Ruan Su

The enormous male ape stood like an iron tower in the somewhat wrecked courtyard. It looked around, its scarlet gaze lingering on Qin Yi for an instant before shifting to the female ape lying in a pool of blood, already silent and lifeless.

It moved forward on all fours for two steps, bent down, and rubbed its cheek against her face. Upon feeling that touch belonging to death, the male ape's bell-sized eyes widened slightly. It continued to push the lifeless corpse with its slender, bamboo-like fingers, seeming at a loss.

The night wind swept past, carrying a bloody stench.

Qin Yi remained where he was, silently watching the scene. Killing Apes had keen senses; at this distance, even the slightest movement would be heard.

He had never considered that monsters could have feelings, but thinking about it, it made sense. They possessed enough intelligence to toy with and brutally kill their prey, even revealing humanlike expressions. It would be stranger if they had no feelings.

After a while,

"ROAR!!!!!"

The deafening roar nearly pierced his eardrums. The male ape's eyes blazed red as it turned and locked onto the only living thing present.

Their gazes met for an instant.

Qin Yi no longer had any thoughts. Calmly, he raised his hand crossbow.

The instant the bolt fired, that enormous figure, vast as something blocking out the sun, had already halted before him on a gust of bloody wind!

At a glance, the male ape even appeared taller than the house behind Qin Yi. Before it, the hand crossbow was like a toy.

The male ape slowly hunched down. The crossbow bolt was embedded deep in its cheek, perhaps even having pierced through its cheekbone, but it paid no heed to the pain. On its savage face, there was only endless fury and a desire for cruelty in those scarlet eyes.

Qin Yi tried hard to think, then emptied his mind.

There was no saving this. He might as well wait for death.

Right on the heels of that thought came a dizzying sensation of weightlessness. The constriction around his waist made Qin Yi realize that he had been seized in its hand.

The Killing Ape brought him before its face.

Tap...

That ape face, with its protruding jaw, drew close—so close that Qin Yi could see the fine pores beside its nostrils, see his own reflection in those scarlet pupils, and feel the breath it exhaled.

It probably smelled terrible, though he could no longer smell it.

The Killing Ape's enormous palm gradually tightened, and Qin Yi instantly lost the ability to breathe.

Tap...

Listening to the creaking beside his ears, Qin Yi calmly lowered his eyes and glanced at his body gradually deforming beneath that grip.

...So this was what it felt like to be unable to breathe, to feel the dull pain of bones gradually warping.

Tap...

At this rate, in roughly thirty seconds... no, twenty seconds, his ribs would break.

Tap...

But before that, with his waist and abdomen compressed, his deformed organs would force blood out through his nose and mouth first.

Tap...

Tap...

Tap...

Hm?

His consciousness, idling as it waited for death, was stirred awake by the strange noise. Qin Yi realized that the tapping by his ears was neither a dying hallucination nor the creaking of bones under pressure.

What was it?

Tap...

Tap...

The rhythmic tapping drew closer, seeming to have reached the courtyard gate.

This time, Qin Yi heard it clearly.

It sounded like iron implements rubbing and knocking against each other inside a cloth sack.

The male ape had clearly heard the approaching sound as well. Long before Qin Yi did, it turned its head, and the strength in its hand eased accordingly.

That was why Qin Yi had not yet coughed up blood.

Its gaze fixed in place, while the moonlight fell silent.

A slight figure slowly emerged from the shadows beyond the courtyard gate.

It was a girl drenched in blood.

She was tall and thin, around twelve or thirteen years old. Her head hung low, her long hair cascading like a waterfall. One hand dragged a bulging cloth sack that seemed packed with weapons, while the other held a long-handled rusty axe, its wooden shaft bound to her wrist with bloodstained cloth strips.

Under two sets of eyes filled with different emotions,

"Rrr..."

The male ape only gave a threatening low growl. It had no desire to care about anything else right now. It only wanted to torture to death the two-legged beast cub that had harmed its blood kin.

"..."

Hearing the sounds from home, the girl stopped. She released the bulging sack she had been dragging, and more than a dozen weapons instantly rolled out.

"Rrr..."

The male ape's scarlet pupils froze slightly as they fell upon the weapons. A roar-like growl rumbled in its throat as it stared at the newcomer.

Her long hair scattered in the wind. The girl slowly lifted her eyelids, slid her fingers into her hair, and swept it upward, revealing numb eyes thick with bloodshot veins.

...Tsk.

So noisy...

She thought blankly.

Tear tracks and bloodstains crisscrossed her face in winding patterns as she indifferently swept her gaze over everything before her.

She saw the female ape's corpse.

She saw the girl's mangled remains.

Finally, her gaze settled on that small house—the one she and Xiao Yi had slowly built, brick by brick and piece by piece.

There, a huge demon ape crouched.

Its back faced her, while only its ugly head turned around, staring at her without blinking.

Their eyes met for an instant.

Her mud-stained bare toes hooked up a Tang Saber from the sack on the ground, and she gripped it in her hand.

Then,

The girl continued walking forward.

A saber in one hand, an axe dragged in the other.

Seeing this, puzzled displeasure and rage flickered in the male ape's scarlet eyes, while muffled thunder seemed to brew in its throat.

It slowly rose as well, its towering body casting a vast shadow beneath the moonlight.

Under the moonlight,

The slight figure and the enormous monster drew closer and closer.

All sounds of creation fell silent at that moment; the cries of cicadas and birds were stripped away.

Until,

A faint...

"...Sis."

"..."

"..."

"..."

That faint call was like a blow piercing through some curtain between life and death.

The girl's unfocused pupils abruptly contracted.

The ash-gray film covering the depths of her eyes shattered in that instant.

As though waking from a dream, Ruan Su began searching for the source of the voice. When her gaze locked onto the boy held in the Killing Ape's palm, she visibly froze, as though unable to believe it.

She stopped advancing. Strands of hair fell before her eyes, concealing her expression.

Then,

Came absolute silence.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Bang!

In an instant, the bluestone shattered!!

The girl vanished from where she stood.

The Killing Ape's scarlet pupils stalled slightly, but its reaction was just as swift. The instant it sensed danger, it swept an arm sideways. Its yard-long arm, clutching the boy, cast a shadow of death beneath the moonlight.

The fierce wind of her charge pulled the girl's long hair straight, and it also allowed the demon ape to see her expression—the kind of killing intent so extreme it had become madness.

The instant the two afterimages crossed, a tiny cut appeared at the demon ape's elbow, where it held Qin Yi. Then it widened and flew away!

The girl had directly chopped off its thick forearm!

At the same time as she severed its arm, the girl used a method of borrowing force Qin Yi could not comprehend, her body sharply spinning through the air.

The hem of her gray-blue clothes traced a blurred arc beneath the moonlight. A whip kick, carrying a howling gale, smashed into the Killing Ape's brutally protruding jaw in an instant!

Silence reigned for a moment.

Then the explosive roar arrived!

BANG!!!

The muffled impact was like a boulder crashing into a deep pool.

The Killing Ape's cheek instantly warped, its jaw caving inward at an unnatural angle. Several fangs spun through the air alongside a mist of blood!

Its huge body was sent flying by that unimaginable force, crashing through the wooden wall. Its grayish-brown fur plowed a deep trench across the ground, spraying bloodied mud and shredded grass everywhere, until it finally slammed into an old locust tree more than ten meters beyond the courtyard!

Tap...

The girl landed, her bare feet touching the ground as the strands of long hair lifted by the night wind fell back over her shoulders one by one.

Ruan Su somewhat flusteredly caught the Killing Ape's forearm, along with the boy still clutched in its hand.

Steadily.

That slight, delicate body contained monstrous strength beyond human limits.

The lethal restraint released, Qin Yi greedily sucked in a deep breath before breaking into a violent coughing fit.

When his sister had abruptly burst forward, the Killing Ape had nearly crushed him to death as it exerted force to counterattack. Fortunately, it had been over before the creature could fully tighten its grip.

Coughing, Qin Yi looked toward his sister.

Ruan Su looked at him too, her lips tightly pressed together as she desperately restrained the overwhelming emotions of having regained what she had lost within her long, beautiful eyes.

"...Your foot."

Sensing trouble, Qin Yi interrupted the lead-up to his sister throwing herself into his arms in the middle of battle, gently reminding her.

At his words, Ruan Su lowered her head. Her gaze fell upon her twisted left foot, its bare ankle bent outward at an unnatural angle.

That kick earlier had been too forceful. Her entire left foot had already dislocated.

"Mm..."

With a soft grunt, she calmly raised her left knee. Her slender fingers gripped her ankle, and following the method Qin Yi had taught her before...

Crack.

The dislocated ankle snapped back into place.

A piercing pain surged through her heart, but Ruan Su did not let out even a single moan. She did not even frown.

She nodded at him. Her dim gaze paused briefly on the boy's blood-soaked clothes, and she casually discarded the Tang Saber, its blade warped from the collision, before turning around with crisp decisiveness.

Outside the courtyard, the enormous grayish-brown figure was struggling to rise beneath the old locust tree. Dark-red blood continuously sprayed from the stump of its severed arm, soaking the surrounding mud into a deep brown.

Ruan Su walked toward the demon ape one step at a time. Every time her left foot touched down, sharp pain shot through her reset ankle, but her steps did not slow in the slightest.

Her right hand carried the long-handled rusty axe, its heavy head hanging at her side. The blunt blade dragged against the ground, carving a deep, long mark into the dirt outside the courtyard.

The stilled mountain wind surged again, stirring her disheveled hair and torn hem. Moonlight shone upon one side of the girl's face, flawless as an immortal, and the other side, hideously scarred by burns like a ghost.

Those black eyes no longer held their previous deadness.

In its place,

Was a pure madness without a trace of impurity!

Much like Ruan Su's dislocated left foot, the demon ape's protruding jaw now hung limply. Its shattered jawbone dangled from its face, tugging several severed tendons, while blood gushed from its severed arm.

But it paid no attention to any of that. Rolling as it rose, it had completely lost control from the agony in its body and the grief of losing its blood kin. Its scarlet eyes were filled with warped fury. Its feet gripped the ground as it lunged toward the newly arrived two-legged beast cub on all fours.

The girl's steps remained steady as she continued forward at a slow pace.

The male ape was fast, every step it took bringing tremors to the earth.

The two collided in the blink of an eye.

The male ape's remaining arm reached out to grab the girl, its long black nails gleaming with sharp cold light.

This time, Qin Yi saw Ruan Su make her move clearly.

As the fierce wind struck, Ruan Su's slender waist suddenly exerted force. She instantly bent low at an angle, narrowly dodging the lethal swipe by a hair's breadth.

The male ape's ferocity did not lessen in the slightest at this sight. The difference in size between it and this two-legged beast cub was simply too great. Even if it merely rammed into her, it could cripple her.

Yet the collision it expected never came.

As Ruan Su twisted and bent to evade, her slender body had already completed a spin to gather strength, along with the rusty axe in her right hand!

The axe turned, blade becoming hammer. Beneath the moonlight, it spun out a perfect arc of light and arrived at the demon ape's head in an instant!

THUD!!!

The wooden handle snapped, and the axe head spun away.

Caught between the momentum of its charge and the tremendous force of the axe hammer, the demon ape's enormous body rolled more than ten meters before finally stopping.

This time, the demon ape could not immediately rise again.

Qin Yi supported himself against the collapsed courtyard wall nearby and saw it clearly.

The demon ape's skull should have shattered. His sister's blow had driven its right eye nearly an inch out of its socket.

Amid the rumbling crash, Ruan Su tossed aside the remaining half of the axe handle and continued walking toward it empty-handed.

Only when she was nearly upon it did the male ape recover somewhat, clumsily turning its huge body with a dazed sway as it snarled at that monstrous girl.

It wanted to get back up.

But Ruan Su stared at it coldly, giving it no such chance.

She slowly raised her leg, her long, straight left leg lifting beneath the moonlight until it formed a perfect split,

Then,

She brought it crashing down!

Bang!!

The blow landed on Killing Ape's enormous skull. One could even hear the fine cracks spreading through its cranium.

Amid the demon ape's furious roar, Ruan Su planted her foot firmly on his head, looking down at the beast as she bent over and grabbed his dislocated jaw.

Her slender arm trembled faintly with exertion,

Just as the male ape had gripped Little Yi earlier, Ruan Su began to exert force bit by bit.

Creak... creak...

The sound of tendons and sinews being torn apart was hair-raising in the silent moonlit night.

As death truly drew near, the madness of revenge in the demon ape's scarlet eyes gradually faded, replaced by a fear that rose from the very marrow of his bones.

He rolled and struggled wildly on the ground, his arm more than a zhang long slapping the muddy earth and sending up great sprays of bloody mud and grass scraps. His grayish-brown fur became caked with filth and shredded leaves as he thrashed, while a hoarse, dying beast's wail rasped from his throat.

The girl did not stop.

Moonlight shone from behind her, stretching her slight shadow long across Killing Ape's enormous, convulsing body.

Until,

Rip—

The world turned black and white, with only blood splashing through the air in a bewitching crimson.

Ruan Su tore the demon ape's jaw off alive. The gushing blood and writhing tongue made the male ape look like a vile ghost from hell, but now there was nothing left in that ghost's eyes but terror, even a trace of pleading.

Ruan Su looked down at him indifferently and raised her hand.

Bang!

Her fist smashed into his forehead.

The male ape's cracked skull instantly deformed beneath the blow, fractures spreading outward like a spiderweb from the axe wound and the point of impact.

Loose strands of hair slipped down, covering half the girl's face and leaving only one pitch-black, indifferent eye exposed.

Killing Ape had not died. His scarlet eyes bulged round with agony, his pupils contracting violently. The fear within them had risen into pure trembling as a shrill screech escaped his mouth.

Humans were prey for his amusement,

Why... why was this human cub...

The second punch came down.

Bang!

More than half of Killing Ape's hard skull shattered. His scarlet eyeballs protruded from their sunken sockets, squeezed between the broken orbital bones, nearly falling out.

Killing Ape lost the ability to struggle. His limbs convulsed, scratching several shallow furrows into the ground.

Then came the third punch.

Ruan Su's fist punched straight through Killing Ape's enormous skull. Her slender arm plunged inside, her knuckles touching the soft, warm brain tissue. Sharp edges of shattered bone sliced open the skin of her forearm, and dark red blood streamed down from her elbow.

She pulled it out mechanically.

The fourth punch.

The fifth punch.

The sixth punch.

Moonlight cascaded like a waterfall, illuminating every detail of the surroundings.

Qin Yi walked step by step toward the girl, who seemed possessed by madness.

According to Wang Ma, their band of roaming bandits had fifteen adult men and four powerful crossbows. He had dealt with two of them, leaving thirteen. Now it seemed that the weapons in the sack his sister had brought back belonged to them.

Qin Yi came up behind her. He did not stop her from desecrating the corpse, merely calling out softly.

"...Sis."

"..."

Silence.

The wind from the girl's swinging fist halted instantly.

A breeze swept past, carrying the scent of rust and earth.

The girl turned her eyes back toward the boy behind her, who had likewise waded through blood.

The boy asked softly:

"Are you all right?"

"..."

The girl looked at the boy, biting the corner of her lip as her nostrils trembled slightly. At last, her beautiful eyes curved into two crescent moons glistening with tears, and she slowly raised her bloodstained little hand.

Under the moonlight,

Bright crimson blood dripped down her snow-white arm,

The girl curled her slender index finger and thumb into a circle, spreading her other three fingers.

It was the gesture he had taught her.

I... am fine.