434: Chapter 434 Distribution of Spirit Fruits

The Spirit Fox's perception of its Lord was extremely vague; it only knew that it resided in the deepest part of the Void Realm, in the area where shadows were thickest and resentment was heaviest.

It dared not approach; even from a great distance, the Lord's aura instinctively filled the Spirit Fox with terror.

"Let's discuss it when we get back." Gao Feng was the first to turn and swim back the way they came.

The others followed closely, with Su Ning's Space Anchor Bead glowing ahead. Chu Lan couldn't help but look back at the black giant rock, now shattered into fragments. There was nothing left but scattered debris and gray-white mist.

Curled up in Tian Xin's shadow, the Spirit Fox slept soundly. After thousands of years of wandering and thousands of years of waiting, it had never slept so peacefully.

It was too tired.

The silver-white light of the spatial tunnel appeared outside the Immortal Cave just as dusk fell.

The setting sun dyed the valley golden-red, and the lights of the Spirit Plant Garden lit up one after another. The silver glow of the Time Holy Vine was particularly striking in the twilight. Nine people emerged from the tunnel, their footsteps carrying the exhaustion of surviving a catastrophe, yet no one collapsed.

Chu Lan was the first to squat on the ground, breathing deeply the air fragrant with grass and wood.

There was no scent in the Void Realm, only gray-white mist and eternal Chaos. Every time she returned to the Human Realm, she had to first smell the grass in the Spirit Plant Garden to confirm she was truly back.

Lin Yue leaned against the stone wall of the Immortal Cave, his eyes closed, his face a little pale, but a smile played on his lips.

Yao Guang squatted beside him, taking his pulse. Only after confirming it was just excessive spiritual energy consumption did she sigh in relief, pulling a rejuvenation pill from her sleeve and putting it into his mouth.

"Everything has been brought back," Chu Lan stood up, patting the Storage Pouch at her waist, her voice filled with unconcealed excitement, "The fruit vine, spirit fruits, and Formation base — not a single item is missing."

Gao Feng did not rest, leading everyone directly to the main peak. Master Xuan Yang was already waiting in the side hall, with a Spirit Vein map and a Void Realm regional distribution map spread on the table before him, and a cup of cold tea beside them. Hearing footsteps from outside the hall, he looked up, a hint of anticipation flashing in his eyes.

Chu Lan took out the items from her Storage Pouch one by one. Three void spirit fruits were neatly arranged in a jade box, their silver-white light illuminating the side hall; the stone slabs, engraved with Formation patterns, each line clearly visible, their edges as neat as if cut by a sword; finally, the fruit vine, though uprooted, its leaves still unfurled and roots still vibrant under the nourishment of Chu Lan's Spirit Plant Art. She had also intentionally chipped off several fragments from the meteorite as substrate samples.

Master Xuan Yang walked to the table and first examined the three spirit fruits. He held one in his palm, feeling the pure Soul power contained within it, his fingers trembling slightly. "void spirit fruits, this old man has only seen records of them in ancient texts. It is said that this item can nourish the Soul and help Golden Core Cultivators Breakthrough minor Realms. Each person can only consume one; consuming a second will greatly reduce its effect, or even render it useless." He placed the spirit fruit back into the jade box and turned to the stone slabs.

He traced the Formation patterns with his finger, moving very slowly along each line. No one in the hall urged him, everyone watched him quietly. After a long while, Master Xuan Yang straightened up, his voice filled with rare excitement: "This is the Formation base of an ancient Spirit Gathering Array, specifically designed for Void Realm spiritual energy. Its Formation pattern logic is far more advanced than the Formations we currently use. If we can replicate it and integrate it into the Wuxiang Spirit Gathering Array, it could extend our support time by at least one year."

Chu Lan nodded in agreement. Her eyes gleamed with a thirst for challenge.

Master Xuan Yang then looked at the fruit vine, instructing Chu Lan to care for it well, as it might bear fruit again in the future. Finally, he pushed the jade box towards Gao Feng: "Three spirit fruits. You consume one, and the remaining two will be saved for critical moments. Your cultivation is the ceiling of this team; the stronger you are, the safer they will be."

Gao Feng did not refuse. He took a void spirit fruit from the jade box, holding it in his palm. He could feel the warm Soul power permeating from the skin, spreading up his arm along his Meridians, and finally gathering in his Sea of Consciousness. He sat cross-legged and put the spirit fruit into his mouth.

Upon consuming the spirit fruit, a warm current, like melted honey, slid down his throat into his Dantian, then surged through his limbs and bones, finally converging in his Sea of Consciousness. That warm current enveloped his Soul, nourishing every fiber of his Divine Sense.

His cultivation began to ascend during this process.

The barrier of the Golden Core Fifth Layer Middle Stage was like a thick wall. Spiritual energy accumulated, surged, and impacted on the other side of the wall. Once, twice, thrice. Each impact put immense strain on his Meridians, but the gentle power from the spirit fruit perfectly protected each of his Meridian nodes, minimizing backlash.

The fourth impact.

A crack appeared in the barrier.

Spiritual energy surged through the crack like a tide, flowing into new Meridian nodes, circulating, condensing, and settling in his Dantian. The cultivation of Golden Core Fifth Layer Late Stage stabilized the moment the crack appeared. Gao Feng opened his eyes, the golden light within them more condensed than before.

"Golden Core Fifth Layer Late Stage." He stood up, feeling the spiritual energy flowing within him, several times more profound than in the Middle Stage, but still some distance from Golden Core Sixth Layer. At this point, each step became increasingly difficult.

Master Xuan Yang carefully placed the two remaining spirit fruits into a jade box, affixed a Soul Sealing Talisman, and entrusted them to Gao Feng for safekeeping.

Chu Lan did not rush to replicate the Formation base; instead, she first found several blank stone slabs and practiced engraving the Formation patterns. Tian Xin sat beside her, using Talismans to simulate the spiritual energy flow trajectory of the Formation. Together, they recorded every detail of the original Formation base into Jade Slips.

"Don't rush to act; understand the patterns thoroughly first," Chu Lan pointed to a complex node on the stone slab, "Look here, the angle where the patterns converge is incorrect; spiritual energy will stagnate here and needs adjustment." Tian Xin leaned over, scanned it with her Divine Sense, and nodded: "I can add a guiding structure with a Talisman pattern here to divert the spiritual energy."

Luo Li requested a spirit fruit from Chu Lan, not for consumption, but for research. She placed the spirit fruit on the head of her flowing sound zither, plucking the strings. The zither's sound and the spirit fruit's energy fluctuations produced a subtle resonance. She listened with closed eyes for a long time.

"The energy contained in the spirit fruit nourishes the Soul and has similarities to the soothing effect of 'Requiem'." She looked up, a flash of understanding in her eyes, "If this energy fluctuation can be integrated into the melody of 'Requiem', the soothing effect on the Void Realm remnant Souls will greatly increase. Perhaps... it could directly awaken them from resentment, rather than just making them briefly confused."

Master Xuan Yang nodded, agreeing to leave that spirit fruit with Luo Li for her research, instructing her to be careful and not consume too much of its energy.

Yao Guang requested the spirit fruit residue from Chu Lan — the peel, core, and a few drops of residual pulp. She took these residues back to the Pill Chamber, refining them alternately with the Rejuvenation Technique and Meridian Mending Technique. The flames in the Pill Furnace burned day and night, and a peculiar medicinal fragrance occasionally drifted from the corridor outside the Pill Chamber, sometimes calming the mind, sometimes inexplicably irritating.

Several days later, she emerged from the Pill Chamber holding a jade bottle, which contained three pale golden Medicinal Pills. Fine silver patterns, identical to the void spirit fruit, flowed across the surface of the Medicinal Pills.

"Void Soul Return Pill." Yao Guang handed the jade bottle to Gao Feng, "Refined from spirit fruit residue, its medicinal effect is not as potent as the fruit itself, but it has a healing effect on Soul injuries. If someone's Divine Sense is damaged in the Void Realm, this Medicinal Pill can provide emergency aid. One can stabilize a Divine Sense on the verge of shattering, two can repair most damage, and three... it's best not to need three."

Gao Feng took the jade bottle and carefully placed it in his embrace. Yao Guang had kept some residue, saying she would try again next time to refine Medicinal Pills with better effects.

Su Ning went into seclusion. Master Xuan Yang informed them that, according to ancient texts and General Zhao Wuji's guidance, the Void Realm Lord's territory might be hidden in an extremely concealed Void Realm rift. That rift was not on the surface of the Void Realm, but in a deeper spatial interlayer, requiring more powerful Spatial Magic to open a stable passage. Su Ning's current cultivation was insufficient; forcibly opening it would only lead to her being torn apart by spatial turbulence.

She needed to Breakthrough.

Master Xuan Yang provided her with all the spatial cultivation texts collected by the Sect and also obtained several advanced Jade Slips for the Space-Time Deduction Technique from Taixu Palace. Su Ning confined herself to a stone chamber deep within her Immortal Cave, only emerging once a day for food. Silver-white light glowed day and night in the stone chamber, emanating from her spiritual energy fluctuations as she researched the Space-Time Deduction Technique.

"It will take at least a month, possibly longer," she told Gao Feng before going into seclusion. "The Void Realm rift is too deep; I need to find a stable passage construction method from the Space-Time Deduction Technique." Gao Feng didn't rush her, simply asking, "Is that enough?"

Su Ning didn't answer. She walked into the stone chamber, and the stone door closed behind her.

Days passed. Chu Lan and Tian Xin's Formation base replication work progressed smoothly. They built a small simulated Formation next to the Spirit Plant Garden, repeatedly testing the spiritual energy flow of the Formation patterns with Formation Plates and Talismans. The third-generation replicated version could already operate stably; although its efficiency was only 70% of the original, it was sufficient to integrate into the Wuxiang Spirit Gathering Array.

Luo Li thoroughly analyzed the spirit fruit's energy fluctuations and named the new version of "Requiem" as "Void Guidance." When she played it around the fief, the leaves of the Spirit Plants in the Spirit Plant Garden subtly trembled, and the silver light of the Time Holy Vine brightened and dimmed, as if something was awakened by the melody.

Yao Guang refined two more Void Soul Return Pills. She placed all five Medicinal Pills in a specially made jade bottle and handed them to Gao Feng for safekeeping.

Lin Yue reinforced the defensive Formations around the fief, re-organizing the patterns of the inner, middle, and outer three layers of Formations. Lin Jingyu and Situ Lan sparred daily in the sword practice arena, their sword speed becoming faster and their Sword Intent more condensed.

A month later, Su Ning emerged from the stone chamber. Her cultivation had Broken through from Foundation Establishment Sixth Layer to Foundation Establishment Eighth Layer. The silver light around her was more condensed than before, and her Spatial Magic had reached new heights with the dual assistance of the Space-Time Deduction Technique and the void spirit fruit residue. The moment the stone door opened, she told Gao Feng, who was standing outside, "The passage can be opened."