(Urgently seeking your help with Tuesday's qualifying follow-up reads to advance!)
Gazing at the enormous old banyan on the slope, Yan Ji looked nostalgic. "I remember there was a shrine beneath that tree, housing a statue of the Land God. When I was little, I followed Father and the others into the mountains to worship there. But things changed afterward. The ferry landing fell into ruin, mountain spirits and wild monsters ran rampant, and the situation throughout the mountains became different."
There were things he left unsaid, all because the source of those changes had begun at Corpse-Nurturing Cliff.
Yan Fei asked, "Brother Yan Ji, what about tonight?"
"The safest place to rest is up in the old banyan."
"All right."
The two continued onward and had just reached the vicinity of the slope.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A series of sounds sliced through the air.
"Careful! Hidden weapons!"
Yan Fei shouted a warning and instinctively ducked behind a pine.
Thwack! Thwack!
Amid the dense barrage of impacts, the so-called "hidden weapons" turned out to be clods of mud, stones, and the like.
"Ee! Ee! Ee!"
Urgent cries rang out, and furry faces with pointed cheeks and protruding mouths poked out among the pine branches.
Discovering that they were merely a few black-furred mountain monkeys, Yan Fei felt he had lost face. He drew several throwing darts and sent them shooting out.
Two monkeys were struck and immediately fell from the trees.
The darts were poisoned. Foaming at the mouth, they struggled a few times before meeting an untimely death.
Seeing this, the other monkeys scattered in fright and fled far away.
Yan Ji had not intervened. Watching with his hands behind his back, he smiled. "Yan Fei, your throwing darts are getting more accurate."
Feeling he had regained his face, Yan Fei said, "Killing these monkeys is like killing chickens. Too easy."
Yan Ji swept his gaze around. "These mountain monkeys mostly live in troops. There must be a monkey king, and it may already have become a Demon Beast. Look around and see where it is."
Yan Fei asked, "Brother Yan Ji, do you want to capture the monkey king alive?"
Yan Ji nodded. "Demon Beasts that have awakened their intelligence are very valuable. Once captured, they can be sold or tamed into demon servants to guard homes and courtyards, drive carriages, and so on. I've heard the Holy Maiden say that the great sects keep many Demon Beasts as mounts."
Yan Fei said enviously, "Having a Demon Beast as a mount would be so impressive."
He knew full well that only disciples of great sects qualified for such treatment. He could only dream of it.
The two searched for the monkey king but could not find it. Even the ordinary mountain monkeys had all fled.
They saw rubbish piled like mountains below the slope, all broken bricks and rotten wood. One glance told them it had been dismantled and hauled up from the ferry landing.
These monkeys really knew how to make a fuss.
But beasts were beasts. They could not even build a house, merely making themselves a laughingstock.
On Banyan Tree Slope, Chen Jin stepped out of the shrine after finishing his daytime practice.
After these days of gathering and refining Qi, the True Qi within him had grown stronger.
The True Qi circulated within his body, improving the efficiency of embryonic breathing. The resulting feedback in turn increased the speed at which he connected and opened the twelve primary meridians.
The entire cultivation system was linked together, each part complementing the others.
Everything was moving in a good direction.
Barring any surprises, once night fell, he could climb the tree again to gather moonlight essence Qi.
Just then, Chen Jin heard the commotion below the slope. The mountain monkeys were calling incessantly, their cries urgent.
After interacting with the troop, he had learned to distinguish their cries and knew that different calls conveyed different meanings.
The meaning conveyed by their current cries was unmistakable: an outside enemy had invaded!
Chen Jin's heart abruptly tightened.
To prepare for winter, the monkey king had led a group of strong monkeys out to search for food over the past two days and had yet to return.
Thus, only the old and weak monkeys were guarding the area below. They could not stop the intruders, and their mournful cries indicated that monkeys had already been killed.
Chen Jin heard them clearly. Without hesitation, he immediately picked up the Slay Evil Sword, leaped into the old banyan, and hid among a leafy bough's branches to peer outside.
Before long, he saw two men come up the slope and arrive before the shrine.
Yan Ji looked around in surprise. "It's so clean here. It seems someone tends to this place regularly. How strange."
Born in a mountain stockade, he was skilled at hunting and knew the habits of many birds and beasts. Animals like monkeys were quite slovenly, eating, drinking, and relieving themselves wherever they pleased. Their dwelling should have been littered with rubbish.
Yan Fei pointed. "Brother Yan Ji, the statue in the shrine is gone."
He strode over, poked his head inside to look, then sniffed. His expression changed drastically. "Corpse stench! It's corpse stench!"
Hearing this, Yan Ji hurried forward and sniffed as well. "That's right. It is corpse stench, and very fresh. I'm certain it belongs to that escaped White Zombie."
"It's right here. It hasn't gone far!"
As he spoke, he drew his curved saber and scanned their surroundings warily.
Yan Fei stood beside him, holding a saber in one hand and two throwing darts in the other. He asked, "From the looks of it, that zombie seems to live here. Then what about Yan Li and Yan Ji? Did they not find this place? Or did they find it, only to be eaten by the zombie?"
Yan Ji snorted coldly. "A mere White Zombie-could Yan Li and Yan Ji possibly have failed to subdue it?"
Yan Fei knew he could not accept the possibility that something had happened to his younger brother. On second thought, with both the time and location unclear, there were too many variables. It was indeed difficult to draw a firm conclusion.
Yan Li and his companion might have gone upstream to search, or they might have encountered some other unexpected incident along the way...
For instance, if that mutant toad occupying the ferry landing had been there, the two would have found it difficult to break through with their abilities.
Thus, they would have retreated in the face of difficulty and taken a detour, causing them to bypass this place.
They had just missed the White Zombie.
That way, many things could be explained.
The two had searched farther and farther afield, and naturally would not dare return without finding it.
Believing he had found the answer, Yan Fei could not help asking again, "Brother Yan Ji, since the White Zombie escaped, shouldn't it have burrowed underground to absorb earth baleful Yin Qi? Why would it choose to live in a shrine? It's not a god!"
Unable to find any clue to his younger brother's whereabouts, Yan Ji grew agitated. "How would I know? In any case, this is strange. We must be extra careful."
Looking at the entire affair, far too many things did not make sense.
First, the White Zombie's escape from Corpse-Nurturing Cliff was highly suspicious. Second, after fleeing to Banyan Tree Slope, instead of finding a coffin to lie in, it had insisted on settling in the shrine and had even cleaned the surroundings so thoroughly.
It was simply bizarre.
Was this a zombie or a living person?
If the lingering corpse stench had not been impossible to fake, they could never have imagined a zombie living here.
"Search! We'll follow the corpse stench. It moves slowly, so it can't have gone far."
The two immediately set off, twitching their noses like dogs as they sniffed around.
But after sniffing their way around the vicinity, they found nothing and returned to the shrine.
Winter days were short, and the sky had already darkened. Beneath the old banyan's canopy, in particular, it was already very dark.
However, they carried fire strikers and torches, which they soon lit for illumination.
Holding a torch each, Yan Ji and Yan Fei exchanged a glance and arrived at the same thought: if the zombie had not fled, then it was most likely hiding in the tree.
They immediately exchanged a meaningful look and slowly raised their heads.
"Awooo!"
Suddenly, an enraged roar came from far outside.
"Awooo!"
Then came a second cry, already at the foot of the slope.
So fast!
Yan Ji and his companion exchanged another glance and said in unison, "It's the monkey king."