Chapter 1649: Capturing The Demon Ape

Thump!

It was like a divine being was striking a heavenly drum. The river water within several kilometers of Ye Qing abruptly caved inward and kicked up a thousand waves. At the same time, the rain droplets the Water Demon Ape had transformed into all shattered at the same time.

“Ook ook!”

A terrible ape cry filled the air, and the Water Demon Ape was driven out of the river. It flew helplessly in the air like a duckweed.

“Return.” Ye Qing unclenched his fist and made a grabbing motion. The next moment, the gigantic Water Demon Ape was pulled toward him. While flying, the Water Demon Ape kept shrinking until it was only a meter tall or so. Looking at its cute, petite figure, one would not think that it was a bloodthirsty man eater.

As soon as the Water Demon Ape landed in front of Ye Qing, it immediately dropped to its knees, clasped its hands together in apology, and kowtowed to Ye Qing repeatedly for mercy.

“Still want to run?” Ye Qing asked playfully while observing the kowtowing Water Demon Ape.

The Water Demon Ape shook its head with all its might while staring at Ye Qing with pleading on its face.

“Huh. You can understand me? You’re surprisingly intelligent.”

Ye Qing raised his eyebrows, surprised.

Bei Yuan was a terrifying place. Its abyss was filled with all sorts of deadly evil and corrupted qi. That was why most of the Strangers that were born in Bei Yuan were, as powerful as they were, generally unintelligent. The vast majority of them were only bloodthirsty monsters who only knew slaughter. It was also why they did not know to leave Bei Yuan and seek greener pastures elsewhere.

The Water Demon Ape was one of these Strangers. Violent and bloodthirsty, their brawns vastly outweighed their brains. The large majority of them only knew how to act based on their instincts.

Originally, Ye Qing was planning to activate a soul searching secret art and scoured the Water Demon Ape’s memories by force after capturing it. He was hoping that it would be able to provide some useful information regarding Bei Yuan.

During combat though, he noticed that this Water Demon Ape was unusual in the sense that it was more intelligent than your average Water Demon Ape. That was why he had purposely held back and left it alive when he could have killed it long before it tried to escape.

Despite this, he was still surprised to be proven correct.

Ye Qing asked, “Do you know how to speak?” “Ook ook... know... know a bit.”

The Water Demon Ape opened its mouth and spoke in the human language. Its voice resembled an eight or nine years old child’s.

“You can speak too?” The interest in Ye Qing’s eyes grew. “You are cruel and violent. You even ate humans. I was going to kill you...”

Ye Qing purposely paused here, and the terrified Water Demon Ape kowtowed the floor like it was pounding an onion and pleaded in a sobbing voice, “Please... please let Your Majesty live... this... Your Majesty won’t dare to... to... eat humans anymore... please...”

“Your Majesty? Who on earth did you learn your speech from?” Now Ye Qing knew for certain that the Water Demon Ape had recently learned the human language.

“From... from them!”

The Water Demon Ape pointed a finger at the Left Counselor’s group and stuttered, “They... they called a powerful human Your Majesty... sounds nice... so Your Majesty used it...”

Ye Qing rubbed his chin. If he wasn’t mistaken, the Water Demon Ape was most likely referring to the queen of Snowa.

“You should not say ‘Your Majesty’, you should say ‘I’,” Ye Qing corrected it.

“Why... whyzzat?” The Water Demon Ape asked in confusion.

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Was that an

accent

?

“Because—”

Ye Qing was just about to provide an explanation when he suddenly remembered that he was talking to a monkey. What the hell was he thinking trying to explain things to a monkey? “Because nothing. You either listen to me or you don’t. I’ll kill you if you don’t listen to me.”

The Water Demon Ape replied in fear, “Your Majesty... no... I... I will listen! Don’t... kill me!”

“Good boy. Keep being a good boy, and I can temporarily spare your life.” Ye Qing threatened, “But if you don’t be a good boy, then... hmph!”

There was thick, murderous intent behind the hmph. It frightened the Water Demon Ape and caused it to shake like a leaf. “I’ll be a good boy... I’ll be a good boy...”

“Come with me!” Ye Qing ordered and turned around to walk toward Feng Qingyou. He didn’t even spare the Water Demon Ape a glance.

If the Water Demon Ape was a non-intelligent Stranger or semi-intelligent Stranger, then it would have failed to recognize the danger and tried to run away. However, this Water Demon Ape wasn’t just sapient, it was fairly intelligent. Its watery eyes twirled round and round as it considered its options, and in the end it chose to follow Ye Qing instead of running away.

It was because it knew that it couldn’t run away. If it tried, it would only earn itself a beating and maybe even lose its life. There was no other possibility.

If it couldn’t run away, then why bother wasting the energy?

It’s a smart one,

Ye Qing thought to himself. He had planted a restriction in the Water Demon Ape’s body as a matter of course. If it dared to run, then he would teach him exactly why flowers were red.

“Greetings, senior! Thank you for saving our lives, senior!”

The Left Counselor and everyone else dropped to their knees after Ye Qing approached them. Even the two Unihorn White Bulls were bending their knees slightly to show respect.

“You’re welcome. I just happen to be in the area, that’s all,” Ye Qing replied smilingly.

It was clear that the Left Counselor did not recognize him. Although he had shown his face in the Chu capital before—specifically when he was blocking the Great Emperor of Fengdu from threatening the Chief Libationist’s work— he had concealed his appearance. Besides, it wasn’t like a mere Half-Sage could get involved in that battlefield. It was perfectly natural that she wouldn’t recognize her.

“This junior is Xue Qiurong. I am the Left Counselor of Snowa. I am honored to meet you, senior.”

Xue Qiurong continued to stay on the ground and bend her waist. She said in a grateful voice, “You haven’t just saved our lives today, senior. You have eliminated a major threat to Snowa and saved countless lives from death. You have accumulated much good karma today.”

“If you are free, this junior would like to extend an invitation to Snowa. I am sure that our queen would be pleased to meet you.”

Ye Qing turned her down gently. “Thank you for the offer, but we have important matters to attend to, so we shouldn't disturb you.” It was true that he and Feng Qingyou had no plans of visiting Snowa.

Xue Qiurong looked a bit disappointed, but she continued, “Do you need anything then, senior? Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not trying to probe your secret or anything. This junior is simply asking if there is anything we may be able to assist you with!”

Ye Qing replied, “No, it’s fine. There’s really nothing you can do to help me.”

Xue Qiurong: “...”

Well that’s a bit humiliating.

Ye Qing added, “Oh right, I have some use for this Water Demon Ape. I will be taking it with me.”

Xue Qiurong hurriedly responded, “You are the one who captured the ape, senior. Of course you have the right to do with it as you please.”

“Alright, that’s a wrap. Let us continue crossing the river.”

Ye Qing nodded and landed on Bai Ai’s back. Bai Ai shuddered, but it did not seem to hear Ye Qing’s words. It continued to stand in place, unmoving.

Ye Qing asked in confusion, “What’s wrong, Elder Bai?”

Feng Qingyou giggled. “You frightened him.”

“I’m not that scary, am I?” Ye Qing rubbed his nose and gave Bai Ai a soft tap on the back. “Let’s go, Elder Bai. Take us across the river.”

“Y-yes. This junior obeys.”

It was only then Bai Ai jolted back to reality and walked forward. Even so, Ye Qing could sense its caution and fear.

Ye Qing smiled and paid it no heed. He turned to Feng Qingyou and told her about the Water Demon Ape.

“It’s fully sapient, huh This is interesting.” Feng Qingyou looked behind her and cast the Water Demon Ape a glance—it was currently following behind Bai Ai—and remarked smilingly, “If you are right, then our journey may turn out to be much smoother than anticipated.”

“I think so too,” Ye Qing replied with a chuckle.

For some reason, their laughter gave the Water Demon Ape a bad feeling.

It was its sixth sense warning him about something.

The sixth sense of an ape.