Junior Sister is skilled in subduing demons.

Chapter 190 A Hazy Awakening

As Monkey Lao Biao limped along his right leg, parting the drooping vines, Tuan Tuan was using his broken paw to pluck scales from under the decaying leaves. The Iron-Eating Beast's black and white fur was covered in mud, its left forepaw hastily held in place by banana leaves, each movement shaking off several moldy bamboo leaves. This was the third day after their 85th failed attempt at starting a business; the torrential rain had turned their rebellious banners into a bed of moss.

"We've found seven silver pheasant feathers." Old Monkey stuck his fire poker into the mud, a few blood-stained peacock feathers sticking out of the end. Tuan Tuan looked up and saw five new claw marks on the lame monkey king's back—last night, when they were retrieving Aunt Pig's tiger-skin cloak from the bottom of the cold pool, they stumbled upon the bronze chains set up by the old monkey king.

The silver pheasant's bald wing suddenly twitched, the scab at the broken feather splitting open and splattering onto the remaining fragments of its armor, sizzling loudly. "The clouds and mist of Mount Shu can heal wounds." He hopped on one foot to the lightning-struck wood, his broken wing clutching a moldy bamboo slip. "But you need to gather this first." The moment the bamboo slip was unfolded, the bronze patterns on Tuan Tuan's chest suddenly heated up, and the crooked seal script perfectly matched the cracks in the armor.

In the dead of night, amidst a torrential downpour, Old Monkey found Aunt Pig's tusk upstream from the waterfall. Bronze fragments lodged in the tusk gleamed with a faint light, the same kind of glow found in the Shu Mountain Token, under the campfire. "The 85th time isn't the end," he thought, clutching the tusk until dawn, when the morning light illuminated the Big Dipper engraved on its root—the missing eye of the Vajra Armor array.

Three days later, bronze feathers began to grow on the broken wing of the silver pheasant. As the first metallic feather pierced his flesh, he was preening his tightly wound, reversed armor with his beak. "Armor worn backwards, stars return to their places." As the prophecy on the bamboo slip was recited, a sudden buzzing sound came from the broken bone, and the bronze patterns bulged like veins, dyeing the black and white fur a crimson gold. At that moment, the monkey's fire poker spontaneously combusted, and Shen Anzhi's phantom appeared in the flames: "What you found were merely fragments of the Yin Decree."

On the eve of his departure, the elder brother silver pheasant inserted three peacock feathers into the seams of the beast's armor. The metallic feathers cut through the flesh of the iron-eating beast, yet bronze lotuses bloomed at the wounds. "Each feather is a key." When he flapped his wings, what fell were not drops of blood, but glowing seal script. "Once you have collected all the Yang tokens, come to Mount Shu to fetch me, and we will continue our rebellion."

As they traversed the poisonous swamp, Tuan Tuan's severed paw suddenly twitched. Bronze chains buried beneath the humus burst forth, dragging him into the depths of the icy pool. The instant Monkey Cousin's fire poker pierced the gap in the chains, images from ten years ago surfaced at the bottom of the pool: a young, lame monkey holding half of the Shu Mountain Token, plunging his fangs into the spine of the first Iron-Eating Beast.

"Mommy!" Tuantuan roared, suffocating. The pool water transformed into thousands of copper nails, piercing his bone marrow, yet amidst the excruciating pain, it wove a bamboo forest illusion. The Iron-Eating Beast, three times his size, sat beneath the moon, its intact Shushan Token on its chest exuding a milky fragrance: "When the Heavenly Tribulation removed my right eye to forge armor, you cried for three days, clutching your severed paw." The panda mother's sharp claws caressed his reversed Vajra armor, and suddenly, bamboo-like veins sprouted from the broken beast bones.

Upon returning to the ground, Monkey Brother carved the 86th crack on the lightning-struck wood. Tuan Tuan discovered that the earliest ten cracks were the darkest in color, like blood seeping into the tree rings. When the rebel army set off under the moonlight, the Iron-Eating Beast's fur had turned dark gold, and its reversed Vajra Armor resonated with the Fire Stick, projecting a fragmented star map onto the summit of Mount Emei.

The day the old Monkey King emerged from his cave, his golden crown spontaneously shattered into eighty-five copper coins. "You finally understand," he said, scattering the coins into the icy pool. Each coin's hole emitted a bronze chain. "Eighty-five rebellions were merely to allow the Star Chart to absorb the blood and energy of defeat." When the Yin-Yang Shu Mountain Token merged into one at the bottom of the pool, Aunt Pig's tusks suddenly burst forth from the water, carrying with them nine hundred rebellion talismans she had cultivated in bile during her three months of nurturing in Shu Mountain.

As the victory feast was laid out on the skeleton of the first Iron-Eating Beast, Tuan Tuan gnawed on the glowing bronze bamboo shoots. The silver pheasant's metal wings were stuck in the center of the altar, each feather reflecting the years spent healing amidst the clouds and mist of Mount Shu. "Next time we'll rebel, we'll go to Qiang City," Monkey Brother said, stroking his newly acquired bronze scepter, his lame leg casting a winding shadow on the star map. "The prophecy of the divine mountain is buried there."

"The prophecy of the sacred mountain?" Tuantuan was clearly confused.

Old Monkey smiled faintly, patted Tuan Tuan and said, "Fatty, get some rest. Everything is up to fate."

After saying that, Old Monkey walked out of the fake Monkey King's cave. Curled up in the crack of the lightning-struck wood, its broken claws unconsciously scratched at the bronze rust seeping from its armor. The day's events flashed through its mind: the battle with the old Monkey King, triggering the Vajra Armor, the Shu Mountain Token, the Shu Mountain Alliance… each and every one of these events was beyond its current understanding. What exactly was its relationship with them?
"It's time for the baby's bloodline to awaken."

Suddenly, the panda mother's voice became clear in his memory, and the bronze chains at the bottom of the icy pool rattled inside his skull. Tuantuan was horrified to discover that fine bronze threads were growing from the broken surface of his forepaw, burrowing into the humus like bamboo roots to draw nutrients.

Monkey's fire poker suddenly fell from the treetop, its scorch marks fitting perfectly with the star map on Tuan Tuan's chest. As the resonant hum of bronze pierced his eardrums, he heard the roars of beasts echoing from the depths of the Ten Thousand Mountains. Those sounds transcended time and space, overlapping with the dying cries of the twentieth generation of Iron-Eating Beasts to form a deafening truth.

After a few days,
The silver pheasant has left and returned to Mount Shu to recuperate. Aunt Pig is also seriously injured and her whereabouts are unknown. The entire monkey troop has fallen into a slump, and Old Brother Monkey is no longer as carefree as before, appearing even more somber.

Tuantuan seems to have awakened a bit these past few days. Without delving into her specific background, what she can be sure of is that the "mother" she calls out to every day in the bamboo forest is indeed a human.

"Now you finally understand?" Old Monkey seemed to have expected this after hearing Tuan Tuan's words.

Tuantuan seemed a little confused: "I dreamed about my mother."

“That’s right, I told you long ago. That Shen Anzhi just wants to use you as a mount. Just remember, the Iron-Eating Beast Clan will never be slaves.” Old Monkey was very happy about Tuan Tuan’s awakening.

Tuan Tuan raised its injured paw, looked at the lines that were still growing on it, and asked, "Brother, what is the Shu Mountain Alliance? And what about these bronze artifacts?"

Faced with Tuan Tuan's question, Old Monkey said with a solemn expression, "You're still young. You'll understand in time. This is about a very, very big legend, and it's related to your Iron-Eating Beast family."

"Ah!" Tuantuan exclaimed in surprise.

"Brother Silver Pheasant's peacock feather can regenerate your forepaws. When we go to find the old monkey for the 86th time, you can use your claws to pierce through the old monkey's throne." After saying that, Old Monkey looked down at the 85 failure dates that appeared on the fire poker. Each date bloomed with bamboo flowers under the nourishment of the bronze veins.