Chapter 1648: Harvest
Zhang Ruochen walked to the saint pond where he felt a piercing coldness striking him. It was Extreme Yin Pluto Ice Water that could kill saints.
Mu Lingxi was very irritated by the white girl beside her as she found her too arrogant. She said, “I’ll go harvest a Heartmoon Saint Fruit and try it.”
Mu Lingxi practiced Power of Extreme Yin Pluto Ice and had attained a certain level, so she wasn’t afraid of the Extreme Yin Pluto Ice Water in the saint pond at all.
Eight-arm Spider King walked toward Mu Lingxi, trying to talk her out of it by telling her how dangerous it was. “The saint pond is very strange, girl. No matter how strong you are, you can’t fly above it, and you can’t touch the Extreme Yin Pluto Ice Water. Otherwise, your saint Qi will be frozen. If you don’t believe me, look at the bottom of the water.
Zhang Ruochen and Mu Lingxi then looked to the bottom, and they saw four creatures frozen in an ice crystal, lifeless.
“They all wanted to pick the Heartmoon Saint Fruit, but they all fell into the water, losing their lives.” Eight-arm Spider King sighed.
Zhang Ruochen got cautious and asked, “Did it just happen?”
“No.”
Eight-arm Spider King shook his head and said, “It all happened in the previous God-Naming Platform Conferences. They were powerful when they were alive, and with Extreme Yin Pluto Ice Water, their corpses didn’t decompose.
“Now, everyone knows how dangerous this place is, and monks who aren’t strong enough won’t take risks. Even if someone’s having a try, they will be well-prepared and go with lots of companions, so deaths happen less and less often.”
The girl beside wanted to watch Zhang Ruochen and Mu Lingxi embarrass themselves, so she said, “Didn’t you say you wanted to go pick up the saint fruit? Why haven’t you started yet?”
“Ugh. I’ll go right now.”
Mu Lingxi wasn’t scared at all as she was certain that the Extreme Yin Pluto Ice Water couldn’t harm her.
“Wait a minute.” Zhang Ruochen stopped Mu Lingxi.
Mu Lingxi looked to Zhang Ruochen and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll be able to do it.”
Extreme Yin Pluto Ice Water had several levels just like Divine Fire Jingmie.
Although Zhang Ruochen had practiced Divine Fire Jingmie, and his flames had reached the pinnacle ‘ordinary-flame’ level, he would still be in grave danger if he ran into ‘official flames’, and the same rule applied to Mu Lingxi. Her practicing Extreme Yin Pluto Ice Power didn’t mean she could ward off all the Extreme Yin Pluto Ice Water.
“Let me go have a try first,” said Zhang Ruochen.
The young woman chuckled contemptuously, which annoyed Mu Lingxi.
Zhang Ruochen held Mu Lingxi off with his right hand, and he released a trace of pure saint Qi with his left hand, which flew into the saint pond, toward the Heartmoon Saint Fruit.
The saint Qi flowed above the water like a long cloth, approaching the Heartmoon Saint Fruit.
All the monks in the scene held their breath, looking dazed.
Could he actually pick a Heartmoon Saint Fruit like that?
The saint Qi suddenly froze when it was ten feet away from the Heartmoon Saint Fruit, turning into an ice pillar and falling into the saint pond.
“The water indeed froze the saint Qi.” Zhang Ruochen frowned.
No monks laughed at him even though Zhang Ruochen had failed.
Instead, they were all looking at Zhang Ruochen with respect.
Zhang Ruochen wasn’t the first monk who tried to use his saint Qi to get the Heartmoon Saint Fruit. However, the fact that his saint Qi survived that long meant his saint Qi was much purer than others’.
Other monks’ saint Qi would be frozen after going for around ten feet.
Zhang Ruochen was refining ‘Emperor Ming Nine-sky Scripture’, and he had Divine Fire Jingmie in his body, which kept purifying his saint Qi, so naturally his saint Qi was much purer than others’.
Eight-arm Spider King could feel that Zhang Ruochen was incredible, so he wanted to befriend him.
Zhang Ruochen took out a long whip that was a ten thousand patterns saint weapon, trying to use it to get a Heartmoon Saint Fruit. He reckoned the coldness could in no way freeze a ten thousand patterns saint weapon.
“Wait.”
Eight-arm Spider King walked to Zhang Ruochen and warned him again. “Brother, Heartmoon Saint Fruits are very fragile, and there are specific ways to pick them. They can’t be touched by the forces of gold, fire, mud and water, otherwise, they will be liquified immediately and fall into the saint pond.”
Zhang Ruochen frowned and said, “Are you saying that only objects made of wood characteristics can hold the Heartmoon Saint Fruits?”
Eight-arm Spider King said, “Not just any object of wood characteristic, but objects made of divine wood.”
Mu Lingxi frowned and said, “Why is it so tough to pick up the fruits?”
“We should be grateful that it’s so demanding, otherwise all the Heartmoon Saint Fruits would’ve been gone already.”
Eight-arm Spider King shrugged and said, “Actually, I’ve come up with a way to pick up the Heartmoon Saint Fruits, but I need an object made of divine wood to enact my plan. Hopefully I can borrow it from other monks. Do you two have this kind of object with you?”
Before Zhang Ruochen responded, the young woman said smugly, “My senior brother has a ruler made of divine wood. When he brings me that, he’ll be able to help me pick a Heartmoon Saint Fruit.”
People who received invitations were either immensely powerful themselves or came from a privileged background. That young woman was only a half-step saint king, so she definitely came from a powerful family.
Mu Lingxi sneered, “Nothing incredible about an object made of divine wood. I have that myself as well.”
She flipped her palm, and a wooden jar showed up in her hand.
That wooden jar was made of the wood of the Divine Sky-Connecting Tree. It looked mediocre as the divine Qi had been gone already.
That young woman chuckled. “Is that really an object made of divine wood?”
The monks around all stared at Mu Lingxi’s wooden jar, and they couldn’t see anything special about it, so they all looked disappointed.
Half the monks were gathered here, as they wanted to do the same thing as Eight-arm Spider King, wanting to borrow other monks’ objects to pick Heartmoon Saint Fruits.
“When my senior brother gets here, I’ll definitely ask my senior brother to lend you the ruler if you give us enough saint stones,” said the young woman.
“Ignorant.”
Mu Lingxi spread her phoenix wings, holding her wooden jar, flying toward the white saint tree at the center of the saint pond.
Zhang Ruochen didn’t try to stop Mu Lingxi.
He’d learned a bit about the Extreme Yin Pluto Ice Water after the previous test. It was dangerous, but it couldn’t freeze Mu Lingxi, and besides, Zhang Ruochen could immediately save her if she ran into danger.
The phoenix wings couldn’t help Mu Lingxi fly above the water, but they could make her relatively lighter so that she could step on the water, reaching the saint tree fast.
“She’s an Ice Phoenix. No wonder she’s not afraid of Extreme Yin Pluto Ice Water,” Eight-arm Spider King said.
Whoosh!
Mu Lingxi put a shining Heartmoon Saint Fruit into her wooden jar.
Bang!
The Heartmoon Saint Fruit fell into the wooden jar.
That young woman started to feel anxious, and she still said, “Heartmoon Saint Fruit should’ve been melted in the wooden jar already, and its saintly way rules will be dispersed in the air soon.”
Mu Lingxi rolled her eyes at her, planning to pick another Heartmoon Saint Fruit.
Suddenly, something horrifying happened, which shocked Mu Lingxi, who flapped her wings and tried to fly back to the edge of the saint pond.
Whoosh!
Zhang Ruochen wielded his long whip and grabbed Mu Lingxi back.
She was only relieved after getting back on the shore, but her heart was still pounding fast.
“What happened?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Mu Lingxi shook her head and said, “I’m not sure either. I felt a great power pushing me almost to the pond.”
“How could that be possible?” asked Zhang Ruochen.
Eight-arm Spider King said, “Of course it is. A monk is only supposed to pick one saint fruit of each kind in the Outer South Yard, and if you want to pick the second one, it’ll be several times more dangerous and difficult. Truth Godly Palace set this up because they don’t want some powerful monk to pick all the saint fruit at once. I thought this was common sense so I didn’t warn you earlier.”
“I see. Perhaps I was being too greedy.” Mu Lingxi shook her head and forced a smile.
Eight-arm Spider King stared at Mu Lingxi’s wooden jar which gave out white saint light. He asked “Is the wooden jar in your hand really made of divine wood?”
“Why would I lie?”
Mu Lingxi tipped the jar a bit, and the Heartmoon Saint Fruit was lying at the bottom of the jar, perfectly intact.
All the monks gathered around to have a look.
“Can I borrow your wooden jar, girl? I only need fifteen minutes. I’ll give you thirty thousand saint stones, wait no, fifty thousand.”
“I’ll give you eighty thousand saint stones!”
“I’ll give you a hundred thousand! Please lend it to me first!”
…
There were almost ten monks who were confident that they could pick the Heartmoon Saint Fruits, and now, they all turned to Mu Lingxi for help.
Mu Lingxi looked to Zhang Ruochen, waiting for his opinion.
Zhang Ruochen said, “Just a wooden jar, which is nothing. You don’t need to pay me any saint stones. Just take it if you want, but you do need to wait in line. I can’t lend it to all of you at once after all.”
All the monks looked at Zhang Ruochen, full of respect.
Eight-arm Spider King wanted to befriend Zhang Ruochen more. He said, “Brother, you’re such a decent and noble person, but Heartmoon Saint Fruit is invaluable. Since we’re borrowing your jar, we must pay you. Please don’t say no.”
Eight-arm Spider King then took out a hundred thousand saint stones, putting them in a storage bag and handing it to Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen was rich enough not to care about one hundred thousand saint stones, so he wanted to make a good friendship with the monks who were present, which might help him a great deal in the future.
After all, every monk who entered the God-Naming Platform Conference was an incredible being.
Zhang Ruochen wouldn’t say no to the saint stones. After all, it was nothing to them, much less valuable than Heartmoon Saint Fruits.
In the end, they still owed Zhang Ruochen a small favor.