“Yawn. I have no energy left to do otherwise.”
Zhao Yu went to sleep quickly. Zhou Hao and Zhang Tianche kept watch for the first half of the night while Qin Feng took over after that. It was a peaceful night.
The next day, they continued to advance at an even greater speed.
The number of students from other universities had lowered dramatically at this point. Only the strongest teams, coupled with some good luck, would be able to make it to the center of the hunting ground.
Take the beast general they met yesterday for example. It would be an instant game over if other students were to face the monster.
They traveled for another hour and finally reached the top of a small hill.
On the other side of the hill was a giant plain covered by fertile greeneries. However, no giant vegetation was spotted within sight other than the meadow. This made the crystalline tree that was standing in the middle of the plain extremely eye-catching.
The trunk of the tree was no different from a crystal while its leaves looked like snowflakes. Ice-like vines were seen dangling on the branches.
Among the branches, three black and bulky fruits highly contrasted the other parts of the tree.
Those were the conscious fruits.
“So this is the consciousness tree?” Zhao Yu gasped. The tree was unlike anything she had ever seen before.
Apparently, a lot of students had arrived earlier than them. But those participants were unable to go any nearer because as soon as anyone entered within a thirty-meter radius of the tree, it would begin to attack ferociously.
The consciousness tree was actually a mutated plant. In other words, it was more like an animal rather than a tree.
At the moment, the tree was visibly ill-tempered. It whipped its vines and launched its snow leaves aggressively to chase away those attempting to approach the fruits.
The consciousness tree was enraged after most of its fruits had been stolen the day before yesterday. It was understandable that the mutated tree would go berserk after more dreadful humans had shown up and were trying to take away its remaining fruits.
“Damn it! I thought that the f*cking tree is quite tame?”
“How are we going to get the fruits when the tree is attacking such a large area?”
“Quick, hold back its attack. We gotta protect our ability users!”
Everyone was clearly flustered by the tree’s unusual hostility.
Qin Feng scanned the area and realized that students from all other universities were around, except for Xita University.
That was because those from Xita who could have actually made it here had been eliminated by Qin Feng’s party earlier. How unfortunate!
The crowd of more than a hundred students was all elites from Dongling, Hunnan, and Chengyang Universities.
“There’s too many of them.” Zhang Tianche frowned. Luckily, everyone was staying close with their own party to protect their respective ability users. Hence, some vacant spaces could still be found around the giant consciousness tree.
“Let’s go!” Qin Feng was the first to stroll forward. “Don’t worry. They are not going to attack us. The battle between universities would only ensue after someone has plucked the conscious fruit.”
“True.” Zhou Hao quickly followed Qin Feng’s footsteps. Zhao Yu and Zhang Tianche also followed suit and soon, they reached the area where everyone was at.
The consciousness tree turned more violent all of a sudden. All its vines struck straight toward Qin Feng. Obviously, the tree recognized the scent of the being that had stolen all its fruits.
Bai Li had plucked twenty-seven fruits from the tree at one go and left only three behind. How shameless of them for showing their faces here again!
No wonder the tree was infuriated.
Qin Feng was focused in the face of the vicious attacks. The consciousness tree must have lived for uncountable years but its attack was still full of vigor. Judging by its moves, the tree was at least an F-tier threat.
Qin Feng did not want to see his comrades being hurt because of him.
He unsheathed the Verdant Emperor Saber for the first time in the Spring Hunting Ground.
“Sword Glare!”
Burning flames immediately wrapped around the saber and extended it by more than a meter long.
Qin Feng swung the saber and dexterously cut off all the incoming vines.
His impenetrable defense was startling but that was not the end of it. He focused and unleashed his conscious energy.
Bang!
One of the conscious fruits that was hanging quietly on the branches a moment ago suddenly dropped to the ground without a moment’s notice.
What a sudden turn of events!
The fruits could not be harvested by using brutal force. Since they were growing on the consciousness tree, they could only be picked by using conscious energy alone. Only an F-tier consciousness would be able to detach the fruits from the tree instantly. Of course, the pedicel would also loosen eventually if being attacked by lower-tier consciousness continuously.
That was why the students from the three universities had been attacking it relentlessly. The effort had lasted for almost two hours.
Unexpectedly, the fruit dropped the moment Qin Feng’s party arrived.
“Dumb luck!”
“Grab the fruit!”
“It belongs to us!”
All the participants were tensed up and concurrently targeted the fruit.
Zhao Yu made her move as well.
“Up!” Zhao Yu’s consciousness was not as great as Qin Feng’s. Nonetheless, although she could not immediately break the pedicle, she was still capable of using telekinesis so she aimed for the fruit as soon as it started falling.
Her conscious energy was activated quicker than the rest so the fruit initially flew straight at her.
However, the other ability students were not there as decoration. The conscious fruit stopped short and trembled in midair as several minds tried to control it simultaneously.
Schwaff!
A white cloth suddenly appeared and wrapped around the fruit. The other side of the cloth was in the hands of Zhang Tianche. He grabbed with all his might and pulled the conscious fruit toward him.
The white cloth was actually Zhang Tianche’s bandage. Who would have thought that it could be used this way?
The other students were agitated by Zhang Tianche’s action.
“The fruit must stay!” The students screamed and jumped hungrily toward Zhang Tianche.
This was when another two loud bangs were heard coming from the tree’s direction. The other two fruits had also fallen!
The consciousness tree did not stop brandishing its branches and vines to sweep at those who dared to draw closer.
“Damn!”
Those who were attacking Zhang Tianche instantly switched targets and went over to grab the two newly dropped fruits.
Zhao Yu once again triggered her conscious energy to snatch one of the fruits, while Zhang Tianche was planning to use the same trick again.
However, the other competitors reacted faster this time.
Pow! Pow! Pow!
A barrage of bullets tore Zhang Tianche’s bandage in half. The white cloth was just mere fabric after all.
The battle quickly escalated following the series of gunshots.
Qin Feng’s party was being mercilessly targeted and numerous bullets rained on them.
“Hmph!” Qin Feng snorted and suddenly, all the bullets that were about to reach them hung awkwardly in midair.
“Reverse!” He infused his consciousness into the bullets and returned them to the opponents.
“Argh!”
“Sh*t!”
“Conscious rebound! How is this possible?!”
The crowd squealed in disbelief.
It was tremendously rare for a student to master such a craft. More importantly, he was doing it on a few hundred bullets. That was scary!