"Move faster, stop dawdling!"
Jiang Yuan, riding atop his Frost Wolf mount, occasionally kicked at Wu Mincai, who reeked of a foul stench. The latter, with a mournful face, clutched a wine jug and trudged slowly forward.
Jiang Yuan followed closely behind Wu Mincai, only to realize that the direction they were heading was straight toward the mountain gate of Qingyun Sect!
"Hey! Where are you taking me?"
As they wound up the twisting mountain path and drew nearer to Qingyun Sect, Jiang Yuan signaled Wu Mincai to stop and asked him warily.
"Of course, I'm taking you, fellow cultivator, to obtain the Golden Core! There's a master of metaphysics inside who happens to be a friend of mine, and he has a task that needs someone's help!"
Wu Mincai cautiously put on a flattering smile for Jiang Yuan as he spoke, his expression seeming genuine enough.
"You'd better not try any tricks, or I'll—"
"Yes, yes, yes, I wouldn't dare, wouldn't dare!"
Jiang Yuan raised his fist, but before he could finish, Wu Mincai quickly nodded repeatedly, insisting he would never deceive Jiang Yuan again.
Before long, Jiang Yuan followed Wu Mincai to a bamboo shed halfway up Qingyun Sect's mountain. An old man in gray cloth robes was engrossed in reading an ancient scroll.
"Old Wu, what brings you here? Oh, I get it—are you out of money for wine again and looking to borrow from me? Shoo, shoo, shoo! You still owe me twenty gold from last month!"
Seeing Wu Mincai approach, the gray-clad old man put down his scroll and spoke with a look of impatience.
"Brother Zheng, I'm not here to borrow money this time. Remember when we were drinking and chatting last time, you mentioned that a treasure was snatched by the monkeys of Qingyun Mountain? Well, I've specially found a fellow cultivator to help you out—he'll definitely retrieve that treasure for you!"
Wu Mincai said with a grin, handing over the wine jug, which still had a little less than half left.
"Him? A greenhorn? Hmph!"
The gray-clad old man glanced at Jiang Yuan, his face full of disbelief, and rolled his eyes at Wu Mincai.
"Brother Zheng, don't underestimate him. He can summon the divine beast Vermilion Bird—he's incredibly powerful!"
Wu Mincai gestured with his hands, mimicking the size of the Vermilion Bird as he spoke to the old man.
"Get out of here, stop messing with me!"
The gray-clad old man still looked unconvinced. He took the wine jug Wu Mincai offered, took a swig, and waved his hand dismissively.
"Fellow cultivator, show Brother Zheng what you've got!"
Seeing this, Wu Mincai hurried over to Jiang Yuan, tugged at his sleeve, and spoke anxiously.
So Jiang Yuan nodded and used the skill to summon the sacred beast Vermilion Bird.
From the distant southern sky, a pillar of light pierced through the clouds, shooting straight down to the ground in front of Jiang Yuan. A deep, ancient, and majestic voice echoed across heaven and earth.
"By the blood covenant, drawing the power of the stars, manifest as the Vermilion Bird, bound to my will."
"Caw!"
The sacred beast Vermilion Bird let out a piercing, clear cry, spreading its wings engulfed in flames as it appeared in the sky.
"Heavens! It really is the Vermilion Bird!"
The gray-clad old man muttered to himself as he gazed at the Vermilion Bird summoned by Jiang Yuan. Though he could sense it was somewhat different from the true divine beast, the aura it emitted was identical to that of the Vermilion Bird!
"This fellow cultivator, I am Zheng Tong, a master of metaphysics from Qingyun Sect. I have a favor to ask."
Having witnessed Jiang Yuan's strength, the old man Zheng Tong shed his dismissive attitude, straightened his expression, and cupped his hands respectfully toward Jiang Yuan.
"Please speak, Master Zheng."
Jiang Yuan nodded, glancing at Zheng Tong as he replied.
"A treasure of mine was stolen by the monkeys of Qingyun Mountain. I hope you can help me retrieve it."
As Zheng Tong finished speaking, a prompt sounded in Jiang Yuan's ear.
"Ding! The adventure quest has changed. Do you accept Zheng Tong's request?"
"Alright!"
Jiang Yuan immediately nodded, accepting Zheng Tong's request and taking on this adventure quest.
At that moment, a notification popped up on Jiang Yuan's quest panel, instructing him to go to Qingyun Mountain to hunt spirit monkeys and retrieve Zheng Tong's stolen treasure. Below the quest, coordinates were given for the area where the spirit monkeys appeared.
"Please wait a moment, Master Zheng. I'll set off now."
Jiang Yuan cupped his hands to Zheng Tong, then patted the Frost Wolf's back, turned it around, and galloped toward the coordinates on the quest panel.
After running for about five or six minutes, Jiang Yuan arrived at a place near Qingyun Mountain called "Heaven-Piercing Valley." Here, ancient trees towered, blocking out the sky and sun, with sunlight filtered into fragments that trickled through the gaps in the canopy.
Jiang Yuan surveyed the surroundings—it was the perfect habitat for a troop of monkeys!
Just as Jiang Yuan was taking in the environment of Heaven-Piercing Valley, a sound of something cutting through the air came from behind his head!
Reacting quickly, Jiang Yuan dodged to the left, only to see a half-eaten peach roll past where he had just been standing.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp!"
Jiang Yuan looked up. On the trunk of a large tree, a silver-white monkey was pointing at him, baring its teeth, with a long silver tail swaying back and forth as its body moved.
[Common Monster: Spirit Monkey] Level: 120 Health: 100,000 Defense: 10,000 Attack: 12,000 [Description]: A unique spirit monkey of Qingyun Mountain, tainted by immortal energy and possessing a trace of intelligence. Agile in movement and extremely difficult to deal with.
"Summoned beast, follow!"
After reading the monkey's stats, Jiang Yuan immediately cast a skill, summoning the still-present sacred beast Vermilion Bird to his side.
"Chirp!"
Perhaps sensing the dangerous aura from the sacred beast Vermilion Bird, the spirit monkey let out a fearful cry, grabbed the tree trunk, swung itself, and instantly landed on another tree several meters away.
"Trying to run? Not so easy!"
Jiang Yuan sneered and threw a "Mystic Mark" at the spirit monkey, like attaching a GPS tracker to it. No matter how it fled, the sacred beast Vermilion Bird could always lock onto it.
"Caw!"
The sacred beast Vermilion Bird flapped its wings, its sharp phoenix eyes locking onto the spirit monkey. Opening its beak, it spat streams of flames toward the monkey's location.
The spirit monkey screeched, leaping and dodging between tree trunks to evade the sacred beast Vermilion Bird's attacks, while Jiang Yuan chased on the ground atop his Frost Wolf.
Though the spirit monkey was agile and dodged countless attacks from the Vermilion Bird, it accidentally caught a spark on its tail. The tip of the tail instantly turned charred black, giving off a faint smell of roasted meat.
"Chirp!"
The spirit monkey hugged its burning tail, frantically patting it with both paws to extinguish the flames. It winced in pain, baring its teeth and blowing on the tail's tip—a sight so comical it was hard to take seriously!
"Caw!"
The massive silhouette of the sacred beast Vermilion Bird appeared above the spirit monkey, its claws lunging downward.
Just then, a series of heavy thuds shook the ground, and an enormous white-furred monkey came into Jiang Yuan's view.