Heretics & the Crazed Red Monkey

A month passed atop the cloudy mountain peak. Yan had finally solidified her foundation in cultivation. She was at Rank 1. In cultivation, contrary to the fancy folklores, the levels of cultivators were named simply. From rank 1 to rank 10, there were ten total levels. Each level provided different perks or increased the prowess of a cultivator.

At rank 1 Yan had mastered Eat Cloud, Foggy cloud & Cloud sight moves. But of course, there were range and duration limits to these moves. Eat Cloud move allowed a cultivator to eat clouds and both replenish their chi and nourish their bodies with it. Cultivators could also go without food for weeks or even months if they used moves similar to Eat Cloud. But that won't mean they won't feel hungry.

Foggy Cloud move allowed Yan to exhale foggy clouds which would spread out to up to 50 feet radius around her. One won't be able to see anything in this fog. But Cloud Sight move allowed Yan to see through anything inside the clouds. Her vision was simply not impaired. These were very useful moves Yan could use to survive in the wilderness to some degree. But she could only maintain these moves for short duration. Foggy Cloud for 5 minutes and Cloud Sight for 8 minutes. After 5 minutes, the Foggy Clouds would dissipate and after 8 minutes of usage, Yan's eyes would hurt sharply, rendering her unable to use it until she had rested for several minutes. She could still reuse the Foggy Clouds move but her chi was limited. She could only use it to cast these three moves once. Her chi would recover slowly over an hour or two. If she used Eat Cloud move on her own Foggy Cloud move, then though she could recover some of her lost chi, her Foggy Cloud move will also lose its effect or decrease in area. Then again, there was no accurate duration for these moves. It was like running. Even an ordinary human could run a few miles. If they pushed themselves too hard, they might be able to run a few meters more even after getting exhausted. It was the same for these moves. But ultimately there was still the chi limitation.

"You've done well. We can venture forth." Nier said emotionlessly. Yan frowned.

"Can't you praise me with some more emotions? You have such a dead pan face. I'm your future wife. It couldn't hurt to talk sweetly to me?" Yan complained and pouted.

Nier ignored her and started to climb down the mountain.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Jerk!" Yan shouted.

"If you have energy to shout, then use it to climb down." Nier said before disappearing from Yan's sight.

"Ugh!" Yan stomped her foot and climbed down too.

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After a while Yan suddenly realised something. She was wearing a skirt and Nier was below her.

"…!! Nier! Y-you aren't looking up, are you?!" Yan exclaimed with a flustered face.

"Hmm?" Nier frowned and looked up and witnessed Yan's cute bottom barely covered in her black panties.

"You ARE looking up! You pervert!!" Yan shouted as she gazed down and found Yan staring up.

"Shut up. What are you getting flustered for? Didn't you claim to be my future wife? Then what's the ruckus for?" Nier muttered.

"Y-you…! Such thick skin you have! Shameless!" Yan kicked the mountain and a few pebbles came lose, falling over Nier.

"Hey, cut it out!" Nier scowled but immediately his eyes widened.

"Ahhh!" Yan screamed as her little kick had unbalanced her. She skidded down and fell…right over Nier with her soft ass resting on Nier's face.

"….>////< Kyahhh!!!" Yan's loud scream echoed in the forest.

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A few hours later the two of them landed on the ground. Yan's face was red like beetroot while Nier's right eye was twitching.

"Mere mortal dares to sit on my face?! The vile guts!" Nier roared in his mind and barely controlled his anger. After Yan's embarrassing fall, their following journey down the mountain had been awkwardly silent.

Suddenly the bushes moved and a tiger came out staring at Nier and Yan.

"Ah, the food is here." Nier uttered.

Whoosh! His black coloured spirit force was unleashed and took form of a large black lion.

Roar!!! The black lion spirit roared and lunged at the dumbfounded tiger that retaliated at the last second. A short but fierce fight occurred before the tiger was slain and its skin was ripped off entirely by the black lion spirit. Yan watched this with a shocked expression plastered on her face. She was a mere village girl who was not used to seeing bloodshed. Seeing Nier casually kill a tiger and even call it food, Yan was filled with slight fear towards him.

"What are you dazing for? Cut off the useful meat. We'll carry it and cook elsewhere. Other wild beasts will be drawn here by the scent of meat soon enough." Nier said.

"E-eh?" Yan trembled. "Cut the meat? Cut the meat!? I'm vegetarian! You cruel boy!" Yan pointed a finger at Nier and shouted dramatically.

Nier shouted and shook his head, ignoring her and in the end he ended up cutting the meat himself. His storage pendant glowed slightly and a butcher knife came out of it. As Nier got down to the task, he spoke to Yan.

"Only the fittest survive in the forest. You cannot eat grass and hope that you won't be devoured by the tigers or wolves. Even if you can survive without food, it is necessary for you to learn the basic necessary skills. Hunting, killing, cooking and even eating meat is necessary." Nier said.

"….I'm fine eating the clouds…" Yan mumbled and looked away.

"Humph." Nier snorted, storing the last useful piece in his pendant and wiped the knife on the grass before resuming the walk.

"Follow me or die in this wilderness, vegetarian girl." Nier said with a snort.

"…Right behind you, butcher boy." Yan minced her words and followed him.

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Several hours later, the two stopped at a clearing. Nier set up a basic crude fence around them and lit up some wood to cook the meat. Then skewering a large piece of the tiger meat and placing it atop the flames, he looked at Yan.

"Keep turning it every now and then. Roast it well. I am going to scout the surroundings & to find some grass for you to eat.

"Humph. Get lost." Yan was lost for Nier's humour and reluctantly took over the roasting process.

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Several minutes later Nier returned with a handful of wild fruits for Yan. Whether they were edible or poisonous, he didn't care. But as he reached the clearing, he clenched his jaws and glared at the charcoal black meat engulfed by the flames.

"This useless brat. She had one job. One job! Roast the meat that's all!" Nier roared in his mind. The audacity of the mortal to ruin this ancient demon's meal!

With glaring eyes, Nier looked around for Yan. He moved around fiercely, almost stomping the ground before his sight fell upon a few torn pieces of Yan's clothing. Frowning, Nier looked around closely and found several human footprints on the ground too.

"Yan was kidnapped?" Nier thought.

"No bloodstains around. She should be relatively safe for now. But oh well." Nier smirked before shrugging and walking away.

"Good riddance. That mortal was simply too annoying and wouldn't follow orders without bickering twice." Nier thought before frowning again.

"The ones who took her. They must be strong people with at least one cultivator or a spiritist. Since they have such vile thoughts and committed the sin of abducting a young girl…they are worthy of a chance of following me hmph." Nier thought and turned back, following the tracks.

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An hour later Yan was dragged into a mountain cave. This cave was spacious like a hall. Yan's mouth and hands were tied up. Three burly men had found, abducted and brought her here. Yan had previously used her Cloud Catcher technique to evade them but the range of her moves was too small and her kidnappers were all spiritists who caught her with some effort. Yan had no combat ability was forcefully dragged here. Along the way, these men had stripped her naked and molested her thoroughly for enjoyment. However, they didn't rape her despite their worst intent. They seemingly had a reason for that.

Yan was soon lifted up and tossed in a wide deep hole where there were about 50 more people of all age and genders. Some of them wore ragged clothes, some had torn but rich looking clothes. Women were almost all naked and there were several children as well. They all looked terrified.

"Boss Mao, we found yet another person. Now we a full batch. Shall we begin the ritual?" One of Yan's kidnappers said aloud.

Soon Mao, their boss appeared. He was wearing red coloured traditional clothing. He had long thin moustache hanging down to his chest. He wore a small cap and had sharp contours. His built was rather athletic.

"We the heretic bandits, worshipper of the Crazed Red Monkey spirit, have been living in this forest for several decades…" Mao spoke.

"We have been targeted by the authorities time and time again. But no more! Today we will summon the Crazed Red Monkey & with his blessing and aid, wage war against the entire kingdom! We will take what we want! Honour, riches, lands, women, even the throne! Hahahaha!"

"Hmm, that's a good aspiration. But you're rather silly & too daring, despite being weak. You'll all die before long." Nier said as he calculated many factors.

"!!!" At once all eyes turned towards Nier.

"You! Who are you!? When did you get in here?! Catch this brat!" Mao shouted in rage.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Several red monkey spirits were immediately manifested by the bandits and leapt towards Nier who had not only tracked them down to their base but also insulted the bandit boss.

Roar!! A black lion spirit emerged and roared aloud. Its roar echoed in the entire cave as it leapt towards the monkey spirits and began to rip them all apart!

Nier knew all the methods and moves of Black Lion spirit. But currently he was using none. He controlled his spirit force manifestation to crudely rip apart all obstacles with brute force. Monkey spirits and their spiritists all perished one by one and loud screams echoed in the cave.

"This…how can a mere child bring out so much power of a spirit…" Mao muttered before jumping into battle himself.

Boom! His red spirit force exploded outwards and took form of a large ape-like monkey spirit & fought with Nier's black lion spirit.

Roarr! Kikiki! The two spirits tangled fiercely. The monkey punched and kicked and jumped around while the lion leapt too, chased and bit the incoming punches. At once the two were in a stalemate. The injuries inflicted on the spirits were healed rapidly as both Nier and Mao continuously supplied spirit force to maintain their spirit manifestations.

"Hurry! Begin the ritual! Kill the sacrifices!" Mao suddenly shouted and the remaining bandits got into work. They manifested their spirits and several red monkey spirits jumped down the large hole and started massacring the abducted humans.

At once screams echoed and blood spatter as heads were bashed in, bodies were ripped to shreds and no mercy was shown. Yan was also among these people and horrified to no end. She was pushed around by the hysterical people who tried to climb up the hole's walls but were dragged down and bashed on the rocky bottom and died pitifully.

Yan managed to wring her hands free while activating the Foggy Cloud move and fog began to fill the hole where carnage was being carried out.

Soon Yan climbed up and tried to escape.

"Why is there fog emerging so suddenly? This is suspicious!" Mao glanced sideways and soon noticed Yan as she came out of the foggy cloud.

"That sacrifice is escaping! Catch her!" Mao shouted. Immediately some of the bandits sent their monkey spirits after Yan.

"Nier!!" Yan shouted. The moment she had heard the black lion's roar, she had understood that Nier was here to save her. Nier glanced at Yan indifferently but still directed his spirit to protect Yan while she hurried towards him.

"Hmph! Just a kid after all!" Mao exclaimed while his eyes shone with ruthlessness. His spirit leapt at Nier and punched down with its large fists.

"Nier no!!" Yan shouted and leapt at him, wanting to shield him from the incoming attack.

"Hmph this girl…" Nier narrowed his eyes and ignored her. At this moment, time seemed to be flowing very slowly for Nier. Yan was still in mid-air. Red monkey spirit was hurling down its fists at Nier.

Bwoosh! Roarr!!! A second black lion spirit appeared and took the punches on its head.

Bam! Bam! Roar!! The second black lion retaliated immediately, biting a hand off of the crazed red monkey spirit and leapt up at its chest, biting at its throat.

"Th-this! How is this possible! Manifesting two spirits?!" Mao's eyes popped wide open. Spiritists usually only manifested one spirit at a time. It took a lot of concentration to control it too. One would simply think of manifesting another one. But Nier seemed rather comfortable using two spirit manifestations.

Grr…!! Suddenly a growl came from behind Mao. A third black lion spirit was standing behind him!

"Oh no…" Mao's eyes dilated before the black lion leapt and chomped his entire head off. Mao was dead.

"Boss!!!"

"No!!!"

"One more sacrifice! Just one more!"

The heretic bandits shouted hysterically. One of them was crazed enough to jump into the pit full of mangled corpses and commanded his spirit to kill him!

Bam! The 50th sacrifice was thus offered.

Bwoosh!!! A bright red spirit force manifested off the sacrificial pit and shot up a thick pillar of red spirit force which directly pierced through the mountain cave and shot into the sky.

Boom!!! The pillar came back and with a blast of spirit force the entire cave was blown to bits, killing all the heretics and even Nier was forced to retreat speedily with Yan while guarded closely by the three black lion spirit manifestations.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Large rocks and debris fell down in the wake of the explosion.

"Rrrahhh!!!" A giant red monkey spirit appeared. The dust was not about to settle as the monkey began to stomp its feet and beat its chest in a maddening display of rage. This was the crazed red monkey spirit! The real deal!

"Who…who dared forcefully summon me?! Who the hell wants to die so badly!! Rrraahhh! Oooh-Oooh!" The crazed red monkey roared and looked furiously at the ground from up above. This spirit was extremely life-like. It was red all over. Skin, hair, eyes, clothes. It had bulging arms and thick legs, a robust bulky body and was simply herculean!

On the ground a black irregular orb of sorts was very conspicuous. It was made up of spirit force. This was what remained of the three black lion manifestations. They had mangled into this irregular shape under the force and pressure of the explosion.

In the middle of the black orb, Nier was standing calmly as he observed the crazed red monkey with a smirk. Behind Nier, Yan was trembling and clinging to him in fear.

Suddenly the crazed red monkey spirit's sight fell on Nier. Nier gazed back. This was a real spirit Nier was facing and not a mere manifestation. The difficulty was too high!

"N-nier…let's run! I'll use foggy cloud to buy us some time." Yan suggested.

"Hmph! How dare you be afraid when I'm here?" Nier frowned before taking off his long shirt and tossing it at Yan who was butt naked. Then he retracted his spirit force and took confident strides towards the crazed red monkey. Yan watched his back in awe as the reincarnated ancient demon faced a crazy real spirit.