Suddenly, the figure of the green-robed girl flashed, and a long chain flew out from her emerald sleeves, snatching one of the Seven-Colored Eagles from a team below. By the time it landed at her feet, the eagle's skull was already broken; it convulsed twice and met its untimely end.
Jun Moxie watched clearly: the eagle had merely swooped down, opening its beak, but had failed to release any venom. Clearly, the bird had tried to play it slyly, but the green-robed girl detected it immediately and pulled it down before it could take flight again.
"It seems not only humans engage in petty trickery; the Profound Beasts have their share too," Jun Moxie mused inwardly with a sigh.
The green-robed girl spat out several rapid syllables. Her lovely face was contorted in fury, seemingly issuing a warning. Jun Moxie distinctly saw all the lawless venomous beasts, those in the sky and those on the ground, tremble in unison.
A Beast King, indeed!
If not a Beast King, who else could command such awe?
Thousands of streams of venom sprayed onto the ground where the Thousand Evil Venom Fruit lay, pooling into a large expanse. The air grew even thicker with swirling vapor.
But as the fruit slowly turned a rosy pink, the multicolored venom pooled beneath it began to diminish drop by drop, slowly fading to a dull grey, gradually returning the earth to its natural color—completely absorbed in a short span!
The fruit was clearly undergoing its third transformation: a crystalline pink hue!
Yet, at the very apex center of the fruit, a spot almost invisible to the naked eye had turned a pale blue.
"It's commencing its third color change already!?" Jun Moxie was startled!
The green-robed girl pursed her lips and whistled. In the sky, a frantic rush of swooping dives began once more...
Three times this cycle, and the fruit successfully transformed to yellow. However, of the tens of thousands of flying Profound Beasts overhead, not a single one remained!
Under the green-robed girl's direction, the terrestrial Profound Beasts began their careful irrigation.
As the fruit cycled through its colors again and again, the expression on the green-robed girl's face, amidst her tension, grew increasingly joyous. Slowly, this Thousand Evil Venom Fruit, now almost shimmering with brilliance, finally shifted to a faint purplish-gold.
And at that moment, the last batch of venomous beasts on the ground finally completed their task, having spewed their toxins!
"That was close!" The green-robed girl gently patted her chest, sticking out her tongue adorably.
"Close! Barely enough," those same words echoed in Jun Moxie's mind. One exposed, one hidden—both let out a long breath of relief!
Under the expectant gazes of Young Master Jun and the green-robed girl, where every second stretched like a year,
The Thousand Evil Venom Fruit transformed once more!
Purplish-Gold!
The Thousand Evil Venom Fruit had finally turned purplish-gold!
This meant the Thousand Evil Venom Fruit was on the verge of full maturity!
At this very instant, the Thousand Evil Venom Fruit burst forth with a brilliance rivaling the stars, as if the splendor of the night sky's magnificent constellations had suddenly descended upon the Heavenly Punishment Forest!
The beauty of this moment was incomparable, impossible to capture with brush or word!
It was like a proud sovereign, looking down upon all creation with magnanimous grace!
Though it lasted but a fleeting moment, Jun Moxie swore he would never forget this sight for the rest of his life!
This brief instant showcased the ultimate magnificent splendor of the Thousand Evil Venom Fruit—that divine treasure among fruits—as it ripened and assumed dominion!
The green-robed girl's face was overcome with utter intoxication as she gazed upon the Heavenly Punishment's foremost sacred fruit. An unconcealable, fanatical gleam radiated from her eyes! If she could secure this Thousand Evil Venom Fruit properly, place it within the Profound Joy Box, and await the Boss's return, she and her brothers would have the hope of instantly shattering the bottleneck of peak ninth level and officially stepping into the tenth level!
Although this process carried an immense, near-fatal danger! she still had to attempt it. And even if it meant her body burst or burned up, she would never regret it!
As Young Master Jun had surmised, this green-robed girl was indeed one of the Heavenly Punishment Beast Kings: the Ninth Beast King, the Snake King Qianxun! She had shouldered this arduous task for a full year now!
And this single Thousand Evil Venom Fruit had been planned since the time of the previous Heavenly Punishment Sacred King: planting myriad poisonous flora to forge this Valley of Absolute Toxin, and then deliberately cultivating all sorts of venomous Profound Beasts—a process that had been underway for a full three hundred and fifty years!
Three hundred and fifty years!
The time it took the Thousand Evil Venom Fruit to sprout and mature was actually only one year, but the preparatory work leading up to it spanned three hundred and fifty years! And this was achieved in the Heavenly Punishment Forest, a location with relatively convenient inherent conditions!
It must be noted that while the Heavenly Punishment Profound Beasts were numerous, those possessing poison were not the majority; perhaps only one or two in ten. But their sheer base number was staggering! The entire Heavenly Punishment Forest had prepared for this single fruit for three hundred and fifty years!
During these three hundred and fifty years, untold millions of Profound Beasts had toiled their entire lives for this singular objective. Some beasts never lived to witness the culmination of this grand feat, repeatedly pouring out all their venom into this reservoir of toxins, and when they finally died of old age, they even had their corpses interred in this very soil...
All for this single fruit!
Witnessing this glorious moment, the green-robed girl, the Snake King Qianxun, was deeply moved. Thinking of the immense sacrifices made by her lineage over these three hundred and fifty years for the sake of the Heavenly Punishment Sacred Fruit, her spirit trembled! Finally, it was accomplished!
Slowly, she drew from her robes a supremely exquisite, fist-sized Profound Jade Box. She opened the lid and waited patiently. Every movement was cautious, as if afraid of startling the Sacred Fruit of Heavenly Punishment, which possessed no discernible life force.
The Sacred Fruit of Heavenly Punishment must be allowed to detach naturally when fully ripe; anything earlier, even by the blink of an eye, was unacceptable! Qianxun had reminded herself of this countless times.
"Do not rush, do not rush. Be careful, be extremely careful..."
Finally, the purplish-gold Sacred Fruit of Heavenly Punishment, which had been radiating ten thousand rays of light, began to dim. A rich yet utterly refined fragrance, carrying a pleasing elegance, drifted out gently!
The Scent of a King! Unquestionably, the Scent of a King!
The Sacred Fruit of Heavenly Punishment trembled slightly on its stem, as if reluctant to leave its long-held abode. Then, the stem beneath it instantly withered, turning to ash in a flash, and the suspended purplish-gold fruit seemed to hang suspended in the void, before finally descending with grace.
Qianxun moved forward in extreme excitement, aligning the mouth of the Profound Jade Box with the Sacred Fruit. Just as it was about to fall in...
Suddenly!
The beautiful, delicate eyes of the Snake King Qianxun widened to their absolute limit. She stared in disbelief at what met her gaze—
Nothingness!
Nothing was left!
That Sacred Fruit of Heavenly Punishment, the culmination of hundreds of years of arduous preparation, had vanished so abruptly and mysteriously!
It had neither fallen into the box nor ascended to heaven. Right before the Snake King Qianxun, a Beast King whose power rivaled that of a Supreme Being, it had simply disappeared without any warning!
This was utterly inconceivable!
What in the world had happened?!
Amidst extreme shock came overwhelming resentment and frustration. The Snake King Qianxun flipped her wrist, as pale as snow, and the Profound Jade Box instantly vanished. In a flash, she leaped to the treetop and roared fiercely, "Which scurrilous rat dares cause trouble here? If you know what’s good for you, step out now! I wish to see precisely who dares steal the crystallization of hundreds of years of effort from the heart of Heavenly Punishment!"
Her voice echoed throughout the entire Heavenly Punishment Forest, spreading out like rolling ocean waves.
Jun Moxie, lurking in the shadows, clicked his tongue. "That Snake King is fierce!"
"But this Brother certainly isn't coming out. Doesn't everyone know that a woman gone mad is the hardest to deal with? Why would I step out now, at this critical juncture, to court trouble? I'm not an idiot!"
The hot potato was in his hands. Young Master Jun had indeed taken the Sacred Fruit of Heavenly Punishment! In fact, among all the world's experts, only Young Master Jun's Yin-Yang Evasion Technique could snatch the Thousand Evil Venom Fruit, which he had coveted for so long, so stealthily, depositing it immediately into the Grandmist Pagoda ahead of the Snake King Qianxun!
Heaven and Earth spiritual items certainly couldn't be kept outside; even the Profound Jade Box might not preserve them for very long. But the Grandmist Pagoda was undoubtedly an exception; once placed inside, it guaranteed preservation for ten thousand years without decay!
In terms of utilization efficiency, Young Master Jun certainly held a massive advantage.
"I'm truly sorry, little girl. This thing," he thought, "I have great need of it; I can only borrow it. Besides, in your hands, its efficacy might not even be utilized one-tenth as much—what a waste! That would be a true blasphemy against heaven's bounty!"
To prevent such a tragedy that would make even immortals sigh in regret, this Brother had to do a good deed. Consider it helping out. And it is helping, in a way. That fruit liquid looked like potent stuff, but improper dosage could cause you to burst. Since I took it all, in the final analysis, I saved several of your lives. This person—myself—is just too kind-hearted. You don't need to thank me. This was a mutually beneficial situation..."
Jun Moxie crowned himself with the hat of a great, righteous philanthropist in his mind. Thinking this way, he suddenly felt that far from being a thief stealing treasure, he was, if anything, a living Bodhisattva rescuing the suffering. Life was just so beautiful...
Of course, this living Bodhisattva was not yet ready to show his face! Because once he did, he would certainly be torn to shreds by the Snake King, who couldn't comprehend his noble intentions and was currently in a frenzy...
"Come out!"
Seeing the surroundings silent, the fact that someone could steal the Sacred Fruit from under her nose without a sound meant they were no ordinary opponent. Anyone bold enough to penetrate Heavenly Punishment and dare to seize its great treasure must possess considerable courage and skill.
The Snake King Qianxun, amidst her fury, felt a flicker of apprehension. She suddenly let out a sharp roar, like a thunderclap! Centered on the tree where she stood, all surrounding trees and grass snapped and fell away in the four cardinal directions!
Young Master Jun, whose courage and skill were matched by his caution, immediately sucked in a sharp breath. Even movie special effects couldn't achieve something so vivid and shocking! The Snake King truly lived up to her reputation as one of the Heavenly Punishment Beast Kings! "But no matter how loudly you shout, this gentleman isn't coming out! A true man keeps his word; what he says, he does! Shout! Keep shouting louder! To tell you the truth, shouting until your throat breaks won't do a thing!" For the rest of the story, please log on to [website address]. More chapters, support the author, support the genuine edition.