After Transmigrating into an Evil God - Chapter 18

“You can speak now?!” Ding Qin exclaimed in delight.

However, the little mouse looked worried and fearful, appearing terrified.

“What’s wrong?” Ding Qin asked.

The little mouse opened its mouth, but only its usual “squeak squeak” sounds came out.

Li Chi, however, understood. He said, “It has obtained a fortunate opportunity, but has not yet refined the transverse bone. It can only speak phrases from the Thousand Character Classic.”

The little mouse nodded repeatedly. Hearing the monkey calls growing closer outside the courtyard, it anxiously ran in circles. After holding back for a long time, it turned toward the wall outside and said, “Disaster comes from accumulated evil! Disaster comes from accumulated evil!”

Then it bowed repeatedly toward Li Chi, pleading. “Benevolence and compassion! Benevolence and compassion!”

Seeing its appearance, Li Chi smiled and shook his head.

When the little mouse had first awakened in alarm, it had cried out in panic, “One who knows their faults must correct them! One’s capacity ought to be beyond measure!”

The first half meant it knew it had done wrong and would certainly change. The second half begged for magnanimity and forgiveness.

Now, hearing the monkey calls, it said “disaster comes from accumulated evil”—clearly it had committed some offense that brought this troop of monkeys here.

“Did you steal their wine?” Li Chi asked.

The little mouse nodded vigorously and pleaded again. “Benevolence and compassion!”

The monkey calls had reached the immediate vicinity. Before long, several monkey heads appeared atop the courtyard wall. They climbed onto the wall, pulling each other up, and soon the entire wall was lined with sitting monkeys.

They called out in a chaotic cacophony, yet their formation remained orderly—they did not leap down from the wall. Occasionally, a young monkey would grow impatient and try to enter the courtyard, only to be grabbed by a nearby adult monkey and pressed back onto the wall.

However, even if they truly wanted to leap down, they couldn’t enter. Though Hou Li hadn’t shown himself, he was watching this place. If this troop of wild monkeys wanted to cause trouble, he would throw them out group by group!

Li Chi looked at this troop of monkeys with growing curiosity. What did they want to do?

The monkeys jostled left and right, creating an opening in the center of the wall. The monkeys on either side of the gap reached their paws outside the courtyard wall and pulled up a white-furred old monkey with white eyebrows and whiskers, looking like an elderly sage.

The old monkey sat on the wall to catch its breath for a moment, making two “chee chee” sounds. The monkeys on the wall gradually quieted down.

The old monkey’s gaze swept around the courtyard, landing on Li Chi and the little mouse on the table.

It looked at Li Chi, extended a paw to point at the little mouse, and made several chirping sounds.

Li Chi looked at the little mouse. “You stole their wine-brewing starter?”

The little mouse looked bewildered. It had only stolen some monkey wine to drink—what was a wine-brewing starter?

The old monkey chirped a few more times. Perhaps because it was old and short of breath, it looked at a large monkey beside it and patted it with its paw.

The large monkey then began to “chee chee,” taking over from the old monkey to continue the explanation.

The mountains had many springs. The monkey troop often gathered flowers and fruits, collecting them in pits, brewing them with spring water and sealing them with wood and stone. Over time, they transformed into fine wine.

The monkeys brewed much wine—here a pit, there a cave, and some sealed in hollow old trees. The two mouthfuls of wine the little mouse had stolen weren’t worth them gathering in such numbers to pursue it. What mattered was the wine-brewing starter the little mouse had taken away.

Among all these wine pools and wine caves, only one location was most important—the stone cave where they first brewed wine.

Each time the monkeys brewed new wine, they would take aged wine from here as a starter, then take a portion from the newly brewed wine to add back into the cave.

This cave wine was most precious. The monkeys rarely drank it, so the wine in the cave aged year after year, gradually transforming into a jelly-like frozen substance. After an unknown number of years passed, a wine stone crystallized from the frozen wine at the bottom of the pool, which the monkeys extracted.

The wine stone was as smooth as fat, colored like honey, lustrous and translucent, like a piece of finest amber.

When this wine stone was placed in new brew, the new brew would acquire the fragrance of a hundred flowers and fruits. Placed in clear water, the clear water would transform into fine wine. Placed in a spring source, the spring would flow with fine wine.

Thus, this wine stone came to be called the wine-brewing starter by the monkeys.

The bit of wine the little mouse had stolen didn’t matter at all. With its small body, even drinking its fill would only amount to two mouthfuls for the monkeys. But it had also taken away the wine-brewing starter.

With this explanation, the little mouse suddenly understood.

Previously, it had been both frightened and confused, unable to understand why stealing a little wine would provoke the entire mountain’s worth of monkeys. It had barely managed to suppress its drunkenness and, relying on holes it had dug earlier, made its way back here in terror to seek protection.

The little mouse squeaked a few times, climbed down from the stone table, and pawed open a clump of wild grass beneath a tree.

A small hole was revealed in the grass clump. The little mouse dove in, and before long, brought out a bamboo tube.

The little mouse used its tail to curl around the bamboo tube and brought it onto the stone table, squeaking pitifully to explain.

Ding Qin had given it two spirit vegetables, so it wanted to bring back a small tube of monkey wine for Ding Qin. But it couldn’t control its craving and stole a few extra mouthfuls. Unexpectedly, the wine was quite strong, and it accidentally tumbled into the wine pool.

While the little mouse was in the wine pool, surrounded by wine imbued with spiritual essence, it hadn’t distinguished the wine stone’s special nature and simply took it for a pretty rock, so it decided to bring it back together to give to Ding Qin.

Ding Qin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “How can you steal things to give to people? Quickly return it to them.”

Li Chi took the bamboo tube and opened it to look inside.

A rich wine fragrance instantly permeated the air. In the translucent wine, there was indeed a lustrous wine stone like pine resin amber.

Spiritual resonance rippled faintly on the wine stone, gradually transforming this tube of monkey wine into spirit wine full of spiritual essence. Smelling the wine’s fragrance, the little mouse unconsciously felt somewhat drunk again.

Able to transform ordinary wine into spirit wine, this wine stone was indeed a rare treasure.

The old monkey watched Li Chi nervously, afraid he would covet the wine stone and refuse to return it. It had brought its clan members here intending to teach a lesson to this little thief who dared steal their treasure. But before even approaching the residence, it had suddenly felt heaven and earth grow still.

Its troop of monkey children and grandchildren, whose spiritual awareness was insufficient, had felt nothing. But it and several other large monkeys with full spiritual awareness had all sensed it—only the young monkeys were too noisy, so they hadn’t been able to grasp this opportunity for cultivation. Yet they also knew that in this wild mountain residence, a formidable personage dwelled!

Because of this, the old monkey had the large monkeys restrain the young ones from causing reckless disturbances.

However… spirit wine could aid cultivation and was extremely precious. A wine stone that could produce spirit wine was even more precious. If this person before them became greedy and wanted to seize their wine stone, what could be done?

Li Chi closed the bamboo tube and with a wave of his hand, tossed it into the old monkey’s arms.

The old monkey breathed a sigh of relief. It didn’t want to invite additional trouble, but monkey nature was mischievous. The other wild monkeys didn’t understand the stakes, and having crouched here for so long, they were quite bored and could barely restrain themselves.

Some particularly lively ones were secretly prying at the bricks and tiles on the wall, wanting to throw them at the little mouse.

But these tiles… why couldn’t they pry them loose at all?

Hou Li silently watched these few young monkeys trying to damage his true form, memorizing all their faces.

Meanwhile, Li Chi also noticed the monkey troop’s occasional glances at the little mouse. Their gazes were quite hostile. If this matter wasn’t resolved, the little mouse would likely continue to be troubled by the monkey troop when going in and out of the mountain forest in the future.

During his time living here, the little mouse had brought him fruit daily. Given this karmic connection, he would resolve this for it.

Li Chi looked at the old monkey and said, “We’ve caused you trouble. How can we compensate you?”

The old monkey’s thoughts stirred. Recalling the opportunity it had missed earlier, it tentatively chirped twice, expressing its willingness to deliver wine daily in exchange for cultivating here.

Li Chi shook his head. “I am not the master of this place.”

The old monkey couldn’t hide its disappointment, assuming Li Chi was unwilling to agree. Though it possessed full spiritual awareness and was just one step away from transforming into a demon, it had been stuck at this step for nearly a hundred years. Though spirit wine extended its lifespan, now it had reached the time when its natural span was nearly exhausted—even climbing a wall required other monkeys to pull and support it.

The other monkeys were simple-minded and didn’t understand the old monkey’s worries, but they knew all this was caused by the little mouse. Their gazes toward it became even more hostile.

The little mouse shrank under their stares, standing upright to bow again. “One who knows their faults must correct them! One’s capacity ought to be beyond measure!”

Hearing the little mouse speak human words, the old monkey felt both shocked and delighted. It knew this little mouse had only just awakened its spiritual awareness and had previously been far inferior to itself, yet now it could speak human words!

But thinking of Li Chi’s attitude, the old monkey felt both worried and anxious. Gritting its teeth, it held up the bamboo tube and extended it toward Li Chi, chirping urgently—it was saying it was willing to offer the wine stone in exchange for Li Chi’s guidance in cultivation.

Its eyes showed sorrow as it pointed to its white eyebrows and beard, bowing in supplication, like an old man who knew his natural lifespan was ending.

Ding Qin felt sympathy, but obediently stood to the side without speaking.

Li Chi pondered briefly.

Hou Li manifested his form and said respectfully to Li Chi, “High God, if you are willing, I will designate an area where the wild monkeys may enter.”

“Very well,” Li Chi said. “I cultivate here daily. You may come if you wish.”

The old monkey was overjoyed. Supported and lifted by the other monkeys, it entered the courtyard and offered the bamboo tube to Li Chi.

Li Chi shook his head. He took a water pot, poured out and kept the wine from the bamboo tube, then returned the tube containing the wine stone to the old monkey.

The other monkeys also leaped down from the wall into the courtyard. However, several seemed to collide with invisible walls—no matter what, they couldn’t enter. One by one, they exerted themselves on the wall in strange poses, grimacing.

“You may enter, but those few cannot,” Hou Li said flatly. Those monkeys were the ones who had previously tried to pry his tiles. “No reckless intrusion, no noise, no damaging things—or I’ll throw you out!”

The old monkey bowed to Hou Li and chirped a few times. The other large monkeys followed it in loudly calling out in monkey language, and the restless monkeys suddenly quieted.

Li Chi smiled and rubbed the little mouse’s head. “Don’t commit such offenses again.”

The little mouse bowed. “Self-reflection and admonition.”

Li Chi also addressed the monkey troop. “Since it knows its fault, don’t tease it anymore.”

The old monkey chirped and nodded.

Li Chi looked at Ding Qin again. Seeing her eyes shining as she curiously watched the monkey troop, and thinking of her current age and childlike nature, he asked, “Would you like to stay here and play with the monkeys for a while?”

Ding Qin nodded, then suddenly remembered something else. She said to Li Chi, “High God, I want to go to a nearby town to sell some medicinal herbs and earn money to repair the courtyard where you’re staying.”

“It’s good for you to frequently move about the mountain base, but this matter will resolve itself—no need to worry about it,” Li Chi said. He looked toward the foot of the mountain. During his previous spirit wandering, he had seen travelers in the mountain forest and knew they would come here.

He lowered his head to look at Ding Qin and smiled. “Guests are coming. The road here is hidden—go greet them. When you return, I’ll teach you another character.”