All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 233: Second Ascent of Monkey Mountain

“The white monkey itself isn’t particularly special, just extremely fast. Its attack methods are quite limited, mainly just scratching. It’s far less imposing than the Fear Beast we encountered before. However, we need to be careful of the mirror it carries. That mirror can emit a strange light. I have a feeling that if we’re hit by it, something bad will definitely happen,” Zhanyue explained to Yunyao as they walked, recounting his previous encounter and battle experience.

“I understand. So we just need to avoid being hit by that mirror’s light, right?” Yunyao nodded.

“Yes, but we should also be wary of any other tricks this beast might have,” Zhanyue reminded her. By now, they had entered Monkey Mountain.

Like last time, as they went deeper, the number of wild monkeys increased. They constantly threw stones and fruit cores to drive the two away.

“How noisy. Should we kill them first?” Yunyao’s face was cold as frost, her hand already gripping her sword.

Zhanyue was about to respond when his brow suddenly furrowed. “Watch out!”

The two instantly split left and right as a white figure shot between them – it was the Disaster Beast, the Mirror-Hugging Monkey. This time, however, the monkey wasn’t hugging the mirror to its chest but had it on its back.

The sound of wind, monkey cries, and heartbeats filled their ears. Their senses were heightened to the maximum as they faced the fierce-looking white monkey. Seeing Zhanyue dare to return, the white monkey was naturally furious. In a flash, it appeared behind Zhanyue, its speed like teleportation.

Before Zhanyue could turn, an exquisite long sword blocked the monkey’s path. If not for its extremely fast reaction, it would have been wounded by the sharp blade. The one who acted was, of course, Yunyao. The white monkey was fast, but so was she.

“No problem. Let me test its abilities first,” Yunyao, possessing a mysterious footwork technique, moved with fluid grace and extreme speed.

Zhanyue watched as the white monkey and Yunyao engaged in battle. When they separated, the monkey had several sword wounds, bleeding fresh blood.

“Impressive,” Zhanyue, having fought the white monkey before, naturally knew its prowess. But Yunyao had wounded it so easily.

“The mirror seems stuck to its back. I couldn’t get it,” Yunyao said as she returned to Zhanyue’s side. She had tried to seize the mirror from the monkey’s back but failed.

Wounded, the monkey was clearly enraged. It leapt onto a tree and took the mirror from its back, hugging it to its chest.

“Let’s go all out.”

With that, both of them donned their armor, entering their strongest forms. Zhanyue wore red Silver Moon Armor, with red phantom feathers appearing behind him. Yunyao was clad in golden armor, like a descending deity, her wings now at their full size.

As mirror light shot towards them, both took to the air, dodging the beam at extreme speed.

“Go!” Zhanyue controlled his flying sword from midair, shooting it straight at the white monkey. He couldn’t help but appreciate how useful the phantom feathers were. Without them, he’d have to rely on sword riding to fly, which would prevent him from using sword techniques to attack. These wings truly solved his urgent need. After all, in this world, the ability to fly was the hardest to obtain.

Yunyao’s attack method was simpler. Sword qi rained down from the sky, each strike capable of cleaving a deep fissure in Monkey Mountain.

On the ground, the white monkey dodged everywhere, constantly seeking opportunities to release its strange light beams. Unfortunately, the two in the air were too agile, giving it no chance. Even the most powerful move is useless if it can’t hit its target.

The white monkey suddenly stopped and let out a fierce cry.

To Zhanyue and Yunyao’s shock, all the monkeys on Monkey Mountain went berserk. The originally brown-furred monkeys all turned white, and more terrifyingly, each held a mirror. This ability to transform into thousands was something Zhanyue hadn’t seen before.

“Be careful, this must be its true ability!” Zhanyue warned.

Beams of golden light shot into the sky from all over Monkey Mountain, a spectacular sight. But beneath this spectacle lay grave danger. From having to dodge one beam, they now had to avoid thousands. Zhanyue and Yunyao couldn’t distinguish which was real and which was fake, or if they were all real. They could only dodge as best they could.

“This won’t work. We can’t go on like this. Now that it’s transformed into thousands, we don’t know which is its true form and can’t launch an effective attack. And when our stamina is depleted, we might not be able to dodge these beams. Should we retreat for now?” Zhanyue suggested.

“It’s fine. If we can’t distinguish, then we’ll kill them all,” Yunyao said expressionlessly. Then she launched her sword technique – Thousand Peaks Rising! Countless sword qi rose from the ground like mountain peaks, piercing through the entire Monkey Mountain. In one move, hundreds of white monkeys were impaled. But there was no expected bloodbath or corpses strewn everywhere. The fallen monkeys simply stood up again, unharmed, and continued their mirror attacks.

“Go!” Undeterred, Yunyao sent out her Cold Spring Feathers. They flew at extreme speed across Monkey Mountain, leaving a trail of frost wherever they passed. Countless monkeys were pierced, their bodies encased in ice.

But something even stranger happened. The corpses suddenly vanished, then reappeared. Zhanyue saw clearly that all these monkeys were transformed from monkey fur.

“It’s truly like the Monkey King!” Zhanyue’s eyes widened. This ability was identical to Sun Wukong’s trick of plucking a hair and blowing it to create thousands of clones.

Suddenly, one of the monkeys let out a fierce cry. The monkeys below stopped fighting individually and gathered together, forming circular formations. They held their mirrors high, making it impossible to see the monkeys from above – only circular formations made of mirrors.

“What’s going on? They understand formations too?” Both Zhanyue and Yunyao were shocked.

Beams of light shot skyward. This time, the attack was no longer scattered but relentless. The two had barely dodged several beams when more came, leaving them struggling. The monkeys could make countless mistakes, but they couldn’t afford even one. At this rate, getting hit was inevitable.

“Still no reaction from that divine artifact?” Zhanyue was feeling overwhelmed. They could only dodge, without even a chance to counterattack.

“No,” Yunyao frowned, thinking of a strategy.

At that moment, both felt their hair stand on end as danger approached. They looked up to see a giant mirror above them.

“Watch out!” Yunyao cried out.

The mirror’s target was clearly Zhanyue. It seemed the monkey hated him more for daring to come to Monkey Mountain twice.

Light beams fell from above, while countless more shot up from the ground. They had given up on Yunyao, focusing on eliminating Zhanyue first. Countless light beams formed a deadly cage. Unless Zhanyue could teleport, there was no escape.