrums, much faster than if it had traveled through the air to his ears.

Then came the crisp crack of his index and ring fingers exploding, followed by the sound of the fascia at his wrist breaking. This violent force transmitted from the ulna and radius of his forearm to the humerus and scapula of his upper arm.

His head snapped violently to the side, as if he had been hit by a bull that had transformed into a great demon. His mind was in a daze.

Other forces dispersed from his scapula to his thirty-three vertebrae and twelve ribs. His charge was immediately halted, and his burly body was sent flying backward!

Before he could land, he suddenly saw the snow-covered ground on both sides of the road explode. Four adorable children made of ice and snow rushed out, grabbing his hands and feet. In mid-air, they performed the Crocodile Dragon's Roll and the Flood Dragon's Roll!

Crack, crack!

Four crisp sounds were heard. Yuan Wu saw his limbs twist, contorted into a pretzel shape. His heart sank, "I've been fighting geese for years, only to be blinded by sparrows. I was tricked by these brats!"

He suddenly realized that Su Yun had shown his wealth to exploit his greed and lure him over. If he hadn't been greedy, nothing would have happened. If he had greedily pursued them to kill and steal their wealth, he would have been eliminated by Su Yun and the others!

Flower Fox and the others landed on one foot. Yuan Wu landed on his back with a thud, his limbs twisted.

"This is Yuanjia Ridge, who dares to kill me?"

Yuan Wu roared, "My Yuan family's ancestor resides in the ridge, he is the overlord of this place. If you kill me, none of you will be able to..."

Whoosh--

Su Yun's right leg swept across. His leg was filled with explosive power, his blood vessels surging with violent Blood Essence, like a Flood Dragon's tail, it fiercely swept across his neck!

The major tendons in Yuan Wu's neck made thump-thump snapping sounds. His cervical vertebrae twisted, and Su Yun's leg pressed his head down, smashing it fiercely into the ground!

The ground vibrated violently.

Su Yun retracted his right leg and quickly rummaged through Yuan Wu's body a few times, finding a small bag of Five Zhu Coins. He opened it and took out ten Five Zhu Coins.

There was still a lot of money in the bag, but he didn't take any more.

"Brother Yun, he took twenty coins from us!" Hu Buping adjusted his dog-eared hat and reminded him.

"Those ten coins were a toll, they should be given. He wanted to kill us, and we killed him in return, that is the righteous path. Killing him saved many lives."

Su Yun pulled out a thin book from Yuan Wu's embrace, looked at it, and was slightly stunned. He then threw the ten coins back onto Yuan Wu's corpse and said, "I want this book. Ten coins for it, and we're even."

He stood up, and the four little children quickly followed him. Flower Fox asked, "Yun, what book is this? Is it worth ten coins? Mister Shuijing only charged us one coin."

"This book is called the Immortal Ape Qi Cultivation Chapter."

Su Yun flipped through it as he walked, "The cultivation method in the upper chapter, 'Subduing the Heart Ape, Riding the Intent Horse, The Violent Ape Sits in the Dantian,' is extraordinary. The lower chapter, Ape Master's Art, has the Six Styles of the Ape Master, and the moves are also extraordinary."

Qingqiu Yue twitched his rabbit ears, "That's still not worth ten coins."

Su Yun said with annoyance, "He's dead, so we can't haggle. I should have negotiated the price before killing him."

As the only human in the no-man's-land, his way of doing things had long been influenced by the demons and monsters here.

Money that should be given must be given, not a penny less, fair trade. Even if the other party is dead, it must be given.

Money that belongs to him must be obtained. If it's snatched away, he'll take it back, never yielding.

Money that doesn't belong to him, he won't take a single cent even if it's placed in front of him.

His principles were that simple and clear.