Chapter 568: Mysterious Forest (I)
Lin Qingcheng had to admit, she was completely lost. After heading in the same direction for most of the morning, she was no closer to finding her sisters. The forest was simply too vast and there was a mysterious aura that suppressed her spiritual sense. It felt as if she had made no progress despite running until her legs were tired.
She had shot off two more talismans after the first one. The first one received a reply but the second one didn't. She didn't have an unlimited amount of signal talismans so she decided to wait until the afternoon before trying again.
She was slightly worried but decided to trust her older sisters. Li Yuechan and the others weren't exactly pushovers. Unlike within the arena, they could now utilize their full ice arts. Even she couldn't beat them if they did so. Perhaps they had hidden for the moment so it was inconvenient. Perhaps they had encountered a sword truth.
Just as she was thinking about that mysterious treasure of the Forest of Swords, she heard a faint chattering from above her head. It was something she hadn't heard before so it meant that some kind of creature had appeared.
She looked up and squinted her eyes against the beams of sunlight that pierced through the thick foliage. There was some faint movement. She couldn't quite catch it as it seemed like a small animal.
Then, the chattering grew louder and louder. Brown blurs could be seen dashing through the branches, quickly getting closer. After only a few breaths, she was completely surrounded by fifty or so furry beasts at various levels of the Spirit Initiate Realm.
"Monkeys?" Lin Qingcheng whispered uncertainly.
They looked like ordinary monkeys with brown fur, slender limbs, and a long tail. They weren't too big, only around the size of a dog. However, what made her doubt was that each of them carried a straight piece of wood in their hand. They were jumping up and down and chattering while waving their wooden sticks around. It was as if they knew how to use the sticks as weapons.
"Sword monkeys?"
It had to be. She could faintly sense an aura of sword energy from these strange beasts. There was also something peculiar about their wooden weapons which also exuded an unnatural sword intent even though they were far from human swords made of steel and other precious metals.
"Ook, oook!"
"Ka, kah!"
The monkeys' chatters grew louder. They all glared down at her as they whipped themselves into a frenzy. Their spiritual energies combined, forming a ferocious cloud of sword intent that descended like a heavy blanket.
Lin Qingcheng let out a bright laugh as a golden metal rod appeared in her hand. She was never one to back down from a fight, especially not one so interesting. These monkeys were so smart, able to understand sword intent and able to wield sticks as swords.
"Come on!" She shouted and whirled the sword breaker above her head.
"Ook! Ooook!"
The noise above her head became deafening as an almost tangible cloud of sword energy descended on her, threatening to flatten her completely.
She held her ground without a thought of fleeing. She gathered all of her spiritual energy into her weapon and swung in a vertical arc. She left nothing to chance and gave it everything she had.
"Break!" She shouted. "Ha!"
Kacha!
Her golden arc smashed into the transparent cloud of sword energy from the monkeys. With the sound of swords clashing against metal, her attack obliterated a path straight down the middle. The two ends of the monkey attack fell onto the ground on either side of her, leaving her unharmed. Not even a hair was out of place.
She pointed her golden weapon at the trees, "You want to fight? Let's fight!"
The sword monkeys hopped up and down, howling furiously. After a few moments, two sizable monkeys leaped down, wanting to test her strength themselves.
Lin Qingcheng brandished her bian and took a defensive stance. These two monkeys were at the 9th Level of the Spirit Initiate Realm. When they waved their sticks at her, they exuded a surprising amount of sword energy that was no weaker than the opponents she had faced during the challenge tournament.
"Awwoo!" The first monkey bellowed and slashed down at her shoulder.
Lin Qingcheng moved almost by instinct to counter. This was followed by a flash of gold as the bian in her hand danced and spun.
Clang!
The monkey's attack was decisively blocked and it was also forced back.
"Try again!" Lin Qingcheng declared.
She felt a sudden surge of confidence. She usually wasn't very diligent in her training but she had worked hard the past few weeks. She was also a popular person during the prior tournament and had fought a few people. She could say that she had grasped a bit of understanding of sword arts even though it wasn't her preference.
The second monkey obliged, spinning a few times in the air and striking at her head.
She squared her stance and raised her weapon with both hands. She swung mightily, her body turning in a blur.
Pa!
Crack!
Her golden rod smashed through the monkey's stick and landed directly on its body. After a sickening impact, the beast went flying and landed with a thud somewhere in the thick underbrush, outside of her vision.
A furious round of shouts came from above as the monkeys got even angrier. Many brown bodies leaped down and charged toward this arrogant human who had barged into their territory. They had so many brethren, they couldn't lose to a single pitiful enemy.
Lin Qingcheng was quickly swarmed by sword monkeys from all sides and above as well. Her heavy weapon swung out left and right. Her movements were swift but the monkeys were just as fast. For every monkey she blasted away, another took its place. There were too many and it became impossible to properly defend. She had to sacrifice her back to beat away those in front of her. There was no other way.
More and more sticks struck her body, only to be repelled by a golden shield. The Golden Serpent Robe protected her completely even as the monkey's attacks became utterly crazed. If it was another sword cultivator in her position, they might have already lost their life.
She wasn't simply being struck by pieces of wood but a strange wood that was unbelievably hard and filled with true sword intent. Each attack was akin to that from a real sword. Each monkey had great strength and they could split a weaker opponent into two with one blow. Even a spiritual armor at the peak of the Spirit Initiate Realm would not have stood up to this barrage.
Lin Qingcheng continued to brawl in the middle of the monkey swarm. Her way of fighting was simple beyond measure. It was a competition of brute strength against sheer numbers. Nobody else would have directly fought against so many beasts. Even if they did, they would barely last a few rounds.
But she was different. She had plenty of energy. And if she ran out, she could always generate more.
Lin Qingcheng fought on, one female warrior fighting against impossible odds. Within this mysterious forest, her lonely figure clad in golden energy became the most devilish nemesis of all sword monkeys.
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