As Yuan Yue thought about it, her movements seemed to become smoother.
Strike after strike, she continued to try to make her way in – her fists became bloodied as they were cut time and time again, but she seemed unconcerned with that.
'What I want… is to reach you…' As her thoughts started to change, she slowly entered a state where her mind, heart, and soul seemed to be connected as one.
"As of now, I just want them to protect you." Unconsciously, Yuan Yue muttered in desperation, and unknowing to her, she entered the state of body and self as one.
Her fist landed once more against the outer wind wall.
However, this time, instead of it only changing slightly, a gaping hole formed, reaching two or three meters in. If compared with its thickness it was nothing, however, it was enough – enough for her to advance forward.
Then, even when the wind wall closed again with her inside, even when the sharp snowflakes cut her body in all places, making her bleed profusely, she did not stop advancing.
With every strike of her tender hands, the air around would disperse, the snowflakes would be obliterated and even the qi in the atmosphere would dissipate…
Those were fists that would guarantee 'absolute safety from any harm', even if they had to destroy the heavens and split apart the earth.
And that is what brings us to now
As the golden palm knocked the Ape Queen to the ground, Yueshi's savior became clear to him – though he had already known who it was.
However, he did not have time to celebrate or be happy; his face immediately became devoid of any blood.
Standing behind the Frostbite Ape Queen, Yuan Yue was panting and having a hard time breathing. From head to toes, she was bleeding profusely from many small and large, shallow and deep wounds.
Yet, despite all that, he could see a small smile in her blood-covered face - as if she was saying she was glad he was alive.
"As I said… elder sister will… protect you." She said with some difficulty.
A second later, she stumbled and almost fell to the ground. Her skin color was a sickly white, signaling she lost too much blood. And yet… and yet here she was, joking and smiling like always.
Yueshi could feel his heart churning as he jumped toward her, even ignoring the Ape Queen because of his anxiety.
As he approached, he noticed her condition was even worse than he had thought, and it was only by sheer will that she could keep standing and use a cultivation technique.
'You are always paying a price because of me…' His body trembled when he saw her still smiling despite with murky, tired eyes.
First, she sacrificed her purity and innocence to save him from the doors of death; now, she placed her life at risk just to help him. He had not even repaid her for the first, yet, he became even more indebted to her.
And it was a debt so heavy that he did not know if he would ever be able to pay.
Seeing Yueshi supporting her with one arm, and the extreme worry and pain in his eyes, Yuan Yue smirked in derision.
Why was she happy at such a moment, she wondered. She was pretty much hurt all over; her body was sore, and the cuts hurt like hell. Yet, her heart fluttered at the softness, concern, and care in his eyes.
"I'm okay, so don't worry… you must, end it." Still, as much as she wanted to keep receiving his full attention, there was something more important.
And, with a trembling finger, she pointed at it.
Yueshi eyes immediately left her, giving her a sense of loss. She wanted to shake her head as a way to mock herself, however, it hurt so much she could not do it.
Because of that, she could only gaze at the side of his face – it was dirtied by the fight, yet, still as handsome as before.
The Ape Queen was slowly getting up while massaging its nape. While the attack had not caused a lot of damage, its qi reservoir was not that great by now.
Yuan Yue's attacks on the whirlwind meant that the Ape Queen had to constantly use more qi to repair it and, since it had been a while already, it had used a lot of energy.
Nonetheless, the Queen judged it was enough to deal with a boy with a broken shoulder and a girl that could not even move.
"I will come back in a second." With his eyes blazing with fury – toward the queen ape and himself too – Yueshi spoke softly.
After helping Yuan Yue sit to rest, he looked at his opponent once more – had he gone all out from the beginning, then things would have been different.
Yet, because of his foolishness and naivety, Yuan Yue had ended hurt.
Now, there was only a single way to release all the anger he was feeling.
"Man and spear as one…" He muttered slowly, gripping his spear with all his power. "One point of extremity carves a path of blood and carnage." Lunging forward his spear tore through the air, making it screech.
It moved with such speed that in a single instant Yueshi had already arrived in front of the Ape Queen.
The demon beast felt this attack was more dangerous than the last one, so it put a lot of energy into creating a shield made of ice in front of it.
But, its limited amount of energy made it so that it was not perfect; moreover, Yueshi had not only put all his remaining qi in this attack but also, ignited the Ancient Dragon Seal.
Resounding booms echoed as his spear traveled forth, leaving an azure trail where it passed. The azure-colored trail then seemed to take the form of a mighty, roaring dragon and for an instant, it was as if a true dragon had descended, destroying anything in its path.
Not even an instant passed and a fountain of blood gushed out. A single, small hole had been pierced in the ice shield as the spear passed through it and, then, all the power behind it gushed forth on the other side, directly attacking the queen's body.
The injury was so huge that its body became a bloody mess, the lower half separating from the upper half, and the bulky arms being completely obliterated.
In this single month that had passed, this was the move that Yueshi had trained the most – and this was the result.
The fountain of blood painted the ground red and also sprayed on Yueshi, making him be covered in gore. He did not care about that, however.
Leaning in his spear, he coughed blood – his internal organs had been hurt before when he was grabbed, and the move just now made his injuries worsen.
Yet, after coughing he immediately moved toward Yuan Yue, afraid anything would happen to her if he stayed there.
Doing his best to hold back and not puke blood, he walked with slow and unsteady steps toward the young lady – during all that, Yuan Yue watched him, all sorts of emotions flashing past her eyes.
"Sorry." Having gotten close enough, Yueshi whispered. He could not even look her in the face right now, his mind in turmoil because of everything that had happened.
Seeing him like that, Yuan Yue shook her head. "There is no need to be…" Well, with how stubborn he was, such words would not work. "… But if you are, then just pay me back with your life."
Though she said so, she did not want Yueshi to die for her – what she wanted was for him to accompany her for a lifetime.
However, at her words, he merely smiled without saying anything. She already knew he could not promise her that, though he would be more than willing to sacrifice his life to save her.
Nonetheless, she was not disappointed – this was something she would change in the future, for sure.
While the two were talking, the strong wind quieted down and the snow that composed the whirlwind started to fall slowly – once more starting to cover the ground.
Such an event also gave them a full view of the battlefield.
Most of the apes had already been killed, and the few remaining were going to be wiped out soon. The members had suffered quite a few injuries, and there were some that were forced to retreat to take care of their wounds.
Other than that, Yu Hai and You Ping were still entangled with the Ape King.
When the whirlwind disappeared, everyone looked toward this direction – including the demon beasts.
The reaction of one side was vastly different from the other; the mercenary group cheered with excitement, while the apes roared in sorrow and madness. The most distraught one being the Ape King.
Yu Hai even took advantage of its distraction to pulverize one of his arms, decreasing the tired beast's strength even further.
As long as some sort of calamity did not happen, the battle was already won and they only needed time to take care of the rest.
Seeing things were okay, Yueshi and Yuan Yue calmed down and decided to rest. Even if they wanted to help they were in no condition to do it, and would be a burden instead of helping.
The others, having had their morale boosted, attacked even more fiercely. Yueshi and Yuan Yue had done their part, now it was time for them to settle things.
After the battle with the apes settled down, one was able to see hundreds of corpses lying in the snowy ground. However, their corpses would not remain unblemished for long.
Even if it sounded bad, collecting materials like beast's hides and furs were also jobs that mercenaries did, and that required them to dismantle the corpses.
Since Yueshi and Yuan Yue could not help, the mercenaries did that part alone. Most of them were in a good enough condition, though they had a few wounds after all the battles.
Still, if compared with Yuesi that had his inner organs hurt and exhausted all his qi and mental power, or Yuan Yue who was in an even worse situation, it was nothing.
Just as Yu Hai and the others were searching the mountain for something, and Yueshi and Yuan Yue were quietly resting next to the peach tree, Yueshi felt something bite his finger.
Surprised, he immediately looked downward.
He wasn't that worried, though, since it was a weak and harmless bite. What he saw, however, surprised him a bit, for it was a small, little monkey.
With its tail swaying from one side to another, and with its eyes still closed, it looked like a furry, little dumpling.
'Eh? What is this?' Yueshi wondered, lifting his finger. As he did so, the little guy was lifted from the ground too and brought before his eyes.
Then, just as he gazed at him – as if by fate – the small creature also opened its own eyes.
They were pale blue and enormous, occupying almost half of its face. With them being glossy and moist, they made him look quite cute.
And Yueshi could swear that when they exchanged glances, the little guy smiled with his finger still in his mouth, fully showcasing its still toothless mouth.
Yueshi had to suppress his laughter, noting that this one looked quite foolish when smiling.
His interest also increased and he ignored the little guy's chewing action, and, instead, poked its belly. Seeing the monkey make a 'puh' and let go of his fingers, Yueshi held back his laughter as it lost its grip.
After falling on the ground, the little creature tilted its head in confusion – as if wondering what was going on - before grabbing Yueshi's robe and climbing through it.
In a single instant, it had already arrived at his hand once more and put his finger on its mouth, before sucking on it.
Yueshi could only shake his head seeing its actions; however, he decided to leave it alone for now. He knew that demon beasts' offspring could be sold for a good price, as taming them was much easier than a mature one.
That being so, he would decide what to do later, together with the others.
A few minutes of silence passed by, and even the little ape fell asleep in the meantime, which made Yueshi envious of him.