A collective gasp escaped them, and Dugu Xiaoyi and Han Yanmeng actually leaped to their feet!

One thousand years!

Such earth-shattering good news sent tremors through the women's minds, nearly causing them to swoon!

Ageless beauty, their looks unchanged for a millennium!

Was this a dream? Even if it were, they wished it would last longer, praying that Qianli would not wake them too soon!

From time immemorial, beauties, much like famous generals, were never permitted to greet old age! The biting wind and chilling frost of time had always been the most feared, hated, and utterly helpless terrors for beautiful women! How to preserve one's youthful looks, even temporarily, had been the ceaseless pursuit of womankind!

The so-called cosmetics and skincare products owed their massive, enduring success precisely to this innate female psychology... Even brief camouflage drove people wild, inspired obsession; what hope could compare to this one-time, everlasting benefit—maintaining one's peak beauty for an entire millennium? This was truly the panacea that would make every woman lose her mind!

Even in the usually placid eyes of Mei Xueyan, a searing, intense light flared forth!

At that very moment, all seven women stood, slowly closing in on Jun Moxie, fists clenched, eagerness palpable. Suddenly, they roared in unison: "Hand it over, quickly!"

Jun Moxie was nearly scared out of his wits by this explosive shout! The Young Master Jun had not anticipated such terrifying power erupting from these women...

He felt nearly stunned by the sheer force of it—beauty and youth, when fiercely desired, were truly terrifying forces! With no other recourse, the Young Master could only produce the remaining five sets of the Seven-Colored Holy Fruit. Then, he urged his Wood Power, ripening the fruit once more, until he finally gathered seven complete sets. He reached into the Exquisite Lotus Pond and broke off a rather large piece of the Exquisite Lotus Root...

"Esteemed ... Immortal ... Queens ... This is all I have. I have dedicated everything, not daring to hide a single bit. Please, spare my life..."

Jun Moxie held out the treasures with teary eyes, looking as if he had just been robbed a hundred times...

Seven people, seven sets of the Holy Fruit. That large piece of Exquisite Lotus also had to be sliced into seven portions, one for each. The piece of Exquisite Lotus that Young Master Jun contributed, even just one-seventh after being cut, was still three times larger than the entire intact lotus root from the Heavenly Sage Palace. In terms of potency, let alone sheer volume, its effect far surpassed anything comparable. Could anything produced in the Hongjun Tower realm ever disappoint...?

The women looked at the irresistible temptation laid before them. Their faces flushed, and their eyes shone with ecstatic brilliance...

Guan Qinghan was the first to pick up a set. She examined it, even bringing it close to her nose for a deep sniff. Then, as if recalling something vital, she looked sternly at Jun Moxie and asked, "Hmm, is this all there is? Moxie... you aren't taking any?"

"Uh, for now, there are only seven portions. Seven of you, exactly one each."

Jun Moxie was genuinely puzzled. What difference did it make if he ate it? He wasn't a woman; he didn't fear aging...

"Then..."

Guan Qinghan’s expression became exceedingly complex, and her delicate hand trembled. After a long pause, she gritted her teeth, fighting desperately for control, and placed the Seven-Colored Fruit and the Exquisite Lotus back onto the table. As the two items left her grasp, it was clear that intense struggle and reluctance were etched onto Guan Qinghan's face. But she still set down the two peerless marvels, stepped back two paces, closed her eyes tightly, her face pale, and whispered softly, "If you don't eat, then I won't eat either!"

"Why?"

Jun Moxie was truly astonished. The moment Guan Qinghan set down the Seven-Colored Fruit and the Exquisite Lotus, it was as if she had undergone a violent internal battle! The ferocity of this conflict was visible to anyone watching! Yet, Jun Moxie had never expected Guan Qinghan to make such a decision.

"Why?"

Guan Qinghan’s expression slowly calmed, but beads of perspiration already dotted her forehead. She replied wearily, "For whom do we maintain our eternal youth? A man dies for one who appreciates him; a woman beautifies herself for one who adores her! The sole reason a woman strives to maintain her most beautiful moment has always been for her lover!"

Guan Qinghan looked deeply at Jun Moxie and slowly continued, "If you do not partake, then you will inevitably age. Even if you do not fear growing old, you will eventually reach that point. Even if we remain peerlessly beautiful then, what meaning is there in such solitary perfection? Since you do not eat, I choose not to eat either! Let us grow old together; I believe that too will be a form of happiness. Does the saying 'beauty growing old gracefully' only exist to be spoken aloud?..."

"Qinghan!"

Jun Moxie felt an inexplicable jolt in his heart, a sensation like churning seas of emotion! He truly never expected that the usually cold and aloof Guan Qinghan could utter such words! This woman, whose exterior was always so reserved, harbored such extreme depths of feeling! For Jun Moxie's sake, she was willing to renounce the instantly accessible opportunity for eternal youth! She was willing to let her world-shattering, peerless beauty wither away with her, turning to dust.

"Sister Qinghan is right, I won't eat it either," said Han Yanmeng this time. Following her, Dugu Xiaoyi, Ke'er, and the others successively placed the sacred medicine—something that would drive any woman mad—back onto the table...

A profound sense of satisfaction bloomed on Mei Xueyan's face...

Jun Moxie suddenly felt his nose sting slightly. He coughed softly twice, then smiled faintly, "Well, you have all misunderstood. The reason I said I wouldn't eat it just now was that there are only these seven sets for the moment. Given time, we will gather more of this substance. You are merely the lucky first beneficiaries. Setting aside everything else, we now possess a living Seven-Colored Tree... Though it yields little fruit each time, it will be enough for all of us to consume! Not just us, but Grandpa, Mother, Third Uncle, and Third Aunt will all have some too; it's only a matter of time..."

"However, there is one thing... Third Aunt is currently pregnant and cannot take this substance yet, lest the sudden shock cause complications. Don't tell her for now. When the child is born... Hmm, by then, the second harvest should be ready, and we can present it as a congratulatory gift!"

"You bad man, why didn't you say so sooner? You terrified me just now! You are only a tiny bit more precious than this spiritual medicine, you big brute..."

Dugu Xiaoyi pouted in complaint, then brightened again, exclaiming, "Come, come, everyone eat up! Sister Qinghan, you eat too... Now you don't have to worry about no one appreciating your beauty! It seems Young Master Jun is destined to admire you until you're old. But the 'beauty growing old gracefully' won't happen now—there will be no white-haired beauties in this world... Haha!"

Hearing the young girl's teasing, Guan Qinghan’s face burned crimson, and she lowered her head deeply, but beneath her lowered gaze, happiness shone through... Her delicate hands once again picked up a set of the Seven-Colored Fruit and the Exquisite Lotus, clutching them tightly...

"Alright, take them now," Jun Moxie said, taking a deep breath to calm his still-agitated emotions. "I will guard you during the process. Once the effects are fully active, the sudden boost to your cultivation base will certainly breach the original meridians within your bodies. This means it will inevitably trigger individual Lightning Tribulations. We will face the tribulations together then."

The women all nodded.

Dugu Xiaoyi, already unable to wait, popped the fruit into her mouth...

Roughly half a day later...

Above the Heavenly Punishment Forest, bolts of lightning suddenly tore through the sky, accompanied by surging winds and churning clouds... That unique single eye in the heavens signaled to all observers: someone else was breaking through! And not just one person...

Such a phenomenon was the strongest possible deterrent: Who had ever witnessed the sublime majesty of several people undergoing tribulation simultaneously? Just how profoundly powerful was this newly established Evil Monarch’s Mansion...?

The savage might of the Heavenly Tribulation's lightning lasted until that afternoon. As the sky neared darkness, it gradually dissipated... However, when the personnel from the Heavenly Punishment Sect arrived at the site of the breakthrough, they were astonished to find an area of rare, profound calm..., If mere calmness were all, it would be forgivable. But the site of the lightning tribulation showed absolutely no signs of having been struck by celestial lightning...

This event caused further murmurs of amazement! This phenomenon was hard to explain. The only seemingly plausible explanation was that the cultivators undergoing tribulation had not only met the lightning head-on, but had avoided all evasion throughout the entire process, enduring it with sheer resilience, and had even managed to neutralize every drop of the heavenly lightning's power, ensuring not a single iota leaked down to the ground?

As soon as this single, seemingly logical explanation arose, it was immediately dismissed by the observers themselves: this explanation, however logical it appeared, was simply too absurd; it was impossible! Since the dawn of time, no one had achieved such a feat! Even the founder of profound cultivation, the First Young Master of the Nine Nethers, could not manage this! Yet, barring this "absurd" explanation, what other means existed to account for what had just occurred...?

On the seventh day of the sixth month, at a location a thousand li east of the Heavenly Punishment Forest!

Watching the endless dark clouds and continuous lightning erupt suddenly from the southwest, the faces of Miao Dao and Miao Jian became markedly grim. Miao Xiaomiao, dressed in plain robes, stood behind the two, gazing with a measure of curiosity at the celestial anomaly in the southwest, her expression placid.

Although Miao Xiaomiao had already reached the Venerable Realm, her understanding of profound cultivation remained relatively shallow. The previous heavenly tribulation she encountered, while possessing an earth-shattering, perilous aura, posed no actual risk whatsoever; all danger had been borne by Jun Moxie, allowing her to pass through unscathed! Thus, in her perception, this current tribulation was less formidable than the one she had previously experienced, and she paid it little mind... Nothing to fear...

But Dao and Jian possessed vastly richer experience. How could they fail to see the sheer malevolence of this sudden tribulation? Miao Ke looked up into the distance, speaking with solemnity, "That direction is towards the Heavenly Punishment Forest! I can even calculate that the location of the tribulation should be on the edge of the forest. If my estimation is correct, someone within the Heavenly Punishment Forest has broken through!"

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