Tibbers hadn't actually killed the big macaque with that single blow. He'd only knocked him unconscious.
So, well, who knew how much time had passed? When the big macaque finally came around again, he was horrified to discover:
He'd been captured alive by a person and a monkey, then dumped in an empty room beside the gate of their Lesser Thunderclap Temple and tied to a pillar. It was already dark outside.
At the same time, he saw that the courtyard beyond the gate was strewn with monks, and among them were even those Yaksha Arhats?
From the looks of it, the temple master must have sent those little demons over with the monks to investigate. Still, the temple master meditating in the main hall of Lesser Thunderclap Temple probably hadn't expected the monkey who'd come to storm the gate to be so difficult to deal with.
In fact, forget the temple master—he himself hadn't expected to lose so badly!
"Talk!"
Seeing that the other party had finally woken up, Annie, who was eating her dinner nearby, picked up a roasted leg from some animal or other and stepped forward to interrogate him:
"Who are you, exactly?"
(.)
"Oh, no, that's not right!"
"I mean, what kind of monkey are you?"
"You and Tibbers are both monkeys, and you seem to know Tibbers. Why did you attack us?"
(^)
Yes, that was the real reason Tibbers hadn't beaten him to death with a single blow. Annie wanted to find out what was going on first. Otherwise, the big macaque would've ended up just like the others outside: those Yaksha, Arhats, and monk-monkeys who were neither human, demon, nor Buddha, yet had dared to pick a fight with them.
If Tibbers had really gone all out, one whack would've been all