Insanely Spicy!

"Was this beast setting up a formation?" Shi Hou's heart jolted.

The Demon Ape really was cunning! It wasn't merely healing its wounds-it was using itself as bait!

The crude formation beneath it was clearly a killing formation laid out with some fierce beast's bones. Anyone who charged in rashly would lose a layer of skin, if not their life.

"Skinny Monkey, what's the plan?"

Shi Hao licked his lips, itching to try. "Do we charge straight in?"

"No."

Shi Hou grinned, slowly took the Black Pot off his back, and hefted it in his hands.

"Since this ape likes playing dirty, let's spice things up for it."

He pulled a clay jar from inside his clothes.

It held the "Insanely Spicy" chili powder Shi Hao had been pining for earlier.

"Kang."

Shi Hou nudged the black pig playing dead at his feet.

"Give it a shot. Remember, be precise and hit hard. Aim for that wound where the skin's gone."

Kang blinked its tiny, mung-bean eyes, looking from the terrifying Demon Ape to the Black Pot in Shi Hou's hands.

It weighed the pros and cons.

Compared to being beaten to death by the Demon Ape, getting stewed by this pot-carrying fiend seemed even worse.

"Oink-"

Kang drew a deep breath.

Its belly visibly swelled until it became a round ball.

The next second.

Its head thrust out from behind the rock, its nostrils like a double-barreled shotgun, firmly locking onto the vast, charred wound on the Demon Ape's chest.

"Pfft!"

A blue projectile no bigger than a fingernail, yet compressed to the utmost, shot out without a sound.

At the same time.

The Demon Ape, which had been feasting heartily, suddenly opened its sole remaining eye.

It had noticed!

"Roar!"

A savage roar shattered the valley's silence.

The Demon Ape reacted with incredible speed, slamming its single arm against the ground and springing its enormous body nimbly backward.

But it was still an instant too late.

The blue projectile struck dead center in the tenderest red flesh on its chest.

"Pop."

The projectile burst.

There was no earth-shaking explosion, only a surge of blue electricity that spread instantly through its whole body.

Paralysis!

The Demon Ape's airborne body stiffened for a second.

In that fleeting tenth of a second.

"Here you go!"

Shi Hou bellowed and, with all his strength, hurled the clay jar full of chili powder like a grenade.

The clay jar traced a perfect parabola through the air.

Its target-the Demon Ape's still-roaring maw.

"Crunch."

The Demon Ape instinctively snapped its jaws shut.

The clay jar shattered.

A cloud of red powder exploded inside its mouth, throat, and enormous nasal cavity.

This powder had been ground from hundred-year-old fire spirit grass. It could burn straight through stone.

"Aooo-!!!"

A cracking scream ten times more agonized than its last cry pierced the clouds.

Clutching its throat, the Demon Ape rolled madly across the ground as tears and snot poured out. It even crushed the killing formation it had just laid out beneath its own thrashing body.

"Now!"

Shi Hou raised the pot in both hands and charged out from behind the rock like a black tyrannosaur.

"Little One! Tear it apart!"

"Coming!"

Shi Hao drove his little legs against the ground and became a streak of golden lightning. At some point, a thick bone he had swiped from who knew where had appeared in his hand, and he brought it down on the back of the Demon Ape's head.

"Clang!"

A dull impact rang out, setting teeth on edge.

The thighbone of some unknown fierce beast in Shi Hao's hand struck the back of the Demon Ape's head squarely.

The blow packed such force that sparks flew as though metal had struck stone.

Yet the Demon Ape was, after all, a primordial remnant that ruled the Great Wilderness. Even gravely wounded, even with tears streaming from the spice, its physical defenses remained monstrous. Its charred flesh merely dented inward without splitting open.

"Roar-!"

The Demon Ape whipped its head around.

Its already hideous face had turned as red as an overripe, rotten tomato from the rush of blood and excruciating pain. Its sole remaining eye blazed with an almost tangible murderous glare.

Ignoring Shi Hou behind it, it swung its remaining left arm in a full arc and struck backward at Little One with a shrill howl of wind.

If that slap landed, never mind a four-year-old child-even a man of iron would be flattened into a pancake.

"Whoa, that hide's tough!"

Shi Hao let out a startled cry, but his body twisted in midair in defiance of all reason.

It was the Green-Scaled Eagle's Precious Technique!

Though he had no wings on his back, a faint layer of green runes appeared there. Like a weightless feather, he glided past the Demon Ape's thick arm.

"Boom!"

The Demon Ape's palm struck the bare ground, sending shattered rocks flying and making the earth tremble.

"Big ape, where are you looking?"

Before the Demon Ape could recover from its strike, an enormous shadow descended over its head.

Shi Hou had arrived.

He held the mountain-like Black Pot aloft in both hands, muscles coiling across his body. The force of 1.2 million jin surged through his blood and qi, roaring like a mighty river battering its banks.

"Get down!"

Shi Hou bellowed. With the crushing momentum of Mount Tai bearing down, the Black Pot smashed toward the crown of the Demon Ape's skull.

The Demon Ape sensed the mortal threat.

With no time to dodge, it could only barely raise the left arm it had just slammed into the ground to block.

"Crack!"

The sound of breaking bone echoed through the valley, setting teeth on edge.

Nothing could withstand the Black Pot. It snapped the Demon Ape's forearm outright, then crashed heavily into its shoulder without losing momentum.

"Aaargh!"

The Demon Ape screamed. The blow drove its enormous body onto one knee, instantly pulverizing the rock beneath it.

"While it's sick, take its life!"

Shi Hou pressed his advantage without mercy, swinging the Black Pot up for another blow.

But the fierce beast had gone completely mad.

Its huge mouth, still spewing red clouds of chili powder, suddenly opened wide. Deep in its throat, a cluster of blood-red runes flared to life.

Buzz-!

The surrounding air suddenly grew incredibly thick.

Some broken runes actually lit up within the bone formation it had crushed, resonating with the blood energy inside its body.

"Not good! This beast's going to burn its blood and fight to the death!"

Shi Hou felt as though the Black Pot in his hands had become ten times heavier, and his movements faltered slightly.

This was a Gravity Field!

The Demon Ape was going to detonate its vital blood and drag them down to die with it!

"Skinny Monkey, move!"

At that moment, when their lives hung by a thread, a young but utterly calm voice rang out beside the Demon Ape.

Shi Hao had actually steadied himself within that terrifying Gravity Field.

At some point, the little fellow's eyes had turned a dazzling gold. Deep within his pupils, two golden vortexes of runes spun madly.

It was the Suanni's original true meaning!

"Three inches below its chest! Its blood and qi flow fastest there-that's its fatal weak point!"

Shi Hao had seen through it.

In that instant between life and death, his terrifying combat instincts had caught the primordial remnant's only opening.

"Lightning, come!"

Shi Hao tossed away the bone club and swiftly formed a seal with both hands.

Crackle!

The lightning did not descend from the heavens. Instead, a surge of utterly pure golden lightning plasma erupted from his small body.

Rather than striking wildly, the lightning plasma condensed into a golden needle only as thick as a chopstick, yet dazzlingly bright.

"Go!"

Shi Hao held two fingers together like a sword and thrust them fiercely toward the node on the Demon Ape's chest where blood energy was frantically gathering.

"Pfft!"

A soft sound rang out.