Looking at the tempting fruit before them, the soldiers' only concern at that moment was whether the thing was poisonous.
Everyone knew that in the mountains, the brighter the mushroom, the more potent its toxins.
Red umbrella, white stalk—eat it, and down on the plank you'll lie.
Back when they were developing the mountainous regions, His Majesty had jokingly said that line.
It had sounded amusing, but it had hit the nail on the head. It had since been recorded in the relevant textbooks.
Now, looking at this fruit, they felt it had much the same flavor.
"Don't worry. It's not poisonous."
A Vajra Realm martial artist's eyesight was far sharper than an ordinary person's. The enhancement to their vision was essentially equivalent to an ordinary person activating the Eye of Insight.
When they had first discovered this Saguaro Cactus, Xie Liancheng had noticed quite a few birds eating the exposed flesh. That was proof enough that the flesh was edible.
As he spoke, Xie Liancheng directly snapped off one of them.
The fruit was plump as well, its skin already split open over most of its surface. Xie Liancheng tore it apart, pulled down the face veil wrapped around his face, and leaned over to smell it.
A fairly pleasant fruity fragrance reached his nose. Then he opened his mouth and took a bite.
The moment he bit down, juice burst across Xie Liancheng's parched mouth, while his entire face immediately screwed up.
"Urgh!"
Seeing Xie Liancheng's reaction, the soldiers who had followed him were all startled.
Before they could do anything, however, Xie Liancheng swallowed the fruit flesh with his face still twisted up.
"This thing is unbelievably sour!"
"..."
The soldiers were speechless, while Xie Liancheng, looking somewhat disgusted, ate the fruit down to the last scrap.