章 23: Er Ming!

After the tree crashed, Er Ming send a hand at Xiao Wu, trying to grab her but she is saved by Tang San. She looks a little shocked and sad to see the Giant Ape again.

Er Ming gives a loud roar as it smashes his fists into the ground, causing rocks and trees to fly at us. I transform into my Monkey Emperor Transformation and split my tail into three, holding each of the girls tightly in one tail.

I use my Fiery Golden Eyes and suddenly, the debris starts falling at a slow pace, I can easily calculate where each piece will land, and using my Yin Ice Staff, I knock away all the debris that could harm the others and myself.

We quickly flee as Zhao Wuji covers our back, pushing away debris if it comes near, but soon we reach a cliff face, so Zhao Wuji uses his gravity crush to control the trees and rocks, allowing us to climb them to higher ground. When we reach the top, Fatty lets out his long-ranged fire ability, Phoenix Fire Wire, and shoots it at Er Ming.

While it is set on fire Zhao Wuji yells, "Quick! While the thing is-" but before he could finish his sentence, a giant hand rises up and slams near him. Er Ming brings his face closer, allowing them to see it properly.

Zhao Wuji has a face that has lost all hope, "A Titan Giant Ape… A top Spirit Beast, even a 100-year-old Titan Giant Ape is equivalent to a 10,000-year-old normal Spirit Beast… This one must be at least 10,000-years-old…" he mutters these words.

"Teacher Zhao, pull yourself together! We have to get out of here!" Even though I am scared, I can't cower now as Little Yue and Feng Feng are depending on me, I let the girls go as I stand in front of them.

Zhao Wuji snaps out of his daze walks up to Er Ming, "Chen Wulin, when I'm not there, please protect everyone." He was just about to speak to Er Ming before he lets out a punch, landing just inches in front of Zhao Wuji as Er Ming gives a playful smirk.

This causes Zhao Wuji to go berserk as he yells, "You guys! Run away now!" He releases his real guard and his abilities and launches a strike at Er Ming. However, Er Ming only blocks it with a finger, sending Zhao Wuji hurtling back towards us.

A rock is send flying at Zhao Wuji, but before it could hit him Mu Bai blocked it, and with the help of Rong Rong's Strength Amplification he was able to break it.

Tang San used his River Grass with Qing'er to throw a large tree at Er Ming, while in the air, Fatty set it on fire as it hit Er Ming.

However, that only served to annoy Er Ming as he charged at them, leaving a path of destruction behind. They were able to dodge it thanks to Rong Rong's Speed Amplification, then Qing'er swiped Er Ming's Eyes using her Hell Rush Stab.

Er Ming let out a roar filled with Spirit Power at Qing'er, but before it hit her, Mu Bai blocked it with his body. They were sent flying but were caught by Little Yue's Yin Ice Chains.

Zhao Wuji saw that they really might die so he exerted all his Spirit Power, manifesting his Golden Bear Avatar. I knew this was my only chance to help him out, so I made my move.

I activated the Slaughter Domain at full power, shocking Er Ming a bit, before he sneered at me. Tang San also followed me by using his River Grass to try and restrict Er Ming, while throwing hidden weapons at its eyes.

I use my Illusion Ice Transformation to create multiple copies of Tang San and myself, confusing Er Ming as he swipes at all of them. I also use it to release 9 Red Spirit Rings, pressuring Er Ming a bit more, while my clones do the same.

With thousands of Red Spirit Rings surrounding Er Ming, he is a bit intimidated but doesn't back down. Zhao Wuji let out a roar and charged towards Er Ming, throwing out a punch using the rest of his Spirit Power.

Rong Rong fought her limits as she used her Strength Amplification on Zhao Wuji, before fainting from Spirit exhaustion. I kept distracting Er Ming while trying to intimidate him with Tang San.

Zhao Wuji hits Er Ming directly on the head while it was distracted by the two of us. However, it did no damage as Er Ming let out another roar, breaking Zhao Wuji's Golden Bear Avatar. The power of the roar also disoriented me, breaking my Illusion Ice Transformation.

I quickly use the rest of my Spirit Power and inject it in my Yin Ice Staff, I expand the staff to incredible size, even larger than Er Ming himself. Using my Spirit Power, I control the Staff to smash into Er Ming, in the heat of battle I was able to create a last resort Spirit Skill as I yelled out, "Raging Monkey God's Slam!"

The giant staff slammed into Er Mings head at full speed, the impact caused the ground to blow up, sending dust up everywhere, but Er Ming's head only bobbed slightly, as a bump appears on the top of his head.

Er Ming glares at me angrily and with incredible speed grabs at me. Since I was in the air and have no Spirit Power left, I am unable to dodge him as he grabs my legs. He brings me up to his face and increases the grip of his hand, completely crushing my legs.

I scream out in anguish, as the pain of all the bones in my legs getting crushed is unbearable. Er Ming roars in my face before throwing me towards the others, too fast for them to react as my body crashes into the ground, leaving a large crater.

All the bones in my body are broken, and my organs are pierced. My Phoenix Regeneration works at full power as it quickly mends my broken bones and punctured organs, as long as I am not dead, my Phoenix Regeneration will be able to heal me, even to the point of regrowing limbs.

At my rate of healing, I will be able to completely recover my body in 30 minutes, but my Spirit Power is still exhausted. Little Yue and Feng Feng cry out and rush to me while tears flow down their faces.

Little Yue uses her Phoenix Tears on me, bringing my Spirit Power and health to 50%. I open my eyes to look at the situation, Tang San is trying to protect Xiao Wu, but his hidden weapons are blown away by Er Ming.

Just before Tang San is about to get grabbed, Xiao Wu uses her waist bow to throw him away, causing Er Ming to grab Xiao Wu instead.

Tang San is crying and tries to get up, but Er Ming lets out a powerful Howl ability, causing all of us to spew blood. Er Ming jumps away with Xiao Wu in hand, while Tang San screams out her name.

I feel some relief wash over me, as that was the most dangerous battle I have ever been in. Luckily, none of us died and my injuries won't take long to heal. We rest for five minutes while Tang San is grieving, allowing me time to recover enough to stand.

The others look at me in shock, as they couldn't believe that I could heal at such a fast speed. Zhao Wuji looked at me like I was a ghost, "How are you still alive?! That Titan Giant Ape destroyed your body! Even if you didn't die on impact, then you would at least be on the verge of death!"

I look at Zhao Wuji, "My fourth Spirit Ability is Phoenix Regeneration, as long as I am not dead, I will heal gradually, and Little Yue used her Spirit Ability to heal 50% of my health."

Little Yue and Feng Feng are clinging to my body, helping me stand a bit but more to keep me safe. Rong Rong runs to me and jumps on me crying, "I thought that you died! You made me so worried for you! I hate you!"

She buries her head deep into my collar, and I stroke her back gently, "I'm alright, don't cry anymore. Look, I'm fine, see?" I lift her face gently to look at mine, I look at her face, her cheeks are red, and tears are flowing down her face. It's too cute, unable to hold it back, I give her a kiss on the lips, shocking her enough to stop crying.

I pull apart after a couple seconds as she stares at me. Little Yue and Feng Feng go to hold her hand while giving a smile. Rong Rong regains her bearings as she blushes, "You! You have to take responsibility! You are not allowed to die for as long as I live! And you have to protect me forever!"

I give a slight laugh and nod my head, pulling the three girls into my embrace. Oscar seems to be shocked after seeing me kiss Rong Rong, but he never spent much time with her so he isn't too attached, only to the point of thinking she is cute.

Tang San gets up and looks to Oscar, "Oscar!" Oscar is brought back by Tang San, "What is it, Xiao San?"

"Tofu! Give me some Tofu!" Tang San has a grave face, and his eyes are red from the strained blood vessels.

Oscar summons a bunch of Tofu and Tang San shoves them down his throat, choking on it in the process. He then looks back to Oscar, "Oscar, help me out a bit, I know your third Spirit Ability allows me to fly, give it to me!"

Oscar looks shocked and says, "You can't! Wait until Teacher Zhao comes up with a plan, going by yourself is just seeking death!"

"Oscar, do as he said and give him the food." I walk up to Oscar with the three girls in tow. Tang San looks at me, and I say, "You go ahead and do your best, I know it's impossible to stop you, because I would do the same for my girls."

Oscar looks hesitant but still summons his Vacuum Mushroom and gives it to Tang San. Tang San give his thanks to me as I tell him, "It's fine, just go already. We will follow once I make sure everyone is fine."

Tang San nods his head and eats the Mushroom. Zhao Wuji notices and tries to stop him, but I block his way, "Teacher Zhao, what is it? Do you want to spar again?"

Zhao Wuji looks at me angrily, "Wulin! Get out of the way! Tang San, don't do anything stupid!"

Tang San flies away with the help of Rong Rong's Speed Amplification, Zhao Wuji looks at all of us angrily and says, "You, you guys! Make me so fucking mad! Oscar! Give us more of what you gave Tang San! Once we are ready we will follow him!"

We rest for 10 minutes to regain our Spirit Power and allowing my body to fully heal before we eat the Vacuum Mushrooms and follow Tang San.

After flying for a minute, we land and split up to search for Tang San, soon we were able to find signs of battle. Trees were broken, and poison was lingering in the area, we found some of Tang San's hidden weapons stuck in trees before Mu Bai found a dead Human Faced Demonic Spider.

Oscar also found Tang San sitting in some bushes, quietly absorbing the Spirit Ring. Zhao Wuji looked at the Spider before exclaiming in shock, "What is this! This Human Faced Demonic Spider is older than 2,000-years-old! Tang San must have miscalculated and started absorbing it!"

He then moves to try and stop him, but again I block his path, "Stop, he didn't miscalculate anything. He knew he might die, but he needs the power to protect Xiao Wu, so he started absorbing it anyway."

Zhao Wuji is conflicted, and eventually just sits down while cursing, "We will wait until Tang San wakes up! Fuck! You guys are going to get me killed!"

Rong Rong brings something out of her pocket, as she is about to point it to the air, I grab her arm, stopping her, "Don't, this isn't serious enough. Just leave it to us."

She nods and puts it back into her pocket, I sit down and tell the others, "I'm going to recover my Spirit Power, Mu Bai and Fatty, you guys protect us. Qing'er, go scout and make sure no Spirit Beasts come wandering towards us. Oscar, you take care of Xiao San."

They nod and go do their jobs while I start cultivating. About two hours later Qing'er comes back with Xiao Wu beside her, before they could say anything Xiao Wu sees Tang San and rushes to his side.

We leave Xiao Wu on her own with Tang San as we do our own things, another hour passes, and I finish cultivating. A feeling of freshness washes over me, I investigate my body and realise I broke through to level 42.

Only around a month has passed since my last breakthrough, making my breakthrough speed around double what it usually is. This is probably thanks to the life and death battles I had with Zhao Wuji and Er Ming.

Once I wake up, I spend some time with Little Yue, Feng Feng and Rong Rong to pamper them, as they are still a little agitated from when I was hurt. Once I told them of my breakthrough, they also pampered me for a while, until Tang San woke up.