Perhaps Mao Mao was originally snatched from these mountains, and now it has returned to seek recognition from its ancestors. That’s why the White Ape gets annoyed whenever it sees anything related to the Woodcutter.
Seeing Xiao Jie remain silent, the White Ape thought he was being defiant.
"Good, then today I’ll make you admit defeat completely," it said as it sheathed its Yanling Saber and casually picked up a tree branch— "Come at me again."
"Hold on, let me heal up first."
Xiao Jie restored his health to full and then charged forward with his saber once more, this time initiating the attack himself.
He had realized that the White Ape’s strength was completely out of his league, forgetting about defeating it, he might as well treat this as an opportunity to get pointers on saber skills from a martial arts expert.
He lashed out furiously, attacking without defense.
This time, the White Ape did not hold back, constantly striking Xiao Jie with the tree branch. Although each hit only caused a few drops of blood to fall, the sheer number of hits meant his health still plummeted insanely fast.
Even with the full stack of Gale Force, giving him a 60% boost to attack speed, he still couldn’t touch a hair on the White Ape.
System prompt: Gale Saber Technique has advanced to LV7.
With another layer added to Gale Force, Xiao Jie’s blade swung wildly like it was having a seizure, but the White Ape still dodged with ease, occasionally kicking him or striking him with the branch. Eventually, its figure flashed around Xiao Jie like a slideshow, as if there were seven or eight White Apes circling in chaos.
Damn, is it that fierce?
The saber technique used by the White Ape was unbeatable. If he could master this skill, wouldn’t Cloud Guest be easily taken care of!
As he was thinking this, the White Ape’s figure vanished once again, only to reappear about ten meters away.
"I won’t fight anymore, your skills are too poor, there’s really no fun in it," it said, showing a look of utter boredom.
Xiao Jie felt somewhat helpless—the gap in strength was just too great.
But seeing the White Ape’s demeanor of a worldly expert, he had an idea and directly performed the action—kneeling.
"Senior Yuan, please take me as your apprentice. My brother was killed, and I must avenge him no matter what. The problem is, my enemy’s martial arts are too strong and I’m no match for him. If you could teach me this saber skill, once I’ve avenged my brother, I’ll come back to play with you every day. By then, my martial arts will be great, and fighting will be much more interesting."
The White Ape glared at him and snorted, "Hmph, you’re dreaming quite nicely, kid. Sadly, you can’t learn this saber skill."
"Why is that? Is it because my speed is not fast enough, my Inner Strength too weak, or my comprehension too low?"
Xiao Jie was mentally prepared for the high requirements of an advanced blade skill, but as long as he knew the standard, he could work towards it gradually.
Be it Inner Strength level, Agility, or comprehension, he believed there would come a day he could pile them up.
However, the White Ape shook its head, "None of those. This saber skill is not something that just anyone can learn. You should give up on this idea."
Xiao Jie couldn’t possibly give up. Was it a matter of insufficient Favorability? If he could raise it to 100 Favorability, that surely had to be enough.
But it seemed there were some special conditions necessary.
Whatever the case, Xiao Jie had already set learning this saber skill as his goal. With this skill, he would no longer fear Cloud Guest. He could then actively seek out that guy and finish him.
If he really couldn’t learn it, then as a backup plan, he’d train the Gale Saber Technique to LV10 and achieve a Satori for a secret technique. With a Secret Skill, he could stand a chance against Cloud Guest, although it would be much riskier.
After all, Cloud Guest also possessed secret techniques and his Level was far higher than his own, and certainly, his Equipment wouldn’t be substandard. A direct confrontation would still be risky.
"Senior Yuan, if there’s any difficulty, please let me know. I will do my best to help with anything just to learn this saber skill. I’m willing to run errands for you."
The White Ape showed a bleak expression, "Hmph, I’ve told you, what I want is not something you can do. Forget it, I can’t be bothered with you anymore."
"If you want to train with the saber, go deep into the valley and find the Treants to practice with. If you want to rest, go to the cabin and sleep. Old monkey, show him the way. I’m going to sleep," the White Ape said, then turned around and left.
Xiao Jie felt helpless. Although the White Ape displayed a degree of humanity, it was ultimately still an animal with unpredictable moods, scarcely possessing the gravitas expected of a senior expert.
But then again, it was a monkey after all.
At that moment, the old monkey who had taught Xiao Jie the recipe for Monkey Wine approached.
"Kid, stop bothering the king. Come with me. Do you want to train with the saber or go to sleep?"
Xiao Jie checked the time—it wasn’t even five o’clock yet.
There was time for some more training.
"Saber training, please show me to those Treants, old monkey."
It’d be good if he could level up a bit in Monkey Valley.
The old monkey led the way ahead. Monkey Valley was shaped like an upside-down gourd; it was a fairly large valley. Past the narrow gap between two mountains at the end of the valley, there was another world altogether.
Following the old monkey deep into the valley, Xiao Jie saw a huge withered willow tree, slanting and fallen to the ground. Its bark had formed a fierce face that was violently split into two by a massive saber cut. The willow monster was clearly dead, but there were many root burl-like monsters wandering around, wriggling roots for feet, twisted branches for arms, and swollen burls for faces with oversized asymmetrical eyeballs. Each stood over two meters tall, looking very bizarre.