Pokémon: World of Wonder

A second or two later, the obscured trees seemed to finally realize what was happening and began to slowly fall, a crisp creaking sound echoing through the forest.

Jiang Ye stared wide-eyed, looking utterly incredulous.

Seeing Jiang Ye's expression, the man couldn't help but smirk: "Hehe, scared, aren't you? But don't worry, I practiced this power here for a long time before I developed it."

As he spoke, the man reached out to pat Jiang Ye's shoulder, but after subconsciously seeing his own dark hands, he awkwardly withdrew his hands and patted the dirt off them.

The man himself had no other thoughts besides wanting to smoke a cigarette; he just felt that as the unsuccessful pioneers, they had an obligation to give some pointers to those who came after them.

Whether he was being clever or just wishful thinking, he wanted to do it, so he came over and told Jiang Ye.

It was a bit of a pity that he didn't get any cigarettes. He was a heavy smoker before he was caught on the island. The man smacked his lips a couple of times, feeling somewhat discouraged.

And the food on this island is nothing but red berries, it's so bland it's practically tasteless.

Snapped.

The man subconsciously reached out and grabbed a large bag of bright red stuff. Only then did he realize that it was made up of chunks of something solidified into lumps.

Just as he was about to ask what it was, a strong aroma of complex spices wafted into his nostrils. The smell made his mouth water even though he had just eaten a full meal.

This also made him immediately realize that Jiang Ye had given him a big bag of spices and seasonings!

"Wow, you're pretty generous, aren't you? Hehe, this is only the first hurdle. If you can't get past the later ones, you won't have any of these left, and you'll be crying your eyes out."

Although that's what he said, in the instant before he even opened his mouth, he had already put all of these things into his own spatial artifacts, without any intention of returning them to Jiang Ye.

Jiang Ye smiled and shook his head: "Can't pass? Unless he can kill me, I'm sure I can pass."

Hearing Jiang Ye say this, the man's playful expression turned serious. He turned to look at the somewhat clueless young man: "I don't know if he can really kill you, but young man, as long as you pass out, that means you've lost."

"And in the final moments, even if you are powerless to resist, as long as you are still conscious, you have won!"

After the man finished speaking, he waved and walked towards the cave where he worked without waiting for Jiang Ye's reply.

Having learned some things about the trial from the man, Jiang Ye felt a little uneasy, but he still got up and walked towards the place where it all started, which was where the Flaming Monkey King usually rested.

He knew that what he had just said was somewhat arrogant, but he was still quite confident in his body's talents, especially in taking a beating.

However, Jiang Ye's confident mindset will soon be completely and utterly crushed.

Following the path that Er Mao had led him along, Jiang Ye circled back to where he started. There was still a group of monkeys playing around the monkey king, but this time there was one more person.

Huang Qiren, the old man, was sitting opposite the Flaming Monkey King. Between them was a small, square plate containing some small pebbles that rolled around.

The human and the beast were engrossed in their game, taking turns hitting each other's marbles. Each time they knocked one of the other's marbles off the plate, they could take a red berry from the large plate next to them and put it into their own plate.

Seeing that the two of them were engrossed in their game, Jiang Ye didn't disturb them. He simply walked over and squatted down to watch.

At this point, Huang Qiren still had only three black stones left in the plate, while the Flaming Monkey King still had a full ten red stones. In terms of quantity, the Flaming Monkey King held an absolute advantage in this game.

However, victory and defeat are always a tightrope walk; before a true winner is decided, all speculation is just speculation.

Just as the Flame Monkey King happily pinched a red stone bead and flicked it out, whoosh!

The red stone bead struck a black stone bead, and then, due to the remaining force, it deflected to the other side and struck another black stone bead. Finally, the red stone bead stopped right next to the last black stone bead.

The black stone beads that were hit were completely knocked off the chessboard by a special force. In the end, without the Flame Monkey King making any move, he simply picked up the two black stones and put them into the oval stone pot next to him.

Looking at the last bead left in the plate, he noticed that the Flaming Monkey King wasn't overly smug, and the little imp watching the battle with great interest was also present.

Huang Qiren laughed as he rubbed off a handful of peanut skins and stuffed them into his mouth. "Kid, don't blame this old man. This is a contest between men, so of course I have to do my best."

With a barely perceptible smirk playing on one side of his lips, Huang Qiren grabbed the only stone bead in the plate.

Jiang Ye couldn't understand Huang Qiren's actions. He just watched as Huang Qiren grabbed the bead in his hand and casually tossed it, as if he hadn't exerted any force. The stone bead fell weakly into the plate.

As luck would have it, the black bead struck a red bead, which bounced up with a bang and was caught by Huang Qiren. Then, the black bead seemed to have eyes.

The entire board is like its trampoline, bouncing up and down on the chessboard, each time accurately hitting a red bead, which Huang Qiren then casually catches in his hand.

1、2、3、4、5……10！

The black beads were flicked exactly 10 times! Each flick hit a red bead, causing it to fly off the plate. Then Huang Qiren slowly placed the ten red beads from his hand into the black bead pot.

Jiang Ye, somewhat bewildered, finally came to his senses, while the Flaming Monkey King, who had reacted even earlier, had his face contorted in a grimace of bitterness, anger, envy, resentment, grief, and sadness.

It's hard to imagine that a monkey-like Pokémon's face could make such vivid and lifelike expressions!

Huang Qiren ignored the distorted face of the Flaming Monkey King, reached out and scooped some fruit from the middle plate into his own, then slowly got up and walked away.

After Huang Qiren completely disappeared in another direction, the Flaming Monkey King exhaled a visible burst of scorching breath from its nose. Although its face showed no expression, Jiang Ye, who was squatting next to it, had a bad feeling again!

At this moment, the Flaming Monkey King turned his head and looked at Jiang Ye with a smile, "Hehe, Er Mao told me that you actually finished so much work in just two days. You're simply a born Tauros Saint Body. You're here to undergo a trial, right?"

Huang Qiren! You old geezer, you have no martial ethics!

Jiang Ye suppressed his bad feeling and smiled, "No, I just finished working all night and haven't had a good rest. It was too noisy over there, so I came over to see if you could give me a quiet place to rest for the night."

Hearing Jiang Ye say this, the Flaming Monkey King smiled insincerely and said, "Hehe, let me tell you, after working late into the night, your body accumulates a lot of acidic substances. Lying down to sleep and rest is not good. You need to exercise appropriately to improve blood circulation and remove blood stasis."

"I haven't had a chance to stretch my muscles all afternoon, so why don't you take out the timing stick now? It'll give you a taste of what the trial is like!"

Damn it, even Old Huang knows to stay away from men who have failed, but this kid doesn't understand. Since that's the case, let him vent his anger!