Chapter 153: Obtaining the Blue-Green Fruit

Xiao Tianchi hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding. He suggested leaving first because some spiritual fruits required specific techniques to harvest. If Lin Dong encountered an accident while picking them and he was distracted by the Earth Devouring Rat, he might not be able to rescue him in time.
No matter where Lin Dong learned about the characteristics of this spiritual tree, since he said so, it must mean he knew harvesting the fruit wasn’t dangerous.
With a few chirps, seeing that the enemy had no intention of leaving, the Earth Devouring Rat stood on its hind legs and swung its front limbs at the two of them forcefully, seemingly warning them to leave its territory quickly.
“Shopkeeper Lin, be careful!”
Xiao Tianchi called out as he lightly tapped his toes, and his Cloud-Piercing Sword shot forward. The man and the sword instantly turned into a streak of black light, charging toward the Earth Devouring Rat.
Chirp…
The moment Xiao Tianchi stepped into the Earth Devouring Rat’s forbidden area, the rat pushed off with its legs, its slender body soaring into the air. With a sound like metal scraping, it fearlessly charged at the tip of the Cloud-Piercing Sword.
With a loud clang, sparks flew as the sword met the rat. In the next blink, the rat flew backward, while the sword trembled violently from the impact.
As Xiao Tianchi had predicted, the first collision showed that neither side could overpower the other.
Lin Dong, holding a black-iron kitchen knife, watched intently as Xiao Tianchi kept driving the Earth Devouring Rat further away. Inside his dantian, spiritual energy circulated at an astonishing speed through his meridians before surging to his legs.
With a whoosh, Lin Dong used the Misty Step and shot forward like an arrow. In the blink of an eye, he reached the Blue-Green Tree.
Chirp…
Seeming to sense Lin Dong entering its forbidden area, from afar, the Earth Devouring Rat, instead of charging head-on when Xiao Tianchi swung his sword, suddenly darted sideways toward him.
“You won’t get away so easily!”
Xiao Tianchi smiled calmly. In mid-air, he twisted his waist, changing the Cloud-Piercing Sword’s grip from a thrust to a lift. He lifted some soil from the ground and used it to propel himself forward, intercepting the Earth Devouring Rat again.
After several attempts and realizing it couldn’t break through the enemy’s attacks and encirclement, the Earth Devouring Rat suddenly turned around, lifted its rear, and dug frantically in the ground, ignoring Xiao Tianchi behind it.
Xiao Tianchi turned his right wrist and instantly reached behind the rat. With a lift of his sword tip, he pulled the rat, which was already half buried in the soil, out.

On the other side, Lin Dong ignored the screeching noises of the earth-devouring rats. He took out a wooden box, carefully picked the cyan-blue fruits, and placed them inside gently. Focused entirely on his task, he placed the two cyan-blue fruits intact into the box before storing it in the mobile counter, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

Turning his head, he saw Xiao Tianchi still playing a game of chase and evasion with the earth-devouring rats.

“Master Xiao, we have them.”

Xiao Tianchi was pleased and said calmly, “Shopkeeper Lin, retreat to the passage first; I’ll cover your retreat.”

Lin Dong nodded. With his Ethereal Step, he reached the passage they had come from in just a breath.

Before long, Xiao Tianchi retreated while fighting, and then joined him inside.

The two kept moving backward, with the earth-devouring rats chasing them for over ten meters. Perhaps realizing they were outside its territory, it turned around and left behind its back, digging into the soil as it slowly sank back into the ground.

Back in the cave, looking at the piles of soil everywhere, Xiao Tianchi frowned. “If we stuff them back one by one, it will probably take us until dawn. If we only block the entrance with a few and store the rest in my storage spirit ring, given its capacity, I can fit at most three or four.”

“No problem. My storage spirit ring has enough capacity!” Lin Dong waved the copper ring he had bought for 3 coins at a street stall.

Xiao Tianchi was speechless. He knew Lin Dong had a storage spirit ring, but he didn’t expect it to have such a large capacity. The total volume of soil in the cave was over a thousand cubic meters. Only spirit array masters and blacksmiths at the eighth rank or above could create a spirit ring capable of holding that much.

Soon, Lin Dong proved his words true. One after another, the huge clumps of soil disappeared at the touch of his palm. In just a moment, only three remained.

They stuffed all three clumps back into the passage, then dug some soil in a corner to fill in the gaps and tidy up the roots beneath the spirit tree. After ensuring that no signs of intrusion could be detected without close inspection, the two returned to the storage room.

Outside the paper window, it was still pitch black, with not a hint of light. Pressing down on the metal ring, the wooden wall slowly closed. They moved the bamboo bed back to its original position and arranged the wooden barrels as they remembered. Then, the two quietly left the room and used their long swords to push the wooden pegs back into place through the door cracks.

In the courtyard, the two guards on night duty were still dozing off, unaware that someone had infiltrated the plantation.

By the time the two climbed over the fence, Lin Dong whipped the carriage and drove away. In the plantation, it seemed as if nothing had happened, and peace and tranquility returned once again.

In the dead of night, when the city gates had long been closed, it was fortunate that they gave up the carriage. With Xiao Tianchi’s strength, it wasn’t difficult for him to carry Lin Dong up the city walls. Back at the inn, Ma Chun was still awake, waiting in the courtyard for Lin Dong’s return. Only after asking did Lin Dong find out that Yingfeng Tower and Kelaibai Restaurant had taken new actions. Lin Dong wasn’t as anxious about this as Ma Chun. Whether it was Yingfeng Tower or Kelaibai Restaurant, they were merely strengthening their own advantages. Clearly, fearing the pressure from Fenglin Restaurant, they didn’t dare to engage in a direct confrontation. In that case, Lin Dong simply acted decisively—transporting all the three-year-old thyme he had obtained from Louji Winery. With the addition of the Wine King formula, its quality was no less than that of five-year-old thyme. Offering two pots of three-year-old thyme and one pot of five-year-old thyme for each tael of silver, it was enough to be a blessing for all the major wine merchants in the north of Qiufeng City. Without further ado, with an average of fifteen to sixteen tables of customers per day on the second floor, the demand for five-year-old thyme would surely double. It didn’t matter if Yingfeng Tower and Kelaibai Restaurant didn’t take any action; by continuing to strengthen their own advantages, their decline would only accelerate. After Ma Chun left, Lin Dong invited Xiao Tianchi into the room, placed the wooden box containing the cyan-blue fruits on the table, and said, “For this trip to the plantation, Master Xiao deserves the greatest credit. But I’ve also put in a lot of effort. Might I shamelessly suggest one fruit for each of us?” Xiao Tianchi glanced at the wooden box and shook his head repeatedly. “Manager Lin, you’re too kind. It was you who found the plantation. I’m just a guard; I can’t really be considered to have contributed.” After insisting a few more times and seeing that Xiao Tianchi truly didn’t want to accept a cyan-blue fruit, Lin Dong stopped pressing him and said, “Since Master Xiao refuses to take it, I’ll have to keep it all for myself. Consider it a debt owed to you.” Though he refused the cyan-blue fruit, he accepted the favor without even saying a word of courtesy, nodding happily. After seeing Xiao Tianchi out of the room and closing the door, Lin Dong eagerly sat cross-legged on the bed with the wooden box in hand. The cyan-blue fruits had unique medicinal effects, capable of accelerating the conversion of external spiritual energy into one’s own spiritual power. Since the cyan-colored ones had already been eaten by Tianhao, these two blue ones undoubtedly needed to be consumed within half a month. Placing a few first-tier spiritual stones on his knees, Lin Dong opened the wooden box, took out one of the cyan-blue fruits, opened his mouth wide, and bit down hard.