The area where Korra killed the thousand-year-old green fur ape was quite spacious and scenic, well, except for the splatter of blood and chunks of flesh. In this world, only the person who kills the spirit beast can absorb its ring. For this, Chu Chang had specifically impaled the shoulder of the green fur ape with multiple grass mines and then hired Korra''s assistance to destroy the beast from an internal explosion. This meant that it was Chu Chang''s methods that technically killed the beast, and the result was evident when he started refining the glimmering purple spirit ring.