I just became the Pirate King, and you're telling me I also time-traveled at the same time.

Chapter 1049 The Madness is Very Stable

The gray-clad man's pale eyes finally darkened completely. He looked at Chu Yang, as if for the first time truly taking this seemingly lazy young man into his eyes.

Chu Yang didn't look at him again, but turned his head and raised his chin at Su Wanwan: "Continue."

Su Wanwan was initially startled by that, but then a strange yet incredibly reassuring sense of confidence welled up from within her.

That feeling is hard to describe.

Like when you were just gritting your teeth and standing there, but then you suddenly realized that there were really people behind you holding the fort, so that bit of stubbornness slowly turned into real toughness.

She pursed her lips, then took another half step forward, looking directly at the man in gray.

"I don't care how many leaders there are in this forest, nor do I care how you divide territory, how you eat people, or how you rob. Today I'm only going to say one thing."

"From now until we leave this forest, no one is allowed to make a move on Tang Sanzang."

"Whoever dares to try, dies."

She spoke her last three words very clearly.

A bird hiding in the tree was startled and suddenly flew out, but it didn't fly far before it seemed to be frightened by something else and hurriedly darted into the deeper shadows of the branches.

The man in gray remained silent for a long time.

The demons behind him were even more tense, each with a different expression. Some were annoyed, some were angry, and some were clearly beginning to feel apprehensive.

After a long pause, the man in gray finally let out a soft breath and said with a half-smile, "Young lady, you have quite the nerve."

"What, you're not convinced?" Su Wanwan asked.

"Whether you submit or not, it all comes down to ability." The gray-clad man's voice remained soft, yet carried a hint of coldness. "There are many demons in the forest, and each one's cultivation is no easy feat. For a young lady to expect us all to humbly submit with just a word is far too domineering."

Just as Su Wanwan was about to speak, Chu Yang suddenly walked out from behind.

He walked slowly, his robes brushing against the damp, black leaves on the ground, his footsteps barely making a sound. But the moment he moved, the demons opposite him tensed up almost simultaneously.

Chu Yang stood next to Su Wanwan, his gaze sweeping over the figures under the tree before finally settling on the face of the man in gray.

"Overbearing?" He chuckled. "When you were staring at my master, didn't you think you were overbearing?"

The man in gray stared at him: "And who are you?"

"Chu Yang".

"Young Master Chu," the gray-clad man said slowly, "if you were merely passing through, we could have remained peaceful. But to threaten us as soon as you enter the woods—isn't that a blatant disregard for our dignity?"

"I didn't put it in much," Chu Yang said.

The man in gray twitched slightly on the forehead.

Chu Yang continued, "The main problem is that you're not worthy."

Upon hearing this, even Su Wanwan subconsciously glanced at him.

He maintained his unhurried demeanor, as if he were simply stating something extremely ordinary.

Behind the man in gray, a burly man with scales covering his face took a sudden step forward, his voice low and hoarse: "You're asking for death!"

Sun Wukong clicked his tongue from the tree: "Another one who won't listen to advice."

As soon as the scaly-faced man raised his hand, a dozen black vines suddenly shot out from the ground with a "boom," lunging straight at Chu Yang and Su Wanwan's feet like snakes.

Su Wanwan's heart tightened, and she was about to retreat when Chu Yang merely raised his eyes.

The next instant, the dozen or so black vines froze in mid-air.

It wasn't that they were blocked, but rather that they were gripped by something unseen, unable to move forward or backward. Then, a series of muffled "poof poof poof" sounds were heard, and the vines burst open inch by inch from the middle, black sap splattering everywhere, turning into wisps of white smoke before even hitting the ground.

The strong, fishy, ​​and bitter smell spread instantly.

The scaly-faced man's expression changed drastically. He let out a muffled groan, and a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

Sun Wukong laughed from the tree, "Who are you playing with vines with?"

Chu Yang didn't even lift his eyelids, only saying, "If there's a next time, I'll kill you first."

The scaly-faced man stared intently at him, clearly furious, yet truly dared not move again.

The man in gray finally suppressed his smile.

He slowly raised his hand, signaling everyone behind him to stay still, then looked at Chu Yang: "Since Young Master Chu has such abilities, why bother calling a young lady out to speak?"

Chu Yang said, "Because she wanted to say it."

Su Wanwan turned her head and glanced at him.

Chu Yang didn't look at her, but kept staring at the opposite side: "If I fight with Brother Monkey, you probably won't have a chance to stand and listen to the whole thing. Letting her come is to save face for you."

Sun Wukong swung down a section of the tree, grinning, and said, "I'll spare your lives too."

These two sentences, falling lightly one after the other, made the expressions of the demons opposite them grow increasingly grim.

The man in gray remained silent for a long time before slowly asking, "What do you want?"

Chu Yang said, "Didn't I just say that?"

"Just not targeting Tang Sanzang?"

"right."

"Apart from that, not a single thing is violated?"

Chu Yang laughed: "That depends on whether you dare to mess with me."

The man in gray seemed to be getting annoyed as well, his eyes growing even colder: "Not all the demons in the forest will listen to me."

"That's your problem," Chu Yang said. "If you can't control it, I'll help you control it."

"How do you press?"

"If a few die, the rest will naturally listen."

The air suddenly felt cooler.

Su Wanwan stood to the side, knowing full well that Chu Yang was just making empty threats, but her heart still skipped a beat at his words.

Yet, when he said this, his tone was not harsh at all; in fact, it was quite calm. But the more calm he was, the less people dared to doubt him.

The man in gray stared at him for a long time, then suddenly turned to look at Su Wanwan: "Miss Su, is this your way of negotiating?"

Su Wanwan looked at him and said, "Otherwise what? You expect me to be polite and ask everyone to be lenient and not to have any greedy thoughts?"

She gave a cold laugh.

"What's the point of being polite in a place like this?"

"I dare to stand here today because I know that being polite to people like you is the most useless thing to do."

"So I've made myself clear. It's best if you understand, but it's okay if you don't. I won't take responsibility for the consequences anyway."

The man in gray seemed amused by her words: "You really dare to say that."

"Not only do I dare to speak, I dare to ask," Su Wanwan stared at him. "You looked at Tang Sanzang several times just now; did you also have some thoughts about him?"

This question was direct and harsh, almost like slapping someone in the face.

The gray-clad man's narrow eyes finally darkened completely.

The demons behind him also changed their expressions drastically, as if they hadn't expected her to dare to break through this barrier so directly.

After a moment, the gray-robed man slowly said, "The flesh and blood of the holy monk, to demons, is simply—"

"That's just nonsense," Sun Wukong interrupted directly from above. "Stop using that to glorify yourself. If you want to eat, just say you want to eat. Don't pretend it's perfectly natural."

Upon hearing this, Tang Sanzang finally spoke: "Esteemed benefactors, this humble monk—"

"Master, please don't speak yet," Chu Yang said without turning his head. "We won't be discussing Buddhist teachings today."

Tang Sanzang paused and fell silent.

Su Wanwan almost broke character from the laughter, but managed to keep her composure and coldly continued, "Did you hear that? If you want to eat, just say you want to eat. Don't give me that 'original' nonsense. If you're really that principled, you should cultivate your own path and stop thinking about these unorthodox methods."

The woman in red couldn't help but sneer: "Easy for you to say. Demons face great difficulties in cultivation, and are inherently less intelligent than humans, nor do they have anyone protecting them."

Su Wanwan looked at her: "So what?"

The woman in red was taken aback.

"Cultivation is difficult, so does that mean you can eat people?" Su Wanwan said. "Today you feel it's difficult, so you're right; tomorrow she feels she's suffering, so she's right too; the day after tomorrow everyone says they're having a hard time, so in this world, whoever has the fastest knife is the biggest?"

Her tone was harsh, even unreasonable, yet she managed to silence the woman in red for a moment.

Chu Yang gave a soft "hmm" behind her, as if to say, "You did well today."

Su Wanwan didn't turn around, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly, which she quickly suppressed.

The man in gray clearly realized that Miss Su was getting more and more carried away with her words. If she continued, regardless of whether the negotiations would be successful today, the morale of his men would be dampened.

He slightly raised his hand to stop the restlessness of the people behind him, then looked at Chu Yang and said, "If you want to go over, you can. But the forest is so big, I can only control those nearby. There are several other groups deeper inside, which are not under my jurisdiction."

"Lead the way," Chu Yang said.

The man in gray's eyes flashed: "What?"

"You can't suppress it, can you?" Chu Yang said. "Then take us to find someone who can."

"Are you planning to go deeper into the area and look for other companies?"

"What's the problem?" Chu Yang asked in return.

The man in gray was genuinely confused this time: "Aren't you afraid that the further you go in, the harder it will be to resolve?"

"That's not your concern," Chu Yang said. "To bring them or not?"

The man in gray remained silent for a long time, then suddenly laughed.

But this smile was much fainter and colder than before.

"Alright," he said. "Since you gentlemen have such courage, I will naturally oblige."

Upon his agreement, Su Wanwan frowned and lowered her voice to Chu Yang, saying, "Really let him lead us? What if he leads us into a trap?"

Chu Yang also lowered his voice: "I couldn't ask for more."

"……what?"

"That saves us the trouble of searching for them one by one."

Looking at his self-righteous demeanor, Su Wanwan suddenly felt that her own sense of pride—"I think I'm pretty good at making a scene today"—seemed quite plain in comparison to this man.

As the man in gray turned and walked deeper into the forest, the demons behind him hesitated somewhat. However, after glancing back briefly, he finally followed.

This time, the group split into two groups, one in front and one behind.

A gray-clad man led the way, accompanied by two demons.

In the middle are Su Wanwan, Chu Yang, and Tang Sanzang leading the horse.

Sun Wukong still appears and disappears among the tree canopy, occasionally his tail can be seen flicking, or the leaves can be heard rustling, like a big cat that deliberately doesn't hide well.

The further in you go, the more bizarre the scenery in the forest becomes.

The trees grew taller, and fleshy growths gradually appeared on their branches, bulging in clusters, some with broken bark, oozing dark brown sap. Occasionally, bones could be seen on the ground, some animal bones, some human bones, all half-buried in the mud. There were also claw marks of some unknown creatures, stretching from one side of the tree trunk all the way up to the top, looking very fresh.

The white dragon horse was clearly uncomfortable, its ears constantly turned backward.

The white donkey nearly kicked up several times, only calming down after Chu Yang patted its head twice.

"You know how to soothe a donkey," Su Wanwan whispered.

"Since we bought it with money, of course we have to coax it a bit," Chu Yang said.

"You're never this patient with people."

"The person I'm with is not mine to hold."

"..." Su Wanwan was too lazy to respond.

The man in gray walked ahead for about fifteen minutes when a very wide, low-lying area suddenly appeared in front of him.

The fog grew thicker.

The ground was covered in dark, gleaming shallow water, on which floated large, dark green, almost black leaves, their surfaces thick and their edges serrated. In the middle of the water stood a crooked boulder, on which squatted a small figure, his back to the group, gnawing on something with a crisp, crunching sound.

Su Wanwan felt uneasy listening to this and couldn't help but take a few more glances.

The creature resembled a monkey, but without a tail, with a high arched back, a thin neck, and a large head. It seemed to only then hear the noise, and suddenly turned its head.

When that face was revealed, Su Wanwan almost couldn't help but back away.

Its face was human, but an old man's face, withered and bluish, yet its eyes were round and large, taking up half its face, and its mouth stretched all the way to its ears, revealing a dense row of fine teeth. What it held in its hands was not fruit, but a piece of blackened animal bone, which it was gnawing on, sending crumbs flying everywhere.

"The bone-eating demons in the swamp," the gray-robed man said calmly. "They're not exactly powerful demons, just numerous, and they always like to wrap themselves around the legs of passersby."

The monster stared at the group, its nostrils twitching, and suddenly let out a shrill laugh: "Smells good, smells so good—"

Before he could finish speaking, a peanut smacked him right on the forehead.

The Bone-Gnawing Demon was stunned for a moment, its eyes narrowing as it looked ahead.

Chu Yang slowly withdrew his hand: "My master doesn't smell good, so I'll avoid it."

Su Wanwan: "..."

The man in gray: "..."

That bone-eating demon had probably never been hit with a peanut before in all its life, and for a moment the whole monster was stunned. The next instant, its face twitched, and it opened its mouth to scream.

A golden shadow flashed overhead.

Sun Wukong had somehow already squatted atop the boulder, his staff held horizontally to its mouth, and said with a grin, "Try shouting again?"

The Bone-Gnawing Demon's pupils constricted sharply, and with a "gurgle" sound, it swallowed its cry back.

A dozen or so pairs of eerie, gleaming eyes that had been lurking in the mist around it all shrank back at once.

The man in gray stood by the swamp, his expression growing increasingly somber.

He had intended to use this place to make these people think twice, but one of them threw peanuts at the monster, and the other squatted on the person's forehead to threaten them, creating absolutely no atmosphere.

"How much further ahead is it?" Chu Yang asked.

The man in gray composed himself: "After passing the misty swamp, walk for another quarter of an hour, and you'll find a dark pool. Another group of people from this forest live by the pool."

"Where is the leader?"

"There it is."

"Okay," Chu Yang said. "Let's go."

His tone suggested he wasn't going to see the Demon King, but rather the owner of a wine shop.

As Su Wanwan followed him forward, she asked in a low voice, "Where did you get those peanuts?"

Chu Yang glanced at her: "There's still some in my sleeve pocket."

"You bring peanuts into a place like this?"

"I'm used to it."

"What's wrong with you?"

Chu Yang thought for a moment: "Eating while walking will make it less boring."

"...You're remarkably stable in your madness." (End of Chapter)