With a mighty roar, the Flaming Feathers shot forth, knocking the charging long-armed macaque off its feet and halting its advance.
Once everyone had recovered their spirit power, they joined the fray. It took a full thirty minutes before every long-armed macaque in the canyon was utterly wiped out!
"Whew!" After his first truly satisfying battle, Wang Hao exhaled in relief and ordered, "You all gather the bodies of the macaques—I'll scout further ahead!"
They all nodded eagerly. By now, Wang Hao's tactics had won their trust. At first they followed his orders simply because he was the captain, but now they did so willingly!
Consulting his mental map, Wang Hao saw that the macaques marked there were converging on the summit of Mount Ruojun. It seemed their king had sensed something was amiss. If they hunted again without caution, they would surely be ambushed. He therefore instructed everyone to collect their gear and fall back to the camp at the mountain's base.
When Wang Hao returned, several other teams were already making their way back. He learned that the long-armed macaques had indeed grown wary. Their king had mustered the tribe at the peak, leaving the human forces no choice but a frontal assault.
Qi-Refinement cultivators needed time to restore their spirit power after a day of fierce fighting, and their bodies needed rest, too. Wang Guang'an therefore postponed the next attack until the following morning.
But when the two sides lined up again, Wang Guang'an's face darkened. The intelligence had been wrong. There were actually five second-rank long-armed macaques in that group: one high-rank, two mid-rank, and two low-rank.
"Elder Wang, I can help hold one mid-rank macaque—your side can handle the rest!" Li Yaozu offered calmly. His own Refinement-Qi level was enough to restrain a mid-rank macaque without killing it, but none of the Li Clan's Qi-Refiners would dare face a second-rank beast unassisted.
The Wang Clan had only three Establishment-Foundation cultivators. Wang Guang'an, a decisive man, quickly conferred with the senior elders. Their faces turned pale. They were seasoned fighters with no great future ahead—ideal to undertake this perilous task.
Wang Hao and the others would have to face the vast horde of lower-rank macaques.
In truth, with Wang Hao's strength—supported by some peak Qi-Refiners—he could hold off a second-rank macaque on his own. But this was not a one-on-one fight; it was group vs. group. Humans had assistants, but so did the macaques. It was far more dangerous than the mission with Chu He.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The battle erupted in full fury. The Wang Clan aimed for a swift victory to minimize casualties, while the macaques counterattacked with equal desperation.
Mount Ruojun descended into chaos—craters torn by spells, the ground stained red with blood.
Cultivators like Wang Hao, who could fell a demon macaque in only a few blows, were in the minority. Most Wang members were evenly matched or even outnumbered by the macaques.
Even the Establishment-Foundation cultivators struggled. Patriarch Wang Guang'an had only just recovered and could only stall the macaque king. Li Yaozu refused to risk his life for the Wang Clan, so he likewise only delayed his opponent. The only real advantage lay with Wang Yanzhao and Wang Longyou, and even they would need time to dispatch theirs.
If the fight continued in this fashion, the Wang Clan might win—but only at horrific cost.
"Ah!" / "Grandpa!" Wang Wenmei cried out. Wang Hao followed her gaze and saw one of the elders locked in combat with a second-rank macaque had fallen—and was clearly mortally wounded.
Wang Wenmei's eyes filled with tears, and she darted forward, but Wang Hao seized her arm. "I'll help him—stay back!" At Refinement-Qi Level Six, she had no chance. Wang Hao couldn't bear to see his "Gege" risk her life.
Fury drove him on: he cut down two low-rank macaques in swift arcs and rushed to support the elders.
Seeing their white-haired elders still fighting for their clan moved Wang Hao deeply. He once again felt the brutal reality of immortal cultivation. He condensed twin fire-dragons in his hands and launched a ferocious attack on the second-rank macaque.
With Wang Hao's arrival, the elders felt a surge of hope—but their energy was spent, and they would not survive many more battles.
His Triple Flame-Transformation refinement fared well against first-rank macaques but scarcely harmed the second-rank beast. His spells only scratched its hide.
The elders seized the chance to deploy their artifacts, but even high-quality ones only left shallow dents, failing to penetrate muscle. Some even sparked on contact.
"This monster's hide is like iron! Not even our top artifacts can harm it!" many clan members cried in alarm.
Wang Hao watched them freeze as the macaque advanced, then shouted, "Watch out!"
At that instant, an elder hurled a low-grade spirit-artifact at the macaque and cried, "I'll hold it—strike now!"
A great phantom barrier sprang up.
The macaque slammed into it.
Boom! The barrier shattered, the elder was cast aside in a spray of blood, and collapsed, unconscious.
The macaque, too, recoiled injured. Though tough, its body could not withstand a spirit-artifact's blow.
"Now's our chance!" Wang Hao yelled, unleashing the Earth-Chaos Seal to crush the macaque. Simultaneously, he lunged forward and drove his Wind-Cutting Sword into its eye.
The seal's impact slowed the beast, and Wang Hao's follow-through pierced its throat. Yet the high-grade first-order sword could not cut deeply.
The macaque squealed in pain and panic, wheeling to flee.
"Don't let it escape!" everyone shouted.
"I'll pursue—block the rest!" Wang Hao roared. He had the confidence to finish off this wounded second-rank macaque alone.
"My eighth uncle goes with you!" Wang Yanfeng sprang forward. Now at Qi-Refinement Level Eight, he was one of the clan's strongest—and must join the chase.