Chapter 122: Borrowing Wine
Chapter 122: Borrowing Wine
In the dense mountain forest, a team was trekking along.
Shan Tai walked at the very front.
He carried three Black Iron Spears on his back, held a vine shield in his left hand, and gripped a massive Stone Axe in his right hand.
A Bone Club also hung at his side.
Two fully armed Totem Warriors followed closely behind him.
Behind them, the Old Shaman Shan Yan sat on a vine chair carried by two other Totem Warriors.
Lastly, there were two fierce warriors acting as guards!
One Shaman, seven Totem Warriors, plus Gao Jing who was “riding along”.
Together, they made up this strong team.
Yesterday, Gao Jing had just returned to Shan Yue Village, learning that he needed Mountain Ape Wine, and Shan Yan who hardly ever left the tribe personally led the team. That day, he took Shan Tai and others to the territory of the apes for borrowing wine.
Squeak squeak!
Suddenly, the branches of a big tree ahead shook heavily, making chattering sounds.
The sounds were fast and sharp, full of warning.
Gao Jing, clinging to the vine chair, saw agile figures flashing on the treetops.
They were large apes.
Their whole bodies were covered with thick dark yellow fur, with pointy mouths, wide cheeks, sunken noses, and pairs of fiery red eyes burning with rage at the invaders!
“Hmm.”
The Old Shaman Shan Yan looked up and said, “Almost there.”
Screech~
As his words ended, with a sharp cry, a black shadow shot towards the team like lightning.
Smack!
A Totem Warrior, quick-eyed and fast-handed, raised his arm and caught it.
It was a bright red mountain fruit.
He chuckled, sniffed it, opened his big mouth, and took a hard bite, eating it with delight.
But this was just the start.
Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!
Fruits fell down like rain from all sides.
More and more apes appeared on the trees, using mountain fruits, branches, and stones as weapons to drive back the invading Shan Yue team.
Facing such heavy attacks, the warriors had to raise their vine shields.
To protect the Old Shaman.
The shields used by Shan Yue Warriors were woven from tough old vine roots, extremely strong.
When mountain fruits or stones hit them, they either smashed apart or bounced off.
This was mainly to shield the Old Shaman; they themselves did not care, ignoring hits without a reaction.
Gao Jing also got this protection.
It felt like hiding in an unbreakable fort while being bombed by countless missiles.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
That was really exciting.
Let the storm hit harder!
But because of this, the team moved much slower.
At this point, the Old Shaman Shan Yan held up his Staff.
He chanted strange spells, deep and mysterious like ancient times, resonating with the world around.
An invisible energy burst from his thin body, spreading out everywhere.
It made Gao Jing’s soul shake next to him!
The next second, the vines all over the forest and around trees seemed to suddenly “come alive”.
They twisted and stretched like snakes, wrapping around the nearest apes!
Some monkeys reacted slowly and got trapped tight.
Many smart ones tried to flee, but their home was now covered in traps.
No matter where they went, vines attacked them!
In less than half a minute, hundreds of apes were captured by the magic.
They struggled hard but it was no use, letting out helpless, loud wails.
It was so sad it made people want to cry!
Gao Jing stared, speechless.
The shaman was mighty, the shaman was awesome, the shaman was the coolest!!
Old Shaman Shan Yan had shown him magic tricks before.
But those small acts were nothing compared to what he did now.
Most important, the Old Shaman didn’t even seem to be working hard.
Gao Jing couldn’t help imagining what it would look like if the shaman went all out.
How amazing that would be!
And this sparked his endless hope for higher magic power.
A warrior’s strength was nothing to the shaman’s grace!
“Shaman Chief.”
Gao Jing couldn’t hold back and asked, “Are you going to kill them all?”
“Of course not.”
The Old Shaman Shan Yan shook his head with a smile. “Kill them, and there would be no monkeys to make wine.”
Gao Jing silently agreed.
With the apes that tried to stop them handled, the Shan Yue team moved on.
Other monkeys caused trouble along the way, but they were scattered and weak.
The Old Shaman never acted again.
Until the team reached a huge cave.
“This is the monkeys’ nest.”
The Old Shaman Shan Yan told Gao Jing, “The wine they brew is hidden deep inside.”
“Shan Tai, let’s go in. Watch for the Ape King.”
“Hmm!”
Shan Tai responded and lifted his stone axe.
Like a village bully kicking down a widow’s door, he boldly strode into the pitch-black cave.
The warriors followed closely behind, moving in single file.
Hum~
Light suddenly burst from the top of the staff held by the Elder Shaman.
Thousands of bright white rays shone forth.
Instantly, they chased away the darkness, lighting up a huge area around them!
This cave was massive and deep, impossible to see all the way to the end.
The cave was quite damp, with water constantly seeping from the walls and dripping down.
Drip, drop.
All kinds of strange mushrooms and mosses grew in the cracks of the rocks.
Squeak! Squeak!
Monkey cries echoed from deep within the cave, sounding a bit creepy.
Shan Tai stood completely unafraid. He strode forward as if walking into his own home.
He knew every path.
The group walked for several miles through the winding cave.
Suddenly, the path ahead opened up!
The deepest part of this ape cave turned out to be a huge open space.
Thick, long stalactites dangled from the ceiling.
They gave off a faint light like scattered pearls.
This glow also lit up the huge chamber.
Hundreds of monkeys stood in openings along the rock walls.
They glared angrily at the Shan Yue team invading their home.
Many were mother monkeys, fiercely shielding their little ones.
An exceptionally huge ape stood in the center of the cave chamber.
Its eyes brimmed with grief and anger.
Thump! Thump!
It raised its strong fists and pounded its chest repeatedly.
Seeing this huge ape, Shan Tai chuckled deeply.
“This one!”
He immediately dropped his stone axe and vine shield.
He laid down his Black Iron Spear and Bone Club too.
“Wuha!”
With a fierce roar, he charged bare-handed toward the giant ape!
“That’s the Ape King,” the Elder Shaman quietly told Gao Jing.
“If we defeat him, we can take the Mountain Ape Wine.”
Gao Jing thought this sounded perfectly reasonable.
The Ape King was as big and strong as Shan Tai.
With its natural power, it could easily rip apart tigers and leopards.
Even a full-grown Sabertooth Tiger was no match for those fists.
But it wasn’t a Monster Beast with magical powers.
So when it fought Shan Tai, who had tremendous strength…
Shan Tai quickly pinned it down on the ground.
Aow! Aow!
In just three punches and two kicks, Shan Tai had beaten it.
The Ape King could only howl for mercy.
The whole fight was incredibly dull.
And boring.
Gao Jing had hoped for an earthshaking battle.
Yet this was a huge disappointment.
He could tell Shan Tai was going easy on the Ape King.
Otherwise, one punch could easily crush its skull.
The beaten Ape King obediently gave up its two guarded storage pools.
The Mountain Ape Wine pools were just pits in the rock floor.
The monkeys had piled countless wild fruits inside them.
Mountain spring water kept dripping down from the cave ceiling.
One of the pits was fully fermented.
Inside, a pool of blue-green fruit wine glowed faintly.
A rich fruity aroma filled the air.
Several warriors put down their Vine Baskets.
They pulled out Clay Pots and wooden spoons.
Then they carefully scooped the Mountain Ape Wine into the pots.
Finally, they sealed each pot with large leaves.
There wasn’t much fermented wine in the pits.
But they didn’t take everything.
They left behind about a third.
“Let’s move!”
Shan Tai waved his hand and led everyone out.
Only after all the Shan Yue warriors vanished into the dark…
Did the Ape King stumble back to the storage pools.
It stared at the small amount of fruit wine left behind.
Frantically pounding its chest, it let out pitiful wails.
Gao Jing was already leaving with the group.
He heard the cries… and almost made him cry tears of sadness for it.
So miserable!
“Don’t think too much,”
The Elder Shaman seemed to sense Gao Jing’s feelings.
He spoke slowly,
“If our warriors hadn’t cleared away the dangerous beasts nearby…”
“How could these apes live so freely?”
Suddenly, Gao Jing understood.
So they were basically here… to collect “protection money”!