Chapter 151: Caught in the Net
Chapter 151: Chapter 151: Caught in the Net
At those words, every hair on the Strong Monkey King’s body stood on end.
"You’re double-crossing me?"
The Strong Monkey King looked at the Sword and Axe Mantis and sneered, "We’re both Mid-Essence Devouring Realm Demon Beasts. It’s not yet certain who will come out on top!"
As it spoke, the Demon Qi within the Strong Monkey King erupted. The roiling energy surged like water from a broken dam, threatening to fill the entire valley in an instant.
Even now, the Strong Monkey King still thought the Sword and Axe Mantis was trying to double-cross it.
After all, as a Third Realm existence, any number of First or Second Realm beings who came would just be courting death.
It was like two tigers fighting; the rabbits on the side could only watch.
But the Strong Monkey King couldn’t figure it out. What the Sword and Axe Mantis should want were things like city resources.
It knew it wasn’t weak. Even if the Sword and Axe Mantis could defeat it, the mantis would be severely injured in the process.
And what would happen after being severely injured?
Devouring the Strong Monkey King’s body wouldn’t lead to much of an improvement.
Once at the Third Realm, advancing to a Great Demon was no easy feat. It wasn’t something that could be achieved by devouring one or two Demon Beasts of the same realm.
Rather than getting critically injured or killed in a fight with even odds, it would be far better to plunder resources and attack the city together as they had previously discussed. That was the correct path.
It was for this very reason that the Strong Monkey King had been willing to come here with the Sword and Axe Mantis.
Its plan was to split the so-called ore with the Sword and Axe Mantis, then attack Jianshui City together.
Who knew the Sword and Axe Mantis actually wanted to kill it?
"You are impossibly stupid!" At this thought, the Strong Monkey King’s right fist condensed a phantom image of an ape roaring at the sky, which it then smashed ferociously toward the Sword and Axe Mantis.
The Strong Monkey King had dared to come not only because it believed the Sword and Axe Mantis wouldn’t trick it, but more importantly, because of its own confidence.
Confidence in its own strength!
A mighty Essence-Devouring Realm Demon Beast, a being second to only one other demon in all of Red River Prefecture.
How could the Strong Monkey King possibly be afraid?
However, the instant it threw the punch, the Strong Monkey King’s eyelid twitched, and it felt a sense of mortal peril.
The Sword and Axe Mantis and Xiaoci before it didn’t move a muscle, staring at it with strange expressions, like statues.
’Something’s wrong!’
The Strong Monkey King’s eyes widened. It instantly retracted its fist, causing the Demon Qi within its body to roil violently.
After pulling back its fist, it shot toward the sky without the slightest hesitation.
Its instincts screamed at it: if it didn’t flee, it would very likely die!
But just then, a voice full of amusement came from below:
"Quite the vigilant monkey."
’Who?!’
The Strong Monkey King didn’t look back. A sweep of its Divine Sense revealed that the one who spoke was that mere First Realm Bone Monster.
At the same time, countless white, glowing fungal threads materialized from thin air, wrapping around the Strong Monkey King’s body one by one.
"What is this power?!"
The Strong Monkey King instantly felt its projected Divine Sense and Demon Qi all retract back into its body.
"This isn’t your power!!!"
It roared, but the sound was suppressed within its body, completely unable to escape the valley.
Then, its body, bound by the fungal threads, fell from the sky and crashed to the ground.
BOOM!
Dust and smoke billowed up.
At this moment, a mere mortal could have easily thrust a sword into its eye and scrambled its brains.
"Sword and Axe! I have no grievance with you, why would you harm me!!"
"Aren’t you afraid of incurring the wrath of the Plague God Sparrow and the Red River Dragon Python?!"
the Strong Monkey King roared furiously.
However, its voice was laced with a hint of imperceptible fear.
"Yes, you’re right about all that." The Sword and Axe Mantis sighed. "You haven’t offended me, nor have you offended my master. But you have offended my great master."
As it spoke, it stepped aside, and Liu Jianjian walked forward.
"Sorry about this, little monkey." Liu Jianjian raised an eyebrow and said with a grin, "Xiaoci has a very powerful master now. Since you offended my master, I’ll just have to make you call him Great Master, too!"
As she spoke, Liu Jianjian formed a hand seal. Her long black hair floated up without any wind as her Demon Qi surged, and she let out a soft cry, "Refine!"
The next moment, countless strands of Demon Qi transformed into purple chains that bound the Strong Monkey King.
Special red patterns appeared on the chains, emitting a faint glow.
"You..." The Strong Monkey King opened its mouth to curse, but fungal threads were forced into it, silencing it.
However, the Demon Qi in its body erupted, seemingly trying to resist Liu Jianjian’s refining process.
Liu Jianjian’s face paled. She rebuked softly, "You’re so noisy!"
She immediately began to focus on refining the Strong Monkey King. Even the Sword and Axe Mantis retreated back into her hair.
At the same time, Zhu Ge released his control over the Fungus God Destruction Array.
The fungal threads slowly dissipated.
Zhu Ge controlled the Bone Monster Avatar to step forward and size up the enormous Strong Monkey King before him.
The Strong Monkey King’s normal height was four to five meters, as tall as a one- or two-story building.
In battle, it could swell to dozens of meters, like a tall building, and its strength was immense.
The punch it had thrown earlier also faintly showed signs of its ’Intent’ manifesting externally.
Of course, in terms of talent, it probably wasn’t as good as the Sword and Axe Mantis.
The Sword and Axe Mantis showed no manifestation of ’Intent’ at all, yet its strength was about the same as the Strong Monkey King’s.
If the Sword and Axe Mantis could manifest its ’Intent,’ its strength would surely increase significantly.
"You continue the refining here. I’m going to go eat some bones." After a brief glance at the chains, Zhu Ge turned and walked toward the wooden hut.
’These chains must be a manifestation of an ability from the *Demon Hunting Divine Technique* at a certain stage.’
From the looks of it, although Liu Jianjian was still struggling a bit, it wasn’t as difficult as when she had refined the Sword and Axe Mantis.
With Hua Liusha standing guard outside, Zhu Ge wasn’t worried.
RATTLE...
Zhu Ge’s Bone Monster Avatar reached the side of the hut, leaped inside, and burrowed into a huge pile of white bones.
The pit inside was filled with white bones, forming what looked like a deep pool.
As soon as Zhu Ge jumped in, he used his innate talent.
Bone Manipulation!
The next moment, countless surrounding bones turned into nutrients and converged into the avatar’s body.
’So a monster’s hunger is something felt in the soul...’
Zhu Ge only stopped when he felt a sense of satiation coming from the Bone Monster Avatar.
The Bone Monster Avatar’s chicken-like skeleton was originally full of gaps, since he was constantly using his second talent, Bone Refinement.
But this time, Zhu Ge had it fill its body completely with bones. From the outside, it now looked like a solid, sculpted bone statue.
’Controlling the Fungus God Destruction Array just now consumed about five percent of the bones I’d eaten before.’
’But it seems I can also consume the Bone Monster Avatar’s own bones to control it?’
Now that he was full, Zhu Ge began to carefully contemplate this.
While controlling the Fungus God Destruction Array, the energy consumed had come from the bones he had previously eaten and refined into its body, using up about five percent of them.
Five percent!
That was not a small amount. It represented the bones of countless Demon Beasts Zhu Ge had hunted over this period.
’But what I’m thinking now is, if I were to take a little bit of powder from the Bone Monster Avatar’s own body and convert it to energy, just how powerful would the Fungus God Destruction Array become?’