“Eh?” Ji Tianqing was surprised. Every weapon she had brought out was a quality item, and even this spare weapon was grade-eight. Yet, the slash wouldn’t go through this tree?

Ji Tianqing took a deep breath as the thunderous rumble of Excavator echoed throughout her body. She took a step forward with great momentum and slashed ferociously at the tree trunk.

Once again, the combat knife bounced back with a loud clang and almost hit Ji Tianqing’s forehead. She had to go all out just to control the recoil, her finger-webs bleeding from the impact.

The star cherry tree shook violently, and a star cherry dropped down toward Ji Tianqing. By the time the girl had noticed the incoming fruit, there was no more time to evade. All she could do was swing a palm toward the falling fruit. Even if she were poisoned, it would be her hand and not on her body.

It was at this moment that Qianye pressed down on Ji Tianqing’s hand and grabbed the star cherry, tossing it far away.

Qianye felt his palm go numb the moment the fruit landed in his grasp. He withdrew his hand to find a patch of darkness dotted with golden specks, much like the pattern on the star cherry fruit.

Not daring to neglect this development, he quickly channeled the dark golden blood energy to isolate the venom. However, Qianye seemed to have underestimated the toxicity—the dark golden blood energy fought the poison in a fierce battle, but it couldn’t quite keep the intruding agent at bay. The black patch on his palm was beginning to extend toward his wrist.

Qianye wasn’t flustered in the face of danger. He set up numerous blockades with the dark golden blood energy to temporarily trap the poison while he activated Venus Dawn. A stream of origin power—one ranked at the apex of daybreak—surged into his palm. A plume of scarlet gold flames danced in his hand, reducing the star cherry poison to ash along with the nearby flesh.

Qianye didn’t even frown as he burned away the flesh on his own palm. The dark golden blood energy then sprang into action, stimulating the growth of nearby flesh and blood. Qianye’s hand recovered in mere moments, except for the pinkish hue on his regenerated skin. This new flesh had not undergone tempering by the auric flame blood and Venus Dawn. They were currently a ways off from Qianye’s normal flesh and would take a good while to normalize.

This dangerous experience gave Qianye a direct understanding of the star cherry fruit’s toxicity.

He opened his left palm, duly summoning East Peak to his grasp as he arched his body. Staring fixedly at the old man, Qianye said slowly, “What’s the meaning of this?”

The old man wasn’t nervous. He chuckled while stroking his beard. “What meaning? You can’t blame other people for this little fellow’s carelessness. That sword in your hand, though, it’s a bit…”

The old man took a step back in shock, trying to put some distance between him and Qianye. He quickly understood something after the retreat. “Young people these days are really not simple. It seems I have misjudged you, could it be that you really have something that can injure me?”

Qianye made no reply. He slowly raised his right hand and formed a gun with his fingers, which he then aimed at the old man.

The old man’s expression transformed numerous times as Qianye’s hand rose up, finally culminating in a solemn focus at his fingertips.

This time, he no longer dared to act carelessly. Several rings of red-golden origin power pulsed around his vitals. Having set up his protection, the old man coughed awkwardly and said, “Why are you so angry, young man? That lass is Old Man Ji’s descendant, someone connected to me by fate. Why would I harm you?”

Qianye remained silent, his finger still aimed at the old man’s forehead.

The man was both angry and embarrassed. “Young Man, don’t be so cheeky! If you make me truly angry, I’ll just drive you all out!”

His outburst got him no response. Instead, Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan began to move—they stood behind the old man on either side, ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

The elder sighed. “Young people these days don’t know how to respect their elders anymore. Fine, I’ll tell you the truth, the fruit is poisonous, but it’s not lethal. There are benefits to be had after enduring the early medicinal effects. It’s just that the process itself isn’t quite comfortable.”

Ji Tianqing and Li Kuanglan glanced skeptically at Qianye. He was the only one who had experienced the toxin, the only one who could verify the old man’s claim.

Qianye thought back carefully and discovered that the strong poison was just a bit shy of being lethal. It would spread quickly throughout the body and seep into the muscles, immobilizing the person entirely. But, only a small amount of flesh would die in the process, and only the weakest parts at that. If the star cherry poison were to spread throughout the body, it would be comparable to a special form of body tempering. Ji Tianqing’s constitution should be able to endure this process, but just as the old man had said, it would be an agonizing process.

“He’s not wrong, but I don’t think he has good intentions,” Qianye replied.

Without so much as a word, Ji Tianqing fished out a metallic bucket and stared intently at the old man.

The latter was utterly shocked upon seeing the item. “Why do you have this thing!?”

Ji Tianqing waved the metal bucket, saying, “It’s good that you recognize what this is. Now, tell us what your real intentions are, or I’ll toss this to the ground and everyone will die together!”

“You wouldn’t have taken this item out if you were the one poisoned just now, would you?”

“Why wouldn’t I? If I’m about to die, I’ll naturally drag you down with me,” Ji Tianqing replied with great certainty.

The old man was starting to sweat. He shook his head, saying, “Mischief! What mischief! How could the old man give you that thing?”

“I know when to use it and when not to.”

The old man sighed. “Fine! Young people these days are so disrespectful. I won’t keep you all in suspense anymore. The star cherry fruit is useless for that young man over there, and it’s too fierce for the Li family’s young miss. However, it will benefit you by tempering your body one last time before you advance. Of course, you won’t need to wait for gradual recovery after the poison has spread to all parts of your body. You just need to take a simple antidote, which is actually the leaf of the star cherry tree. If the lass’ constitution is strong enough, or if she uses recovery medicine, the process will take less than half a day’s time.”

Qianye said, “That’s not very long, but she’ll need time to recover her combat capabilities, won’t she?”

The old man replied, “That’s a given since the entire body will be damaged after the process, and the new muscles need time before they can be used at will.”

Qianye nodded in relief. It would seem the old man wasn’t just spouting random nonsense. Ji Tianqing wasn’t having it, however. She picked up Qianye’s hand and waved it at the old man, saying, “What’s this, then?”

“Who told him to rush to your rescue without waiting for me to explain? But it seems he’s quite close to you, he even dares to touch a highly poisonous object for your sake.”

Ji Tianqing blushed. “Bullsh*t!”

The old man said seriously, “Rest assured, this young man is connected to me by fate. I’ll give him something good as well. You, on the other hand, should eat one of the fruits first.”

The old man waved his hand, sending a star cherry drifting toward Ji Tianqing. The latter picked up the fruit and swallowed it without further thought. Qianye was surprised at how much Ji Tianqing trusted the old man’s words, so much so that she had actually swallowed the fruit. The toxin was so powerful that it would take effect immediately after entering the stomach. There was no stopping it now.

The old man pointed at the hut. “Go rest in the house. Li girl, you take care of her for a while. Feed her a star cherry leaf after a quarter-hour, no sooner or later. And be careful not to touch her body.”

At this moment, Ji Tianqing’s countenance was shrouded in black energy. She struggled to lie down and could no longer move thereafter. Li Kuanglan caught a leaf from the tree and sat beside the bed with a worried expression.

Qianye shot a glance at the old man, and despite his silence, the old man could feel his brows twitching. The latter shook his head and sighed. “Young people these days, they’re even trying to threaten these old bones.”

With that, he pointed at the star cherry trees. “This one, this one, and this one, chop them down and give me seven of the fruits.”

Qianye picked up East Peak and arrived before a star cherry tree. With a deep breath, the muscles and tendons in his body begin to emit a sound of rumbling thunder!

Channeling up to the sixth layer of Excavator, he swung East Peak at the tree and felled it with a crack.

Qianye tapped several times with his fingers, sending seven star cherries toward the old man. This transition from strength to precision was as smooth as flowing water and seemingly not even his full power. The old man’s brows twitched as he watched this process.

The old man put away the fruits before instructing Qianye to carve off the branches, leaving only the bare trunk. He picked up the tree trunks and sealed off the openings with a transparent colloid. After which, he tossed them to Qianye. “Not bad, take it.”

Qianye caught the trunks but felt a bit awkward about it. His space in Andruil’s space was fairly limited right now. He wouldn’t be able to put anything else inside if he were to add the three star cherry trees. Storage space was of the utmost value, so he was wondering if he should put these blocks of wood in. He didn’t even know their function just yet.

The old man noticed Qianye’s dilemma. “Young man, I sense some remnant medicinal fragrance from you. You recently used regenerative medicine, didn’t you?”

Qianye was stunned. This old man’s nose was quite sharp, perhaps even the sharpest in the Empire. “Indeed.”

“This star cherry tree is the main ingredient for making regenerative medicine. These three tree-trunks will produce about six portions of it.”

After hearing this, Qianye immediately made space inside of Andruil’s Space and stuffed the star cherry trees inside. Having used the medicine once, he knew that having a regenerative medicine in hand was equal to half an extra life. Only after seeing the star cherry tree here did Qianye realize why the drug was so valuable. The entire Heavenschild Pasture could only produce six doses of it in the past century...