BAM!!!

A pale-looking youth slammed against the tree. With his back against it, he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“This Monkey is extremely persistent,” said the pale youth.

“It’s an ape, Brother Lin,” a mysterious voice sounded, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Same thing.” Wiping the blood, the pale youth, Lin Mo, stood up. “How long are you going to hide? When will you make a move, Brother Wu?”

To his question, the forest remained silent.

All of a sudden, the ground began trembling.

From the dense forest ahead, large footsteps headed in his direction.

“It’s here again,” Lin Mo cursed.

The forest ahead parted, and a giant ape stepped out.

Its dark body exuded a strong suppressive aura. In front of the ape, Lin Mo appeared like a child. Nonetheless, he stood his ground and prepared himself for a clash.

He had been running for a while now, but each time, this ape would catch up to him and slam him down. He simply couldn’t outrun it.

The giant ape dashed towards Lin Mo, prepared for its attack. Lin Mo also dashed towards it. The two collided with their physical might. However, Lin Mo was flung back to a distance, stopping under a tree.

“This ape is bullying me with its weight,” Lin Mo appeared frustrated. Still, he stood up and dashed towards it.

In the forest, an ape and a youth clashed again and again. Sounds of their collisions resounded in the silent forest, or rather sounds of Lin Mo getting blasted.

After many clashes between those two, Lin Mo’s body slammed against the tree for the last time, and he no longer stood up like before.

The giant ape walked in front of Lin Mo’s bloodied, limped body.

It growled to the sky. It had won. It was the celebration of its victory.

However, its celebration didn’t last long. Just when it was growling to the sky, a silhouette appeared behind him. Before it could react, cold chills entered its body.

It fell to the ground and began to growl. It was a different kind of growl, a growl of agony. It lay on the ground rolling until it eventually passed away.

The pale youth, Lin Mo, was still limped on the ground, unmoving.

“Stop acting. It’s over,” an arrogant-looking youth appeared before Lin Mo’s body.

Lin Mo peeked open his eyes and woke up. As he stood up, he surveyed around and saw a large sack of meatballs near the ape’s corpse.

“Brother Wu, you’re too cruel. You even stole its precious jewel,” Lin Mo couldn’t help but shudder at the sight. It was the ape’s two precious jewels.

“Hmph, isn’t this all because of you.” The arrogant-looking youth, Wu Di, wiped the blood off his short dagger.

“How can you blame this on me?”

“It’s because you stole the fruits,” Wu Di looked dissatisfied.

“Come on, don’t be angry, Brother Wu. I’ll share some with you,”

“I want half of it,” said Wu Di.

Lin Mo nodded, all smiles.

Although the youth, Lin Mo, was blasted away by the ape multiple times, his countenance appeared normal with no sign of bones breaking or internal damage.

“What should we do about this giant ape?” asked Lin Mo.

“Let me check something.” Wu Di pulled out a different dagger from his waist and stabbed the ape’s corpse. He cut open the ape’s abdomen. From the opening, glimmers of light radiated.

“As expected, it’s a spiritual-ranked beast core.”

This ape was a late-stage spiritual beast. In the hierarchy of the beasts, it came in second from the last. At their current stage, if they had encountered any stronger beasts, they would’ve been trampled. Fortunately, this ape was slightly off the margin. Their elders had warned them not to dwell deep in the forest. The strong beasts inhabited the deeper part of the forest.

Putting the circular beast core in the pouch, they surveyed their surroundings once more.

“Let’s move. We’ve yet to complete our task.”

Originally, they were here on a sect’s mission to hunt down a few wild beasts. However, on the way, they stumbled upon a peculiar aroma. Lin Mo insisted on following this aroma to see what it was.

Following the aroma, they found a garden with dozens of trees bearing small berries. Lin Mo, with no hesitation, began to pluck all of the berries on the tree. Unbeknownst to them, this garden already had an owner. His fellow apprentice brother had disappeared without telling him. The ape found him alone in the garden, thus, their chase began.

The two left the area.

The forest regained its tranquility. On one of the tree branches, a small bird stayed motionless, staring ahead. Its charcoal-dark eyes watched the whole play, observing from the beginning to the end without making a single sound.

“FOUND YOU!”

The small bird fell from the tree, lifeless.