Chapter Eighty-Nine: An Urgent Desire to Return

Xiao Ding volunteered to lure the giant ape away. After he hit the giant ape with a stone, the ape retaliated by hurling gold ingots from its claws at him. Xiao Ding was instantly delighted at the sight, thinking, “Could I use this method to trick my treasures back? Even if I can’t recover them all, regaining part of them is still a win!”

With that, Xiao Ding tucked the gold ingot into his chest, bent down, picked up another stone from the ground, and threw it at the ape.

The giant ape followed suit, tossing another gold ingot his way. Xiao Ding caught it, slipped it into his chest as well, and, heart brimming with joy, picked up yet another stone to throw...

After he’d retrieved four gold ingots from the ape, on his fifth throw, the giant ape grabbed the largest piece from its pile of treasures and flung it at him.

A flash of silver gleamed before Xiao Ding’s eyes as a massive object hurtled straight for him. He didn’t dare to catch it head-on and had to dodge aside; the chunk landed right next to him.

Looking closely, Xiao Ding saw it was a lump of meteoric iron.

He had no idea how much this chunk of meteorite was worth. When he’d been packing earlier, he kept it simply because so many people from the martial world had been fighting over it—surely it must be valuable.

There was no way he could fit such a large object into his chest. So, he bent down, opened the bundle slung over his shoulder that held the small yellow wildflowers, tucked the meteorite inside, and wrapped it up. He was just about to take the gold ingots from his chest and put those in as well, when he saw the giant ape rising unsteadily to its feet and lumbering toward him.

Xiao Ding’s heart skipped a beat—had he noticed just a moment later, the ape would have been upon him already.

He scrambled to hoist the bundle and sprinted for the mouth of the valley, with the giant ape thundering after him.

Meanwhile, Mei Ruoshuang had been keeping a close eye on Xiao Ding and the giant ape. When she saw the ape chasing after Xiao Ding, she hurried back toward the formation.

Mu Yiyi had been waiting at the edge of the formation and, seeing Mei Ruoshuang approach, quickly asked, “Has the giant ape been lured away?”

“It’s gone! Hurry, let’s get out of here!” Mei Ruoshuang shouted.

Yue Yurou had already been supporting Mu Hong near the edge. Once Mu Yiyi entered the formation, she helped Yue Yurou with Mu Hong, and they hurried out together.

The group made their way toward the valley exit.

As they neared the mouth of the valley, their hearts pounded with suspense. Only after they had gone a good distance beyond the entrance, without encountering the giant ape, did they begin to relax.

According to their prior agreement with Xiao Ding, they oriented themselves and headed straight east.

At this moment, Xiao Ding was being chased so hard by the giant ape that he was gasping for breath, his shoes almost flying off, yet he still couldn’t shake the beast.

He silently cursed his luck: it had only been a few days since he’d crossed over, and already he’d been chased twice by giant bears, and now by a giant ape. Was this a test of his sprinting burst and long-distance endurance?

Those two giant bears—a male and a female—were probably a pair, and just like today’s giant ape, they were all stubbornly persistent, relentless in their pursuit.

After running for a while, Xiao Ding glanced back at the ape. What he saw made his skin crawl—heavens, how could that big monkey run so fast? It was only a few yards behind him now.

Just as Xiao Ding was growing desperate, he suddenly spotted a patch of low shrubs ahead and to the right. Without a second thought, he veered toward it.

It was lucky he changed direction suddenly—he didn’t know it, but just before he turned, the giant ape had already closed in behind him. The beast lunged powerfully at him, but at that very instant, Xiao Ding swerved, causing the ape to miss and slightly slow its momentum.

Diving into the shrubs, Xiao Ding ignored the scratches and stabs from the branches, forcing his way into the thicket.

When the giant ape reached the edge, it stopped. The bushes were low, with dense, thorny branches. The ape, being huge, couldn’t squeeze in and wasn’t inclined to step into the prickly mass.

Hiding in the undergrowth, Xiao Ding panted heavily, watching the ape’s movements. His clothes were torn in many places by the branches, and his skin was scratched and bleeding in several places, though none of the wounds were deep.

The giant ape circled the thicket a few times, let out a furious roar, and finally wandered off.

Only after a long time, when there was no further sign of the ape, did Xiao Ding carefully emerge from the bushes, taking care to avoid the sharp thorns. But, focusing so much on the branches above, he neglected to watch his footing. Just as he neared the edge of the thicket, he suddenly felt his foot sink and a sharp pain in his leg.

He looked down quickly—and saw he had stepped on a small green snake.

A bamboo viper?

Xiao Ding’s heart leapt. On closer inspection, he relaxed; it was just a harmless little green snake. If it had been a real bamboo viper, he’d probably be done for.

Still, this little snake looked so much like a bamboo viper that it would be hard to tell the difference at a glance.

The snake was just over a foot long, its tail pinned under Xiao Ding’s foot, and its fangs were still stuck in his leg.

He gingerly pinched the snake behind its head, pried its mouth off his leg, and lifted his foot. Instantly, the snake coiled around his arm.

Xiao Ding held the snake up to his eyes, wondering if he should kill it for food. But then he remembered that they’d had roasted pheasant and rabbit for breakfast—Mu Yiyi had made sure to hunt extra that morning—so everyone was still full.

Still, he was reluctant to let it go just like that. After all, he’d been bitten—even if he wasn’t the vengeful type, he wasn’t exactly magnanimous either.

“Better save it for later, in case I get hungry,” Xiao Ding muttered. He tore a strip of cloth from his already tattered clothing, wrapped it securely around the snake’s head, then stuffed the snake into his bundle.

He remembered his chest was stuffed with things, especially the eleven luminous pearls, which took up a lot of space. Adding the four gold ingots he’d tricked from the giant ape, his chest was uncomfortably full.

So, he wrapped up the pouch of luminous pearls and the four gold ingots together and stowed them in his bundle. This way, his chest wasn’t as bulky as before.

He quickly bandaged his calf, emerged from the thicket, got his bearings, and continued east.

By noon, he spotted markings left by Mu Yiyi and the others—just as they’d agreed beforehand.

He quickened his pace and, after a while, finally caught up to the others. Because Mu Hong was injured, their progress had slowed once they’d left the valley.

The group reunited with great joy.

That night, they returned to the massive boulder where, just a few days earlier—before they first encountered the giant bear—Xiao Ding had rested with Mu Yiyi, Fan Sanpang, and Mu Hong.

Back at the familiar spot, they saw the various markings they had made on the plants and trees—all pointing different ways into the mountains. They exchanged glances, sighing at the thought that so many who entered the mountains never returned.

That night, they caught a few wild rabbits for roasting, and Xiao Ding forgot all about the little green snake stashed in his bundle.

There was no cave here, so they took turns keeping watch as they rested. One could never be too careful—so close to leaving the mountains, they couldn’t afford any accidents.

At dawn, they ate a simple breakfast and set out for the foot of the mountain.

Eager to return home, each of them felt a fire burning in their hearts; who could think of food?

It was now Xiao Ding’s tenth day since leaving home for Sunset Mountain, and today he was determined to make it back.

As noon approached, the surroundings grew more and more familiar—especially to Xiao Ding, who felt the landscape become recognizable with every step.

When they were about to reach the forest clearing where Xiao Ding had first killed the giant wolf, a sudden clamor of clashing and fighting erupted ahead.

What was happening in the clearing?