The three monkey beasts were from the same family, an overgrown version of a baboon with long pink faces and furry brown bodies that were only slightly smaller than an average man. Their rear and groin areas were also completely bare and had a similar shade of pink as their wrinkly faces. They were ugly, to put it simply, and there was nothing redeeming about them.

The human captives were all women. They had been stripped naked and lay around the chamber, unconscious or barely awake. Although they were all at the Mind Focusing Realm, they did not fight the beasts or attempt to escape. They were limp and powerless and they were probably drugged.

The scene taking place in the chamber was heavily reminiscent of the jueyuan cave back in Black Mist Mountain. This was a nest for powerful male monkey beasts to let out their desires with human women. Each monkey was at the Spirit Initiate Realm and this chamber was their love nest. They were lost in their rapture and rutted with one woman after another without pause.

There was no doubt these monkeys gained some benefit from their actions aside from venting their lust. It wasn’t procreation since only demons such as goblins and jueyuan had the ability to breed with humans. These monkeys were not demons but they were still going at it with great enthusiasm. Perhaps in their actions, there was some secret monkey cultivation method for becoming wisdom beast?

Chen Wentian did not consider the matter for long and quickly disregarded such thoughts. He wasn’t interested in such disgusting displays. He didn’t care about the lives of beasts, only the lives of humans.

Cold fury filled his heart as he watched but he didn’t leap into action and exterminate these beasts. The victims were too far gone and there was no benefit to slaying some trashy underlings. Instead, he turned his aim towards the monkey king and this mountain filled with spiritual crystals. He was a human immortal after all and he would not let this vile monkey kingdom survive.

Similar tragic scenes repeated over and over as he descended into the cave system. There were hundreds of chambers of various sizes filled with thousands of horny beasts and tens of thousands of captured human women. The entire place echoed with bestial roars and sorrowful wails.

Eventually, he reached the very bottom of the tunnels and found the chamber of the king. It wasn’t guarded at all. In fact, no mortal monkey dared to come anywhere close to this place. This made things much easier and he silently slipped in.

“General Kong, General Sun, what do you think of Queen Sundew’s intel?” A powerful voice spoke.

Inside the first room were three beasts, two furry monkeys and one that looked almost like a man. The voice came from the man-like monkey, which stood on two legs and had a lithe, sinewy build. Its fur was sparse and patchy with bare sections of tan skin. If it weren’t for the monkey face and tail, it would have easily been mistaken for an extremely hairy human man.

Chen Wentian recognized it as a member of the powerful breed called the martial monkey. They were innate experts at hand-to-hand combat and combined brute strength with speed and agility. Many existing human martial arts actually came from the natural movements of martial monkeys. They had a similar physique to humans and were one of the species of monkey beasts that had the easiest time cultivating and becoming origin beasts.

“My king, the toad king also believes it and he has also presented evidence. It can’t be a coincidence. The rumors must be true!”

The one that spoke was the largest, a steel furred gorilla at least three meters tall. It stood on four limbs and even had to stoop down to fit in the room.

“My king, I agree that we should attack the city, but for different reasons.” The last monkey said. “The humans have lost one of their kings so we have the advantage. I don’t know about any nine-tailed fox but we can definitely cause a lot of chaos and get our hands on some fresh flesh! I need more humans in my harem, Hyahyahya!”

Chen Wentian rolled his eyes. Despite being a Spirit Lord, this white-furred monkey was still tied to its beastly desires above all else.

“I agree with you both but there are still risks…” The king muttered.

The martial monkey paced around for a while and considered the issue. This beast was incredibly intelligent and its thoughts were complex and human-like. Unlike the two other beast kings, it was concerned about this being a trap as well as the potential dangers of attacking a super sect directly.

“The potential benefits of obtaining a young nine-tailed fox is too good to pass up.” It finally decided, “I will head to the meeting of kings but there is no need to pull our generals from the front lines. General Kong, only you will accompany me. General Sun will remain here and protect the crystal mountain. Understand?

“Yes, my king!” Both Spirit Lords bowed.

“Good, we head out tomorrow!”

“Yes!”

The next day, the martial monkey and the steel furred gorilla left the mountain as the sun rose. Chen Mo remained inside the caverns and did not follow because it was not needed.

Whatever the beast kings would plan at their meeting didn’t matter because the control plate had been repaired. The timing was perfect. Before the three kings could agree to a plan, Chen Wentian would trigger the emergency beacon. The control plate’s compelling force would be too great to resist and the kings would be forced to attack Beast God City without proper preparations, not to save Jasmine but to obtain her for themselves.

The city, however, would have a couple of days to prepare thanks to He Xingping. Through his influence as an executive elder, he managed to convince the lion lord that the monster hordes were behaving strangely in several provinces. He Zicheng was a crafty cat and didn’t need much more evidence to raise the city’s defenses. It was a critical time and it was better to be safe than pay the price out of carelessness.

This would level the playing field somewhat since if the three beast kings gathered all of their immortals and launched a surprise attack together, the city might actually fall.

Chen Wentian couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t let He Xingping’s daughter die. If things completely went to hell, he would definitely abandon everything to save the infant.

Jasmine and his disciples would be safe in Cloudy Mountain Province, far away from the action. They were not needed and would only get in the way. Jasmine definitely could not show her face or it would cause mass chaos.

Mei Qiaofeng and Tie Buqun were ready to leap into the fray once the battle started. They each had their targets and their own heartaches to avenge. Chen Wentian did not try to influence them. He was only a Spirit Lord and it was difficult to control other cultivators in the same realm.

And finally, Chen Mo was hiding and waiting in the crystal mountain. He was ready to cause mayhem at a moment’s notice, to make these monkeys pay.

All the pieces were in place after so much preparation. Everything was ready for Chen Wentian to make his move.

But ironically, it was not him but one of the female victims in the monkey mountain that made the first move of the war.

---

A/N I have set up a Patreon. You can read one week or more ahead on chapters of this novel there. You'll also be supporting future commissioned artwork and future e-book publications. I really appreciate the support for the novel and it will help me towards my goal of becoming a better writer.

https://www.patreon.com/kigreenwriting