Chapter 52

In the dense forest, Liu Danchen and I were following the blood to find the traces of the mandrill.

After one night, the blood had already turned black.

The scenery before our eyes has quietly changed. Although late autumn has covered the plants here with a layer of lush green, the beautiful environment and man-made paths remind us that we are now out of Baijian Mountain.

Chasing mandrills is hard work, and Liu Danchen and I were both covered in dust and dirt.

Walking further, a clear river suddenly appeared before my eyes. The water was a beautiful blue. Fish swam leisurely in the water, and the clouds in the sky were reflected in the water. If you didn't look closely, you would think the fish were swimming on the clouds.

I have never seen such exquisite beauty, it is like a paradise on earth.

We continued to follow the blood trail for a while, and saw a stone in front of us with "Jiuzhaigou" written on it.

We followed the mandrills all the way to Jiuzhaigou.

But we had no time to admire the scenery and hurried into the primeval forest. Once inside, the path became more difficult. After many twists and turns, we passed a cliff. Now the path was blocked, so we had to go around. The path was littered with rocks and dead leaves, making it easy to miss a step.

"There's movement!" I heard a voice in front of me.

Liu Danchen also stopped and listened carefully, confirming that there was something roaring in front.

It seemed that after our relentless pursuit, we had finally caught up with the mandrill. Liu Danchen and I moved silently towards the roaring source, so as not to alert the animal. The sound grew closer, and finally, the large mandrill we encountered yesterday appeared before us. Next to it, a spring was clearly visible. It was scooping up spring water and feeding it to the smaller mandrill.

Seeing this spring, Liu Danchen and I were both extremely excited. If our guess was correct, this should be the Fountain of Youth. However, the Fountain of Youth was not Laojun's Nine-Transformation Golden Elixir. No matter how much spring water the dead little mandrill drank, it would be of no use.

The big mandrill also realized this. It pounded the ground angrily, looked at the stiff child, and let out a heart-wrenching roar.

However, its next action was completely beyond my expectation. It picked up the child, threw it hard to the ground, and then tore the little mandrill into pieces, with its blood and flesh scattered all over the ground.

Liu Danchen didn't expect the giant mandrill to be like this. Its brutality was beyond common sense.

"Go!" I looked at the mad mandrill. If I let it go on like this, I didn't know what would happen next.

Liu Danchen and I rushed towards the mandrill together. When it saw the two of us, it became even more furious, as if two enemies were meeting each other.

Neither of us wasted any time and started fighting as soon as we met.

"The mighty Yang Yang, the sun rises in the east, the golden-feathered arrows fly, and the evil is killed immediately." I summoned three golden-feathered arrows and shot them at it.

It was much harder to deal with than the little mandrill. Although my arrows never missed their targets, they didn't have an immediate effect on it. The arrows pierced deep into its body, pinning it to the tree.

But it was so powerful that it shattered my three flying arrows and clashed head-on with Liu Danchen's sword. Liu Danchen was completely helpless against it, and the golden sword could only leave a bloody mark on its skin.

I shot another arrow, heading straight for its heart. It blocked it with its arm, and my arrow pierced its arm, but it was powerless and dissipated into the air.

Liu Danchen bit his fingertip, blood smearing on his sword, which shone red. This was the greatsword technique of Baiyun Temple, which he had used back in Zhaiyang Mountain. A three- or four-meter-long sword appeared in his hand, and he slashed at the mandrill. The gleaming red sword slashed at the mandrill, leaving deep wounds visible to the bone.

I didn't expect that the giant swordsmanship that was beaten to the ground by the giant snake last time would have such a miraculous effect when facing the mandrill.

I couldn't just stand by and watch, so I immediately summoned the Nine Golden Feather Arrows. I didn't shoot all nine arrows at once, but instead combined them into one. This arrow emitted a dazzling golden light. I loosened my hand, and the arrow shot straight into the mandrill's heart again.

After several rounds, the mandrill had been seriously injured by Liu Danchen. In addition, the power of my nine arrows combined into one was far beyond that of a single arrow. The mandrill was fighting with Liu Danchen and could not take care of my golden arrow at all. In the end, the golden arrow pierced through its chest.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment. The mandrill stopped attacking and finally made a sharp "chi" sound, and its body fell to the ground with a bang.

Liu Danchen and I did not rush forward. Instead, we walked around it and came to the front of the spring after making sure that it was indeed dead.

"Is this the Fountain of Youth?" I asked.

"I don't know either." said Liu Danchen.

"How about I try it?" I said.

"Let me do it!"

Liu Danchen scooped up a mouthful of spring water and drank it.

He stayed silent for a minute without making any movement.

"How is it?" I asked curiously.

He didn't answer, and I suddenly had a bad feeling in my heart.

"Gugu." A familiar cry suddenly came from his throat, and when he looked at his eyes again, a long green light emerged.

This horrified me. Just as his body was about to grow bigger, I heard a "pop" sound on his wrist.

The sound was like thunder. The green light in Liu Danchen's eyes faded away, and he gradually returned to normal.

"I seemed unable to control myself just now." Liu Danchen said.

He was so out of control that he almost turned into a mandrill.

"Brother Danchen, how do you feel now?"

"I feel like I'm filled with resentment and could turn into a monster at any moment."

After hearing what he said, although I have never seen the Fountain of Youth, I can be sure that the spring in front of me is definitely not the Fountain of Youth, but a strange spring that can cause people to mutate.

"Just now you almost turned into a mandrill, it was the Buddhist beads on your wrist that saved you!"

When he heard me say that he was going to turn into a mandrill, the Buddhist beads woke him up again. He quickly stretched out his wrist. Of the fourteen Buddhist beads that Master Jinghai gave him when we were in Wannian Temple, only thirteen were left.

The one that exploded just now has disappeared without a trace.

"I can still control myself now. Let's go down the mountain first and bring the mandrill back." Liu Danchen was a little discouraged. He felt that he would definitely turn into a mandrill in the end, so he simply took the mandrill's body back to save people.

"Brother Danchen, we will definitely find a way." I comforted him.

Liu Danchen shook his head, then stood up and walked towards the mandrill corpse. I stood up and followed him, but the huge corpse had turned into a strange-looking monkey.

It seems that the legend told by Erma is not empty talk, but the monkey drank a strange spring water that can cause people to mutate.

Liu Danchen carried the monkey, and we walked back to Erma's tribe one after another.

The return trip was much faster than the coming trip, and we arrived in less than a day.

When Erma and her tribesmen saw us coming back, someone went to inform the tribe leader.

Liu Danchen threw the mutated monkey onto the table and said, "This is what the mandrill looked like after it died. Hurry up and take its blood and flesh."

When Erma saw that the mandrill that made her brother's life a living hell was in this state, she didn't hesitate at all. She went back to the kitchen, picked up a knife and cut the mandrill into pieces.

The two of us had completed Erma's instructions and quietly left while she was using the mandrill to make medicine.