The slim arm ape king looked at the remains of his kin and went into deep thought. He weighed his options and felt like this could work.
"Alright, we will do as you suggested." The slim karma ape replied after ten minutes of wait.
Lin Wu didn't disturb him during that time either and knew that he would agree, eventually. He felt like he had grasped the mentality of the beast and could predict how he would respond.
"WAIT! YOU DON'T HAVE MY PERMISSION YET!" The Demon spine ape interrupted.
"Oh? You don't want to cooperate?" Lin Wu questioned.
The slim arm ape looked at his son, but did not speak. He knew that he could not interfere in this now that his son was a ruler, too. Doing so would not only undermine his authority, but would also invite trouble for himself.
"If you can defeat me in a battle, I will agree with this cooperation and that plan of yours." The Demon spine ape spoke.
All of the beasts looked at Lin Wu and waited for his answer. Any battle between Nascent Soul realm beasts was dangerous, and its results could affect a lot of things.
"Hmm, I'm fine with it. We can battle if you want." Lin Wu said in a straightforward manner.
He had honestly expected that the Demon spine ape would respond like this and was looking forward to it too. Lin Wu wanted to test out his strength against an equal and who else would be better than the Demon spine ape who was at the same cultivation base as his.
"If you two are going to fight, you cannot do it here. Go to the outer rings." The Slim arm ape spoke.
"Yes, father." The Demon Spine ape replied.
"I don't mind." Lin Wu responded as well.
With both of them in agreement, the four Nascent Soul realm beasts went towards the third ring of the millennium forest. Fighting in the sixth ring and fifth ring would bring attention OT the other two rulers of the forest, the Olive Viper King and the Twin Lights Liger king, which was not something they wanted.
While if they did fight in the fourth ring, there was a still a chance some random subordinate of the other two kings may report the fight while they were battling. Thus the third ring was the best choice for them currently.
They could have directly gone out of the forest too, but that would have come with its own set of challenges. Bringing the attention of humans towards them would only be worse than getting the attention of the other two rulers of the forest.
Since all of them were able to fly, it took them just a couple of hours to reach the third ring. They didn't go there together either, as that would be very eye catching. They instead split up and went there, this way it would be less apparent.
Lin Mu didn't even fly there, he just went a sufficient distance from there before digging into the ground and drilling his way there. With his increased drilling speed, he was there before them and waited for them on the surface, while hiding his aura.
His new ears were extended fully and were picking up all the sounds of the forest. He could sense the three nascent Soul realm beasts approaching from far and knew they would reach him in a couple of hours.
Till they got here though, Lin Wu went over a plan on how he was going to fight the Demon Spine ape. He knew there were a few things he would need to hide, but he didn't mind exposing a few things.
He didn't have to worry about these beasts scheming against him like the humans would. Even though they had the same level of intelligence as that of a human, their experience was still different and their culture was also different.
They would fight to determine things and thus, schemes weren't really part of their lives. Perhaps only beasts like the Slim arm ape who had previously stayed in the human world and The Twin Lights liger King who had lived for a long time would understand how to scheme.
But even then, they couldn't compare to Lin Wu who had seen all the dramas, novels and comics of his previous life which expanded his experience of scheming greatly. The three rulers eventually arrived at the agreed location and saw that Lin Wu was already there.
'How did he get here before us? He doesn't even fly as fast as us?' was the thought all of them had.
They had seen Lin Wu's flying speed, which was definitely slower than the three of them. The beetle king could fly even before it was a nascent Soul realm due to having wings so he had the advantage from the start, but the two ape kings were also experienced.
But this thought didn't last for long, in their minds, and they got ready for the battle. All the nearby beasts were scared away with a little hint of their aura and they didn't dare to approach tens of kilometers in their location.
The beetle king and the Slim arm ape went a sufficient distance away and watched on carefully. This would be an important battle that would determine the situation of the millennium forest.
"Let's start now. Do you want to set the rules?" Lin Wu offered.
"I don't care for that, let's just fight!" The demon spine ape said, feeling eager.
"Alright!" Lin Wu said before spirit Qi waves appeared from his body.
The same happened for the Demon spine ape, and he initiated his attack.
"HAAA! TAKE THIS! APE HAMMER!" The demon spine ape shouted as he jumped high and rained down with his fists.
~boom~
Lin Wu blocked the attack with his tail, which was deflected as well due to the impact, but he soon gained his control back.
"Nice! This is going to be fun!" Lin Wu said as he flicked his tail toward the Demon spine ape.