The insect fog silently enveloped Yang Kai as the Golden Crow True Fire burst into flames, igniting the insect fog. In an instant, crackling sounds filled the air as the insect fog transformed into a cloud of fire, burning the insects to ashes.
The road ahead was filled with many dangers. Not only was there the bombardment of lightning from the void, but there was also the disturbance of the insect clouds, as well as many unimaginable dangers.
The ground suddenly split open, revealing a deep abyss that swallowed all the cultivators and quietly took their lives. Some people didn’t even know when their companions had disappeared, but when they turned around, they were all alone, causing their hair to stand on end.
Thousands of cultivators had rushed into this mountain, but in less than an incense stick’s worth of time, twenty to thirty percent of them had died. Moreover, the higher one went up the mountain, the more dangerous it became, and the more frequent the crisist came.
Yang Kai had been hit several times, but thanks to his solid foundation, he had managed to survive.
However, other cultivators were not so lucky. Whether it was lightning or insect cloud, none of them were easy to resist.
When they reached halfway up the mountain, the number of people had sharply decreased. Those who still had the courage to continue forward were either extremely confident in their own strength, or had the mentality of entering a treasure mountain and not returning empty-handed.
Xiang Ying and the young man who had obtained A’ Ku were far in the lead, while Xu Zhen was a bit behind. It wasn’t that Xu Zhen’s strength was inferior to the two of them, it was just that everyone had their own strengths and weaknesses. The Purple Bamboo in Xiang Ying’s hand was able to destroy all techniques, and with a single strike, it was enough to destroy the lightning and scatter the insects.
The methods of the young man who had obtained A' Ku were also quite extraordinary. Yang Kai suspected that he was the Bearer chosen by some Holy Spirit, but this person had not shown himself, so he was unable to figure out his background.
And this was only on the surface. How many Bearer were hidden underwater?
After all, Yang Kai had seen more than fifty Holy Spirits before, each of which had its own Bearer, so there were at least fifty of them.
The short man was still nowhere to be seen.
As Yang Kai walked forward, he looked around for him.
A ray of light suddenly lit up a short distance in front of them. When the light first appeared, it was extremely weak, but in the blink of an eye, it became as bright as day. A terrifying aura spread out from the light, and with a crackling sound, the lightning snake began to wildly dance around the light.
Pu Baixiong shouted, “Be careful!”
Yang Kai stretched out his hand and grabbed forward, his Space Laws fluctuating wildly as he raised his hand.
With a loud bang, a thunderstorm exploded high up in the sky, covering a radius of a thousand feet. Within that radius of a thousand feet, even space itself collapsed, forming a giant black hole.
Yang Kai sucked in a breath of cold air, thinking to himself that he had been lucky. Fortunately, he had sensed that something was wrong and had teleported this thunderstorm into the air, otherwise if it had really exploded in front of him, even his half-dragon body would not have been able to withstand it.
Letting out a sigh, Yang Kai raised his head and looked towards the peak of the mountain, his eyes filled with doubt.
When he was at the foot of the mountain, he had already felt a subtle World Force aura pervading the mountain. After entering the mountain, this feeling became clearer.
This made him somewhat confused.
In the Great Ruins Boundary, even the strength of the Holy Spirits was greatly suppressed, and the small universe in the Open Heaven Stage's body was completely sealed. Logically speaking, it was impossible for such a thing to exist.
However, this place did.
Where did this World Force come from?
Yang Kai could sense that the source of this World Force was the old tree on the mountaintop. What surprised him even more was that this World Force was very complex, as if it was formed from countless different types.
“Grape, are you sure that thing is the Innate Fruit Tree?” Yang Kai asked as he walked forward.
Pu Baixiong sat on his shoulder, his two legs formed from roots swaying about as he casually said, “I don’t know what 'Innate' is, but if you want to find a fruit tree, I know there is one here.”
Yang Kai was speechless.
From the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, it was only a thousand zhang. Normally, any cultivator would be able to cover this distance in an instant, but in this mountain, it took more than two hours.
The first to reach the top of the mountain was Xiang Ying. He did not rush to snatch the Spirit Fruit but instead stood under the tree and looked up with a stunned expression.
The second one was the young man who had captured A' Ku. As soon as this fellow came up, Xiang Ying pulled away from him.
All the cultivators who had come up the mountain with this guy had all died, which was a bad omen.
The third was Xu Zhen.
Yang Kai was the fourth to rush up, and soon after, Ding Yi and the Emperor Heaven's group also arrived at the top of the mountain. Behind them, the scattered cultivators finally arrived.
Yang Kai couldn’t find any trace of the short man, but he could sense that he was hiding somewhere. It was just that the suppression of his Divine Sense was too strong, making it difficult for him to find him.
Everyone stared at this fruit tree in a daze. The crown of this fruit tree was massive, covering the sky and earth, and on its branches hung a number of spirit fruits. These spirit fruits weren’t big, only about the size of a fist, but they were crystal clear and beautiful.
“This is…” Xu Zhen stared at the fruit tree in front of him, a thoughtful look flashing across his eyes.
“This is not the Innate Fruit Tree!” Xiang Ying suddenly said.
Yang Kai nodded. He hadn’t noticed it at the foot of the mountain, but when he saw this fruit tree, he immediately realized that something was wrong. This was definitely not the Innate Fruit Tree, at least it wasn’t the one the Holy Spirits were looking for.
This was because the Holy Spirits had said that there was only one Spirit Fruit on the Innate Fruit Tree, and only one could be picked. Every time the Unaging Land opened, it would be like this. After the Spirit Fruit was plucked, the Innate Fruit Tree would disappear, and the Spirit Fruit was the key to whether or not they could escape!
There were more than a hundred Spirit Fruits on this fruit tree in front of him. There were thousands of them.
Spirit Fruits hung from the branches one after another, attracting everyone’s attention, and from these Spirit Fruits, there was a faint World Force.
The World Force Yang Kai had previously felt originated from these spirit fruits.
The World Force contained within the Spirit Fruit was simply unimaginable.
“Hahaha, with so many Spirit Fruits, each of us can pick a few,” Ding Yi laughed. Although four or five thousand people had rushed into the mountain, there were only a few hundreds people who had successfully reached the top. There were at least two or three thousand Spirit Fruits on this fruit tree, so even if several hundred people divided them evenly, each of them would be able to obtain a few.
Although he didn’t know what kind of uses these spirit fruits had, just by looking at their charm, he could tell that they had extraordinary effects.
However, no one dared to act rashly in the face of such a precious treasure, lest they attract the attention of others.
However, Ding Yi didn’t care about this and ordered one of his subordinates, “Go, pick one and taste it!”
The man’s expression became bitter, but he could only grit his teeth and step forward, leaping onto a tree trunk.
Looking down, he saw that everyone was staring at him, no one had any intention of attacking, so he relaxed.
He knew that the people below probably wanted him to be a pathfinder. If picking the Spirit Fruit wasn’t dangerous, then in the next moment, everyone would be fighting over it.
With a silent prayer, he raised his hand and grabbed a Spirit Fruit. It felt cool to the touch, but just as he was about to pluck this Spirit Fruit, a sudden change occurred. In front of everyone’s eyes, this person suddenly disappeared.
Ding Yi’s eyes bulged as he exclaimed, “Where is he?”
Yang Kai also wore a solemn expression. His eyes were fixed on the person just now, but he didn’t notice how he had disappeared, as if he had disappeared into thin air.
Seeing this scene, many people showed looks of relief. This Spirit Fruit was obviously a huge risk. Fortunately, they weren’t in a hurry to snatch it, otherwise they would have been the ones to suffer.
A look of relief flashed across Xu Zhen’s eyes, as well as a hint of fanaticism, as he let out a loud laugh, “As expected, there really is such a thing in this world. I thought it was just a legend.”
As soon as he said this, everyone turned to look at him.
Xu Zhen came from Divine Cauldron Heaven and had an extraordinary background. Whether it was his knowledge or experience, he far surpassed his peers. After all, the heritage of a Cave Heaven had been passed down for tens of thousands of years, and there were many secrets that ordinary people didn’t know about.
Yang Kai had obtained a lot of information about the Great Ruins Boundary from Xu Zhen.
Seeing his appearance now, it seemed he recognized this strange fruit tree and had seen some related records.
“Little fatty, what do you know? What the hell is this thing? Where did my people go?” Ding Yi hurriedly asked, concerned about the safety of his subordinates.
Xu Zhen glanced at him but didn’t get angry. His temper had always been good, so he simply smiled and said, “Don’t panic, Leader Ding. Your people aren’t in any danger for the time being, he was just eaten by this fruit.”
Ding Yi’s expression changed, “He was eaten by the fruit? Is it not dangerous?”
Xu Zhen chuckled, “It’s good that there’s no danger, but whether he can escape will depend on his own luck. If he can escape, he will obtain a great opportunity, but if he can’t…”
“What if I can’t?”
“Naturally, he’ll be trapped in this fruit for the rest of his life.”
Ding Yi asked solemnly, “This fruit can trap people?”
“Leader Ding shouldn’t underestimate this fruit. This fruit is quite famous,” Xu Zhen chuckled.
A' Ku’s master asked, “Senior Brother, may I ask what this fruit tree is? What is this fruit?”
This was also what everyone wanted to know. With such a precious treasure in front of them, if they couldn’t figure out its origins, they would have a headache. After all, no one dared to rashly lay their hands on that Spirit Fruit.
Xu Zhen didn’t try to hide anything and said solemnly, “If I’m not mistaken, this should be the legendary Three Thousand Worlds Tree!”
“Three thousand Worlds Tree?” Everyone looked at each other in surprise.
Apart from Xu Zhen, no one else present had heard of this.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Martial Peak