Chapter 68

The circular cave entrance was only about 1.5 meters high, so Xu Mo had to bend over and bow his body to enter the cave.

After entering, he walked about ten steps, and the cave suddenly turned to the right. Xu Mo hesitated for a moment before continuing forward. At this point, the sunlight could no longer reach inside, making the cave extremely dark. If not for his superior vision, he would have been unable to see anything.

Even so, the stone walls around him appeared dark and blurry in his eyes.

Suddenly, Mango let out a few shrill screams and followed him in. Xu Mo turned back and saw that it was visibly frightened, its eyes darting around nervously, yet it remained resolutely behind him. He couldn't help but think: Although Mango is just a monkey, it is loyal to me. Despite being terrified, it refuses to leave me to face the danger alone.

Mango followed behind Xu Mo, gesturing with its hands, seemingly trying to persuade him not to go further.

Xu Mo smiled and continued forward. The deeper he went, the darker the cave became. After walking another ten meters, the cave suddenly widened, and the height increased from 1.5 meters to over 2 meters. Xu Mo could now stand upright. However, the more he walked, the more surprised he became. The shape of the cave was very regular, either circular or elliptical, and the stone walls were smooth, clearly not naturally formed.

After walking for a while, the cave suddenly split into two paths. Xu Mo stood at the fork, looking into both paths. The insides of the forks were dark and deep, and it was impossible to tell how far they extended.

Suddenly, Mango let out a shrill scream, jumped out, and stretched out its arms to block Xu Mo, clearly trying to stop him from entering the fork.

In fact, even without Mango's obstruction, Xu Mo was already hesitant to go further. Despite this, he was moved and couldn't help but reach out to pat Mango's head, smiling, "Alright, don't worry, I won't go in."

Mango seemed to understand his words, and its expression relaxed, but it still didn't move aside.

At this moment, a low, heavy roar suddenly came from deep within the cave. The sound was not loud but extremely deep and resonant, coming from the very depths of the cave. Surprisingly, although the source of the sound was very far away, the sound did not weaken at all as it traveled.

Xu Mo's heart sank. The sound was very familiar, just like the one he had heard on the day he first trained his sense of touch.

At the same time, he noticed that Mango's body trembled violently when it heard the sound. It looked back into the fork, its expression filled with extreme fear. Suddenly, it jumped behind Xu Mo and hid. Its terrified appearance suggested that a monster might emerge from the depths of the cave at any moment.

The monster roared again, this time with a hint of anger, as if it had discovered them and was trying to drive them away.

Xu Mo was startled and immediately felt an extremely dangerous aura coming from the depths of the cave. He didn't dare to stay any longer and said to Mango, "Let's leave here," and hurriedly fled out of the cave.

Only after they left the cave did they both breathe a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the monster in the cave did not come out to chase them.

Xu Mo took Mango far away. After this incident, he realized the danger and decided never to come back to this place unless something extraordinary happened.

The monster lived deep in the cave and rarely came out, so it and Xu Mo coexisted peacefully. Although Xu Mo knew it lived nearby, he did not see its true form for a long time and did not know what kind of monster it was.

On a sunny day, Xu Mo remembered his initial plan to make wine and decided to start preparing. He first made several large jars from clay, fired them, and then steamed Mango, placing it in the jars and covering them to ferment.

Mango's family didn't know what he was doing but came to help. These monkeys might not be good at other tasks, but they were skilled at gathering firewood. They chattered and played while working, making the laborious task more enjoyable and less tedious.

Xu Mo had no experience in making wine, and the methods he used were all self-invented, so he made several mistakes and wasted a lot of effort without success.

However, he didn't get discouraged. He patiently experimented time and again, gradually finding the right techniques and finally succeeded in making the wine.

At this point, the wine was still mixed with the remaining mango residue and could not be considered true wine. He found some bamboo on the mountain, hollowed it out to use as a conduit, and began distilling the wine.

His homemade distillation method produced a very cloudy liquid, especially with a strong mango flavor that completely masked the alcohol. Xu Mo had to distill it several times.

After mastering the process, the subsequent steps were much simpler.

The taste of the wine was still quite ordinary. It couldn't compare to the natural wine the monkeys obtained from tree hollows, nor to the cheap liquor he had bought from the supermarket.

But this was no problem for Xu Mo. His powerful sense of taste allowed him to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, especially in improving flavors. He collected some spices from the mountain, mixed them with the wine, and distilled them together.

This way, the spice flavors were fully integrated into the wine, mixing with the harsh taste of the low-quality alcohol to create a unique and fragrant aroma. The fragrance reached deep into the soul, and just smelling it was enough to make one feel intoxicated.

At this point, the mango wine he made was already a rare delicacy in terms of taste. But Xu Mo's ambitions didn't stop there. He added some herbs that could invigorate the spirit and nourish the body, turning the wine into medicinal wine.

Long-term consumption of this medicinal wine, while not guaranteeing longevity, would certainly extend one's lifespan, improve health, and keep the eyes and ears sharp even in old age.

On the day the medicinal wine was ready, he invited Mango's family to taste it. The five monkeys drank it and went on a wild spree. Although they couldn't speak and couldn't express whether the medicinal wine was good or bad, it was clear that after that day, they completely forgot about the natural wine in the tree hollows.

Xu Mo made more earthen jars, filled them with the medicinal wine, sealed them with large leaves, wrapped them in dry grass, and buried them in a cellar. He would take them out during his free time and enjoy a bowl, making his life more colorful and enjoyable.

Unconsciously, several months passed, and Longan grew from a baby monkey to an adult. Loquat and Tangerine, being the same age and of opposite sexes, naturally became a pair.

Xu Mo's training in his sense of touch had reached a bottleneck and seemed unlikely to improve further without any unexpected events.

One day, after practicing his mental state on the mountain, he passed by Mango's family's shelter and heard some monkey calls. He instinctively looked in that direction.

It was the mating season for the monkeys. Loquat and Tangerine were somewhere else, while Mango and Grape were mating in the shelter. Longan was hiding on a tree outside, peeking.

Xu Mo smiled and walked a bit further away. Monkeys, like humans, have a sense of shame. A few days ago, he had accidentally caught Loquat and Tangerine in the act, and they quickly separated, their faces blushing red.

Mango and Grape didn't see him but heard Longan's movements on the tree. They stopped immediately. Mango called out to Longan angrily, and Grape picked up a stone and threw it at Longan.

Longan grabbed a branch and swung to another tree, fleeing into the forest.

With nothing to do, Xu Mo went to the mountain to catch a rabbit, killed it by the lake, and cleaned it. His training in static breathing had reached its peak, almost to the point of fasting. He could go for at least ten days or even half a month without eating. He was busy training his mental state and rarely cooked for the monkeys unless he was eating himself.

Monkeys are impatient. Although they had learned to cook soup and had the seasonings Xu Mo had prepared, they always made a mess. Even when they managed to cook soup, it was usually half-cooked and far from the taste Xu Mo could produce.

Over time, they became lazy and rarely cooked soup anymore.

But whenever Xu Mo cooked soup himself, they always ate enthusiastically until their bellies were full and they could barely move.

Xu Mo was in a good mood that day and thought that a pot of rabbit soup would be a treat for the five monkeys.

He killed and cleaned the rabbit by the lake, filled a jar with water, and was about to return when he casually looked up at the hillside. He saw Longan hanging upside down from a tree, one hand gripping a branch and the other shading his eyes, looking in the direction of the other side of the mountain.

The distance from the lake to the top of the mountain was quite far, and there were many obstacles. If not for Xu Mo's superior vision, he wouldn't have been able to recognize Longan from such a distance.

Longan's expression looked heavy and worried, as if he was troubled by something.

Such a human-like expression on a monkey was quite rare, and Xu Mo was surprised. He didn't have time to think about why Longan was like this but assumed it was related to the mating season.

He shook his head and smiled, then returned to the earthen stove to start cooking the soup.

When the soup was ready, the aroma spread, and the five monkeys gathered immediately. They were excited to finally have Xu Mo cook for them. Even Longan seemed to temporarily forget his worries.

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