"Hahaha, this Monkey King is too interesting." Li Jun couldn't help but laugh seeing the pitiable look on the Golden-Eyed Monkey King's face.
"Too smart," I'd say.
Teng Qingshan watched the Golden-Eyed Monkey King with a smile, "He knows I plan to use this water tank to hold wine, so he's even helping me move the wine jars... How much is in just one wine jar?" Li Jun, standing nearby, brightened, saying, "Qingshan, if this Monkey King values the Vermilion Fruit Wine so much, maybe he'll come with us for the wine."
Saying this, Li Jun began making calls and conversing with the Golden-Eyed Monkey King.
In truth, whether the Golden-Eyed Monkey King submitted wasn't that important to Teng Qingshan. After all, it was difficult for a demonic beast at the Innate Golden Core level to break through to the Void Realm! The divine bird 'Azure Luan' was only one step away, and coupled with its extremely high talent, that's how it eventually broke through.
The Six-Legged Saber Chitter was also just one step away from breaking through.
As for this Golden-Eyed Monkey King, although formidable, it still lagged behind the Six-Legged Saber Chitter and the former Azure Luan.
"Ya ya ya ya~~" The Golden-Eyed Monkey King was so anxious it was close to tears.
"Qingshan," Li Jun said helplessly, "This Monkey King absolutely refuses to leave. It says that if it leaves the clan, the monkey troop will be in danger. It also said... this Vermilion Fruit Wine is extremely important for the newborn Iron Arm Apes. It begs us, please, please don't take all the Vermilion Fruit Wine, and it mentioned our big boxes are too large."
Teng Qingshan mused for a moment, stating his ultimate objective: "Ask it for the secret recipe to brew Vermilion Fruit Wine."
"Ya ya~~ Ya ya ya ya!" Li Jun looked at the Golden-Eyed Monkey King.
The Golden-Eyed Monkey King's intelligence was no less than a human's. It pondered, hesitating slightly.
"Hmm?" Teng Qingshan frowned, about to start preparing to pack the wine.
"Ya ya~~" The Golden-Eyed Monkey King grew anxious, waving its hands repeatedly while speaking to Li Jun.
"Qingshan, it agreed," Li Jun exclaimed in pleasant surprise.
At this moment, the Golden-Eyed Monkey King turned within the mountain cavern, fiddling with various bottles and jars, and brought over one of the stone basins. This basin contained quite a few kinds of wild fruits, even including a single Vermilion Fruit.
"Ya!" The Golden-Eyed Monkey King cried out to Teng Qingshan and Li Jun.
Subsequently, the Golden-Eyed Monkey King took out various wild fruits and arranged them on the ground, then placed an empty stone basin on the floor, adding different wild fruits and one Vermilion Fruit according to a certain ratio.
"Hwa hwa~~" The Golden-Eyed Monkey King picked up a water vat, pouring a significant amount of water into the stone basin, while calling out to Li Jun.
"Qingshan, this Monkey King says it must use the spring water from Iron Arm Ape Mountain."
"Chi chi~~"
It then poured some green liquid from a small bottle into the mixture.
...
Under the Monkey King's meticulous explanation, Teng Qingshan finally learned the secret recipe and process for brewing 'Vermilion Fruit Wine,' which turned out to be far more complex than he had anticipated.
"It seems the proportions aren't overly strict; roughly close should suffice," Teng Qingshan memorized carefully. As for how to obtain the various materials, the Golden-Eyed Monkey King even personally led Teng Qingshan and the others to search for them, and when it came to which spring water to use, the Monkey King also personally guided them, pointing out each spot.
In the end, there were only three types of wild fruits that Teng Qingshan and Li Jun did not recognize; they could only record where they grew and what they looked like.
To uncover the Vermilion Fruit Wine recipe, Teng Qingshan and Li Jun stayed on Iron Arm Ape Mountain for a full three hours.
Inside the mountain cavern.
Teng Qingshan was holding the stone basin, scooping basin after basin of Vermilion Fruit Wine from the stone pit and pouring it into the large water tank. The Golden-Eyed Monkey King beside him was scratching its head anxiously but could only watch obediently.
"Qingshan, this Monkey King is afraid we'll take all the Vermilion Fruit Wine," Li Jun chuckled.
"This Vermilion Fruit Wine is the accumulation of the monkey troop over countless years," Teng Qingshan said to Li Jun, "Since it's so beneficial to the troop, we shouldn't take it all... Let's leave about twenty percent. Leaving twenty percent in this stone pit should be enough for the troop's normal needs."
Twenty percent?
Teng Qingshan was taking eighty percent in one go!
"Hwa hwa~~" The stone basin, full of Vermilion Fruit Wine, was poured into the large tank.
Basin after basin!
Filling it up time and time again!
The Vermilion Fruit Wine in the square stone pit grew less and less.
"Ya ya!" The Monkey King cried out beside them.
Teng Qingshan continued pouring the Vermilion Fruit Wine. After a moment, Teng Qingshan waved his hand, and a stream of water-blue light swept over the Vermilion Fruit Wine in the stone pit, allowing Teng Qingshan to see the bottom of the pit in an instant. This sight caused the Monkey King beside him to turn pale with shock, but then the water-blue light dissipated, and the wine returned to the pit.
"There's only about twenty percent of the wine left at the bottom," Teng Qingshan glanced at the large water tank beside him; the massive tank was already more than half full.
"That should be enough, right?" Li Jun also felt a little awkward; the Monkey King had been watching pitifully the whole time.
"Mm, that’s enough," Teng Qingshan covered the tank and hoisted it onto his back again.
"Let's go." Teng Qingshan and Li Jun started walking toward the exit. The Golden-Eyed Monkey King looked at the Vermilion Fruit Wine in the square pit; it had been nearly full before, but now it was down to the bottom. The Monkey King was on the verge of tears, though thankfully the two humans had left it twenty percent.
As Li Jun turned to leave, he called out a few farewell sounds to the Golden-Eyed Monkey King, meaning: "Monkey King, we're leaving. Thank you this time, we'll come visit often in the future."
"Ya!"
The Monkey King glared.
Visit often?
"Ya ya ya!" The Monkey King stared at the square pit, already wondering where in Iron Arm Ape Mountain would be a good place to hide the Vermilion Fruit Wine, somewhere humans absolutely couldn't find it again. This was the accumulation of generations of their monkey troop, and today, eighty percent had been taken in one go.
**
Under the gaze of over a thousand Iron Arm Apes, Teng Qingshan, with the extra-large tank of Vermilion Fruit Wine on his back, boarded the Six-Legged Saber Chitter with Li Jun.
Whoosh!
The Six-Legged Saber Chitter flapped its two pairs of wings and soared into the sky, leaving Iron Arm Ape Mountain behind.
"Ya ya ya ya!" Sounds immediately erupted from Iron Arm Ape Mountain.
...
When the Six-Legged Saber Chitter flew from the Savage Lands to Nine Wolf Island, it was already late afternoon.
Xue Xin was on the island, looking up as the Six-Legged Saber Chitter dove down.
Swish! Swish!
Teng Qingshan and Li Jun leaped down from the Saber Chitter's back and landed lightly. "Master," Xue Xin hurried to greet them.
"So much Vermilion Fruit Wine, but... brewing it in the future will also be very difficult. We must use it sparingly," Teng Qingshan mused, though... for his personal disciple, there would certainly be an opportunity to taste this wine.
"Xue Xin, follow me." Teng Qingshan, carrying the extra-large tank, walked toward their residence with Li Jun.
Xue Xin immediately followed behind.
"Xue Xin, have you eaten lunch yet?" Li Jun asked with a smile.
"Reporting to Mistress, not yet," Xue Xin replied.
"Sigh." Li Jun looked around, "The environment on Nine Wolf Island is good, but there's no grain or food here. We have to go outside to buy vegetables, it's quite troublesome." After only one day, Li Jun had already noticed the inconvenience of Nine Wolf Island.
"Xiao Jun, do you have a solution?" Teng Qingshan looked at her with a smile.
Li Jun nodded with a smile, "Of course. I came to Nine Wolf Island this time... intending to stay long-term. However, I am currently the acting leader of the Snow Lotus Sect, and there are many matters I must attend to. Therefore, I will dispatch one hundred personal guards to handle tasks like laundry and cooking, and this will also allow me to better convey orders to the outside world."
"Personal guards?" Teng Qingshan was momentarily stunned.
"That's one hundred beautiful women, you know," Li Jun looked playfully at Teng Qingshan.
"Women, one hundred?" Teng Qingshan touched his nose.
On the continent of Kyushu, a wife's maids were generally expected to become the husband's bed-warming maids... Those personal guards were essentially serving maids.
"Are you tempted?" Li Jun smiled at Teng Qingshan, whispering, "You really are something." Teng Qingshan was left speechless and exasperated. Li Jun, having grown up in Kyushu, didn't mind if a man had several women; after all, that was the norm... but Teng Qingshan's mindset was different, and he wasn't accustomed to this.
"Xue Xin, come in with me."
Teng Qingshan prepared to let his disciple taste the Vermilion Fruit Wine.
...
After Xue Xin drank the Vermilion Fruit Wine, two days later, 'Teng Beast' and 'Yang Dong,' who also came to Nine Wolf Island, took a dose of the wine as well. Xue Xin gained six thousand pounds of strength through the wine, while the second disciple, 'Yang Dong,' only gained nearly four thousand pounds.
The strongest was Teng Beast!
Upon consuming the Vermilion Fruit Wine, he surprisingly gained nearly twenty thousand pounds of strength, which was close to Teng Qingshan's own increase back then.
**
In truth, Teng Qingshan maintained a composed attitude as his three disciples took the Vermilion Fruit Wine one after another.
However—
When Li Jun's one hundred personal guards arrived, Teng Qingshan began to get a headache. All one hundred personal guards were experts in Inner Strength; only then could they serve as the acting leader's personal guards! Since they were Inner Strength experts who had trained since childhood, at least these one hundred women had excellent figures, and having been selected as guards, their looks were at least above average.
On Nine Wolf Island, the guards didn't wear armor; they usually wore the clothing of serving maids.
One hundred beautiful, jade-like women constantly surrounding him... Teng Qingshan felt extremely inconvenienced.
...
Two months after retrieving the Vermilion Fruit Wine.
Teng Qingshan and Li Jun now resided in the largest manor on the entire Nine Wolf Island, as they needed space for one hundred serving maids; a small residence simply wouldn't do.
"My Lord." Teng Qingshan walked through the manor, seeing serving maids everywhere.
"Mhm." Teng Qingshan nodded. "Where is Madam?"
"Madam is in the study," the serving maid reported promptly.
Teng Qingshan shook his head, sighing softly, "Being the acting leader really brings a lot of business. Little Jun's master, that Snow Lotus Sect Leader, is quite lazy, though." After a moment, Teng Qingshan arrived outside the study.
Li Jun, dressed in a purple robe, sat upright at the desk, frowning as she read a piece of intelligence report before her.
"My Lord." The calls from the two serving maids at the study entrance startled Li Jun.
"What are you looking at? So engrossed?" Teng Qingshan walked over with a smile.
"Qingshan, take a look," Li Jun handed the intelligence report over.
Teng Qingshan took it and glanced casually, but immediately his expression changed, and he began studying the contents of the report closely.
"This Heavenly God Palace..."
Teng Qingshan was greatly shaken internally, "Its ambition is truly vast."
"Mhm." Li Jun stood up, "Once the Palace Master gives an order, all branches of our Heavenly God Palace must obey without question."
"Hongtian City... The Eight Great Sects, the Carefree Palace was annihilated by your Heavenly God Palace, and now they actually plan to attack Hongtian City in Northeast Youzhou." Teng Qingshan gasped, the Heavenly God Palace indeed gave people no peace; its ambition was too great.