Chapters One to Three: Nine Sacred Tomatoes

This is an inverted cave, stretching upward for more than fifty meters. It lies well above the water level of the lake, ensuring that no water can seep inside.

The cave is dim, with just enough light to barely make out one's surroundings. Xiao Cheng finds a dry, flat spot and sets Liu Yiyi, who remains unconscious, onto the ground. He lets out a sigh of relief, though he also feels a sudden, irrepressible urge to curse.

In his previous life, when Mu Hongru was still an ordinary person, what kind of divine luck did he stumble upon? Was it the excrement of the Ancestral Dog, the Howling Celestial Hound? He had managed to obtain the Tianyuan Fruit with such ease, whereas Xiao Cheng had barely survived a series of life-threatening ordeals just to reach this cave. Truly, people cannot be compared.

Outside the cave, the demonic python lets out a series of furious hisses. Clearly enraged, the creature is repeatedly slamming its massive body against the mountain wall, causing the cave to tremble slightly with each impact.

Xiao Cheng ignores the serpent; it is impossible for the beast to enter a cave of this nature. He carefully examines Liu Yiyi, discovering that she has suffered significant trauma from the high-altitude fall into the water, leading to her unconscious state. It is unclear when she might wake up.

Although the healing properties of his Nine Profound Immortal Scripture are potent, he cannot use them on her. Liu Yiyi is currently incapacitated, and her cultivation level is higher than his; if he were to channel his true energy into her while she is completely unresponsive, it would inevitably trigger a backlash, only making the situation worse. The only option is to wait for her to regain consciousness on her own.

Seeing Liu Yiyi in her current state, Xiao Cheng cannot help but chuckle, though his heart is filled with a growing sense of pity.

Her clothes are disheveled, revealing a large expanse of pale skin on her lower body, yet her hands are clutched tightly around a tablet computer against her chest. It turns out that when she fell, the thing she cared about most was this device.

At a moment of life and death, the fact that she was still trying to protect her tablet is both pathetic and ironic.

Xiao Cheng carefully adjusts her skirt and gently removes the tablet from her grip. When he turns it on, he discovers that it is completely undamaged. Being a piece of military-grade equipment customized for Blood-Color Security, it is shockproof, waterproof, dustproof, and equipped with solar panels; a standard consumer model would have been smashed to pieces.

After using his spiritual sense to check Liu Yiyi once more and confirming she is not in any serious danger, Xiao Cheng stands up and takes his time to inspect the cave.

By the faint light filtering in from the lake, he sees that this is a dry chamber. The surrounding stone walls bear signs of manual excavation, and there are several lamp holders mounted on the walls.

Xiao Cheng releases his spiritual sense to probe deeper into the cave. Suddenly, he feels his consciousness being tugged at. He gathers his focus and scans the area, but finds nothing. Approaching the spot where he felt the pull, he discovers a stone door.

There is no mechanism guarding the door. Xiao Cheng gives it a firm push, and it cracks open. Instantly, a brilliant, dazzling light spills through the gap, forcing him to squint.

Filled with anticipation, Xiao Cheng pushes the door fully open. The intense light engulfs him like a tidal wave, and he is left standing there, completely stunned and transfixed by what lies before him.

Three meters away sits a massive bed of mysterious jade. Lying upon it is a perfectly preserved crystal jade skeleton, translucent and shimmering. Growing from the skull of this human skeleton is an ethereal plant, with a fruit hanging from each of its branches.

These fruits emit a fierce, burning radiance. They are small, only about the size of a thumb, and hover weightlessly in the air.

There are nine of them in total!

Without a doubt, these are the Creation Tianyuan Fruits. What shocks Xiao Cheng is that the spiritual root has produced nine fruits simultaneously, though upon seeing the jade skeleton, he understands why.

Anyone capable of possessing such a jade skeleton must have been a supreme expert in life. Only those who have survived at least three heavenly tribulations can develop such a constitution, meaning this person possessed at least the strength of the Out-of-Body realm. It takes the three tribulations of the Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Out-of-Body stages to achieve this "Immortal Skin and Jade Bone."

It is no surprise that an Out-of-Body realm Nascent Soul could produce nine Tianyuan Fruits. Xiao Cheng does not dwell on why the practitioner’s Nascent Soul did not turn to ash upon death.

"Senior, please forgive my intrusion," Xiao Cheng says, bowing respectfully. A great practitioner of the Out-of-Body realm is worthy of his reverence, especially since he is about to receive a massive boon because of this individual.

After speaking, he approaches and finds a jade box among the practitioner’s many belongings. He carefully reaches out and grasps one of the floating Tianyuan Fruits.

As he applies a slight pressure to pluck it, something strange happens. The moment the fruit leaves the plant, its intense radiance vanishes. Its energy retracts, and it transforms into an unremarkable red fruit, identical in appearance to a cherry tomato.

Because the Three Lives Jade Slip contains detailed records, Xiao Cheng is not surprised, though he finds it strange—much like removing a lightbulb from its socket; once detached, the light goes out.

Looking at the Tianyuan Fruit in his hand, he realizes that if he hadn't picked it himself, he would never have been able to tell it apart from a tomato. He carefully harvests all the fruits and places them into the jade box, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

As the last fruit is detached, the ethereal plant instantly crumbles into a shower of light.

Looking at the nine Tianyuan Fruits in the box, Xiao Cheng feels a surge of excitement.

The Tianyuan Fruit is a spiritual fruit used for body reconstruction, a genuine top-grade spiritual medicine. It can transform a cultivator's body into a spiritual form, greatly enhancing their cultivation speed. He had hoped for at least one fruit, but to find nine is a massive windfall.

Although one fruit is enough for a full body reconstruction and consuming more is useless for him, he can use the remainder to develop his own forces. More importantly, he can use them to reconstruct the bodies of his four sisters-in-law.

He had long considered passing the Five-Unity Heart Scripture to them. Since they are ordinary people and his family will eventually face the Fangtian Sect, it would be difficult for him to protect them alone. Enabling them to practice cultivation would significantly increase their ability to protect themselves.

He places one Tianyuan Fruit in a hidden pocket of his belt and closes the jade box to prevent the spiritual energy from leaking. He then finds a secret spot to conceal the box.

One must always be wary. This is, after all, the territory of the Zhongling Sect. He isn't guarding against Liu Yiyi, but she does have a master of unknown cultivation level. The Zhongling Sect has been very gracious so far, but who is to say if greed might take hold if they discover the existence of such treasures?

In his past life, he had many acquaintances in the cultivation world, but once they learned he possessed the Three Lives Jade Slip, they all turned against him, seeking to kill him for the treasure. With his current low level of cultivation, he has to be careful.

The Zhongling Sect will surely learn of Liu Yiyi’s fall soon and will come searching for her; even her master might arrive in person.

Xiao Cheng bows to the jade skeleton once more and searches the stone chamber thoroughly. Since this was the home of a great practitioner, finding other treasures would not be surprising.

To his disappointment, there is nothing of value left. He finds many spiritual herbs, but they have long since rotted away due to the passage of time and are completely useless.

However, he spots a jade tablet next to the skeleton. It looks like some sort of token. Unable to decipher it at first glance, he flips it over and sees densely packed characters engraved on the back.

The characters are tiny, like micro-carvings. Xiao Cheng probes them with his spiritual sense and discovers that they form a complete heart scripture. Below it is another line of text: "Gathering the spiritual essence of heaven and earth, containing the splendor of mountains and rivers—The Zhongling Yunhua Scripture."