After confirming his theory, Hong Ming smiled in relief.
It wasn't a Trait of the Stone Crystal Fruit. Great!
And it came from the reef. Even better!
If it had only been the former, he wouldn't have been in a difficult position, but he would have been constantly fretting over the Trait getting lost.
Now, though, he didn't need to worry so much.
"I'll definitely come back!"
He seemed to be saying it to himself, and yet also to the reef.
After memorizing the reef's location, Hong Ming swished away without looking back.
"Oh no, is that mysterious creature back again?"
On his way back, Hong Ming sensed an unusual fluctuation and was immediately on high alert.
He hurriedly stopped, not daring to breathe loudly, afraid that the slightest noise might bring disaster.
But he soon realized that the fluctuation didn't seem to have been released by the mysterious creature.
Not only did it fail to make his hair stand on end, it even seemed weak.
Most importantly, there wasn't just one fluctuation, but two.
"It's not that creature, so what could it be?"
Hong Ming was uncertain, his expression shifting.
He wanted to investigate, suspecting they might be Treasure Fish, but he was wary of the powerful creature and worried he'd get burned.
After hesitating briefly, he ultimately gave up on his greed.
Getting the Stone Crystal Fruit was already the greatest possible haul. There was no need to invite trouble.
If there really were Treasure Fish here, he could come back and catch them later, once he was a little stronger.
He'd just leave them to feed here for now. The fatter, the better!
With mercy in his heart, Hong Ming deliberately kept his distance.
But though he wanted to spare them, they seemed to have noticed him and split up to close in from two directions.
Once Hong Ming sensed this, he had no choice but to quickly change locations.
Fortunately, the light here was dim and visibility poor. If he stayed farther from them, he could hide.
Hong Ming drew in his movements and aura like a snake and tortoise hibernating through winter, lying motionless in wait.
He released his senses to their limit, his eyes fixed on the water above.
When he saw the source of the two fluctuations, he suddenly froze.
They were worlds apart from what he had guessed. They weren't Treasure Fish, but two human figures!
They hadn't noticed Hong Ming. Instead, they were methodically searching as they descended, leaving no spot unchecked, as if looking for some treasure.
Hong Ming's gaze sharpened. He suddenly recognized one of them. "It's Huang Chun!"
He was quite surprised. He hadn't expected to run into him here.
An impulse arose in his heart to finish Huang Chun off.
But he stopped himself almost at once. They outnumbered him; starting a fight would be unwise.
At that moment, he was more concerned with something else. What exactly were Huang Chun and the other man looking for?
A short while later, the answer emerged. The two men's destination was, unmistakably, the bottom of the water!
"Could they be looking for the Stone Crystal Fruit too?" Hong Ming wondered.
He had already thoroughly explored the underwater area within a hundred meters. Other than the Stone Crystal Fruit, there was nothing else.
The two men had such a clear purpose that they were almost certainly after the Stone Crystal Fruit.
Unfortunately, no matter how much effort they put in, it was all for nothing.
He had already taken the Stone Crystal Fruit!
As for the reef, he didn't think the two men could discover anything unusual about it without a panel.
He felt somewhat relieved. Thank goodness he had gotten there first; otherwise, they would have beaten him to it.
At the thought, Hong Ming's mood seemed to ease.
He was about to leave when he abruptly stopped, a crafty, cold glint flashing through his eyes.
This time, he didn't avoid the mysterious creature. Instead, he used the Water Breathing Trait to seek it out.
Fortune was on his side. It didn't take long for him to locate the fluctuation.
It was faint, which meant the two sides were far apart. That didn't matter. Hong Ming did everything he could to provoke it.
He deliberately made noise, moving closer, then farther away, then closer again. At last, he enraged the mysterious creature.
It came hurtling toward him like a wild horse that had slipped its reins, carrying a thunderous fury at being provoked.
It burst forth at a speed that even surpassed the Azure Dragon Fish, frightening Hong Ming into fleeing for his life.
He wasn't heading anywhere else. He was making for the place where Huang Chun and the other man were.
Afraid of being caught, Hong Ming used the Stone Crystal Fruit to forge a path once more. The moment he touched it, the various water pressures and undercurrents vanished in an instant.
Hong Ming's speed surged by a huge margin, and he raced straight toward the mysterious creature.
"What was that?"
Huang Chun and the other man, who had been searching intently for treasure, sensed something amiss and looked up in unison.
As their gazes swept around, their pupils abruptly contracted. They spotted a massive shadow nearby, swooping toward them like a ghost, as if it meant to swallow them whole.
Gurgle, gurgle.
After luring the mysterious creature toward Huang Chun and the other man, Hong Ming had done his part. He surfaced and left.
He slipped out of the Huang Family Water Field without a sound, found a secluded spot in the wilderness, and took out the Stone Crystal Fruit.
The Stone Crystal Fruit had visibly changed.
Before, it had seemed to perfectly embody its name, its entire body as clear and lustrous as a fine Clam Pearl, utterly pure and flawless, without the slightest impurity.
Now, though, thin, delicate lines had appeared across its surface, gradually deepening and thickening.
He couldn't wait any longer!
Hong Ming made up his mind and swallowed the grape-sized fruit.
The moment its moist flesh entered his throat, it turned into a ceaseless, surging torrent of icy energy that rushed through him.
In an instant, his abdomen gave birth to a vast energy no weaker than the one he'd gained from eating Treasure Fish. It violently washed over his Inner Force.
Under the repeated surges of that energy, Hong Ming's Inner Force grew more condensed and purer.
His Inner Force refined at a visible rate, but his body was having trouble bearing it.
The chill made him feel as though he'd plunged into the Cold Pool. He could clearly tell that his body was struggling to withstand the Stone Crystal Fruit's medicinal potency.
Daring not to waste a moment, Hong Ming immediately assumed the Coiling Dragon Stake, using cultivation to refine the potency.
[Coiling Dragon Stake +20]
[Coiling Dragon Stake +19]
[...]
He didn't know how many times he practiced. By the time the daylight was nearly fading, Hong Ming finally finished, drenched in sweat.
There was still medicinal potency left in his body, but far less than before.
At least it no longer affected his physical condition.
Hong Ming ended his practice, panting like an ox. His face held no fatigue, only delight.
The Stone Crystal Fruit's effects were more potent than he'd expected.
In less than half a day of practice, his Coiling Dragon Stake had gained nearly a hundred experience points.
It was a tremendous leap forward!
"But the Cure-All Trait doesn't seem to have worked?"
Hong Ming recalled the entire process of eating the Stone Crystal Fruit but hadn't noticed the Trait taking effect.
He looked at the Trait's effect and immediately understood.
Cure-All only worked on ordinary medicine. The Stone Crystal Fruit was a precious medicine, so it shouldn't count.
Then why had it worked on the Treasure Fish earlier?
Hong Ming was puzzled once more.
Could it be that, in the Trait's eyes, Treasure Fish counted as medicine but not precious medicine?
There were too few clues to make sense of it, so Hong Ming stopped thinking about it and headed home.
Over the following days, Hong Ming trained in both areas side by side.
The medicinal potency stored in his body seemed inexhaustible. His strength increased day by day, and his fortune soared as well.
In just three days, his fortune had surged to twenty-five points.
Hong Ming was somewhat dissatisfied, but not with his fortune. It was with the efficiency of his Frost Sky Fist training.
His bone structure held him back so much that even the Stone Crystal Fruit couldn't make up for it.
His fist training was still moving at a snail's pace!
"It's time to improve my bone structure."
Hong Ming had been planning this for a while. Now, he put it into action.
He randomly chose a lucky candidate from the Preparatory Camp.
[Spent 21 fortune points. Successfully solidified the "Lower-Upper Bone Structure" Trait.]
Before you continue