Fighting the Green Wind Monkey

"What are we waiting for? We might as well kill these beasts now, pick these spirit fruits, and never have to risk our lives for spirit stones again. We cultivators fight against heaven for our lives, and where isn't there risk? How can we achieve the Great Dao if we're always hesitant?" Cultivator Ding shouted.

Wang Hong originally felt something was amiss. Such a large fruit forest couldn't have gone undiscovered before. If it had been preserved until now, there must be some unknown danger.

However, everyone else had already attacked the Green Wind Monkeys, so there was no point in him trying to persuade them.

If he left alone, walking through Black Dragon Marsh by himself would likely be even more dangerous.

Thus, he also summoned a flying sword and slashed at the demon monkeys, while secretly remaining vigilant.

Old Man Ge, at Qi Refining Layer Six, had the highest cultivation among the five. He used a fire-attribute flying sword, which was enveloped in a layer of scorching flames. He struck first, cleaving the smallest demon monkey into two halves without any resistance.

The Lei cultivator, at Qi Refining Layer Five, wielded an axe-like magic artifact and brought it down on a demon monkey. The demon monkey dodged to the side with a leap, and at the same time, its claw swiped out, sending a green wind blade horizontally towards the Lei cultivator's waist.

The remaining four demon monkeys lunged towards the battle. Old Man Ge, Cultivator Shi, and Cultivator Ding each intercepted one. The extra one then lunged at Cultivator Ding.

Cultivator Ding, only at Qi Refining Layer Four, had two defensive talismans on his body and held a low-grade magic artifact longsword. Facing two Green Wind Monkeys alone, he was struggling to cope, his movements becoming increasingly strained.

Wang Hong fought with a Green Wind Monkey for a while and found that these monkeys were fast and agile. His attacks were dodged several times, and he was almost hit by the wind blades they unleashed.

He used a defensive talisman to tank a wind blade, and seized the opportunity to launch two Iron Thorns seeds at it. It leaped upwards to dodge them.

Before it could land, he launched six more Iron Thorns seeds at it, surrounding it from above, below, front, back, left, and right.

This time, three seeds finally landed on the demon monkey. Two of them quickly sprouted and grew, wrapping around its body. Thorns grew on the vines, piercing the demon monkey's flesh and causing its spiritual power to falter.

At the same time, a flying sword circled its neck, and its head rolled to the ground, blood spurting several feet high from its neck.

Having dealt with his opponent, Wang Hong scanned the battlefield. The most dangerous situation was currently with Cultivator Ding. However, judging by his appearance, although he was in peril, he was managing to dodge narrowly each time. He estimated that Cultivator Ding could still hold on for a while.

If he were to rashly go to his aid now, it would easily lead to a stalemate, which would not be conducive to a quick victory. It would be better for him to assist the other team members in killing the demon monkeys; it was better to break one finger than to injure ten.

Wang Hong decided on his combat plan, took a large gulp of spirit wine, and said to Cultivator Ding, "Fellow Daoist Ding, hold on for a bit longer. I'll be there to rescue you soon."

"Fellow Daoist Wang, hurry up, I can't hold on much longer," Cultivator Ding replied, his face flushed red.

Simultaneously, Wang Hong launched three wood thorn seeds at a demon monkey that was entangled with Old Man Ge.

Only one seed hit the demon monkey and quickly entangled it. Seizing the opportunity, Old Man Ge decapitated it with a sword.

Then, Old Man Ge went to rescue Cultivator Ding, and Wang Hong followed suit, going to assist the Lei cultivator.

A moment later, the two killed a demon monkey and turned to attack the remaining three.

Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, the remaining three demon monkeys actually let out a few chirps and turned to flee into the depths of the stone forest. The fog was too thick, and everyone dared not pursue them.

"Thank you for your help this time, Fellow Daoist Wang. Otherwise, I don't know how much longer I would have been entangled with it," the Lei cultivator said to Wang Hong. Wang Hong had made the greatest contribution in this battle, and the others also thanked him. Wang Hong responded with a few humble words.

After driving away the demon monkeys, the group rested briefly before swiftly climbing the spirit fruit trees. They picked spirit fruits with both hands, fearing that if they were any slower, others would have picked them clean, wishing they had more hands.

Only Wang Hong was not in a hurry. He drank some spirit wine and climbed the spirit fruit tree after his spiritual power recovered.

It was fine to pick fewer spirit fruits. He was now someone who could earn twenty to thirty thousand spirit stones a month. He couldn't put himself in danger for a few spirit stones. If his spiritual power became insufficient and he encountered danger again, it would be troublesome.

Wang Hong stood on a branch, picked a spirit fruit, and brought it to his nose to smell. It had only a faint, light fragrance.

He took a bite, and it tasted good – crisp and juicy. With a slight chew, it all turned into juice, leaving no residue.

He finished the Crimson Silk Fruit in a few bites. In that short time, the others had already picked nearly half a tree. Wang Hong's hands moved quickly, picking over ten spirit fruits in a single breath.

When he had picked half a tree, the others had already finished picking one tree and had moved on to another, picking them in large quantities.

Suddenly, Wang Hong stopped. He twitched his nose, detecting a fishy, foul smell drifting from all around. Although his vision was obscured by the white fog, and his spiritual sense could only probe a few dozen feet, his sense of smell was still very keen. When he had first broken through to the Xiantian Stage, it had been greatly enhanced, allowing him to smell scents from dozens or even hundreds of feet away.

Most cultivators relied on their spiritual sense, and their other senses, like sight and hearing, did not have many special enhancements.

Unless some cultivators practiced special techniques that enhanced a particular organ.

For example, some spiritual eye techniques could see through illusions and other phantoms. Wang Hong suspected that his Thousand Illusions Mask might be seen through by some spiritual eyes.

"Everyone, I think we're surrounded," Wang Hong warned.

"How do you know, Fellow Daoist Wang? Do you know what it is?" the Lei cultivator asked, without stopping his fruit-picking.

"It might be the demon monkeys," Wang Hong replied, avoiding the question of how he knew.

The Lei cultivator and Cultivator Ding continued to pick fruits voraciously. Cultivator Shi, who had stopped, hesitated when she saw the two still picking, and then joined in.

Only Old Man Ge stopped his actions, took a drink of spirit wine, and stood with his sword.

Wang Hong also held his spear, scanning his surroundings vigilantly.

Suddenly, over a dozen figures burst out from all directions. Before they even arrived, they unleashed over a dozen wind blades towards the five of them.

Wang Hong only had time to slap an Earth Armor Talisman onto himself before three wind blades struck. He blocked two with his spear and dodged the remaining one by sidestepping.

At this moment, over a dozen more demon monkeys leaped out from the white fog, unleashing another volley of wind blades towards everyone.

As Wang Hong was dodging the incoming wind blades, he suddenly heard a scream. He stole a glance in the direction of the scream and saw that Cultivator Shi's arm had been severed by a wind blade, and there was a bloody hole in her abdomen. She was already severely injured.

What angered him even more was that he saw Cultivator Ding slap an Earth Escape Talisman onto himself and disappear into the earth. He had actually fled amidst the chaos.

At this point, over twenty demon monkeys had closed in, surrounding the remaining three and a half people. Escaping now would be very difficult.

The Earth Escape Talisman that Cultivator Ding used was a high-grade Tier 1 talisman, not easy to buy on the market. Wang Hong had also managed to obtain one.

However, this type of Earth Escape Talisman could only burrow for a dozen feet at a time. It was too late to escape now; as soon as he emerged, he would likely be bombarded by countless wind blades.

Wang Hong surveyed the area. One of the demon monkeys, significantly larger than the others and twice their height, was clearly the leader and blocked their path back. He had a plan.

While fending off wind blades, Wang Hong shouted, "I'll unleash some talismans in a moment, and we'll scatter and flee. Our lives depend on this!"

"Alright, I have a few talismans too. We'll unleash them together after three breaths," the Lei cultivator responded loudly.

The remaining two nodded in understanding.

Wang Hong took out a stack of talismans, and the Lei cultivator also produced five or six. They exchanged a glance and simultaneously threw the talismans at the monkey horde.

Numerous talismans exploded among the monkeys, unleashing Fireball Spells, Wood Thorn Spells, Water Arrow Spells, Earth Spike Spells, and more, leaving the demon monkeys overwhelmed.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Wang Hong used an Earth Escape Talisman and burrowed towards the deeper parts of the stone forest.

About ten feet away, Wang Hong quietly poked his head out of the ground and looked back. Although the demon monkey leader was guarding the exit of the stone forest, the other three, as Wang Hong had predicted, had all chosen to break through towards the outside.

Cultivator Shi had already been torn apart by the monkey horde. Old Man Ge and the Lei cultivator had managed to break through the encirclement, but they were now being pursued by a large group of demon monkeys.

Wang Hong quietly infiltrated deeper into the stone forest, as he had sensed Cultivator Ding heading in this direction earlier.