Feeling a fierce gust whistle through the air behind his head, Gray Bear ducked out of its path, then swung his arm and sent his soul chain whirling. Spirit Monkey seized the opening and sprang up, his hooked longsword unleashing a streak of dark Sword Qi straight at Gray Bear's heart. Gray Bear flicked his hand, and the far end of the soul chain cracked like thunder, blasting apart half of Spirit Monkey's arm.
The two brothers who had walked out of Everlasting Spring Valley together were now red-eyed with bloodlust. They lunged at each other again, unleashing killing moves, every strike aimed to take a life. On the ground beneath them, beast corpses already littered the land, and blood flowed in streams and rivers.
Just then, Azure Ox appeared, his expression grave as he looked toward the soul and Gray Bear fighting with thunderous crashes in midair. A gray-black rabbit darted onto Azure Ox's shoulder and waved its fists angrily at the sky. The beast armies led by Spirit Monkey and Gray Bear were fighting on the rabbit's territory. Several of the rabbit's hideouts, along with the treasures inside them, had suffered in the battle.
Seeing Azure Ox appear, Spirit Monkey and Gray Bear stopped fighting, only to swoop toward him. Azure Ox bent down, picked up a long, round wooden staff, and gripped it in his hand. The rabbit shrank back its neck, its eyes widening, then whipped around and leaped off Azure Ox's shoulder, vanishing into the grass.
"Azure Ox, have you come to welcome us?"
Their scarlet cloaks snapping in the wind, Spirit Monkey and Gray Bear stood side by side in the air before Azure Ox.
"When brothers come home, there's wine and meat for them. But you two are no longer my brothers!" Azure