There were many ways to use Purple Haze Grass. One of them was to create a poison highly effective against monkey-type demon beasts. A regular Silver-ranked monkey demon beast couldn't withstand its toxicity. In this world, everything has a counter.
"Nie Li brought down a Blue-Armed Giant Ape with just one bolt?"
The group exchanged looks, utterly stunned on the inside.
Only Huyan Lanruo, Ye Ziyun, and Chan Wei knew Nie Li had coated the bolt with some kind of medicine, but even so, taking down a Blue-Armed Giant Ape with a single shot was a remarkable feat. Chan Wei stayed close to Nie Li, knowing he would still have time to collect the shadows once the group moved on.
Seeing Nie Li bring down one of the apes with a single bolt, Chen Linjian shouted to the others: "Everyone, draw your crossbows!"
Chen Linjian's men immediately drew their crossbows, realizing they could use them to annihilate the Blue-Armed Giant Apes.
Shen Yue also pulled out a crossbow, but upon seeing how basic it was compared to the others, he felt a surge of resentment. From what he had seen, was Nie Li superior to him in every way? Since Nie Li's arrival, Ye Ziyun had seemed further and further out of reach—and now, she completely ignored his presence while clearly seeing Nie Li in a new light. Jealousy boiled inside him.
Hitting a Blue-Armed Giant Ape can't be that hard, right?
Shen Yue loaded a bolt and slowly climbed onto a nearby wall ledge. He aimed at one of the distant apes, his expression extremely focused and serious. He aligned the sight carefully on the ape. At that moment, everyone held their breath, watching Shen Yue closely.
"With such a big target, hitting it shouldn't be difficult," Shen Yue muttered, pulling the trigger—just as his hand trembled ever so slightly, involuntarily.
Thwack! A cold glint flew through the air. Thunk! Moments later, the bolt embedded itself in a tree trunk about six meters away from where the Blue-Armed Giant Ape had stood.
Shen Yue's face twitched slightly and turned pale at the sight.
Everyone around him had awkward expressions and struggled to hold in their laughter. Had they laughed out loud, Shen Yue would've completely lost face. Everyone knew he wanted to compete with Nie Li, but… if you're going to compete, can you not be so laughable?
Shen Yue felt like he was losing his mind. He was sure his aim was on target—so why did the bolt veer off when he pulled the trigger?
Seeing the people around him struggling not to laugh, Shen Yue was filled with shame. Even Ye Ziyun's gaze held a faint hint of scorn—that was even more unbearable.
Chan Wei pulled out a crossbow inscribed with intricate patterns from his storage ring and retrieved a completely black bolt with a white tip. He smoothly loaded it and fired at an unsuspecting ape. The bolt shot five times faster than the others', but the ape reacted quickly, and the bolt struck its shoulder.
"Too bad, but at least Chan Wei hit it," someone commented.
"If he wanted to, he could just hunt them with his throwing knives—he's just playing around," another added.
The ape roared in pain, pulled out the bolt from its shoulder—then five seconds later clutched its chest and fell from the tree.
"What happened? He only hit its shoulder," someone asked while inspecting the body.
After witnessing Chan Wei's shot, Shen Yue immediately grabbed a second bolt and loaded it into the crossbow. Struggling to cock it, he quickly took aim at another Blue-Armed Giant Ape further away.
Thwack!
The bolt flew like a meteor, its tip glinting sharply. However, after a moment, it began to lose speed and dropped to the ground. Shen Yue hadn't loaded the bolt properly, so it fell after only a short flight.
Everyone burst into laughter. Shen Yue simply didn't have the ability to copy Nie Li and Chan Wei by killing a Blue-Armed Giant Ape with a single bolt. Instead, he was the complete opposite of Nie Li.
Chen Linjian held back his laughter with great effort and walked up to Shen Yue. He patted his shoulder and said, "Brother Shen Yue, just let it go. This kind of thing isn't for you."
Shen Yue's face turned purple; the crowd's laughter pierced his ears, and his hatred toward Nie Li only grew. It was Nie Li's fault he had been humiliated in front of everyone!
If Nie Li knew what Shen Yue was thinking, he would feel completely innocent—after all, he hadn't done anything at all!
Still holding his crossbow, Shen Yue wasn't sure if he should keep it or toss it away. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he wanted to crawl into a hole from the shame.
In his past life, Shen Yue was extremely arrogant and loved to mock Nie Li. Thinking back to it, the corners of Nie Li's mouth curled into a faint smirk. He lightly said, "Just because I can do something doesn't mean you can too."
Shen Yue's rage exploded inside him as he heard Nie Li's words. He turned to Nie Li and shouted, "This is all your fault, I'm going to kill you!"
Thick veins bulged across Shen Yue's face as he raised the crossbow in his hand and aimed it at Nie Li. He had completely lost control; as a direct descendant of the Sacred Family, Shen Yue had always harbored a strong sense of pride. That's why, when provoked by Nie Li, he snapped.
Clack! Chen Linjian slapped the crossbow from Shen Yue's hand and shouted, "ENOUGH!"
Shen Yue looked up to see Chen Linjian's cold expression and immediately lost all his courage. At that moment, everyone was on Nie Li's side. Shen Yue turned around and walked away, filled with resentment. Conversations broke out behind him.
"I never imagined Shen Yue was that kind of person."
"That's not how a noble should act."
Nie Li's expression grew cold as he recalled the Sacred Family's betrayal and all of Shen Yue's deeds in his previous life. Even if a person like that—and his entire family—were to be wiped out, Nie Li wouldn't feel a single shred of regret.
As Shen Yue's lonely figure faded into the distance, Ye Ziyun moved closer to Nie Li and said, "Nie Li, Shen Yue is kind of pitiful."
Nie Li frowned as he heard her speak. He hadn't expected Ye Ziyun to feel sympathy for Shen Yue. In his previous life, Ye Ziyun had always been too kindhearted: she had even agreed to marry Shen Yue after his constant pleas, only for him to eventually flee Glory City with his entire family before the wedding. That was the kind of person he was—he didn't deserve sympathy.
Anger stirred within Nie Li as he looked at Ye Ziyun and said sharply, "What's there to pity about him? From today on, don't interact with him anymore. Otherwise, don't bother coming to find me again. A scumbag like him, if he ends up dead, he'll have brought it on himself!"
Ye Ziyun pouted after being scolded so harshly.
"You're not my boyfriend! What gives you the right to decide who I talk to?" Although that's what she thought inwardly, she still chose not to interact with Shen Yue again. Otherwise, she might not be able to stay friends with Nie Li. Bit by bit, Nie Li's opinion mattered to her more and more—but there was still something she didn't understand:
"Why does Nie Li hate Shen Yue so much? Was there some kind of deadly grudge between them?"
Chan Wei approached his brother from behind and gave him a light smack on the back of the head. "I know you're angry at the Sacred Family, but you shouldn't act like that in front of Ye Ziyun—or you'll just leave a bad impression. As much as you know a ton about many things, women don't seem to be part of that knowledge base."
Nie Li sighed. "You're right, brother. I let my emotions get the better of me earlier, and I was a little too harsh. But it was good to give Ye Ziyun a bit of a warning."
"Don't worry. Make up for it when we get back to Glory City and everything should be fine. As for Shen Yue, if he stays alive, he'll just continue making mistakes that hurt the Sacred Family."
Chen Linjian's men began dealing with the Blue-Armed Giant Apes, but they quickly realized their bolts couldn't do much against them. Although these apes had huge bodies, they were extremely agile. They noticed that as soon as the bolts were fired, the apes would dodge almost instantly, making their shots miss.
Only then did they truly realize just how skilled Nie Li was with a crossbow—and how special Chan Wei's crossbow seemed to be.
Chan Wei handed his crossbow and a few bolts to his sister, Huyan Lanruo, explaining, "This crossbow can shoot five times farther than a normal one—so five times faster. The bolts are inscribed with a Heart-Poison rune that freezes and corrodes the heart. It's effective up to about a 1-star Silver rank."
"Brother Nie Li, we'll be relying on you!" sighed Chen Linjian. In the group, only Nie Li was capable of taking down these Blue-Armed Giant Apes.
"Mhm!" Nie Li responded with a small nod.
Nie Li began shooting down the apes along the way. His aim was so precise that he never missed a single shot. His archery skills had reached insane heights in his past life, and although he was only at the Bronze 1-star level now, that was more than enough to deal with ordinary Silver-ranked demon beasts.
Everyone was stunned by Nie Li's archery. Even a Silver-ranked expert might say it wasn't hard to dodge crossbow bolts. However, no matter how the Blue-Armed Giant Apes tried to dodge, Nie Li's bolts seemed to chase after them like shadows.
Meanwhile, Huyan Lanruo also began a massacre of her own, and Chan Wei disappeared behind the group, reaping the lives, bodies, and shadows of the stragglers. He easily harvested another hundred Blue-Armed Apes—some of which were Silver-ranked—on top of the ones he already had.
Everyone acknowledged the power of Chan Wei's crossbow but couldn't help praising the impressive technique of the Huyan family's young lady, who was responsible for a third of the kills.
Unbeknownst to him, Nie Li had already become one of the core members of the group.
Just as Nie Li and the others were nearing their destination, the number of Blue-Armed Giant Apes swelled to over thirty, all staring directly at Nie Li's group.
"ROAAAAAAR!"
A deafening roar echoed out, shaking the ground violently. Everyone exchanged shocked looks, their ears ringing from the blast of sound.
"It's a spiritual-grade demon beast!" Nie Li exclaimed, horror in his eyes.
Ordinary demon beasts were similar to humans: divided into Bronze, Silver, Gold, Black Gold, and Legend ranks. But within those ranks were normal-grade, spiritual-grade, and emperor-grade beasts. Take the Blue-Armed Giant Ape, for example: a normal one couldn't form a soul in its spirit. But a spiritual-grade one could—and its intelligence would approach that of a ten-year-old child. It would be far stronger than a normal-grade ape. As for emperor-grade beasts, the soul in their spirit would take on a liquid form, and they'd even be able to shift into a human form. Naturally, their power was terrifying.
Chen Linjian's expression changed, and he asked in a fearful voice, "What's its strength?"
"Five-star Silver rank, almost at Gold!" Nie Li replied. He had been able to assess the strength of this Blue-Armed Giant Ape just from its roar. Fortunately, Chan Wei would be the one to face it, but caution was still necessary.
Nie Li furrowed his brow slightly. Demon beasts of the same rank were generally somewhat stronger than humans—especially beasts like the Blue-Armed Giant Apes. They were notoriously hard to deal with, and this particular one might even rival a Gold-rank expert! Chan Wei didn't have that much real combat experience yet, so they'd have to work together if they wanted any chance of defeating it.
As for Chen Linjian's group, the strongest among them was only a three-star Silver!
Five-star Silver rank… Chen Linjian also frowned at the news. He had never expected to run into a spiritual-grade Blue-Armed Giant Ape here—let alone one at such a high level… He feared this would be extremely difficult to handle. There were also many other Blue-Armed Giant Apes nearby, all staring them down. If a battle broke out, it was highly possible that they could all be wiped out!
ROAAAAAAR!
The spiritual-grade Blue-Armed Giant Ape leapt to the top of the ruined city walls, its fierce gaze fixed on Nie Li and the group.
"Come on, follow me!" Nie Li shouted as he darted into the forest behind them.
They exchanged glances for a moment before quickly following him, retreating into the dense forest.
Seeing this, the spiritual-grade ape beat its chest furiously and stomped the ground. Another deafening roar echoed through the ruins. The other, normal Blue-Armed Giant Apes, as if obeying the command of the spiritual-grade leader, began charging in the direction that Nie Li and the others had fled.
It wasn't easy for the massive-bodied apes to penetrate the dense forest.
"Form up!" roared Chen Linjian angrily. The group of Silver-ranked experts used the thick trees to form a defensive circle and drew their weapons.
Chtong! Chtong! Chtong!
One of the Blue-Armed Giant Apes charged forward. Nie Li raised his crossbow—thwip!—a bolt flew through the air.
Nie Li's archery precision was extraordinarily high. The Blue-Armed Giant Apes shrieked miserably as they fell, unable to resist the poison from the Purple Haze Grass coating the bolts.
On her side, Huyan Lanruo was protected by three Silver-ranked experts as she continued shooting down any ape that approached the group, leaving them no time to dodge due to the shortened range.
Chen Linjian and his many Silver-ranked subordinates brandished their weapons and slashed down vertically, aiming to decapitate the apes.
Pshiiiii! Pshiiiii! Pshiiiii!
Blood splattered everywhere, soaking Chen Linjian and his men in crimson.
Nie Li knew that the spiritual-grade Blue-Armed Giant Ape was using the others to test their strength. The intelligence of this spiritual-grade ape was astonishing. On top of that, its combat power was truly terrifying.
In his past life, when Ye Ziyun and the others had come to explore the Orchid City ruins, they hadn't encountered any spiritual-grade demon beasts. That they now faced one made Nie Li more than a little uneasy.
Nie Li raised his voice. "We're going to lure it toward the fortress!" The fort's defenses were far sturdier, and they could use it to deal with the Blue-Armed Giant Ape of spiritual grade.
Roaaaaar!
The spiritual-grade ape leapt forward and charged in their direction—but mid-jump, it was struck by a flying boulder. Knocked off balance, it hit the ground, only to get up unharmed, save for a faint gray streak on its fur.
Chan Wei rejoined the group, eliminating three apes with his daggers along the way. "Miss me?" he grinned at the rest of the team.
The spirit ape immediately lunged again—this time at Chan Wei—but he dodged. Its powerful strike slammed into the ground, carving a deep pit, sending chills through the hearts of everyone nearby.
"Damn, this ape is unbelievably strong! And on top of that, it's the leader of the entire Blue-Armed Giant Ape tribe. That roar of his is just going to bring even more of them!" Nie Li said, frowning. "We're too big of a target like this—we need to split up!"
Chen Linjian furrowed his brows slightly and said in a low voice, "Alright, we'll divide into six teams and regroup at the fortress!"
The group quickly broke apart.
Huyan Lanruo and Ye Ziyun followed Nie Li and Chan Wei, along with two retainers and a girl who was close friends with Ye Ziyun.
Sou Sou Sou—six teams darted off in six different directions.
The spiritual-grade ape had planned to take its time picking them off one by one, but it hadn't anticipated them splitting up. After a moment's hesitation, it locked onto Nie Li's group and gave chase.
Nie Li gave a bitter smile. Why was his luck always this bad? Of all six groups… why did it have to chase theirs?
"You guys go ahead and hurry!" Nie Li shouted, retrieving a few vials of Purple Haze Grass-based poison from his spatial ring.
Ye Ziyun faltered slightly in her step; her heart trembled as she saw Nie Li standing there, facing off against the spirit-grade Blue-Armed Giant Ape.
Huyan Lanruo's eyes reddened. At that moment, Nie Li didn't think of fleeing—he chose instead to cover their retreat. That selfless act touched her deeply.
"Hurry up! Don't hesitate! Don't worry about me—I'll be fine!" Nie Li barked. "Split up and run, or none of us are getting out alive!"
"You didn't seriously think I'd let you have all the fun alone, did you?" said Chan Wei with a grin, slipping on a pair of black gauntlets with spiked knuckles.
Ye Ziyun and Huyan Lanruo clenched their teeth, tears shimmering slightly in their eyes. They hesitated for a moment, but ultimately turned and ran into the forest.
Roaaaaar!
The giant ape swung its massive arm to strike, and Chan Wei stepped forward to meet its fist with his own.
The clash was explosive. Despite the strength of his own body, Chan Wei felt pressure for the first time—but instead of fear, it made his heart pound with exhilaration.
He launched into a fistfight with the giant gorilla, a smile tugging at his lips. The spirit ape already struggled against this formidable opponent, but it grew even more enraged when arrows began pelting it from Nie Li's direction.
It let out a roar to summon more of its kin—but only about a dozen responded. The combined slaughter from Chen Linjian's group and Chan Wei had devastated the population of Blue-Armed Apes.
Before this battle, Chan Wei had amassed a terrifying total of 212 Blue-Armed Ape shadows. He hadn't had the chance to refine them yet—otherwise, he likely would have already reached Gold 3-star rank.
Chan Wei released his ten Gold-ranked grey apes to wipe out the spirit ape's reinforcements. "Nie Li, can you leave this fight to me? I need the combat experience."
Nie Li, who had been shooting arrows at the spirit ape, paused before nodding in agreement.
Chan Wei took a few hits from the ape, who grew more frantic as it watched its brethren fall to the grey apes. Its eyes turned bloodshot, and it threw everything it had into the battle.
Despite the renewed fury of the spirit ape, it lasted only another minute. Chan Wei grew more agile and reactive by the second, adapting and refining his combat instincts. With one perfectly timed dodge, he countered a direct strike with a powerful uppercut to the beast's abdomen, lifting it clean off the ground and sending it flying over ten meters. It let out a final breath as it hit the ground.
Chan Wei wasted no time, immediately extracting its shadow—though it resisted fiercely. This was his first key objective. He sat down in a cultivation pose to refine the spirit ape's energy, ensuring there would be no backlash to his body.
With fluid precision, Chan Wei stabilized the area in just ten minutes—a remarkable display of control and speed. He knew his work wasn't done, but for now, he had secured the battlefield and obtained his prize.
As he caught his breath, his gaze instinctively shifted toward a particular direction. In the distance, he sensed the presence of fifteen members of the Dark Guild—adversaries that posed a constant threat to him and his brother. A chill of anticipation ran down his spine as he began to mentally prepare for the next confrontation.
"Congratulations, brother," said Nie Li, giving his brother a warm pat on the shoulder. The heartfelt gesture was met with a grateful glance from Chan Wei. However, the next words that followed from his brother left him puzzled, his brows knitting together slightly in confusion.
"Nie Li, go find Ye Ziyun and stay with her. Knowing her personality, she'll probably try to turn back and look for you," Chan Wei said in a neutral tone.
"Why? You're not coming with me?" Nie Li asked, surprised by the unusual shift in Chan Wei's demeanor.
"No. There are members of the Dark Guild here, and I intend to make them taste their own medicine. They lure demonic beasts to Glory City, killing more and more of our people," Chan Wei declared, his voice filled with anger, the memories of the original host of his body still fresh in his mind—memories that had largely overtaken his own experiences and the pain of losing his parents.
His brother's reply rang out with a rare firmness, revealing a deep, long-suppressed rage. Chan Wei's words were charged with a palpable intensity, shaped by the weight of both inherited memories and his own growing resolve. The looming threat of the Dark Guild hung heavy in the air, reminding Nie Li once again of the constant danger this organization posed to their beloved Glory City.
(Author's note: I'm leaving a bit of additional info here as an explanation for the last part. Chan Wei came into this world with his own memories, and even though they fused with those of the body's original owner, the original memories are more intense and therefore take precedence over his former personality. I hope you enjoyed this little chapter — don't hesitate to leave a review if you're enjoying my fanfic^^)
Yilmaz is the top contributor with 107 power stones, so I'll let you come up with an image idea and I'll have it generated by ChatGPT and publish it in this paragraph.