ver would have thought that her soul would catch the eye of the old ghost who insisted on marrying her soul as his wife.Manjiaoyi was originally injured by herself, and even if it wasn’t self-inflicte...Chapter 534: The Monkey Appears

Xiao Yu had just finished picking the malodorous grass and was about to stand up when suddenly, a gust of wind shot towards him from behind.

The gust hadn't reached yet, but the noxious stench carried by it already assaulted Xiao Yu.

He sensed that this gust was incredibly swift. Thus, without even having time to get up, he rolled forward and dodged it as soon as he finished picking the herbs.

"Ugh…" As he rolled forward, Xiao Yu emitted a muffled groan.

The reason for his groan was that though he had managed to dodge quickly, this sudden attack could not be entirely evaded. He still got hit on his arm by the gust of wind.

After rolling and taking several quick steps forward, Xiao Yu finally turned around to take a look behind him. Not far away stood a dark figure—a monkey. However, compared to monkeys he had seen before, this one was huge. Standing upright, its height was comparable to his own.

The monkey now bared its teeth and roared at Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu looked at the monkey's arm and hand. Its nails were about an inch long and emitted a glossy black sheen.

Looking at those claws, he then glanced down at his own arm that had been hit by the gust of wind. Upon seeing what was on it, even Xiao Yu couldn't help but feel shocked.

The night attire given to him by his maternal grandfather, which could barely be scratched or pierced, now bore several white marks about an inch long.

At that time when he first knew about the existence of this night attire from a letter left by his grandfather, he had tested it with a regular dagger. No matter how hard he tried to scratch it, not even a mark was left on the fabric.

Yet now, just one swipe by the monkey's nail—despite Xiao Yu having dodged most of it—left several white marks on this night attire. The sharpness of those nails could be seen in their ability to leave such marks behind.

Although he was startled by what had happened, upon seeing the monkey, a trace of joy appeared on Xiao Yu's face. It seemed like one had to search high and low for it; who would have thought that right after finding the malodorous grass, this monkey came out of nowhere.

Silently, he felt relieved that he had worn the night suit left to him by his maternal grandfather. Otherwise, with just one attack from this poisonous gas, he would have been injured. Although the poison had no effect on him, the sharpness of the monkey’s claws could still have caused some injuries.

Xiao Yu looked at the ape and reached into the cloth bag to retrieve the vicious dagger.

As Xiao Yu stared at the ape, he slowly drew out the dagger from its sheath. Although it was daytime and they were in a thick white fog, when Xiao Yu pulled out the dagger, a beam of cold white light flashed past.

Holding the dagger, a fierce and violent aura spread through the space, even forcing back the noxious mist around him.

This fierce and violent aura was so intense that it pushed away the poisonous fog, leaving an area of five meters around Xiao Yu free from any toxic mist.

The toxic miasma swirled outside this radius but could not enter within five meters of Xiao Yu no matter how much it moved.

"Oooh..." When Xiao Yu drew his dagger, the ape let out a strange cry and rapidly stepped backward several paces, staring at Xiao Yu with caution.

That's right, he was cautious! This ape’s expression displayed its wariness. Xiao Yu never would have imagined that an animal could show such human-like qualities.

Could this be the guardian spirit beast of the ancient family that the embalmer mentioned It might be so; otherwise, how could a mere animal exhibit such human-like traits and launch sneak attacks on them Not only did it attack their campsite but also Xiao Yu himself just now. Furthermore, its latest sneak attack was successful.

It should be noted that no matter whether he had been attacked by a dark force martial artist or a transformation level expert, none of these attempts at stealth attacks had ever succeeded against Xiao Yu. But now, an animal has managed to succeed in launching a surprise attack on him; this speaks volumes about the strength of this ape.

However, based on what the embalmer said, it seems that this family’s guardian spirit beast was something from several hundred years ago and appeared every few decades. Could this be the same creature as what the embalmer mentioned

A single monkey couldn’t possibly live for hundreds of years, right And Xiao Yu remembered the embalmer saying that according to their family records, the monkey was only half a person tall. But now, this one standing straight next to him is almost as tall as himself.

But then Xiao Yu paused in thought: could it really be the same creature Had this ape grown significantly over the past hundred years

Xiao Yu looked at the monkey and pondered. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that it was possible! He knew from Zhong Kui’s memories that many animals lived for several hundred or even thousands of years; however, this was his first time seeing such a creature with his own eyes.

Xiao Yu did not sense any fluctuations of heaven and earth's primordial energy on this ape, nor was there any trace of demonic aura emanating from it. This meant that the ape had merely been growing instinctively without undergoing any cultivation.

To think that something could live for several hundred years just by growing instinctively seemed incredible to Xiao Yu, but there were countless strange occurrences in the world—what about this one

With his dagger in hand, Xiao Yu stared at the ape. The ferocious killing intent mixed with the sinister aura of the dagger fiercely rushed toward the ape.

In response, the ape's wariness vanished when stimulated by Xiao Yu’s killing intent and the sinister aura on the dagger. It was replaced with a savage look, and its eyes turned slightly red as it glared at Xiao Yu while panting heavily.

"Ugh…" At this moment, the ape let out a loud roar and charged toward Xiao Yu who held his dagger.

Xiao Yu’s gaze narrowed when he saw the charging ape. He hadn’t expected the ape to be so fast; in an instant, it had dashed from where it was standing next to him.

Xiao Yu’s eyes narrowed again as he swiftly slashed at the ape with his dagger. However, the ape jumped up more than two meters into the air and leaped over Xiao Yu's head before pouncing back onto him.

When its sharp claws swiped through the air, they left behind several dark streaks and brought a foul wind toward Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu quickly took a few steps back when he saw the ape’s claws slashing at him. But just as his eyes widened in shock, the ape’s claws seemed to have extended slightly; with a putrid stench, they swiped down from above Xiao Yu's head.

From that swipe alone, Xiao Yu could tell how powerful it was and realized that if he had been hit by those claws, his body would’ve easily been torn open.

No matter what, Xiao Yu hadn’t expected the ape to be so fast. The ape hadn't undergone any cultivation at all; its current strength came purely from instincts alone. If it were allowed to cultivate, who knew how powerful it could become

From the bloodthirsty aura and the putrid wind coming off its claws, one could tell that many people had died or been injured by this ape. If it had cultivated back then, it would have already turned into a ferocious demon.

Xiao Yu’s feet remained firmly planted on the ground as he saw the sharp claws sweeping down toward his head; however, his entire body leaned backward instead of dodging. After the ape's claw swept past his night-black robe and brushed against it, Xiao Yu used his legs to stand up straight again.

After Xiao Yu stood straight, he did not stop but slightly leaned forward. The dagger in his hand flashed with a cold light as it stabbed towards the throat of this ape.

"Awooo…" Seeing Xiao Yu's dagger heading toward its throat, the ape let out an odd cry and easily dodged Xiao Yu’s attack by taking several steps back.

Seeing that this ape could evade his fatal blow so lightly, Xiao Yu felt a heavy feeling in his heart. The speed of this ape exceeded his imagination, making him feel under pressure as well.

Xiao Yu was unwilling to use qimen techniques unless it was absolutely necessary because he needed the blood of this ape for medicine ingredients. If he used qimen techniques and accidentally burned it into ashes, Zhang Dahan and Song Hushan would also be in trouble.

Although the probability of such an incident happening due to the strength of this ape was very small, Xiao Yu dared not take any risks as it involved the lives of Zhang Dahan, Song Hushan, and those soldiers.

The injured soldiers were there because they followed orders. However, they were searching for his second brother in the process, so regardless of everything else, he could never give up on them.

However, this ape's strength surpassed his expectations, and it was also faster than him, which made Xiao Yu’s attacks easily avoided every time.

Xiao Yu looked at the ape in front of him. Suddenly, an idea came to mind. He slowly closed his eyes.

After a brief moment, Xiao Yu felt that his consciousness was blending with this world, as if within several meters around him, he became one with heaven and earth.

"Unity of Heaven and Man." Xiao Yu once again entered the state of unity between man and nature. However, entering it this time was particularly smooth. Previously, even though he had tried numerous times to enter such a state, he could not succeed in doing so; but this time, he hardly used any effort before entering.

Suddenly, Xiao Yu slightly frowned as his state of unity almost collapsed just now because his mind wandered away when he was secretly pleased with how easily he entered the state.

Xiao Yu quickly expelled all thoughts from his mind and focused entirely on this state.

In this state, Xiao Yu felt like he was the heaven and earth surrounding him. He observed everything about himself from every angle. (To be continued...)ther."Hello, hello! Mr. Yun, right I’m really sorry for disturbing your family dinner!" Wen Pengda walked up to Yunxi's father with an apologetic smile on his face as he spoke."No... We just arrived;...