novelraw Chapter 82 : Three-Life Fruit
Chapter 82 : Three-Life Fruit
Chapter 82: Three-Life Fruit
Following the guidance of the spirit tablet—
Mei Zhao Zhao really did find an empty house.
The lanterns had already turned completely white.
Ghostly energy rose thickly along the street; countless shadows slid past through the mist—silent, yet grand in momentum.
“Saintess.”
Mei Zhao Zhao responded softly, “Rest now.”
Her whole body was wrapped in a black robe, making it impossible to see her expression.
Wang Lian said, “The Three-Life Tree should be about to bloom. Will Saintess make a move?”
Mei Zhao Zhao shook her head. “If you wish for it, go and take it yourself.”
Her talent was extraordinary—she did not need the Three-Life Fruit. But Wang Lian did.
Mei Zhao Zhao added, “The Three-Life Tree will probably appear tomorrow. Don’t wander about. If you go out at night, even I won’t be able to save you.”
Wang Lian nodded. “Saintess, about Xiao Hai...”
“Do not blame him. After all, he’s the last remaining bloodline of Xiao Qingfeng.”
“I wouldn’t do such a thing to him. The decree left behind by Daoist Chang’an still stands—even now, sucking someone’s life dry will still get your head chopped off.”
Although the Pleasure Sect was not one of the sects under major rectification, and Daoist Chang’an had disappeared for five hundred years, the decree he left behind was still faithfully obeyed.
This was not because of the existence of the White Domain Dao Sect—
—but because the people of the Pleasure Sect had discovered something. Compared to sucking people dry, it was far better to make others willingly offer up their cultivation. It even earned them a good reputation.
In recent years, the reputation of the Pleasure Sect had been improving. The result was that a number of cultivators even began approaching them voluntarily.
The Dao Sect could not understand it.
But everyone had their own fate. So long as both sides were willing—it was fine.
Mei Zhao Zhao calmed her mind and looked toward the sky.
The night sky of the Nether Kingdom was shrouded in thick mist. Unknown wailing sounds drifted into Mei Zhao Zhao’s ears.
The Saintess of the Pleasure Sect—who had not yet stepped into the Red Dust—was thinking about a man.
More precisely—
She was thinking of Lu Changyuan.
Few people knew the detailed truth of what had happened in the Glazed Dynasty; she was one of them.
After Blood Smoke Rakshasa left Upper Jade Capital, no one knew who had unleashed that sword—but Mei Zhao Zhao did. From the other side of Upper Jade Capital, she had watched Lu Changyuan split open the heavens with a single strike.
How could such a man come to the Nether Kingdom?
On the whale, Mei Zhao Zhao had intentionally approached Lu Changyuan—only to be shocked to find that the Little Ancestor of Cihang Palace was also by that youth’s side.
This made her even more wary of his identity.
Fortunately, the young man seemed easy to speak with, and there were no conflicts of interest between them.
The first rule of the Pleasure Sect—
Never make enemies of those who look strong. If possible, let them know your skill in serving others.
Mei Zhao Zhao had never practiced any “serving skills,” nor did she intend to—so she could only toss that youth a cultivation technique. She had the vague feeling that his kidneys might be a little overworked in the future.
That was, in its own way, a good deed.
Mei Zhao Zhao lifted Xiao Qingfeng’s spirit tablet and hung it in the main hall. The Nether Kingdom’s aura drifted through the room, and three sticks of incense appeared in her hand.
“Let’s hope you still remember old ties.”
She lit the incense and placed it before the spirit tablet.
Lu Changyuan touched his own cheek.
It was still a little damp.
The dream had faded into the distance. He had dreamed once again of the time he spent in the Nether Kingdom.
The lanterns were already tinted red—the second day of the Nether Kingdom had arrived.
“You’re awake—then get up, Young Master Lu.”
So soft.
Lu Changyuan raised his head and saw a young girl’s graceful figure and breathtaking face. He asked, “Did I fall asleep on Third Highness’s lap again this time?”
The girl shook her head. “This time, it was I who placed Young Master Lu’s head on my lap. I noticed your sleep seemed uneasy—as though you had a nightmare.”
Perhaps not exactly a nightmare.
Lu Changyuan thought—if the memories of his past travels in the Nether Kingdom counted as nightmares, then Daoist Chang’an’s whole path of cultivation would have been one long nightmare.
“How much longer does Young Master Lu intend to lie there?”
“That depends on how long Third Highness is willing to let me.”
Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes slightly.
Su Youwan said nothing.
The air grew momentarily quiet.
Lu Changyuan curiously watched her, but the girl’s face was expressionless—as though she were in meditation.
Was she really going to let him lie there forever?
How strange.
Lu Changyuan finally sat up. “We should go take a look outside, Third Highness.”
Perhaps it was an illusion—
—but he thought he saw the silver-haired girl smile faintly.
The two left the small house together. When they opened the door, the street was teeming with spirits—eerily lively.
On the ash-gray street, the spirits went about their daily work—phantom figures moving back and forth, almost like real people.
That one sold meat. The next, rouge and powder.
Pity—they were all illusions.
“Young Master Lu, why are all these spirits making the same sound toward you?”
What puzzled the Third Princess was that these spirits seemed to recognize Lu Changyuan—all uttering the same blurred, strange syllable at him.
“No need to mind them. Let’s head to the royal palace.”
The citizens of the Nether Kingdom had their own language.
After all, the spirits here had once been of various races—some human, some demon.
Lu Changyuan understood them.
Those blurred, eerie syllables—they were all calling out his nickname in this place.
“Yu.”
Lu Changyuan himself had no idea how that nickname came about.
Probably because, in his early days here, he had beaten up most of the Nether Kingdom’s inhabitants—and this was the respectful title they gave him.
A bit ridiculous, really.
After being beaten by him, the Nether spirits realized his immense strength and tried to make him stay—to rule the Nether Kingdom in place of the Lord of the Nether.
It gave him a strange feeling of—“You beat us, so now you’re our boss.”
But at the time, all Lu Changyuan wanted was to leave, so he ignored them.
“Young Master Lu seems quite familiar with this place?”
“Yes. I stayed here for a long time.”
Su Youwan said softly, “But the Nether Kingdom opens for less than half a month each time. If one doesn’t leave in time, one must wait until the next opening to escape. Given the density of the ghostly energy here, even a cultivator of the Sixth Realm Dawning Sun would be worn away into a Nether City spirit after a hundred years.”
Lu Changyuan only said, “There are always some people who can endure.”
As soon as his words fell, the entire Nether Kingdom began to tremble.
The two suddenly looked up to the sky.
In the gray-black heavens, a giant tree was slowly taking shape.
“The Three-Life Tree.”
From the skies above the Eastern City, one could see an enormous, interwoven tree—seemingly rising from the depths of the Netherworld. Three different trees fused together, forming a structure of bone and obsidian.
The tree spanned both the Eastern and Western Cities; no matter where one stood, it could be seen.
Past, present, future—or perhaps previous life, this life, next life—these kinds of thoughts turned into motes of starlight, and under the swirling ghostly aura, finally became radiant, soul-stirring fruits.
The Three-Life Fruit.
Lu Changyuan withdrew his gaze. “This time, the Three-Life Tree appears so early?”
The effect of the Three-Life Fruit was simple and brutal: whoever ate it would live through three illusory lives within the dream. For cultivators, that meant gaining the experience and understanding of three lifetimes—allowing them to deepen their Dao comprehension.
For those struggling at the threshold of the Fifth Realm, Jade Balance, the Four-Realm Heavenly Authority cultivators—after consuming this fruit, most could attain a spark of insight.