Chapter 1237 1235: Miracle Fruit

Ling Ruo clutched his chest and, under everyone's watchful eyes, directly spat out two mouthfuls of blood. His face couldn't help but turn much uglier.

At the same time, he no longer had any strength to stand up.

"I spared you only for the Valley Master's face. If you keep nagging on and on, don't blame me for not being polite. Even though you're a woman, as long as you touch my bottom line, I won't spare you just because you're a woman!"

Wang Zhan left those words coldly, then his figure went straight up into midair.

Everyone present hurriedly helped Ling Ruo up, then took him away from this area. They definitely didn't want to linger here any longer; if Wang Zhan suddenly changed his mind, he would not only make a move against Ling Ruo, even most of the people present would hardly be spared.

When that time came, things would become terrible.

Wang Zhan stared as their backs gradually disappeared, and only then did the corner of his mouth reveal a satisfied smile. Looks like this self-injury ruse really did succeed; no one suspected what exactly might be here. They only thought he was planning to kill Ling Ruo in this place.

Thinking about it again, that makes sense. This is a remote deep forest, indeed a great place to kill someone.

On the other side.

Just now, Sword Spirit and Fire Qilin were also in the crowd. Naturally, they had noticed what was happening over here, but now they were following the crowd and leaving together.

They clearly had no intention of stepping forward to disturb Wang Zhan.

Fire Qilin's gaze landed on Sword Spirit. The corner of his mouth curved into a faint smile, and then he spoke directly: "What do you think that guy is trying to hide? He's obviously putting on an act here, yet those people didn't notice a thing. But I know very well—how could Wang Zhan possibly bully the weak?"

The gap between Wang Zhan and Ling Ruo is huge, so Ling Ruo simply isn't Wang Zhan's match, and has no chance of contending with Wang Zhan at all.

And Wang Zhan would never make a move against this kind of opponent. All along, Wang Zhan has always sought out opponents stronger than himself to fight, in order to raise his own strength as quickly as possible. Fire Qilin and Sword Spirit, though they've been following by Wang Zhan's side for some time, have also come to understand him at least a little.

So there must be something fishy behind this.

The corner of Sword Spirit's mouth also lifted into a smile. He chuckled and nodded, then spoke again: "Maybe it's because Wang Zhan discovered something, and Ling Ruo should be someone who's investigating the situation around here together with him. They don't want the others to know what exactly they're busy with, so they staged this scene in front of everyone."

"It's not just because I understand Wang Zhan. Ling Ruo's acting is simply too poor; the traces of performance are far too obvious. That's why I'm suspicious, and why I don't believe Wang Zhan would really make a move at a time like this."

"Since Wang Zhan didn't ask the two of us for help, it's probably because he can handle it on his own. So we don't need to worry about anything for Wang Zhan. It's enough to quietly take care of the tasks in our hands."

Fire Qilin beside him nodded along, and in the end said nothing more. Very soon, he and Sword Spirit were already back in their room.

And because Ling Ruo was heavily injured, he was brought into Elixir Valley and arranged in a room.

People came in an unending stream, all of them trying to persuade Ling Ruo not to keep opposing Wang Zhan. After all, Wang Zhan's strength is right there for all to see, and with only Ling Ruo's strength, how could he possibly be Wang Zhan's match?

In the end he would only be making trouble for himself, even simply inviting humiliation—nothing more.

But Ling Ruo kept ignoring them, as if he had firmly settled his resolve. In fact, this was only going through the motions, playing along with the act.

Yet most of the people never doubted anything, and finally left one after another.

Meanwhile, in the back mountain, Wang Zhan still stood where he was, never leaving. Holding the Ninefold Thunder Sound Tower in his hand, he glanced toward the cave, hesitated for a moment, and in the end still entered the Thunder Sound Tower.

He had already pinned all his hopes on the spirit beast, the Soul-Suppressing Beast. If he wanted to figure out what was inside the cave, perhaps only the Soul-Suppressing Beast could help.

At the instant Wang Zhan stepped into the Ninefold Thunder Sound Tower, he felt a fierce attack surging toward him. Fortunately, Wang Zhan's reaction speed was extremely fast; after swiftly dodging that person's strike, he was already standing off to the side.

In fact, even without looking at the attacker, Wang Zhan already knew who had made the move.

Who else could it be but the Soul-Suppressing Beast?

He was now the master of the Ninefold Thunder Sound Tower, so some of the creatures here wouldn't take the initiative to attack Wang Zhan, whereas the Soul-Suppressing Beast harbored boundless hatred toward Wang Zhan, so naturally it wouldn't let him off easily.

Now that it was actually seeing Wang Zhan again, of course it had no intention of letting him leave so easily.

Wang Zhan folded his arms and glanced at the Soul-Suppressing Beast standing in front of him, then spoke calmly, "Don't be in a rush to make a move on me. This is my turf, after all. Even if I'm not your match, getting out of here is not exactly difficult. When that happens, you'll still be stuck here, continuing to taste this endless darkness!"

"You just threw out some ruthless words, even wanted to smash the Ninefold Thunder Sound Tower. I assume you've already tried that long ago. With your strength, how could you possibly break the Ninefold Thunder Sound Tower? Let alone walk out of it safe and sound!"

Beside him, the Soul-Suppressing Beast's face was extremely ugly. It hadn't expected Wang Zhan to see right through its thoughts. It frowned at Wang Zhan for quite a while before finally speaking, word by word, "Just say it, kid. What did you come here for? Don't tell me you only wanted to strut in front of me? If that's really the case, then I'll give you a piece of advice: you'd better hurry up and get the hell out of here!"

"I only want to know what that fruit actually is. I've never seen such a miraculous fruit before, and I've never seen such a huge Sky-reaching Ancient Tree either. So the whole thing is indeed a bit strange. Naturally I need to ask you and get things clear. Judging from the way you look, you should be extremely familiar with that thing, so stop hiding it already. Maybe once you've told me the whole truth, I'll consider letting you go."

Wang Zhan didn't hide anything and simply said a couple of sentences.

The Soul-Suppressing Beast clenched its teeth hard. It didn't respond to Wang Zhan's words, instead staring coldly at him for a long moment before finally speaking, word by word, "You bastard, you really touched that fruit? You took it away?"

"I can't let anyone else discover those things, so naturally I have to take them away. Otherwise they'll fall into someone else's hands, and things will only get more troublesome."

Wang Zhan hadn't actually taken the fruit, but that's still what he said, hoping to lull the Soul-Suppressing Beast in front of him.

The Soul-Suppressing Beast's expression was extremely grim. It squeezed its fists tight for quite a while before finally gritting its teeth and speaking, word by word, "You damned bastard! I've been guarding here for over a hundred years, just to wait for the miracle fruit to ripen. As long as I held out a few more years, that miracle fruit would mature, and I'd be able to instantly use it to boost my strength!"

"I might even be able to enter a higher-level plane!"

"But I never thought you, you bastard, would ruin all my plans, and now you've even taken the fruit? Before it ripens, even if you completely consume it, it won't have any effect. It's no different from an ordinary fruit!"

"You bastard, do you know what you've done? I want nothing more than to kill you right now!"

The Soul-Suppressing Beast kept letting out ferocious roars, enough to show the resentment in its heart.

Wang Zhan now understood what the thing was for. He touched his chin, then spoke with a faint smile, "So that thing is called the miracle fruit? Since it'll take a few more years to fully ripen, looks like I need to stay here for a few more years, wait for those fruits to mature, and then take them away!"

"Thanks for speaking so frankly. I won't stick around any longer."

"But you can rest easy. Once I've taken all those fruits, I'll let you go. So during this time, you'd better cultivate your temperament properly and use this period to improve your strength. At least that way you won't be wasting your years."

Just as Wang Zhan was about to leave, the Soul-Suppressing Beast's eyes suddenly lit up. It hurriedly looked at Wang Zhan and quickly said, "You mean you didn't destroy the miracle fruit?"

"I'm not an idiot. And I could tell the miracle fruit definitely hadn't matured. If it really had, how could you still hang it on the tree? Are you trying to invite others to come snatch it? So taken altogether, I naturally had to leave the miracle fruit on the tree, then learn its effects from your mouth!"

"Luckily you didn't let me down. Since you really told me everything, although you've got a bit of a temper, you're actually kind of cute sometimes."

Wang Zhan spoke with a beaming smile, clearly taking advantage and still acting smug.

But this time the Soul-Suppressing Beast didn't fly into a rage. Its eyes turned slightly, then it quickly spoke again, "I'm wondering if we can make a deal. I promise you won't get the short end of it!"

Hmm?

Wang Zhan raised his brows slightly, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes, then asked, "All right, tell me, what exactly do you want to do?"

"Let me give it some thought. Maybe we really do have a chance to work together?"

"Your strength is right here for all to see, and I'm the type who treasures talent!"