The Monkey King gazed indifferently at the overwhelming, whistling scales that surged towards him, his heart as placid as an ancient well, undisturbed by any ripple.
Having cultivated to his level, he could foresee danger in advance.
He had anticipated a tribulation days prior and had made all preparations, including facing death.
However, before his demise, he resolved to thoroughly eliminate any entity that threatened the monkey tribe.
The Monkey King's palm, covered in dark brown fur, struck the long staff again.
Boom!
Thunder roared.
Robust spiritual energy erupted from the staff, transforming into an endless tempest of spiritual power that pervaded heaven and earth.
Crackling!
The poisonous mist, trapped in mid-air, immediately emitted loud cracking sounds as it disintegrated without a trace.
The spiritual energy storm, with astonishing might, advanced upon the Sky-Swallowing Python with overwhelming force.
The Sky-Swallowing Python's expression grew grave, all its spiritual energy converging madly towards its tail.
A thick spiritual energy barrier instantly condensed on its tail.
"Hiss!"
A sharp hiss escaped the Sky-Swallowing Python's mouth as it fiercely swept its tail towards the oncoming spiritual energy storm.
As the tail moved, only the sound of air being split could be heard.
The spiritual energy storm collided with the tail, generating an unimaginable blast wave.
Only the sound of tearing echoed throughout the heavens and earth.
Monkey King Mountain itself trembled violently under the intense impact. The already cracked mountain began to collapse on a large scale.
Countless immobilized demonic beasts fell into the mountain crevices, emitting panicked cries.
The scenically beautiful Monkey King Mountain quickly transformed into a ruined battlefield.
As the master of Monkey King Mountain, the Monkey King had no inclination to lament its condition at this moment.
He pulled the long staff embedded in the ground with his right hand, took a forceful step forward, and swung the staff with surging momentum.
The Monkey King's aura was like a rainbow, while his opponent, the Sky-Swallowing Python, was in a sorry state, frantically swinging its tail to evade the Monkey King's pursuit.
The smooth, lustrous scales on its body had lost their original sheen, now bearing many gray and white scars.
More than half the scales on its tail had fallen off, revealing dark red flesh.
In the previous exchange, it had lost.
The Monkey King was indeed the foremost great demon of the demon race, known as the God of War. Even while heavily injured, it could unleash power far exceeding that of ordinary great demons.
The Sky-Swallowing Python, deeming it had gauged the Monkey King's strength, ceased its engagement and fled in panic.
It decided not to return to Monkey King Mountain for the next hundred years. After a hundred years, when the Monkey King's injuries worsened, it would return to wash away its shame.
The Sky-Swallowing Python did not realize until this moment that the Monkey King had no intention of letting it leave. It was lost in its own deluded dreams.
Whoosh—
The Sky-Swallowing Python heard the sound of air splitting behind it, its speed faltering. Instinctively, it slammed its tail heavily onto the ground, using the force of the impact to leap upwards.
In the next moment, a long staff nearly a hundred zhang long appeared in the place where it had been.
More than half of the staff's body was plunged into the heart of Monkey King Mountain, nearly splitting the mountain in two, demonstrating the immense power of this strike.
The Sky-Swallowing Python looked at the staff with lingering fear, its expression extremely grim.
For from this strike, it saw the Monkey King's resolve.
The opponent truly intended to fight it to the death.
A rare sense of regret arose within the Sky-Swallowing Python.
It sought revenge, but it wanted to seek revenge when it had a sure chance, not to be chased and harried by the Monkey King, forced to flee.
If it hadn't been for the instigation of the Nine-Tailed White Fox, it wouldn't have ended up in this predicament.
At this moment, the Sky-Swallowing Python finally understood why the Nine-Tailed White Fox and the Savage Ox had intentionally or unintentionally mentioned its past grievances with the Monkey King.
It surmised they intended to push it forward as a test subject.
The Sky-Swallowing Python gnashed its teeth in anger, resenting both the Nine-Tailed White Fox and the Savage Ox who were miles away.
However, now was not the time to dwell on this. It had to escape the Monkey King.
It had no desire to become fertilizer for Monkey King Mountain.
It glanced back at the relentlessly pursuing Monkey King, spouting a breath of exasperation, and suddenly stopped its flight.
"Monkey King, you wish to keep me here? Dream on!"
The Sky-Swallowing Python roared, and thunderous rumbling sounds emanated from within its body.
Crack!
The Sky-Swallowing Python's crazed, icy beast eyes suddenly dimmed. Its massive body collapsed like a mountain, stirring up clouds of dust.
The Sky-Swallowing Python, which had been challenging the Monkey King just moments ago, instantly ceased to have any life force, its body devoid of any spiritual energy.
And beneath the corpse of the Sky-Swallowing Python, a worm, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, was rapidly burrowing through the rocks.
Upon closer inspection, it was not a worm at all, but a miniature version of the Sky-Swallowing Python.
Although its size was now small, the Sky-Swallowing Python moved through the mountain's interior as if on level ground.
The hard mountain rocks shattered like tofu before it.
"Damn Monkey King, forcing me to abandon my physical body! Once my body is reformed, I will return and flatten this Monkey King Mountain."
The Sky-Swallowing Python knew that if it didn't make a decisive move, it would surely not escape the Monkey King's clutches.
Therefore, it severed its own limb, directly abandoning the physical body it had cultivated for a thousand years, solely for the purpose of escape.
It had stored a piece of flesh imbued with essence blood in its old lair.
As long as it had that piece of flesh and its Sky-Swallowing Python clan's secret art, it could soon grow a new body.
Thus, despite its reluctance, it felt it was the right thing to do for the sake of survival.
Escape! Escape this place!
Only this thought remained in the Sky-Swallowing Python's mind.
On Monkey King Mountain, the Monkey King watched the Sky-Swallowing Python's husk with cold eyes, its gaze shifting for the first time.
It seemed to hold contempt, or perhaps sorrow.
This emotion was fleeting, quickly vanishing, leaving only indifference in its eyes.
Its gaze moved slowly across Monkey King Mountain, as if piercing through it to observe the situation within the mountain's core.
The Sky-Swallowing Python, while fleeing for its life, spread its divine sense.
Upon sensing that it was about to escape the range of Monkey King Mountain, it couldn't help but reveal a hint of joy, which was then quickly overtaken by bone-deep hatred.
It was not difficult to imagine that it was undoubtedly contemplating revenge at this moment.
Just as it was about to escape to safety, a pressure that made its scalp tingle and its soul tremble descended forcefully.
Beneath the pressure, it was unable to muster any thought of resistance, only sensing primal fear.
The Sky-Swallowing Python seemed to realize something, lifting its head and allowing its divine sense to penetrate the rocks, meeting a pair of calm eyes.
"No, impossible…"
The Sky-Swallowing Python revealed an incredulous dawning of realization, with profound despair in the depths of its eyes.
It had been discovered.
Even worse, it had uncovered the Monkey King's secret.
Knowing its death was imminent, the Sky-Swallowing Python had intended to reveal the Monkey King's secret at the last moment, but it abandoned this thought at the critical juncture.
The Nine-Tailed White Fox and the Savage Ox had led it to this point, and it wanted to see both those beasts face the same dire situation as itself.
"Hahahahahaha…"
The Sky-Swallowing Python's laughter vanished along with its form into the boundless darkness.