Capturing the "Great Sage" and taking him back was a must.

He just couldn’t figure it out. How on earth did this Monkey King silently escape from the heavily guarded Monkey Mountain, and then trek such a long distance to get this deep into the back mountains?

Liu Fei, the one in charge of the macaques, was probably going to be in big trouble this time.

As he was pondering this, Yang Qi, holding Ta Xue, had already dashed forward and let out a great shout.

"Stop!"

This great shout was infused with Magical Power, creating a powerful presence that radiated outward.

He landed right in the path of the mother clouded leopard, just as she recovered from a pounce and was preparing to lunge again.

The mother clouded leopard froze, a wary look in her eyes.

Without a second thought, Yang Qi gently placed Ta Xue on the ground.

"Meow~"

Ta Xue meowed, showing no awareness of the tense atmosphere. It bounded happily toward the mother clouded leopard, affectionately nuzzling its head against her chin and front legs.

The mother clouded leopard’s fierce demeanor faltered. Seeing Yang Qi clearly, her gaze softened. She lowered her head, a gentle purr rumbling in her throat as she licked Ta Xue’s head, her attention momentarily diverted from the Great Sage.

With the mother clouded leopard placated, Yang Qi turned to the other side, looking up at the chestnut tree. He waved and called out.

"Great Sage, come down."

The Monkey King, "Great Sage," was currently squatting on a thick, horizontal branch, panting heavily, his golden-brown fur disheveled and his nerves still frayed.

It looked down at the mother leopard nuzzling her cub, then at Yang Qi, who stood before her and had just shouted. The expression on the monkey’s face was a rich tapestry of rapidly shifting emotions: suspicion, lingering fear, curiosity, and confusion.

Hearing Yang Qi call out to him, the monkey raised a paw and scratched its furry head. It seemed hesitant, not daring to climb down.

Seeing this, Yang Qi took a few steps forward until he was under the tree. He looked up, waved to the Monkey King again, and softened his tone.

"Come on down. Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, Caiyun won’t hurt you."

"Caiyun" was the name Yang Qi had given the mother clouded leopard.

"..."

The Monkey King, "Great Sage," hesitated for another moment before cautiously starting to inch his way down, his eyes warily fixed on the mother leopard the entire time.

Once it confirmed that she was preoccupied with her cub and had no intention of pouncing again, it slowly slid the rest of the way down the tree.

The moment it hit the ground, it scurried to Yang Qi’s side and desperately clutched the hem of his clothes. It then pointed at Caiyun in the distance and began to chatter excitedly, "CHITTER CHITTER," its hands gesturing wildly. It was all coming out in a rapid-fire burst, and for a moment, Yang Qi couldn’t quite grasp what it was trying to convey.

So, Yang Qi simply gathered his Magical Power and cast a "Basic Spirit Awakening Technique" directly on the Monkey King.

SWISH~

A faint glimmer of light flashed from his fingertip and entered the Great Sage’s forehead, right between the eyes.

The Monkey King, in the middle of his excited "complaint," suddenly went rigid. In that instant, it was as if a fog had been lifted from his eyes. They became more intelligent, more human, and even his chattering paused for a beat before resuming with a much clearer emotional weight.

"Calm down, now."

Yang Qi crouched down and patted the Monkey King’s disheveled head. "Tell me," he asked, "how did you get all the way out here?"

The Great Sage’s eyes darted about, as if he were processing the new changes in his mind. But he didn’t rush to answer Yang Qi’s question. Instead, he continued pointing at Caiyun, his complaints now tinged with a clearer sense of grievance and lingering fear.

’She wants to eat me!’

’She’s so mean! She chased me for a long time!’

’Hit her!’

’Kill her!’

...

"GROWL~"

A dozen meters away, Caiyun heard the blatant complaint. She lifted her head, her amber eyes glancing in their direction, and let out a low growl.

’I wasn’t!’

’I was just playing with him!’

That’s what she said, but even as she refuted the claim, her pink, barbed tongue unconsciously darted out to lick the corner of her mouth, as if savoring some imagined delicacy.

Yang Qi took in the entire scene, and the corner of his eye couldn’t help but twitch.

He knew, of course, that in a clouded leopard’s natural diet, primates—especially monkeys—were a "gourmet delicacy" that made up a significant portion of their meals!

Caiyun had been captured and brought to Donghua over six months ago. While her meals weren’t bad, she had likely not tasted this kind of "wild game" since then.

So now, on her own turf in the back mountains, to suddenly run into a plump, lively macaque that had practically delivered itself to her doorstep... well, that was like a pie falling from the sky. How could she not get excited at the sight of prey, hoping to "relive the good old days" and satisfy a craving?

From the perspective of animal nature and the laws of survival, Caiyun was not at all in the wrong. One could even say it was purely instinct.

Yang Qi couldn’t very well scold her from some high-and-mighty human moral position, telling her she "shouldn’t have such dangerous thoughts."

He thought for a moment, then made his decision.

Yang Qi first gave a placating pat to the head of the Great Sage, who was still grumbling indignantly. Then he turned to Caiyun, speaking in a conciliatory tone and using hand gestures to get his point across.

"Caiyun, you can’t eat this monkey. He’s my friend, and he’s also a member of our Zoo."

Yang Qi stressed the word "friend," simultaneously putting an arm around the Monkey King beside him in a gesture of closeness.

"He’s not for eating, understand? Just like Ta Xue is my friend, so is the Great Sage."

"We’re all friends here, and friends don’t eat friends!"

The Great Sage seemed to understand that Yang Qi was pleading his case and could feel his protection. He immediately pressed his advantage, leaning in closer to Yang Qi and letting out a couple of "CHITTER CHITTER" sounds in Caiyun’s direction, as if to both agree and show off that he had powerful backing.

Caiyun looked at Yang Qi, then at the monkey hiding beside him, who now looked rather smug—a monkey borrowing a man’s power. A long, low growl rumbled in her throat, thick with reluctance.

’Understood.’

She flicked her tail, lowered her head again, and resumed grooming Ta Xue’s fur. But her sullen mood—the feeling of ’the one that got away’—was so palpable that even Ta Xue sensed it and looked up at its mother in confusion.

Yang Qi saw this and couldn’t help but feel a little helpless himself.

Getting a wild, untamed clouded leopard to give up a "gourmet meal" that was right in front of her was already a huge show of respect. He couldn’t ask for more.

"Thanks for this, Caiyun."

Yang Qi said to the mother leopard, pointing toward the way out of the mountains, "I’m going to take the Great Sage out of the mountains and back to the Zoo. Once I’m done handling things over there, I’ll come back and bring you a tasty treat to make it up to you, okay?"

After he spoke, he turned to Ta Xue and added, "Ta Xue, you stay on the mountain for now and play with your mom for a bit. I’ll be back to get you very soon."

"Meow?"

Upon hearing this, Ta Xue immediately looked up, its big amber eyes gazing at Yang Qi, conveying a clear sense of confusion.

’Where are you going?’

"I’ll be right back. You just play with your mom for a little while."

Yang Qi waved to Ta Xue, signaling for it to rest easy.

Then, he patted the Monkey King’s shoulder.

"Let’s go, Great Sage. Time to head back to the Zoo."

"Now that you’ve run away from Monkey Mountain, they’ve probably discovered you’re gone and are in a total panic."