194: Chapter 194 The Fifth Life, The Blazing Sun Illuminates the Martial Path (142)

The Youth in Python Robe shouted sternly, brandished his long saber, and charged toward the depths of the Silver Fruit area first.

The others followed closely behind, each using their own methods. In just a moment, they completely shattered the Monkey Tribe's defensive line, stepping over rotten fruit and monkey corpses as they formally advanced into the Silver Fruit area.

Stepping past the last grove of red fruit trees, the sight before them made everyone's breath hitch.

Silver Fruit trees were sparsely distributed, numbering about a hundred or so, with each tree bearing only three to five silver fruits the size of walnuts.

The fruit skin was a gentle, lustrous silver-white, with fine spiritual patterns flowing across the surface. As the wind blew, it shimmered with a faint halo. The fragrance was so rich that it made every meridian in their bodies stretch and relax, and even the wounds on their bodies felt faintly itchy, as if they were healing at an accelerated rate.

In the very center of the entire Silver Fruit area stood a towering ancient tree that would require a dozen people to encircle.

Its trunk was gnarled and vigorous, with lush branches and leaves spreading like a giant umbrella. Suspended among the branches at the top of the canopy were three fist-sized golden fruits.

A golden halo flowed slowly along the branches and leaves like molten gold. The fragrance was so thick it almost condensed into a physical substance. Just catching a whiff from afar made the True Qi within their bodies surge wildly, and their Bottlenecks showed faint signs of loosening.

"Golden Fruit... it really is a Golden Fruit!"

Someone muttered subconsciously, their eyes filled with fanaticism, and their grip on their weapon turned slightly white.

The people from the six teams all stopped in their tracks; no one rushed forward anymore, and no one bothered with the scattered monkeys.

Everyone's gaze was glued to those three golden fruits, their breathing heavy, forgetting even the pain of their wounds.

But at the same time, the distance between each other quietly increased by a few paces.

Their peripheral vision kept scanning their "allies" nearby, the look of vigilance written all over their faces.

Three fruits, six teams. How to divide them? There was no way to divide them!

No one spoke, and the atmosphere in the arena instantly became oppressive, even more tense than when facing the Monkey Tribe earlier, as if the air itself had frozen.

"Good heavens, there are actually three..."

Behind a tree in the distance, Qiu Feng clung to the branches, his eyes wide and round, drool almost dripping down, but then he wilted, hanging his head.

"It's a pity, there are only three, it won't ever be our turn. After several days of intense fighting, they still have nearly twenty people left; if we go up now, we're just serving ourselves up on a platter."

Qiu Yang also sighed, his eyes full of regret, but without much greed, he said:

"Sigh. Forget about us; even half of the six leaders in the field won't be able to get one. This Golden Fruit is a treasure that can directly allow one to quickly achieve a Breakthrough to the Copper Bone Realm Late Stage, and it also represents the last three tickets for the Snow Mountain region. Who wouldn't be envious?"

As he spoke, he turned to look at Chu Shi and said in a serious tone:

"Senior Brother Chu, when the fighting starts in a moment, the two of us brothers will help you hold people back, and you seize the opportunity to snatch one. With your Aptitude and combat strength, eating one Golden Fruit gives you a complete chance to quickly achieve a Breakthrough to the Copper Bone Realm Late Stage in the coming time. Perhaps you might even have a chance to compete for an Ice Soul Lotus and look forward to the Copper Bone Realm Peak. With our meager foundations, giving the Golden Fruit to us would just be a waste."

"That's right!" Qiu Feng also nodded quickly, thumping his chest with a loud sound, and said with a stern face.

"Senior Brother Chu, once you get the Golden Fruit and achieve a Breakthrough to the Copper Bone Realm Late Stage, just help us collect some other resources. For this Secret Realm, we would be satisfied if we can achieve a Breakthrough to the Copper Bone Realm Late Stage in the remaining time. As for things like Silver Fruits, if we can pick them up, great; if not, it doesn't matter!"

Upon hearing this, Chu Shi tilted his head to look at the two brothers. The light of the setting sun shone through the leaves onto their faces, and there was not a hint of pretense in their eyes, only sincerity.

His heart stirred slightly, a faint smile curled at the corners of his mouth, and he nodded. His voice was not loud, but it carried absolute certainty:

"Alright. Rest assured, I will take one Golden Fruit, and later, I will help you each obtain thirty Silver Fruits; that will be enough for you to achieve a Breakthrough to the Copper Bone Realm Late Stage."

"Hey! Thank you, Senior Brother Chu!" Upon hearing this, Qiu Feng immediately beamed with joy, and the previous disappointment was swept away.

Qiu Yang also smiled, tightening his grip on his sword hilt, ready to take action at any moment.

While the three were talking, the situation in the center of the battlefield changed again.

From the trunk of that towering ancient tree, a monkey with an even more massive physique suddenly leaped down.

This monkey's deep brown fur was streaked with strands of golden hair, and it stood a full zhang tall, looking like a small hill standing under the tree.

A pair of eyes as large as copper bells swept coldly over the crowd, containing a hint of human-like coldness and majesty, and the fierce aura radiating from its body was significantly stronger than that of the two large male monkeys from earlier.

It was the Monkey King.

It stood guard at the base of the tree, its claws resting on the trunk. It did not attack, but that sense of oppression made everyone's hearts sink.

The strength of this Monkey King was likely already at the Copper Bone Realm Late Stage, perhaps even having progressed some distance within this small Realm.

As the Monkey King appeared, another large male monkey leaped out from behind the ancient tree, bringing the total to four large male monkeys guarding in front of the Monkey King, along with the three injured ones from before. They bared their fangs, staring at the crowd, and let out low growls from their throats.

"No wonder I felt something was missing earlier; it turns out there were two more."

The Broad-faced Man spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, clenched his fists, and his knuckles cracked.

"Five is five; even if the King of Heaven himself were here today, I'm determined to snatch this Golden Fruit!"

Before the words had even faded, the six teams automatically stood in a line, faintly forming a surrounding formation.

At this point, they had to get past the Monkey King first before talking about anything else. Otherwise, let alone the Golden Fruit, it was hard to say if they could even walk out of the fruit grove safely.

The battle erupted instantly.

The Monkey King and the four large male monkeys charged up with the remaining dozens of strong monkeys, each fearless of death, clearly determined to fight the humans to the bitter end.

This time, the fighting was even more tragic than before.

These monkeys were not weak to begin with, and now that they were desperately guarding their core territory, every move was a tactic of trading injury for injury.

Although the human teams were united, they still held back, and from time to time, "accidental" Qi blasts would graze the arms and legs of their teammates.

A female Disciple from the Ice and Snow Holy Land was concentrating on dealing with the monkey in front of her when a Disciple from the Great Sun Holy Land next to her threw a punch that went astray; the force of the punch grazed her arm, instantly bruising a large patch.

The female Disciple was both shocked and angry, turning to glare at him, but the other party just acted as if they hadn't seen it and continued fighting on their own.

A Disciple of the Tianwu Imperial Family was forced to retreat by a monkey, and having been tripped by someone underfoot, he was almost grabbed by the throat by the monkey. Fortunately, the Youth in Python Robe turned around and slashed the monkey back with his saber, saving his life.

The youth's expression was grim as he glanced at the Loose Cultivator team nearby, but the tall, thin man just shrugged with an innocent look, the short dagger in his hand still dripping with monkey blood.

Chu Shi saw it clearly from a distance and shook his head gently.

Even at this point, they were still engaging in internal friction. It was no wonder they hadn't been able to take down a single fruit grove after fighting for so long.

However, he did not call out a reminder, just watched quietly.

The more serious the internal friction, the greater his chance would be when he made his move later.

When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman wins; he understood this principle all too well.