Chapter 3: Escape from Death, The White Ape Imparts Skills!

"Holy shit, fuck!"

A scream erupted from the edge of the cliff.

A golden monkey was seen dancing in midair, but upon glimpsing the layered rocks and the surging waves below, its face turned deathly pale with fright.

"Moo!"

Just then, a cow's moo sounded from behind, and as it turned its head, it saw the cow demon charging with its horns, relentless and unyielding.

This damn cow demon.

Carries that much of a grudge?

"Damn it, I'll kill you!"

Enraged, Sun Wukong swiftly grabbed at his ear, and the silver-hooped iron rod appeared out of thin air, slamming right into the center of the cow demon's forehead, making it bellow in pain.

"Hahahaha, how's that for a hit!"

Sun Wukong laughed heartily, using the recoil force to propel his body higher, flipping in the air and landing toward the churning sea below.

Before he hit the water, he saw the cow demon smashed against the rocks, looking pitiful, and he couldn't help feeling a surge of intense satisfaction.

"Hahahaha..."

Amidst his laughter, a wave rose and completely engulfed him.

But the cow demon, tough-skinned and resilient, had only suffered minor injuries from its fall from the high cliff. When it shook itself back to consciousness, it could only see the tumultuous waves; the golden monkey was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it, damn it..."

"That accursed monkey... Ahhh!"

Furious, the cow demon charged wildly between the rocks, headfirst, with thunderous roars and flying debris, at times even drowning out the sound of the waves.

A long while later.

The cow demon finally ceased its rampage, panting heavily, casting a hateful glance over the sea before reluctantly turning away and expertly climbing up the cliffside, soon disappearing from view.

Peace returned once more, with only the relentless waves remaining.

And in a small corner of piled rubble, within a narrow crevice, a golden monkey's head quietly surfaced, its arms supporting its sharp-edged perch, desperately holding up its weary body.

"Lucky as always, Sun Wukong has cheated death yet again," he mused.

Looking around at the sharp rocks, Sun Wukong felt immensely relieved.

Falling into the sea earlier, the raging waves had slapped him back to the shore. Fortunately, luck was on his side; he happened to be wedged into a crevice, just narrowly avoiding the cow demon's inspection.

If he'd had this kind of luck in his former life, Sun Wukong wouldn't think twice before buying a few lottery tickets—who knows, he might have won?

"But this cow demon is quite cunning, even using tricks to search for me. Still, they don't call me a master at staying hidden for nothing. Let's see who outlasts whom!"

In his ordeal, Sun Wukong humorously noted the faint demonic aura of the cow demon still lingering around the cliff. To emerge now would surely lead to his discovery.

It would be the end of him.

And indeed, as Sun Wukong sensed, when night fell and the cow demon showed no signs of movement, it finally ran out of patience. Agitated and furious, it stood up from its dirt mound on the cliff, and after venting, it at last truly left the precipice.

Only when the demonic presence had faded far away and disappeared did Sun Wukong withdraw his stiff arms after holding out for hundreds of breaths. He fell into the water, not moving, but soon floated back up, lying on his back on the surface of the sea.

He was completely exhausted, lacking even the strength to twitch a finger. If discovered now, any random monster could easily kill him.

Luckily for him, his golden monkey luck wasn't bad. Until midnight, there was no sign of the cow demon returning to the cliff, and his body gradually recovered some strength. By the second half of the night, he was able to move around.

Under cover of darkness, Sun Wukong, sticking out just his head, swam dog-paddle style toward another rock. He found the waves there were calmer and most importantly, there was a recess that could provide temporary shelter, allowing him to hide from any potential scouting.

Moving cautiously, Sun Wukong swam deeper into the recess in the cliff wall. All around him was darkness, and the sound of his strokes was amplified many times over.

"Fuck, fuck... this feels so damn scary," he thought.

"There wouldn't be ghosts here, right?"

"No way..."

Suddenly.

HIs body brushed against something soft, and he stiffened, not daring to make another move.

Ghosts!

Sea monsters!

Gigantic creatures!

In a few breaths, several thoughts flashed through Sun Wukong's mind, turning his monkey face pale with fear.

Giggling...

Unable to stop his jaw from chattering, Sun Wukong desperately blinked in the darkness, trying to discern what he had touched.

It couldn't be the sea rocks, nor any plant, because, at the moment of contact, he felt a terrifying flux of spiritual charm.

It was a monster, possessing a spiritual charm far surpassing that of the cow demon. In its presence, Sun Wukong felt as insignificant as dust, easily extinguishable with a mere gesture.

Whoosh~

Without warning, Sun Wukong's body was enveloped by this spiritual charm and lifted out of the sea, then aimlessly floated before finally landing on a flat surface.

"This is it, this is it, am I finally going to be eaten?"

"Mamma mia, to think that I, Sun Wukong, would be single for two lifetimes, is simply pitiful, sigh-inducing, song-worthy, tear-jerking..."

Um~

What's with this sudden sleepiness?

Perhaps due to the biting cold and hunger, as a trace of warmth came from below, the golden monkey's consciousness began to blur, and he passed out into a slumber.

"Sigh..."

In the darkness, a light sigh sounded, followed by an eruption of spiritual charm, which all surged towards Sun Wukong on the bamboo raft.

"It's... so alike!"

"Your Majesty, could this be you?"

The aged voice echoed in the darkness.

But nobody answered.

He knew as well.

Yet he still couldn't help but ask.

And to all of this, Sun Wukong, still deep in slumber, was none the wiser.

He slept so soundly that he didn't even have that Journey to the West dream again. His whole body felt toasty, as if he were back in his mother's embrace, yearning so hard, wishing he could sleep on forever.

But of course, that was impossible.

Because he had more important matters to attend to.

The next day.

As the early morning's first rays of sunlight slanted down and the red sun began to rise, eyelids twitched on the golden monkey atop the bamboo raft, and then his eyes snapped open.

"Ah!"

His body jolted up, and Sun Wukong instinctively let out a cry—this had become a reflex over the course of twenty years, even though there had been no Journey to the West dream the previous night.

Wasn't I eaten?

Sun Wukong frantically felt himself over.

"You... are awake!" The white ape in the cave spoke, its massive head descending, staring intently at the little monkey on the raft as if recalling something. "So alike... truly alike, in a millennium, you're the one who most resembles our king when he was young."

Sun Wukong was shocked. The giant ape was right before his eyes, but he couldn't sense its presence at all. He couldn't help but ask, "Who are you? Why are you here? Do you know where the monkeys from the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit have gone?"

It's not easy!

Finally, a fellow kind.

The giant ape raised its long eyebrows and pointed to itself, humming, "Me? I am called white ape, a name given by our king!"

"As for why I'm here—it's because there's unfinished business, or perhaps, I was waiting for someone like you."

"The third question, well—I actually don't know where they've gone. They were all clamoring to find the king, causing such a ruckus, heaven knows where they went."

Saying this, white ape sighed deeply, looking somewhat sad. "They've been gone for a millennium, and haven't thought to come back even once, leaving me without a single monkey to talk to."

A millennium of loneliness, only white ape knew the taste of that. Anyway, Sun Wukong couldn't bear it.

Alone for just twenty years, he was already close to madness.

Let alone that recurring dream!

"Little monkey!" Just then, white ape suddenly poked Sun Wukong's head with a finger, eyes gleaming with kindness, and asked, "Would you like to learn some skills to save your life?"

Tsk tsk!

Is this one of those fabled fortuitous encounters?

Love it.

Without immediately accepting, Sun Wukong looked up and asked, "What can you teach me?"

"Hahaha..."

White ape burst out laughing, stopping only after a moment and then looking seriously at Sun Wukong, "What skills? Naturally, the skills left by our king!"

Having said that, the finger thick as a pillar descended, touching Sun Wukong's face lightly. A powerful spiritual charm erupted, engulfing his entire monkey form in an instant.

Boom!

Sun Wukong's body shuddered. His spiritual platform thundered, and spiritual charms flourished—there were transformation seals, tool seals, and Divine Skills seals...

As the various seals came into existence, they eventually faded away, leaving only the first three deeply imprinted upon Sun Wukong's spiritual platform.

Sensing Sun Wukong's body radiating spiritual charm, white ape nodded in satisfaction and, with a wave of his hand, directly sent him out of the territory of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit.

"If you find the king, ask him for me..."

"Why didn't he return?"

In a daze, white ape's voice echoed in Sun Wukong's mind. He felt his consciousness whirl, and with the chaos of spiritual charm, he passed out again.

Damn it, I had so much more to say. Why do you have to be so tricky?

......