Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

Common sense dictates that mandrills are not good at fighting. They mainly rely on the venom on their claws to hunt. They scratch their prey and then hide away until the prey is poisoned, unconscious, and unable to move, at which point they will come out and devour it.

However... this creature is quite different from wild mandrills. Judging from its fur color, claw length, and wrinkles, this mandrill is probably over a hundred years old. It is already a high-ranking monster. Even he was at a stalemate with the mandrill. How did a group of villagers manage to gain an advantage from it and even wound it?

Either those villagers are the problem, or... the mandrill held back. Could it be that the mandrill was raised by that group of people?

Linghui had many questions in her mind, and felt that things were becoming increasingly confusing.

But now he was too preoccupied to be distracted. He focused his energy and deflected the mountain demon's final heavy blow. After the heavy blow, there would be a moment to catch his breath, and this was the fleeting opening. He seized the opportunity and thrust his sword into the mountain demon's heart.

If he could, he would like to capture the mountain demon alive and investigate it further, but behind him were a junior brother, a junior sister, and the silly Qiaoxia. He couldn't hold back at this moment. The mountain demon was so ferocious that every move it made was meant to take his life. He had to kill it and couldn't let it live.

The nimble sword tip aimed straight for the mandrill's heart, but there was no sensation of it piercing the heart.

There was an iron plate tied to the mandrill's body near its heart. The nimble sword tip only pierced the iron plate and entered the mandrill's flesh, but did not penetrate its heart.

Blood dripped down the sword, and the mountain demon let out a painful roar, pulling away from Linghui's sword.

However, it did not run away, but instead ran towards Zhuang Xing and Yun Ling who were standing to the side.

Zhuang Xing was prepared. He activated the spiritual energy talisman, and his true energy surged like a raging fire meeting the wind.

Yunling took out the Mystic Fire Talisman, ready to unleash a fireball spell at any moment. Even her senior brother was fighting the mountain demon to a standstill, so she judged that this was the time to use the Mystic Fire Talisman.

Zhuang Xing drew his sword and slashed at the mountain demon. The sharp sword energy struck the mountain demon's chest, leaving a bloody gash and splattering black blood.

He was suddenly stunned. The mountain demon showed no intention of drawing its sword. When it ran towards Zhuang Xing, it was completely unguarded.

It... didn't seem to harbor any hostility towards me...

Even after being slashed by Zhuang Xing's sword, the mountain demon showed no intention of leaving. Instead, it stretched out its bent arms, seemingly trying to pull Zhuang Xing away.

Upon seeing this, Yunling's pupils suddenly contracted, and the Xuanhuo Talisman in her hand immediately burst into flames. A deep blue fireball condensed in front of her, erupting with terrifying heat, and the heat wave blew her black hair back.

"Yunling, calm down!"

Zhuang Xing shouted, and in that final moment, he grabbed Yunling's hand. The Xuanhuo Talisman grazed the mountain demon's body and shot out, striking a thick tree and burning a large hole in it. Within seconds, the area where the tree was located was engulfed in flames, and the tree creaked and fell to the side.

The mandrill seemed to be startled by this scene, and it stood frozen in place.

The senior brother ran over and shielded the two of them behind him.

The mandrill was already badly injured. The firelight illuminated its hunched body, and thick blood pooled at its feet. The iron plate on the mandrill's chest fell off, revealing a burn mark near its heart. The area was bald and hairless, bearing the character "slave".

After recovering from the shock, Yunling heard the mandrill's low growls and wails, and suddenly understood.

This mountain demon didn't actually intend to attack Zhuang Xing and Yun Ling...

Chapter 82 Shackles

Fire, raging fire, the kind of flames that seem to devour everything...

The heatwave scorched the mandrill's fur, and the air was filled with the smell of burning. Zhuang Xing noticed that the mandrill's body suddenly began to tremble uncontrollably.

It knelt on the ground, or rather, prostrated itself on the ground. It dropped its sword, lowered its head deeply, its upper body almost completely pressed against the ground, and its long arms stretched out as if they were broken.

Compared to its fierce appearance just now, it looked like a stray puppy, trembling and kneeling down in worship towards Yunling.

Even though it had just been cut by Zhuang Xing's sword and was almost stabbed through the chest by Senior Brother Ling Hui, it hadn't shown the slightest hesitation. But after seeing Yun Ling activate the Xuanhuo Talisman, the savage and ferocious beastly nature on its body seemed to vanish into thin air. At this moment, all Zhuang Xing felt from it was fear and submission.

Zhuang Xing even felt that even if he put his sword to its neck now, it wouldn't resist in the slightest; it would just tremble all over and let Zhuang Xing cut off its head.

All four stared at it. Linghui frowned. He looked at the fire caused by the Xuanhuo Talisman and suddenly remembered that it was autumn. The autumn wind was dry and the ground was covered with withered leaves and branches. If the wildfire spread, this forest would probably be completely burned down and the whole mountain would be reduced to ashes.

"Qiaoxia, go put out the fire!" Linghui said, "I can handle things here!"

Although Qiaoxia was slow to react, she understood that the fire had to be brought under control.

"This Xuanhuo Talisman... could it have been drawn by Uncle-Master Qingxuzi? How can it be so powerful?" Qiaoxia glanced at the tree that had been struck by the Xuanhuo Talisman with lingering fear.

She thought to herself that if she drew the Xuanhuo Talisman, it would probably only burn a small hole in the tree trunk.

But there was no time to dwell on this matter; the fire was getting bigger and bigger, and if it wasn't brought under control soon, it would be out of control!

Fortunately, there was a water source to her left, a stream. She went to the stream, took out all the water-controlling talismans from her bag, and activated them all at once.

She drew water from the stream, creating a water dragon that stretched out above the fallen tree and turned into a torrential downpour.

The rain only fell on the area where the fire was burning. When the water came into contact with the flames and the high temperature, it hissed and turned into white mist.

Qiaoxia felt a little exhausted, but she gritted her teeth and persevered. She took out another spirit talisman and activated it. Although she had exhausted her true qi, she managed to extinguish the fire, leaving only a lump of black charcoal.

Luckily, there was water nearby, otherwise she really wouldn't know what to do.

"I've used up all my strength, now... it's all up to you guys... *puff*"

Qiaoxia gasped for breath, feeling her legs go weak, so she simply sat down on the ground to rest. She took out her water bag, gulped down a few mouthfuls, and then took a couple of bites of dry rice cake.

Zhuang Xing thought to himself that his senior sister was really carefree; the mandrill was still lying there, and she was already mindlessly munching on a rice cake.

Aren't you afraid of choking if you eat so fast? Your mouth is bulging out like a little squirrel's.

Zhuang Xing then looked towards his senior brother, who remained highly vigilant. Even though the flames had been extinguished, the mountain demon showed no sign of standing up.

The senior brother gripped his sword and carefully picked up the piece of iron that had just fallen from the mandrill's chest.

"Zhuang Xing, I need to keep an eye on it. I can't bend over or look down. Pick that thing up and show it to me."

"it is good."

Zhuang walked over, picked up the piece of iron, and felt that it was very old. There was a rough layer of rust on the outside, and the thing had become very brittle.

He showed the piece of iron to his senior brother. There were broken coarse cloth ropes on both sides of the iron piece. It had been tied to the mandrill's chest, but it broke and fell off so easily because the ropes and the iron piece were worn out.

The senior apprentice glanced at the metal sheet, then at the mandrill.

"Yunling, come here for a moment."

Yunling pursed her lips and walked to her senior brother's side.

She glanced at her senior sister, who had exhausted herself trying to put out the fire, then at Zhuang Xing and the mountain demon lying on the ground, and realized that she had been too reckless.

There was no need to be in such a hurry just now, but... when she saw the mandrill extend its claws towards Zhuang Xing, she didn't have time to think, and her body moved involuntarily.

If she had to do it all over again, she felt she would still make the same choice... She couldn't afford the consequences of making the wrong choice; she could only ever choose the right option.

"Yunling, try to wake it up," said Senior Brother Linghui.

"Should I... come?" Yunling asked, a little confused.

"Well, let's give it a try. I have some guesses," said Senior Brother Linghui.

Zhuang Xing felt that his senior brother had the same idea as him; the mountain demon's appearance was definitely due to being frightened by the Xuanhuo Talisman.

He remembered his senior brother saying that in the north, in those copper and iron mountains, where ore is mined, some people raise mandrills to replace the laborers in mining.

This shows that mandrills are tamable monsters, and since this mandrill can use a sword and has an iron plate hanging on its chest, it must have lived with humans for a period of time.

In addition, the area on its chest that was burned was clearly branded with a red-hot iron pliers, leaving the character "slave." That "slave" character had been with this mandrill for at least as long as the iron plate in Zhuang Xing's hand had been with it.

Even the iron sheet has grown so much rust; the word "slave" was imprinted on the mandrill at least ten or twenty years ago.

It must have been used as a laborer, working somewhere for a period of time.

Zhuang Xing could roughly guess what kind of life it was; calling it a mandrill park wouldn't be an exaggeration. Beatings, starvation, and abuse were probably things that happened every day.

Some people treat their own kind like livestock, let alone mandrills, which are not human to begin with.

The Mysterious Fire Talisman must have stirred up the deepest fear in the mountain demon's heart. When it was a servant, there may have been someone who frequently burned it with fire tongs in places where fires were burning, perhaps in an ironworks.

It was required to kneel in this posture to those who enslaved it. Only by prostrating itself and pressing its forehead to the ground, praying that the fire tongs would not touch its skin, could it find a little peace of mind.

In its eyes, Yunling, who had just activated the Xuanhuo Talisman, had transformed into that terrifying shadow that it had to obey, which was why it was behaving so abnormally.

Following Linghui's words, Yunling quietly called for the mountain demon to rise.

The mandrill still didn't raise its head, but slowly lowered its crouching body, still showing a submissive demeanor.

Looking at it like this... Yunling suddenly felt very sad...

She had this ability since she was very young: to sense the emotions of certain beings. The stronger the emotions of the other person, the clearer she could sense them. And at this moment, the helplessness and fear in that old heart seemed to be whispering in her ear.

“Lift your head up…” Yunling said softly.

The mandrill remained kneeling, but raised its head, its eyes like those of a young animal huddled in a cage.

It looked at the piece of iron in Zhuang Xing's hand, and Yunling asked, "Do you want that thing?"

The mandrill hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“Zhuang Xing, give that thing to it,” said Senior Brother Linghui. “I’ll go with you. If it does anything unusual, I’ll protect you.”

"Okay." Zhuang Xing nodded, feeling a great sense of security with his senior brother around.

The senior brother protected him and slowly walked over. The mandrill lowered its head again and lifted itself up with its paws. The fear in its heart had not yet dissipated.

Zhuang Xing placed the piece of iron on its paw, and then, it clumsily placed the piece of iron on the hairless, unsightly spot on its chest.

Zhuang Xing suddenly realized something: the iron plate was placed on its chest by someone to help it cover the word "slave." It was a breastplate, tied to its chest to make it look better.

But it tried several times and still couldn't get the chest protector in place.

That's for sure. The rope protecting the chest was broken, and its claws were too long and not as flexible as human fingers. After the metal piece fell to the ground, it took several tries to pick it up.

Upon closer inspection, Zhuang Xing discovered something strange: there were traces of cloth strips used to wrap the mandrill's legs. The cloth wasn't old; it must have been wrapped recently.

It's so difficult for it to pick up a piece of metal, who bandaged its wound?

Is it a villager? But... if it was raised by a villager, why would the villager come to Xuanqing Temple to ask someone to exorcise the demon?

Zhuang Xing was puzzled and asked, "Yunling, can you ask it who bandaged it?"

Yunling tried asking, and she heard some jumbled words. The mandrill crawled down again, as if begging for her forgiveness and asking her not to ask those questions.

The mandrill was still afraid of her, but it refused to reveal anything about it.

Chapter 83 The Children

The situation has reached a stalemate. The mandrill no longer seems to pose a threat, but Zhuang Xing and the others still cannot find out the truth of the matter.

Zhuang Xing recalled how the mandrill had pounced on him just now, its arm reaching out as if it wanted to carry him away.

He pondered for a moment, staring at the mandrill that couldn't put the chest protector back, and said, "Senior brother, the people in that village say that this mandrill stole their village's children, right?"

“Just now, when I swung my sword, it didn’t seem to be on guard at all. I could roughly sense that it probably wanted to take me and Yunling away.”