Chapter 33: The Third Descent into Madness

Chapter 33: The Third Descent into Madness

Although Huaguo Mountain was not far from Wild Boar Forest, moving was an incredibly tedious affair. Thousands of wild boar soldiers were shuttling back and forth, carrying all sorts of miscellaneous items. Since boars are naturally lazy creatures, A-Fei had to lead a group of guards, constantly threatening them with whips to keep them moving with even a modicum of efficiency.

"Looks like this will take several days," Zhou Yu said, looking at the winding, long line of the moving procession.

The Lecherous Monkey shrugged and said nonchalantly, "It’s just a bit of trouble now; it will be fine once we settle in. Huaguo Mountain is abundant with food—it’s truly a rare treasure."

Zhou Yu frowned and asked, "Don't you remember the wild boar carcass we saw when we climbed the mountain last night?"

The Lecherous Monkey replied, "So what? You’ve said yourself that when I go berserk, I’m even more ruthless than that. A whole night has passed, and we haven't found anything yet. Maybe that thing saw me, the Monkey Grandfather, and got scared off!"

Zhou Yu felt a bead of sweat roll down his forehead, thinking to himself that this guy was truly thick-skinned.

For the rest of the day, Zhou Yu and the Lecherous Monkey spent the afternoon exploring the mountain, familiarizing themselves with the surrounding terrain. While Huaguo Mountain wasn't very tall, its surface area was vast. The fruits and other food sources in the forest were enough to sustain thousands of wild boar soldiers and over a thousand monkeys for several years, and with new fruit growing every year, the scarcest resource among the demon tribes seemed to have been resolved. Yet, the ancient legend remained a thorn in Zhou Yu's side.

As the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire. The fact that no Demon King had ever dared to covet the fruits on this mountain suggested there must be something unusually strange about it.

By evening, A-Fei arrived on the mountain, panting, to report the day's progress.

Zhou Yu kept his guard up and ordered A-Fei to have the boar soldiers gather and rest at the foot of the mountain, forbidding them from coming up. He feared that if they encountered an irresistible force during the night, it might undermine the Lecherous Monkey's authority in the eyes of the soldiers. Besides, if they had to flee, he and the monkey were definitely the fastest. After consulting with the monkey, they decided to stay on the mountain alone for the night.

When night fell, they lit a campfire. The Lecherous Monkey had dragged back a massive wild boar—a pure beast, unlike the boar soldiers.

"I found it in that persimmon grove. This guy was so fat it couldn't even move," the monkey said, using his demon energy to manifest a slender, golden scimitar. He sliced open the boar's belly and began skinning it and removing the innards.

Zhou Yu grinned and pulled two pitch-black, spherical objects from behind his back.

"What are those?" the monkey asked.

"Demon Cores!" Zhou Yu replied.

"Demon Cores? Where did you get them?" the monkey asked in surprise.

Zhou Yu said sheepishly, "When I subdued the boar soldiers yesterday, I had my doppelganger secretly slaughter two of them and extract their cores. Let’s take them and see if they have any effect."

The monkey turned pale with shock, stepped back twice, and exclaimed, "You’re terrifying! Will you be eyeing my Demon Core next?"

Zhou Yu curled his lip and retorted, "Get lost! What’s so terrifying? We’ve eaten the meat of those wild ox soldiers before, haven't we?" With that, he tossed one to the monkey.

The monkey caught it gingerly, held it in his palm, and after watching Zhou Yu swallow his whole, he closed his eyes and gulped it down as well.

A while later, the monkey blinked and asked, "How come it doesn't seem to have any effect?"

Zhou Yu was also perplexed. "That’s strange. I remember feeling like I’d been injected with adrenaline the moment I took one before. Why is it not working now?"

The monkey went back to roasting the boar meat, propping a thick, meaty leg over the campfire and turning it constantly. Soon, grease dripped onto the flames with a sizzling sound, releasing an enticing, smoky aroma.

Watching the leg turn golden-brown and smelling the savory scent, Zhou Yu couldn't help but swallow his saliva. "I’ve discovered you’re truly a genius. In such a short time, you’ve even mastered the difficult art of roasting meat."

The monkey used his demon energy to form a blade, sliced off a piece of meat, and handed it to Zhou Yu. "Of course. I am the second Wukong, after all!"

On this topic, Zhou Yu couldn't help but say, "You know, you really might be the reincarnation of Sun Wukong."

"What? Sun Wukong is dead?" the monkey asked, looking at Zhou Yu in astonishment. "Sun Wukong was so powerful that a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers couldn't defeat him. How could he die?"

Zhou Yu said, "The heavenly army couldn't defeat him, but they could use schemes and plots to ambush him. He was a great hero, but in the end, he was betrayed..." In truth, Zhou Yu wasn't entirely sure how the Demon Saint of the Animal Path had fallen, so he could only speak in generalities.

"Damn it! Just like the Demon Emperor Skeleton Crying! Always scheming against others!" the monkey said indignantly.

Zhou Yu pondered for a long time before saying, "If I’m not mistaken, even if you aren't the reincarnation of Sun Wukong, you are the monkey chosen by the Ruyi Jingu Bang."

Zhou Yu looked at the golden staff the monkey had placed to the side. Since killing the Wild Boar King, the blood-red color on the staff had faded completely, revealing a golden rod with the ancient characters "Ruyi Jingu Bang" clearly visible.

"Those characters say 'Ruyi Jingu Bang'!" Zhou Yu said, pointing to the writing.

The monkey stabbed the boar leg into the ground, picked up the staff, and studied the characters carefully. "Really?"

"Really," Zhou Yu replied earnestly.

The monkey was overcome with excitement. He plucked a tuft of hair from the back of his head, blew on it in his palm, and shouted, "Change!"

The tuft of hair drifted into the campfire, turned to ash, and emitted a foul odor.

"Why didn't it work?" the monkey asked.

Zhou Yu was speechless. "Even if you are the reincarnation of Sun Wukong, you haven't awakened yet. How could you possibly possess his former supernatural powers?"

The monkey put down the staff and went back to roasting the leg.

Seeing his crestfallen look, Zhou Yu comforted him, "Don't be too sad. If it’s true, you’ll awaken eventually. If not, with this staff and your own effort, you’ll defeat the Demon Emperor Skeleton Crying sooner or later."

"Who said I was sad? I was just testing it. I reckon the cloning technique is related to one's internal demon energy. My energy isn't sufficient yet, and I don't know the method, which is why it didn't work. Some powerful Demon Kings can use the cloning technique, too."

The two chatted about other things. Zhou Yu learned that Huaguo Mountain was located in the northern part of the demon territory, not far from Wild Ox Valley. However, the Leopard Tribe stood between them, and the monkey had taken a long detour to avoid them, hence the month-long journey.

Furthermore, there was another race near Huaguo Mountain: the Fox Tribe. Their Demon King, Fox Lady, was a woman of immense power; even the Five Great Demon Kings gave her some respect. However, ordinary fox demons lacked combat ability beyond their charms, so they had never grown strong and remained in this remote area.

"Looks like our neighbors aren't too strong," Zhou Yu remarked.

"Fox Lady is sinister. I don't know where she learned her demon arts, but they are completely different from the fighting style of ordinary Demon Kings. It's impossible to gauge her depth. It’s best not to offend her," the monkey warned.

Zhou Yu remembered the snow fox he had encountered on Maze Mountain. "Can the Fox Tribe change into human form? Like turning into a seductive beauty?"

The monkey sliced off a piece of meat and ate it while saying, "That requires a fox demon to reach the level of a Demon King, or to possess royal bloodline."

"Is a snow fox one of them?" Zhou Yu asked.

"A snow fox? Never heard of it. Young royal fox demons are usually white. Once they reach adulthood, they gain the ability to transform. They don't need to reach the Demon King level."

Zhou Yu nodded. The snow fox he had choked to death must have been a royal fox demon. At the time, it had almost no offensive power and was easily finished off with one hand.

The firewood crackled and popped, sending sparks into the air. Suddenly, Zhou Yu felt incredibly sleepy, and a burning sensation began to build in his lower abdomen.

Was it because he had thought about the snow fox's bare body that he felt a sudden stir of desire? Zhou Yu shook his head, struggling to stay alert.

The monkey, attracted by his movements, looked at Zhou Yu and saw that his eyes were blood-red, his breathing becoming ragged.

"Are you okay?" the monkey asked cautiously.

Zhou Yu answered in a daze, "I'm fine."

As he spoke, black mist began to pour from his mouth, gradually enveloping him.

The monkey dropped the boar meat, grabbed the golden staff, and darted backward. Upon landing, he looked up at the sky; a full moon, like a disk of jade, hung overhead!

"You... you..." The monkey pointed at Zhou Yu, whose mouth and nose were spewing black mist, and stepped back in terror.

The last time there was a full moon, Zhou Yu had gone mad, destroying the Black Bamboo Forest and nearly killing the monkey with a single punch. If not for the accidental energy transfer from the golden staff, the monkey would have been finished.

The monkey had only seen that level of power twice: once from an attack by the Demon Emperor Skeleton Crying, and once from that punch by Zhou Yu. In retrospect, the power of Zhou Yu’s punch was even greater than the Demon Emperor’s attack.

"Why are you running so far away?" Zhou Yu looked up at the monkey with blood-red eyes, speaking in a hazy voice.

The monkey felt that this time was different. Last time, the black mist Zhou Yu emitted had been exceptionally violent; just the sight of it made the monkey’s fur stand on end. This time, it felt remarkably calm, yet there was something indescribably strange about it.

After a moment of thought, the monkey stepped forward. "The first time you sang, the second time you went crazy. What are you planning this time?"

Zhou Yu let out a low growl. The black mist around him grew thicker.

"I'm going to f*ck you!" Zhou Yu suddenly looked up, staring intently at the monkey.

The monkey felt a chill from that gaze. For some reason, his skin crawled, his backside tightened, and he instinctively turned and ran with the golden staff.

"Hehe..." Zhou Yu let out a strange laugh and, wrapped in black mist, chased after him with a "whoosh."

The monkey was terrified, his tail standing straight up.

Zhou Yu chased him from behind, looked at the upright tail, and remarked, "You've got an erection, too..."

The monkey let out a shrill cry: "My god! This guy is trying to go gay!" He was so scared that tears flew from his eyes.

"Don't run!" Zhou Yu reached out a hand, and a black energy ball formed in his palm, launching toward the monkey.

The monkey dodged, jammed his staff into the cliff face, and vaulted upward, moving across the vertical rock as if it were flat ground.

Zhou Yu leaped with all his might, landing on the cliff face, his fingers digging deep into the rock, before leaping again in pursuit.

Just then, a dazzling white light erupted from a hidden cave on the cliff, and a faint, delicate gasp of a young girl echoed from within.