Chapter 142: 142

Chapter 142: Competing for the Conscious Fruit

“Yawn . I have no energy left to do otherwise . ”

Zhao Yu went to sleep quickly . Zhou Hao and Zhang Tianche kept watch for the first half of the night while Qin Feng took over after that . It was a peaceful night .

The next day, they continued to advance at an even greater speed .

The number of students from other universities had lowered dramatically at this point . Only the strongest teams, coupled with some good luck, would be able to make it to the center of the hunting ground .

Take the beast general they met yesterday for example . It would be an instant game over if other students were to face the monster .

They traveled for another hour and finally reached the top of a small hill .

On the other side of the hill was a giant plain covered by fertile greeneries . However, no giant vegetation was spotted within sight other than the meadow . This made the crystalline tree that was standing in the middle of the plain extremely eye-catching .

The trunk of the tree was no different from a crystal while its leaves looked like snowflakes . Ice-like vines were seen dangling on the branches .

Among the branches, three black and bulky fruits highly contrasted the other parts of the tree .

Those were the conscious fruits .

“So this is the consciousness tree?” Zhao Yu gasped . The tree was unlike anything she had ever seen before .

Apparently, a lot of students had arrived earlier than them . But those participants were unable to go any nearer because as soon as anyone entered within a thirty-meter radius of the tree, it would begin to attack ferociously .

The consciousness tree was actually a mutated plant . In other words, it was more like an animal rather than a tree .

At the moment, the tree was visibly ill-tempered . It whipped its vines and launched its snow leaves aggressively to chase away those attempting to approach the fruits .

The consciousness tree was enraged after most of its fruits had been stolen the day before yesterday . It was understandable that the mutated tree would go berserk after more dreadful humans had shown up and were trying to take away its remaining fruits .

“Damn it! I thought that the f*cking tree is quite tame?”

“How are we going to get the fruits when the tree is attacking such a large area?”

“Quick, hold back its attack . We gotta protect our ability users!”

Everyone was clearly flustered by the tree’s unusual hostility .

Qin Feng scanned the area and realized that students from all other universities were around, except for Xita University .

That was because those from Xita who could have actually made it here had been eliminated by Qin Feng’s party earlier . How unfortunate!

The crowd of more than a hundred students was all elites from Dongling, Hunnan, and Chengyang Universities .

“There’s too many of them . ” Zhang Tianche frowned . Luckily, everyone was staying close with their own party to protect their respective ability users . Hence, some vacant spaces could still be found around the giant consciousness tree .

“Let’s go!” Qin Feng was the first to stroll forward . “Don’t worry . They are not going to attack us . The battle between universities would only ensue after someone has plucked the conscious fruit . ”

“True . ” Zhou Hao quickly followed Qin Feng’s footsteps . Zhao Yu and Zhang Tianche also followed suit and soon, they reached the area where everyone was at .

The consciousness tree turned more violent all of a sudden . All its vines struck straight toward Qin Feng . Obviously, the tree recognized the scent of the being that had stolen all its fruits .

Bai Li had plucked twenty-seven fruits from the tree at one go and left only three behind . How shameless of them for showing their faces here again!

No wonder the tree was infuriated .

Qin Feng was focused in the face of the vicious attacks . The consciousness tree must have lived for uncountable years but its attack was still full of vigor . Judging by its moves, the tree was at least an F-tier threat .

Qin Feng did not want to see his comrades being hurt because of him .

He unsheathed the Verdant Emperor Saber for the first time in the Spring Hunting Ground .

“Sword Glare!”

Burning flames immediately wrapped around the saber and extended it by more than a meter long .

Qin Feng swung the saber and dexterously cut off all the incoming vines .

His impenetrable defense was startling but that was not the end of it . He focused and unleashed his conscious energy .

Bang!

One of the conscious fruits that was hanging quietly on the branches a moment ago suddenly dropped to the ground without a moment’s notice .

What a sudden turn of events!

The fruits could not be harvested by using brutal force . Since they were growing on the consciousness tree, they could only be picked by using conscious energy alone . Only an F-tier consciousness would be able to detach the fruits from the tree instantly . Of course, the pedicel would also loosen eventually if being attacked by lower-tier consciousness continuously .

That was why the students from the three universities had been attacking it relentlessly . The effort had lasted for almost two hours .

Unexpectedly, the fruit dropped the moment Qin Feng’s party arrived .

“Dumb luck!”

“Grab the fruit!”

“It belongs to us!”

All the participants were tensed up and concurrently targeted the fruit .

Zhao Yu made her move as well .

“Up!” Zhao Yu’s consciousness was not as great as Qin Feng’s . Nonetheless, although she could not immediately break the pedicle, she was still capable of using telekinesis so she aimed for the fruit as soon as it started falling .

Her conscious energy was activated quicker than the rest so the fruit initially flew straight at her .

However, the other ability students were not there as decoration . The conscious fruit stopped short and trembled in midair as several minds tried to control it simultaneously .

Schwaff!

A white cloth suddenly appeared and wrapped around the fruit . The other side of the cloth was in the hands of Zhang Tianche . He grabbed with all his might and pulled the conscious fruit toward him .

The white cloth was actually Zhang Tianche’s bandage . Who would have thought that it could be used this way?

The other students were agitated by Zhang Tianche’s action .

“The fruit must stay!” The students screamed and jumped hungrily toward Zhang Tianche .

This was when another two loud bangs were heard coming from the tree’s direction . The other two fruits had also fallen!

The consciousness tree did not stop brandishing its branches and vines to sweep at those who dared to draw closer .

“Damn!”

Those who were attacking Zhang Tianche instantly switched targets and went over to grab the two newly dropped fruits .

Zhao Yu once again triggered her conscious energy to snatch one of the fruits, while Zhang Tianche was planning to use the same trick again .

However, the other competitors reacted faster this time .

Pow! Pow! Pow!

A barrage of bullets tore Zhang Tianche’s bandage in half . The white cloth was just mere fabric after all .

The battle quickly escalated following the series of gunshots .

Qin Feng’s party was being mercilessly targeted and numerous bullets rained on them .

“Hmph!” Qin Feng snorted and suddenly, all the bullets that were about to reach them hung awkwardly in midair .

“Reverse!” He infused his consciousness into the bullets and returned them to the opponents .

“Argh!”

“Sh*t!”

“Conscious rebound! How is this possible?!”

The crowd squealed in disbelief .

It was tremendously rare for a student to master such a craft . More importantly, he was doing it on a few hundred bullets . That was scary!