Chapter 2024: Purple Grape Fruit and Tree Demon

An endless red bamboo forest stretched out. Two afterimages streaked swiftly through it, moving extremely fast. A small mound of earth ahead moved even faster.

A moment later, the mound suddenly stopped. The two afterimages also halted, revealing the figures of Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan.

The Twin-Pupil Mouse burrowed out of the ground, chirping. It then scurried back to Wang Changsheng, climbing up his pant leg onto his shoulder.

After advancing to the fifth rank, the Twin-Pupil Mouse's sense of smell had become even more acute.

Wang Changsheng swept his divine sense forward, scanning an area of a thousand miles. He only detected a few fourth-rank demonic insects and no spirit herbs older than a thousand years.

Wang Changsheng extended a wisp of his divine consciousness, attaching it to the Twin-Pupil Mouse. The mouse's eyes glowed with a dazzling yellow light.

Through the Twin-Pupil Mouse's eyes, Wang Changsheng could clearly see even the antennae of the demonic insects.

On a steep mountain peak, a cave several zhang wide was located halfway up. Inside, a demonic beast with an ape's body and a tiger's head lay resting, its form shrouded in a faint blue glow.

"A peak fifth-rank Tiger Ape Beast!"

Wang Changsheng's expression tightened. Tiger Ape Beasts were known for their immense strength and swiftness.

Strangely, Wang Changsheng's divine sense had not detected the beast. This indicated that the Tiger Ape Beast had concealed its aura, making it undetectable by divine sense alone. However, its scent could not be hidden, and thus it was naturally sniffed out by the Twin-Pupil Mouse.

"You detected the Tiger Ape Beast from so far away. Excellent, excellent," Wang Changsheng praised.

The Twin-Pupil Mouse proudly wagged its tail. Divine sense was not omnipotent; some demonic beasts specialized in concealing their aura or using stealth techniques, making them detectable only by special spirit eyes.

The Twin-Pupil Mouse's eyes had mutated, allowing it to discover the Tiger Ape Beast.

There were no spirit herbs in the cave, and Wang Changsheng had no interest in killing the beast.

"Since there are no spirit herbs, let's just bypass it," Wang Ruyan suggested.

Wang Changsheng nodded. The Twin-Pupil Mouse jumped to the ground and burrowed beneath it, causing a small mound of earth to rise.

The small mound moved incredibly fast. Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan transformed into two afterimages, following it.

Along the way, thanks to its mutated eyes, the Twin-Pupil Mouse detected other fifth-rank demonic beasts in advance, allowing them to be avoided from a distance. This saved Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan a lot of trouble.

Two days later, Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan arrived in a lush, dense forest. Ancient trees, over a hundred zhang tall, stood everywhere, their luxuriant branches and leaves blocking out most of the sunlight. The fallen leaves on the ground were several feet thick, and the air was thick with the scent of decay.

The Twin-Pupil Mouse suddenly burrowed out of the ground, chirping excitedly, as if it had discovered something.

Wang Changsheng fully extended his divine sense. Three hundred miles away, amidst a dense thicket of bushes, a purple fruit tree over thirty zhang tall stood at the center. Its trunk was covered in incredibly sharp golden thorns, and over a hundred grape-like purple berries hung from its branches.

Each purple berry was the size of an adult's fist, oval-shaped, with golden patterns on its skin.

"Purple Grape Fruit!"

A look of surprise flashed in Wang Changsheng's eyes. Purple Grape Fruit contained potent toxins. It bloomed every two thousand years, bore fruit two thousand years after blooming, and matured two thousand years after bearing fruit. It could be used as a primary ingredient to refine the sixth-rank elixir, Jade Grape Elixir, which had excellent detoxification properties.

For some high-rank venomous insects, Purple Grape Fruit was a highly nourishing delicacy.

Generally, places with Purple Grape Fruit often had high-rank venomous insects.

Wang Changsheng's divine sense carefully scanned the area, but he found no high-rank venomous insects.

He entrusted a wisp of his divine consciousness to the Twin-Pupil Mouse, and its eyes shone brightly.

Strangely, he still didn't see any high-rank venomous insects.

Wang Ruyan used her Black Phoenix Dharma Eyes, but also found nothing unusual.

When Purple Grape Fruit matured, it emitted a special scent that attracted high-rank venomous insects. If there were no high-rank venomous insects, then there would likely be a powerful demonic beast, perhaps a special one skilled in stealth.

He shook his right hand, and a shimmering golden metal sphere flew out. Its surface was covered in spirit runes. He cast a spell, causing all the runes to glow brightly, and the golden sphere transformed into a massive Golden Ape Puppet Beast.

Wang Changsheng controlled the Golden Ape Puppet Beast to walk forward. Along the way, the Golden Ape Puppet Beast encountered no attacks.

The Golden Ape Puppet Beast approached within a hundred zhang of the Purple Grape Fruit tree, yet no demonic beasts emerged.

Wang Changsheng watched the Golden Ape Puppet Beast intently, controlling it to move closer to the Purple Grape Fruit tree.

Eighty zhang, fifty zhang, thirty zhang, ten zhang...

The Golden Ape Puppet Beast reached the Purple Grape Fruit tree. It raised its right palm and shot out a fine golden thread, aiming directly for one of the purple berries.

The golden thread wrapped around the fruit stem. The stem broke, and a Purple Grape Fruit fell.

The golden thread suddenly vibrated, quickly weaving into a golden net to catch the Purple Grape Fruit.

Just then, the Purple Grape Fruit tree swayed gently, and countless sharp golden thorns shot out from its trunk, striking the Golden Ape Puppet Beast like steel needles.

The attack was sudden, and the Golden Ape Puppet Beast couldn't dodge it.

It opened its mouth and blasted out a golden sound wave. The golden thorns were all sent flying back, landing on the ground and creating deep craters. The thorns struck the Purple Grape Fruit tree, producing a series of dull clangs.

The Purple Grape Fruit tree seemed to come alive. Its thick trunk wove into a massive purple hand covered in golden thorns, which slammed down.

With a muffled "thump," the purple hand struck the Golden Ape Puppet Beast, producing a dull thud.

The main trunk of the Purple Grape Fruit tree glowed with a purple light, and suddenly a bewitching female face appeared on it.

The female face opened its mouth and unleashed a stream of purple mist, engulfing the Golden Ape Puppet Beast.

Smoke immediately rose from the Golden Ape Puppet Beast; the purple mist appeared to be highly corrosive.

The Golden Ape Puppet Beast's eyes glowed with golden light, each firing a golden beam that struck the Purple Grape Fruit tree's main trunk, producing two muffled thuds.

"A fifth-rank Treant!"

A look of surprise flashed in Wang Changsheng's eyes, and he suddenly realized the truth. No wonder there were no high-rank venomous insects; the Purple Grape Fruit tree had become a spirit!

If his Wood Spirit refined the crystal core of a fifth-rank Treant, it would greatly benefit its advancement.

He wondered what great fortune the Purple Grape Fruit tree had encountered to become a spirit.

"A treant! My husband's Wood Spirit now has hope for advancement," Wang Ruyan said with a light chuckle.

She took out her Red Dust Flute and began to play.

Wang Changsheng summoned his Golden Eagle Puppet Beast. It spread its wings, and countless golden electric arcs surged around its body as it soared into the sky.

The Treant was locked in fierce combat with the Golden Ape Puppet Beast. The puppet's defense was extremely strong, no worse than a fifth-rank demonic beast's, and the Treant's attacks had failed to destroy it.

Countless black tree roots emerged from the ground, each as thick as a bowl. They coiled tightly around the Golden Ape Puppet Beast, binding it securely and constricting it forcefully, like ropes around sticky rice dumplings.

The Golden Ape Puppet Beast's body glowed with countless golden lights, and its arms shot out innumerable fine golden threads. Like sharp blades, these threads severed all the tree roots.