Half a year later.

On this day.

Gong Yang and Duan Shuang once again returned to Purple Bamboo Mountain, covered in dust, bringing good news for Xu Ping.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, fortunately, we did not fail in our mission!" Duan Shuang beamed like a flower, pushing a small jade box in front of Xu Ping.

Inside the jade box lay a Jade Longevity Fruit, exuding an enticing aroma.

Seeing this scene, Xu Ping's eyes couldn't help but brighten, and he clasped his hands together. "Many thanks to both of you, Fellow Daoists!"

This trade was truly worthwhile for him, needing to take no risks and only spending some resources, yet acquiring another Jade Longevity Fruit.

"We should be the ones thanking Fellow Daoist instead, for if not for your puppet, the two of us might have been in grave danger!" Duan Shuang's charming face still showed some lingering fear.

"It's just a shame that the puppet you gave us has been damaged!" With a sweep of her sleeve, two battered puppets suddenly appeared before them.

"The main issue was the competition for the herb garden; there were too many Foundation Establishment Cultivators fighting for it, even several Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators. Fellow Daoist Duan and I had great difficulty escaping." Gong Yang's brows revealed a hint of helplessness.

"It's a minor matter, as long as both Fellow Daoists return safely." Xu Ping smiled slightly, indifferent.

Two Second-stage Mid-grade puppets might be priceless to others, but to him, they were of no substantial value.

The three of them continued to discuss the island ruins.

Listening to the tales of Duan Shuang and Gong Yang, he learned that through the continued exploration and breaking of restrictions by the cultivators, the outskirts of the island ruins had been nearly turned inside out.

Not long ago, the restrictions were breached, revealing vast quantities of spiritual fruits and spirit medicines, even several Jade Longevity Fruits.

Only by expending great effort were they able to seize one.

'Several Jade Longevity Fruits?'

Xu Ping listened, his heart pounding with excitement.

If he could obtain them all, how much would that increase his lifespan and proficiency?

Unfortunately, their strength was somewhat lacking, managing to seize only one.

If it were him, never mind, he wouldn't go even if it killed him.

"So, you're saying…the restrictions on the outskirts of the island ruins have mostly been broken, and now only the interior and the most core area remain?"

Xu Ping listened to them, his face thoughtful.

"Exactly…"

Gong Yang spilled everything, withholding nothing: "Though we're still unsure about the origins of these ruins, the outermost area yielded abundant rewards, including Core Formation spiritual objects. One can only imagine how many defying spiritual objects lie in the interior and the most core area."

"This ruin can be confirmed as a Nascent Soul cultivator's ruin!"

"And in the inner spirit medicine garden, it has been seen that there's a quasi-third-order spiritual fruit, the Hundred-Year Fruit!"

"Quasi-third-order spiritual fruit, Hundred-Year Fruit?" Upon hearing this, Xu Ping's heart skipped a beat.

The Hundred-Year Fruit is essentially also a Jade Longevity Fruit.

But just as cultivators can appear with various spirit bodies, and demon beasts can have bloodline mutations, spirit fruits and spirit plants can too.

The Hundred-Year Fruit is derived from the mutation of the Jade Longevity Fruit.

Its life-extending capability far exceeds ordinary Second-stage life-extending items, but does not surpass those of the third stage.

Hence it's called quasi-third-order spiritual fruit!

Although the Hundred-Year Fruit is merely a quasi-third-order spiritual fruit, it can also extend the lifespan of Golden Core cultivators.

"Yes, it's the Hundred-Year Fruit!"

Gong Yang nodded definitively, "This spiritual fruit is extremely rare, and there are likely many cultivators vying for it. With Fellow Daoist Duan and I being rather weak on our own, we fear we may not be competitors. If Fellow Daoist Xu could join us, our hopes of capturing this fruit would greatly increase."

In the face of Gong Yang's repeated invitation, Xu Ping, though tempted, still shook his head: "This fruit is so precious that Fake Pill and Golden Core cultivators are bound to strive for it. We wouldn't stand a chance."

"Fake Pill and Golden Core cultivators?"

"They probably might not be available at the moment!" Gong Yang's expression was a bit odd.

"Why is that?" Xu Ping was taken aback.

Duan Shuang interjected to explain: "Recently, there's been a rumor circulating that in the core area of the ruins, an Infant Devouring Fruit, unseen in Yue Country for millennia, has appeared!"

"Infant Devouring Fruit!?"

Xu Ping's pupils constricted, shocked, and he repeatedly questioned, "Is this true?"

He couldn't be blamed for his loss of composure—the Infant Devouring Fruit was simply too rare and precious.

The Infant Devouring Fruit is a being that lies between a spiritual fruit and a life form. It's rumored that swallowing this fruit can raise the success rate of Golden Core Perfection cultivators forming a Nascent Soul by a significant portion.

Not to mention in a mid-sized country like Yue Country, even in those super-sized countries, this is a rarely encountered defying spiritual object.

"This we don't know, nor do we know who spread the rumor, but it spread plausibly, making it hard to distinguish true from false!" Duan Shuang shook her head.

Don't know who spread it? Yet it spread plausibly?

Upon hearing this, Xu Ping quickly calmed down.

This matter felt quite suspicious!

In Yue Country, let alone a Foundation Establishment cultivator, even a Golden Core cultivator, without profound insight, might not recognize an Infant Devouring Fruit.

But someone recognized it and still spread the word.

No matter how it's thought through, it seems fishy!

'Could someone be deliberately disseminating rumors to fish for information?' Xu Ping's heart trembled in realization.

'Who would it be?' He pondered this for a while and already had an answer.

In all of Yue Country, the one with enough background to spread indistinguishable rumors is the entire Yue Country's hegemon—the Luoyun Sect.

As for whose information they're fishing for, it's clearly evident!

The only confusion for Xu Ping was that Luoyun Sect's tactics weren't sophisticated, even he could detect them, and there's no reason that the people from the Shuize Sect wouldn't notice either.

Those old monsters who've lived for hundreds of years aren't fools.

"Given that Fake Pill and Golden Core cultivators probably won't act, if Fellow Daoist Xu joins us, our chances of seizing the Hundred-Year Fruit would increase significantly!" Gong Yang continued to urge with patient persuasion.

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