Chapter 168: The Chattering Monkey

Ye Feng believed that if there truly existed beings capable of striking fear into the hearts of ghosts and deities, this monkey, possessed of absolute renown on Earth, would undoubtedly be among them.

At this moment, the spectral shadows between heaven and earth vanished. The skeletons that had been slowly crawling out tilted their heads in a comical fashion, then slowly lay back down, feigning death.

Even that dragon shadow, which had conjured up an apocalyptic scene, though wreathed in malevolent energy, shrunk its head in the presence of the monkey like a child who had done something wrong, not daring to utter a word for a long time.

Ye Feng wore a strange expression, examining this somewhat illusory monkey with lingering curiosity.

"What are you looking at? Brat, I remember you. How many spiritual fruits did you steal from me? Speaking of which, it makes me furious! You little scoundrel, you're truly worse than that pig!" The Great Sage, having seemingly been suppressed for too long, put one hand on his hips, pointing and scolding Ye Feng one moment, and twisting the monkey's ear the next, rambling on endlessly for a good while.

Ye Feng felt that the Great Sage had not emerged to rescue the monkey, but rather to chat with someone, or more accurately, to lecture people.

A man, a dragon, and a monkey stood quietly, listening to the Great Sage's endless chatter about how formidable he had been back in the day, and then shifting to the grievances behind his rampage in the Heavenly Palace.

To Ye Feng's utter surprise, this fellow had actually once wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace, beating those supreme beings to a pulp. Yet, when it came to the reasons behind it, Ye Feng could never bring himself to believe that Laozi, the patriarch of Taoism, would have instigated him to steal immortal peaches in exchange for divine pills.

However, finding himself under low eaves, one had no choice but to bow the head. Even though he harbored a hundred doubts in his heart, Ye Feng dared not show the slightest trace of skepticism. Instead, that dragon, originally brimming with towering resentment, wore a humble and ingratiating smile, enthusiastically buttering up the monkey.

"If you're going to smile, smile genuinely. Smiling so falsely is your own fault! Are you still harboring resentment that old Sun here didn't step in to help your dragon clan back then?" Just as he was about to get carried away, the Great Sage's expression abruptly shifted as he pointed and cursed at the middle-aged man into whom the divine dragon had transformed.

"I wouldn't dare! How could little-dragon dare harbor any blame toward the Great Sage!" Hearing him put it that way, the middle-aged man instantly trembled with fright, not even daring to draw a full breath, and waved his hands and shook his head repeatedly.

"The dragon clan's affairs have always been on old Sun's mind. As for those bastards, sooner or later, old Sun will smash them to death one by one with a single stroke of my cudgel, every last mother's son of them!" Looking at the thick resentment swirling around the man, the monkey waved a paw, absorbing all of that pitch-black vapor into himself, and continued:

"Now, heaven and earth are about to descend into chaos. Stop walking around all day looking like your mother just died. I reckon in less than five years, the realms of those fellows who made a move back then will face calamity. When that time comes, alien races from dozens of great worlds will descend upon this world in a single swarm. By then, either this world will perish and be buried alongside your dragon clan, or you will slaughter every last one of those ancient enemies and exact vengeance for your dragon clan."

The monkey pointed toward the sky, hopping about restlessly as he dropped this news that nearly made Ye Feng's jaw drop to the floor.

Not only Ye Feng, but even the middle-aged man stared with wide, shocked eyes at this moment, unable to utter a single word for a long time.

"Daring to glare at me... Daring to glare at me... I hate it most when people glare at me! Back then, the Jade Emperor dared to glare at me... and Tathagata dared to glare at me... and yet you actually dare to glare at me too."

The monkey picked up a human thigh bone from goodness knows where and chased after the middle-aged man, beating him mercilessly—all because the middle-aged man, in his shock, had accidentally glared at him.

"Don't you run!" After chasing him for a long while, the monkey hurled the thigh bone away with a whoosh, then smiled and beckoned the man, whose head was covered in huge bumps, to step forward.

"Great Sage, this humble one truly didn't mean to glare at you."

That man cowered, taking three steps back for every one forward. Where was there any sign of the former majesty of a divine dragon? He looked entirely like a humble tavern waiter.

"My time is running out. I've told you everything I need to say. If you dare go around puffing black Qi to bully people all day long again, you'd better watch out or old Sun will strip your tendons next time!" Yanking Ye Feng over, the monkey pointed at him and continued:

"This brat is the seed left behind by your dragon clan and the guardians ten thousand years ago. In the game those bastards are playing this time, he is a crucial piece."

"If you have grievances, take them out on him. Stop bullying old Sun's descendant. Even though this brat isn't very filial, fake as he may be, he's still old Sun's descendant. If he gets bullied by you, people will laugh at me."

The monkey continued his mumbling. The three of them nodded incessantly, and even the monkey squatting on Ye Feng's shoulder was filled with overwhelming regret at that moment, vowing that no matter what, he would never let the old fellow out to help again—it was simply too humiliating...

"Take back all this water and whatever else, and stay obediently in your East Sea." The Great Sage looked somewhat irritatedly at his own gradually fading figure, grabbed the monkey with one paw, plucked a strand of hair from his own body without a word of explanation, and jammed it into the back of the monkey's head.

"Old Sun is leaving..."

With a resounding shout, the Great Sage's figure went *pop* and dissipated like a soap bubble.

*Hoo...*

The moment the figure vanished, the man, the dragon, and the monkey simultaneously let out a long sigh of relief, instinctively squatting down on the ground and clutching their chests.

*Sigh...*

With a helpless, heavy sigh, the middle-aged man looked toward the place where the Great Sage had vanished, his eyes filled with resentment... and lingering fear. Then, with a wave of his large hand...

The next instant, the seawater receded. The submerged earth, villages, and more than a dozen cities successively reappeared.

The sea surface grew calm. Only in the depths of the East Sea, around the dilapidated dragon island, did vast stretches of dark-red, blood-colored seawater gather, still churning up towering waves from time to time.

"Five years! My dragon clan will protect this Martial Soul Continent for five more years! If this cannot appease the hatred in my dragon clan's heart, I pray this towering sea will drown the entire world!"

*Hmph...*

Just as the middle-aged man's words fell, a heavy, cold snort quickly penetrated his ears, causing all three present to shudder simultaneously.

"You're called Ye Feng?" After a long while, the middle-aged man slowly turned his head, cast a somewhat fearful glance at the monkey, and then let his gaze fall upon Ye Feng.

Ye Feng nodded, though his mind was still replaying the monkey's words from moments ago.

"Since you are the seed from those days, you can be considered half a descendant of my dragon clan. The ten thousand years of humiliation suffered by my dragon clan will depend upon you! Oh?" Sweeping his gaze over Ye Feng, the middle-aged man suddenly let out a slightly strange, soft exclamation and continued:

"A demonic beast's inner core? You are a human, so why do you have this thing within you? Fool! Blockhead! Possessing a rare treasure yet having no idea how to utilize it—truly, utterly foolish."

For some inexplicable reason, after raising his question, the middle-aged man began pointing at the bridge of Ye Feng's nose and cursing just like the monkey had, overflowing with a sense of frustration at someone failing to live up to expectations.

"Who on earth did I offend? A monkey just left, and now a dragon is pointing at my nose and cursing me. This is no way to live!"