The Immortal Ruins Chapter 70 Breaking the Pool

"Mmm, delicious! Hic." Jiang Shaoliu hugged his seventh or eighth bottle of wine closely, his ruddy face reflecting the campfire as his true qi rushed around inside him, heating him up even further.

Xiao Bai was falling-down-drunk after only five or six bottles. The tiger was already passed out on the ground.

"Feitian Maotai, 53 perfect, with strong staying power. Hic!" Lin Yuetao's had a slab of meat in one hand and a bottle in the other, alternately sticking one or the other in his mouth.

Jiang Shaoliu giggled, "Before the Great Changes I'd get piss drunk after just a few cans of beer, but now… Hic. I feel totally fine!"

"Haha…" Lin Yuetao pointed at Jiang Shaoliu's belly and grinned, "Look at that big belly! You look like you ate an entire elephant!"

Jiang Shaoliu scratched his head. "I've eaten dozens of monsters and more than a hundred rare fruits to condense my second life ring and I'd be madly hungry whenever I stopped running, but now I'm feeling better since I can control how much food I eat and I will not feel hungry even if my stomach's empty."

Lin Yuetao gave him a thumbs up. "That's awesome for you! I only ate ten whole cows when I condensed my stomach ring. I bet you can eat in one sitting more than I've eaten in my entire life…"

"Let's not exaggerate..." Jiang Shaoliu took a large gulp of wine and smiled, "Besides, you're much stronger and you are the strongest person in Yungang, as we all know."

Lin Yuetao shook his head. "I was just as strong when I fought the two giants on Liang Duan Mountain, and I found you much stronger than me. But in a week, I will condense the fourth life ring, and then I will be stronger than you again, hahaha…"

Jiang Shaoliu proudly patted himself on the chest. "I wouldn't be so sure. I'll be progressing too, you know…"

Before he finished talking, the Monkey King plopped down on the ground with an empty bottle still sticking out of its mouth, and almost instantly began loudly snoring.

"Hehe. Hic," Lin Yuetao grinned. "This guy forgot to use his true qi to digest the wine. He's out for the count!"

Jiang Shaoliu groggily rubbed his eyes and muttered, "Me too…"

Lin Yuetao pointed at an unopened bottle and mumbled, "Let's finish the rest of the wine and go to sleep. Hic. Hey, I've been wanting to ask you, hic, why don't you become metalized when you fight? Is it a special martial art or…"

Flop.

Jiang Shaoliu keeled over on his side, snoring vigorously with his mouth open.

"Wow," Lin Yuetao muttered to himself. After a few more sips of wine, he propped Jiang Shaoliu up against the Monkey King, and lay down to sleep not far from them.

The flickering flames of the campfire bathed the gorge with red light. Only the rumble of the waterfalls and the gurgling of the streams could be heard.

…

The next morning.

Light mist hung over the burnt-out campfire. The air was extremely fresh and clean as the vigorous cries of various distant beasts occasionally broke the stillness.

Jiang Shaoliu stretched and got up from the ground.

The Monkey King and Xiao Bai were still sleeping, snoring out clouds of alcoholic fumes. Lin Yuetao had already left, leaving the ball of vines at Jiang Shaoliu's feet.

Rubbing his eyes, Jiang Shaoliu went over to the pool to wash his face. The rising sun warmed him as he turned to look in the direction of the exit from the gorge.

"Actually, Lin Yuetao should also have a right to the rare fruit," He thought. "Why'd that wise-guy leave so early?"

He felt lucky to make friends like him.

Now the Monkey King woke up and stood up slowly, like a small hill being pushed up from the earth. It looked down at Jiang Shaoliu and giggled mischievously as it picked up the remaining bottles of wine and began pouring everything down its throat, not waiting for him to say anything.

"You are still drinking…" Jiang Shaoliu rolled his eyes and turned to inspect the vine ball.

Now the ball was less than a meter in diameter, tightly wrapped around the rare fruit. It was black, with an indistinct metallic luster on its surface.

"The two giants didn't seem to have too much trouble breaking those vines. I'm sure I can do it, if I put my back into it."

His two life rings quickly energized to their limits and true qi gushed inside his meridians as every last ounce of his strength collected in his right arm.

The Monkey King glanced at the ball and chuckled, its lips still sucking on the neck of a bottle.

"Break!" Jiang Shaoliu roared, and smashed his fist into the ball with the momentum of a speeding train.

Crash!

When the dust cleared, Jiang Shaoliu found himself staring at the intact ball, which now lay inside a small crater. Two or three of the vines looked cracked.

Jiang Shaoliu stared in shock. "How can it be?"

"That's ridiculous." Jiang Shaoliu looked at the vine ball, then at his own fist. "It looks easy when those two were doing it! Why is it so difficult for me?"

The cracks on the surface of the ball began quickly disappearing, and healed completely within half a minute.

Jiang Shaoliu carefully touched the vines. The ball was cold and smooth to the touch, as if nothing had happened to it at all. Whatever those vines were, they were far stronger than any alloy metal he'd seen.

"I swear they're a lot tougher now than they were yesterday…" Jiang Shaoliu pondered.

Meanwhile, the Monkey King finished the rest of the wine and let out a burp like rolling thunder. It looked down at the vine ball, rolled its eyes, and put Jiang Shaoliu on its shoulder, then walked to the pool at the center of the gorge.

"What are you doing?" Jiang Shaoliu asked. "I've already washed up. Why are you taking me here again?"

The Monkey King poked him on the head.

"You calling me silly?" Jiang Shaoliu pretended to be angry and pulled out a single hair from its thick fur. "Take that!"

The Monkey King snorted and pointed at the distant vine ball. Then it held up its fist in front of it.

Jiang Shaoliu nodded thoughtfully. "I hit that thing with everything I had, but those vines are so elastic they can just absorb the impact and bounce right back."

The Monkey King shook its head and turned around to face the cool water. It slowly lifted its fist and punched the water.

There was no splash. Only a few ripples spread from the point of impact, and the surface quickly returned to normal.

Jiang Shaoliu frowned. "What was that?"

A second later, there was a deep oomph from the bottom of the pool, and an explosion like a geyser caused a thick column of water to shoot toward the sky, showering the entire gorge with a brief rain.

The Monkey King shielded Jiang Shaoliu from the rain with its massive palm rain, but the monkey himself got wet from head to toe. It nodded with great satisfaction.

"Was that the Ape Fist?" Jiang Shaoliu eagerly clenched his fist. "Let me try something. I'm not as strong as you, but I think I'm getting there."

The Monkey King put him on the ground and wobble away making drinking gestures with its hands.

"What?" Jiang Shaoliu shook his head, "No, it's finished. We'll have to go back to the city to get wine. Where are you going to find any way out here in the danger zone?"

The monkey flailed its fists around, screeching at Jiang Shaoliu with excitement.

"What? You want to show me something else?" Jiang Shaoliu blinked in confusion. "But I really have no idea where to get you more wine. How about this - you teach me first and I will get you the good stuff once I'm back in the city."

The Monkey King stuck its enormous tongue out at him and shook its head with dissatisfaction. Eventually, it reluctantly nodded and agreed.

Meanwhile, Xiao Bai stood up and yawned near the extinguished campfire, only to find himself completely soaked from tail to snout.

Seeing broken wine bottles lying everywhere, he enthusiastically charged and began licking up the remaining drops of alcohol on the glass.

Jiang Shaoliu turned back to the distant vine ball with clenched fists: "Just you wait..."

Chapter end