Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 779 - 762: News, Dividing the Fruit

The terrain of "Qilin Mountain" is majestic and vast, with the main peak "Qilin Peak" standing over three thousand zhang tall. It's evergreen all year round, with numerous Spirit Wood and Spirit Grass growing on it.

Apart from "Qilin Peak," there are many other Spirit Mountains and Spiritual Lands within the tens of thousands of li of mountain ranges that form Qilin Mountain, all possessing Spirit Veins.

The fellow tribe members of Lu Caixia and three other Demon Kings all dwell in this expansive area.

At this moment, in front of the "Qilin Cliff," which is classified as a forbidden area on Qilin Peak, Zhouyang and his wife have the good fortune to see the rare fruit, the Qilin Vermilion Fruit, mentioned by Lu Caixia.

Due to different cultural understandings of various races, many Spiritual Objects in the cultivation world have overlapping names. Zhouyang had even seen a fruit named Qilin Vermilion Fruit at an auction before.

However, although the spirit fruit he had seen which was also called the Qilin Vermilion Fruit was rare and precious, it wasn't worth a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator fighting over it.

Therefore, when Lu Caixia mentioned that the war between the Demon Race and the Barbaric Alien Race was due to fighting for a rare fruit called the Qilin Vermilion Fruit, he knew this fruit was different from the one he had previously encountered.

Now it seems, he was right in his assumption.

The fruit tree of this rare fruit grows right on the cliff face.

Its roots penetrate deep into the rock face, and its branches grow out from the cliff like an "L" shape. The trunk resembles an ancient pine in the mountain, with scaly bark, and its leaves are large and broad like loquats, jade green.

On the fruit branches between the tree branches and leaves, there are currently twelve large, pale yellow spirit fruits hanging.

The reason they are called Qilin Vermilion Fruit is that the surface of each spirit fruit is enveloped in spiritual light, taking on the appearance of a Qilin.

"This Qilin Vermilion Fruit is quite peculiar. Normally, the number of spirit fruits isn't the same every time, but at least the fruition time is roughly consistent."

"But according to the information I gathered, the Qilin Vermilion Fruit has a highly irregular flowering and fruiting time. Sometimes it takes over three thousand years, while in other instances, just a thousand years will suffice."

"Moreover, it has formed a special symbiotic relationship with the Spirit Vein of Qilin Peak. If anyone tries to transplant it, it will immediately wither away."

Seeing Zhouyang's attention focused on those rare fruits, Lu Caixia softly explained the situation regarding this rare fruit tree.

"Is that so? This is the first time I've heard of such a phenomenon!"

Zhouyang turned back to look at Lu Caixia in surprise, clicking his tongue in wonder.

He didn't doubt that Lu Caixia was deceiving him.

Because this rare fruit tree must have been growing on Qilin Peak for a very long time, and how long had Lu Caixia been there?

If this rare fruit could be transplanted, it would have long been taken by the powerful figures before Lu Caixia, and it wouldn't have been left for her to possess.

Thus, he quashed any thoughts he had about the fruit tree and, under Lu Caixia's invitation, quickly headed to her cave dwelling as a guest.

"Earlier, in the face of danger, I forgot to explain to Fellow Daoist Lu, but my being able to meet you in the Wilderness Jungle was purely an accident and fate, not because of any information from Fellow Daoist Lei Yu regarding your cultivation here that I came purposely to find you."

In the cave dwelling, after taking a sip of Lu Caixia's homemade fruit wine, Zhouyang started clarifying the prior misunderstanding.

On hearing this, Lu Caixia felt a bit awkward.

To ease this awkwardness, she changed the subject, saying: "May I ask how Fellow Daoist Zhou came to be in the depths of this Wilderness Jungle?"

Zhouyang slightly smiled and said: "To be honest with you, Fellow Daoist Lu, I appeared here because I intended to traverse the Wilderness Jungle and reach the Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm, in search of two special spiritual objects."

"Searching for Spiritual Objects? May I know what these Spiritual Objects are, Fellow Daoist Zhou? Could you kindly share with me?"

"There's nothing much to hide, I need a complete Tier Six Tree Demon Heart and a Tier Six Demon Pill with a pure fire attribute True Spirit Bloodline."

Both a Tier Six Tree Demon and a Tier Six Demon King with a pure fire attribute True Spirit Bloodline are of the Demon Race like Lu Caixia.

By right, when hearing a Human Race Cultivator like Zhouyang say such things, even if Lu Caixia were not to show anger, she should at least have an unhappy expression.

But the reality is completely different.

Lu Caixia, after hearing Zhouyang's words, felt no unusual emotions, as if it was perfectly normal.

It is said that cultivators are cold-blooded and selfish, but in terms of cold-blooded selfishness, cultivators are completely outperformed by these Demon Race members and Demon Kings.

Most Demon Kings, except for those with whom they have close ties of interest in the Demon Race or their fellow tribesmen, hold no emotions towards other unknown Demon Kings of the same race.

Let alone only hearing Zhouyang talk about searching for spiritual materials from Demon Kings. Even if Zhouyang invited her to deal with those two Demon Kings, Lu Caixia would most likely not refuse.

She pondered for a moment and then looked at Zhouyang, saying: "Tier Six Tree Demons are extremely rare, and Fellow Daoist Zhou would find it exceedingly difficult to find a living tree demon. However, as for Tier Six Demon Kings bearing the pure fire attribute True Spirit Bloodline, I happen to know of a few."

After speaking, she directly shared the information of the few Demon Kings she knew with Zhouyang.

At this moment, something amusing occurred for Zhouyang.

Among the Demon Kings listed by Lu Caixia, there was Zhu Zizhen, the Vermilion Bird Demon King, residing in Chixia Mountain.

Lu Caixia wasn't aware of his acquaintance with Zhu Zizhen, no wonder such a misunderstanding arose.

Of course, he had no intention of blaming Lu Caixia for this, and was instead quite touched by her sincerity.

Providing information on a Demon King as illustrious and orthodox as Zhu Zizhen implies the reliability of the rest of the Demon Kings on her list.

Immediately, he cupped his hands in thanks and said: "Fellow Daoist Lu, you have spared me countless efforts; I thank you in advance for this."

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, you're too kind. Compared to your gracious assistance, this little help from me is nothing."

As Lu Caixia spoke, she raised her hand and handed a Jade Scroll to Zhouyang, saying: "Since Fellow Daoist Zhou intends to head to the Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm, this map should save you a considerable amount of time. Back then, Lei Yu and I traversed the Wilderness Jungle to travel between Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm and Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm."

This was yet another unexpected pleasant surprise.

Zhouyang quickly thanked and accepted the Jade Scroll, then scanned it with his Divine Sense. Although the information recorded within wasn't as extensive as the maps he previously had, two routes that Lu Caixia had personally traveled were extensively marked with the various dangers along the way.

One of the routes wasn't far from Qilin Peak, and if they took this route, they would likely reach the Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm in about half a year.

The Qilin Vermilion Fruit will mature in three years. Since Lu Caixia has agreed to give half of the spirit fruit to him as compensation for his assistance, there's no reason he can't wait a little longer.

Thus, in the following three years, Zhouyang and his wife temporarily resided on Qilin Peak.

Since Qilin Peak and the surrounding Spirit Mountains produce spirit herbs and elixirs, and Lu Caixia along with the three Demon Kings cannot refine pills, many spirit herbs and elixirs that the Demon Race cannot directly consume to enhance their cultivation have grown for thousands of years.

Upon discovering this, Zhouyang and his wife discussed with Lu Caixia, suggesting that the Demon Race collect these spirit herbs and elixirs and hand them over for alchemy. Half of the refined spirit pills could be kept by the Demon Race.

This was a win-win situation for both parties, and Lu Caixia certainly wouldn't refuse.

She even agreed to Zhouyang's external incarnation collecting Wood Essence Qi in the mountains to cultivate divine techniques.

In the blink of an eye, three years passed.

Zhouyang and his wife, along with Lan Daoist in secret, shut themselves in for alchemy on Qilin Peak for three years, refining dozens of furnaces of Tier Four and Tier Five spirit pills, producing nearly a thousand pills.

Though most of these spirit pills mainly had effects like healing, detoxifying, and body refining, quite a few could enhance cultivation.

To Zhouyang and his wife, the quantity of spirit pills gained wasn't important. What mattered was they improved their alchemy skills significantly by attempting various techniques they hadn't dared to try before, without regard for cost.

Moreover, among the spirit herbs and elixirs collected and offered by the Demon Race, there were always some that couldn't form a core due to the lack of auxiliary spirit herbs, which they openly kept for themselves.

Nevertheless, upon receiving the spirit pills handed over by them, Lu Caixia was extremely satisfied and delighted.

In previous conversations, Zhouyang already understood why Lu Caixia abandoned her secluded life to openly claim a territory and oppose the Barbaric Alien Race.

The reason was quite simple. When Lu Caixia planned to live in seclusion for cultivation in this Wilderness Jungle, she discovered a large group of Spirit Deer that belonged to the same race as her birthplace.

Due to their tender and nourishing meat, these Spirit Deer were the prime hunting targets for nearby Barbaric Alien Race tribes, which led to a continuous decrease in their numbers and forced them into captivity on the vast land, unable to migrate away.

The miserable plight of her kin resonated deeply with Lu Caixia, eventually making her abandon her plans for seclusion and decide to stand up to save the deer herd, preventing a repeat of the tragic events that occurred on Donglai Immortal Island.

The deer herd, under the care of Lu Caixia, the Great Demon King of the Deer Race, had freed themselves from captivity. However, due to the loss of high-tier Deer Demons in past hunts at the hands of the Alien Race, the ratio of Tier Four and Tier Five Demon Beasts compared to the Low-Tier Demon Beasts within the herd was drastically imbalanced.

If Lu Caixia were suddenly absent one day, the deer herd might again fall into captivity.

As a Demon King, Lu Caixia was well aware of this, so she spent almost two hundred years focusing on nurturing the future generation of the Deer Race instead of secluded cultivation.

Now, due to her efforts, a promising new generation had appeared in the deer herd. The spirit pills refined by Zhouyang and his wife were just right to be used in nurturing these younger generations.

As she collected those spirit pills with a joyful face, she looked at Zhouyang and said, "In half a month, the Qilin Vermilion Fruit should fully mature. Would you like to go ahead and wait?"

Upon hearing this, Zhouyang immediately responded with pleasure, "Of course, being able to witness such an extraordinary fruit mature firsthand would be a story to share with other fellow Daoists in the future."

Not only Zhouyang and his wife, but the time of the Qilin Vermilion Fruit's maturity also brought the Iron Bull Demon King and the Rock Horn Demon King to Qilin Cliff for a vigil.

Then, after another half month, the twelve Qilin Vermilion Fruits matured in just one hour.

The phenomena during the maturation of these exotic fruits were quite conspicuous.

As each spirit fruit matured, the Qilin's light phantom, initially formed by a misty spiritual light, would become solid, raise its head, and let out a long cry, then directly dissipate into pure spiritual qi that surged into the spirit fruit.

After absorbing this spiritual qi, the spirit fruit's originally light yellow skin quickly turned golden yellow, emitting a rich fruity aroma.

Pant pant!

The rich aroma spread around Qilin Cliff, causing the Ox Demon and Sheep Demon, who revealed their true forms, to breathe heavily with desire-filled eyes, eager as they looked at the spirit fruits on the tree.

Though Lu Caixia, in her human form, also had passion flashing in her eyes, she managed to control her mind and coldly looked at the Ox Demon and Sheep Demon, saying, "Old Bull, Old Sheep, don't forget our agreement."

Swept by her cold gaze, the Ox Demon and Sheep Demon instantly felt a chill, their greed turning into fear towards Lu Caixia.

The Ox Demon immediately wore a sheepish grin and said, "Naturally, I wouldn't forget. Sister Lu, pick the spirit fruits quickly; I'm eager to taste them!"

"Baa, me too,"

the Sheep Demon bleated, drooling at the mouth with hunger.

Seeing this, Lu Caixia nodded in satisfaction before flying up the tree to pick two spirit fruits and tossed them to the Ox Demon and Sheep Demon.

The two demons reacted almost the same way upon seeing the spirit fruits flying towards them; they caught them in mid-air and swallowed them whole, chewing a few times before gulping them down.

The Qilin Vermilion Fruit was actually quite large, but given the larger body sizes of the two demons, it was like a person eating a small date, hardly filling.

Instinctively, they soon glanced back at the remaining spirit fruits on the tree.

Then they met Lu Caixia's icy, colorful eyes.

"Moo, Sister Lu, enjoy the spirit fruit slowly. I'm heading back to my cave to refine the fruit's medicinal power,"

The Ox Demon shivered and, with a loud call, flew back to its cave on a demon cloud.

"Baa, me too, me too,"

The Sheep Demon echoed, quickly departing Qilin Cliff.

"These two fools still have some sense, knowing when to quit while they're ahead,"

Lu Caixia's cold look softened, and she smiled faintly at Zhouyang and his wife, nodding slightly before picking another four spirit fruits from the tree.

After collecting her shares of the spirit fruits, she returned to the cliff, speaking softly to Zhouyang and his wife, "The Qilin Vermilion Fruit can only be taken up to three times, beyond that it's useless. The remaining six fruits are just for Fellow Daoist Zhou and Fellow Daoist Xiao to share."

"If it's that way, we won't stand on ceremony," 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

said Zhouyang, leaping up the tree to pick the remaining six spirit fruits.