Chapter 201: Seizure Successful! Elemental Level Treasure Tree Acquired
Chapter 201: Chapter 201: Seizure Successful! Elemental Level Treasure Tree Acquired
"Not even for three Elemental Level Spiritual Objects?" Su Feibai frowned, seeming unwilling to give up. "What about five?"
"Brother Su, this isn’t about the Spiritual Objects." Zhu Ge was exasperated. "I’ve already told you, I’m not an assassin, and I don’t do the work of an assassin. If you have an enemy, go deal with them yourself. Why ask someone else to do your dirty work?"
Just as Su Feibai was about to speak again, Yan Liyuan waved his hand.
"Brother Su, since Brother Zhu is unwilling, don’t force him. Spiritual Objects may be valuable, but a debt of gratitude is harder to repay."
"If word gets out that you tempted him with Spiritual Objects to kill for you, it won’t be good for Brother Zhu’s reputation either."
Su Feibai pouted and said no more.
Guan Julan, on the other hand, approached with great interest, sizing up Zhu Ge as if he were some rare curiosity.
"Hey, you. That technique you have for concealing your aura, can you teach it to me? I’ll give you an Elemental Level Spiritual Artifact."
"No." Zhu Ge shook his head.
"Two?"
"No."
"You’re so inflexible!" Guan Julan stomped her foot angrily, and a mist of water surged around her body.
Zhu Ge glanced at her but didn’t say anything.
Seeing that he was unmoved, Guan Julan snorted coldly and fell silent.
"Fifteen minutes left." Yan Liyuan looked at the state of the Star Anise Tree, his tone growing solemn.
The others grew solemn as well, a sharp glint flickering in their eyes.
Zhu Ge sat cross-legged on a rock and closed his eyes, sinking his Heart Spirit into his body. The Heart of Martial Arts Origin began to beat slowly, filling his entire being with Blood Qi.
He too could feel the Spiritual Qi fluctuations from the Star Anise Tree growing more and more intense, and he was ready.
"Is it ripe?" someone asked in a low voice.
"Almost." Yan Liyuan narrowed his eyes.
The fluorescent glow on the Star Anise Tree grew brighter and brighter. The four fruits gradually changed from deep purple to dark gold, and the medicinal fragrance in the air was so thick it seemed almost tangible.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"They’re falling—"
The four fruits simultaneously broke from their stems and, propelled by a surge of Spiritual Qi, shot off in different directions like bullets.
WHOOSH!!!
"That’s mine! Get lost!"
"Hahaha, this old man got one!"
The nine of them moved almost at the same time, Zhu Ge included.
However, his target wasn’t the fruits, but the tree itself!
’This Star Anise Fruit would be quite useful to me, a perfect way to advance my Confucian Dao Cultivation. But the people here are all prodigies of the Third Realm, or at least powerful experts of the Third Realm. Can I snatch a fruit? It’ll be very difficult. However, what about the Star Anise Tree? Given that it takes at least a hundred years to grow, the tree’s immediate value is far less than the fruit’s. Everyone here is a prodigy. Who has the time to dig up a tree? They’d rather grab the fruit and eat it on the spot, or put it in a storage-type Spiritual Artifact where it won’t take up space.’
"Hmph!" The Wood Daoist still hadn’t moved. He stood his ground, simply making a grasping motion with his right hand, and one of the fruits changed direction and flew toward him.
"I’ll take one first, for the benefit of my Confucian Dao." Yan Liyuan’s figure flashed. With a wave of his ruler, a golden light wrapped around the nearest fruit, pulling it into his sleeve.
Su Feibai and Guan Julan charged toward the same fruit. They clashed in mid-air, the Jade Long Saber and the Water Needle colliding with a blinding burst of light.
The fruit was sent flying by the shockwave, right in Zhu Ge’s direction.
Zhu Ge’s eyes narrowed.
’Incense Lighting!’
His body moved like smoke and mist. In a few flashes, he was beneath the fruit, his right hand shooting out to catch it securely.
It was warm to the touch—a deep purple fruit.
"Nice one, kid!"
"Let go! That thing is mine!"
"Hahaha, kid, give it to me!"
Immediately, several people charged toward Zhu Ge.
Seeing this, Zhu Ge just smiled. He threw the fruit far into the distance, then quickly moved to the tree and wrapped his arms around it.
When the others saw Zhu Ge throw the fruit, they instantly gave chase, no longer bothering with him.
"Up!"
Zhu Ge immediately heaved with all his might, pulling the Star Anise Tree up by its roots, and then stored it in the grass bowl.
The moment the Star Anise Tree entered the grass bowl, the entire container was almost stuffed completely full.
The thirty-foot-tall, silvery-white tree, with its sprawling branches and well-developed roots, filled nearly every corner of the storage space.
Then, Zhu Ge surveyed the situation.
’There were four fruits in total. The Wood Daoist has one, Yan Liyuan has one, and I threw one away. The last one was taken by that woman in black, veiled in dark gauze.’
’Success. Time to go!’
Zhu Ge tapped his toes and his body, like smoke and mist, rushed out of the valley.
Behind him, the prodigies chasing the fruit had already run far away; no one noticed him.
Only Yan Liyuan remained, watching him leave with a calm gaze and a slight smile on his lips, but he said nothing.
The Wood Daoist’s eyes were still closed, as if nothing had happened at all.
Zhu Ge didn’t look back.
He used the Incense Lighting Body Technique, pushing his speed to the absolute limit. He passed through the forest, leaped over streams, and swept through the bushes and grass like a gust of wind.
He ran for several miles without stopping, with no pursuers behind him.
Zhu Ge slowed his pace but didn’t stop. He continued forward, taking a large detour as he ran toward Six Paths Valley.
’Since I’ve got the treasure, I won’t return to the group just yet. Anyway, with Liu Jianjian there, the team should be safe enough. I need to take the Star Anise Tree back to the valley and plant it first.’
Without the team to slow him down, Zhu Ge made it back to the valley in a single night and planted the tree.
He gave Zhu Sisi a few casual instructions before returning to the group without a moment’s delay.
"Palace Master Zhu!" "Palace Master Zhu!" The Soldiers greeted Zhu Ge one after another when they saw him.
The morning light shone on Zhu Ge’s smiling face.
Yu the Scholar came up to greet him, looking him up and down. "Off on a secret rendezvous with Hua Xiaomei?"
CRACK!
A wisp of red mist surged from Zhu Ge’s body and lashed out like a whip at Yu the Scholar, but it was blocked by his protective Literary Energy.
"Just a joke, just a joke," Yu the Scholar said quickly.
"Haha, that’s what you get for running your mouth." Zhu Ge laughed. "You have no idea. I snatched something good while I was out."
"Something good?" Yu the Scholar raised an eyebrow. "I faintly sensed a big fight over in that direction. I imagine it had something to do with you?"
"Yep, it was related to me. I stole a tree." Zhu Ge patted his grass bowl. "The Star Anise Tree. I pulled it right out by the roots."
Yu the Scholar was stunned for a moment, then shook his head. "You wouldn’t even spare the tree?"
"The tree is more valuable than the fruit," Zhu Ge said, his eyes filled with mirth. "Once you eat the fruit, it’s gone. But if the tree survives, it’ll bear fruit every year—though it only ripens once every three hundred years."
Yu the Scholar was speechless. "It ripens every three hundred years? Can you afford to wait that long?"
"I can afford to wait!" Zhu Ge grinned. "Besides, that’s under normal circumstances."
"But I have a special method!"
Zhu Ge was overjoyed.
He hadn’t thought much of it when the fruit was ripening, but the moment he stored the tree in his grass bowl, he accidentally discovered a world-shaking secret.
"What method?" Yu the Scholar raised an eyebrow.
Zhu Ge opened his hand, revealing a small, jet-black pebble:
"The method is... to sow a tree and reap a bug!"