The Monkey King Attacks

The setting sun clasped the mountains in its jaws, and dusk deepened.

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Lu Li rose from the cabin. His head felt swollen and heavy as the scenes from his dream gradually connected with Elder Duan's words.

Elder Duan had said that if he succeeded, this puppet mechanism would have come from his own hands. In other words, the components within it were all things he would encounter in the future—things that truly existed in this world.

The two disciples in his dream, meanwhile, had said that using a secondhand spirit core could easily lead to qi deviation, because such cores retained the lingering obsessions of the artifact spirit from before its death.

Was it possible that the metal spirit core inside the Qi-Combining Cauldron was precisely the one Lu Ling had once used? That the dream he had just had was actually Lu Ling's memories from before her death?

His mother had been deceived. She had thought she was selling Lu Ling to a wealthy household, when in truth Lu Ling had fallen into the hands of White Moon Palace. There, White Moon Palace had extracted her soul and refined her essence, forging her into an artificial artifact spirit.

Afterward, this secondhand metal spirit core had been discarded by White Moon Palace and returned to the market. For some unknown reason, it had eventually ended up in his hands.

Lu Li clenched his fist slightly, then loosened it again. Dragging his utterly exhausted body along, he poled the boat onward in search of ore.

Then a wave of lingering fear washed over him. If he had not chosen to take out a loan for the Qi-Combining Cauldron that day, but had instead been killed outright by Azure Sun Hall's disciples, then with his Grade D inferior divine sense strength, he would most likely have been refined into a Wood Crow as well.

By then, he would have forgotten even his own name, wandering the streets and peddling every kind of utterly conscience-stripped service to anyone he met.

At this moment, Lu Li could no longer bear to look directly at Wood Crow. Behind that opening and closing beak, behind that grating bird chatter, were living, breathing people, one after another.

These mechanisms were all alive. They had all been forged from the souls of living people.

The sky had gone completely dark.

Tonight, dark clouds veiled the moon. The sky was pitch-black, like thick ink pressing down from overhead, crushing the breath from Lu Li's chest. Once he had poled his small boat away from the crowd, he activated the Qi-Combining Cauldron.

Elder Duan suddenly spoke.

"Child, could it be that you felt something inside the Qi-Combining Cauldron?"

"How did you know?"

"It's written all over your face. Besides, I reckon a secondhand metal spirit core was probably all you could get your hands on."

"Gulp~"

Lu Li swallowed. Elder Duan's hoarse voice sent a chill down his spine. It was as though she had seen through everything long ago, seen through every thought in his heart.

Since the metal spirit core was here, there were two possibilities. One: Lu Ling's soul had long since been ground away. Two: Lu Ling's soul had completed a breakthrough and been refined into a second-turn puppet.

Perhaps he would encounter her someday in the near future.

When that time came, they might pass shoulder to shoulder. Lu Ling would not remember him, and he would not recognize Lu Ling after she had become a puppet.

"After all, Big Brother has always been the Big Brother I admired most."

For some reason, Lu Ling's weak words echoed from within Lu Li's chest. For one fleeting instant, Lu Li almost thought his Qi-Combining Cauldron had come alive and spoken in Lu Ling's voice.

No. Absolutely not. He had to find that girl—dead or alive, he had to see her. And if not even a corpse remained, then he would drag out every murderer and kill them all.

Just as he was thinking this, Lu Li suddenly sensed a faint disturbance coming from beneath the water through the Qi-Combining Cauldron.

Splash~ Splash~ Splash~

Something seemed to be beneath the river, always maintaining a certain distance from him. It did not seem like a living creature, but more like a mechanism-made construct. If this mechanism had not contained spirit-ore components, Lu Li would not even have been able to sense its existence.

Something was following him!

"Who's there? Get out here!"

Splash~

Waves surged through the river channel, but whatever lay beneath the riverbed showed no intention of revealing itself. Lu Li's vigilance rose. A moment later, several points of light appeared on the distant river surface.

Those lights were fishing lamps. More than ten fishing boats were approaching Lu Li's position. They were extraordinarily fast, roughly lined up in a row and nearly blocking the entire river channel.

Lu Li rowed desperately, but he was a newcomer after all. When it came to handling a boat, he was no match for these seasoned gold prospectors, and the distance between them rapidly closed.

The seven or eight boats on both sides surged ahead first, with the few in the middle following close behind. Together, they formed an arc, trying to encircle Lu Li's boat.

At this rate, he would sooner or later be surrounded. It was not just rowing—Lu Li had little confidence in his swimming skills as well. He could swim, but only well enough not to drown in a calm lake.

Treasure Flow River was turbulent, and this stretch in particular had swift, violent currents. If he truly came up against experts who had spent years immersed in the water, he would likely be at a disadvantage—not to mention that there was still something lurking beneath the water.

In the flash of a thought, Lu Li made his judgment. Rather than continuing downstream with the current, he headed toward the shore.

Splash!

A small head poked out from beneath the water. The thing was about the size of a child, black as ink from head to toe, its surface covered in woody grain.

Lu Li looked closely and discovered that it was actually an ordinary-grade mechanism construct. It had been forged in the shape of an ape. This was what had been following him beneath the water.

The mechanism ape grabbed the edge of the boat, then pushed off fiercely. Before Lu Li could react, it leaped onto the bow first and bared its fangs as it pounced at him.

Not good!

Lu Li instantly sensed trouble. He subconsciously retreated half a step, grabbed a handful of Void Stones, and flung them out. As his astral qi circulated, they transformed into sharp blades and shot straight for the mechanism ape's legs.

[Stamping Art: Milling Cutter]!

For this strike, Lu Li used Void Stones of eighty-five percent purity rather than the ninety-five-percent-purity Void astral qi within the Qi-Combining Cauldron. Its power was inferior to the latter, but it was more than enough to deal with this ordinary-grade mechanism construct.

Slash!

Astral qi severed the ape's feet, leaving smooth, gleaming cuts. Lu Li twisted the oar and kicked the ape, now split in two, back into the water.

Just then, a booming laugh rang out across the river.

"Ha ha ha! You really do have secrets on you! Hand over the River Map like a good boy, and I'll grant you a quick death!"

The speaker was a burly man standing at the prow of the largest boat. He was built broad-backed and thick-waisted, but what drew the eye most were his arms—thick yet unusually long, hanging from his shoulders all the way to the ground. His proportions were grotesquely mismatched, and from afar he looked like an ape.

Without question, this fellow's arms had been modified through the Way of Mechanisms; they were anything but ordinary.

At the same time, Old Liu stood at his side, borrowing the burly man's authority to curse and shout, "You brat surnamed Duan, are you deaf? We tried to discuss this with you during the day, but you refused the wine only to drink the forfeit! Tonight, our Lord Monkey King has spoken in person! Hand over the River Map at once!"

What Monkey King? He was just a river bandit!

Lu Li cursed inwardly. He rowed desperately toward the shore, fastening the cloth pouch of spirit stones at his waist before stuffing fistful after fistful of Void Stones into it and slinging it onto his back. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he abandoned the boat, the pears, and the remaining spirit ore, leaping ashore.