Disrupting the Fire Apes' Biological Clock

Seeing another twelve sturdy Fire Apes charging toward him, all of them at the Second Rank, Tang Yan's fighting spirit was thoroughly roused.

"Perfect timing!" Tang Yan laughed softly. His Vortex Dantian spun at once, sending a steady stream of True Qi through his body.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

More than ten Fire Apes rushed at Tang Yan one after another.

The Fire Apes possessed astonishing strength, and their hides were thick and tough. Tang Yan could not fight them the way he had fought the giant wolves, leaving a bit of strength in reserve with each move. Every strike had to be delivered with all his might if he wanted to truly hurt them.

Their bodies were also extremely nimble. As they fought Tang Yan, they kept shifting their positions, and at times even feinted, mixing false moves with real ones until they were difficult to read. They were rather cunning.

Worse still, the Fire Apes were not slow. With more than ten of them attacking together, their fists seemed to weave into a great net around him, pressing down so heavily that Tang Yan could barely breathe.

Every move had to flow into the next with absolute familiarity. The slightest lapse might earn him a fist.

Under such fierce pressure, Tang Yan's strength drained away rapidly. In only half a shichen, he had already spent seventy percent of his stamina.

"Bang! Bang!"

At last, Tang Yan's body began to fail him, and his movements weakened. Compared to these Fire Apes born with divine strength, he had already fallen into disadvantage.

In the end, because of his waning stamina, one movement failed to link into the next in time. Two fists landed solidly on his body, sending him flying.

While Tang Yan was still in midair, the hairs on his back suddenly stood on end. From the corner of his eye, he saw that a Fire Ape had already been waiting to one side.

Tang Yan's heart shook. His True Qi was already spent. If he took another punch now, escaping in one piece would be harder than ascending to heaven.

He absolutely could not fall into the hands of these Fire Apes!

Tang Yan madly drew True Qi from his Dantian, trying to force his body steady. But after taking those two punches, no matter how hard he tried, he only managed to draw out twenty percent of his True Qi.

Seeing mockery flash through the Fire Ape's eyes, Tang Yan gritted his teeth. A dark-blue flame suddenly appeared before his fist.

The air around the flame began to twist, giving it a strange and eerie aura.

The Fire Ape that had been about to smash Tang Yan to death with one punch showed a trace of fear in its eyes, and its body forcibly halted.

That pause lasted less than half a breath, but it was enough. Tang Yan drew in a deep breath and forcefully twisted his body in midair until his stomach faced the ground. The instant his toes touched earth, he kicked off hard. His body shot forward, slipping out beneath the Fire Ape's armpit.

Once he broke free of the encirclement, Tang Yan did not linger. He immediately unfolded Phantom Step and fled into the distance.

"Awooo! Awooo!"

Seeing Tang Yan run, the Fire Apes chased after him from behind. After several minutes, Tang Yan's figure vanished from their sight.

"That was close!"

Thinking back on that perilous moment, Tang Yan, utterly exhausted, collapsed heavily onto the ground and gasped for breath.

If he had not remembered, in that urgent instant, that beasts naturally feared fire, his little life might truly have been left in these mountains.

Tang Yan did not know that as fire-attributed spirit beasts, Fire Apes did not fear flames the way ordinary spirit beasts did. The reason that Fire Ape had been frightened was because its keen beast instinct had sensed the terrifying aura contained within that tiny flame.

The Heaven and Earth Creation Flame consumed an enormous amount of True Qi. Tang Yan's True Qi had already been nearly exhausted, and now his Dantian was even closer to running dry.

Fortunately, he had escaped...

After finding a safe, hidden place, Tang Yan took out some Pills and swallowed them, then sat cross-legged to regulate his breathing.

Once his strength recovered, Tang Yan replayed the battle against the ape group in his mind.

Scene after scene surfaced. Tang Yan continually examined the flaws in his attacks, whether his judgment of the Fire Apes' strikes had been wrong, and why he had taken those final two punches in succession.

Only after he had thought through all these questions did Tang Yan chuckle. His figure flitted through the mountains like a ghost, and before long, he returned to the Fire Apes' lair.

"Awooo!"

Seeing that detestable human return after leaving, one Fire Ape immediately sounded the alarm.

The Fire Apes naturally recognized Tang Yan. This was the very brat who had toyed with them until they were running in circles. The moment they saw him, they did not hesitate. They swung their fists and charged straight at him.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Tang Yan quickly threw himself into battle with the Fire Ape group once more.

Two shichen later, Tang Yan took another punch, and a trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Knowing that this round had to end here, he linked into his previous movement and hurled out the fifth punch of Thousand Mountains Fist.

"Bang!"

A violent burst of air rang out. One Fire Ape was immediately forced back by Tang Yan, landing on its backside with a pale face. It had clearly suffered some injury.

After forcing aside the obstacle before him, Tang Yan did not stay. His figure shot away like a shooting star, swiftly leaving Fire Ape Peak.

After finding a safe place, Tang Yan swallowed healing Pills and a High Spirit Pill, quickly restoring his injuries and stamina.

With the help of the Pills, Tang Yan's wounds recovered quickly. He once again began examining all the flaws that had appeared in battle, not stopping until he had thought through every problem.

After finishing his review, Tang Yan, whose stamina had already recovered, paid no attention to the late hour. His agile figure moved through the mountains, and with familiar ease, he returned to Fire Ape Peak.

"Awooo!"

Because Tang Yan never concealed his aura whenever he appeared, he was easily discovered in the broad, open terrain below.

As soon as Tang Yan appeared, a Fire Ape let out a long howl and sounded the alarm.

This time, when he fought the Fire Ape group again, things were slightly easier compared with the frantic disorder of the first two attempts. At the very least, he was no longer suppressed from beginning to end, and could occasionally counterattack.

After another two shichen, Tang Yan gradually felt his stamina failing. After dodging several extremely dangerous killing moves, he exerted himself and forced back two Fire Apes closing in on him, then hurriedly left.

Over the next ten days, the entire Fire Ape group developed a deep hatred for this scrawny human outsider.

As apes, after living for so long, they had never seen such a despicable creature!

Damn it, if he could not win, he ran. Once he had rested enough, he circled back to fight them again. He did not even rest in the middle of the night. Almost every two or three shichen after fleeing, he would come running back and fight them all over again.

Originally, these Fire Apes came out during the day and rested at night. Their routine, formed generation after generation over who knew how many tens of thousands of years, had actually been forcibly disrupted by Tang Yan in only a few days.

Tang Yan did not care what the Fire Apes thought. Every time he fought the ape group, his fighting strength improved a little. Such rapid progress filled him with incomparable satisfaction.

On this day, dawn light was faint.

Tang Yan arrived at Fire Ape Peak.

When he reached the place, Tang Yan was surprised to discover that the Fire Apes, who normally only moved after seeing him, were now standing in orderly fashion on the high ground, as if waiting for him to arrive.

Sensing that something was off, Tang Yan swept his gaze across the Fire Ape group.

Very quickly, Tang Yan discovered that behind the Fire Apes stood another Fire Ape with an even more powerful build. It stood there quietly, sizing him up from afar.