Chapter 78: Such Terrible Luck

The little Golden Vajra Ape seemed intimidated by Qingxi’s strength, hurling even more massive stones at a breakneck pace. Qingxi shielded himself with a membrane of energy, his left hand wielding the Giant Rock Palm, his right the Vajra Fist, shattering the boulders as he sped toward the small ape.

But the little ape, while throwing stones, retreated toward the heart of the royal palace, refusing to let Qingxi come near.

“What a clever little thing,” Qingxi grinned. “But that won’t work on me!”

With his scanning ability, he could precisely track the trajectory of each stone. Using a spatial disruption field of strength five, he made the flying boulders skid aside as if gliding across an invisible icy surface, their paths swiftly diverted.

Thus, Qingxi walked forward, the stones launched at him continually veering off course.

The small Golden Vajra Ape was dumbfounded, its eyes wide with astonishment. In its view, this human youth strolled forward at ease, while every stone meant to strike him slid away. The scene was so wondrous and mystifying that the ape even longed to learn the trick itself. It felt that not even its mighty elder brother possessed such an enviable ability.

Forgetting to throw more stones, the little ape now studied Qingxi with unabashed curiosity.

“Why don’t you keep throwing?” Qingxi teased as he reached the small ape, his gaze drifting past it to the golden-glowing palace not far ahead.

He was close to the stone wall now. As long as he brought down the little Golden Vajra Ape, he could enter the palace before midnight and read and store the ultimate technique inscribed on the wall.

But just as he prepared to slip past the ape, it blocked his path again.

“Out of the way, little monkey. Go play somewhere else,” Qingxi said, executing his Wave-Stepping and Seven-Star footwork, moving with greater agility than a spirit monkey, easily circling around the ape and making for the palace.

Suddenly, the little ape lunged at him, its thick arms clamping around his legs, a mischievous laugh on its lips.

“Go play!” Qingxi exploded with incredible strength, flinging the little ape away, then dashed like a loosed arrow through the doors and into the palace’s interior.

Looking up, he saw in the palace’s center a great altar, atop which stood a wall of dark-golden stone bricks, two meters high and five meters long.

Qingxi immediately began reading the wall’s information.

[Type: Inheritance Treasure]
[Name: Golden Light Stone Wall]
[Note: Constructed from one hundred and eight bricks, arrayed with a powerful formation. Only when bathed in midnight moonlight does the internal array activate, gathering the scattered information into a single image.]

“Pipi, can you scan the ultimate technique?” Qingxi asked, glancing through the doorway at Qiu Yingying, who had just been sent flying by the Black Iron Staff, his heart pounding with urgency. He had no desire to linger.

“All the scans return garbled data, but the Five Elements Source can be used to deduce the complete technique,” his assistant replied helplessly. The formation within the Golden Light Stone Wall was too powerful; even at its current level, Pipi couldn’t crack it without the Source.

“How much Source is needed?”

“Preliminary estimate: over one hundred thousand.”

“What?” Qingxi was stunned. Wasn’t ‘Sevenfold Sword Wave’ merely a top-tier Bronze-level technique? How could deducing and breaking it require a hundred thousand units? That cost rivaled master-level techniques!

Pipi explained, “You needn’t be surprised. In fact, the Golden Light Stone Wall’s grade surpasses the Totem Mural in the Lingyuan Sect’s library. While there is only one technique within, its rank is certainly higher than Bronze.”

“Higer than Bronze? Could it be Master or Grandmaster level?” Qingxi was baffled.

Yet, lacking sufficient Source, he could only wait for the moonlight to fall and activate the formation within the stone wall.

Looking up, he saw a jagged-edged opening in the palace ceiling, as large as a washbasin, as if pierced by some mysterious force.

Silvery moonlight streamed through the gap, about to reach the stone wall.

But just then, a strong wind arose, and a drifting cloud shrouded the sky.

The land was plunged into darkness.

Seeing this, Qingxi froze in place.

Without midnight’s moonlight, the formation within the wall would not activate, nor would the ultimate technique appear.

He couldn’t help but cover his face, lamenting his poor luck tonight.

A mocking laugh echoed from outside the palace.

The little Golden Vajra Ape stood at the door, pointed up at the clouds, its grin bright and sunny.

Expressionless, Qingxi punched the ape, sending it ten meters away.

He hurried to the Golden Light Stone Wall, attempting to store it in his system space.

“Ding! Storage failed. The wall is covered by a mysterious formation and fused with the altar beneath, which in turn is connected to the earth. As they function as a single whole, the entire structure must be stored. System space capacity is insufficient.”

The assistant’s prompt sounded, leaving Qingxi even more frustrated.

Though his system space would expand with cultivation and spiritual root advancement, its current capacity was only one hundred and thirty-four cubic meters—nowhere near enough to contain an entire swath of earth.

Unwilling to give up, he tried prying loose a brick, but even straining until his face reddened, he could not budge it.

“Junior brother, the mission’s failed! Retreat now!” Qiu Yingying’s urgent voice sounded in his ear.

The moment the clouds covered the sky, Qiu Yingying realized they had failed and decisively chose to withdraw.

Realizing the situation was dire, Qingxi watched Qiu Yingying get knocked flying yet again, then turned and ran.

“Truly unlucky…” He shook his head, ready to leap over the palace door, but was seized by the little Golden Vajra Ape, and both tumbled to the ground in a heap.

“You again!” Qingxi exploded with strength, kicking the ape away. Still, since the ape’s elder brother was a peak Black-grade giant Vajra Ape, Qingxi dared not go too far. If that great ape went berserk, even sacrificing tens of thousands of strands of Source wouldn’t save him from a beating.

Shaking off the little ape, Qingxi fled without looking back.

But the little ape seemed to have taken a liking to him, streaking across the ground like a golden flash. For all its bulk, it was even faster than Qingxi.

With the ape once more clinging to his leg, Qingxi felt as if ten thousand sheep were stampeding through his mind.

“You must be cursed!” he wailed, kicking the little ape away and making another run for it.

But the little ape, thick-skinned and tough as ever, simply laughed and raced back, grabbing Qingxi’s leg once again.

“I…” Qingxi almost blurted out an exasperated oath.

Realizing there was no shaking it off, resigned to his fate, he let the little Golden Vajra Ape cling to him, limping toward the outskirts of the ancient Luo ruins.

Even as the ape smashed its face against rocks along the way, it refused to loosen its grip.

A few hundred meters away, after telling Qingxi to retreat, Qiu Yingying unleashed a sword wave, shattering a swath of buildings and stirring up a choking cloud of dust that blurred the view.

Seizing the moment, she wrapped herself in her Metal Sword Soul, transformed into a streak of sword light, and shot across the sky, swiftly leaving the core of the ancient royal palace behind.

Beyond that range, the Vajra Ape did not pursue.

Just then, the fire civet on its shoulder noticed something, leaping up in surprise and chirping, “Zhi zhi zhi!” as if to say, “Big Yellow, look, Little Yellow ran off with a human!”

The great Vajra Ape called Big Yellow raised its brows, staring in that direction. Its massive form shuddered, and its eyes went wide with astonishment.