Chapter Thirteen: The reason I have managed to survive until now is certainly not because I am a handsome fellow!

The Colored Monkey’s desperate strike whistled through the air, tearing into the void.

Yet, it tore through nothing but air.

The Bull King did not look back at the sound of the wind being rent behind him. Instead, he lunged forward, stomping the ground with such force that his massive, three-meter frame launched like a cannonball, covering a distance of thirty meters in an instant. The Colored Monkey’s strike had narrowly grazed the Bull King’s back, knocking loose only a few tufts of fur.

Missing his mark, the Colored Monkey did not pursue. He knew that the golden opportunity created by Zhou Yu had been squandered. Was the gap between them truly this vast? The Monkey’s heart sank.

The Bull King turned around, his eyes blazing with fury. Having nearly been wounded by a sneak attack, he felt a faint, lingering sting on his back from the wind of that staff; had the blow landed, it would have been no laughing matter.

Zhou Yu stood up slowly, ignoring the Bull King’s hateful glare. He walked nonchalantly toward the trident, gripped it with one hand, and felt the fine engravings upon it. He sighed with genuine admiration, "What a magnificent trident!"

"Stop daydreaming," the Colored Monkey snapped. "He’s truly enraged now. He won’t fall for your tricks again."

Standing thirty meters away, the Bull King raised his right hand and brought it down with a thunderous motion. "Damn it! Let’s show them who they’ve really crossed! Men, attack!"

At his command, a dozen bull soldiers charged forward, shrieking and brandishing their own tridents.

Zhou Yu gripped the trident with one hand and exerted force, but he could only lift it slightly, nearly injuring his arm in the process. He was shocked by its immense weight.

Seeing Zhou Yu attempt to lift his weapon only to hurt himself, the Bull King scoffed, amused. "Do ants think they can shake a tree?"

"Do you think I was using even one percent of my strength just now?" Zhou Yu shouted. He channeled the energy within him into his arms; his muscles bulged, swelling by a third, and his joints popped with a sharp, crackling sound.

With a roar, he lifted the three-thousand-pound trident with one hand, swung it through the air—leaving trails of green energy—and pointed it at the charging bull soldiers and their King.

"You really are a big, stupid ox, handing your weapon to your opponent," Zhou Yu taunted. "I’ve seen fools, but never one as foolish as you."

The Bull King was livid. He had not expected this mere Demon General-level runt to lift his trident, let alone swing it so effortlessly. Three thousand pounds was light for a Demon King, especially for the bull clan, who were gifted with great strength. However, for a typical Demon General, even if they could lift it, wielding it with such ease was impossible; it was unwieldy and useless as a weapon.

But Zhou Yu was a child hardened by hardship. During his first descent from the snowy mountains with the Old Man and Liu Yueming, he had served as a porter, dragging a giant bear carcass down the mountain alone while racing Liu Yueming. That strength already surpassed ordinary Demon Generals, and his power now was far beyond what it had once been.

"Ah! You’re dead!" The Bull King finally decided to end Zhou Yu. He let out a furious roar and opened his blood-red maw.

A black demon-orb formed rapidly within his throat, condensing with terrifying speed. Faint, greenish-blue lightning flickered around it. Before the bull soldiers could reach Zhou Yu and the Monkey, the orb had fully formed, solid and shimmering with a sinister, dark light. The Bull King spat it out, and it streaked toward them.

The pitch-black orb covered the thirty meters in a heartbeat, outstripping the soldiers. Wherever it passed, the air seemed to scorch, leaving a long, black trail of fire like an angry, roaring black dragon.

While the demon-orb was powerful and long-ranged, its only flaw was that it could not be fired instantly. The Bull King had spent four heartbeats condensing it—four heartbeats that were more than enough for Zhou Yu and the Colored Monkey to prepare.

As the orb left the Bull King’s mouth, both leaped backward. The Monkey, naturally, was adept at jumping. Zhou Yu, clutching the massive trident, channeled energy into his legs, exploding with enough power to leap even further than the Monkey.

During their recent skirmishes, Zhou Yu had realized his meridians had fully recovered and were now even better than before. His arms and legs were as wide as the sea, and while the rest of his body was not as robust, his meridians were like flowing rivers. He had grown accustomed to channeling his energy throughout his body at high speeds.

In truth, having consumed the meat of the giant crab, Zhou Yu’s internal energy was vast. The problem was that he could only tap into a small fraction of it at a time due to his lack of practice. But that small portion was exactly what he was using now.

The demon-orb exploded where they had stood, carving out a massive crater.

The Colored Monkey looked on in agony as the remnants of the crab he had gathered were vaporized. His fear of the Bull King vanished, replaced by pure rage. He brandished his golden-black staff, let out a strange, screeching cry, and charged into the fray, clashing with the bull soldiers.

With a horizontal sweep of his iron staff, he cleaved a soldier in two. Though the sheer number of bull soldiers slowed him down, the Monkey’s staff was relentless. Within dozens of rounds, five soldiers were out of the fight.

The Bull King watched coldly from the side. He knew these underlings were mere cannon fodder, but he used them to test his opponents' strength and force them to reveal their trump cards. He eyed the Monkey’s golden-black staff with intrigue—it was clearly an extraordinary weapon.

"Hey! Stupid ox! Who are you looking at? I’m over here!" Zhou Yu continued to bait him. "Don't you want your big trident back?"

The Bull King’s attention snapped back to Zhou Yu, his brow furrowing. This guy was truly insufferable!

The Bull King ignored the Monkey and launched himself at Zhou Yu like a cannonball. Zhou Yu did not retreat; he dragged the trident and charged to meet him.

"Hah!" The Bull King roared, his arm muscles hardening like stone as a layer of energy coated his palm. Zhou Yu exerted every ounce of strength to thrust the trident forward.

The Bull King was a true Demon King—fast and powerful. Zhou Yu could track his movements, but he lacked the time to react, so he simply ignored his own safety and thrust the trident, leaving his own defense wide open.

Just as they were about to collide, the Colored Monkey erupted into motion. His staff danced in a flurry of points—a technique of exquisite mastery. With several sharp "thwips," he pierced the hearts of five bull soldiers, broke through the encirclement, and attacked the Bull King from the flank.

The Monkey had been hiding his true skill, waiting for this moment. The Bull King, caught in the momentum of his attack, was forced to extend his left hand to intercept the staff.

The Bull King’s left hand was coated in energy, but the power in his right hand waned. With a sudden jerk of his arms, he grabbed the two steel rings from his wrists, using them to block the coordinated assault.

With two deafening booms, the steel rings shattered, and both Zhou Yu and the Monkey were sent flying by the immense recoil.

The Bull King halted, his hands trembling slightly. *Truly a fine weapon,* he thought, eyeing the Monkey’s staff. His trident was a divine weapon of the Demon Realm, capable of shattering the rings, but the Monkey’s staff had done the same. He knew the Monkey lacked the strength to do this alone; the weapon itself was the key.

Zhou Yu and the Monkey crashed into the mud, leaving deep craters. As Zhou Yu’s trident struck the rings, the shockwave nearly tore the weapon from his grip. Knowing that losing the trident meant certain death, he endured the agony of his hands splitting open and held on for dear life.

"You’ve forced me to get serious," the Bull King growled.

Zhou Yu and the Monkey scrambled to their feet, both covered in grime. They had expected their increased power to be enough to handle a common Demon King, but the gap remained daunting. They were already on the verge of defeat after a single exchange.

The remaining bull soldiers saw their chance and charged at the Monkey, tridents leveled.

"Your Grandfather Monkey doesn't believe he can't take you down!" the Monkey roared, sweeping a soldier away. "And let me tell you, I didn't survive this long just because I’m handsome!"

With a full-power strike, his staff bent like a scimitar, smashing through a soldier and his trident alike, showering the air in a mist of blood.

Zhou Yu’s spirit was ignited. Ignoring his bleeding wounds, he mimicked the Monkey’s roar: "I didn’t survive this long just because I’m a pretty boy!"

He charged toward the Bull King.