Chapter 34: Ten-Thousand-Year Life Fruit

Jiuyou’s divine sense locked onto a three-hundred-year Life-Extending Fruit ahead. His figure flickered, and he vanished from the spot.

The next moment, he had already appeared before the fruit, reaching out and plucking it in one smooth motion.

The instant the fruit left the branch, the multicolored glow that had been slowly converging around it suddenly dissipated, as if some invisible connection had been severed.

The breathtaking splendor on the fruit’s surface gradually faded, eventually taking on the shape of an oval the size of a palm. Inside, a pool of condensed light flowed slowly, like a living thing.

“So this is the Life-Extending Fruit.”

Jiuyou let out a low, awed sigh, bringing the fruit close to his nose for a gentle sniff. A sweet, fragrant aroma, laced with soothing spiritual energy, instantly flooded his nostrils, making his entire body feel refreshed and even dispelling some of the exhaustion from days of travel.

He nodded in satisfaction and stored the fruit in his Storage Pouch. His divine sense swept outward, instantly locking onto two more century-old Life-Extending Fruits nearby. His figure flashed several times, and in the span of a few breaths, he had collected them all.

At the same time, above the center of the Heavenly Abyss Sacred Tree, an overwhelming pressure radiated outward in waves. Countless strands of powerful mana clashed and intertwined in midair, sending spiritual light exploding in all directions with thunderous booms. The entire sky was churned into a stormy chaos, the spiritual energy becoming a turbulent mess.

The so-called alliances, the so-called cooperation—all turned to nothing before a mere nine thousand-year Life-Extending Fruits.

About twenty Nascent Soul cultivators each harbored their own schemes, sometimes joining forces to gang up on others, then turning on each other with wary vigilance the next second. Two people who had fought side by side one moment might be drawing blades against each other over a single fruit the very next.

Even so, most were not going all out.

With so many Nascent Soul cultivators watching with hungry eyes, anyone who used their full strength and suffered severe injuries would instantly become prey in the eyes of the others, losing all chance at competing for the Life-Extending Fruits. Everyone was holding back, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

The Golden Core cultivators on the periphery could no longer sit still.

They dared not covet the nine thousand-year fruits, but the century-old Life-Extending Fruits on the outer edges were exactly what they had come for.

No one knew who charged out first, but in the next instant, dozens of streaks of light moved in unison, diving toward various spots on the outer periphery of the Heavenly Abyss Sacred Tree.

In an instant, the chaos intensified. All colors of spiritual light filled the sky, the sounds of spells clashing echoed endlessly, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth churned so violently that even vision became blurred.

From time to time, Golden Core cultivators fell from the sky, blood spilling across the void.

Jiuyou hovered in midair, his gaze slowly sweeping across the crowd locked in battle.

Suddenly, his eyes stopped at one spot, and his pupils contracted.

In the distance, an old man in green robes was locked in fierce combat.

With a wave of his hand, the old man released a special magic artifact from his palm. It grew larger with the wind, instantly transforming into a massive green mountain that shrouded an area hundreds of feet wide.

Within that mountain, countless emerald-green vines shot out like frenzied snakes, breaking through all obstacles as they lashed wildly toward an Early Nascent Soul cultivator from the Demonic Path Alliance.

That Early Nascent cultivator was not to be outdone. A treasure box appeared in his hand, opening and closing in quick succession. From within, countless sharp sword beams shot forth, slashing fiercely against the green vines in a continuous cacophony of cracking explosions.

“Hehe, Old Ghost Qingshan…”

Jiuyou curled his lips into a sinister, cold smile.

His figure flickered, transforming into a pitch-black streak of light that shot straight upward. The Nether Capital Ghostfire in his hand blazed to life, its ghostly blue flames dancing and freezing the surrounding air into fine frost.

Jiuyou raised his hand and slapped it toward his side, and a ghostly blue skull emerged from the green mist.

He infused the Nether Capital Ghostfire into it, and the skull instantly swelled, growing larger and larger until it was a hundred feet wide. Its eye sockets blazed with fierce blue flames, and it opened its massive maw, charging savagely toward Old Ghost Qingshan.

Old Ghost Qingshan’s divine sense suddenly twitched; he felt a chill run down his back. Turning to look, his body tensed, and his expression changed drastically.

“Jiuyou, you old demon, you’re asking for death!”

He bellowed, his figure spinning sharply in midair. Countless vines materialized out of thin air, intertwining and wrapping around each other with a sharp, piercing intent as they met the ghostly blue skull head-on.

Boom!

The two collided violently, sending spiritual light exploding and shockwaves surging outward.

Those vines, eroded by the Nether Capital Ghostfire, were instantly frozen and shattered, crumbling into brittle ice. Old Ghost Qingshan’s figure wavered, retreating several steps. A surge of energy roiled in his chest, and a mouthful of blood rushed to his throat, which he forcibly swallowed back down.

“Many thanks for your aid, Daoist Jiuyou!”

The Demonic Path Alliance Early Nascent Soul cultivator who had been fighting Old Ghost Qingshan rushed forward. In his hand, a blood-red cape had appeared from somewhere. With a flick of his wrist, the cape unfurled in the air and shot toward Old Ghost Qingshan in an instant, wrapping tightly around his entire form.

“Damn it! Jiuyou, you old fiend! Once this matter is settled, I will have no rest until you are dead!”

Old Ghost Qingshan clenched his teeth, feeling the blood-red cape tightening around him. A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes.

A flash of green light gleamed in his gaze.

Then, one leaf, two leaves, countless green leaves materialized out of thin air, wrapping him entirely within them. This was clearly a defensive artifact of no small power. The leaves, infused with mana, were as sharp as blades, cutting at the blood-red cape again and again with a harsh, grating screech.

Seeing the situation turn unfavorable, the Demonic Path cultivator quickly turned to look at where Jiuyou had been, opening his mouth to shout.

“Daoist Jiuyou—”

Before he could finish, he froze.

The spot where Jiuyou had been was completely empty. There was no trace of him anywhere.

Hundreds of feet away, in a hidden corner.

Jiuyou’s aura had been condensed to the extreme, and even his face seemed shrouded in a thin mist, flickering in and out of visibility.

He had long since used the face-altering technique he obtained from the Nascent Soul cultivator’s remains on that nameless island, perfectly concealing his form in the shadows.

This technique was exceptionally mysterious; even if a Mid-Nascent Soul cultivator swept their divine sense over him carefully, they would never discover his tracks.

His motive for making a move was simple: to make sure Old Ghost Qingshan had a bad time. If he could inflict a severe injury in one blow, completely disqualifying him from competing for the Life-Extending Fruits, that would be ideal.

But whether he succeeded or not, he was never going to stay in the same spot.

That old fiend Qingshan had held a mortal grudge against him for hundreds of years. Now, with his lifespan nearly spent, if the old bastard was pushed too far, he might just throw caution to the wind and try to take Jiuyou down with him. With so many Nascent Soul cultivators present, Jiuyou wasn’t foolish enough to stand there waiting for him.

He watched the distant chaos coldly, his gaze slowly sweeping over various parts of the Heavenly Abyss Sacred Tree.

Suddenly, his eyes stopped.

In the far distance behind the Heavenly Abyss Sacred Tree, an unremarkable stone platform stood silently.

That was one of the teleportation arrays for leaving Heavenly Abyss Mountain. Once all the Life-Extending Fruits were picked, the array would activate on its own. Stepping into it would teleport a person to a random location within five hundred li of Heavenly Abyss Mountain.

Jiuyou silently noted that location in his mind.

Right then.

A sudden change occurred.

The Heavenly Abyss Sacred Tree began to tremble violently, shaking from its roots to its crown, as if something was about to burst out from deep within its core. The spiritual light flowing through the trunk suddenly turned wild, surging and roaring with a deafening rumble.

All the Nascent Soul cultivators locked in battle gradually came to a stop.

Everyone felt the anomaly.

“What’s going on?”

“What’s happening to the Heavenly Abyss Sacred Tree?”

Someone exclaimed in a low, shocked voice.

Everyone’s gaze was locked onto the very center of the tree’s crown, where the nine thousand-year Life-Extending Fruits were located.

Jiuyou also looked up, his aged eyes narrowing.

There, in the center of the nine thousand-year fruits, a crack suddenly split open on the trunk. The crack grew wider and wider, like an eye that had been sealed shut for ten thousand years slowly opening.

A wave of spiritual energy so dense it was suffocating erupted from the crack, carrying with it a life force that was unprecedented.

The intensity of that life force was so great that all the Nascent Soul cultivators present involuntarily took half a step back.

The light blazed brilliantly.

A dazzling, multicolored beam shot up from the crack, piercing the clouds and dyeing the entire sky in a riot of radiant colors.

In the center of that radiance, a fruit, entirely crystalline and sparkling with seven-colored light, slowly emerged from the crack.

It was only the size of a fist, yet it seemed to contain an entire world.

On the surface of the fruit, layer upon layer of spiritual light rippled outward like waves. With each ripple, even denser spiritual energy spread outward. The medicinal fragrance was no longer just sweet—it was an instinctual, almost primal craving that made one’s very soul tremble.

A ten-thousand-year Life-Extending Fruit?

Jiuyou’s pupils contracted sharply.

He had lived for over eight hundred years, read countless ancient texts, and had never seen—nor even heard of—Heavenly Abyss Mountain producing a ten-thousand-year grade Life-Extending Fruit.

This completely defied everyone’s understanding.

“Could this be… a ten-thousand-year… Life-Extending Fruit?!”

Someone cried out in shock, their voice trembling.

Silence.

A deathly silence.

All the Nascent Soul cultivators stared blankly at the seven-colored fruit floating in the air, disbelief filling their eyes.

The next moment—

Everyone’s breathing grew heavy.

A thousand-year Life-Extending Fruit was certainly precious, but not enough to make Nascent Soul cultivators completely tear off all pretenses. But a ten-thousand-year Life-Extending Fruit…

That was no longer just a matter of extending life by a hundred years.

That was a supreme treasure that could drive even a Late Nascent Soul Grand Cultivator mad with desire!

Jiuyou’s gaze was fixed firmly on that fruit, his thoughts racing.

A sudden idea flashed through his mind—those Eighth-Rank Demon Beasts he had encountered earlier.

The Ice Flood Python, the Ice Spirit Eagle, the Cold Lizards on the Frozen Path… those low-intelligence exotic beasts shouldn’t have appeared on the paths. Their numbers were too many, but they didn’t seem placed there to block cultivators. Instead, it felt more like…

They were guarding something.

Guarding this ten-thousand-year Life-Extending Fruit.

A flicker of dark light moved in Jiuyou’s eyes, and his heart suddenly tightened. He instinctively touched the Little Green Bottle hidden in his robes, then withdrew his hand without making a sound.

No one noticed him.

Everyone’s attention was on that ten-thousand-year Life-Extending Fruit.

“Hahaha, it really is a ten-thousand-year Life-Extending Fruit!”

Fang Wuji’s voice rang out from the sky, his golden light blazing and sword intent soaring to the heavens.

“I, Fang Wuji, will have this fruit!”

The moment he finished speaking, the golden greatsword in his hand expanded violently, transforming into a hundred-foot sword beam that shot straight toward the ten-thousand-year fruit.

“Dream on!”

Blood Sea True Person snorted coldly. The blood-colored whale-kun phantom behind him suddenly expanded several times over, its bloody light flooding the sky as it charged directly at the sword beam.

Boom!

The full-force collision of two Mid-Nascent Soul cultivators sent shockwaves shattering the nearby floating islands into pieces. Several Golden Core cultivators who hadn’t retreated in time were coughing up blood on the spot, fleeing in disarray.

That one strike was like lighting a powder keg.

All twenty or so Nascent Soul cultivators moved at once.

None would yield to anyone.

The nine thousand-year fruits had yet to be claimed, and now a ten-thousand-year fruit had appeared. This was no longer a competition—this was a fight for their lives.

Jiuyou, however, did not move.

He remained hidden in the shadows, watching the chaotic slaughter coldly. His eyes quietly rested on that ten-thousand-year Life-Extending Fruit, on its vast, sea-like radiance, on the many Nascent Soul cultivators fighting for it.

His brow furrowed slightly, his eyes shifting as he pondered something. After a long moment, he murmured softly to himself.

“Ten thousand years… Quite the grand spectacle.”