Chapter Twenty: The Mysterious Fruit Tree and the Golden-Red Fruit! An Unexpected Delight!

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Gazing at the young Stormwing Pterobat before him, Lu Yu’s eyes narrowed slightly. This juvenile’s body had already undergone such an advanced stage of draconic transformation that it must have consumed even more of the fruit than the adult Stormwing Pterobat. Just one step remained before the young creature could complete its final metamorphosis—a bloodline ascension that would transform it into a bona fide young dragon. Even the lowest-ranked dragon, once matured, would become a regional overlord within the Starfall Great Forest.

At that moment, the young Stormwing Pterobat lunged at Lu Yu with claws bared and wings flapping, thunderous sounds echoing as purple-blue light radiated outward. Lu Yu raised his hand and summoned the Fighting Heaven Seal, smashing it out without any flourish.

“Bang!”

The Fighting Heaven Seal struck the young Pterobat’s head squarely. Just as Lu Yu prepared to follow up with another strike, he suddenly froze in place. Under the impact of the Fighting Heaven Seal, the young Pterobat’s head exploded instantly, blood and brain matter splattering everywhere.

Watching as a purple soul ring slowly ascended, Lu Yu was momentarily stunned. After a brief moment, realization dawned on him. In ancient cultivation novels, the Fighting Heaven Seal was known as the “head explosion artifact.” How could he have forgotten such a trait? The casual strike he had just thrown should never have been able to injure a millennium-old soul beast—especially one with strong dragon bloodlines. Lu Yu estimated that the power of that blow must have been amplified at least fivefold upon hitting the Pterobat’s head.

Filled with delight, Lu Yu stepped forward and plucked the last fruit hanging from the tree, storing it swiftly in his soul ring. Just as he turned to leave, a flash of light shimmered from the wings of the Pterobat’s corpse.

Lu Yu’s pupils constricted slightly. He had seen a similar scene before. When he had slain the golden-maned lion mastiff in the Soul Hunting Forest, it was precisely because he caught the same kind of light that he had acquired an external soul bone.

His heartbeat quickened at the thought. Moving forward two steps, he drew a dagger from his soul ring and quickly dismembered the young Pterobat. Moments later, in his hand appeared a crystal-clear bone that shimmered with a blue-purple glow.

“So it really is an external soul bone! Looks like a rib,” Lu Yu muttered, swallowing hard. He stored the soul bone in his soul ring before bursting out of the cave and sprinting in a single direction. Nearly an hour later, he finally stopped—not from exhaustion, but because faint soul energy fluctuations were emanating from nearby.

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Stealthily, Lu Yu approached to investigate.

“Pfft…”

In a clearing between the trees, a slender figure was hurled backward, blood spurting from her mouth, her face pale as paper. She appeared to be a girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old, dressed in sleek, practical attire that accentuated her shapely figure. Her large, deep brown eyes shone beneath short violet hair. In her hand was a snake-headed cane, surrounded by two yellow soul rings.

“Is that... Meng Yiran?”

At the sight of the snake-headed cane, Lu Yu instantly recognized her. The cane’s design was nearly identical to the martial soul of the legendary snake matriarch Chaotian Fragrance, though considerably shorter than the more than three-meter-long staff wielded by the matriarch. Lu Yu guessed that the incomparable Dragon Serpent couple had likely sent Meng Yiran away early during their battle with Dugu Bo to protect their granddaughter, who possessed only second-ring soul power.

Yet Meng Yiran, despite her battle experience and skill with hidden weapons, was still only at the second soul ring. The deepest reaches of the Starfall Great Forest’s outer region were fraught with danger for her. At this moment, she was locked in combat with a wolf-type soul beast whose cultivation exceeded two thousand years. Though Meng Yiran fought valiantly, she was steadily falling back.

“I owe my fortune to the Dragon Serpent couple, so I might as well save your life in passing...”

In high spirits, Lu Yu did not hesitate. He charged forward. Approaching the wolf soul beast, he leapt high into the air. While airborne, the Fighting Heaven Seal appeared in his palm, swelling to a massive one-meter square. Without employing any soul rings, thunder magic, or golden light incantations, Lu Yu simply and decisively swung the Fighting Heaven Seal down.

Lu Yu’s speed was so swift the wolf soul beast had no time to react before its head was shattered like a watermelon.

“Bang!”

Lu Yu floated gently to the ground as his martial soul dissipated. Meng Yiran stared in disbelief, her eyes wide. Though only eleven, Lu Yu’s rapid physical development made him appear fifteen or sixteen, with a tall, slender frame. His once cherubic face had matured into something strikingly handsome, as if a fallen immortal had descended to the mortal realm.

Lu Yu smiled at Meng Yiran. “Miss, wolf soul beasts usually hunt in packs. You should escape quickly. Once its companions arrive, it will be too late!”

With that, he turned and walked away without hesitation. Having just acquired an external soul bone and a mysterious fruit, he was eager to refine them both.

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A bird in hand is worth ten in the forest. Treasure left unused is no different from waste. Only by swiftly absorbing it into one’s own strength does it hold true value.

Once Lu Yu’s figure vanished beyond the horizon, Meng Yiran came to her senses and was about to give chase when a strange noise came from the woods on the other side. Soon, the Dragon Serpent couple appeared, their expressions grim.

“Grandpa! Grandma!” Meng Yiran called out.

Meng Shu glanced at Meng Yiran, then at the slain wolf soul beast, emitting a soft exclamation as his expression softened. He smiled and said, “Yiran! Well done! To single-handedly kill a soul beast over two thousand six hundred years old with only second-ring strength—even with the aid of hidden weapons—is rare indeed.”

Meng Yiran blushed and shook her head, recounting the recent events. The couple exchanged a glance, both surprised. A youth roughly the same age as their granddaughter, who hadn’t even used a soul ring, had shattered the beast’s skull in one strike? What prodigy had they just encountered?

Night fell. Atop the canopy of a towering tree, Lu Yu sat cross-legged. He slowly opened his eyes, a flash of blue-purple light flickering within.

With a thought, a ripping pain tore through his back. Then, with a sharp “shhh,” a pair of broad wings unfurled behind him—dragon wings, one blue and one purple. Haloed in shifting light, their span stretched nearly three meters. As the left blue wing beat, fierce winds tore through the tree trunk. The right purple wing crackled with electricity, radiating an intimidating aura.

With a powerful flap, Lu Yu soared skyward, trailing a blue-purple arc of light. In the blink of an eye, he ascended over a hundred meters.

“So fast!” he marvelled, a spark of delight shining in his eyes.

A smile spread across his face as his gaze sharpened. Soul energy surged wildly within him, coalescing upon his wings. The blue-purple glow intensified, accompanied by the continuous roar of wind and thunder.

Then, with a mighty flap, a swirling blue-purple thunderstorm tornado erupted forth!