I Abandoned My Beast Cubs for the Protagonist... Oops?-Chapter 24: The Monkey King’s Revenge

The silence that followed Hóu Xián’s audacious stone-swallowing lasted approximately 0.3 seconds.

Then Cāng Jì screamed.

It wasn’t a dignified roar or a threatening growl. It was a full-body, soul-deep shriek of rage that made the river water actually boil around his ankles.

"YOU DISGUSTING, FLEA-RIDDEN, TREE-DWELLING RODENT!" The Dragon Prince’s eyes ignited with fire, smoke pouring from his nostrils. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU JUST DID?!"

Hóu Xián patted his stomach contentedly, his grin widening until it practically split his face. "Mmm! Tastes like expensive! With a hint of......what is that.....divine arrogance? Really adds to the flavor!"

"I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL RIP YOU APART! I’LL—"

Screeeeeee!

The sound came from everywhere at once, a cacophony of high-pitched chattering that made Bai Yue’s ears ring. She looked up, and her stomach dropped somewhere into her feet.

The trees were moving.

No. Not moving. Filled.

Golden fur erupted from every branch, every vine, every shadowy crevice in the canopy. Dozens, no, hundreds, of monkeys descended like a furry avalanche, swinging, leaping, and chattering with manic energy.

"Oh no," Bai Yue whispered, taking several steps back. "Oh no, no, no—"

"SURPRISE!" Hóu Xián threw his arms wide, nearly falling off his rock in his enthusiasm. "Did you really think I worked alone? Please! I’m a professional thief! Welcome to the Golden Monkey Tribe’s official welcoming committee!"

The monkeys hit the ground in waves. They surrounded the river, perched on rocks, hung from branches, and created what could only be described as a living, chittering wall of chaos.

And every single one of them was staring directly at Cāng Jì.

The Dragon Prince looked around, his golden eyes widening in what Bai Yue recognized as unfiltered horror. "No. Not them. Anyone but them."

"Aww, don’t be like that, sparkles!" A massive monkey, twice the size of Hóu Xián, dropped from the tallest tree with a ground-shaking thud. He had silver streaks in his golden fur and wore what looked like a crown made of woven vines and shiny river stones.

His eyes, sharp and intelligent, fixed on Cāng Jì with unmistakable glee.

"Long time no see, Your Radiance," the big monkey purred, his voice deep and rough. "Remember me?"

Cāng Jì’s face went from red to white to a worrying shade of purple. His mouth opened and closed several times before words finally emerged. "Hóu.....Hóu Wáng?"

"THE MONKEY KING!" Hóu Xián cheered, doing a backflip. "My grandfather! Isn’t he magnificent?"

"You," Cāng Jì hissed, his entire body beginning to shimmer with barely-contained power. "You were supposed to be in the Western Peaks! Far away! Bothering someone else!"

Hóu Wáng’s grin was absolutely feral. "Oh, I was. Until a little birdie told me that you, the great and terrible Cāng Jì, destroyer of the Sacred Banyan, burner of the Eternal Grove, and general pain in my tail, were here. In the lowlands. Vulnerable."

The old Monkey King cracked his knuckles with a sound like breaking bamboo. "And I thought to myself, ’Wang, old boy, you have waited three hundred years for this opportunity. Time to collect.’"

"Collect?" Bai Yue squeaked, looking between the furious Dragon and the gleeful monkeys. "Collect what? What is happening right now?!"

"Oh, you don’t know?" Hóu Xián swung over to her, landing on a nearby boulder with perfect balance. "Your shiny mate here burned down our tribe’s most sacred tree two hundred and seventy-three years ago because, and I quote, ’the chattering was disrupting my meditation.’"

"IT WAS MATING SEASON! YOU WERE ALL SCREAMING FOR THREE MONTHS STRAIGHT!" Cāng Jì roared.

"It was beautiful natural music!" Hóu Wáng shot back. "And you turned it into ash because you couldn’t handle a little noise! Do you know how long it took that tree to grow? FOUR THOUSAND YEARS!"

"It was an ugly tree!"

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

The monkeys around them started chittering louder, their voices rising into a fever pitch of excitement. They began to move closer, forming a tightening circle around the Dragon.

Bai Yue grabbed Hóu Xián’s arm. "Okay, wait, timeout! What exactly is happening here? Are you going to kill him?"

"Kill him? Pssh, no!" Hóu Xián waved dismissively. "Monkeys don’t kill. We’re lovers, not fighters!" He paused, his grin turning absolutely wicked. "We just make people wish they were dead."

"CHARGE!" Hóu Wáng roared.

The monkeys swarmed.

They came from every direction, above, below, the sides. They hit Cāng Jì like a furry tsunami, climbing over him, hanging off his arms, pulling his hair, yanking his silks.

"GET OFF! GET OFF ME THIS INSTANT!" The Dragon tried to swat them away, but for every monkey he dislodged, three more took its place. "I AM A PRINCE OF THE FIRST GENERATION! I DEMAND RESPECT!"

"Respect THIS!" A small monkey planted itself on Cāng Jì’s head and started grooming his hair with intense concentration.

"NO! NOT THE HAIR! MY HAIR!"

Another monkey grabbed his silk sash and yanked. The pristine bronze fabric came loose, unraveling like a ribbon.

"MY SILKS! THOSE ARE CELESTIAL-GRADE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THESE COST?!"

"Nothing, because you probably stole them!" Hóu Xián called out helpfully, watching the chaos with the pride of a artist admiring his work.

A particularly brave monkey had managed to climb inside Cāng Jì’s robe and was rummaging around like it was searching for treasure. The Dragon’s eye twitched violently.

"There is a monkey. Inside my clothing. INSIDE. MY. CLOTHING!" 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Bai Yue stood at the edge of the chaos, her hand over her mouth, torn between horror and the overwhelming urge to laugh. The mighty Dragon Prince, the terror of the skies, was currently being defeated by what appeared to be an organized monkey mob.

"Should I......help him?" she asked weakly.

"Help him?" Hóu Wáng laughed, his belly shaking. "Little female, this is justice. Three hundred years of justice, delivered one monkey at a time!"

Cāng Jì managed to grab two monkeys and toss them into the river, but five more immediately took their place. One of them found a stick and started poking him in the ribs.

"STOP THAT! I AM TICKLISH—I MEAN, I AM NOT TICKLISH! DRAGONS ARE NOT TICKLISH!"

"Oh, he’s definitely ticklish," Hóu Xián observed. "Look at him squirm! Grandfather, deploy the feathers!"

"THE WHAT?!" Cāng Jì’s voice cracked.

Oh no.