Ke Jihai dodged a strike from the giant ape and circled neatly behind it. Leaping high into the air, he aimed the tip of his spear straight at the nape of its neck.
The giant ape’s head and back were protected by bone armor, but its neck needed to turn freely and could not be covered. Ke Jihai intended to exploit this gap and deliver a fatal blow.
The ape demon stood ten feet tall, and Ke Jihai’s spear was also ten feet long; he had to leap into the air to thrust at the target.
At the same time, his attendant attacked from the front to help divert the raging ape’s attention.
The creature was far less agile than the werewolf-like monster, and it would never be able to turn around in time.
Just as Ke Jihai was about to claim victory with this single strike, a startling transformation occurred!
Two eyes suddenly snapped open on the back of the ape demon’s head, and two more arms sprouted from its rear shoulders!
Ke Jihai finally understood why the bone helmet of the ape demon had two small holes specially carved into the back.
This monstrosity could actually turn into a four-eyed, four-armed form, and had held it back until now!
No, this wasn't right. Its demonic power had clearly been suppressed, drastically reducing the potency of its divine abilities, so how had it entered a next form instead?
Ke Jihai even felt the air currents swirling around it turn far more violent in an instant.
With three iron caltrops hanging from its body, its strength had not diminished; on the contrary, it had grown stronger!
The giant ape batted away the spearhead, throwing Ke Jihai off balance. Unable to shift direction easily in midair, he saw a fist as large as a millstone hurtling right at his face!
This monster was unexpectedly formidable.
On the other side, the werewolf monster had crashed through a large tree. Before it could even shake its head twice after climbing to its feet, it was met with a leaping downward slash from He Lingchuan.
The Baipi saber gleamed with an incisive edge. Unwilling to clash head-on with its blade, the beast was forced to dart aside.
The broken saber was still lodged in its left shoulder, rendering that entire arm unusable. Fortunately for the beast, the whip-like tail behind its head reared up like a serpent, striking directly toward He Lingchuan’s face.
The two clashed, both fighting for speed.
Ever since He Lingchuan had learned to expand his divine sense, all five of his senses had grown considerably sharper. Now bolstered by origin power, the monster's speed seemed to slow down slightly in his eyes, no longer moving so fast as to be a blur to the naked eye.
Though the difference was slight, his vision could now just barely keep up.
This was also because the werewolf monster had invested almost all its natural talent into speed. Its high agility was half physical instinct and half fueled by demonic power, so it was counteracted by the origin power within He Lingchuan.
Even so, he was still just an inexperienced novice. Even with origin power augmenting him and even with his Returning Swallow footwork pushed to its limit, he could only barely hold out in a stalemate.
And that was only because one of the monster’s claws was incapacitated. Otherwise, between its fangs, claws, and tail whip, it would have struck him dead on the spot.
In merely a dozen or so breaths, several new cuts appeared on He Lingchuan’s body, though luckily none ran deep.
The monster’s tail whip was far too supple, inflicting much worse injuries on him than its claws. After executing a slash, He Lingchuan failed to recover in time to defend; the tail pierced a hole in his shoulder, making his face twitch in agony.
Fortunately, at that moment, He Chunhua finally shouted the words he wanted to hear most: "Chuan'er, lure it over!"
Without a second thought, He Lingchuan leaped backward toward his father.
The monster’s assault was like a violent gale and torrential rain. He truly could not hold out any longer and desperately needed someone to shield him from the storm.
The monster’s original target had been He Chunhua all along, its viciousness merely provoked by He Lingchuan’s sudden clash. Seeing him dash toward its quarry, it naturally gave chase with all its might, its hind claws kicking off the ground so violently that lichen and powdered snow were hurled far and wide.
As He Lingchuan rushed toward his father, his expanded divine sense had already made out what was in He Chunhua's hands. Thus, the moment the words "Get down!" left He Chunhua’s lips, He Lingchuan dove forward, flattening himself against the ground, and slid over twenty feet across the snow with a rustling hiss.
During the slide, he did not forget to twist around in defense, only to see the werewolf monster lunging toward He Chunhua. He Chunhua remained remarkably composed; just as the monster’s sharp claws were about to graze his face, an object shot out from his hand, enveloping the creature head-to-toe!
At such close quarters, no matter how agile the monster was, it could not evade. The force with which the object was launched was immense, virtually pinning it flat against the ground.
He Lingchuan took a look—wasn’t this the very Entangling Silk Heaven's Net he had once experienced?
There was even a tear along its edge.
Back in the Panlong illusion, Sun Fuping had deployed this great mesh to bind him tight. Had the broken saber not possessed such astounding sharpness, he would never have escaped—just like the monster now.
The creature struggled frantically inside the net, trying to shred it with its claws, but how could an item kept on National Preceptor Sun's person be so easily damaged?
It barked furiously in its rage. Hearing those cries, He Lingchuan was certain: this really was a wolf demon.
As excellent as the Heaven's Net was, it required a long activation time. He Chunhua’s cultivation was far less profound than Sun Fuping’s, and his control of the Entangling Silk Heaven's Net was unpracticed, which was why he had needed He Lingchuan to buy him time to prepare.
Against an opponent of such astonishing agility, the Heaven's Net could not have been more effective.
He patted his waist, and the broken saber had already returned to him on its own.
He Lingchuan glanced back at the giant ape. If the Heaven's Net were used against a brute of boundless strength like that, it would probably prove ineffective and might even ruin the artifact.
Luckily, Ke Jihai was still fighting fiercely. Otherwise, if the giant ape freed its hands to attack the He family, none of them would survive.
Watching the battle between the man and the beast, he was both alarmed by the giant ape’s combat prowess and envious of the dark origin power enveloping Ke Jihai. Humans were generally inferior to demon beasts in stamina, strength, and cultivation, but origin power could close that gap in an instant.
When the giant ape suddenly became a two-headed, four-armed beast, everyone cried out in shock.
What kind of devilry was that! He Chunhua's expression also changed. "I have never heard of an ape demon undergoing such a transformation. Could this creature have stumbled upon some bizarre fortune?"
He Lingchuan thought to himself, *Doesn't the Great Sage Sun possess transformations like that?* But seeing the giant ape's sudden surge in power, he knew this was far from normal. Moreover, the giant ape was now roaring incessantly, its attacks far less coordinated than before.
It seemed that the sudden spike in battle strength had further inflamed its berserk nature.
He Lingchuan’s eyes darted around, and he turned to ask He Chunhua, "Dad, do you have the walnut boat with you? Lend it to me!"
He Chunhua looked at the mountain road. "The boat is too large and the path is too narrow; it can't be deployed here." There was no water here, nor could they find suitable draft beasts to pull it like they had in the desert.
Even so, he pulled out the walnut boat.
He Lingchuan snatched it from his palm and bolted toward Ke Jihai. As he shoved a profound crystal into the walnut boat, he lamented inwardly:
*My wallet is taking a massive beating this time.*
He did not take a straight path, taking a slight detour instead to slip up above the man and the beast.
Ke Jihai had been retreating as he fought, and they were now engaged in a hollow between the slopes, directly beneath the forty-foot-tall Motian Cliff.
The so-called Motian Cliff was a massive, rectangular boulder. Employing his Returning Swallow footwork, He Lingchuan dashed to the top of the giant rock in just a few strides and bellowed downward, "General Ke, get out of the way!"
Fearing the man might not hear him, he channeled his breath into his dantian and shouted three times in succession: "Get out of the way! Get out of the way! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
Then he hurled the walnut boat down with all his might.
The distance between the top of the cliff and the ground below was short, and these shouts resounded like claps of thunder, reaching both combatants below.
The giant ape instinctively looked up at him, but Ke Jihai planted the tip of his spear against the side wall and launched himself thirty feet away.
As a seasoned military commander, he acted without the slightest hesitation.
On the cliff, He Lingchuan let out a thunderous roar: "Grow!"
The walnut boat plummeted.
Though the giant ape was enormous, its eyesight was keen, and it spotted an object the size of a walnut hurling toward it through the dark night.
It snatched it out of the air in one grasp and brought it up to have a look.
*Huh, it really is a walnut.*
He Lingchuan: "..."
Ke Jihai: "..."
Fortunately, after consuming one of He Lingchuan’s profound crystals, the expected transformation was delayed but not denied. Right before their watching eyes, it suddenly swelled!
The giant ape instantly sensed something was wrong and tried to throw it away and run.
However, it was too late.
The speed at which the object enlarged defied all imagination. In less than two breaths, it had reverted to its full form—a massive wooden ship over fifty feet long and ten feet tall!
The mountain hollow along the winding road was not particularly spacious to begin with; the moment the wooden boat appeared, it plugged the entire gap.
The giant ape unleashed an earth-shaking roar—it had been a step too slow in fleeing, and everything from its waist down was pinned beneath the wooden hull.
Though possessed of boundless strength, having well over a hundred thousand jin abruptly crush down upon it was unbearable; that it hadn't been squashed into paste was solely thanks to its thick, rugged hide.
The sensation of Mount Tai pressing down on it was certainly agony.
Seeing that it was finally subdued, Ke Jihai let out a long breath of relief. Leaning on his spear, he said, "Fine lad, you really have something up your sleeve."
He had been locked in a fierce life-and-death struggle against this monster, yet He Lingchuan had simply stepped up, found an advantageous angle, and suppressed the giant ape flat. Ke Jihai hardly knew what to say.
This magical wooden boat artifact was never meant to be used this way. The boy had taken a clever shortcut, but what a brilliant shortcut it was.
He Lingchuan let out a dry laugh. "Just dumb luck, sheer luck." Before running over, he hadn’t realized the hollow was so cramped. If the walnut boat's full form had been just a little bit larger, it would have jammed directly against the rock walls without crushing down, which would have been an utter embarrassment.
Still catching his breath, Ke Jihai leveled his spear at the giant ape. "Who sent you? Speak!"
What demon would slip into Shihuan City for no reason to ambush a prominent general of the imperial court?
The giant ape ignored his question, roaring and clawing frantically, tearing not only at the earth and trees, but gouging the rock wall so violently that stone powder rained down incessantly. He Lingchuan saw that its eyes were still bloodshot, and he could not help but frown.
This beast seemed to have lost all reason; could it even understand human speech?
Just then, a miserable scream and a terrified shriek came from upwind.
Their hearts clenched, and both turned to look back simultaneously. Seven or eight figures had burst out of the dense forest, hacking straight toward He Chunhua! A coachman close to him had taken an arrow to the eye and was screaming in agony.
Madam Ying had been knocked to the ground by that commoner youth; a gray-feathered arrow was embedded in the youth’s upper shoulder, its fletching still quivering.
There was an ambush in the dense forest as well!
Both men were shocked and furious, and He Lingchuan sprinted back at full speed. Seeing the werewolf trapped earlier, he had grabbed the walnut boat and rushed to Ke Jihai’s aid. But He Chunhua had to devote all his focus to suppressing the werewolf monster, He Yue possessed only ordinary cultivation, and Madam Ying knew no supernatural arts at all!
The ambushers in the dense forest had first fired an arrow at He Chunhua, but he had spotted the danger in time to dodge, and the shaft had struck the coachman behind him instead. The other arrow had been meant for Madam Ying’s life, but the commoner youth had reacted with incredible swiftness, tackling Madam Ying to the ground and taking the arrow into his own flesh.
Having unleashed those two arrows, the ambushers charged out into the open.
He Chunhua was still forming hand seals to sustain the Heaven's Net and could not dodge as nimbly as usual. If he abandoned the incantation to retreat, the Heaven's Net would likely fail to contain the wolf demon any longer.
Chapter 177