“Have your injuries from those years healed properly?” Li Derong remained cool and aloof, asking lightly.

Wang Hao smiled in reply. “Thank you for your concern, Fairy Li. Last time it was just flesh wounds; they were pretty much healed back in Qingyuan Market.”

“Mmm, that’s good then.” Li Derong was a woman of few words. After asking just that one sentence, she returned to the group of Li family members. Wang Hao had nothing more to say either. After arranging accommodations for the Li family and persuading them to have a few cups of wine, he took his leave.

After resting for three days, the Wang and Li families decided to act.

The tactic was simple: to avoid being overwhelmed by large numbers of Tier 1 demonic beasts, they decided to thin out the low-grade Long-Armed Apes first. For the sake of efficiency, they would split into teams and silently hunt down isolated Long-Armed Apes.

Wang Hao also led a team, consisting of familiar faces like Wang Wenzhi, Wang Wenmei, and others.

The Long-Armed Apes had occupied Mount Ruojun for over two hundred years. Their intelligence wasn’t low, making them a tough opponent. Fortunately, he had his mental map for assistance. Even though it only displayed a five-li range ahead, it was sufficient for dealing with low-tier demonic beasts.

Wang Hao used a twig to draw a nearby terrain map on the ground and addressed his team.

“The Long-Armed Apes are large in number and not weak in strength. Hard confrontation would be unwise; the slightest misstep could attract other Long-Armed Apes.

“Their intelligence is ultimately limited, far inferior to us humans. We can try to pick them off one by one.”

As he said this, he used the twig to circle a valley on the map. “We set up a trap here, lure some of them over, then block the exit. We can eliminate them in batches!”

Wang Wenzhi and the others were pleased. After the battle, the Wang family would distribute rewards based on merit. The more low-grade Long-Armed Apes they killed, the more reward points they would earn.

“Then let’s prepare separately!”

At Wang Hao’s order, everyone scattered to begin altering the terrain and setting up the formation.

After completing these preparations, they didn’t rush into action. Wang Hao had them rest for the night to recover their Qi. They only began the operation the next day.

Wang Hao led his team into the Long-Armed Ape territory and began slaying isolated monkeys searching for food. The peripheral ones were unranked or low Tier 1 apes; his team could handle them easily. The Tier 1 apes were killed before they could even make a sound.

But as they ventured deeper, mid Tier 1 Long-Armed Apes began to appear. One alone was manageable, but these Long-Armed Apes were colonial animals, foraging in small groups of three or five.

“Proceed according to plan!” Wang Hao instructed.

Everyone nodded and attacked, killing the Long-Armed Apes without fear of making noise. After eliminating them, they quickly retreated, leaving only Wang Hao behind.

Other Long-Armed Apes heard the noise and saw only Wang Hao standing there with his sword pointing at the monkey corpses on the ground. Enraged, they screeched and began to summon their troop.

Soon, a group consisting of one high Tier 1 Long-Armed Ape, several mid Tier 1 apes, and over twenty low Tier 1 apes was assembled.

The high Tier 1 ape roared at Wang Hao and led the charge. Wang Hao launched several talismans, killing a few low Tier 1 apes.

Seeing their numbers weren’t excessive and that he could handle it alone, Wang Hao didn’t retreat. Instead, he directly summoned his Earth Turbidity Seal.

The Earth Turbidity Seal grew with the wind, taking on the size of a small house before crashing down upon the demon ape troop. The high Tier 1 Long-Armed Ape was turned into mush by the seal before it could even survive one blow.

Wang Hao performed hand seals. His left hand released a Flaming Dragon, his right released a Fire Crow, and above him condensed a phantom of a Fire Phoenix.

The Flaming Dragon and Fire Crow reaped the lives of the low-tier demon monkeys. Any Long-Armed Ape touched by them would burst into flames, turning into a charred corpse in moments. Fire feathers shot from the Fire Phoenix phantom above Wang Hao attacked those apes trying to escape.

In just moments, only one of the twenty-plus Long-Armed Apes remained alive—kept alive by Wang Hao to summon more monkeys.

Sure enough, the remaining monkey panicked and emitted a piercing screech.

Moments later, several high Tier 1 Long-Armed Apes leading thirty to forty other monkeys charged over.

Wang Hao dared not be overconfident. After launching a few more talismans, he retreated quickly!

The ambush site was only twenty li away. Wang Hao could cover that distance in a quarter of an hour now.

But the Long-Armed Apes were fast too. After running fifteen li, Wang Hao was caught up by a high Tier 1 ape. The ape reached out its claws excitedly to grab Wang Hao, but Wang Hao suddenly turned around and sliced it in half with his sword. Demonic beast physiques were strong, but compared to Wang Hao with his trained Ice Muscle Jade Bone Art, they still fell short.

Wang Hao taunted the remaining demon apes with a glance and continued running towards the valley.

The limited intelligence of the Long-Armed Apes lost to their instinctive rage as they screeched and continued pursuing Wang Hao.

“Fifth Brother, hurry inside!” Wang Wenmei waved at Wang Hao.

Wang Hao nodded and quickly entered the formation area.

After all those Long-Armed Apes had entered the formation range, Wang Hao stopped and shouted to those ambushed in the gorge, “Act now!”

Everyone exchanged glances and promptly activated the Blazing Fire Formation. Formation flags in their hands instantly summoned raging flames that transformed the entire valley into an inferno.

The gorge topography had been altered earlier with exits blocked. Both ends were guarded by Wang family cultivators. These Long-Armed Apes had no way out. Even high Tier 1 apes screamed as they were burned!

“Haha, we will score big this time! Each of us can probably get a bottle of Yellow Dragon Pills at least!” a Wang family cultivator exclaimed excitedly.

Wang Hao shouted, “Don’t get distracted! Put more effort in! Burn them all at once.”

Everyone hurriedly composed themselves and focused on dealing with the Long-Armed Apes trapped in the gorge. Soon many Long-Armed Apes were killed by their spells.

“Awoooooo!” Suddenly a high Tier 1 Long-Armed Ape in the gorge let out a loud howl. Upon hearing it, the other demon apes ignored avoiding the flames and desperately charged towards one end of the gorge.

Front apes fell dead, and rear apes advanced over their bodies.

“These beasts!” Seeing this, Wang Hao felt a touch of emotion stir in his heart. Demonic beasts were truly not to be underestimated. Their unity produced strength beyond his expectations.

The Blazing Fire Formation was an offensive formation, not a trapping one. Both ends of the gorge relied on Wang family cultivators to guard them. With such a frantic charge, there was a real danger of them breaking out.

By now, everyone had been fighting for a while while also supplying Qi to the formation. Their drain was considerable. Only Wang Hao, with his deeper cultivation and abundant Qi, could remain composed; others already looked pale!

Seeing the situation turning potentially bad, Wang Hao quickly took out a bottle of Spirit Recovery Pills and threw it to the others. “Take quickly.”

“Spirit Recovery Pills?” Wang Wenmei’s expression brightened. She swallowed one promptly, and her Qi immediately restored by half. Her complexion regained color as she hurriedly distributed the rest of the pills.

Wang Hao directly stepped in front of the others. Using half his Qi, he condensed a giant Fire Phoenix phantom with nearly a hundred fire feathers.