Chapter 71 - Sacred Mountain in Myanmar (Part XXV)

Besides Chen Shaoxian and Thomas, everyone held a grenade in their hands. Xiao Zhuang gripped the pin, his eyes fixed on the ripples on the river, estimating the distance and the speed of the water monkeys’ movement. He shouted at the river’s surface, “Two per target, take turns.”

When he felt the distance was right, Xiao Zhuang yelled, “Ready.” He then pulled the pin, “One, two, throw.” Nearly twenty grenades traced a perfect arc, landing precisely on the moving ripples. A deafening boom erupted, sending up huge splashes, mixed with severed limbs and lots of dead fish, accompanied by the gut-wrenching screams.

The bamboo raft was lifted far by the blast’s impact, its passengers jolted in all directions. The bamboo raft of Chen Shaoxian and Xiao Zhuang completely disintegrated, and with a splash, they both fell into the water.

Seeing them fall, the others shouted anxiously, “Be careful.” Nie Wei reacted quickly, unfastening the climbing rope from his waist and throwing it out in front of them. Chen Shaoxian and Xiao Zhuang treaded water, grabbing the rope lying on the surface while the others on the raft pulled on it with all their strength.

“Watch out behind you,” shouted Song Yumu.

Chen Shaoxian and Xiao Zhuang turned to see three ripples just ten meters away, quickly closing in to only three meters.

Xiao Zhuang released the rope and urgently said, “Shaoxian, you go up first.” Then, he took the gun off his shoulder, aiming and firing at the ripples alarmingly close.

The water monkey’s charge slowed. Taking advantage, Xiao Zhuang threw the gun aside, drew the two evil-slaying blades from his back, and charged forward, quickly diving underwater.

All this happened in an instant, too fast for anyone to react. As Chen Shaoxian reached out for Xiao Zhuang, Xiao Zhuang had already swum out of Chen Shaoxian’s reach.

The water churned, soon turning crimson with blood, followed by a dark green. Then floated up a water monkey, completely white, with an ape’s head, a monkey’s body, scales all over, and fins on its back.

An evil-slaying blade protruded from the water monkey’s chest. Once it surfaced, its exposed body turned black instantly, the scales falling off, as dark black gas seeped from its body.

“Dammit,” muttered Chen Shaoxian, his eyes red with anger. Dropping the rope, he charged forward with an evil-slaying blade in hand.

The people on the bamboo raft, seeing this scene, jumped into the water one after another. Song Yumu and Nie Wei, their eyes red, rushed to the forefront. Turning back to look at his comrades, Song Yumu shouted, “Wang Quanpeng, Zhang Zeshan, come with me. The rest of you, go back.”

Song Yumu understood clearly that if everyone went, once they rescued the people, they’d have no bamboo raft and no means of transport, leaving them with nowhere to go, which would be disastrous.

Moreover, after being trapped for days, everyone else’s energy and combat ability had significantly diminished. If a few more got injured, none of them would leave alive.

Song Yumu quickly assessed the battlefield situation and issued orders, yelling at the others whose eyes were also red with emotion, “That’s an order.” Then he turned to Nie Wei, “You go back too.”

Nie Wei, tears streaming down his face, shouted, “Yes,” and turned back sharply to swim towards the bamboo raft. The others, also in tears, followed Nie Wei back.

By this time, Chen Shaoxian was already engaged with the water monkeys. When he entered the water, he could barely see Xiao Zhuang fighting with the remaining two water monkeys under the flashlight’s faint beam from above.

Blood was flowing from Xiao Zhuang, but the murky river water obscured where he was injured. However, the water around Xiao Zhuang had turned into a pool of blood red. The two water monkeys were not faring well either, bleeding dark green blood. Seeing Xiao Zhuang injured enraged Chen Shaoxian, who charged forward like an infuriated lion.

Chen Shaoxian first protected Xiao Zhuang, then thrust his evil-slaying blade towards the underbelly of one water monkey. The water monkey swiftly dodged, but to its surprise, Chen Shaoxian grabbed its arm with his other hand, opened his mouth, and bit down fiercely. With a fierce tug, he tore away a chunk of flesh, causing the water monkey to shiver in pain and slow down considerably.

Taking this opportunity, Chen Shaoxian stabbed the evil-slaying blade into the water monkey’s armpit, twisted it vigorously, and then released the water monkey’s arm. Leaning back, he kicked upward with both legs, sending the water monkey flying away.

The water monkey, trailing a stream of dark green water, flew out of the water, landed with a splash, struggled a bit, then twitched and became still.

Xiao Zhuang, standing behind Chen Shaoxian, used his evil-slaying blade to drive back the water monkey trying to ambush them both. Seeing Chen Shaoxian take down one of the creatures, he felt a momentary relief. But then, his vision blurred, and he blacked out, sinking into the water.

Chen Shaoxian quickly turned around, alarmed to see Xiao Zhuang motionless. He hurriedly used his body to lift Xiao Zhuang above the surface.

The water monkey saw an opportunity and lunged with its claws at Chen Shaoxian’s neck. Just then, Song Yumu and the others arrived.

Three evil-slaying blades simultaneously struck at the water monkey attacking Chen Shaoxian. Seeing it was outnumbered, the water monkey quickly withdrew and fled.

The three men were anxious to rescue Xiao Zhuang and Chen Shaoxian, so they didn’t pursue the retreating water monkey but instead helped Chen Shaoxian support Xiao Zhuang.

Chen Shaoxian handed Xiao Zhuang over to Song Yumu and the others, then pushed off with his feet to chase the fleeing water monkey.

The remaining water monkey was already injured and could not swim fast. With Chen Shaoxian relentlessly pursuing, he soon caught up.

Feeling it was being caught, the water monkey looked back and saw only one pursuer, hissing threateningly at Chen Shaoxian.

Intent on finishing it off, Chen Shaoxian lunged with his blade as the creature halted.

Realizing its threats didn’t work, the water monkey spread its claws to grab Chen Shaoxian.

Chen Shaoxian dodged, and the claws grazed his chest, tearing the front of his Tianma Armor.

As they passed each other, Chen Shaoxian quickly grabbed the fur on top of the water monkey’s head.

The water monkey twisted its head, trying to bite Chen Shaoxian’s forearm, and clawed at his face.

Gripping the creature’s fur, Chen Shaoxian sank below the water, wedging the evil-slaying blade into the water monkey’s mouth. He then started sawing vigorously.

The water monkey shuddered in pain, clawing wildly.

Ignoring everything else, Chen Shaoxian sliced fiercely two more times, then twisted the blade, wrenching hard with his other hand. The upper half of the water monkey’s head, with strips of flesh, was torn off by Chen Shaoxian.

Surfacing with the water monkey’s head, Chen Shaoxian gasped for air.

While Chen Shaoxian was battling the water monkey, Song Yumu had the others carry Xiao Zhuang to the bamboo raft, while he moved to assist Chen Shaoxian.

Chen Shaoxian heard splashing and saw Song Yumu approaching. He quickly shouted, “Song-Ge, go find the other water monkeys’ corpses.” With that, he tucked the evil-slaying blade under his arm and dug into the water monkey’s brain, quickly extracting a dark substance. He then swiftly swam toward the bamboo raft where Xiao Zhuang was.

Fortunately, they were moving with the current, and the others on the bamboo raft heard Chen Shaoxian’s voice, managing to intercept the floating corpse of the water monkey.

As soon as Chen Shaoxian got onto the bamboo raft, he saw Xiao Zhuang’s pale face and bluish lips. He hurriedly knelt down, pried open Xiao Zhuang’s mouth, and fed him the dark substance he had retrieved from the water monkey’s brain.

The others had already opened Xiao Zhuang’s clothes; there was a deep gash under his ribs, inflicted by the water monkey’s claws, and the exposed flesh had turned white from soaking.

Nie Wei, upon seeing Chen Shaoxian stand, punched him in the face. Eyes red with anger, he shouted, “It’s all because of you.”

Song Yumu quickly stepped between them. He knew that Chen Shaoxian was fishing to provide nourishment for those they saved because during their conversations, Chen Shaoxian had mentioned he didn’t eat fish.

Nie Wei looked at Song Yumu and said, “He’s bled out,” then broke into loud sobs, joined by the others, who were also crying uncontrollably.

Chen Shaoxian remained silent, a vein bulging on his forehead. He walked over to the other two water monkey corpses, hacked open their skulls with his blade, and extracted two similar dark substances.

After retrieving the substances, he returned to Xiao Zhuang, knelt beside him, and pressed the dark substances against the peeled-back flesh, as if applying glue, and squeezed it together.

The others watched Chen Shaoxian in disbelief, further astonished when the parted flesh started to knit itself back together.

Hope surged in everyone’s hearts, and they silently prayed for a miracle.