At this moment, the white-robed disciple of the Xiaoyao Sect with a humble and somewhat dull face was actually Du Yucheng, who brutally killed his former fellow cultivator in this monster cave a few months ago.
But at this moment, in front of several foundation-building seniors, his face showed his unique honest look again, and his eyes kept moving around among the foundation-building cultivators, completely lacking the fierceness he had when he killed Wu Ziyuan.
After escaping from the pool that day, Du Yucheng did not return to Qinghe County. Instead, he walked thousands of miles to Guyang Mountain, the gate of Xiaoyao Sect, and presented the news of the water spirit fruit tree directly to Xiaoyao Sect.
However, in order not to attract other people's attention, he did not tell others that the Liu family had organized several families in Qinghe County to come here to hunt monsters and beasts. He just claimed that he accidentally entered this pond and discovered the existence of this water spirit fruit tree and the black-feathered python.
For the Xiaoyao Sect, a water spirit fruit tree is also a spiritual object that can influence the sect's foundation. Its value is immeasurable. The news brought by Du Yucheng even alarmed Guangling Zhenren, the head of the Xiaoyao Sect's general affairs.
After Master Guangling learned about this, he sent disciples from the sect, led by Tian Qinghu, to bring Du Yucheng to the pond again that day.
This time, not only did they come to kill the black-feathered python that was entrenched here, the Xiaoyao Sect also sent a second-level mid-grade spiritual plant master, who wanted to directly transplant this water spirit fruit tree into the Xiaoyao Sect's spiritual medicine garden.
Among the five-element spiritual fruit trees planted in the entire Xiaoyao Sect's spiritual medicine garden, only a dozen of them are thousand-year-old and can still bear fruit. Finding a wild and mature five-element spiritual fruit tree in the wild is an unexpected surprise for the Xiaoyao Sect.
The Five Elements Spiritual Fruit Tree normally has to reach a thousand years of age before it starts to bear fruit. Generally, a spiritual fruit will mature every hundred years. If it is planted in a high-level spiritual land and carefully cared for by a high-level spiritual planter, the time it takes for the fruit to mature can be shortened.
The Xiaoyao Sect has dominated the world of immortal cultivation in Wei State for thousands of years by relying on its tight control over the two main ingredients for foundation-building elixirs, the Five Elements Spirit Fruit and the Jade Marrow Golden Ganoderma.
After Du Yucheng arrived at Xiaoyao Sect, he used the Pearl Water Spirit Fruit Tree to not only successfully join the Xiaoyao Sect and become an inner disciple, but also received a reward of hundreds of spirit stones.
In addition, Master Guangling also promised him that as long as Du Yucheng could cultivate to the ninth level of Qi Refining before the age of sixty, the sect would provide him with a Foundation Establishment Pill.
Although in the eyes of Master Guangling, Du Yucheng's talent is average, even if he joins Xiaoyao Sect and can obtain more training resources, it is not an easy task for him to cultivate to the ninth level of Qi training before the age of sixty.
Although he was promised a foundation-building pill in the future, that would be decades later. Du Yucheng, who had ordinary spiritual talent, would most likely not be able to get it in the future.
The sect spent a few hundred spirit stones and added an insignificant disciple in exchange for a five-element spirit fruit tree. This was a very profitable deal for the Xiaoyao Sect.
Thanks to the careful arrangement of Master Guangling, the Xiaoyao Sect's mission trip to the Floating Cloud Mountains was possible.
This time, for the sake of this water spirit fruit tree, Xiaoyao Sect not only sent Tian Qinghu, who was at the peak of the foundation building stage, but also Li Yungong, a core disciple whose combat power was equivalent to that of the late foundation building stage, as well as Cheng Ziyan, who was at the fourth level of the foundation building stage, and Wei Shaoyun, who was at the second level of the foundation building stage.
As long as the four of them don't encounter a level three monster or a Jindan master, this mission can be said to be foolproof. This shows how much importance Xiaoyao Sect attaches to the Pearl Water Spirit Fruit Tree.
Tian Qinghu sensed the fluctuations of spiritual energy in the cave and said with a smile, "There is indeed a second-level water vein here. No wonder spiritual creatures like the Water Spirit Fruit Tree can be born here."
Except for Du Yucheng, the Qi-refining cultivator, the others nodded after hearing this. They were all Foundation-building cultivators, and when they just entered the cave, they had already felt the spiritual energy surging from the underwater spiritual veins.
Led by Du Yucheng, the group of five soon arrived deep into the cave and saw the target of their mission, the Shuiling Fruit Tree.
After not seeing it for a few months, the water spirit fruit tree shining with blue spirit fruits is still as gorgeous as ever. After Du Yucheng saw that the water spirit fruit tree was safe and sound, he finally let go of his worries.
He knew clearly that on the way back to the Floating Cloud Mountains from the Xiaoyao Sect, his fate was always in the hands of the Xiaoyao Sect's foundation-building cultivators in front of him. If he failed to lead them to find the Shuiling Fruit Tree successfully, he would probably become one of the corpses outside in the next moment.
"Haha, it really is a mature water spirit fruit tree. As long as we can successfully bring back this pearl spirit fruit tree, Uncle Guangling will definitely reward us well after we return."
Tian Qinghu looked at the pearl-blue spiritual fruit tree in front of him, and with a smile on his face, he continued to ask Cheng Ziyan beside him: "Junior Sister Cheng, take a look at this pearl-blue spiritual fruit tree. Is there any other problem? Can it be transplanted now?"
Cheng Ziyan walked forward, took a closer look at the Shuiling Fruit Tree, and said to everyone with a frown:
"This Pearl Water Spiritual Fruit tree is five feet tall and about two thousand years old. It seems that one of the spiritual fruits on the tree just matured not long ago. I don't know where it went. The other spiritual fruits will take nearly a hundred years to mature. They can be transplanted at any time now."
"Junior Brother Du, when you discovered this tree, did you see the ripe water spirit fruit?" Tian Qinghu's expression changed, and he asked Du Yucheng behind him with a slightly gloomy look.
Du Yucheng panicked upon hearing this and quickly knelt on the ground to explain, "I stumbled into this place by chance that day and didn't see any ripe spiritual fruit. The black-feathered python was guarding this place day and night. With my lowly cultivation, how could I have stolen the spiritual fruit under its nose? If you uncles and aunts don't believe me, feel free to look through my storage bag."
After Du Yucheng finished speaking, he quickly poured out all the items in his storage bag. The spiritual stones and other items on the ground in the storage bag suddenly made a clinking sound.
Cheng Ziyan glanced at Du Yucheng's storage bag and confirmed that he did not have any water spirit fruit. Seeing how frightened he was, she spoke with some pity:
"Brother Tian, this ripe Water Spirit Fruit must have been swallowed by the Black-Winged Python. The Black-Winged Python has been cultivating here for many years and must have come here for this Pearl Spirit Fruit."
"Given how timid this kid is, how dare he steal food from the black-feathered python's mouth? Even if he had two times the courage, he wouldn't dare to deceive us." Li Yungong glanced at Du Yucheng who was kneeling on the ground, and said with some disgust.
The Foundation Establishment cultivator surnamed Wei nearby also spoke up and agreed: "What Senior Sister Cheng said is probably true. It's just a pity that we didn't get that ripe Water Spirit Fruit. If we could get one more Water Spirit Fruit, the sect would definitely give us more rewards for this mission. We can only say that our luck may not be so good this time. Fortunately, we have obtained the Water Spirit Fruit tree, so we have completed the mission." After saying this, he sighed with some regret.
After listening to what they said, Tian Qinghu nodded thoughtfully and said to Du Yucheng lying on the ground:
"Junior Brother Du, what are you doing? I was just asking casually. You've done a great service to the sect this time, and Uncle Guangling has also instructed me to take good care of you along the way. Hurry up and get up. Kneeling on the ground is unbecoming."
Upon hearing this, Du Yucheng stood up awkwardly, still a little scared, and stood aside at a loss. It was not until Cheng Ziyan in front of him pointed at the ground that he smiled foolishly and began to pick up the items that had fallen on the ground.
After listening to what Cheng Ziyan and the others said, Tian Qinghu's expression finally eased a little. He smiled at Cheng Ziyan and said, "Junior Sister Cheng, I'll be thanking you, a Level 2 Spiritual Plant Master, for the transplanting of the next water spirit fruit trees."
"Brother Tian, you're too polite. This is the sect's responsibility, so how dare I say it's hard work?"
Cheng Ziyan nodded after she finished speaking. She first took out a set of second-level magic arrays to seal the spiritual power at the roots of the Water Spirit Fruit Tree, then released a second-level magic weapon unique to spiritual plants, carefully dug the entire root of the Water Spirit Fruit Tree out of the ground, and carefully used a second-level talisman to temporarily seal the entire fruit tree.
Several people carefully carried the water spirit fruit tree and left the cave. After the five people came out of the pool, Tian Qinghu slapped his storage bag and released a three-inch green boat. The spirit boat swelled with the wind and instantly reached a size of two meters. Tian Qinghu stepped onto the spirit boat with his toes.
The rest of the people followed suit and boarded the spirit boat. Tian Qinghu cast a spell with both hands, and the spirit boat instantly turned into a green light and flew a hundred feet away.