Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Aquatic Spirit Fruit Tree

Lu Sheng casually picked up the dropped items while the other seven frogmen launched a fierce assault against him.

Their spears thrust forward, but struck only empty air.

With a flash of movement, Lu Sheng once more appeared behind the frogmen.

He swept his spear horizontally!

A tremendous force surged into the spear, and as it swung through the air, a thunderous explosion resonated.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three frogmen died on the spot. Without bothering to pick up the items they dropped, Lu Sheng continued to flicker about, wielding his spear with blinding speed, swiftly dispatching the remaining frogmen.

Just like that, ten third-tier frogmen perished at Lu Sheng's hands.

They had no chance to resist.

Behind him, Li Kuang and the others gulped, now able to describe Lu Sheng with just one word: powerful.

Lu Sheng glanced at the scattered, battered frogmen still alive on the ground, then called out to Li Kuang and his group, “Finish them off, kill all the frogmen still breathing. If their essence blood suits you, you can absorb it directly.”

As for blood essence cultivation, Lu Sheng had no need of these frogmen; the Windfire Twin-headed Serpent’s blood essence was far superior.

Li Kuang led his team forward. “Let’s go. We can only play the role of a cleanup crew now.”

Squad One’s captain, Ding Yang, chuckled. “Honestly, being the cleanup crew is pretty satisfying!”

Without the third-tier frogmen, the remaining ones were nothing but lambs to the slaughter. Their summoned creatures and Li Kuang’s group could easily handle them.

Lu Sheng, meanwhile, approached the spirit fruit tree in the center.

The spirit fruit tree didn’t appear very tall—about four meters high. Its branches were laden with fruit, while the trunk was only as thick as his thigh, making it rather petite among trees.

The leaves rustled softly, seeming fewer in number than the fruits—though that was only a visual illusion due to the size of the fruits themselves.

Just as Lu Sheng was about to pick the spirit fruits, a disturbance arose from the ground.

Something was about to burst forth from underground!

“Spatial Traverse!”

Sensing something amiss, Lu Sheng immediately vacated his spot.

A moment later, dozens of tree roots shot up from the earth where he’d just stood!

Had he lingered a second longer, his body would have been impaled without question.

Lu Sheng gazed at the spirit fruit tree. “Is this tree alive?”

Before he could ponder further, another surge beneath the ground signaled more roots about to strike.

Employing Spatial Traverse, he dodged aside, this time not too far. As soon as the roots burst out, his spear lashed toward them.

Striking the roots with the spear had no effect.

These roots were incredibly flexible; blunt force couldn’t hurt them, only sharp weapons would.

Lu Sheng took two steps back, deciding not to tangle with the roots. Attacking the tree itself was the key to resolving the threat.

From underground, a dense, uncountable mass of roots erupted, weaving together into a vast, airtight net that lunged for Lu Sheng.

The sharp tips of the roots would easily pierce flesh—if, that is, they could catch him.

The others watched in terror. If such overwhelming, all-encompassing attacks targeted them, they’d be dead in seconds. Still, having witnessed Lu Sheng’s abilities, they were not too worried.

Spatial Traverse!

In the blink of an eye, Lu Sheng vanished from his spot, flickering several times to appear before the spirit fruit tree.

Surely the trunk couldn’t be as soft as the roots?

He wasn’t certain if breaking the trunk would kill the tree; most trees depended on their roots for survival.

Lu Sheng swung the frogman’s spear with a hundredfold force, making the very air explode with sound.

The strike crashed into the trunk like thunder!

The entire spirit fruit tree trembled, leaves rustling violently, but not a single fruit fell.

A deep dent was gouged into the relatively slender trunk.

Yet the blow did not break the tree—it was sturdier than it looked.

But that would end now!

Lu Sheng swung the frogman spear again, the explosive force landing just above the dent.

With a wound already opened, the trunk could no longer hold firm.

The spear, weighted with brute strength, struck again. The trunk groaned, and cracks spread rapidly from the indentation.

Boom!

The entire spirit fruit tree crashed to the ground, sending up clouds of dust.

In the next instant, an endless swarm of roots surged toward Lu Sheng.

This time, they moved faster and struck with even greater ferocity.

Lu Sheng hurriedly dodged, but the roots, as if crazed, adjusted and lunged after him again.

Faced with the sky-darkening roots, Lu Sheng had no choice but to keep evading.

At the same time, frustration began to rise in his heart.

“Windfire Twin-headed Serpent! Breathe fire here! Burn these roots!”

He might have no way to deal with the roots, but his minion did.

Upon receiving the order, the Windfire Twin-headed Serpent spat several fireballs at the roots pursuing Lu Sheng.

The fireballs slammed into the roots, and flames instantly erupted.

Black smoke billowed from the roots as fire clung to them.

The roots writhed and twisted, struggling as though truly alive, feeling the agony of burning.

After a while, they lost all strength and fell from the air to the ground.

A card appeared atop the spirit fruit tree.

This time, it was truly dead.

[Root Fortification]
Quality: Green
Tier: Third
Effect: Used on plant-type targets to strengthen their roots, making them even more robust.

This card was of little use to Lu Sheng himself, so he set it aside.

Slaying the mutated spirit fruit tree also yielded a card.

[Water Spirit Fruit Tree]
Quality: Blue
Tier: Mid-third
Skills: Nutrient Conversion, Invasion, Tenacity.
Evolution Requirement: Absorb enough blood and flesh energy—the higher the tier and quality, the less required.
Nutrient Conversion: Can bear Water Spirit Fruit of up to its own tier by absorbing sufficient energy.
Invasion: Roots serve as weapons, rapidly stabbing at enemies.
Tenacity: Roots are fortified for increased flexibility and resistance to breaking.

No wonder this blue-quality mutant tree was so troublesome. Without his Spatial Traverse, Lu Sheng would have had to fight a hard battle to subdue the Water Spirit Fruit Tree.

The gap in quality resulted in an enormous difference in power.

White-quality frogmen, even those at peak third tier, would explode with a single blow from Lu Sheng’s spear.

But with quality two steps higher, the Water Spirit Fruit Tree’s combat prowess was on another level.

Had Lu Sheng not possessed Spatial Traverse, this battle would have been far more drawn out.

He picked all the Water Spirit Fruits from the fallen tree.

Thirty-three first-tier Water Spirit Fruits, ten second-tier fruits.

That was all.

Not a single third-tier Water Spirit Fruit.

Most likely, the tree hadn’t absorbed enough energy to produce third-tier fruit.

Nevertheless, Lu Sheng could provide ample energy himself, allowing the tree to yield third-tier Water Spirit Fruits for him.

He just didn’t know how quickly this could be achieved—hopefully not too slowly.

He stowed away all the cards, deciding to plant them back at his base later.

Besides, he was planning to meet Wang Xian that afternoon to obtain Black Iron Tree Essence, and could ask about vegetable seeds as well.