Chapter 35: Wildly Growing Spirit Fruit, the True Face of the Evil Spirit
Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Wildly Growing Spirit Fruit, the True Face of the Evil Spirit
Spring on Purple Cloud Peak was becoming increasingly vibrant. At the foot of the mountain, patches of Spirit Fields began to sprout tender green shoots.
These days, Chen Mo carried on as he had in previous years, casting Rainfall and focusing on his cultivation. The only difference was the unknown seeds planted in front of his wooden cabin, which he had bought for five taels of Spiritual Sand.
While the Spirit Yellow Rice in the Spirit Field had yet to sprout, these seeds had unexpectedly already grown stems as thick as a thumb. By the time the Spirit Yellow Rice finally sprouted, the unknown plants were already lush and verdant, bearing green leaves the size of a human palm.
Moreover, these mysterious seeds had an incredibly urgent demand for water; they had to be watered almost every single day!
Besides this, Chen Mo also discovered that after planting them, the Spiritual Qi in the surrounding Spirit Field was completely plundered. Within a four- to five-meter radius around them, the Spirit Rice had died before they could even sprout! Even the Spirit Field itself lost its spiritual essence.
In just a month’s time, the mysterious seeds had grown up to Chen Mo’s waist. Dark red flowers bloomed on their dark green vines.
However, just as Chen Mo was considering how to conceal these unseasonable plants, the entire plant—including its stems—rapidly withered in less than a day. The dark red flowers wilted in the blink of an eye. Hanging on the withered plants were fruits of the same dark red hue.
One by one... At first, they were only the size of pigeon eggs. Chen Mo counted them; the two taels of seeds had yielded fourteen fruits. The sheer quantity completely exceeded his expectations.
Looking at these red fruits that had bloomed and borne fruit in just a month, he suddenly found himself in a dilemma. Could such fruits even be eaten?
He was well aware that for any Spirit Fruits or Spirit Plants, the longer they grew, the more potent their effects and the more abundant the power they contained. Take the most common Spirit Plants as an example. Tier One Spirit Yellow Rice ripened once a year, whereas the Tier Two Profound Spirit Rice needed to be sown during the spring equinox of the previous year and could only be harvested by the autumn equinox of the following year. This was practically common knowledge, an absolute law!
"Never mind. It looks like they still need another two days to fully mature. I’ll pick them first and see!"
Chen Mo used a coarse cloth to cover the soon-to-mature Spirit Fruits and began his day of Rainfall and cultivation.
By evening, seeing the sky gradually turning dark, he took another look at the Spirit Fruits grown from the mysterious seeds. By now, they looked exceptionally bright and tempting. Their rapid growth was truly astounding. Perhaps they could be harvested tomorrow!
It was just a pity for this patch of land. For at least half a year, the Spirit Field wouldn’t be able to recover, meaning no other Spirit Plants could be grown here!
At night, Chen Mo was inside his dimly lit wooden cabin, practicing his Geng Metal Finger and Flaming Palm as usual.
Near midnight, a rustling sound suddenly came from outside the cabin. Startled, he suddenly recalled the nocturnal evil entity he had recklessly encountered last year. He quickly stood up, walked to the window, and gently pushed it open a tiny crack to look outside.
What he saw nearly made his heart stop!
A monster with several pairs of compound eyes and a head as large as an elephant’s, yet possessing a body as thin as a dried twig, was currently looking in his direction, alerted by the noise. The monster bared its fangs, its facial expression utterly ferocious. It seemed that if Chen Mo took even one step forward, it would lunge at him and swallow him whole!
"What is this thing?!"
Chen Mo had never seen a typical Demon Beast, but through word of mouth, he knew that Demon Beasts were originally fierce animals that had gained sentience and cultivated. He had also heard of evil entities, but he had never seen anything as bizarre as this.
He wondered, "Could it be that the evil entity that nearly attacked me that day was this ugly thing?"
Chen Mo couldn’t help but shiver.
At this moment, he saw the monster guarding the dark red fruits. It vigilantly scanned its surroundings, anxiously waiting for the fruits to fully ripen and drop.
He thought, "It’s here for these fruits?"
Chen Mo frowned. There were fourteen fruits in total. It originally seemed like a decent harvest, but if they were ruined by this evil entity, wouldn’t he regret it to his core?
Finally, unable to hold back any longer, he quietly reached out a hand. In an instant, golden light burst forth from his body!
BANG!
A strike of the Geng Metal Finger hit the evil entity’s head with pinpoint accuracy. Yet, after merely emitting a puff of smoke, the attack vanished without a trace!
It should be noted that his Geng Metal Finger had already reached the Mastery Realm. How could such a powerful attack fail to even leave a mark on the creature? Just what exactly was this thing!
However, lack of damage aside, an attack was still an attack. Although Chen Mo’s Geng Metal Finger failed to injure the monster, it still managed to enrage it. It turned its head, revealing jagged fangs, and let out a low, furious roar at Chen Mo.
As a black shadow flashed forward, Chen Mo swiftly slammed the window shut. With a loud THUD, a blue light lit up across the wooden cabin. An instant later, a pained howl echoed from outside the window.
"As expected, I still have to rely on the Restriction Array!"
Chen Mo vaguely remembered that the Cultivator who inscribed the Arrays for the Spirit Plant Cultivators’ residences shouldn’t have surpassed the Foundation Establishment Realm. Since this Array could harm the evil entity outside, it meant the creature’s strength was likely also in the Qi Refining Realm.
It was just that the strength of Spirit Plant Cultivators was too low. At only the Second and Third Layer of Qi Refining, they were completely incapable of fighting back. That was why these wooden cabins had been built for them—solely to protect the safety of the Spirit Plant Cultivators.
Outside the door, everything went quiet.
Chen Mo pushed the window open a crack once more. However, to his surprise, the ugly evil entity hadn’t left at all. It was still standing guard beside the mysterious fruits!
The only difference from before was that its massive, ugly head now bore a large patch of charred black skin.
This time, when Chen Mo opened the window again, the creature made no reaction whatsoever.
He thought, "Does it know I don’t dare to go out?"
The evil entity seemed to possess considerable intelligence. It knew the cabin couldn’t be touched, so it didn’t take Chen Mo seriously at all. After all, that previous attack hadn’t hurt it in the slightest. To it, he was just a weak, ugly monkey! It just didn’t want anything to delay its meal of Spirit Fruits!
Seeing this, Chen Mo opened the window crack wider and wider. Sure enough, as he had guessed, the evil entity—having suffered once—refused to fall for it again. It simply allowed him to lean against the wooden window, exposing a small half of his body.
Evil entities loved to consume flesh and blood, but compared to Spirit Fruits, they preferred the latter. Right now, its attention wasn’t on Chen Mo at all.
"You’ve got some nerve. I spent a fortune buying these seeds, worked tirelessly to grow them for over a month, and finally got a few fruits—and you want to eat them?"
The more Chen Mo thought about it, the angrier he became. In an instant, blazing flames ignited in his hands. A Flaming Palm accurately struck the ugly evil entity, who had been acting as if nobody else was around.
Although the Flaming Palm was considered a standard Magic for Spirit Plant Cultivators, its attack power was far beyond what the Geng Metal Finger could compare to! Not to mention, his Flaming Palm had already reached Minor Achievement!
This palm strike landed squarely on the evil entity, making it howl in agony. In the next instant, fury completely overshadowed its mediocre intelligence. The black shadow flashed again as it launched another counterattack.
Chen Mo, who had been fully prepared, slammed the window shut with a loud BANG.
In an instant, the blue light flared up again, and the evil entity let out another agonized wail.
After a moment, when it grew quiet outside again, Chen Mo slowly opened a crack. He saw that half of the evil entity’s body was scorched black, yet it was still relentlessly guarding the Spirit Fruits.
Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Mo unleashed another Flaming Palm...