Chapter 31

"Look, the sunset is so beautiful, Gugu, don't you think...?" It wasn't until the sun had almost set, and the sky was about to turn dark, that Zibi spoke again.

"Hmm." Gu Xuyao had seen the sunset hundreds of times, but those were usually when he was hunting or waiting for prey. Neither his mood nor his circumstances could compare to what he was feeling now.

The last trace of red at the horizon disappeared into the deep shadows of the forest, and the sky turned completely dark. However, both of them were lost in their thoughts and didn't realize it until the sound of insects at night broke the silence, enveloping them in darkness.

Mosquitoes flew to Gu Xuyao and bit him mercilessly. Due to the nourishment of his elemental power, these mosquitoes could even pierce through a cultivator's skin.

"Ah? It's evening already!" The timely appearance of the mosquitoes brought Gu Xuyao back to reality. He slapped one dead and jumped up from the ground.

"Zibi, let's go! Have you forgotten that the sect often reminds disciples not to linger near the Great Wild Forest at night?" As he spoke, Gu Xuyao pulled Zibi, who was still in a daze, and shook her shoulders.

Only then did Zibi come to her senses. She looked up at the sky and then at Gu Xuyao in front of her, and smiled contentedly.

"Gugu, what are you afraid of? Have you forgotten that I am a cultivator who has reached the Root Birth Realm? Once I pass the test, I can go to the upper levels for cultivation. The beasts in the Great Wild Forest are nothing to me."

Gu Xuyao shook his head helplessly and didn't turn back.

"Fine, you are the most powerful, but I am just a weakling. I am afraid, okay?" Zibi said this, but both of them knew that the Great Wild Forest was no place to joke around. The Taiheng Sect had lost no fewer than a hundred cultivators in the Great Wild Forest, and these were just those who had forgotten the time while cultivating and were killed by beasts wandering out at night.

"Grunt, grunt, grunt..."

A strange sound came from the distance, and Gu Xuyao knew it was not good. The Great Wild Forest was a hundred miles away from the Taiheng Sect. Usually, Gu Xuyao practiced thirty miles away from the sect, but today, he had come seventy miles away to test the second roar of the Thunder Roar Technique, which he had not yet fully mastered.

"There are beasts!" Gu Xuyao frowned, and his playful mood vanished. Without hesitation, he pressed Zibi down, and they both lay flat on the small hill.

"Shh." Gu Xuyao felt Zibi struggling, but for their safety, he couldn't explain much. He just extended a finger and made a shushing sound.

The strange sound grew louder. Zibi knew that Gu Xuyao was doing this for her own good, but she had never experienced such a situation before. She had grown up in the mortal world and even ran a tavern, but being pressed to the ground by a man was a first for her.

The moon was hidden by dark clouds, and the moonlight was barely visible. The situation below the small hill was unclear, just as Gu Xuyao couldn't see Zibi's blushing face.

"Could it be that kind of beast..." Gu Xuyao had hunted at night as much as during the day, and his eyes quickly adapted to the darkness. The vague outlines below appeared in his mind.

Due to the distance, Gu Xuyao couldn't use his mental perception to determine what kind of beast it was. His mental perception could only detect things within a three-mile radius, and Zibi, though she had reached the Root Birth Realm, could only perceive up to four miles.

"Gugu, who is it? From the sound, it seems there are more than one." Zibi used a secret voice transmission, and her voice echoed directly in Gu Xuyao's mind.

"That's right. If I'm not mistaken, these beasts have already surrounded us while we were watching the sunset. They are quite intelligent and have deceived us." Gu Xuyao recalled the common knowledge of the cultivation world that Wang Suishi had given him, and he was now ninety percent sure about the identity of the beasts.

"Deceived?"

Gu Xuyao nodded slightly and continued, "You heard the sound just now. It seemed to be not far from us, but my mental perception couldn't detect the enemy. Based on common sense, I had to lie down to avoid being seen. But I didn't expect that the sound was a trick by the beasts. If we had immediately run down the hill, we would have escaped the danger."

Zibi was quick-witted and understood immediately. "But Gugu, there are no more than three types of beasts in the Great Wild Forest with such intelligence, and even fewer that leave the forest. Could it be the one I'm thinking of...?"

"If I'm not mistaken, the beasts surrounding us are Black-Eyed Apes." Mentioning this name, Gu Xuyao immediately felt a headache. Just as he finished speaking, his mental perception detected the appearance and number of the beasts, and the result was exactly as he had predicted.

"Black-Eyed Apes? How many are there? Don't they usually move in groups?" Zibi was also worried when she heard that the beasts were Black-Eyed Apes.

According to the records of the Taiheng Sect, the Black-Eyed Apes were a common type of beast in the Great Wild Forest. An adult Black-Eyed Ape was about the size of a human and had a strength ranging from first to fourth grade. In terms of cultivation, a third-grade Black-Eyed Ape was equivalent to the second level of the Root Birth Realm, and some more advanced ones could reach the fourth grade, which was the same as Gu Xuyao's cultivation.

"That's right. Because their individual strength is low in the Great Wild Forest, Black-Eyed Apes usually move in groups of at least ten. This way, few beasts dare to provoke them. According to my mental perception, there are at least twenty Black-Eyed Apes below this hill." The Black-Eyed Apes were not strong, but their reproductive ability was astonishing, which allowed them to establish a foothold in the Great Wild Forest.

Zibi was tough in words but lacked real experience. She was so frightened that she didn't even release her mental perception. When she finally did, and saw the Black-Eyed Apes, she subconsciously grabbed the corner of Gu Xuyao's clothes. She had never expected so many Black-Eyed Apes to suddenly appear, and in the dark, silent night, the occasional ape calls made her, a woman, feel even more afraid.

"Don't be nervous, Zibi. We'll stay here and lie flat. Don't forget, Black-Eyed Apes have very poor eyesight. This is our only chance to escape. Although our cultivation is low, we can use our mental perception to detect the enemy's movements first." Gu Xuyao comforted Zibi while keeping his mental perception alert.

"When the time comes, I'll lead you to break through the encirclement." There was no easy scene of them flying away from the hill. In the Lingxiao World, cultivators could only fly up to three zhang (about ten meters) high, which was the maximum distance they could be off the ground. If they were on a hill five zhang high, they couldn't even fly.

The small hill where Gu Xuyao was about five zhang high, with a flat area of about one li (about 500 meters) on top. Fortunately, since Zibi wanted to watch the sunset from the closest distance, they were now lying at the edge of the hill.

The sound of climbing grew louder. The Black-Eyed Apes, with their long arms and short legs, were skilled climbers, and they were getting closer to Gu Xuyao and Zibi.

"Zibi, listen to my command. I'll jump down first, and then you follow me with the Wave Chasing Wind technique..." Gu Xuyao used a secret voice transmission to inform Zibi of the specific actions.

"No, Gugu, how can this be... I, I can't do it!" Zibi clung to Gu Xuyao's arm, her emotions agitated.

Gu Xuyao shook his head and looked deeply into Zibi's eyes. "Zibi, trust me. This is our only chance to escape. You can do it. Don't forget, you are a talented student of the Speed Academy who has reached the Root Birth Realm!"

If it were a normal time, these words would have caused a playful argument between them, but at this moment, Zibi couldn't even smile.

"Gugu, is there no other way...?"

Gu Xuyao raised a finger and placed it on his lips, signaling Zibi to be quiet.

"Three feet, two feet, one foot..." Gu Xuyao silently counted down, and his aura kept rising. "Now!" He shouted, and with a burst of thunder, it was like a bolt from the blue!

"Roar, punch!" Gu Xuyao shouted again and jumped down from the small hill!

The Black-Eyed Apes, who were climbing the hill to enjoy their meal, were completely taken by surprise and had no time to react!

This was exactly what Gu Xuyao had hoped for!

"Ha!" With a fierce cry, Gu Xuyao punched out, and the surging lightning turned into small electric snakes that drilled into the rocks and spread around him!

Logically, lightning should not be able to travel through sand and soil, but Gu Xuyao was not making the lightning travel through the sand and rocks!

A moment later, all the sand and rocks within a one-li radius of where Gu Xuyao hit were shattered, and the lightning naturally entered the bodies of the Black-Eyed Apes through their arms!

This was the control of elemental power. Gu Xuyao had broken down the large lightning ball into small electric snakes, reducing the power but causing area damage.

However, this attack was not enough to completely defeat an adult Black-Eyed Ape.

Sure enough, the three Black-Eyed Apes near Gu Xuyao, after being hit by the lightning, roared in pain and stopped climbing. Instead, they raised their strong arms and struck at Gu Xuyao.

The Black-Eyed Apes didn't have a terrifying appearance, but their arm strength was immense. Gu Xuyao didn't dare to fight them head-on and kicked off the hillside, falling rapidly.

The three enraged Black-Eyed Apes, seeing this, wouldn't let their target escape. They roared and followed Gu Xuyao down the hill.

Gu Xuyao, seeing this, gritted his teeth and kicked off the hillside again, increasing his speed!

"Ah!" The Black-Eyed Apes, seeing this, became even more angry and, like Gu Xuyao, kicked off the hillside and fell quickly!

The wind rushed to their faces, and the five-zhang-high hill was almost at the bottom, but Gu Xuyao didn't slow down. He kicked off again and fell like a flying shuttle!