Ning Chong said,

“Just take the box. Consider it a gift from Senior Brother Dong to congratulate you on making a name for yourself. Later, when he has his own moment to shine, you can return the favor with a gift of your own.”

“It’s all about mutual courtesy. After you go back and forth a few times, it looks good for everyone and you can slowly build a good rapport. Even if you don’t form an alliance or pick a side, you can still be friends. Right?”

“It’s that simple?” Chen Cheng countered.

“Yes, it’s that simple.”

With a serious expression, Ning Chong patted his chest and said,

“If I thought there was even the slightest hint of anything bad for you behind this, I never would have agreed to run this errand for him.”

“Alright. I might not trust him, but I can still trust you.”

Chen Cheng smiled and took the wooden box.

“Heh, hearing that from you, Brother Cheng, is music to my ears!”

Ning Chong grinned. Before he left, he added seriously,

“Actually, Senior Brother Dong is a genuinely good guy. You’ll see in time. Time reveals a person’s true character.”

“…You’re the one who needs to be careful.”

Chen Cheng offered a word of caution, then watched Ning Chong walk away before closing the courtyard gate and immediately returning to the meditation chamber on the third floor.

He opened the wooden box.

Inside, three fruits shaped like goose eggs lay quietly in the box. Their skins were densely covered with golden, scale-like bumps.

The moonlight caught them, making them shine brilliantly, even more dazzling than pure gold.

Chen Cheng picked one up.

He weighed it in his hand. It was surprisingly heavy, no lighter than a piece of gold of the same size.

He examined it closely.

He then brought it closer and took a couple of sniffs. The smell was similar to the durian from his past life.

He immediately took a small bite, skin and all, and chewed it slowly.

With his enhanced senses, a look, a sniff, and a taste were enough to determine there was nothing wrong with the fruit—at least, nothing that posed an immediate threat to his safety.

‘If the fruit was laced with some colorless, odorless, slow-acting poison, with my own poison resistance, combined with the Unyielding Attribute and my Health-Preserving Traits, it would effectively be non-toxic. I can just eat it without worry.’

It would take some time to digest and absorb the entire fruit after he finished eating it.

But judging from the initial surge of Blood Qi it generated, its effect was roughly equivalent to a single Golden Flesh Carp.

‘Digesting and absorbing all three of these fruits will be equivalent to nine days of arduous training. At this rate, my Ninth Pillar of Blood Qi will naturally form in another twelve or thirteen days!’

Chen Cheng felt a surge of excitement, his eyes filled with anticipation.

This was the benefit of joining a Sect. Resources like this were absolutely unobtainable in Zhao City.

Even in the Prefecture City, this wasn’t something money could buy.

This small example spoke volumes.

Within a behemoth like a Sect, all the elements a Martial Artist craved—resources, Martial Arts, connections, opportunities—were on a completely different level from what the outside world could offer.

What Chen Cheng currently saw and knew was merely the tip of the iceberg.

The road ahead was long, but it had to be taken one step at a time.

「A moment later.」

Chen Cheng was already in the Sea Marsh.

The bright moon hung high in the sky.

Visibility in the shallow areas was still quite good.

But once he reached the deeper, weed-choked areas untouched by moonlight, it was pitch-black—so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.

In such blind conditions, even the most experienced, specialized Fishermen would find it impossible to spot any sign of a Treasure Fish.

But Chen Cheng was different.

He had the Moon Breath Characteristic, and tonight was a full moon.

He could simply swim forward with his eyes closed. As long as a Treasure Fish was within three hundred meters, his Profound Breath Inspiration would detect it instantly, generating a Mental Gravity to point him in the right direction.

Unless the Treasure Fish moved beyond his three-hundred-meter range, he could detect it no matter where it swam and use the Mental Gravity to quickly pursue it.

「Some time later.」

An Ink Jade Salamander, sleeping soundly in a reef cave, would never have imagined in its wildest dreams that it would be discovered by some sneaky ambusher and dispatched with a single burst of Transforming Force.

In the middle of a dense patch of seaweed, two mating Jade Fat Snakes were suddenly pierced through the head by a Flying Needle shot from the darkness, dying together, forever entwined.

Chen Cheng slowly swam out from beneath an overturned shipwreck.

Two large and two small Green-Eyed Red-Scale Carp—an entire family—were strung neatly through the gills on his bowstring, joining the several “predecessors” he had already caught.

Besides these, Chen Cheng had also found two stalks of Treasure Medicine growing on the seabed.

But since they were inconvenient to carry, he didn’t harvest them immediately, planning instead to pick them up on his way back just before dawn.

Treasure Fish and Treasure Medicine were, after all, extremely rare.

He was already miles from shore and had only managed to gather this much.

Of course, the area he had covered was just a drop in the bucket compared to the entire Sea Marsh.

In theory, if he had enough time to conduct a systematic sweep of the entire Sea Marsh, the number of Treasure Fish and Treasure Medicine would be absolutely staggering. It might even be possible to find treasures left behind by predecessors.

He continued to swim forward, lost in thought.

Before the moon set and the sky began to lighten, he had to explore as much unknown territory as possible.

The Moon Breath Characteristic was only effective under the light of the moon.

He didn’t have much time left.

Suddenly, three hundred meters directly ahead…

…his Profound Breath Inspiration detected a Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure, which instantly triggered a pull from his Mental Gravity unlike any he had ever felt before.

Previously, the Mental Gravity would always grow stronger the closer he got.

But this time was different. Even at the maximum range of three hundred meters, the intensity of the Mental Gravity already surpassed anything he had felt before.

‘What could it be?’

‘Could it be some kind of exceptionally high-grade Supreme Treasure!?’

Chen Cheng’s curiosity was thoroughly piqued, but he remained extremely calm and cautious.

Instead of rushing over, he immediately slowed down. While activating his Endless Moon Breath, he kept his body as still as possible, letting only the water’s current carry him slowly in that direction.

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