Brightlight Fruit

Brightlight Fruit

After returning to Maple Leaf City and greeting some people there, Jiang Yue immediately began preparing to head to Shrek Academy for the new school year.

A great many things would happen this school year, so he had to plan carefully. He also could not blindly follow the original story and apply it to reality. Because of Jiang Yue, this butterfly, many things had already deviated from their original course.

Leaving aside everything else, Huo Yuhao, the Child of Fortune, had already suffered a major shift in fate compared to the original. Huo Yuhao would probably still be taken in as Fan Yu's personal disciple, just as in the original, but that point in time might be delayed considerably.

Without Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's million-year Soul Ring and without the Ice Empress as his second Martial Soul, no one in Shrek Academy's Martial Soul Department would pay attention to a student who might not even reach two rings after enrollment. Even if he possessed a Body Martial Soul, and one among the very best at that, in the eyes of Yan Shaozhe and the others, he clearly lacked the potential to enter the Inner Court.

Whether he could even graduate from the Outer Court successfully was another matter.

The fates of many people might undergo a chain of changes because of this, with Tang Ya being the most directly affected. In the original, the reason she dropped out of Shrek Academy was largely because everyone around her who joined the Tang Sect was a genius, while she could not even guarantee that she would graduate from the Outer Court without using her devouring talent.

Simply put, her defenses had been broken.

This time, with Huo Yuhao accompanying her, things should improve, right? Then again, perhaps not. After all, Huo Yuhao's talent in Soul Tools was also far ahead of everyone else's.

The situation in the Extreme North was hard to predict. He would still need to attend the top-tier auction held by Starlight Auction House before he could confirm everything. However, even getting into that top-tier auction was a problem. If he could not get in, he could only wait and keep an eye on bounty missions across the continent.

If Jiang Yue remembered correctly, not long after the top-tier auction ended, Xu Jiujiu and Xu Jiawei would offer a continent-wide bounty for the Snow Empress Embryo.

At Shrek Academy, the new students enrolling this year were also lined up in a long queue outside the gates. Students from the previous year like Jiang Yue and the others were still wearing first-year uniforms. They would only change into second-year uniforms after successfully passing the advancement assessment.

After completing his registration, Jiang Yue returned to his dormitory and cleaned away the dust that had accumulated over the past month. Then he stood there somewhat bored, looking down below.

Smack!

"Jiang Yue! Come see what good stuff I brought you!"

The dormitory door was slapped open, and the tremendous noise from the impact startled Jiang Yue. Suppressing the urge to kick the bastard who had smashed open his door right out of the room, Jiang Yue turned to look at the uninvited guest.

After a whole vacation, Wang Dong's Soul Power fluctuations had become much denser. She gave Jiang Yue a feeling similar to Dai Huabin and the others from last semester. It looked like she had successfully advanced to Soul Elder during the past month.

Jiang Yue genuinely envied that cultivation speed. A month ago, Wang Dong had still been several levels away from Soul Elder, yet she had advanced after just one vacation. Based on normal cultivation speed, even if Wang Dong had cultivated day and night, it would have been absolutely impossible. She had clearly used some kind of cheat.

"You just finished registering. Why aren't you staying in your own dormitory? What are you doing here? And you didn't even knock. You'd better have something important to say, or don't blame me for throwing you straight out of here!"

Jiang Yue pointed toward the windowsill, his gaze fixed firmly on Wang Dong. He clearly was not joking.

Wang Dong realized that as well. She believed that after a year, she had more or less figured out Jiang Yue's personality. Knowing that he truly could do something like that, she immediately grew nervous. Then she seemed to realize something, and her nervousness vanished without a trace.

She proudly puffed out her chest, practically wearing the words "arrogantly smug" across her face.

Seeing that, Jiang Yue did not waste words with her. After opening the window, he made as if to grab Wang Dong and throw her out from the third floor.

Seeing that Jiang Yue was serious, Wang Dong immediately fumbled about and pulled out several orange-yellow fruits from her Storage Soul Tool. The instant each fruit appeared in the room, it released a rich fragrance. Merely smelling the scent drifting through the room made Jiang Yue feel as though his mind had become much clearer and more lucid.

His spiritual power even faintly showed signs of increasing, which truly startled Jiang Yue.

In this era of Unrivaled Tang Sect, Jiang Yue knew of very few heavenly treasures capable of increasing spiritual power. The one that left the deepest impression on him was Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew.

However, an immortal herb like Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew only grew within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. It was not something Jiang Yue could even dream of obtaining right now.

To Jiang Yue, increasing his spiritual power meant increasing his combat strength. The importance of fruits that could clearly increase spiritual power went without saying.

Those fruits instantly drew all of Jiang Yue's attention. He unconsciously took two steps forward. As Wang Dong took out more and more fruits, the feeling of clarity in his mind grew increasingly pronounced.

Jiang Yue stared intently at those fruits, wishing he could eat them all at once and see just how far they could raise his spiritual power.

"We agreed from the start. You'd help me keep my secret, and I'd bring you some good stuff at the beginning of this school year. So? Satisfied?"

"These are fruits borne by a ten-thousand-year Brightlight Tree. They're an extremely rare heavenly treasure that can increase spiritual power, and they taste amazing too. They're useful and delicious. Even Shrek Academy definitely won't have much stuff this good."

"I directly took all the stock we had at home. Take however many you want. Just leave one for me to try."

"You didn't eat any of these on the way here?"

"I'm not someone who goes back on her word. These things smell too good. I was afraid that if I ate one, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from eating the rest, so I kept holding back."

"What you said actually moved me a little. I almost feel embarrassed taking them. How about you just give me two, and you can take the rest back and eat them yourself?"

"No, no, you have to take them. I already said I was giving them to you. How could I take them back?"

"Things that can increase spiritual power are indeed precious, but the more of the same heavenly treasure one eats, the weaker its effect becomes. Once you reach a certain amount, eating more will have barely any effect. No matter how good something is, moderation is still necessary."

"Just tell me how many you want. I've wanted to eat these for ages on the way here. I can't wait anymore."

"Four will do. Eating more probably won't have much effect anyway. You can eat the rest yourself."

"Four? That's way too few, isn't it? Even if I want to eat these fruits, I couldn't eat that many all at once. I'd get sick of them easily. How about this? These ten are yours, and the rest are all mine."

After pushing ten fruits in front of Jiang Yue, Wang Dong looked at his expression. Once she saw that he had no objection, she sighed in relief.

She immediately picked up a fruit impatiently. Without even caring whether it had been peeled, she took a huge bite. Sweet, cloying fragrance instantly filled Jiang Yue's room.

"Mmm! It tastes so good! No wonder Second Dad treasured them so much. When I go back next time, I'll search around some more and see if Second Dad has hidden any other good stuff."

Seeing Wang Dong eat so happily, Jiang Yue followed suit. The first sensation after a mouthful of fruit entered his stomach was an incomparable chill and freshness, followed by a special warmth that rushed directly into his mind.

Jiang Yue looked at the fruit in his hand in disbelief. Not only did it taste incredibly good, its effect was also so powerful. It truly deserved to be called a rare Mental Attribute heavenly treasure.

After he finished the entire fruit, crack!

Jiang Yue felt as though some invisible barrier in his mind, one whose exact form he could not make out, had shattered. The scenery before his eyes immediately became more than twice as clear as before, and the range of his vision also expanded noticeably.

He had broken through. Driven by this fruit, Jiang Yue's spiritual power had successfully entered the next stage.

Previously, he had needed to deliberately maintain Three Apertures Heart, but Jiang Yue now felt that he could accomplish it with a single thought. Moreover, he had a feeling that Three Apertures Heart was no longer his limit. Four apertures should not be a problem. As for five apertures, Jiang Yue could not guarantee it. He would have to try before he could know for certain.

The energy contained within the fruit did not end there. Jiang Yue silently recited the spiritual power training method Electrolux had taught him, and his mind immediately felt warm and comfortable. Before long, after his spiritual power had just broken through, Jiang Yue took another small step forward in spiritual power.

Once that warmth faded, Jiang Yue impatiently ate another fruit. However, this time, the effect of the fruit was far inferior to the first one. The improvement was not even a tenth of what the previous fruit had provided.

As expected, such things only had the most obvious effect the first time they were eaten.

Seeing that the fruit could not increase his spiritual power as dramatically as the first one had, Jiang Yue felt somewhat disappointed, but he quickly recovered.

What I gain is my fortune; what I lose is my fate. He should not care too much about these additional improvements. In any case, Jiang Yue had already received a good return.

"How was it? The effect was great, right? You're a Mental Attribute Soul Master, so the cumulative effect of these fruits should be even more obvious for you. I worked hard to get these from home."

"They're indeed quite good. Thank you."

"Ah, why thank me between friends? I've always been this generous to my friends. Behave yourself. As long as you promise to help me once I return to my true female form in the future, I'll bring you more good stuff next school year. How about it? That's a good deal, right?"

"Heh, forget it. I'm afraid I'll have the life to take it but not the life to use it."

"Setting everything else aside, once you return to your true female form, the girls who like you will go crazy first. Then some male students probably won't feel too good either. Finally, you'll definitely get dragged into some strange love triangle."

"Love triangle? What are you even talking about? How did a love triangle come into this?"

"Zhu Lu and Dai Huabin, of course. Dai Huabin stares at you all day long. Zhu Lu is only a little dissatisfied because you're currently a man."

"Think about it. If your fiancé stared at someone else all day, what do you think her reaction would be? And what would Dai Huabin's reaction be?"

"Ugh! Just thinking about it gives me chills! Enough, I'm not talking to you anymore. If I get the chance, I'll definitely beat that creep to death!"

"Mm! Good luck! I support you spiritually! But why do you call him a creep?"

"He looks at me like that all day. Isn't he a creep?"

"The key is that he seems not to know you're a girl. And considering that he has a fiancée, maybe he's bisexual?"

"Bisexual? Ugh! That's disgusting! If I get the chance, I'll definitely teach him a proper lesson!"

After seeing Wang Dong off, Jiang Yue did not keep stuffing fruits into his mouth to continue increasing his spiritual power. Instead, he went to the window and used his spiritual power to sense the scenery outside.

The different sights in all directions entered his vision. Though he was watching four different scenes at once and receiving information from four separate locations, Jiang Yue's face did not show the slightest strain, as though it were nothing more than routine to him.

Four Apertures Steadfast Heart! Without any grueling practice, Jiang Yue's spiritual power had reached a certain level and smoothly advanced to a new stage. If the people of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect learned of this, they would probably cry that it was impossible.

However, although Jiang Yue was currently observing the scene outside the window without any gaps in his awareness, something happened that he failed to detect in any way. Mu En, along with his reclining chair, suddenly appeared without the slightest warning.

Perhaps there had been traces of his arrival, but Jiang Yue's current strength was simply too low to sense them. After all, Mu En was a Limit Douluo.

"Not bad spiritual power. At the very least, it's comparable to the spiritual power of some Soul Emperors who specialize in spiritual power. It seems you gained quite a lot during this vacation. To possess this level of spiritual power just after reaching four rings, your talent in spiritual power is the greatest this old man has ever seen."

"Hmm... Your foundation is solid. Your Soul Power fluctuations aren't merely at level forty-one. It seems the Soul Ring you absorbed wasn't a Soul Ring of the optimal age limit, but an over-age-limit Soul Ring, correct?"

"Come to think of it, all of your previous Soul Rings were over-age-limit Soul Rings. How could you possibly allow yourself to absorb a Soul Ring of ordinary age for your fourth?"

"It should be a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring, right? I wonder if you can tell this old man how many years your fourth Soul Ring is?"

Mu En's voice suddenly rang beside Jiang Yue's ear, yet he was still quietly lying in his reclining chair in front of the new student dormitory building, basking in the sun. He looked utterly relaxed, and no one could tell that he was conversing with Jiang Yue mentally.

"Senior will surely see it in the future. With your strength, I'm afraid you'd know its exact age as soon as I revealed my Soul Ring, wouldn't you?"

Jiang Yue could tell Mu En everything Yan Shaozhe had done, but it would not result in Yan Shaozhe receiving any punishment. Mu En could not possibly cripple the disciple he had personally raised for the sake of a genius who had not yet fully matured, a genius who was not even certain to join Shrek.

Moreover, Jiang Yue did not believe he needed Mu En's strength. Once he reached Soul Sage, he could more or less settle accounts with Yan Shaozhe.

Yan Shaozhe had taken one Soul Ring from him, so in the future, Jiang Yue could completely seal one of Yan Shaozhe's Soul Rings. It would be best if he could directly seal his Martial Soul Avatar.

"That is true. Fine, this old man won't ask further. I'll keep my curiosity and wait until you reveal your Soul Rings. With your current strength, you are already without equal in the Outer Court. Even Xu Sanshi and Bei Bei, though your Soul Power Levels are similar, cannot match you in either Soul Rings or Martial Soul quality."

"Have you heard of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament, little fellow?"

"Of course I have. It's a famous grand event across the entire continent. Basically, any legitimate Advanced Soul Master Academy can qualify to participate. Shrek Academy will certainly participate, right? Looking across all previous tournaments, Shrek has almost never been absent."

"Mm, indeed. Since you already know about the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament and have some understanding of it, that saves me an introduction. This old man can tell you that Shrek Academy's team has always been divided into two parts: the Main Team and the Reserve Team."

"The period before a new tournament begins is when the Main Team trains in full swing. At the same time, the Reserve Team will also be selected during this period."

"The seven members of the Reserve Team will be the main competitors in the tournament five years later. Generally speaking, Soul Ancestors can already serve as main competitors in such tournaments. At your age, you can participate in two tournaments."

"I wonder whether you'd like to become a Reserve Team member, travel to Star Luo City for this Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament, witness the other geniuses of the continent, and fight them?"