Demon Immortal

Elder Long frowned slightly as he realized that his prey's presence was beginning to wane bit by bit.

He had been tracking Duncan with his qi signature for some time now. As a Golden Hall expert, the range at which his consciousness could perceive was far wider than the range a Violet Palace realm cultivator could perceive.

And the details he could perceive were also very minute as well. If it had been a Golden Core cultivator who was chasing after Duncan, they would have already caught up with him. Even still, he estimated maybe about five or six more minutes before he could catch up with Duncan.

Unfortunately, his prey had begun to get smart.

Elder Long couldn't help but marvel at Duncan's instincts a little bit at this moment. It was clear that Duncan was nowhere in sight. He had only been tracking via his qi signature. But somehow, Duncan had realized this and started to mask his qi signature.

The rate at which the qi signature was being masked meant that he would lose the trail in a few minutes. He was also sure that Duncan wouldn't stop before he was very far away from this region. Losing Duncan's trail was unacceptable to Elder Long.

Frowning a bit, Elder Long came to a stop.

There was no use in continuing this hunt as of now. Tracking Duncan down was going to end in a failure. With Duncan masking his qi signature, it would be hard once he lost the trail to pick it back up. That meant this method would not work for sure.

Furthermore, he wasn't a gu cultivator or knew any technique to track via scent. The scents lingered long in the atmosphere compared to qi. It would be easy to track with them, but they needed special techniques to be employed as well.

Elder Long also realized that Duncan knew how to travel in the wilderness. This wasn't that evident when they were hunting Duncan in the Grotto Heaven. Only when he gave them the slip did they realize his proficiency and cunning when it came to the wilderness environment. And now, that proficiency has only increased.

With the new breakthrough Duncan had made, he was able to control his body further resulting in him completely erasing his tracks while moving through the wilderness. This made it almost impossible to track him without any specialized techniques.

Taking a deep breath, Elder Long's mind began to spin. The entire knowledge about the surrounding regions flashed through his mind as he tried to anticipate where Duncan would be traveling.

Within moments, he discarded several options. Duncan would definitely not travel towards any populated places in the beginning. He would mostly move through the wilderness and try to escape from the pursuit.

That meant the wilderness was the region Duncan was going to be in for the considerable future. But, Elder Long wasn't satisfied with that conclusion. He was pretty certain about Duncan traveling in the wilderness considering his proficiency in it. But, the big question was, which direction will he travel in?

Checking with the geography of the surrounding regions, Elder Long began to rule out the possibilities one by one. He immediately ruled out the direction towards the Dark Star City. He was pretty certain Duncan wouldn't linger around in this area after the slaughter he had created.

Then, there was the region that led directly to the Ancient Battlefield. Elder Long ruled that out as well. That region was termed to be a forbidden ground for a reason. Even Nascent Soul experts walking in would not emerge alive. So, he didn't think that would be the direction Duncan would travel to.

That only left two other directions for Duncan to travel towards mainly. One led to the Meng Empire, a second-rate kingdom, which was under the territory of the Seven Clouds Sect. The other route led back into the interior regions of the Star Empire. Either way, Duncan must retreat back to the populated regions to lose the pursuers.

After figuring the major directions out, Elder Long started to analyze how Duncan might respond in this situation. The Meng Empire looked to be the safest bet. If Duncan can enter the periphery of the Meng Empire, travel in the wilderness around the area near the Ancient Battleground, and cross the border to enter the few small kingdoms on the other side of the Ancient Battleground, then he would truly be free of pursuit.

In the surrounding regions in between the Ancient Battleground and the small kingdoms, there were few cities that were populated by wanted criminals. The region in that area was half-wilderness and half-city. It was ideal for someone like Duncan to escape to.

It looked like an ideal scenario to bet toward.

Or, Duncan could go around and bypass the cities in the surrounding region to enter the Grasslands where his sect was located once more. Both options seemed feasible to him.

After thinking long and hard, Elder Long came up with initial plans. The first priority now was to not let Duncan re-enter the Grasslands. If they could close down that avenue, then Duncan would be forced to travel toward the Meng Empire and cross the border while hugging the Ancient Battlefield as closely as possible.

Once his route back to Grasslands was eliminated, then the prey will be far easier to hunt down. After all, once the news about this hunt spreads, the experts from the Heavenly Demon Sect will also try to save him as much as possible. He didn't think the Heavenly Demon Sect would be willing to lose out on such a promising seed.

Promising geniuses like these are the backbones of the sect. Every faction in the cultivation world will try to find out and eliminate promising geniuses before they can truly come into themselves. It was the norm. Likewise, every faction will try to protect their own promising geniuses.

What Duncan had shown today was that he was a monster in the making. He had tremendous potential. While just entering the Violet Palace realm, he could already defeat a seasoned cultivator like Envoy Ming. Such potential is rare and can only be seen in generational talents.

Whenever a generational talent appears, the other factions will do their damndest to kill them off, while the faction they belong to will safeguard them. These talents had the ability to dominate an entire generation. Any sect that has them will definitely prosper.

Apart from Huo Wanren, no generational talent has come out of the Heavenly Demon Sect in recent times. For a hegemonic sect, it was somewhat lackluster. The rumblings in the evil faction also stem from this.

If the other sects in the demonic faction realized Duncan's potential, they would also make sure that Duncan wouldn't live to grow into his own. After all, as long as these kinds of talents keep popping up in the Heavenly Demon Sect, they could never get out of their control and will have to listen to them for eternity. So, they wouldn't look upon Duncan kindly as well.

Furthermore, demonic sects were known for their ruthlessness. They would seize any opportunity to gain an advantage. Things like comradery, righteousness, and morality will not be in their vocabulary at all.

The only ones who will do everything to protect Duncan at present would be the Heavenly Demon Sect. Moreover, Duncan was the disciple of the Wind Demon. Surely, the Wind Demon wouldn't want such a promising disciple to die early, right?

So, the important thing right now was to prevent Duncan from entering the territory of the Heavenly Demon Sect and make sure he didn't contact any sect disciples for help.

Though this news might not be ignored for long, any time that could be gained meanwhile would be a bonus to hunt this damned demon down. Deciding on the most important matter, Elder Long immediately sent out messages.

He sent out instructions to the other sect to block off the route between the wilderness and the Grasslands and put their people in the border cities. That way, they would make sure Duncan doesn't slip back into the Grasslands.

Then, he thought about the message sent by his Young Master, and his eyes shone a murderous light. His heart became coveteous and he plotted on how to take the first mover advantage.

Surely, the sects will not sit back and let him deal with Duncan. Their representatives would soon be arriving to take care of Duncan. They might agree with his overall strategy, but who gets to kill Duncan would be still up in the air.

Elder Long wanted to be the person who did the deed. Young Master Han's timely message gave him the motivation to do that. If there is indeed a treasure in Duncan's possession that could aid in cultivation, then it was of paramount importance that enters their hands. So, he couldn't allow others to kill Duncan and claim his spoils.

Taking a deep breath, Elder Long turned in the direction in which Duncan's qi signature registered in his consciousness and vanished on the spot. He was determined to hunt Duncan down before someone who specialized in hunting and tracking techniques came over and disrupted the field.

Little did he know, that by the time the sect representatives arrived and his instructions were delivered, the news about Duncan's master Liang Tianye committing yet another massacre would come to light as well.

With that, the entire landscape of the Dragon Scale Continent would be changed forever. A huge war between the Heavenly Demon Sect and the righteous faction as a whole would be initiated.

And the seeds for that war would be these two massacres committed by this pair of master and disciple…