Witch Wind

Chapter 383 The Demonic Ape Shocks the World (Part 2)

Xing Tianli stood with his hands behind his back on the east gate tower of Sanhu County.

Looking out from here, one can vaguely see the plum blossoms stretching for thousands of miles over Mogan Mountain, their vibrant colors like rosy clouds, a truly magnificent sight and an excellent spot.

Outside the city, two great rivers converge.

On the river, white sails dot the water, fishermen sing joyfully, and as fishing nets are cast, egrets take flight. Children sit at the bow of boats, holding small fishing rods, casting and reeling in with great skill.

Further away, in the leveled farmland, farmers were busy at work.

Along the edge of the farmland, on the smooth path, the public school students, shirtless and wearing only shorts, ran past in a long, thunderous procession, chanting slogans. On their backs, they carried loads ranging from a hundred to a thousand pounds, each one drenched in sweat, white steam rising from their heads.

The teachers from the public school rode their horses and followed the procession at a leisurely pace.

High in the sky, two winged beings of modest strength glided lazily through the air, occasionally glancing down at the students of the public school.

These winged people, whose cultivation level was only at the Human Immortal Realm, were slaves among the winged people, the lowest of the low.

Even so, they still held an insurmountable position among the descendants of Kyushu. They served as supervisors in the public schools, and if they could cultivate enough promising talents to send to the outer battlefield, they would receive extremely generous rewards.

To paraphrase an old saying from Kyushu—these supervisors of schools are those who 'stain their official hats with the blood of the monks of the public schools'!
Xing Tianli felt annoyed looking at the two guys who were so carefree in the air, and he wanted to have some fun.

So he pointed to a grove of trees a dozen miles away, and the Tower of Creation emitted a wisp of eerie light, from which a dozen four-armed demonic apes appeared out of thin air. They shook their heads, leaped into the air, and landed in an open space, letting out a high-pitched roar at the two winged slaves in the sky.

The terrifying roar shook the heavens and the earth, causing waves several feet high to rise on both rivers, startling the white sails that hurriedly pulled ashore.

In the air, the two winged men shuddered in fright. They looked down sharply and suddenly saw more than a dozen four-armed demonic apes, each over three zhang tall, frantically pounding their chests and roaring at them.

For some inexplicable reason, their wings cramped up, and they plummeted straight down from the sky, their bodies limp.

The sheer terror of the innate spirit apes' hunt for the winged people was etched into their blood and souls... These winged people, especially the lowest-ranking slaves, were terrified out of their wits when they saw these four-armed demonic apes.

The dozen or so demonic apes stopped roaring and staring blankly at the two unlucky guys who fell from a height of thousands of feet and crashed into a large rock, shattering their skulls and killing them instantly.

Xing Tianli curled his lip.

Those two little trash, they're utterly useless. They don't even have a shred of physical cultivation, their bodies are so weak, they just fell a thousand feet into the air and died instantly?
What a useless piece of trash.

A short distance away, large groups of public school students stared at this scene with expressions of utter horror and bewilderment.

The teachers at the public school looked on in horror, as if they had seen a ghost, at the dozen or so four-armed demonic apes that were three zhang tall. There were also records of innate spirit apes in the public school's introductory textbooks.

However, in textbooks, the Primordial Spirit Apes are portrayed as demons born of innate creation, wreaking havoc on the world, wantonly slaughtering living beings, and creating countless tragic incidents. It was the three holy sons of the Winged People, the current emperors of the three great dynasties, who, under the leadership of the Primordial Ancestor, formed an army and fought valiantly for tens of thousands of years, finally sweeping away the evil and exterminating the Primordial Spirit Apes!
According to textbooks, the innate ape has long been extinct!
But here.

Before them stood a dozen or so lively four-armed demonic apes, their long arms hanging down, their heads tilted, looking them up and down!

"Retreat!" a schoolteacher finally roared hoarsely, "This is an innate demon, beyond human power to defeat... Children, retreat... Send a warning, send a warning to the garrison headquarters, send a warning to the prefectural governor's office!"

Many public school students dropped the heavy loads they were carrying and fled in a disheveled state.

However, among the descendants of Kyushu, there are always some bad apples who want to make a splash... Several public school teachers, in a fit of rage, rode their horses forward at breakneck speed, shouting at the top of their lungs: "Our dynasty has nurtured scholars for ten thousand years, and the Emperor's kindness is as high as the heavens and as deep as the earth, which we can never repay... Today, evil has reappeared, and this is the opportunity for us to unite and fight the enemy, and to risk our lives to serve our country!"

“Children, follow us, go...go for us...go...you, charge forward...take down that demon…”

As soon as Xing Tianli had a thought, the Tower of Creation flashed with a ghostly light.

A four-armed demonic ape soared into the air and landed beside the several shouting public school teachers. Its four arms swung like windmills, making a few 'slap slap slap' sounds, as if swatting mosquitoes, and killed these guys who wanted to 'sacrifice their lives for their country' on the spot.

The four-armed demonic ape raised its hand, sniffed it, shook its head in disgust, and said in a muffled voice, "The taste is wrong, hmm, this smell is wrong... It's definitely not tasty."

He held his head high and strode past the stiff, immobile public school students.

He walked past a public school teacher, suddenly stretched out his finger, and gently picked up a long spear hanging from the teacher's saddle. To the four-armed demon ape, this eight-foot-long spear was nothing more than a thin strip of wood.

With a strange laugh, the four-armed demon ape brandished its spear and began stabbing wildly at its own face and chest.

The sound of clanging echoed incessantly, sparks flew everywhere, and the spear, a magical artifact of the Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness realm, was broken in two after only a dozen or so thrusts, turning into a piece of scrap metal.

The four-armed demon ape dropped the broken spear, shook its head at the dumbfounded public school teachers, and swung its four long arms, swaying like a hooligan, directly to the two winged people who had just fallen to the ground and were smashed to pieces.

Picking up four mangled, barely intact winged human thighs, the four-armed demonic ape grinned grotesquely: "Fresh, delicious, hahaha!"

With a leap, the four-armed demon ape darted back into the grove.

With a shout, a large group of public school teachers and students turned and ran.

Such a ferocious creature is beyond human capability to contend with.

A dozen or so four-armed demonic apes in the forest did some minor work on the four winged human's thighs—they weren't genuine innate spirit apes, they were imposters, combat puppets created by the Tower of Creation, they could sustain themselves by consuming the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

When it comes to meat... it has to be succulent beef or mutton, sprinkled with cumin and chili powder, grilled until fragrant, and paired with strong liquor.

Winged-human flesh?

Even dogs won’t eat it!

However, the souls of those two winged beings had already been absorbed by the Heavenly Spirit Banner and directly used as food for the ghost slaves.

After haphazardly burying their four thighs in deep pits, a dozen or so four-armed demonic apes, clutching longbows and ox-horn axes, strode out of the grove with their heads held high and walked proudly down the main road leading to the east gate.

They were burly and imposing, and wherever they went, caravans and other merchants would let out a strange cry and abandon their carriages and goods to flee in disarray. These four-armed demonic apes, muttering vicious slogans such as "not tasty" and "the taste is wrong," gradually approached the east gate.

'Bang!'
A four-armed demonic ape kicked the city wall.

As a result, half of the city gate, along with a section of the city wall over thirty feet long, collapsed, almost causing the gate tower where Xing Tianli was standing to collapse as well.

The four-armed demonic ape raised its head and shouted arrogantly, "Hey, a living person out here. Time to collect taxes, hey! Send a thousand of those winged birdmen to fill their bellies first."

"Remember this: from now on, your city's annual tax... no, I mean every month, will be paid to us by a thousand birdmen... As long as you pay the required amount, you'll be safe and sound; if you don't pay enough, you're finished!"

Chaos immediately broke out in the city.

The Winged People maintained strict control over the descendants of the Miao people in the Nine Provinces. In prefectures and counties like this, there were no standing troops, only a few yamen runners with some cultivation level responsible for the daily work of 'keeping the people at ease'. In the huge prefectural governor's mansion, the three shifts of yamen runners totaled no more than a thousand people. The highest cultivation level among them was a yamen runner at the Human Immortal level, commonly known as a constable. All the other yamen runners were body cultivators who had progressed from the Qi Refining to the Spirit Transformation stage to the Spirit Returning to the Void stage.

When the city gate collapsed, the thousand constables heard the noise and saw a large section of the city wall crumble. Many of the constables, who were patrolling the nearby streets and towns on a daily basis, were so frightened that their legs went weak. They stood there dumbfounded, like landlubbers who had been washed by a thunderstorm, unable to move.

Inside the prefectural governor's mansion, several streaks of light rose into the sky and slowly flew towards the east gate.

Sima Guang and Sima Huo, along with several officials from the prefectural governor's office who possessed cultivation, cautiously approached the east gate. As they flew slowly through the air, the prefectural assistants, prefectural commandants, and registrars, along with their families whose members possessed some cultivation, also used their own methods to carefully follow.

They didn't even dare to climb the city wall, but instead stood behind the east gate on the roof of an inn, staring blankly at the dozen or so four-armed demonic apes outside the city.

The four-armed demon apes had only been born for two days, and they were full of curiosity about this world.

They were not like the half-mechanical, half-flesh combat puppets created by the Tower of Creation. Those things could not be considered true living beings. The ones who controlled those combat puppets were all long-time ghost slaves. They were completely different from these 'living beings' who truly possessed fresh flesh and blood and had spirituality that sprouted from their own flesh and blood.

Their eyes were exceptionally clear, and they curiously looked around with their big eyes, making little "gurgling" noises.

Seeing Sima Guang, Sima Huo, and the others land on the nearby rooftop, the four-armed demon ape, who had just been stabbing himself with a spear, heard Xing Tianli's admonition in his mind. He hurriedly cleared his throat, widened his eyes, turned his lips outward, and grinded his four fangs together, making a clanging sound.

With a fierce and menacing look, the four-armed demonic ape shouted, "Hey, are you the officials of this city? Did you hear what we just said? If you don't want bloodshed, pay a thousand winged people every month as protection money... oops, I mean taxes."

"A thousand winged people will ensure the safety of all the people in your city."

"If you don't give it to me... um..." The four-armed demon ape pondered for a while, but couldn't think of any way to threaten people—their language and their wording were all basic common sense instilled in them by the Tower of Creation using the 'Dream Entry Method' when it was creating them.

These newly created four-armed demonic apes have extremely powerful physical bodies, but their divine souls have only just begun to emerge. Their intelligence is probably the same as that of a six or seven-year-old child. How can you expect them to utter any fierce and intimidating words?
Sima Guang trembled all over, staring at the dozen or so four-armed demonic apes with a look of utter horror.

He and his colleagues, all looking the same, were stunned with fear.

Indeed, judging from its appearance, it is a Primordial Spirit Ape, the same Primordial Spirit Ape that used winged humans as snacks and even as breeding tools in ancient times.

However, the innate spirit ape was extinguished long ago by the Ten Thousand Buddha Thunder Sound Temple, wasn't it?

How is that possible? There are still some left?
Even if they did exist, shouldn't they be hiding in the deep mountains and forests, far from the three great dynasties, barely surviving? How could they possibly appear in the heart of a dynasty like Sanhu County? How dare they launch such a large-scale attack on the county seat!
Uh, wait a minute!
They haven't attacked the county town either; up until now, they've actually been extorting protection money with a 'friendly' attitude.

Yes, the protection fee is a bit excessive.

The prefect of Sanhu County muttered under his breath, "Lord Sima, this is not right. Legend has it that these innate spirit apes are indeed fierce, brutal, and incredibly powerful, but their intelligence is questionable... They are just a bunch of wild beasts, a bunch of wild beasts who only know how to eat, drink, kill, and reproduce... No ancient text says that they can speak!"

The nominal Commandant of Sanhu County tore at his beard and said in a trembling voice, "Besides, everyone has seen the picture books about those innate spirit apes in the textbooks, right?"

"While they are skilled with bows and arrows, the bows and arrows of the innate spirit apes are merely made from branches and vines of innate spirit trees, relying on the instincts bestowed upon them by a wisp of the consciousness of heaven and earth at the beginning of creation. Although they are powerful, they are extremely crude."

"But look at them now, the bows they're holding, the arrows in their quivers, and the ox-horn axes they're carrying... These, these, these are all magical artifacts crafted later in life, aren't they?"

The officials of the Three Lakes County were completely dumbfounded.

Sima Guang muttered under his breath, "Could it be that after all these years, they've actually become enlightened and learned cultivation and weapon crafting?"

A sharp whistling sound came from high above.

Three giant flying ships, stretching for three hundred miles, streaked through the air like lightning. Their bodies were shrouded in thick clouds and wind. As they pierced through the air, they violently impacted the air, creating clearly visible circular ripples that spread outwards with a rumbling sound, blasting the floating clouds within a radius of dozens of miles into pieces.

The three flying boats were initially on the horizon, but in the blink of an eye, they traversed thousands of miles and arrived above Sanhu County.

A flying boat suddenly stopped—it went from full speed to a complete stop, its momentum waning, in a mere ten miles of deceleration.

The other two airships continued flying at full speed towards Mogan Mountain, which was dozens of miles away.

On a flying boat hovering above the city of Sanhu County, a winged man at the late Taiyi realm flapped his wings and took to the air. He was clad in heavy armor, held a long halberd, and shouted sternly, "Sima Guang, quickly meet your death... Princess Qingqing was murdered in your territory. You deserve to die a thousand deaths and your entire clan should be exterminated!"

Before the words were even finished, more than a dozen four-armed demonic apes on the ground simultaneously drew their longbows and roared in unison, "Meat!"

With a loud roar, more than a dozen long arrows pierced the air.

The winged royal family member Taiyi was unleashing his magical power without restraint. The terrifying pressure of his magical power caused countless people inside and outside the entire Sanhu County to faint instantly. It also caused Sima Guang and his relatives to turn pale, sweat profusely, and be unable to utter a single word.

However, just as this fellow unleashed his oppressive aura, an arrow pierced through the air. Before he could even react, a miserable scream rang out as the arrow pierced his chest. The arrowhead crackled with Buddhist demon-subduing golden lightning, blasting his entire body to pieces.

The remaining dozen or so arrows hit three flying boats.

Whether hovering above the city or flying at full speed towards Mogan Mountain, each of the three flying boats was hit evenly by five arrows from bow to stern, right in the middle of the keel.

A series of ear-piercing tearing sounds rang out as the keels of the three giant airships were shattered.

The demon-subduing golden lightning exploded within the warships, powerful currents flowing along the keel, shattering all the array patterns and runes on it. The three giant ships emitted muffled cracking sounds, huge cracks appearing on their hulls, from which smoke and fire spewed forth.

Large groups of winged people rushed out of the warship in a disheveled state.

These three warships belonged to the guards directly under the command of the Prince of Liuguang. Upon receiving the news of Luo Qingqing's death, they rushed over at full speed.

For the Kyushu descendants of body-cultivating armored warriors to don their armor and then gather to board the ships, the process would undoubtedly be extremely slow. Anxious and impatient, King Liuguang directly ordered his personal guards to depart at full speed—thus, on the three giant ships, there were only nine thousand winged cultivators, and not a single Kyushu descendant.

These winged people flew around haphazardly, like a swarm of headless flies, and for a while, they couldn't even organize a complete battle formation.

The terrifying sound of bowstrings vibrating continuously arose as the sixteen four-armed demonic apes drew their bows and released arrows at full speed. Each of them was only issued thirty-six arrows, but these arrows, after shooting for three thousand miles, instantly teleported back to their side.

Their arrows were endless.

In an instant, the sky was filled with flashing arrows, and the sound of arrows piercing the air was like the wailing of ghosts that echoed through the heavens.

Among these winged guards, the strongest were only three guard leaders at the early stage of Taiyi... while the four-armed demonic apes created by Xing Tianli were all at the peak of Taiyi!
In an instant, arrows shot into the sky, and the air was filled with the screams of winged people. Large numbers of winged corpses, mixed with blue blood and countless shed green feathers, fell haphazardly from the sky.

Finally, a Golden Immortal-level winged being saw the enemy clearly.

He suddenly pulled out a golden feather and hissed, "The Demon is coming! The Demon is coming... It's a Primordial Spirit Ape! A Primordial Spirit Ape has appeared in Sanhu County!"

At least twenty golden feathers ignited almost simultaneously.

The news of the appearance of a primordial spirit ape in Sanhu County immediately reached Liuguang Prince's Mansion, and within ten breaths, the news spread like wildfire throughout the land.

(End of this chapter)