Demon Immortal

The little green fruit that Duncan smeared on himself was called Night Blossom Peach. Night Blossom Peach has a unique characteristic that it contains a special fragrance to it that is undetectable to normal people.

This wasn't something known to many people. Even Duncan didn't know about it until he encountered trouble due to it. This particular spirit fruit wasn't very useful to cultivators. So, Duncan had never learned about Night Blossom Peaches in the texts he read in the scripture pavilion. He merely knew the name of the spirit fruit.

If not for him having a run-in with this particular fruit during his one-month stay in this forest region, Duncan would have never known this spirit fruit to have such a unique characteristic.

Unlike other spirit fruits that are very desirable to demonic beasts, most demonic beasts often ignore this particular spirit fruit. They don't care much about it, to be honest. All, except for one particular demonic beast.

While Duncan was staying in the forest region during the past month, Duncan ran into a fierce high-tier Level 2 tiger demon once. During that altercation, Duncan had smashed into a bush of Night Blossom Peaches. This led to him being smeared with the juice of this fruit.

Duncan hadn't noticed anything unusual initially. After killing the tiger, Duncan was on his way to his hideout when disaster struck. There was a little-known fact that Spirit Monkeys absolutely loathe the fragrance emitted by this fruit.

Duncan, who was unaware of this fact, had passed by a region inhabited by a group of high-tier Level 2 Spirit Monkeys. Even though Duncan avoided intruding on their territory due to their numbers, these monkeys didn't let him off.

As a result, he was chased continuously by this group of Spirit Monkeys until he came across a river and plunged into it. This washed away the smell he had on his body, allowing the monkeys to calm down and him to escape.

Initially, Duncan didn't know that it was because of the fruit juice that was smeared on his body that these monkeys attacked him. He was merely vexed and very curious regarding their unusual aggressiveness.

Spirit Monkeys are known for their mild temperament among the demonic beasts. Their diet being vegetarian, they don't actually come into contact with other beasts or cultivators much. As long as no one provoked them, they were content to stay out of any trouble.

The unusual aggressiveness piqued Duncan's interest a bit. Coincidentally, Duncan was a bit tired after hunting demonic beasts for a long time in the forest region. So, he decided to take a small break and investigate this bit of unnaturalness a bit.

Initially, he thought that he might have strayed into their territory a bit. But, when he retraced his steps, it was clear that the Spirit Monkeys were the aggressors of the conflict. Hence, Duncan began to think of various things that could have made them aggressive.

He ruled out the possibility of a treasure after some snooping around. If a treasure had been born or present, other demonic beasts would have sensed and attacked the Spirit Monkeys. Furthermore, they would behave aggressively towards him all the time instead of just that once.

That's when Duncan remembered reading about how some plants could make certain demonic beasts aggressive. The Beast Hall of the Heavenly Demon Sect has done extensive research on this subject. So, Duncan had read about some of them.

This turned his line of query toward the plants he came into contact with on that day. After some trial and error, Duncan eventually figured out that it was the Night Blossom Fruit that made them aggressive.

The few Night Blossom Peaches he had in his cache were the leftovers of his tests. Duncan had actually stored them to study about them later in his free time. He never expected them to come in handy at this moment.

He knew that in the past few days the net around him has tightened a bit. He could feel this group of cultivators keeping a steady watch on his movements. So, the only way he could escape their encirclement was if he created some diversion.

And an attack by a horde of angry Spirit Monkeys seemed a perfect fit for Duncan's needs at the moment. If he could give them the slip during the commotion caused by the Spirit Monkeys, then he would be able to reach the river and escape from there easily.

Duncan also knew that handling a group of Level 2 Spirit Monkeys would delay this group of people. It was easy to handle one of two Level 2 beasts. But, when attacked by a group of them, it would be difficult to deal with even if the people following him had a higher cultivation level.

Duncan had realized that the group that was monitoring him was at most in the mid stages of the Violet Palace Realm. If their cultivation was any higher, he wouldn't be able to escape their clutches easily last time.

Since that was the case, getting them entangled with the group of Spirit Monkeys seemed to be the ideal way to escape their clutches. With his speed, he can lose them pretty quickly if he got out of their sight soon when they were entangled with Spirit Monkeys.

*****

Arriving at the region near the territory of Spirit Monkeys, Duncan glanced sideward to check if those who were following him were still there. From his peripheral vision, he saw a shadow move and disappear within the trees.

After confirming their existence, Duncan's lips curled up. He knew that it was only a matter of minutes before the Spirit Monkeys were roused. He needed to be patient until it happened. Preparing himself to be chased by a horde of Spirit Monkeys, Duncan started circulating <Wind Chasing Steps> in advance.

Just then, he heard the telltale sound of Spirit Monkeys being roused to anger.

Skreech! Skreech! Skreech!

The silent atmosphere of the forest was disturbed as the enraged Spirit Monkeys rushed towards him in anger. Having expected their arrival, Duncan didn't waste even a single second.

Already having planned out his course of action, Duncan immediately set off by changing direction and rushing towards the river in the distance. The other cultivators in the surrounding were unprepared for the aggressiveness displayed by the Spirit Monkeys and were taken aback by their attack initially.

The enraged group of Spirit Monkeys didn't differentiate between who had the abominable smell and who didn't. They attacked everyone in the area regardless of their cultivation.

Pandemonium ensued.

Duncan, who had already been prepared, didn't fight off the Spirit Monkeys. He used <Wind Chasing Steps> and ran towards the direction of the river in a hurry. He knew how important it was to get the smell of him.

The Spirit Monkeys were very determined to eradicate that abominable smell. Until it was eradicated, they would not calm down or give up chasing. Duncan had already experienced this. So, he knew his first priority should be to get rid of that smell.

If not, even if he escaped these cultivators, he would be chased by the Spirit Monkeys. And it would reveal his position to the cultivators as well. Hence, he ran toward the river the direction of the river with all his might.

Compared to the first time he was chased, Duncan's cultivation level had risen greatly. This gave him the much-needed boost to put some distance between him and the angry Spirit Monkeys.

On the other hand, the cultivators from the Han clan who had been caught unawares decided to fight it out with the Spirit Monkeys first. They weren't able to escape as it would mean leaving their Young Master to fend for himself.

Their first and foremost priority was to secure the safety of their Young Master. So, they didn't hesitate to engage in combat with the Spirit Monkeys. Han Shindong had never experienced such an attack from a group of demonic beasts in the first place.

When the attack occurred, he froze not able to think of anything. Luckily for him, the bodyguards beside him took care of the attacking Spirit Monkeys in short order. Only then did he come out of his stupor.

However, he was enraged by the audacity of the Spirit Monkeys. So, he soon joined the battle and started to kill the Spirit Monkeys with the help of his bodyguards.

Seeing their Young Master battling the Spirit Monkeys, the rest of the cultivators from the Han clan were left with no choice but to join the battle. Within a short amount of time, they wiped out the remaining Spirit Monkeys with their combined effort.

But, by the time they finished dealing with the Spirit Monkeys, Duncan was long gone. When they all realized that the cultivator they have been monitoring was missing, their faces became unsightly.

Han Shindong in particular became very angry. On their way here, some of his subordinates had voiced their opinion that it was safer to kill the cultivator immediately.

Their argument had been that they already had followed him to unearth four caches. So, killing him immediately would eliminate any accidents that might happen later.

But, being greedy, Han Shindong refused them and ordered them to wait. Now, the prey they have been encircling and following for the past week was nowhere to be seen. And all the wealth that was in their grasp was gone as well. This made him very uncomfortable.

"I don't know what you are all going to do. But, you must find him. Even if he is dead, I must see his dead body," Han Shindong bellowed. "Don't stand here morons. Get going. I must capture him today!"