That night, the long-absent moon finally hung in the night sky.
Chen Jin leaped into the tree, landing stiffly atop its crown.
His appearance had changed considerably:
He wore an antique blue-green kasaya, its long sleeves fluttering; his tangled, withered-grass hair had been shaved off, exposing a dry, hard, bluish scalp, free of cracks and corpse spots.
The curved fingernails that harbored dirt and grime had also been cut off. Apart from frightening people, they served little purpose, and keeping them would only hinder his sword practice.
As for the red hair covering his body, there was no hurry to deal with it. He needed to observe and study what was going on with it.
And the tool used to shave his head and trim his nails was none other than the Slay Evil Sword.
With a magic sword in hand, putting such a great tool to such petty use was quite extravagant.
After this tidying up, Chen Jin looked like a wizened old monk from a distance, at least no longer as sinister and terrifying as before.
The monkey king followed him up the tree. Its body was sturdy, and its superficial wounds had soon healed. Its injured left eye had recovered somewhat, too; it had not truly gone blind.
Chen Jin circulated the Dragon-Tiger Inner Treasury Mysterious Scripture, performed a Method Formula, and flicked out a finger, drawing down the moonlight from the sky before sending it into the monkey king's mouth.
It was essentially being spoon-fed.
Overjoyed, the monkey king immediately opened its mouth and swallowed.
Taking it in was like drinking celestial nectar. It felt so comfortable that every pore on its body opened, and it felt as though it would fly up, floating toward immortality.
But this was not, in fact, the legendary Imperial Flowing Sap. It was ordinary moonlight essence Qi.
Moonlight essence Qi was white, while Imperial Flowing Sap took the form of golden threads. They belonged to different levels, with a vast distinction between them.
Had it truly been Imperial Flowing Sap, a single mouthful would have equaled a hundred years of arduous cultivation for the monkey king, allowing it to immediately join the ranks of demon immortals.
Even ordinary moonlight was an exceedingly rare tonic for it at its current stage, helping strengthen its internal organs, temper its body, and awaken its intelligence.
After that single flick, Chen Jin withdrew his hand.
Though unsatisfied, the monkey king dared not be greedy. It found a place nearby and sat down quietly to refine that mouthful of moonlight.
This time, it subdued the monkey of its mind and truly entered meditation, soon sinking into a state of self-forgetfulness.
Chen Jin glanced at it and nodded slightly:
This youngster can be taught.
He paid it no further attention and began concentrating on his own cultivation.
After being deprived for so many days, he needed a great quantity of moonlight essence Qi to replenish himself and gently nourish his meridians and apertures. He truly hungered and thirsted for it.
By now, the vitality in his eyes had almost fully recovered, and he would move on to opening his ear apertures.
The ear apertures were intimately connected to hearing. This body's hearing was very poor, as though two wads of cotton had been stuffed into its ears. Only by listening very carefully could he hear any sounds, which was extremely inconvenient.
Chen Jin wanted to hear all the sounds of the outside world: birdsong, ape cries, wind and rain, the burbling of flowing water...
Once he had resolved the problem with his sight, he would set about resolving the problem with his hearing.
He would proceed gradually, one step at a time.
The monkey king possessed extraordinary innate talent. Before long, it had finished refining and absorbing that mass of moonlight essence Qi. It immediately felt refreshed and clearheaded, its whole body brimming with inexhaustible strength, and nearly let out a long howl toward the full moon overhead.
Catching sight of the immortal master seated in the lotus position, it hastily swallowed that howl and crept quietly down the tree, leaving Banyan Tree Slope.
Back at the foot of the slope, it felt no interest in the female monkeys pressing close. Its eyes flickered, and it simply picked up its wrought-copper staff and headed straight for the ruined graveyard.
Its mountain monkey followers wanted to come along, but the monkey king refused.
None of them could follow. It would brave this trial alone.
In truth, resentment had been pent up inside the monkey king ever since the weasels snatched the treasured sword midway through its journey. After the monkey troop suffered defeat and heavy losses, it had felt even more stifled and infuriated.
Although the immortal master had intervened, frightening the weasels into pissing and shitting themselves, and they had subsequently delivered plentiful compensation and knelt to beg for mercy, the monkey king still considered itself a spineless loser.
It refused to accept that and could not resign itself to it.
It thought that if the treasured sword had not been stolen, or if it had defeated the weasels' ancestor and earned that merit, the immortal master would have bestowed more than a single mass of moonlight essence Qi.
There might have been many masses, or even direct instruction in the Dao and its methods.
Just because the weasels had stuck their noses in, everything had been ruined.
It had to avenge this hatred and resentment with its own hands.
Accepting compensation did not mean wiping the slate clean.
Everyone said weasels were petty and avenged even the slightest grievance, but was it, a monkey, any more magnanimous?
With the bright moon overhead and strength filling its body, only going over for a bout would ease its heart.
Huang Yu was curled up asleep inside a stone coffin.
Normally, it did not sleep at night, but practiced its arts instead.
However, the repeated frights of the past few days had left it mentally exhausted, and it had fallen asleep without meaning to.
But it was soon startled awake. One of its young came to report that the monkey king had come attacking their doorstep and injured several weasels.
Greatly alarmed, Huang Yu hurriedly questioned the youngster. Only after learning that the monkey king was alone and the sword immortal had not accompanied it did Huang Yu breathe a sigh of relief.
Yet, suspicious by nature, it worried that this might be a ploy to lure it out. The moment it went outside and showed its head, the sword immortal hiding in the shadows might send a sword flying over to take its head.
It wavered indecisively.
But the battle outside grew ever more desperate. The other weasels could not withstand the ferocious monkey king at all and were beaten into scattered blossoms and flowing water, fleeing in all directions.
At this, Huang Yu could no longer sit still. Its own ferocity was stirred, and it felt the monkey king had gone back on its word. Having accepted compensation, how could it turn around and attack their doorstep?
This was going too far!
Thus, it stormed outside and confronted the monkey king.
Both were Demon Beasts that had awakened their intelligence, but neither had yet refined the transverse bone in its throat. They could not speak human language or communicate normally.
In truth, there was nothing to discuss anyway. Enemies saw red upon meeting, and the monkey king swung its staff, striking straight at Huang Yu.
In close combat, Huang Yu was no match for it whatsoever. Its advantages lay in its ghostlike movements and the Law Technique it had learned.
As it dodged, billowing yellow smoke poured continuously from beneath the crotch of its floral cloth garments.
This was its ultimate trump card:
The Bewitching Smoke Formation complemented the Soul-Bewitching Technique, doubling their might.
Last time, the monkey king had fallen to this very move. First, the bewitching smoke had stung its eyes with searing pain, making tears stream endlessly and leaving it unable to open them; then the Law Technique had affected it, leaving its head buzzing and its senses reeling.
In that state, what fighting strength could it possibly have left?
Now Huang Yu employed the same old trick. Though the monkey king had prepared itself, it still struggled to withstand it. But it had not come to kill Huang Yu in the first place, merely to vent the vicious resentment in its heart through smashing and destruction. Once it had achieved its aim, it immediately sprang away, retreating onto a grave mound outside, where it stood and let out a strange laugh:
"Keh keh keh!"
As it laughed, it lifted its robe and let loose a furious stream of piss.
This was precisely what it meant to have an untamable wild nature.
The sight infuriated Huang Yu, but it did not give chase.
It understood that the earlier vicious battle between the two sides had kindled genuine fury, bringing them close to a fight to the death.
A relationship that had deteriorated so badly was not so easily reconciled.
Huang Yu was certainly not afraid of the monkey king. What it feared was the mysterious sword immortal behind it, so in certain matters, it had to exercise restraint and endurance.
After finishing, the monkey king pulled another provocative face. Seeing that Huang Yu still refused to react, it finally rested the wrought-copper staff on its shoulder and swaggered away.