The Steelhead Gorilla (Revised)

((Edit: I made a fatal mistake. I uploaded the draft version of the chapter…so sorry. There aren't that many changes to the chapter, but there is a change that many of you would like as it'll fix a bit of inconsistencies in the story. It's about Yuan Ming and Xue'er)

(Anyway, re-read it, people)

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"I'm telling you, I didn't see a rift back there! B-but there was something weird…"

In a lofty tower surrounded by rivers and majestic buildings, a charming man in white robes bowed before an old man. His face was flustered and slightly wet due to sweat.

The white pristine tower was designed with various jades encrusted in its body. The entire region surrounding it was flourishing with life and vitality — the cultivators below roaming the region added to the atmosphere.

The bowing man suddenly stood up and began talking with agitation. "I'm not lying, there was this weird skeletal creature and its minions protecting the Palace! The rift was nowhere to be found. "

The old man softly sighed and sipped on a cup of tea. His demeanor and movements were impeccable and sharp. But they were filled with a type of charm suitable for only females.

"I sensed a rift open to another world, maybe that's where the flying palace and the demons came from? "

"No, no, Elder, you don't understand. I've seen demons, the ones from the Legion, the Fel Empire, but none of them were like those creatures! T-their skins were ro-rotten a-and—"

"Prince Shi, I shall send all of the Elders to that village. You know, I'll do the usual. I'll check around, until you're satisfied. Until then I recommend you to sleep a bit and take care — cultivation isn't all there is to life. "

The elder cracked a faint smile and handed the cup of tea to the youth. Mockery could be seen in his eyes.

"B-but elder… I'm not hallucinating anymore… "

"We'll see about that. For now, I'll check the forest myself…"

….

…

…

Dawn cracked as a skeletal figure rose from beneath rubble. It's bluish-black flesh was tightly attached to its body while its boney head shined like a crystal. Its right side had a small stump hanging out from it, which made it look like a starved undead beggar.

The darkness of the cave was aggravating. But light shone at the end of the linear tunnel and brought him peace. Somehow, it reminded him of the time he spent at the slums. Begging for money the normal way didn't help, so he used to orchestrate a drama of being blind to get more money from dumb people.

He was always opportunistic; a greed for wealth and power was always present in his soul. After he turned into an undead, and finally cleared his mind of inconsistencies, he remembered a few things from when he was human.

He really would've been in another world if it wasn't for Xue'er. When he took her under his arms when he was at the slum, he remembered falling so intensely in love with her that he changed his ways. Other than a scoff however, Yuan Ming had no other opinion towards that memory.

Now that he's thinking about it, humans do taste really well. The next time he eats one, he'll make sure t—

A burning pain from his stump ejected him from his internal monologue and made him focus on his surroundings. The wound he had was clean and free of blood, but unfortunately he still felt pain from it.

'I can't believe I was so dumb. I lost a hand, and my hard-work. I could've just…tested out the man's powers through a Ghoul, I didn't need to test him myself… '

'Idiot! I'm a thorough meathead! I could've escaped…grrh. '

Along with his anger on himself, Yuan Ming felt a sense of injustice in his heart about his deafness and voice. He couldn't speak, nor could he hear anything — it was too frustrating! Although he was astonished over things like how he had a stronger vision and sense of smell. And how he wasn't afraid or disgusted about eating humans.

Instead of mulling over his current thinking process, Yuan Ming stood up and began exploring the depths of the cave. He wanted to fix his arm, but he didn't know how he'd do it. Usually he'd get information about himself and other things transferred to his soul, so he began to think that something related would also come.

Fitted between the cracks of the walls were glowing tree roots; it suggesting that a Spiritual Herb or Tree had taken root above the mountain the cave was under. He didn't place much importance on it as he steadily strolled inside.

The roots inside were brighter, but he didn't really care. Until he thought about how he could absorb anything that he could eat. Yuan Ming ripped off a small part of a root and threw it in his mouth. The piece he swallowed instantly dissolved into Spiritual Essence that was devoured by his core. Unfortunately, the roots were holding the cave together, so he couldn't eat them unless he wanted to commit suicide.

Yuan Ming contemplated whether or not he would be able to survive a cave-in one day. With his Rank 2 powers, he could easily crush boulders and survive a small boulder hitting him…however a mountain falling on him obviously couldn't be compared with a boulder thrown at him.

Lamentably, Yuan Ming didn't know how human cultivators were ranked. Unlike beasts they weren't ranked and instead followed a different system.

The well-lit and surprisingly clean cave reminded Yuan Ming of a human's home. Maybe someone used to live here?

'Yeah right, as if someone would live in this cr*aphole.'

Yuan Ming rolled his eyes. The end of the cave soon came in sight. The cave walls suddenly widened to the size of a room at the end. The 'room' was empty except a velvet mat laid on the floor.

A few bats flew by his ears and surprised him, but other than that the cave was devoid of life. He looked at the mat and wondered if his luck was intensifying day by day.

The skeletal figure crouched and sat on the mat and heavily exhaled. He chose to enter the cave because he wanted to hide for a few days, and sleeping on top of a mat was certainly better than sleeping under a pile of rubble.

Yuan Ming closed his eyes and slept into slumber. The worry he had for his arm and strength disappeared as blackness surrounded him.

…

A few days passed like that due to Yuan Ming's apprehension, but they weren't wasted. His ears already felt better, now he could hear loud noises — which was clearly better than only being able to hear explosions.

Yuan Ming began to worry as he mindlessly crawled on the roof of the cave; it had been days but he felt nothing new in his brain and soul. Maybe those Spiritual Formations and Scriptures were everything the undead body had in its brain? So no more new memories?

Maybe it was fate playing with him. Anyway, doing nothing but sleeping and crawling inside the cave was utterly boring to Yuan Ming. A craving for blood and excitement tickled his heart until he couldn't take it anymore.

The only idea he had about fixing his arm was eating the body of a Beast. He did have another idea, that was to cultivate. He heard of many stories where cultivators regained vital organs and limbs through strenuous cultivation. But he didn't know how to cultivate. He only knew how to turn stronger through killing.

The dark marsh was chilly and unforgiving at night. A few beastly howls ripped through the air as the water drenching the soil quaked. The cold fog destroyed any visibility in the Marsh.

Crickets chirped near his ear as he jumped out from the cave. The wet soil submerged in water irritated him. He wondered how a mountain was created on land like this….

Thankfully, he had claws on his feet. They gripped the soil and allowed him to maneuver. He silently crawled through and searched for any Beasts he could kill.

Yuan Ming was a mortal, but that didn't mean he was ignorant. He knew the map of the kingdom he was in, and understood that he wouldn't find any high-ranked beasts. So he planned to travel a few li to the west, where the Misty Mountain Range was located. Also, that would be the only place where humans didn't have

Well, but he had stuff he wanted to do first. Like getting the Spiritual Herb on top of the mountain, and making some followers…

"Grrrr!! Rrrrra! "

After hours of roaming the marsh, he heard a roar travel through the forest. His heart trembled in excitement as he landed his hands on the soil and began crawling to the source of the sound. He remarked at his amazing speed when crawling, but he lacked the stability as one of his arms were missing.

Fearing that he might fall into the water, he stood up and ran to the location. The beast occasionally let out ferocious roars that shook the forest.

Once he was relevantly close to the roars, he understood why the air was shaking.

Dark-red furred monkeys flanked a two-meter tall blue bulky humanoid figure, but were thrown off and shredded to noodles. The monkeys weren't much in number, there were only twelve of them.

Unfortunately, the monkeys were ordinary. The bulky figure made out of muscle on the other hand however, was not. Yuan Ming roughly sensed it to be of Rank 2…

As he got closer to the scene, the clearer it became. The muscles on the back of the beast trembled as it turned around, revealing its head and furry stomach. It was a Steelhead Gorilla!

Memories entered his soul as he recognized the beast. His red eyes sparkled as the gorilla banged its fists on its chest and ran towards him.

Yuan Ming jumped out of the way as a huge fist fell on the ground where he was standing. The concentrated force in the hit scraped off a few kg of soil and water into the air.

Yuan Ming broke out in tension as he realized that the Steelhead Gorilla was different that him in terms of strength.

The gorrila's blue eyes turned to him as it roared, "RAAAAAAAHHHH!!! "

Maybe it ate some sort of aphrodisiac? Why was it so angry?

Yuan Ming turned serious as he evaded another attack, this time the gorilla used both of its fist at a greater speed.

The gorilla might exceed his strength, but he was unparalleled compared to it in terms of speed. He opened his claws and screeched at the gorilla.

"KRAAAAAA! "

The gorilla's speed slowed as it started to tremble. Its eyes turned dull as it shrieked in pain. But it didn't falter as it blocked Yuan Ming's quick slash with its fist.

Yuan Ming frowned when he noticed that his claws couldn't even wound the gorilla's skin. He quickly jumped on the back of it while it was dazed and tried to pierce its neck.

He repeatedly clawed at its neck and dug inside; it roared in pain and tried to slap Yuan Ming, but he was already gone.

"RAAHH!"

At speed that even astonished him, Yuan Ming ran in front of the gorilla and carved his claws into its nether regions. His nails successfully dug into a sack that was equal in length to his head.

'This might be the worst case of blue-balls I've ever seen…' Thought Yuan Ming as he watched a river of blood gush out of its nether regions.

"RAAAAAAAHHHHHH RAAAH RAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "

It's roar made him take a few steps back, but he didn't try to fight anymore and instead ran into the marsh.

However after he saw the gorilla collapse to the ground in a fetal position, he figured that he didn't need to tire it out to kill it.

The life-essence of the Steelhead Gorilla tried to escape mix with the Spiritual Essence floating in the air. But lamentably, Yuan Ming was here to save the day!

But before that, Yuan Ming quickly ran to one of the monkey corpses and yanked its arm off. He felt that it was appropriate for his body length and tried to attach it to his stump.

Maybe it'd work? Who knows.

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