Chapter 1280: Shattered Jade
"What the hell is this..."
Earth Monkey and Earth Chicken exchanged glances, unsure for a moment whether they should take the chance to sneak an attack or simply flee.
Heaven Chicken and Heaven Monkey held hands, their bodies rapidly stooping as deep wrinkles covered their skin like tree bark, layer upon layer. No matter how handsome or beautiful their faces once were, everything now faded away, leaving only sunken eye sockets and drooping mouths. Their backs arched deeply like shrimp, their necks about to burrow into the ground, and even their hair spread out across the floor like a carpet.
At first, Earth Monkey thought the two looked somewhat like Xuanwu, the Black Tortoise. But now, how could they still resemble that? Even if Xuanwu had truly undergone "Mad Growth," it could never have been such a prolonged one. If these two didn't let go of each other soon, they would certainly die of old age right then and there.
"Something's not right..." Earth Monkey said. "Let's get out of here... They can sort out their own mess."
"Yeah!" Earth Chicken nodded, and the two moved toward the exit.
At that moment, Heaven Monkey finally let go. Two tottering figures shifted, dragging all the long hair in the room with them. Earth Chicken and Earth Monkey stepped on it only to feel the carpet yanked out from under them, nearly causing them to fall.
"Cough... lunatics..." Heaven Chicken wanted to curse, but her voice had become as hoarse as sandpaper scraping. "What's the point of this...? You've ruined a war we could have won..."
"War...?" Heaven Monkey's aged voice squeezed out from her throat as well. "Are you kidding me...? My entire life is ruined... Why should I care about someone else's war?"
Heaven Chicken was about to respond, but she felt her consciousness rapidly slipping away. The "Mad Growth" seemed to have aged not only her body but also her mind. In just a minute or two, she had already forgotten what she had been arguing about with Heaven Monkey so fiercely. A feeling of helpless dread began to spread in her heart—with this decrepit body and dulled mind, could she still turn this around? Turn... what around, again?
"How nice..." Heaven Monkey lowered her head, forcing out an ugly voice. "In the end, we've grown old together... Now neither of us will despise the other's looks... right? We can stay together forever, and you don't need to play those little tricks to deceive me anymore..."
Heaven Chicken paused. That seemed true enough, but what tricks had she used? And who was this old woman anyway?
Heaven Monkey shifted her feet, trying to get closer to Heaven Chicken, but her waist was now completely bent into an arc, making it impossible to lift her head. So she had to support herself with her hands on the ground, crawling like an animal to reach Heaven Chicken. The mass of gray-black hair around her also began to writhe. Since the hair filled the entire room, it looked almost as if the room itself was moving.
"Now we've grown old together..." Heaven Monkey reached out with difficulty, grabbing Heaven Chicken's wrist. "There are only two troublesome people left... Once we kill them, we'll have no more obstacles..."
"Kill...?" Heaven Chicken slowly raised her head and looked at Earth Chicken and Earth Monkey.
The sight sent a chill down the spines of both of them. Those were a pair of withered yellow, completely cloudy pupils, hidden in deep, shriveled eye sockets, reflecting no light at all.
"Yeah... let's kill them..."
The two of them lifted their heads at the same time, gazing out with bark-like faces.
"Holy shit... what the hell..." Earth Monkey felt the hair on his own monkey body stand on end. This situation was downright eerie. These two were clearly on the verge of dying of old age, but before death, they were prepared to fight to the bitter end. A completely unhinged Heaven Monkey plus a senile Heaven Chicken—somehow, this felt even more troublesome than before.
Earth Monkey rushed to the door and reached for the handle. The next second, all the hair in the room began to move, surging back like a receding tide. Their footing unstable, Earth Monkey saw Earth Chicken about to fall and quickly reached out to steady her. He was instantly furious.
"Aiyo! Don't touch me!" Earth Chicken shouted anxiously.
"Damn, I forgot."
They both looked up and saw two huge masses of hair flying through the air, nearly filling the entire room. Clearly, someone was inside each mass, but their figures were completely blocked by the hair. The pitch-black waves writhed and flew through the air, a horrifying sight that made the two feel a chill all over.
Earth Monkey shoved Earth Chicken aside, then tried to dodge, but every step landed on the hair on the ground, and soon his ankles were tangled. The mass of black hair in midair closed in instantly, and two branch-like withered hands shot out from it, grabbing his neck and slamming him hard to the floor.
"Fuck... you old hag..." Earth Monkey couldn't tell whether the person before him was Heaven Monkey or Heaven Chicken anymore. He only saw a face covered in wrinkles looming in front of him. The hands were stiff and icy, digging into his neck like wire. He tried to throw a punch but hit nothing but hair several times. Forcing his eyes open to make out the faint outline of the figure, he realized the body had become so emaciated it was hard to recognize—like a dead tree.
Seeing Earth Monkey in danger, Earth Chicken tried to help, but another mass of hair pounced on her, smothering her face and body, leaving her unable to open her eyes. She felt as if she had fallen into a cave filled with spiderwebs, every inch of her body bound by threads.
"Ah! This stuff is so damn annoying!"
As she spoke, a withered hand suddenly shot out from the hair and struck her in the stomach. Earth Chicken spat out a mouthful of blood, but black hair was always in front of her eyes, impossible to shake off.
"Quail!" Earth Monkey shouted from within the invisible hair. "Are you still alive?!"
"I'm alive..." Earth Chicken forced her eyes open and saw a hand reaching for her face. She quickly bent her arm to block. "But I won't be for long! That bitch has completely lost her mind..."
"Fuck, I can't break free either!" Earth Monkey gritted his teeth. "But I think they're in a state of deathbed struggle! Just hold out a little longer and they'll drop dead!"
"Damn it..." Earth Chicken's veins bulged. She grabbed the enemy's arm and tried to flip over to pin her down, only to get tangled in hair again. "If I drag this out any longer, I might die too... This psycho doesn't even care about her own life..."
"Hehe..." A withered hand parted the hair, revealing a horrifying face hidden in the darkness. "Sister... your face is so pretty... can you tear off your skin and give it to me?"
"Fuck you, my skin is thin. Go peel some bark instead!"
Earth Chicken punched that face, nearly knocking out all its teeth.
"Since you won't die quietly, I'll play along and beat you to death."