Aureate Fruit?

  Azureclad’s brain was having trouble functioning. This Champion Duke kid just gave thirty-six Aureate Fruits to my sister??

  Qing Ting was still happily devouring her present, oblivious to the fact that her brother slightly envied her. First, the Skyfall King of the Immortal Pagoda delivered a Pill of Creation for her wounds that also greatly advanced her cultivation, now the Champion Duke came with Aureate Fruits!

  Once she formed her golden body, he might not even be able to pierce through her defenses if she used it in conjunction with her defensive treasures.

  “What did you say? Aureate Fruit?” Qing Ting cocked her head in a daze after she swallowed the last bite.

  She’d heard about the fruit before, of course, but never actually seen it. She’d also been secluded in Coiling Dragon City for most of her life and rarely set foot outside. Unlike the experienced Azureclad Duke and Li Zhen, she hadn’t seen much of the world. Therefore, she hadn’t recognized the fruit despite knowing of it.

  Rays of golden splendor suddenly flared from her body and formed a wall of light a meter thick.

  “Holy shit, it really was Aureate Fruit!” Azureclad drew his sword and slashed it down on the wall of light. His king grade flying sword bounced off and only a small ripple traveled across the light’s surface in return.

  “Do you know that if a sixth step king ate those thirty-six fruits, the resulting golden light would make him invincible among his peers?! No one would be able to penetrate his golden body! You’re really making a hefty investment to get a girl…” Azureclad abruptly whirled around, grabbed Lu Yun’s collar, and hauled him off his feet. Azureclad roared into the other’s face, “You! Are not! Allowed! To think! About my sister! Do you hear me?!”


  “Brother!” Blushing hotly, Qing Ting retracted her golden light.

  “You gave her a full set of defensive items last time and now bring her Aureate Fruit. What’s next? Pills of Creation? Or the ultimate treasure of the realm??” Azureclad demanded viciously after he set Lu Yun down.

  “Um, didn’t someone already bring a Pill of Creation?” Lu Yun asked weakly.

  He didn’t have the slightest inclination of pursuing anything with Qing Ting. If it’d been Li Zhen who was injured, he would also deliver the same pill and fruit. In fact, he’d already gifted the youth a ghost-headed blade and the true meaning behind the Dragonslay technique. Those two were much more valuable than Aureate Fruit,

  Since arriving in the Hongmeng, he’d been running too and fro, busying himself with this and that. Everything was undertaken with consideration of profit in mind. He hadn’t fully integrated into the realm and yet, cultivating order required him to witness everything about life in the Hongmeng. What he was doing now was slowly becoming part of this realm. Making friends, making enemies, and everything else—just like the rest of the Hongmeng denizens.

  “The Pill of Creation is a gift from His Reverence the Immortal King, how are you worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as him?” Azureclad glared. “Anyway, stay away from my sister!”


  “Didn’t you tell her to follow me?” Lu Yun laughed wryly.

  Azureclad almost choked on his spit and Li Zhen nodded solemnly in agreement.

  “Brother! Don’t blame me for getting harsh with you if you keep spouting this nonsense!” Qing Ting grew irritated.

  “Hmph!” Azureclad snorted. “My baby sister is the favored daughter of heaven and possesses the same strength as me though she’s young. When she grows up, it’s not impossible for her to surpass Hua Fengwen!

  “The only one worthy of her is the Immortal King, so you should just give up now!” He looked down his nose at Lu Yun.

  Qing Ting couldn’t be bothered to react. Yes, she was only a few tens of thousands of years old, an absolute youngster when compared to someone several million years old like her brother. But there was no order of time in the Hongmeng. Time was just a measurement and any talk of age was just an imaginary concept. Hongmeng denizens matured by absorbing the energy of the realm.

  That was impact from the order of growth, not time. If the order of time existed in the realm, Hongmeng denizens would eventually die of old age.

  Azureclad didn’t look at Qing Ting—he knew what was on his sister’s mind and that she didn’t feel anything for the Champion Duke. But what if a certain emotion was fostered after spending a long period of time together?

  Qing Ting was his dearest sister and easily beguiled, easily deceived—especially by people like the Champion Duke, who all but had “I am a liar” written across his face.

  “Oh, I hear you defeated Li Quan of the Li Clan with one move?” he suddenly asked.

  Lu Yun nodded. “I barely won by a move.”


  “With the Immortal King’s appearance seven days ago and defeat of a dozen high level ghost kings, Cloudexit City is temporarily at peace. You and I can have our battle then!”


  Swoosh!

  Azureclad brandished his king grade flying sword and sent it circling around him as a rainbow of sword light.

  “If you lose, the Stellar Sword is mine. If I lose, I won’t interfere with things between you and my sister,” he stated coldly from the air.

  “Qing Yan!!” Qing Ting shrieked with anger and erupted with golden light, blasting her brother away. Qing Yan was the Azureclad Duke’s real name.

  Boom!

  The golden light was the golden body that she’d just formed. Her furious blow punched her brother up into the sky and out of sight.

  “So… did I win or lose?” Lu Yun stroked his chin thoughtfully.

  Li Zhen: ……


  “Ahem!” Qing Ting coughed delicately and said with a deep blush, “That was just Qing Yan running his mouth, ignore him.”


  She snuck a look at Lu Yun, like a child having done something wrong.

  “I already have a dao partner, so nothing else is on my mind,” Lu Yun chuckled.

  “Oh…” Qing Ting grumbled softly with another look at him.

  “Shall we head out of the city and hunt some ghosts?” proposed Li Zhen. “They’ve have been dealt a resounding defeat and they’re cowering with fear after the Immortal King’s counterattack. It’s the perfect time to hunt ghosts and earn purple crystals or other treasures. Many cultivators in Cloudexit have ventured deep into Starspace to kill the enemy. The Crimsonclad, Purpleclad, and Bloodclad Dukes have all gone.”


  Li Zhen had wanted to go too, but his strength fell just a bit short and no one cared for him in his clan. This was why he kept following Lu Yun around.

  “Let’s!” Qing Ting agreed with high spirits. She’d just taken a Pill of Creation and refined a golden body. It was time to show those ghosts what she was capable of!

  She’d been injured last time because she was gravely distracted after Li Quan ambushed her. The ghost king might not have bypassed her defenses otherwise.

  “There’s no point in killing ordinary ghosts, the three of us can definitely take down a ghost king! Let’s strike deep into Starspace Region and find ourselves some kings!” Qing Ting bounced up and down on her feet.

  “I forbid it!” Slightly worse for the wear, Azureclad fell down from the sky. “You’ve just recovered and you haven’t—”


  Boom!

  Golden light flashed before he could finish and blasted him back up into the sky.

  “Eh, a golden body can be used like that?” Lu Yun asked dumbly after Qing Ting retracted her light.

  “Do you have more Aureate Fruit? Give me some, give me some!” Li Zhen sidled up with a grin.

  “Sure, give me your blade and I’ll give you thirty-six Aureate Fruit,” Lu Yun smirked.

  “Forget it! No can do!” Li Zhen hastily backed off.

  “Let’s go! To Starspace Region!” Qing Ting confidently charged out at the head of the trio.

  ……


  “Skyfall King, there’s something legendary about that Champion Duke. He came by the Stellar Sword and treasure like the Aureate Fruit!” chuckled the Mountain King. The disturbance in the rear garden naturally attracted attention from the kings dining in the front hall.

  After the Immortal King gifted nine thousand premium crystal veins to the Trueriver Sect, everyone viewed them as allies. The Champion Duke was the disciple of the Trueriver King, so naturally the Mountain King would ask further. To him, treasures such as the Stellar Sword and Aureate Fruit couldn’t be measured in purple crystals. Even a sixth step king like him could barely contain himself, much less the titled dukes.

  Skyfall laughed. “The Champion Duke is naturally worthy of his title and capable of wielding the Stellar Sword. Do you think that he can’t retain ownership of those treasures?”


  The Mountain King frowned faintly and sank into deep thought.

  Being Lu Yun’s Infernum, Skyfall naturally knew that the Champion Duke was his master. But since Lu Yun wasn’t purposefully concealing his identity or revealing it, Skyfall wouldn’t say anything else. All would proceed in a normal fashion.

  Lu Yun’s battle strength may not be strong, having barely managed to reach the threshold of a titled duke after condemning the fire of order, he had too many trump cards up his sleeve. Take supplemental arts in combat, for instance. Both the Alchemist and Wild Formation Kings combined wouldn’t be his match.