The Service Squad, the Vermilion Fruits Ripened

This was a sunny mountainside covered in persimmon trees. Their branches were laden with bright red fruit, and birds and beasts moved among them, pecking and feeding on the ripe persimmons.

It was an ordinary mountain scene. Kong Wenxuan had seen many like it during the past few days as he traveled through the mountains. He could see nothing amiss, much less tell that a vermilion fruit tree, Fifth Uncle, and the others were hidden there.

He could not help looking at his eldest brother, Kong Wenzhang, and exclaiming, "Eldest Brother, is this persimmon grove an illusion too? What a lifelike illusion!"

"Of course not." Kong Wenzhang smiled and shook his head. "The persimmon grove is real. We don't have the means to make something false look so real. All we can do is make use of the real grove and set up some formations and illusions inside it to hide the vermilion fruit tree."

"Next, manifest a peacock feather with your bloodline Divine Ability and hold it in your hand. Follow me, and don't take a wrong turn. Otherwise, the illusion formation we set up in the grove will lead you astray, or even attack you."

As Kong Wenzhang spoke, he turned his hand and manifested a blue peacock feather, holding it in his hand. Eldest Uncle, Third Aunt, and Ninth Uncle also manifested peacock feathers of their own.

Third Aunt manifested a green peacock feather, while Ninth Uncle held a yellow one. The one Eldest Uncle produced was crimson.

Seeing this, Kong Wenxuan took the white peacock feather out of the Qi sea in his Dantian and held it in his hand.

The five of them then entered the persimmon grove. Eldest Uncle Kong Yushuo led the way, with Kong Wenxuan and Kong Wenzhang close behind him. Third Aunt and Ninth Uncle brought up the rear.

As they walked through the grove, everything Kong Wenxuan saw, heard, and smelled was no different from an ordinary mountain woodland. He could not see the slightest sign of any formations or illusions.

He could not help marveling at the methods of Eldest Uncle, Fifth Uncle, and the others.

Before long, however, he noticed something different. As they went deeper into the grove, white light began to gather and flicker in the eye manifested on the tail of the white peacock feather he held, which his bloodline Divine Ability had manifested. Then he saw a persimmon tree ahead, which had looked perfectly normal, turn illusory and begin to flicker.

Eldest Uncle Kong Yushuo and Kong Wenzhang, who were walking ahead, plunged into the flickering, illusory persimmon tree without hesitation and vanished from sight.

That persimmon tree was created by an illusion! Kong Wenxuan understood at once. Although he had not cultivated any illusion techniques, his awakened bloodline Divine Ability, the peacock feather, still had an eye manifested on it, so it also possessed some instinctive ability to see through illusions. Within an illusion formation set up by his own Lineage, it was even like a pass, allowing him to see through things created by illusions with ease.

He followed close behind his eldest brother and plunged into the illusory persimmon tree. A different scene appeared before his eyes.

Several figures had suddenly appeared in the once ordinary, deserted persimmon grove. Besides Eldest Uncle Kong Yushuo and Kong Wenzhang, who had entered ahead of him, six other people were sitting in a circle around a special "persimmon tree."

The six, four men and two women, were the Lineage members who had stayed behind to guard the vermilion fruit tree. Besides their leader, Fifth Uncle Kong Yuluo, there were Thirteenth Aunt Kong Yuqian, Fourteenth Uncle Kong Yuyan, Nineteenth Uncle Kong Yugui, and two members of the Wen generation, Kong Wenjun and Kong Wenzhong.

Although these Lineage members serving at Demon-Suppressing Pass spent most of the year operating there, groups of them had returned to the Lineage over the past few years, either escorting supplies back with the patriarch or returning because they had been badly injured and needed to recuperate and recover.

The First Elder, Kong Changsen, had also invited these returning Lineage members to the Scripture Hall to share some of their combat experience and other knowledge with Kong Wenxuan and the others. Kong Wenxuan therefore recognized them, though he was not close to them.

At that moment, however, his gaze was drawn to the "vermilion fruit tree" surrounded by the others. At first glance, it did not seem much different from an ordinary persimmon tree, except that it was thicker, sturdier, and taller. Its cracked bark resembled scales, and its crooked branches reached for the sky like birds' claws.

The vermilion fruit tree bore only eight fruits. Compared with the other persimmon trees nearby, their branches weighed down with red persimmons, it looked sparsely laden.

Though few in number, however, the fruits were of high quality. All eight glowed red, as though they were about to burst into flame. Kong Wenxuan could already smell some of their fragrance, and his mouth filled with saliva.

The books say that if a persimmon tree bears fruit through sixty consecutive winters without the fruit falling, it has a good chance of transforming into a vermilion fruit tree. It seems that was true after all.

Kong Wenxuan was observing the vermilion fruit tree and marveling inwardly.

Meanwhile, Eldest Uncle Kong Yushuo had exchanged information with Fifth Uncle Kong Yuluo and the others, asking whether there had been any unexpected changes over the past few days. Only after confirming that nothing was wrong did he relax.

He then called Kong Wenxuan over and introduced everyone to him. Kong Wenxuan greeted each of them in turn and introduced himself, taking his first step toward joining this small service group.

Afterward, Kong Wenzhang showed him around the persimmon grove and its surroundings, then explained the illusion formation set up in the grove.

According to his eldest brother, the illusion formation had been refined by the patriarch, Kong Changgeng. It was a second-tier illusion formation that could create illusions according to its surroundings and conceal its target. It could also evade detection by the spiritual senses of most second-tier Foundation Establishment cultivators.

It could be said to be a major foundation and trump card for the survival of the Kong family's disciples as they operated on the front lines at Demon-Suppressing Pass, even more important than many resources and spoils of war.

After familiarizing himself with the surroundings and the illusion formation, Kong Wenxuan formally began his cultivation and service on the front-line battlefield.

Because he had not cultivated the Peacock Soul-Bewitching Scripture and had not mastered illusion techniques, Eldest Uncle did not assign him to help charge or control the illusion formation.

The service squad already had ten people, divided into two teams that took turns sustaining and controlling the formation. That was enough, so they did not need him.

Thus, although Kong Wenxuan was on the dangerous front lines, he spent most of his time hiding within the illusion formation, continuing to devour and refine spiritual fire, refining the Crimson Fire Divine Sword, and cultivating both sword and Qi to improve his cultivation.

Only occasionally did he accompany the off-duty team on patrol around the persimmon grove, keeping watch in case Demon Beasts or enemies slipped nearby and lay in ambush without their knowledge.

In this way, two months passed in the blink of an eye. The persimmons in the groves covering the mountains had all ripened over a month ago, either eaten by birds and beasts or fallen to the ground and rotted into mud. Only now did the eight fruits on the vermilion fruit tree hidden by the illusion formation finally ripen completely.

The sweet fragrance of ripe fruit spread out in an instant, and even the second-tier illusion formation struggled to contain it completely.