Chapter 150: You Want This Too?

Yan Beihan caught herself mid-cuss, not wanting to further embarrass herself in front of everyone by appearing uncouth, but it was already too late, and her face was beetroot red from fury and humiliation.

She was posing elegantly just a moment ago, waiting for the fruit to drop, only for it to fly away right before her very eyes!

She remained fuming in silence as she stormed down from the summit of the ridge, paying no heed to the hundreds of Generals behind her.

Two parties of Generals just so happened to have been engaged in a battle in her path, and she rushed straight through them without pause, slaying them where they stood before vanishing into the distance.

"Mistress Yan really is angry this time," a General from the main church sighed. "If any of you run into her from here onward, I suggest you run."

"Yeah, you definitely wouldn't want to cross her path now."

Yan Beihan was the top prodigy of the main church, and if she didn't have to take part in the Parasite Ascension Project, she would've already reached the Lord tier long ago. Hence, she should've had a dominant advantage over all of the other Generals, yet a spirit fruit had just been taken from right under her nose!

"Honestly, I thought I was hallucinating! I didn't even consider the possibility that anyone else would dare to take the fruit!"

"He's definitely quite a character. If I were in his place, there's no way I would've dared to attempt such a heist!"

"Quite a character? He's insane! He's from the lowly One Heart Church, what makes him think he can survive Mistress Yan's wrath?" Jiang Shangyun scoffed. "There's no way he's going to be able to leave this domain alive!"

"He's from the One Heart Church?"

"That's right!" Jiang Shangyun confirmed. "The one that he killed outside was a General from our Moon Demon Church! He was standing right next to us on the plaza, making a fool out of himself and pissing everyone off!"

Right at this moment, an enraged shriek rang out from afar. It was Yan Beihan's voice, and clearly, she was on a blind killing spree to vent her fury.

Everyone was silent for a moment, then began exchanging farewells.

"Let's get out of here. This is only the fourth day of the Parasite Ascension Project, so there's still a long road ahead of us yet!" With that, everyone quickly parted ways, darting away in different directions.

***

Fang Che was still fleeing in a blind panic, plunging deeper and deeper into the thick undergrowth.

This wasn't the time to be worrying about the Parasite Ascension Project, he just had to survive!

If he wasn't public enemy number one before, then he definitely was now!

This had undoubtedly been an extremely risky operation, but he felt like he had no choice.

This is a Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit! Am I supposed to just leave it to someone from the Church of the Self-Righteous? Depriving Yan Beihan of the fruit is a contribution to the entire continent in itself!

He ran all the way until the effects of the Blood Incineration Technique ran out, and at this point, he didn't even know how much ground he had covered.

He had arrived in a very peaceful and secluded area, and he hurriedly squeezed his way into a cave.

There was a black bear inside, and he quickly beat it into submission.

The cave reeked of a foul odor, but he could only endure it as he pulled out the Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit and swallowed it whole, including even its peel.

That was delightful! Setting aside the benefits it can provide, just the flavor and texture of this fruit alone would make it extremely popular!

Fang Che smacked his lips in yearning, wishing that he had a few more of these fruits on hand.

After devouring the fruit, all he felt was a flash of warmth in his dantian, and that was it.

Of course, he was aware of the fruit's medicinal effects, and he immediately began cultivating, channeling his Boundless Sutra and Cool as Ice in unison.

***

Before long, Fang Che discovered that the power of the fruit truly had entered his meridians, dantian, and his flesh and blood.

However, that accounted for only the majority of its power, while a third of it had entered his consciousness, instantly expanding it to around twice its original size.

To his surprise, around a tenth of the medicinal power had ended up in the clutches of the little fairy in the divine metal, which had manifested a little head and was looking up at Fang Che with a pitiable expression.

"You want this too?" Fang Che exclaimed.

He had never heard of the spirituality of a divine metal requiring food before!

The little fairy hurriedly nodded in response as it held tightly onto the medicinal power, threatening to instantly burst into tears if Fang Che tried to take the medicinal power by force.

"I can't let you have that. All I asked for was for you to alter the shape of this metal, yet you refused to comply with even such a small request, and now, you're trying to take my stuff? Give it back!"

The little fairy immediately erupted into tears, then began communicating to Fang Che that it had already begun altering the form of the metal, but this wasn't a transformation that it could complete in just a day or two.

Fang Che knew all along that the little fairy had been playing dumb, and now that he had backed it into a corner, he certainly wasn't going to pass up this opportunity for extortion.

"How long is it gonna take?" Fang Che asked.

The little guy raised a finger in a pitiable manner.

"A week?"

The little fairy shook its head.

"A month?"

The little fairy shook its head.

"A year?"

The little fairy nodded in response.

"That's too long! I'll give you two months at most!"

The little fairy shook its head vigorously and burst into tears again.

Clearly, Fang Che had given it an impossible task.

"Three months then!"

The little fairy hesitated momentarily, then shook its head again.

"Three months it is! Otherwise, give me back my stuff!" Fang Che said as he moved in to take the remaining medicinal power from the little fairy. The hesitation that it had displayed was a clear sign that three months was a feasible timeframe.

The little fairy hurriedly raised three fingers and began frantically nodding in a state of panic.

"See? That wasn't so hard!" Fang Che said as he immediately put on a benevolent expression. "If I come across more stuff like this in the future, I'll be sure to share it with you. As long as you work hard, I'll see to it that you're well fed and always have a warm place to sleep."

The little fairy nodded vigorously in response, and it was already beginning to drift away, clearly eager to go and digest the medicinal power.

After some more soothing words from Fang Che, the little fairy promptly departed, while the Golden Horn Flood Dragon was still clinging to the Formless Divine Jade, gulping down mouthfuls of baleful qi.

It didn't require the same type of sustenance as the little fairy. It was a spirit body that had only recently attained a formless state, and since leaving the Hundred Miasma Peak with Fang Che, it had absorbed more soul power than it would've in an entire year in the pond that had been its previous home.

It wasn't just restricted to absorbing the soul power of Fang Che's victims. Instead, it could devour any deceased individual's soul power that was yet to completely dissipate, so it had been growing rapidly during this period.

After striking a deal with the little fairy, Fang Che sat down and began to cultivate.

He was still just a fifth-rank General, and his lackluster cultivation base was really hindering his ability to kill enemy Generals quickly.

Having just consumed the Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit, this was the perfect time to be making a breakthrough.

As soon as he began to cultivate, he immediately felt a vast influx of spirit qi surge into his meridians.

At a rough estimate, his rate of progress had been enhanced by at least seven to eightfold compared with when he was cultivating in the spirit qi gravity cultivation chambers, and even he couldn't help but be stunned by this drastic enhancement.

Around four hours later, the influx of spirit qi began to slow, and it stabilized at around ten times the rate of spirit qi intake he could expect from normal cultivation, which was roughly twice the rate of spirit qi intake from cultivating in a spirit qi gravity cultivation chamber.

Before long his cultivation base had reached the pinnacle of the fifth rank.

The breakthrough took place without a hitch, and a vast torrent of spirit qi instantly surged into his meridians before sweeping back into his dantian, and the cycle repeated itself over and over again.

In this instant, Fang Che felt as if every single pore on his entire body had opened up, and all of the impurities in his body were being expelled.

He was now a sixth-rank Warrior!

As opposed to getting up right away, Fang Che continued to circulate his spirit qi incessantly through his meridians while taking in new spirit qi, only stopping when he felt an uncomfortable sense of bloatedness, indicating that his meridians were close to full saturation.

The black bear in the cave was benefitting immensely from Fang Che's cultivation.

All of the spirit qi that seeped out of Fang Che's body washed over the bear over and over again, and at this point, it had already been transformed from an ordinary black bear into a spirit beast.

The injuries inflicted upon it by Fang Che were long healed, and it refused to move, knowing that this was most likely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Fang Che naturally wasn't going to fret about a bear benefitting from his cultivation.

He stood up and performed some stretches, but his entire body reeked of a foul odor from the impurities that had been expelled, so he rushed out of the cave to bathe himself in a nearby pond.