Chapter 112: The Water Monkey Assessment

Chen Xiyi looked at the ape snarling and baring its teeth at the end of his fishing rod.

In his previous world, he had caught a water monkey, a monkey that had fallen into the water, which was probably still being kept in the palace by Wang Li.

But this water monkey was different. It was wrapped in Yin Qi, Ghost Qi, and Demonic Energy. Clearly, this was not a monkey that had fallen into the water. It was the kind of water monkey that required a visit from the Tibetan fox director, Xiao Liang, for identification.

[You used a fishing rod to catch a wild water monkey]

What was more important was the prefix “wild.” Could there be domesticated ones as well?

This was not purely a demon or a ghost creature but a combination of the two—a demon-ghost type.

There were quite a few monsters of this category, but Chen Xiyi had never caught one.

However, Chen Xiyi didn’t dwell on this, because the water monkey lunged at him.

This thing had quite a temper. Combined with the three types of Qi mechanisms, it made its body strong and robust. If an ordinary person encountered it in the wild, they would likely not escape alive.

Fortunately, Chen Xiyi was not an ordinary person; he was a Player. He was very interested in this water monkey.

He gathered the surrounding Water Qi and Earth Qi, directing them into the water monkey’s body. Instantly, the water monkey shuddered and then became unable to move.

The three types of Qi inside the water monkey were instantly suppressed by the influx of Chen Xiyi’s Water Qi and Earth Qi.

With just this simple move, the water monkey was immobilized.

He pulled it to the shore and examined it carefully. Though the water monkey had “monkey” in its name, it definitely wasn’t a monkey.

His hand stroked the water monkey’s fur, which was stiff like steel needles.

Chen Xiyi’s hand probed through the fur, feeling the water monkey’s body. It was very firm, like well-developed muscle.

“This meat would definitely be very chewy to eat,” Chen Xiyi said, which made fear flash in the water monkey’s eyes.

“But it would be a waste to just eat it like this.”

Chen Xiyi’s words not only failed to calm the water monkey’s fear but made it even more terrified.

If eating it was a waste, then that meant keeping it alive would undoubtedly lead to greater suffering.

Then, Chen Xiyi checked the water monkey’s entire body. He wanted to dissect it to see its internal structure, but he lacked the proper tools.

He had swords, spears, and halberds, but these were weapons made in the Home Game. Using them for dissection wouldn’t work; they would only be recognized as attacks, and the water monkey might die before the dissection was complete.

This was one of the inconveniences of the Home Game.

So, he had to wait until he returned to buy some surgical knives and the like, refine them into Ritual Implements, and then proceed with the dissection. Ordinary blades couldn’t harm the water monkey.

If it weren’t for the fact that the three types of Qi on the water monkey would clash with Human Qi and Yang Qi, causing its death, this single water monkey could have killed all the soldiers in Dongtai City.

Both its fur and muscles were strong enough to ignore attacks from guns and cannons, though it probably couldn’t withstand Chen Xiyi’s Alloy Firearm. After all, while his Alloy Firearm was called a firearm, aside from its attack method, it had little in common with actual firearms.

This made Chen Xiyi find it quite amusing. Demons, ghosts, and monsters were powerful and feared no one, but they were afraid of most people.

Chen Xiyi used his Qi Sensitivity and the vision of his Tongmu’s Eye of Qi Observation to examine it. Before, he had only used his naked eyes, so he could only determine that the water monkey’s body was very strong.

Under the vision of Qi Sensitivity and the Eye of Qi Observation, aside from its ape-like shape, the water monkey’s body was filled with a large amount of Demonic Energy, indicating that its Demonic Energy was entirely focused on physical development.

The Ghost Qi was lurking in its brain, suggesting it possessed some ghost-like abilities, such as creating ghost walls or ghostly calls. However, because the water monkey was out of the water, this cluster of Ghost Qi, similar to that of a Water Ghost, had weakened significantly, greatly reducing its power.

Lastly, the Yin Qi, like the Yang Qi in humans, was a Qi mechanism common to all demons, ghosts, and monsters. Most of them cultivated Yin Qi as their primary focus.

This wasn’t an absolute rule, though. For example, this water monkey had Yin Qi, but it was only part of its cultivation. Its main cultivation was in Demonic Energy, with a focus on the physical body, which was why it had such a powerful physique.

This could be seen from the proportions of the Qi mechanisms in the water monkey: Demonic Energy was the most abundant, Yin Qi came next, and Ghost Qi was at the bottom. This showed its cultivation pattern.

He really wanted to know why demons, ghosts, and monsters primarily cultivated Yin Qi, while humans mainly cultivated Yang Qi.

If he could figure this out, he might be able to reverse-engineer the principles behind the Qi Refinement and Spirit Cultivation methods used by those Qi Refiners who cultivated Yin Qi.

Although humans mainly used Yang Qi and Human Qi, not everyone relied solely on these two Qi mechanisms.

For example, the Soul Returns to One Realm inheritance used artificially synthesized Soul Qi.

From this, Chen Xiyi could see that Qi mechanisms weren’t only naturally occurring but could also be artificially created.

Soul Qi was proof of this.

This fully confirmed that the Qi Refiners had already conducted in-depth research and experiments on various Qi mechanisms.

After a simple examination, Chen Xiyi felt somewhat troubled. The water monkey was indeed powerful in the wild, but the problem was that he couldn’t bring it into the city. If he did, it would likely turn into a Rotten Corpse as soon as it entered.

But he couldn’t just release it either, since he had caught it.

“If there’s no other way, I’ll test whether the carriage can hold living things.”

Chen Xiyi pondered this. He didn’t want to Homestead the water monkey, but he could put it into his Inventory.

“Wait, then can I put the people I catch into the Inventory as well?”

Things caught while fishing, whether people or objects, could be placed into the Inventory. Once placed inside, they would become Homesteaded. If not placed inside, they remained unaffected. He had tested this.

But right now, Chen Xiyi wasn’t thinking about these things. The reason he didn’t want to Homestead the water monkey was that once Homesteaded, it could no longer be dissected, as it would become a game item. Plus, he had no intention of raising a water monkey.

He could raise it, but water monkeys weren’t rare. If he wanted one, he could go catch another—he was just lazy.

However, if he could use the bug where items inside the carriage wouldn’t become Homesteaded for storage, then this problem could be perfectly solved.

Of course, there was a prerequisite: the carriage had to be able to hold living things.

Chen Xiyi casually took out a wooden carriage, threw a swan he had recently caught into it, and then put the carriage back into his Inventory.

Don’t ask why Chen Xiyi caught a swan. He could even catch people, let alone a swan.

Time passed minute by minute. Chen Xiyi waited exactly one hour before taking the carriage out again.

As long as the swan inside wasn’t dead, it meant living things could be stored. If it died, he would have to find another method.

Fortunately, the swan was still alive and kicking. Seeing this, Chen Xiyi promptly stuffed the water monkey inside.

“Found another bug to exploit. Good thing the Home Game doesn’t have an update or optimization feature. Otherwise, if all these bugs were fixed, how could I enjoy playing the game?” Chen Xiyi couldn’t help but complain.

After finishing these tasks, the sky gradually darkened. Today had been quite fruitful. Aside from various catches like earthworms, swans, toads, and so on, the water monkey was the most satisfying.

As for Li Zhao, he probably didn’t count as a catch since he had become a friend.

The sound of hoofbeats and rolling wheels gradually approached from afar. Clearly, the coachman Zhang Laoliu had come to pick him up.

Another day had passed. Chen Xiyi felt it had been quite fulfilling. He had already finished learning the Dragon-Settling Nine Chapters and had started studying the Du’e Spirit Child inheritance.

With the Dragon-Settling Nine Chapters as a foundation, Chen Xiyi learned the Du’e Spirit Child inheritance much faster.

Although these two inheritances were quite different, they were both fundamentally based on Qi mechanisms and shared many similarities.

Once you grasp one, the rest become easier. If he could master the Du’e Spirit Child inheritance, the subsequent Soul Returns to One Realm would likely be even simpler.

After learning them, he naturally needed to practice. Otherwise, having only theory wouldn’t be sustainable in the long run.

But for now, he hadn’t fully grasped the theory. Jumping straight into practical experiments would be overambitious. After all, it would be ridiculous to try to run before he could even walk steadily.

He estimated that if things remained calm for a while longer, he would finish learning the remaining two inheritances and leave this city.

After all, this city didn’t have what he needed. Once he finished learning, he would go acquire items with Historical Connotation and, along the way, capture some demons, ghosts, and monsters to use as test subjects.

The water monkey was just the beginning, not the end.

To do this, he also needed to prepare a lot of tools, such as surgical knives for dissection, shadowless lamps for lighting, and other equipment.

He wasn’t short on money. He had previously taken the wealth from the red-named NPCs he had eliminated. Even after giving some to Li Zhao, he still had plenty of money.

Everyone knows that without money, you can’t get far. Chen Xiyi was no exception. At the time, he took whatever he could and stored a considerable amount in the carriage, readily accessible.

‘But I could gather wealth-related Qi mechanisms, like Wealth Qi or Money Qi, to make use of. Otherwise, constantly resorting to scams, theft, murder, and arson wasn’t a sustainable long-term strategy. It was stable, but the amount of money he could get varied too much.’

Chen Xiyi sighed. The idea was good, but the execution was troublesome. Gathering Wealth Qi was simple for him, but he had to take action and do it the right way for the Wealth Qi mechanisms to take effect. Otherwise, it would be like having a treasure mountain but being unable to enter—a common occurrence.

It wasn’t that gathering Wealth Qi would definitely make you rich. Rather, these two Qi mechanisms could help you become wealthier, but if you weren’t capable yourself, there was nothing to be done.

There was even a possibility that mismanagement could cause the Qi mechanisms to dissipate.

As for business, Chen Xiyi didn’t have the skill for it. Moreover, in these times, you couldn’t do big business without some backing. The more money you earned, the more likely you were to become a fattened pig for the warlords, who would carve off a piece of you during the holidays.

Thinking of this, Chen Xiyi immediately gave up on the idea of getting rich. It was quicker to engage in business with no capital.

The world was in such chaos, and given his identity as a Qi Refiner, he left no traces behind in whatever he did.

But for now, Chen Xiyi was still a novice Qi Refiner. Once his strength improved, things would become less troublesome, and he could become self-sufficient.

He was a self-taught amateur, unlike those with orthodox inheritances. To catch up, he naturally had to spend time.

Others took decades of hard work, while he was making up for it in just a year or two. That was already unbelievable; he couldn’t ask for some ability to skyrocket overnight.

Even if there were such an ability, Chen Xiyi wouldn’t dare use it. Who knew if there were hidden problems?

Zhang Laoliu drove the carriage slowly into the city. Chen Xiyi looked at the nearly empty streets around him.

When they returned to the Inn, Zhang Laoliu said respectfully, “Master, I will come to pick you up again tomorrow morning.”

“Mm, go ahead,” Chen Xiyi didn’t say much else and returned alone to the Inn.