"Nine-Orifice Exquisite Fruit?"
When Lin Fan heard this name, which was enough to stir up a bloody storm in the cultivation world, his face showed not a single trace of joy. Instead, he looked as if a mortal had just encountered the source of the most terrifying plague. The disgust, apprehension, and fear that came from the depths of his soul were almost palpable, causing the temperature of the surrounding air to drop by several degrees.
"Senior Brother! We... we've struck it rich!" Yue Qingqian's face was flushed with excitement, and her voice trembled slightly. She carefully peeked over the edge of the crater, her eyes filled with a fanatical light as she gazed at the verdant fruit. "The books say this is a true Heaven-rank Spiritual Root Treasure! A mortal who takes a small bite can shed their mortal coil and ascend to immortality on the spot! If we cultivators can obtain even one of its orifices, we can break through all bottlenecks and reach the Great Dao directly! This... this is a supreme auspicious treasure bestowed upon us by the heavens!"
"Auspicious treasure?"
Lin Fan whipped his head around, looking at his naive junior sister as if she were an idiot. He took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly, as if trying to expel the towering rage and endless panic from his body.
He sneered, a sound full of self-mockery and despair. He pointed at the fruit, which was still emitting its tempting fragrance like an unparalleled gem, and began what he considered to be the most important and cruel lesson in realism he had ever given.
"Junior Sister, open your eyes and look clearly! What you see is not some damn auspicious treasure, but a death warrant with both our names written on it! And what you're smelling is not some intoxicating fragrance, but a deadly poison that will bring about our demise and leave us without even our bones!"
Lin Fan's voice was not loud, but every word was like an ice-coated steel needle, stabbing fiercely into Yue Qingqian's heart, causing the ecstatic look on her face to freeze instantly.
He took a step forward, pointed in the various directions of the sect, and spoke rapidly, "Do you know what will happen if this thing's aura completely leaks out? Let me tell you! First, all the hibernating, powerful Golden Core stage Yao beasts within a thousand-mile radius will instantly lose their minds upon smelling this and charge over like mad, trampling our little Lesser Peak into flat ground!"
"Second, within our Sky Profound Sect, all the Nascent Soul stage old monsters who are in death seclusion and nearing the end of their lifespans will break out immediately! To extend their lives, to break through to the next realm, they will do anything! At that time, fellowship between sect members, sect rules—it will all be nonsense! They will be like sharks that have smelled blood, tearing this place to shreds!"
"Finally, and most terrifyingly!" A hint of madness appeared in Lin Fan's eyes. "The surrounding demonic sects that have old grudges with our Sky Profound Sect, or the righteous sects that are only allies on the surface—once their grand elders who have lived for over a thousand years sense this aura, what do you think they will do? They will not hesitate to tear open the void and forcibly descend upon this place! A world-shaking war that could drag the entire Sky Profound Sect down will erupt right here on our palm-sized peak!"
He stared intently at Yue Qingqian and said, word by word, "At that time, our Lesser Peak will become the eye of the storm for the entire Southern Domain's cultivation world! Countless peerless masters will fight over it, shedding rivers of blood, dimming the sun and moon! And you! And me! In this terrifying storm, we will be less than a speck of dust, the first and most pitiful wretches to be crushed into powder, without even a chance at reincarnation!"
Every sentence Lin Fan spoke was like a heavy hammer, striking Yue Qingqian's heart.
Her mind, which had been feverish with ecstasy, finally began to cool down. The color drained from her face, replaced by a dawning, bone-deep fear. Only now did she truly understand the heavy price behind the old proverb—possessing a treasure is a crime.
"Th-then... what should we do, Senior Brother?" Yue Qingqian's voice was tinged with tears, and she was completely at a loss. She felt as if she were holding not a fortunate opportunity, but a bomb that could explode at any moment and blast her into smithereens.
"What should we do?"
After the initial panic, Lin Fan's eyes became unusually calm. The more critical the moment, the more his "Dao of Stability" operated at its peak.
He glanced at the Nine-Orifice Exquisite Fruit, which was still tirelessly emitting its troublesome fragrance, and a glint of determination flashed in his eyes.
"While the fruit's fragrance hasn't fully spread, and the major figures in the sect are still suspicious of each other and haven't reacted, we must immediately! Right now! Deal with this massive problem!"
As he spoke, he took out his beloved "Spirit-Working Shovel" from his storage pouch. His plan was clear and very much in line with his style—dig a thousand-yard-deep pit, use all the knowledge he had accumulated over his life to lay a thousand layers of aura-sealing arrays, and completely bury this hot potato, this damned gift from the heavens, so that it would never see the light of day again!
However, just as he was about to act, another change occurred.
Perhaps the Heavenly Dao felt the show wasn't lively enough, or perhaps the celestial spiritual root sensed the undisguised malice and killing intent from Lin Fan.
In the deep pit, the Nine-Orifice Exquisite Fruit seemed to be enraged. The azure light on its body shone to an extreme brilliance for an instant, and its nine natural orifices inhaled sharply, instantly creating a vacuum of the surrounding spiritual energy.
Immediately after, a terrifying fruity fragrance, more than ten times denser than before and almost tangible, erupted like an invisible signal flare! This fragrance forcefully broke through the multiple layers of the Heaven-Locking Array that Lin Fan had previously set up and spread out in all directions like an unstoppable flood!
"Not good! It's too late!"
Lin Fan's face instantly turned deathly pale.
At the same moment that this dense fragrance broke through its restraints.
In the deepest part of the Sky Profound Sect's forbidden back mountain, at the bottom of the "Dragon-Locking Pool," which was perpetually shrouded in black, cold qi that never melted, a pair of crimson eyes, larger than palaces and filled with violence and hunger, snapped open.
"ROAR—!!!"
A terrifying roar, suppressed for hundreds of years and filled with endless greed and fervent desire, thundered from the depths of the earth. The terrifying sound waves materialized into a physical shockwave, causing the entire mountain range of the Sky Profound Sect to tremble slightly.
Lin Fan knew that the biggest trouble of all had finally arrived.