Chapter 59: The Little Monkey's Big Ambition

Chapter 59: The Little Monkey's Big Ambition (Third Update)

Before even reaching the borders of Flower-Fruit Mountain, two rows of boar soldiers could be seen standing on both sides of the path in the distance. They were holding up flags bearing crookedly written demon characters, the general meaning of which was to welcome the Great King, welcome the brothers and sisters of the Fox clan, and welcome the Supreme Saint Xuanqing.

Furthermore, many boar soldiers held food in their hands, standing respectfully on both sides of the road to offer it. Looking into the distance, banners fluttered in the wind, and the welcoming procession extended for over a mile.

Seeing this, the colorful monkey felt immensely proud. He patted his somewhat slender chest and said, "Look, these are my little brothers!"

The young maidens of the Fox clan had been giggling and frolicking all the way. Upon witnessing this spectacle, they felt utterly astonished. Having lived peaceful lives detached from worldly affairs in the Fox domain, they had practically never traveled far from home.

Bounding forward one by one, the fox maidens reached the front of the procession. They surrounded the colorful monkey, bombarding him with endless questions. The colorful monkey beamed with delight, endlessly boasting about his glorious history and how heroic he had been.

At this moment, the sky was cloudless and the weather was bright and clear. The heavy snow had finally stopped, and the wind was no longer fierce. Despite this, after a long journey lasting a day and a night with almost no provisions, most of the Fox clan members were running on empty stomachs. The previously somewhat lifeless procession gradually became animated, and the atmosphere grew warm and lively.

Zhou Yu rubbed his nose and looked at Ah Fei, who was waving at him from the distance. He felt quite satisfied with Ah Fei's arrangements. Whether it was enforcing military discipline, training soldiers, offering strategic advice, or managing such superficial yet impressive pageantry, Ah Fei was an absolute master. He truly was a rare and talented pig.

The carrying bed was quietly lowered, and Xuanqing straightened up. Looking at the long welcoming procession across the snowy white earth ahead, he could not help feeling a strange sensation. Although in ancient times he had been a supreme powerhouse, that had been a dark era, and how could he have ever enjoyed such treatment? What he had received back then was only fear.

A curve formed at the corner of his mouth, and Xuanqing stepped down from the bed. After a day and a night of self-recovery, his injuries had healed significantly and were basically no longer a serious issue. However, much of the energy within his body had been expended on healing or consumed, and he was still far from reaching his peak state. He leisurely walked over to Fox Lady's side.

"It seems quite nice, after all," Xuanqing remarked.

Fox Lady did not quite understand his current mindset and asked, "Why does Supreme Saint Xuanqing say so?"

Xuanqing smiled and said nothing.

Fox Lady did not take it to heart and said, "This time, our Fox clan and Supreme Saint Xuanqing truly got to know each other through conflict. From now on, I hope the Supreme Saint will look after us."

Hearing Fox Lady being so polite, Xuanqing felt quite pleased. He nodded with a faint smile and replied, "It is merely a trivial matter."

Ultimately, the group arrived in front of the welcoming procession. Ah Fei led the formation in dropping to their knees in unison, shouting at the top of their lungs, "Welcome, welcome, a warm welcome!"

Zhou Yu was stunned. Ah Fei really was a genius; he had managed to independently come up with the most popular welcoming slogan from Earth.

Following that, with a wave of Ah Fei's hand, the boar soldiers holding food respectfully offered their provisions.

Zhou Yu casually grabbed a duck and began gnawing on it as he quickened his pace, bypassing the crowd and heading straight toward Flower-Fruit Mountain. Xiao Qing was waiting there.

Fox Lady smiled as she watched Zhou Yu's retreating figure; she was thoroughly satisfied with this prospective son-in-law.

The fox maidens took the food offered by the boar soldiers and distributed it among the crowd, darting back and forth like cheerful butterflies.

The dull-witted and ugly-looking boar soldiers were all captivated by these young maidens. Upon learning that they all belonged to the royal bloodline of the Fox clan, their initial admiration transformed into deep reverence.

Although Fox Lady longed to see Xiao Qing, she did not head up the mountain immediately. Instead, she followed the crowd, slowly touring and taking in the sights as they entered Flower-Fruit Mountain.

With Ah Fei acting as a guide, his eloquence painted Flower-Fruit Mountain as a veritable celestial wonderland, describing how wonderful and marvelous it was. Although everyone knew he was bragging, they were all in high spirits and played along with him.

"Ah Fei! You say Flower-Fruit Mountain is so wonderful, aren't you afraid someone will come and snatch it away?" asked a young fox maiden. Ah Fei was naturally amiable, and the fox maidens were quite bold; after just a brief interaction, everyone had already become familiar with one another.

"Afraid? With me, the Monkey King, here! Why would I ever be afraid? I'll kill one if one comes, and I'll kill a pair if two come!" The colorful monkey popped out from the side, wielding his golden staff and shouting loudly, looking every bit as if he were the number-one being in the entire world.

"Is the Monkey King really that powerful?" The fox maidens had never witnessed the colorful monkey's abilities, so they naturally asked. Moreover, the Fox clan had always lived detached from worldly affairs and basically engaged in no battles. Although they knew Fox Lady possessed magical arts, they actually had no idea how strong she truly was, having never seen her demonstrate it.

During the great battle the previous night, they had hidden inside a cave, hearing only endless loud noises from the outside without witnessing anything with their own eyes. Thus, these innocent maidens had virtually no concept or impression of combat.

Hearing her question, the colorful monkey instantly perked up. He leaped into the air and smashed a massive boulder, about the size of a millstone, into fine powder with a single strike of his staff, producing a deafening roar.

"Ah..."

Startled by this display, the fox maidens instinctively covered their ears and shrieked.

The boar soldiers, accustomed to their Great King's penchant for showing off, all cheered loudly. Seeing the fox maidens frightened, they burst into laughter.

There was no malice in their laughter. Realizing they were being laughed at, the fox maidens pinched their delicate fists, stamped their feet, and their pale cheeks flushed crimson, resembling the glowing clouds at sunset.

Refusing to stop there, the colorful monkey plucked a hair from the back of his head, placed it in his palm, and gently blew on it. With a series of soft pops, over a dozen identical clones materialized.

Jumping onto a giant boulder and resting his golden staff on his shoulder, the colorful monkey proclaimed loudly, "This is my cloning technique! As long as I know this art, I can withstand an enemy's army of thousands."

"Was that made from a monkey hair?" a maiden asked.

The colorful monkey leaped down from the boulder, commanding his clones to attack the giant boulder while he watched from the side with an air of complete ease. "Of course it was!" he replied.

With a loud crash, the clones smashed the boulder to pieces.

This time, not only the boar soldiers but even the fox maidens joined in the cheering.

"Such a show-off of a monkey," Xuanqing muttered softly.

Fox Lady smiled and said, "Supreme Saint Xuanqing, you may not know this. While cloning techniques are naturally just trivial matters to someone like you, to people like us, it is an extremely powerful art. Among over a hundred demon kings in the demon realm, fewer than ten can use the cloning technique. Furthermore, this monkey is not even a demon king yet—he is merely a demon general. Yet he can produce over a dozen clones. We must admit that this monkey truly has the capital to show off."

Xuanqing narrowed his eyes as he sized up the colorful monkey. Nodding, he said, "Although I have been continuously sealed over the years, I have seen plenty of demon kings passing beneath Flower-Fruit Mountain. This monkey's aptitude is absolute top-tier among the demon realm. At least, I have never seen anyone with greater combat talent than him."

Over there, the crowd was gathered around the colorful monkey watching his performance, and the monkey was thoroughly enjoying the spotlight.

"Monkey King! Every time you fight, you have to pull out your hair. Won't you end up completely bald?" asked a young fox maiden, which immediately provoked a round of uproarious laughter.

The colorful monkey rubbed the back of his head and felt around, thinking to himself that he did indeed seem to have lost a bit of hair. He couldn't help feeling a pang of worry that the fox maiden's prediction might come true.

However, he refused to show it and decided to ask Zhou Yu about it in private.

"How could that be? A man of such manly character as myself has an endless supply of hair no matter how much I pull out!" the colorful monkey retorted.

"No wonder you're the Monkey King! Humans don't have that much hair," the fox maiden added.

Hearing this, the colorful monkey felt a surge of irritation. Why did these beautiful maidens always favor humans? Although he was a monkey, he was a very handsome monkey! Furthermore, he possessed immense strength and martial prowess, was a great king, and ruled over an entire mountain.

Yet in the eyes of these fox maidens, all of that was far less attractive than the mere word "human."

In his heart, he cursed Zhou Yu ten thousand times over.

"Those humans are just a bunch of sissies! Let me tell you, a real man must have fur to be truly masculine!" the colorful monkey hollered.

Xuanqing couldn't help looking down at his own body. His entire form was covered in scales, completely devoid of any hair. He let out a cold snort, and a wave of oppressive aura bore directly down upon the colorful monkey.

The colorful monkey's legs buckled, and he almost tumbled over. Glancing at Xuanqing and realizing he had provoked him, the monkey flashed a brilliant, ingratiating smile toward Xuanqing and pointed at him, saying, "That person right there is the supreme powerhouse of the demon realm for hundreds of millions of years! Look at him—does he look anything like a human? Only by not looking like a human can one become truly powerful!"

Upon hearing this, Fox Lady burst out laughing with a chuckle.

Xuanqing's expression grew even more unsightly. He let out a heavy snort and turned to walk away, utterly unable to cope with this monkey—yet somehow, under circumstances beyond his control, he had actually sworn brotherhood with the creature.

Seeing that he had successfully chased Xuanqing away, the colorful monkey became even bolder, boasting wildly in an attempt to reshape the aesthetic and romantic values of the fox maidens.

When evening arrived, the monkey clan, the fox clan, and the boar clan all gathered on the mountainside of Flower-Fruit Mountain to hold a grand bonfire celebration.

The colorful monkey sipped fruit wine and continuously flirted with several fox maidens.

Zhou Yu sat quietly beside Fox Lady alongside Xiao Qing, chatting idly.

Ah Fei was truly formidable; after a few cups of wine, he and Xuanqing had hit it off famously. It was a completely impossible scene—one was merely a demon soldier while the other possessed power surpassing a demon emperor—yet the two sat together, chatting animatedly as if they had known each other in a past life.

The food reserves on Flower-Fruit Mountain were exceptionally abundant. Currently, the combined total population of the various clans exceeded seven thousand, yet the food supply was more than sufficient—even vastly excessive.

This was largely because they had entered the mountain late and snow had fallen early. Had all the food on Flower-Fruit Mountain been harvested and stored before winter, it could have easily sustained fifty thousand demons for an entire year.

Under such circumstances, it was inevitable that other ambitions would begin to brew.

After three rounds of drinks, the colorful monkey left the table of fox maidens and approached the table shared by Fox Lady and Zhou Yu, while simultaneously signaling Ah Fei with a glance.

Ah Fei understood. Using goodness knows what method, he actually managed to drag Xuanqing over to sit with them as well.

After everyone clinked cups and drank a few rounds, they couldn't help feeling a sense of emotional resonance. Not long ago, the very same group of people had sat together, but their states of mind then and now were completely different.

Tonight, everyone had truly opened their hearts, leaving behind all reservations and suspicions.

Seizing the opportunity, the colorful monkey began recounting the numerous grave sins of the Demon Emperor White-Bone Cry.

Xuanqing didn't think much of the Demon Emperor White-Bone Cry in the first place, so he was more than happy to listen to the monkey curse him.

Fox Lady merely listened from the side with a faint, gentle smile. In truth, ever since she joined forces with the colorful monkey in this endeavor, they were already grasshoppers tied to the same rope.

"I want to rebel! I want to defeat White-Bone Cry!" the colorful monkey finally blurted out his innermost thoughts.

"I object!" Xuanqing said.