Chapter 1042: Rainbow Cinnabar Fruit
Rainbow Cinnabar Fruit . . .
"Excellent! You've done a remarkable job," Cha Tianchen nodded with admiration. "It appears that we, the Cha Clan, are on track to recover what we had lost, and perhaps even gain more. Regeneration Ink Lotus beyond average is genuinely rare. While it may not hold the same value as the lotus of our young Brother Ye, it's still a valuable resource that would certainly please Misty Cloud Palace. The Cha Clan is now secure."
"However, Li Clan departed ahead of us. I believe they might pose a hindrance to our plans."
"I understand. Why did I invite those two individuals to accompany us on this journey back? It's regrettable that they were unwilling to join. Nevertheless, this concerns the future of the Cha Clan, and we cannot afford to lose it."
"Very well."
"Let us all remain vigilant. Our home is no more than four hundred miles away from here. Let's expedite our return!"
"Yes!"
The Cha Clan members swiftly vanished on the horizon, like a fleeting trail of smoke and dust. Cha Tianchen's voice lingered in the wind, filled with a sigh. "...It's a pity... Brother Ye... could have been... better... I have a feeling... he and our clan share... some form of connection..."
...
"What should we do?" Han Bingxue inquired of Xuan Bing.
"We wait."
"For how long?"
"Until he emerges."
"What if it takes him days?"
"Then we wait for days."
"What if it takes him months?" Han Bingxue persisted nervously.
- Puff, puff, puff, puff, puff... -
"Please... Have mercy... Forgive me... I'll wait... I will wait... regardless of the duration... Holy heavens, it's agonizing..."
...
After a considerable duration, they heard the sounds of battle and shouts in the distance.
It was likely the conflict between Li Clan and Cha Clan.
Han Bingxue glanced aside but made no move, and Xuan Bing didn't even bother to bat an eyelid.
For them, the outcome of that skirmish held little significance. They were indifferent to the possibility of casualties on either side. They couldn't be more apathetic.
Even if both clans' members were to perish, it would hardly register on their radar. They had witnessed countless confrontations of this nature.
The skirmish between Li Clan and Cha Clan was but a minor clash, of no real interest to them.
Their sole concern was Cha Eun Xiao.
...
On the other side, it took Cha Eun Xiao quite a while to regain his composure after his initial excitement and hot-headedness.
Not that he hadn't encountered marvelous things before. After all, he was an influential figure with the Boundless Space containing nine Spaces, and he was blessed with both wealth and good looks. However, the events unfolding before him were truly beyond anything he could have imagined.
What he was witnessing went far beyond any description.
The first object that captured his attention was undoubtedly the Rainbow Cinnabar Fruit.
Prior to this moment, Cha Eun Xiao had always appeared calm and composed, particularly when facing Han Bingxue. He seemed as though not even the most tumultuous event could ruffle his composure. Yet in truth, his outward calmness concealed an inner excitement and thrill that exceeded even Han Bingxue's.
The Rainbow Cinnabar Fruit possessed a remarkable quality that surpassed even the capabilities of the Boundless Space!
Now, the fourth layer unfolded before his eyes in vivid detail. When he beheld the cinnabar fruit, it appeared even more splendid.
A multitude of cinnabar fruits adorned the tree, at least fifty of them, hanging there like translucent gems. Their allure was so potent that Cha Eun Xiao yearned to rush forward and devour them by the handful.
"One, two, three, four… nineteen… thirty-five… seventy-seven…" He couldn't help but drool with anticipation. Methodically, he began to pluck the fruits one by one, counting aloud, "This is incredible… There are actually this many…"
Once he had collected the fruits, he decided to take the entire tree as well and placed it within his Boundless Space. "You're coming with me. How long must you wait here to bear fruit…"
He was candid in his remarks, stating, "Moreover, this entire place is essentially meant for me…"
Evidently, he harbored no guilt for absconding with the tree after harvesting all its fruits.
Yet as he uprooted the tree, he discovered that the astonishing surprises had only just begun. While the Rainbow Cinnabar Fruit was undoubtedly valuable and precious, in comparison to what he had now unearthed, it paled in significance.
Around the base of the tree, he noticed numerous traces of spiritual qi.
"Could it be... that every time the fruits fell, they fell around the tree… Good heavens… How many were squandered here?"
He drew in a sharp breath.
Beneath the tree, a substantial layer of spiritual paste, approximately half a foot in thickness, lay in wait.
It possessed a transparent and exquisite quality.
The Rainbow Cinnabar Fruit took a millennium to blossom, another thousand years to bear fruit, and a further thousand years to ripen. Once ripe, the fruits remained on the tree for one hundred days, after which they would drop. These fruits absorbed the energy from the surrounding spiritual qi and remained impervious to elemental harm and natural disasters. They would not decay with the passage of time. In other words, as long as an ample supply of spiritual qi was present, they could perpetually grow and did not require nutrients from the earth like conventional plants.
Most importantly, the fruits did not rot when they fell to the ground. Unless consumed, they would remain unspoiled indefinitely.
Since the Rainbow Cinnabar Fruits took three millennia to ripen, it was customary to collect fallen fruits as soon as they touched the ground to avoid wastage.
The Rainbow Cinnabar Fruit tree also possessed a special property; anything that fell around its roots would not rot but would instead be transmuted into pure spiritual qi.
This earned the tree of Rainbow Cinnabar Fruit the special moniker, Spirit Root.
As more and more spiritual qi amassed around its roots, particularly within enclosed spaces, the spiritual qi would transform into spiritual paste.
Spiritual paste represented the concentration of the purest spiritual qi, a marvelous substance. Even the seven great sects that had existed for tens of thousands of years within the realm had never obtained a trace of spiritual paste.
It was an exceedingly rare and precious treasure.
Yet the spiritual paste beneath the tree had accumulated to a thickness of half a foot and a width of three meters!
Cha Eun Xiao calculated that thousands of fruits must have contributed to create such a vast mound of spiritual paste.
He began to ponder the logistics. Given that the Rainbow Cinnabar Fruit took three thousand years to ripen and only produced around a hundred fruits at a time, it would have taken dozens of cycles to generate such a significant quantity of spiritual paste. The tree must have been in place for many years!
"Incredible... Unbelievable..." Cha Eun Xiao grinned and consigned all the spiritual paste to his Space.
Even if the fruits had fallen to the ground, they would never rot. The fruit possessed a thin skin, yet this skin was akin to gold, impermeable to any leakage of spiritual qi.
The Spirit Root transformed the fruits into spiritual paste. Otherwise, Cha Eun Xiao would have gathered an extensive supply of Rainbow Cinnabar Fruits!
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