Chapter 3703: Harvest

She didn't know where these wind blades came from. Although Ning Shu had the help of her spiritual consciousness, one of her arms was still chopped off by a wind blade.

Hiss.

It fucking hurt.

It was as if her soul was being torn apart. Ning Shu used her soul power to condense an arm, but the soul power making up that arm was gone.

Before even finding the soul-nourishing fruit, she had already lost so much. It felt like her losses outweighed her gains.

Ning Shu had an arm chopped off, but some people were sliced in half at the waist and lost more than half of their soul power. Their souls immediately became faint and thin.

Paying such a huge price yet still continuing the search meant this soul-nourishing fruit really was extremely precious.

Some people took out magical artifacts to defend against the damage. Braving the injuries from the wind blades, the group continued to move forward.

With the help of her spiritual consciousness, Ning Shu could predict the incoming trajectories of these wind blades ahead of time, but because there were so many, it was inevitable that she would get hurt.

However, none of this could stop the group from moving forward. They didn't even think about retreating. In the end, after enduring an unknown number of wind blades, the group saw a tree.

This was a towering tree. Several people linking arms wouldn't be able to encircle its trunk. The tree was laden with fruit. There were green fruits and red fruits, each about the size of a jujube1.

"Soul-nourishing fruit." Everyone was incredibly excited. They had finally made it here. This was the soul-nourishing fruit they had been looking for.

The soul-nourishing fruit tree seemed highly productive. The fruits weighed heavily on the branches and carried a faint fragrance. Ning Shu nearly drooled upon smelling it. Evidently, her soul deeply coveted the soul-nourishing fruit.

"Remember not to pick the green soul-nourishing fruits. The green ones are unripe and highly poisonous. Only pick the mature ones," a man said to Ning Shu.

Ning Shu hummed in acknowledgment. Seeing the others fly toward the fruit tree, Ning Shu released her spiritual power to scan the area, checking for any danger nearby. There were plenty of soul-nourishing fruits on the tree. The towering tree had lush foliage and an abundance of fruits, so she wasn't worried about these people picking them all.

Only after confirming there was no danger around did Ning Shu fly over to pick the soul-nourishing fruits.

Ning Shu chose to pick the red ones. The soul-nourishing fruit felt refreshingly cool in her hand, brimming with vitality.

She wondered what on earth the soul-nourishing fruit tree absorbed to be able to grow such fruits.

"Ah…"

Ning Shu was in the middle of picking fruits when she heard someone scream. She hurriedly used her spiritual consciousness to take a look, only to see that the fruit tree had actually extended transparent, soul-like tentacles and entangled someone.

The soul of the entangled person began to dim. These transparent tentacles were actually absorbing their soul.

Immediately after, the entire tree extended a dense mass of tentacles, attempting to entangle everyone.

Ning Shu manifested a blade in her hand and directly chopped off the tentacles reaching toward her.

These tentacles looked transparent and fragile, but they were actually incredibly tough. Ning Shu had to hack at them twice before managing to sever them.

Moreover, Ning Shu felt that these tentacles were actually made of soul power. To think a tree possessed so much soul power.

"Let's go." Ning Shu felt it was highly unlikely they could pick any more soul-nourishing fruits. The reason the fruit tree hadn't made a single movement at the beginning was to lower people's guard.

Coupled with the abundance of soul-nourishing fruits, human greed clouded their minds, making them only think about picking more fruits.

Ning Shu immediately distanced herself from the soul-nourishing fruit tree. She felt that this tree had already developed intelligence.

The soul-nourishing fruit tree's tentacles extended incredibly far. Even though Ning Shu's group was running away, the tentacles continued to chase after them.

Ning Shu used her soul power to condense a large broadsword and slashed at the incoming tentacles.

The severed tentacles dissipated, but many more came swarming over.

Ning Shu sprinted frantically. She absolutely couldn't let those tentacles entangle her. Otherwise, she would become fertilizer for the soul-nourishing fruit tree.

Earlier, Ning Shu had been wondering why there was no danger at all around the soul-nourishing fruits. As it turned out, the fruit tree itself was the greatest danger.

When they ran back to the area with the wind blades, countless wind blades shot toward them again. A wind blade grazed Ning Shu's face, nearly slicing it in half, but it healed in an instant.

Holy crap!

She only wanted to pick a fruit, so why was it so dangerous? She nearly became the fruit tree's fertilizer.

Ning Shu wasn't actually that afraid of being chopped by the wind blades, but she was terrified of being entangled by those soul tentacles. Once entangled, there was no way to break free. So far, three people had already been caught by the tentacles, and those tentacles were directly absorbing their souls.

Ning Shu felt the soul-nourishing fruits must be bait used by this tree to fish for prey. People like them who hoped to obtain the soul-nourishing fruits ended up becoming the prey of the soul-nourishing fruit tree.

The group sprinted the entire way, throwing out all sorts of magical artifacts. They ran very far, presumably exceeding the maximum range of the tentacles, so the tentacles stopped extending toward them.

Ning Shu and the few remaining people ran out of the Wind Gorge. Everyone's souls had become faint and thin.

They had gone to pick a few fruits, but she didn't know if they would be enough to make up for these soul losses.

Ning Shu sat on the ground and took out the bright red, jujube-like things. She now understood why the soul-nourishing fruit could strengthen souls. It was because the soul-nourishing fruit tree absorbed souls, so the fruits it bore contained soul power.

Ning Shu sensed it for a moment. Although it contained pure soul power and a trace of life force, to be honest, there really wasn't much of it.

Fortunately, Ning Shu had picked quite a few. She stored them away one by one as she picked them, so she basically hadn't dropped a single one.

She felt fantastic. It wasn't a waste of all her hard work.

There had been eight people when they went in, but now there were only five left. Furthermore, the souls of the survivors had all become faint.

The man who had asked Ning Shu to team up earlier walked over and asked her, "How many did you pick?"

Ning Shu took out five fruits and said, "The other fruits all fell."

The man from the team took the five fruits from Ning Shu's hands, and then Ning Shu noticed that the others only took out one or two fruits.

Ning Shu: …

Taking out five fruits was actually too many.

Ning Shu certainly didn't believe these people only had one or two fruits.

In the end, everyone split them equally, and Ning Shu actually only received two fruits.

Ning Shu: !!!

She handed over five, but now she only got back two.

Ning Shu was somewhat speechless. Forget it. She would just treat the other three as payment for these people leading the way.

Ning Shu directly ate the two fruits. She felt a comforting aura and soul power flood into her body.

Earlier, Ning Shu was a little hesitant to eat them, afraid that the soul power inside wouldn't be very pure. But it was actually very pure. Unfortunately, there wasn't much soul power. Doing tasks was still a faster way for her to gain soul power.

However, it had the additional effect of making the soul tougher. If a normal soul could be blown apart by a gust of wind, eating this would solidify it into a tofu-like state. Although it wasn't tough enough to not shatter upon impact, it at least wouldn't be scattered by a mere breeze.