The pressure radiating from the Scarlet Gold Fruit was ancient and domineering.
His fingertips were still half an inch from the fruit when the skin of his palm began to tingle.
That tingling burrowed between his fingers and crawled up his arm, like ten thousand ants marching through the gaps in his bones.
Shi Hou stared at the longan-sized Scarlet Gold Fruit, its skin's flowing aura of the Great Dao reflected in his pupils.
A thought flashed through his mind.
To hell with it!
I've got Myriad Arts Cannot Harm. How could a piece of fruit scare me off?
If I leave this forest empty-handed today, how am I supposed to show my face in the Great Wilderness's gourmet circles again?
He reached another half inch forward.
The tingling intensified tenfold.
His entire arm felt as though it had been filled with lead, too heavy to lift. The aura of the Great Dao on the fruit's surface became a tangible repulsive force, pinning his five fingers down.
Shi Hou clenched his back teeth, and the forty million Blood Qi within him surged into motion.
The power churning through his blood vessels flooded into his palm like waters bursting through a dam, forcibly prying that layer of pressure apart.
His fingertips pinched the stem.
He twisted.
Snap.
An exceptionally crisp sound rang out.
The Scarlet Gold Fruit broke free of the branch and fell into his palm.
The instant it touched his hand, a scorching current seeped through its skin. Shi Hou felt as though he were holding a miniature sun, so hot that his bones creaked.
Without another word, he raised his hand and tossed it behind his head.
The Scarlet Gold Fruit traced a golden arc and landed squarely inside the open Black Pot Space.
Shi Hou shook his