The little monkey nearly yelped when the rancid smell wafted towards him. He teared up immediately. The greater the potency of the Stench, the larger the number of Jade Imps there were, he guessed.
He was right.
"It's those screaming fools again!" Honghuo cried.
"They never give up." Hua Dongmei was equally displeased by the sight of the ugly enemies.
About a hundred meters away, over thirty of the Jade Imps emerged, marching through the snow, armed and shrieking for all to hear as always. Their red bodies bore an ugly contrast with the white staining the world, as were their voices to the mostly tranquil surroundings – if one disregarded Honghuo and Hua Dongmei's screaming match earlier.
It was as though blood was dripping over the white world in irregular drops, disrupting the rein of the cold which took on a kind, flaky, sacred form.
The Imps were particularly energetic this time around. A majority of them were pointing, their faces ugly with accusing fury. They jumped from frozen trees, thrashed through the snow, and bared their horrible, misshapen teeth in the trio's direction.
Yun Jieshi frowned.
It quickly became clear soon enough. They didn't care for the fairy or the miniature sun. They only had eyes for him.
'Right. I am pretty popular among them, aren't I?' Yun Jieshi thought as he gripped his ruan tight. This already had the makings of an ugly encounter especially when considering that the horde of Jade Imps wasn't just made up of the Common Jade Imps he had beaten before.
Not this time.
There was a different one he'd never seen before leading them.
It was at least three times as large as the others and had a darker shade of red to its bulk. It didn't shriek like the rest, and quite like with Bei Jun, Yun Jieshi saw the light of intelligence in its large eyes.
It held a large yellowish bone bow in its hand; it would have been a feat trying to identify what kind of creatures had died, their bones extracted to produce the weapon. It looked strangely whole, as though some singular living, perfectly bow-shaped beast had died, shed its flesh, and become a simple non-living bow.
While the other Imps were shrieking madly, the big one nocked an arrow on its bow and drew the string to the limit. The arrows in its quiver all matched the absurd size of the bow. They too looked as though they were made entirely out of bone, with their fletching seemingly made from the sewn-together needles of a pine tree.
Yun Jieshi reacted at once. The speed of these arrows was impossible to overcome even with his impeccable perception. Grabbing Hua Dongmei – who was right in front of him – around the waist, the little monkey dived to the right before the large Imp fired.
The arrow came stabbing the empty air with a queer violent whistle. It carved through the trunks of ten trees leagues away before finally losing its momentum. It was lightning manifested in bone!
Yun Jieshi blew a panicked breath as his feet felt the snow below.
'Bei Jun, you bloated liar!' he thought, sweating. 'Did you really beat the Imp King?'
The little monkey's instincts were flaring. This Imp with its bow would no doubt trouble the fish who wasn't a fish, even if only slightly. If it wasn't the best that the Imp King's army of Imps had to offer, the implications would be…
"T-thank you, Sage!" Hua Dongmei cried from Yun Jieshi's hook grip. He let her go and she flew up over his head. "I've never had to fight one of these types of Imps before. My elders said to avoid them at all costs."
"Those Imps?" Yun Jieshi asked, frowning. "What do you mean?"
Hua Dongmei returned a frown of her own, confused, but then she realized:
"Ah, right! Sage, you must have only just arrived in this world so you wouldn't know!" she said. "These bigger Imps serve as the Imp King's elite soldiers. But they are not… natural. He does something to them to get them bigger and stronger."
The Discount Sage frowned. He had already guessed the bigger Imps were – simply put – stronger Imps under the Imp King, but there was more to them than that?
Another arrow whizzed through the air, but Yun Jieshi had already dived back with Hua Dongmei before it was loosened.
The snow cried as dozens of Imps raced towards them. The little monkey cursed.
"What did the Imp King do to those Imps?" he asked Hua Dongmei. "Does it have anything to do with that terrible smell?"
"Smell? What smell?"
Yun Jieshi gaped.
Another arrow interrupted him right then. He had been momentarily distracted. He noticed its approach belatedly.
He couldn't avoid it with a dodge.
But that didn't mean he was done for.
A simple, wordless command from him as his nerves stretched taut caused his daruan to engorge sharply. The great bone arrow knocked hard against the ruan's belly and flew into the sky, spinning. Yun Jieshi felt a chilling vibration course through his ruan.
'That was close. Those arrows are dangerous too! It's not just the bow they are firing from!' he thought, and upon seeing the tide of shrieking Imps racing towards him, shooting arrows of their own, flinging spears, and advancing with daggers, he made to sweep them with his ruan, as he had done before on that the rock pillar.
…But the larger Imp attacked again. It was charging along with its smaller counterparts.
It uprooted a large tree as it dashed, crossing six meters with each step, and flung it at Yun Jieshi. The projectile whipped through the air, whirling like a chopper's rotor blades.
To the little monkey, it moved no quicker than a butterfly. It was nowhere near as fast as the arrows, after all.
He ducked down with Hua Dongmei and the malevolent tree passed overhead, crashing against everything else protruding from the ground beyond them.
Yun Jieshi didn't miss the shrewdness in the large Imp's intent.
'If those other Imps I let escape told the others everything, then that thing is wary of me attacking with my ruan,' Yun Jieshi thought. The Imps could communicate, after all. He had seen it.
Every second he spent dodging bought the Imps enough time to close the distance and pile on attacks. The larger Imp would keep deterring him from going on the offensive with its arrows.
It did exactly that.
It was only ten meters away now, another arrow nocked on its bow. Its smaller counterparts were converging on Yun Jieshi, greedy for his life. Their projectiles bounced off of him, but they remained driven still – fearless.
The monkey would have been lying if he said he wasn't a little intimidated. He wanted to keep his eye on the incoming arrows, but the flood of enemies made it difficult. His only option would be to recklessly punt the enemies and the trees away in one shot using his ruan.
But would he be fast enough?
The large Imp could be waiting to strike right when he decided to perform such a move.
A terrible heat disturbed the commotion, right then.
It caused the cold ground to hiss and thaw, and made the Imps pause.
Honghuo dropped from the sky and began flying in quick arcs around Yun Jieshi. The Jade Imps who came into contact with him were immediately set ablaze. They shrieked and began running around like headless chickens. Suddenly the smell of burning ore filled the air, along with choking fumes. Tens of the Imps burned, their coats melting while those that Honghuo didn't manage to touch fled, screaming.
Honghuo didn't pursue.
"Sage! Sage! Does this count as payment for that favor you agreed to help me with? I saved your life!" he cried jubilantly.
Hua Dongmei was affronted that the blob of heat would even think that.
"You ignorant fool! How dare disrespect the Sage like that? He doesn't need your help! He has everything under control! Isn't that right, Sa—"
"Watch out!" Yun Jieshi cut off the fairy with a cry. An arrow had come speeding from the large Imp before the Discount Sage could do anything about it. It wasn't meant for him though.
It sniped Honghuo and dragged him a distance to nail him on the ground.
Honghuo screamed in agony. His cry at the highest pitch sounded strangely like an animalistic howl, but Yun Jieshi didn't have the luxury of gracing him with any attention. His mind spun.
How in the world did an arrow tag an entity like Honghuo? Yun Jieshi had sensed it earlier. Unlike Hua Dongmei, Honghuo seemed to be entirely made out of flame and light.
Terror smote the little monkey when he noted that the large Jade Imp had already nocked yet another arrow on its bow and it was already drawing.
'I was right. This bastard will kill me if I choose to attack using my ruan. The windup time – however little – will do me in!'
And at this close of a range…
'I won't let you fire it!'
The little monkey was storming forward before he even fully understood what he was doing. He was quick as the wind, and when he leaped, he soared high – higher than he had thought possible. For a moment, both Yun Jieshi and the Imp were horrified.
Suddenly, the little monkey realized he didn't have any battle instincts to help him best the enemy. But the thrill of being so nimble sank and danced through him like song.
The Jade Imp, on the other hand, had been taken aback by Yun Jieshi's speed. His position in the air, along with his proximity made it impossible for it to adjust and shoot at once. It was guaranteed to miss.
Thus, it cast away both bow and arrow without a second thought.
The two's eyes met and their resolve sparked in the middle, clashing like steel.
The Imp threw its fist first. It traded form and power for speed, but the punch still had tremendous weight.
Yun Jieshi saw it coming, but it didn't inspire any fear in him. He grinned. Somehow, he felt emboldened, his blood running wild with imagination.
His tail whipped around the wrist of the slow-moving punch and he spun and found his footing on the enemy's forearm. If he had adrenaline in his odd little body, it was boiling.
'I'll have to write a song about this!' he thought, and then he zoomed along the Jade Imp's arm, reaching its face in a flash.
He cocked back his arm, and with all the might he could muster, Yun Jieshi blasted his fist into the Jade Imp.