Chapter 167 - 36 Monkey Valley

Chapter 167: Chapter 36 Monkey ValleyThis game really is fraught with danger, Xiao Jie murmured to himself as he looked at the screen. Just traveling can lead to these sudden incidents. It’s a pleasant surprise to stumble upon an adventure, but this kind of situation is purely frightening. You’d think you monsters would just stay at home and wait for the adventurers to come knocking, instead of running out to rob and kill people. Aren’t you being a bit too irresponsible? Xiao Jie silently criticized in his heart and sent a message to I Want to Be Immortal. Hidden Moon Following Wind: Cheng Xian, how are you? Are you safe yet? I Want to Be Immortal: Safe now, there are no monsters around anymore. Hidden Moon Following Wind: Where are you now? I Want to Be Immortal: Open the map I gave you. I’m not far south of the Buddha Tower. Xiao Jie opened the map photo that I Want to Be Immortal had sent him earlier. On the southeast of Luoyang Plain, within a forest, he could indeed see a mark of a Buddha Tower, labeled "Rebirth Tower" on the map. Further south was covered in a black fog, clearly an unexplored area. The map given by the village chief had most areas explored, with only the more dangerous adventure zones in black. This meant I Want to Be Immortal might have entered a perilous zone, which somewhat worried him. Hidden Moon Following Wind: Be careful not to wander off; I’m on my way to meet you. I Want to Be Immortal: Alright, Feng, hurry over. I’ve come across a quest here. Huh? Xiao Jie was somewhat surprised. Quests in this game were rare, and I Want to Be Immortal really did have extraordinary luck. He locked in his target and urged his horse towards the forest. Xiao Jie dared not venture too deep and moved along the sparser forest edges. Whenever he encountered a wild beast or such, a burst of speed from his warhorse would leave it far behind. Having a warhorse really is thrilling, giving one the sensation of moving through a sea of flowers without a single leaf touching them. The one thing he had to watch out for was not to crash into a tree; that could lead to trouble. However, with Xiao Jie’s control, as long as he concentrated, such a basic mistake was unlikely to happen. After running for about ten minutes, he could see the spire of the Buddha Tower towering above the forest, standing desolate. As he got closer, however, Xiao Jie discovered that the Buddha Tower was actually a monster spawn point. The large doors of the tower were closed tight, and on the overgrown plaza beneath, a fat monk with rolls of fat stood cooking something in a huge pot. Wu Jie (Cannibal Monk), Level 19 Elite. Life Value: 1000. Several emaciated old monks stood around with eager eyes, waiting for the meal to be ready. When Wu Jie spotted Xiao Jie, he burst into laughter, "Benefactor, meeting is destiny. Why not stay for a bowl of vegetarian food before leaving?" Xiao Jie dared not linger, speeding past the Rebirth Tower and racing down a secluded path heading south, as Wu Jie gave chase for a few steps before giving up and returning to his pot. Xiao Jie glanced back and saw Wu Jie survey each of the old monks with his gaze, laughing, "The Buddha teaches us to feed eagles with flesh. You few filling my belly can be considered a merit." Saying this, he picked up one monk and threw him into the pot. The remaining monks, far from being panicked, greedily eyed the large pot. Xiao Jie’s scalp tingled as he quickened his pace again. Thankfully, he didn’t encounter any more particularly frightening monsters afterward. Following the map and comparing it several times, he eventually found I Want to Be Immortal’s position. In front of him was a bamboo forest, where I Want to Be Immortal stood talking to an NPC. In front of the bamboo forest was an entrance to a valley flanked by two high mountains, with dense woods inside the valley. Xiao Jie took a closer look at the NPC. It was a person dressed as a woodcutter, with a white cloth wrapped around his head, still seeping blood. He carried a load of firewood on his back and had a Firewood Axe hanging at his waist.> Zhang Dazhuang (Injured Woodcutter): Level 8, Life Value 210/240. Not too threatening, it seems. He ran up, dismounted the horse, and I Want to Be Immortal immediately exclaimed with excitement, "Feng, you were so cool just now. Thanks to you for leading the monsters away, otherwise I would have been in danger." "Don’t mention it, aren’t we brothers—what’s the situation with this person?" Zhang Dazhuang (Injured Woodcutter): "Ah, Returning Villagers, it’s good to see you. I’ve heard of your deeds. Could you help me, please? My monkey has run off into the valley ahead and disappeared. Can you help me find it?" "Your monkey?" "Yes, I’ve raised it from a baby. It’s very smart and agile. I don’t know why it suddenly went mad and ran off into the valley. If you can help me bring back my monkey, I’m willing to teach you both my family’s martial arts." "Family martial arts?" Xiao Jie thought to himself, could it be real? What kind of martial arts could a Level 8 NPC possibly have? "Yes, don’t think that I’m just a woodcutter. I earn my living with a blade, too. This martial art was something my grandfather realized while chopping wood. It’s really quite powerful." System Prompt: Quest "Finding the Monkey" triggered. Help the woodcutter find his lost monkey ’Mao Mao’ in Monkey Valley. Quest Reward: Sword Skill ×1. (Martial arts realized while chopping wood? Could it be One Cut, Two Pieces?) He wasn’t very interested in the quest reward. Even if it wasn’t One Cut, Two Pieces, it was probably just some ordinary combat skill. While not useless, it wasn’t of great value to him at the moment. However, he was indeed interested in Monkey Valley. Monkey Valley must be home to many monkeys, and perhaps he could learn the recipe for Monkey Wine. If he could learn to make Monkey Wine, that would be a real moneymaker. With money, could he not learn more profound martial arts? "Why don’t you search for it yourself?" "There are a lot of monkeys living in that valley. As soon as I get near, they throw stones at me. Look, my head has been injured, so I dare not go in there." There really are monkeys, not bad at all. This is worth a shot. Checking the time, it was only two o’clock, still some time before dark. Xiao Jie accepted the quest. "All right, leave this to us brothers. Let’s go, Cheng Xian. Let’s check it out." But I Want to Be Immortal seemed surprised, "Ah, Feng, why are you suddenly interested in doing this quest? The reward isn’t that great, you know." "I’m mainly interested in the monkeys inside Monkey Valley. If this task isn’t too difficult, I might as well take care of it." He didn’t really care about the Combat Skill, thinking what kind of special skills could a Woodcutter have. The main reason was that the price of Monkey Wine had been climbing steadily, and Xiao Jie was somewhat tempted to find a monkey to talk to. Moreover, he had never seen a monkey in the game before, and he couldn’t help but be curious whether they had the hands and feet to be caught as pets and what skills they might come with. I Want to Be Immortal gave an "Oh," and then the two of them headed towards the valley. The Woodcutter called out loudly from behind, "Be careful. Those monkeys are really fierce." Xiao Jie didn’t take it seriously. This guy was just a Level 8 ordinary person; he was able to walk out of here alive, having lost only a few dozen points of Life Value. What was there to fear? Besides, he had the Beast Language Skill. Still, just to be cautious, Xiao Jie called out Xiong Da. Pets automatically disappear when they get too far from their owner. While traveling on horseback, Xiong Da would often vanish into thin air. Fortunately, you can summon your pet anytime using the Summon Pet Skill. The two men and a bear made their way into the valley, observing the steep mountainsides along the way. Monkey Valley was flanked by steep ridges on both sides. Inside the valley, dense forests filled the space, tall and perilous, with thick branches and leaves blocking the sunlight, casting a rather dim shade around. Gugu Gaga! A strange cry made Xiao Jie look up, to see a large monkey perched on a tree, carrying a grass basket full of stones on its back. Stone-Throwing Ape: Level 6, Life Value 120. Feeling more relaxed now, it was only a Level 6 Little Monster, but since he was there to learn, it would be better to be polite. "Don’t attack, I mean no harm," Xiao Jie shouted loudly. "Gugu Gaga, do you speak our language? What are you? A human? A big monkey?" "I’m human, but I know a bit of monkey language," he replied. "Why are you here, human?" "I’m looking for a lost monkey." "Gugu Gaga, there are monkeys everywhere here. Does the monkey you’re looking for have a name?" "Its name is Mao Mao." "Gugu Gaga, gugu gaga, looking for Mao Mao, looking for Mao Mao! Someone is looking for Mao Mao." The monkey suddenly started screaming like mad, frantically banging the tree trunk with the stones in its hands, and a rustling sound echoed through the forest as countless monkeys emerged from the valley, swinging from branch to branch, densely clustered in the surrounding trees. Xiao Jie felt a sense of dread; although the monkeys’ levels were not high, only about six or seven, they were all hanging in the trees, and most were ranged attackers. A real fight with these creatures would be tricky. "Get out, humans, there’s no Mao Mao here." "Get out!" "Get out!" Something wasn’t right! Why were they so agitated? Could it be that this Mao Mao had some special significance? The originally neutral monkeys instantly turned red-name monsters. Damn, what’s going on? Xiao Jie was shocked when the next second a stone flew towards him. Though the aim was poor, Xiao Jie dodged by crouching down. I Want to Be Immortal took a couple of hits, but fortunately, the damage was low, just a few points of Blood Volume lost. The two quickly raised their shields. A rain of stones came pelting down. The shields clanged loudly from the impact. Xiong Da had no shield for protection and took seven or eight hits, howling in anger. "Damn, these monkeys are crazy, we need to retreat fast." At that moment, even bows and arrows would be useless. The enemy was too aggressive, and any counterattack would surely lead to being overwhelmed by the sheer number of monkeys. The two retreated back to back with their shields raised for defense but still got hit several times. Luckily, the monkeys didn’t do much damage, and the two made an embarrassing escape from Monkey Valley. Xiao Jie checked his Blood Volume, which had dropped only by a dozen points or so, but his shield was almost battered to pieces. Xiao Jie looked at the valley with lingering fear. "Hell, I didn’t expect a bunch of monkeys to be so deadly. But why were they so agitated?" "Could it be that Mao Mao is some sort of monkey prince or something?" wondered I Want to Be Immortal. Xiao Jie thought there couldn’t be that many princes, and besides, since Mao Mao was raised by the Woodcutter from a young age, how could it be a monkey prince? And besides, it’s not like monkeys could have any kind of royal lineage. "Could it be that the Woodcutter mistreated the monkey, and Mao Mao told the other monkeys in the valley, so all the monkeys wanted to take revenge for their kind?" Xiao Jie thought it was possible. "Here’s what we’ll do: you and Xiong Da wait outside, and I’ll go in alone to investigate." "Ah, Feng, those monkeys are tough! And we’re already in a hostile state, won’t you be attacked if you go in?" "Don’t worry, I know the Beast Language Skill, and I’ve got this." As he spoke, Xiao Jie opened his Equipment and activated the Equipment Effect of the Phantom Spirit Pearl — Transform into Human! [Transform into Human: Allows you to randomly take on a human form and blend into the surrounding environment.] With a ’puff,’ white fog enveloped Xiao Jie, and when the fog cleared, he had transformed into the appearance of a wild man. His body was tanned and muscular with a six-pack, wearing a beast skin loincloth and a vine belt around his waist, barehanded and barefoot, with untamed hair flowing down, giving off a Tarzan-like vibe at first glance. Wow, Xiao Jie was somewhat amazed; the effect of blending into the environment was remarkable, so intelligent that it could even transform him into a wild man.