Chapter 4084 — The Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruit

"Brother Ling Yi, what are you standing there dazed for? Hurry up and gather the herbs! We may have Senior Brother Chen on watch and Captain Xiaotao holding the spirit beasts at bay, but we still need to move fast. If we draw some monstrously powerful spirit beast, all our work will have been for nothing!" Ceng Zhima noticed Wei Zhao staring blankly and immediately urged him on.

Yet when he followed Wei Zhao's gaze to that strange tree, he too froze, unable to look away for a long while.

It was a good while before Ceng Zhima came back to his senses, panting hard. Pointing at the five glowing fruits at the top of the tree, he stammered, "This... could this be... could it be the legendary Myriad Crossing... Golden Core Fruit?"

"Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruit?" Wei Zhao blinked in mild surprise. He had never heard the name, but judging by Ceng Zhima's expression—so overjoyed he looked ready to faint—it had to be some extraordinary high-grade spirit medicine.

Chen Muzhuang, keeping watch from his perch atop the tree, noticed the odd behavior of the two below. A strange glint flashed through his eyes, and he at once leaped down from the tree. But the moment his gaze fell upon those five fruits, greed was written all over his face.

Moments later, Huang Xiaotao, who had been patrolling nearby, sensed something amiss and drew closer to the three of them. When she saw the five golden-core-shaped fruits, her body went rigid as though struck by lightning.

"Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruit? Are these truly Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruits? Junior Brother Ceng Zhima, I recall you spent some time apprenticing in the spirit herb garden—can you be certain?" Huang Xiaotao asked, her face full of disbelief.

"Captain Xiaotao, I stake my own head on it—these five are absolutely Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruits. Let a Golden Core cultivator consume one, and they'll advance a full grade on the spot—a rare and precious spirit medicine! And if a cultivator at the peak of Foundation Establishment takes one, they're guaranteed to form their Golden Core with a hundred percent success. These are treasures of truly incalculable value, priceless and unavailable on any market!" Ceng Zhima said, swallowing hard again and again.

Even Wei Zhao was shaken. A Golden Core cultivator advancing a full grade on the spot, a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator guaranteed a hundred percent success in forming their core—could such heaven-defying spirit medicine truly exist in this world?

After a moment, Huang Xiaotao managed with difficulty to suppress her excitement and spoke to the others. "This is a stroke of fortune one might not encounter once in a lifetime. These Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruits—let's split them among us!"

"Agreed!" Chen Muzhuang and Ceng Zhima answered without a moment's hesitation, and Wei Zhao naturally had no objection either.

"But there are five Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruits here and only four of us. That won't divide evenly, will it?" Chen Muzhuang promptly objected.

Wei Zhao had already learned on the road earlier that in Huang Xiaotao's team, apart from mission contribution points, which went to the captain, bounty rewards and the like were always split evenly among everyone. All in all, it was a very fair-minded team.

Ceng Zhima, however, argued back. "What's so hard about that? First come, first served—each of the four of us takes one, and the extra one naturally goes to Captain Xiaotao. She's been looking after us all this time, and she's the captain besides. In any other trial team, it would only be right for the leader to take the lion's share!"

This Ceng Zhima was an upright fellow after all! Wei Zhao nodded to himself and spoke up. "I have no objections."

Chen Muzhuang's expression flickered with inner struggle, but with both Ceng Zhima and Wei Zhao having spoken thus, opposing alone would be pointless, so he nodded along with them. Yet deep in his eyes lurked the shadow of a scheme coming to fruition.

"In that case, I'll shamelessly take this extra Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruit." Huang Xiaotao held down the joy in her heart and then declared, "To make up for everyone's loss, for this mission and the next few, my share of the rewards will go to the rest of you."

Once the four had settled it, they could not wait to pluck the five Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruits, tucking them away with barely concealed excitement, each of them trembling with elation.

Just then, the situation changed abruptly. The jade pendant gave a sudden warning, and Wei Zhao's eyelids twitched. With his present perception, he could clearly sense five powerful spirit beast auras converging rapidly on their position from all directions.

By the look of it, this was premeditated—they were being surrounded!

Just as Wei Zhao was thinking to himself that this was indeed a trap, that ghostly creature who had not shown himself for so long chose this rare moment to speak. "Young Lin, you're overthinking it. This isn't any trap. Judging by the look of those few, they had agreed to come harvest and eat only after the Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruits were fully ripe, so while keeping watch nearby, they cleared out this whole area as well. They just never expected you few to snatch the fruits first..."

"Uh, so that's how it is." Hearing the ghostly creature's words, Wei Zhao could not help feeling a bit embarrassed. So this was no scheme at all—the five spirit beasts had long since agreed on how to divide the spoils, most likely one fruit apiece. His group, by contrast, looked more like burglars caught in the act.

Still, when it came to treasures of heaven and earth, there was no such thing as first come, first served. By the law of nature, they had always belonged to the strong. Neither Wei Zhao nor Huang Xiaotao and the others had any intention of being so noble as to hand over the Myriad Crossing Golden Core Fruits they already held.

Realizing in an instant that the fruits they had long coveted had been stolen, the five high-grade spirit beasts flew into a rage and lunged at Wei Zhao and his companions from every direction.

At that moment, apart from Wei Zhao, the others had noticed nothing at all. Each was still lost in the wild joy of having stumbled upon a priceless treasure, utterly unable to pull themselves out of it.

Should he give them a bit of warning? Wei Zhao hesitated briefly. They were only temporary companions, but he still did not want to see them die in the jaws of spirit beasts just like that.

Yet before Wei Zhao could open his mouth, Huang Xiaotao suddenly froze, then hastily signaled everyone to keep quiet. "Something's wrong. I sense something coming—and more than one. Everyone be careful. I'll go take a look first!" she said gravely.

With that, in full view of Wei Zhao and the other two, Huang Xiaotao's figure began to dissolve into the air at a speed visible to the naked eye, as though she had evaporated on the spot, leaving Wei Zhao staring in astonishment.

Ceng Zhima explained from the side, "That's an extremely advanced jungle concealment art. So long as one is within a jungle, one can hide one's form perfectly. Brother Ling Yi, don't let the fact that our captain is a woman fool you—she's very strong!"

"Jungle concealment art? This is the first time I've ever seen it." Wei Zhao nodded thoughtfully.

Though he could not see her, his keen perception still allowed him to faintly sense Huang Xiaotao's presence. This stealth martial skill reminded him, unbidden, of the spirit beast Li Zhengming had subdued—invisibility was the racial gift of the Ghost Tiger clan. R1152