The Ape Demon's Lair
Zhou Si looked up at the sky. The light in the forest had already dimmed, and the daylight filtering through the gaps in the canopy had turned from gold to gray-blue.
"It'll be dark soon, and we've only searched about half the area." She looked around, her gaze settling on an ancient tree dozens of zhang tall. "Let's find somewhere to rest for the night and continue tomorrow."
"All right."
The two chose the ancient tree with the clearest view.
Zhou Si glanced at its straight trunk and was about to ask Lu Feng if he needed help when she saw him tap his toes lightly against it and spring upward. With a few leaps off the bark, he landed steadily on a thick branch.
His movements flowed like clouds and water, without dislodging a single leaf.
Zhou Si froze for a moment, then laughed.
"I forgot. You've reached perfection in your lightness technique."
She leaped up as well. Though not as smoothly as Lu Feng, she still made it up the tree without trouble.
Each settled against a branch, backs to the trunk and facing different directions.
As night deepened, the light in the forest was swallowed up bit by bit, until only a scattering of starlight remained overhead.
Neither of them slept.
Night was when demonic beasts were active. They both knew that.
But the night was unexpectedly quiet.
There were no demonic beasts roaring, no sounds of hunting, and even the chirping of insects was so faint as to be almost absent.
The entire mountain forest seemed to have something gripping it by the throat, its oppressive stillness making them uneasy.
Lu Feng kept his eyes closed and remained on guard. The abnormal quiet made the suspicion in his heart grow clearer and clearer.
The next day, as soon as dawn began to break, the two jumped down from the tree and continued their search.
Three shichen later, they reached the ape demon's lair.
It was a huge cave opening in the mountainside, fully three zhang high.
In the clearing outside, two first-tier ape demons lay lazily on a boulder, basking in the sun, while seven or eight untiered young ape demons chased and tussled with one another nearby.
Zhou Si lowered her voice, a hint of relief in her tone. "You really did guess right. There are first-tier demons in the ape demon lair after all."
The taut string inside her finally slackened a little. They had finally encountered tiered demonic beasts, which meant they were headed in the right direction.
But Lu Feng's gaze passed over the two first-tier ape demons and turned toward the depths of the cave.
The entrance was wide, but a few steps inside, the light was swallowed up, and nothing could be seen clearly.
Yet he could sense a presence far more powerful than that of a first-tier demonic beast, slowly and heavily rising and falling within.
"More than that." He withdrew his gaze, keeping his voice very low. "With two first-tier demonic beasts guarding the entrance, there's at least one second-tier beast inside."
Zhou Si's expression changed slightly.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on sensing it for a moment. When she opened them again, her expression had grown more solemn.
Lu Feng was right. Though faint, that presence was indeed there, and it was even stronger than she had expected.
"Let me handle it this time." Zhou Si gripped the hilt of her saber, her gaze falling on the two first-tier ape demons. "You dealt with all the others before. It's time I did my part."
Lu Feng turned his head to glance at her. After a brief hesitation, he said, "Senior Sister Zhou, you take on the second-tier one. Leave the rest to me. How about it?"
He paused, then added, "If there's more than one second-tier beast in there, I'm afraid you'll have trouble dealing with them if you spend too much strength now, Senior Sister."
He had changed how he addressed her on the way here.
During their earlier purge of the demon lair, Zhou Si had noticed Lu Feng circulating his Nei Jin and learned that he, too, had reached the Nei Jin realm-and that he had already reached Mid Nei Jin.
Zhou Si had asked why he was still a demon-slaying guard. Lu Feng had only said that he had joined the Demon-Slaying Bureau not long ago and had not yet had time to report his breakthrough.
That had made Zhou Si a little more curious about him. Others applied for promotion to demon-slaying envoy the moment they broke through to Nei Jin, but this man was in no hurry at all.
Afterward, she had felt that calling her "my lady" was too distant, so she told him to call her Senior Sister instead.
Zhou Si considered Lu Feng's words and did not refuse, only reminding him, "All right. Be careful."
Lu Feng nodded, drew the Six Harmonies Saber, and flashed forward.
This time, he did not use Treading on Snow Without a Trace, but Carefree Steps instead.
Lu Feng traced a strange arc across the clearing, cutting into the midst of the ape demons in an instant.
The two first-tier ape demons had not even had time to sit up on the boulder.
A saber flashed.
Lu Feng unleashed the perfected Gale Saber Art.
The first-tier ape demon nearest Lu Feng had just opened its mouth when its head shot into the air, blood gushing out.
[Ding! Successfully slew a first-tier ape demon. Demon Points obtained: 1000;]
"Humans..."
The other first-tier ape demon finally reacted. It sprang up from the boulder and opened its mouth to sound the alarm.
But its voice had barely emerged when the second saber flash arrived.
Its enormous ape head tilted and slid from its neck.
[Ding! Successfully slew a first-tier ape demon. Demon Points obtained: 1000;]
From the moment he struck to the end, the two first-tier ape demons had lasted no more than two breaths.
The remaining untiered young ape demons were scared out of their souls and fled screaming into the depths of the cave.
Lu Feng lowered his saber and stood there, looking back at Zhou Si.
"Perfect. We'll catch them all in one net."
The two entered the cave carefully, one behind the other.
The cave was much deeper than it looked from outside. After about twenty-odd steps, the space before them suddenly opened up,
and a vast circular cavern came into view. Naturally formed cracks in the ceiling let in a few shafts of daylight, leaving the entire cavern half in light and half in shadow.
An ape demon sat cross-legged in the very center of the cavern.
It was a full size larger than the two at the entrance, its body covered in golden-gray fur. Two fangs jutted up past its upper lip.
A second-tier demonic beast. Apart from it, the cavern held only the untiered young ape demons that had just fled inside.
There was nothing else.
Lu Feng and Zhou Si exchanged a glance, both taken aback.
Such a huge cave, and there was only one second-tier demon and a few little demons? It was completely different from what they had expected.
The golden-gray ape demon slowly raised its head and fixed its gaze on the two of them, a flash of crimson passing through its eyes.
"Humans." Its voice was low and hoarse, its killing intent undisguised. "You dare intrude on this venerable one's territory? You're courting death."
Before its words had faded, it reached up, pulled a handful of golden-gray hair from the top of its head, and flicked its fingertips.
Dozens of hairs shot through the air like tiny steel needles, whistling sharply as they flew toward the two of them.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Lu Feng and Zhou Si raised their sabers to block at the same time. The Six Harmonies Saber spun into a curtain of steel before him, the clash of metal ringing incessantly. The ape hairs struck the blade with astonishing force, sending sparks flying.
After blocking the first wave of attacks, Zhou Si did not hesitate. She channeled Nei Jin into her saber and charged straight at the golden-gray ape demon like a streak of light.
Saber light and ape claws collided in midair, producing a piercing screech of metal.
Lu Feng, meanwhile, turned and darted toward the untiered young ape demons in the corner.
A saber flashed.
[Ding! Successfully slew an untiered ape demon. Demon Points obtained: 100;] [Ding! Successfully slew an untiered ape demon. Demon Points obtained: 100;]
After several system notifications, the corner of the cavern fell silent.
Lu Feng lowered his saber and turned to look at the fight.