```
"It's the skinny monkey with the sharp eyes!"
"Could it have found something?"
Sun Wukong was puzzled, and as he approached, he asked, "What's got you so panicked?"
"Your Majesty!"
The skinny monkey stopped, bent over to catch his breath and hurriedly said, "I spotted a large bird spying on us, seems to be from the orchard area."
So it uncovered the eagle scouts, no wonder it was so anxious.
Sun Wukong had anticipated this and showed little emotion.
During the orchard incident, the Eagle King lost seven of his men; it would be truly strange if he did not send someone to surveil us.
"Since we're under surveillance, the Eagle King will likely take action soon. Especially after seeing me and Yin Hu shoulder to shoulder, he won't be able to sit still and might make a move in the coming days."
Sun Wukong analyzed in an instant. Seeing the skinny monkey still standing by, he ordered, "You've done well. Continue the surveillance and make sure it doesn't spot you!"
"Got it!"
The skinny monkey nodded earnestly and ran back.
Sun Wukong walked slowly, pondering his next move.
"Since he's already sent spies, the Eagle King is bound to act. Now that I've seen through him, how should I play my hand to ensure our tribe benefits from this crisis..."
Unconsciously,
Sun Wukong returned to where the Wild Boar King's body was, now stiff, with spiritual charm spreading slowly within.
The dispersing spiritual charm fluctuations awakened Sun Wukong. Rather than trying to make sense of the disarray, he focused his attention back on the Wild Boar King.
If he didn't extract it quickly, the Demon Core would be wasted.
Thus, he sliced open the Wild Boar King and removed a fist-sized Demon Core; having tasted one before, Sun Wukong found it unexpectedly sweet and, swallowing his saliva, ate it right away.
Streams of warmth began to flow inside his body, converging in his Dantian and then traveling to the spiritual platform, where they were fully absorbed by the Black Monkey Rune Seal.
This transformation granted mysterious strength to his limbs and body, constantly refining his demon body to make it more solid.
Meanwhile, the familiar feeling of burning returned. It wasn't as intense as the night before but was enough to elicit a reaction from his body.
"This thing is better than what's-his-name; the effect is unbeatable!"
"Poor lone me!"
With his body burning, Sun Wukong couldn't help but arch his back. Seeing other monkeys looking over, he felt a wave of social death.
Especially that white ape, with his meaningful glances, clearly contemplating his grand plans for the tribe's development.
"White ape, come here!"
Sun Wukong beckoned and called the white ape over, pointing to the Wild Boar King's body and instructed, "Dispose of this and distribute it to everyone. After eating, make sure they drink water and then practice their staff techniques."
The white ape nodded, his gaze drifting to a certain spot, hesitating to speak.
"Damn it!"
Sun Wukong could see what he was thinking and promptly turned to leave, not giving him a chance to speak.
And so the white ape missed another opportunity.
"Could it be that the king dislikes monkeys?"
Thwarted in his plan, the white ape began to consider other ideas.
Meanwhile, Sun Wukong returned to his cave dwelling. To quell the heat in his body, he started to chain together staff techniques outside.
This time, he held nothing back, executing with full force, the staff whistling through the air, stirring up gusts of wind.
Watching from a distance, the monkeys felt an inexplicable tightness in their chests, their blood flow disrupted by the force of the staff.
This was a rare opportunity; they had been practicing the basic staff techniques during the day and had them down pat. Now, witnessing Sun Wukong's display gave them a new appreciation, with many monkeys gaining insights and feeling great progress.
Whoosh... Whoosh...
Sun Wukong continued to swing his iron staff.
At first, there were clear forms and techniques, but it eventually devolved into wild, unpredictable flailing.
Yet it was this very chaos that intensified the awe of his staff technique. Cyclones whipped up, even creating the sound of breaking the air. And when he brought down his staff with full force, the ground shook, and the spot he struck was left with a five-meter-deep pit.
```
```
You must understand that this was about pounding on a mountain body, underneath which were all rocks and mineral formations that might not even chip if struck with a hammer.
Yet today Sun Wukong merely swung his staff, and a pit appeared.
From this, one could see the formidable aspect of his staff technique.
Hiss~
Monkeys in the distance all gasped, feeling an inexplicable shock, terrifying as it was.
In their hearts, they were even more resolved to learn the staff technique!
At this point, Sun Wukong had already vented his emotions, and was now sitting cross-legged on the ground, seemingly recovering his spiritual charm.
After watching the performance, the monkeys felt an indescribable surge of hot blood and, in groups, they returned to the training ground to practice their staff techniques.
Following a period of cultivation, yet another monkey condensed a Demon Core; the other monkeys were instantly unsettled, beginning to swing even more vigorously, expending their strength without reserve.
When hungry, they would eat raw meat.
When thirsty, they only had the prepared spring water.
They would not stop until utterly exhausted.
Even if they collapsed from fatigue, they would still lie down and drink water.
Until their strength was restored, and then, they would stand up and rejoin the frenzied cultivation group.
The entire monkey tribe's cultivation atmosphere had never been so fervently positive.
Perhaps it was a sense of crisis felt subconsciously.
Perhaps it was the stimulation from peers' progress.
Or possibly the recognition from Sun Wukong, as well as the human-like bestowing of names.
Or maybe it was all of these.
In any case, at this time, they were no longer the monkey tribe that was defenseless and vulnerable to slaughter.
Now, they were getting stronger at a visible rate, freely expending every ounce of their energy, solely for the sake of becoming stronger, with no other thoughts in mind.
Uh...
Not quite, there was one with a multitude of thoughts.
That was white ape.
In the past few days, he had been bustling about for the sake of the monkey tribe, acting both as a father and a mother, his heart nearly worn out.
Among the most important was Sun Wukong's life-long affair, critical to the continuation of the species, leaving him no mood for cultivation.
Now that he saw Sun Wukong had free time again, he once more began plotting schemes.
Again he summoned two female monkeys, and seeing that they were now muscularly fit, white ape felt that they already met the aesthetic standards of the monkey tribe.
So, he brought up the old issue again, instructing them to use the pretext of seeking advice on staff techniques to tempt Sun Wukong once more. Even if they couldn't succeed, the goal was to cultivate some feelings.
The two female monkeys bashfully nodded their heads, mainly because they also had their sights set on Sun Wukong. They struck an agreement with white ape and launched their second operation against Sun Wukong.
Unfortunately, Sun Wukong was already on guard against this and, before they could make their move, he blocked them with a set of excuses.
He said, "Actually, I admire strength. If one day you can reach the same level as me, I might agree to any request within a reasonable range."
With both inspiration and a play on words, the two female monkeys were none the wiser and excitedly ran off to practice their martial arts.
Seeing his plan foiled, white ape sought out Sun Wukong again, intending to have a heart-to-heart talk.
So he called over Sun Wukong, who had been waiting for a while.
"Just right, I also have matters I want to discuss with you!" Patting the rock beside him, signaling white ape to sit down, Sun Wukong looked up to the sky and said softly, "Sometimes I think, if I took the monkey tribe to find a safe place and slowly develop, maybe one day we could become a large tribe again."
"But in just a few short days, I have crushed this ridiculous thought. Because I have seen the cruelty of this world. If you don't strive to become strong, you will always be the prey of other strong ones. What good is stable development? When danger comes one day, won't you still panic and be slaughtered by others?"
"True strength must come from oneself; only by becoming powerful can you have command of your own destiny."
White ape was stunned by the passionate and eloquent persuasion, his mind cleared of any distractions.
After a long daze, he suddenly stood up and spoke earnestly, "From today on, I will strive to become stronger, until I surpass you…"
Sun Wukong nodded repeatedly, thinking that white ape would be motivated to apply himself, but then abruptly, white ape changed the subject, taking an entirely different direction.
```