The queen mantis finally gave up transforming without much progress and returned to its huge beast form. It flew off into tree branches and circled around before landing on a bare spot. Its fat abdomen extended and began to lay thousands of eggs within a white sack. What sounded like pleasurable shrieks filled the tree for several minutes until it finally finished and returned to the throne platform.

“Mama, mama!” The gray mantis finally spoke up after waiting all this time. “I have news, from our spies in the human world.”

The queen paused and peered at the shorter, thinner beast. “Oh, it’s Little Gray, tell me quickly!”

The gray mantis nodded and explained everything that the void bees observed in the city. It explained in great detail the process of the beast auction and He Xingping’s task to obtain the best fox beasts.

“Cha! It seems that the rumors are true. When that toad face got all excited, I refused to believe him. There is a great chance the nine tailed fox is alive and we cannot let it remain in human hands.”

“That’s right! Let’s kill all the meat bags!”

The queen and the child shared a laugh.

“Go, my child, head to the monkey realm and send word to their king. Also, send word to the toad king. This matter cannot be delayed, we must attack the city and obtain the fox at all costs!”

“Yes, but…” The gray mantis suddenly seemed uncertain.

“What is it?” The queen asked.

“For this great contribution, can I have a reward?”

The queen didn’t reply so the gray mantis continued, “Mama, I can take the place of those human scum and make love to you instead?”

“Kakaka! Good child.” The queen laughed, “Mother will accept your love eventually, but are you prepared to die for it?”

“I am willing!” The gray mantis said resolutely.

“Cha! You are still too young. Wait a few more years and diligently cultivate. If you manage to reach the Spirit King Realm, you won’t even have to die.”

“Really? Mama, just you wait. I will definitely reach the Spirit King Realm!”

The gray mantis fluttered its wings and leaped down the platform. Chen Wentian also followed, not willing to give up the chance of finding the lair of the last beast king. The huge insect beast was much easier to follow than the void bee and he easily tracked behind it in its shadow.

Once beyond the realm of the powerful tree, it rose above the jungle canopy and shot off towards the south. Chen Wentian was shocked by its speed and risked as much spiritual energy as he could to keep up. However, the gray mantis with its large wings and natural flying ability was even faster and it soon disappeared into the horizon.

---

Forests, rivers, valleys, and mountains swept by below as Chen Wentian flew south. He only had the immortal insect’s spiritual energy trace to go by but it was still enough. An immortal’s aura during flight left a wide, chaotic disturbance in the air that was only apparent to those with keen spiritual sense. The shadow fox had this sense naturally and it allowed him to track the trail to a distinctive mountain.

It was a solitary, extinct volcano that rose from the forest like a black spike. The surrounding land was completely unremarkable, making this place stick out like a beacon for hundreds of kilometers. As he got closer, he sensed a veritable army of beasts all around the mountain. There were monkeys of all sizes and shapes. There were more species than he could count or recognize.

The monkeys lived in the trees and on the ground all around the mountain. They collected plants, berries, and fruits that seemed strangely abundant. Others headed away into the forest to hunt and bring back meat from other beasts. They ate, slept, mated, and raised their young. They completely dominated the land and there was nothing to challenge them.

This was the kingdom of monkeys, a paradise for monkeys!

The black mountain was the only place where things were different. There were more unique monkey beasts here such as stone monkeys, flame monkeys, and flying monkeys. These higher tier monkeys were all rare and powerful breeds, highly coveted by human beast cultivators.

The mountainside was a mass of activity as the powerful monkeys commanded their weaker brethren that were going in and out of the various caves. There were teams of baboons, squads of macaques, families of chimpanzees, and even gorillas. They worked together to haul out armfuls of pitch-black rocks out of the mountain. They then broke the massive rocks down into smaller pieces from which they extracted small fragments… of spiritual crystal!

This was astonishing!

It was mostly red spiritual crystal but there were also occasional flashes of orange. The black mountain was actually a massive spiritual crystal mine! Out of the three beast king lairs, this one was the most useful and perhaps the most precious!

If he could take over this place… his wealth would certainly take several leaps upward!

While the smaller and weaker monkeys toiled away, they were watched over by the more powerful ones at the Spirit Initiate Realm. The strong leaders collected all the spiritual crystals and made sure nothing was amiss. Once a large amount was produced, it was delivered up the mountain.

Chen Wentian followed them to the top where there was a deep crater and a wide entrance that led down into the mountain. This cave system occupied the top section of the mountain which apparently had been completely mined out. There were no more spiritual crystals here and served as the residence for the strongest monkeys and their king.

The old mining tunnels were expanded into a series of passages and large rooms. His spiritual sense picked up many strong beast signatures but to his surprise, there were also humans. In fact, they outnumbered the monkeys and were in tens of thousands…

He flew towards the nearest chamber where he sensed three beasts and at least twenty humans. It was a strange situation and his mind could only think of one scenario.

He peeked around the corner and it was as he feared… Inside this black mountain was a different kind of paradise for the strongest monkeys.