Milling Cutter Breaks Arm

"Three of you, go after his boat. The rest, come ashore with me and pursue him. Dead or alive."

At the Monkey King's call, all answered at once. Old Liu led seven or eight men in three boats to chase the boat Lu Li had abandoned, while the remaining water bandits surged ashore to pursue Lu Li.

Lu Li did not dare let down his guard. The creaking of turning mechanisms rang without end. When he turned to look, he discovered that only five among those water bandits were living men; the other fifteen or sixteen were all mechanical apes.

These apes' limbs were extraordinarily nimble. Screeching and chattering like real apes, they closed in around Lu Li.

A common man committed no crime, but possessing jade became his crime. Lu Li's greatest fear had come to pass after all. The greed in people's hearts was impossible to predict—these men had come for his River Diagram and spirit stones.

But he was no easy target, either.

Lu Li climbed up a slope, then abruptly turned and stood his ground. He drove the Qi-Combining Cauldron to its limit. His flat chest rose and fell, emitting faint humming sounds.

Immediately afterward, Lu Li reached into the bundle on his back, grabbed a large handful of Voidstone powder, and scattered it into the air. Then he flicked his finger.

Whoosh!

Astral wind arrived in an instant, carrying the Voidstone powder aloft. With astral qi as the hammer and the earth as the anvil, it smashed down at the apes below.

[Stamping Art: Anvil Hammer]!

Boom!

The blow was immense and heavy. The first ape to charge up was instantly smashed to pieces. Yet the mechanical apes feared neither death nor destruction, attempting to circle around through the gaps at the sides of the slope.

The human water bandits lagged behind. Their hearts trembled at the sight, and they immediately halted. The Monkey King turned and spat.

"Pah! A bunch of trash. I knew I couldn't count on the likes of you."

The man abruptly changed his tone. Eyes wide with fury, he stared at the lean figure on the slope and roared:

"You dare strike Lord Monkey's automaton puppets? You're courting death!"

With that, he slapped both hands against the ground and shoved hard, launching himself into the air and easily charging up the slope.

A First-Rank automaton artifact!

That man's arms were no ordinary mechanisms—they were a First-Rank automaton artifact.

The instant he braced himself against the ground and leaped, Lu Li felt the earth beneath his feet tremble. The next moment, Elder Duan's voice sounded in his mind:

"A First-Rank strength-path automaton artifact—[Mountain Ape Strength Arm]. Be careful. With those skinny arms and legs of yours, if you take even one hit head-on, you'll either die or be crippled."

"Mm."

Lu Li silently nodded, his eyes fixed on the man nearby. Without hesitation, the other man clenched his left hand into a fist and charged in first.

In an instant, Lu Li felt a vile wind batter his face. He took another deep breath, scattering a handful of Voidstone powder at his opponent while exhaling a mouthful of astral qi.

Whoosh!

A black gale danced wildly through the air, forming into a spiraling black milling cutter that shot straight for the man's neck.

"You overestimate yourself."

The man drew back his right arm and held it across his body to protect his vital points. At the same time, he twisted his upper body and swung his left fist down at Lu Li's head. In his haste, Lu Li hurriedly retreated.

Clang!

Boom!

Two tremendous crashes sounded in quick succession. The milling cutter struck the man's right forearm, leaving only a shallow dent, while his left fist, though launched later, arrived first and smashed into the spot where Lu Li had just stood.

As that punch fell, dirt and rocks flew everywhere, leaving a crater half a meter wide. The tremendous impact became a fist wind that sent the man's robes snapping wildly—and blasted Lu Li flying.

Lu Li staggered back several steps before barely managing to steady himself. Good thing he had dodged in time. Had he taken that blow head-on, it would not merely have been death or crippling as Elder Duan had said—it would have meant certain death.

Those mechanical arms possessed not only terrifying strength, but astonishing defense as well. Voidstone astral qi alone could not inflict any substantial damage on them.

Against such heavy armor, he either had to seize the right moment and use a sharp weapon to bypass the man's arms and strike a fatal blow at his weak point, or switch to a blunt weapon and batter him down.

Lu Li's face was dark as still water as he weighed his options inwardly. The Monkey King, meanwhile, wore a crazed grin and laughed without restraint.

"Hahahaha! Who would've thought it? Who would've thought you actually had an automaton artifact on you? What an unexpected windfall.

"Once I kill you, your spirit stones, your River Diagram, and your automaton artifact will all be mine! Ahahahaha!"

Just as his words fell, Lu Li felt a vile wind approaching from behind and to one side. A mechanical ape had somehow circled around from the rear of the slope, intending to ambush him.

The mechanical ape swiftly scrambled up Lu Li's body, grabbed his shoulders with both hands, and viciously bit down on his shoulder. Lu Li grunted in pain and, with a backhand strike, drove it flying with Voidstone astral qi.

Voidstone astral qi spiraled out and blasted the ape away, but even more apes closed in from every direction, like hungry wolves lying in wait.

"You've already been surrounded by my little monkey brats. Once I catch you, I'll extract your soul and refine your spirit, turning you into one of them too."

The water bandit lackeys behind him had caught up as well. Seeing their leader holding the upper hand, they were overjoyed and echoed their chief like a shrieking troop of monkeys.

"Yeah! Boss is mighty!"

Lu Li clutched his injured left shoulder and gasped for breath. The wound on his chest from not long ago had torn open again, sending waves of searing pain through him.

A desperate situation...

No. Not yet.

So long as a single breath remained in his chest, so long as the Qi-Combining Cauldron continued to operate, he would not give up.

Suddenly, Lu Li moved. He let out a long breath of astral energy, which condensed into a milling cutter.

Seeing this, the Monkey King crossed his hands before him. His arms were extremely broad, perfectly serving as a shield that covered the man's entire body behind them.

"Hmph! Overestimating yourself."

The man's face was full of mockery, but when he noticed that this milling cutter was darker in color than the previous one, his smile instantly froze.

The next second, Void Astral Energy whirled up with a roar. The condensed milling cutter had an exceedingly bizarre shape: a pointed, threaded tip and a blunt, heavy conical body at the rear, stabbing straight toward the Monkey King!

The cutter's tip struck without the slightest deviation, piercing precisely into the old mark on the Monkey King's metal arm—the shallow groove left moments ago!

The Mountain Ape Strength Arm was forged from mixed mystic iron, incomparably hard and incredibly smooth. During the first attack, the milling cutter had been flung away the instant it cut in.

But now, with the groove to anchor it, the threaded cutter body bit firmly into the gap and no longer slipped. Its blunt, heavy conical end drove it deeper and deeper with a crushing force like a stamping press.

Under that terrifying impact, the Monkey King's massive body shuddered. His body was forced backward, his feet plowing deep furrows into the ground.

One inch, two inches, three inches...

The milling cutter drove deeper and deeper. Sparks burst in every direction, while the mystic iron around the hole grew hot and red, as if it might melt at any moment.

The milling cutter finally dispersed, but before the Monkey King could react, a second one followed hard on its heels, aimed directly at the newly opened groove.

"Break for me—!"

Four inches, five inches, six inches... At last, the milling cutter punched through the mystic iron shell, instantly grinding the mechanism within to pieces like deadwood before a storm.

The Monkey King tried to cover it with his other hand, but it was already too late. The milling cutter had reached his face first.