Slash-!
Blood spurted out like a fountain as the two monkey monsters were decisively laid to rest by Mo Mian's sword.
As much as the party members would like to study them further, this was neither the time nor place for that.
Who knew how much time they had before the other monkeys realised that these two had gone missing?
After keeping the carcasses away in their spatial items, the group immediately started moving once again.
This time, however, Chu Han was the one taking the lead.
He had always been the most observant member of the Mystic Cavalry, so he was naturally the best person to take charge now.
After all, they now had to move by retracing the trail left behind by the two monkey monsters earlier.
Thankfully, it was not like the two monkeys had attempted to hide their traces earlier, so it was not difficult to do so by any measure.
The only problem was that the party would have to make a small detour whenever they spotted other beasts or monkeys along the way, which meant that they would end up getting thrown off the trail.
They would then have to spend some time finding these traces again after they managed to bypass these hurdles.
This made the journey a lot longer than it would have originally been.
But the good news was that as they continued to follow the trail across a long distance, they started coming across more and more monkeys over time.
It was definitely a good sign, but it also made it even harder for them to move around without getting spotted.
Their movement speed slowed down dramatically, yet nobody complained.
They all understood that they were getting really close to their goal now.
And then, it finally came into view.
Keeping their bodies low, the party looked over the edge of a sharp cliff to observe the bustling community beneath.
It was a community indeed, just not one for humans.
Instead, this was a huge community of monkeys.
Apart from that, one had to admit that this was truly a wondrous spot.
A beautiful waterfall created a huge plunge pool underneath, which in turn spread into a stream that led further into the forest.
Tall trees and dense vegetation covered the entire area – from the banks of the stream to the area around the plunge pool. Even the cliff itself had trees growing out of it.
That alone was nothing special, considering the fact that they were in the middle of the forest.
What stood out was that many of these trees had stick houses built atop them.
At first glance, these stick houses resembled huge wooden baskets with an opening at the side instead of at the top. These stick houses even had makeshift doors as their entrances to block out any prying eyes.
As for the monkeys themselves, one did not even have to count to know that there were more than a hundred of them present.
Some could be seen leaping around, while others swung from tree to tree using the long vines that hung from them.
Some were less active and moved around slowly and calmly.
There were even some that were content with simply sitting at one spot, taking the time to snack on food while watching the others.
"There are so many of them..." Pu Feixiang exclaimed in shock.
"And that is just considering those present at the moment," Gui Longcan added solemnly. "Who knows how many more of them are out there?"
"None of them have black arms, though," Zhao Yunxiao commented.
His comment made the party focus their attention on the monkeys' arms.
Indeed, all of them had red hair all over their body, and their arms were no exception.
"That's a problem," Mo Mian frowned.
After all, the monkey demon was the main reason why they were here in the first place.
Even if they were to clear out this entire nest of monkeys, it would be completely meaningless if they could not get the monkey demon in the process.
"Probably there," Chu Han gestured towards a particular tree that was located right in the centre of the area.
This tree was significantly larger than the others, with a trunk circumference big enough for more than ten grown men holding hands to go around.
And just like the other trees, this one also had a stick house built on it.
Perhaps because the tree itself was large enough to withstand a greater weight, the stick house was much larger than the others as well.
No matter how one looked at it, this tree was definitely special.
If the monkey demon was really living with the other monkeys at this spot, then that would most likely be its house.
"What's the plan?" Pu Feixiang asked.
"Perha-" Mo Mian started speaking, but his words were quickly cut short.
"Wait, something is happening," Zhao Yunxiao interjected, signalling for Mo Mian to stop.
His words drew everyone's focus back to the monkeys' nest beneath the cliff.
For some reason, the monkeys had suddenly stopped their individual activities and were all focusing their attention in a particular direction – at the biggest tree in the area.
At the same time, the monkey chatter had significantly increased in volume, a testament to how their excitement level was rapidly rising.
It was obvious that something was about to happen, and it was something that they were all looking forward to as well.
Under everyone's watchful gazes, the door to the huge stick house slowly opened, and an old monkey sauntered out to stand at the entrance.
"Red arms..." Pu Feixiang commented in disappointment.
Indeed, the new entrant had red hair on its arms, just like the others. This meant that it could not be the monkey demon that they were looking for either.
The old monkey took a deep breath and raised its head to the sky.
Squeal-!
A loud whistle filled the air, and the other monkeys' excitement level grew even higher.
Squeal-! Squeal-!
Many of them whistled and yelled in response.
Some of them even started banging things together as though they were cheering.
The old monkey then reached into the house once more to grab a thick rope. With it in hand, the old monkey leapt out of the house and landed on a nearby branch.
From its new spot, the old monkey started pulling on its end of the rope.
There was a loud dragging sound as the rope grew taut. Next, the other end of the rope slowly revealed itself at the entrance of the stick house, along with the thing that it had been secured to.
Zhao Yunxiao immediately frowned, and so did the rest of the party.
On the other hand, the monkeys cheered even louder, their excitement level shooting through the roof.
This difference in reaction was striking, but that was only to be expected as well.
After all, the thing that had been secured to the other end of the rope truly warranted such responses.
It was a huge wooden cage, about two metres tall and a metre long in terms of both width and length.
But the cage itself was not important here.
What's important was the content within the cage.
Inside this huge wooden cage, there was a man who appeared to be in his mid thirties.
His face was dirty and unshaven, while his clothes were tattered and torn. His lips were dry and parched, indicating that he was in a severely dehydrated state. His long hair was dishevelled, with dirt and leaves trapped within.
On top of that, there were also numerous bruises and wounds all over his body, appearing to have been the result of blunt impacts, cuts, and scratches.
As he stood there holding tightly onto the bars of the wooden cage, the expression on his face revealed everything there was to know about what he was feeling right now.
Fear.
Just by looking at him, one could feel the emotion of terror coursing through his veins as he came face-to-face with the huge crowd of monkeys that were cheering upon his appearance.
Of course, it was unlikely that they were cheering to welcome his arrival.
Or perhaps they were, just that it was not a warm welcome by any measure.
Squeal-!
The old monkey called out once more, and the monkeys quietened down immediately.
For a moment, a deathly silence fell upon the entire area, leaving only the tranquil sound of water.
Wu-! Ar-!
A fat monkey suddenly exclaimed while excitedly jumping up and down on the spot.
Squeal-! Squeal-! Squeal-!
As though taking that as a sign, the other monkeys started cheering once more.
Wu-! Ar-! Ar-!
The old monkey responded, and tugged at his end of the rope once more.
"No! Please!" the man in the cage pleaded in vain as the cage was pulled right out from within the stick house.
Losing the flooring underneath, the cage immediately went into freefall, dropping from the tall stick house that was located up in the trees.
"Aaahhhh!" the man screamed in horror while desperately holding onto the wooden bars for dear life.
Splash-!
The huge wooden cage fell into the stream below, causing water to erupt like a fountain.
Inside the cage, the man almost had the air knocked out of his lungs as he slammed against the wooden bars upon impact with the water surface.
Yet no matter how much it hurt, the man simply did not have the luxury of time to slowly nurse his injuries.
The pain was one thing. But if he did not do anything to help himself now, the only end waiting for him would be drowning in the stream!
Thankfully, the wooden cage had enough buoyancy to return to the surface of the stream.
Not just that, but the old monkey on the tree also maintained its grip on the other end of the rope, preventing the huge wooden cage from being washed away by the flow of water.
However, the problem was that most of the wooden cage remained underwater while only a small portion of it remained above the surface.
This meant that the man only had that little space to manoeuvre as he desperately tried to keep his head within the little pocket of air accessible within the confines of the cage.
And in the flowing stream, the cage did not remain stationary.
Affected by the water flow, the wooden cage kept spinning around on the surface of the water.
This meant that the man in the cage could not simply hold himself close against the wooden bars on top, but had to keep shifting around the cage in his continued attempts to locate the only pocket of air accessible to him.
While trying to do so, he was repeatedly struck by the bars of the spinning wooden cage – numerous times on the head as well.
"N-! O-! H-! elp-!" the man shouted as he tried his best to keep his head above the surface of the water, involuntarily swallowing huge amounts of water in the process.
Yet despite the agonising process, he could only endure the pain and keep on struggling.
After all, his only other option was to drown in the stream.
No matter how one looked at it, this was nothing short of torture.
However, the monkeys that were watching probably had a different thought in mind, evident from how they were now cheering louder than ever before.
From the monkeys' perspective, this was probably nothing but a show.
As for the man in the cage, he was simply a source of entertainment – existing for the sole purpose of relieving boredom in their mundane lives.