86: Chapter 86 A Bitter Fruit, A Helpless Bones (Happy New Year!)

Two days later, Tiger Brother woke up; he had already broken through to Grandmaster.

Lu Hu gave him a physical check-up and then informed him that Li Jiao was safe.

After thanking him, Tiger Brother left the sinkhole and saw the paralyzed Li Jiao; the man and the tiger were filled with emotion, and after celebrating their survival, they cursed Princess Xiao together.

Lu Hu lay in a sunny spot, basking leisurely; he had no intention of helping Tiger Brother get revenge.

Wearing the crimson molten armor, he still got bullied like that by a few Grandmasters; it wasn't as if they were some unbeatable powerhouses.

It was better to let Lu Qing train Tiger Brother properly, and wait until he was strong enough to regain his dignity himself.

After basking in the sun for a while and eating, Lu Hu went to the underground space to cultivate.

A few days later, Wu Wen arrived and told Lu Hu about what had been happening in the Pi Kingdom these past few days.

Li Jiao had been hit by Emperor Pi's final counterattack before his death and had unfortunately passed away!

The Rebel Army was taken over by Xiao Qing, who inherited the throne.

"That empress is acting arbitrarily, forcibly conscripting labor, and the people of the Pi Kingdom are filled with resentment. With Li Jiao gone, the Rebel Army has fallen into disarray; it is said that their million-strong army has already dwindled to two hundred thousand!"

Wu Wen sighed; in the end, he hadn't been able to see an ordinary person reach the pinnacle of their cause.

More importantly, he wouldn't be able to hear such interesting news every day anymore.

These days, news of the Rebel Army had dominated all the kingdoms, and it was the first time in history that news had spread so widely.

From the imperial court down to the peasants tilling the fields, everyone knew about this, and discussions and topics about the Rebel Army were everywhere.

Even the pugilistic world, which flowed with blood every day, had quieted down significantly because of this.

Wu Wen was amazed; besides doing bad things and taking the blame, their cult also moonlighted in the intelligence business, using interesting intelligence stories to attract customers, and they were very experienced in spreading information.

The cult was spread across dozens of countries, and if they wanted to, they could easily spread the news of what underwear the emperor wore today throughout every street and alley.

However, they still couldn't make everyone know about something the way they did with the Rebel Army; the cult members had specifically studied this, but they hadn't found any method, yet Wu Wen felt that Li Jiao must have had a hand in this.

Wu Wen was very curious about how much talent Li Jiao actually had, but unfortunately, he was gone!

Wu Wen shook his head, stopped thinking about Li Jiao, and took a yellow fruit out of the bundle he brought.

"Brother Tiger, this should be the kuxin fruit, right?"

Lu Hu picked up the fruit; the energy inside the yellow fruit made Lu Hu feel repulsed and disgusted.

The kuxin fruit was a type of poison; according to records, it had a hundred harms and no benefits, and it was a drug that tortured people.

After taking it, not only would the whole body feel as if it were being burned by raging fire, causing unbearable pain, but in dreams, one would also have to endure the bitterness of the heart, the labor of the muscles, and the hunger of the body, which could be described as everything going wrong; long-term consumption could torture a person until their spirit collapsed.

Of course, if this person had a firm will, the tempering brought by the kuxin fruit would only further inspire their will, and their temperament would inevitably become tougher.

But such people were rare; under normal circumstances, long-term consumption of this fruit would only lead to a mental breakdown.

Lu Hu caught a mountain rat that was trying to steal herbs and fed it a piece of fruit flesh to observe.

"Roar~" (It is the kuxin fruit.)

Lu Hu nodded; although he didn't know why the kuxin fruit carried energy that disgusted him, that energy didn't belong to the kuxin fruit itself.

After the kuxin fruit flesh was fed to the mountain rat, the energy in the flesh tortured the mountain rat's body, causing it to roll around in pain until it finally passed out.

In its sleep, the mountain rat gradually shed bitter tears; clearly, the kuxin fruit was also exerting its power in the dream, and the mountain rat was suffering greatly.

After thinking about it, Lu Hu fed the entire kuxin fruit to it!

"Ahhh!"

The mountain rat was woken up by endless pain, its eyes turning blood-red, and it charged directly at Lu Hu.

Lu Hu dodged, the mountain rat didn't stop, turned around and charged at Wu Wen, Wu Wen dodged, and the mountain rat finally slammed into a stone; it didn't die, the mountain rat continued, and after slamming into it several times, it finally died, with a look of relief before death!

"The rulers of the Buddhist Kingdom are feeding this stuff to the common people."

Wu Wen said, "According to the intelligence brought back by the protector, the people of the Buddhist Kingdom have long been numbed by the kuxin fruit!"

The cult protector who went to the desert Buddhist Kingdom to find the kuxin fruit also saw a Buddhist Kingdom that was even more miserable than the Pi Kingdom after arriving there.

The people there were like walking corpses, their eyes numb and lifeless; every day, besides working under the orders of the Buddhist monks, they spent the rest of their time chanting sutras and praying to Buddha.

They were like dolls, doing nothing without the orders of the Buddhist monks; the cult protector tried to communicate with them but received no response; these people, even if they were starved or frozen to death, would not have any resistance, and they had even lost their emotions.

If it weren't for the laughter that could be heard in the Buddhist temples, the cult protector would have thought he had arrived in a country full of dead people.

After a long time, the cult protector finally found the kuxin fruit; actually, finding the kuxin fruit wasn't difficult, it just took time.

Because this thing was in the hands of the Buddhist monks, it was boiled into soup every month and fed to the common people.

It was while boiling the soup that the protector discovered the kuxin fruit.

"The people there believe that suffering in this life is because of sins committed in the previous life, and once they have repaid the debt of the previous life in this life, they will surely be wealthy and noble in the next life!"

"The hardships brought by the kuxin fruit can also eliminate the karmic debts owed in the previous life, so they voluntarily take the kuxin fruit."

Long-term consumption of the kuxin fruit, being tortured by various hardships, was also the reason for the numbness of the Buddhist Kingdom.

Of course, if someone was not defeated by the torture of the kuxin fruit, then that was considered finding a treasure; a person with such a resilient personality, as long as they didn't die, would surely achieve something.

"Roar~?" (What about the history from a thousand years ago?)

Lu Hu asked the key point, the news about the Earthly Immortal who turned into a demon a thousand years ago.

"The people's lives are so bitter, not many stories have come out."

Wu Wen sighed; the people there were like moving corpses, there was no daily communication, and no information could be gathered.

There should be some in the Buddhist Sect, but there were experts sitting there, and the protector's Grandmaster strength wasn't enough.

"Yu De went there himself."

After receiving the news from the protector, Yu De wanted to show off, so he set off himself and went to the Buddhist Kingdom.

With Yu De's Grandmaster strength, it wouldn't take long for him to bring back useful information.

"Yu De's initial guess might have been right."

Speaking of Yu De, Wu Wen brought up the war between the Black Bull and the Tai Kingdom again.

At that time, Yu De had said that this war might have been instigated by the Qian Kingdom behind the scenes.

During this period, the Tai Kingdom couldn't resist the Black Bull's strength and sought help everywhere without getting a response; just the day before yesterday, after the Black Bull killed a Grandmaster of the Tai Kingdom, the Qian Kingdom intervened, taking the Tai Kingdom as a vassal state and participating in the war between the Tai Kingdom and the Weapon Casting Sect.

And the Qian Kingdom only supported the Tai Kingdom with weapons and secret manuals, enhancing the strength of the Tai Kingdom's mid-level martial artists, allowing them to have the power to compete with the disciples of the Weapon Casting Sect.

This was deliberately letting the war continue, continuing to add more casualties.

Looking at it this way, the Qian Kingdom's wars over these years were not about expanding territory, but the intention was war itself; nowadays, they had even extended the war to animals; the plot was huge!

In the future, one had to be careful when going to the Qian Kingdom.

After finishing the gossip of recent days, Wu Wen left; Lu Hu, feeling bored, took out the red bone dug from the Whale Monster's body to study.

Lu Hu also took out the blood-drinking sword; the sharpness of this sword was actually not as strong as his claws, but Lu Hu knew that the blood-drinking sword contained the sword energy of the Sword God, and once stimulated, it was extremely sharp.

Lu Hu found a secluded area and started to build a fire to cook the bone again.

The fire burned fiercely, and after burning for half a day, the red bone suddenly burned with red flames.

Lu Hu immediately summoned a cold rain; the temperature of the flames dropped, but they didn't go out, they were still burning, and the power was gradually decreasing, but very slowly.

The blood-drinking sword glowed, terrifying sword intent released, and with a few swishes, it cut the fire into dozens of pieces, and the power of the fire also dropped a lot; the cold rain poured down, eventually extinguishing the flames.

The red bone hissed and smoked in the rain; its power was stimulated at this moment, but without the protection of the flames, Lu Hu boldly stepped forward and observed carefully.

Bursts of beast roars sounded, but to Lu Hu's disappointment, this bone did not contain memory images from its lifetime like Ancestor Que's, meaning the origin of the bone could not be confirmed.

"Roar~" (Useless to keep you.)

Lu Hu said, carving in the air; Boom! A lightning bolt appeared out of thin air and struck the red bone; the red bone shook, and a burst of fragrance permeated.

Clang! Lu Hu took the blood-drinking sword and took the opportunity to hack; since he couldn't tell its origin, it might be better to break the bone, let the essence flow out, and stew a pot of bone soup to drink!

Boom! Lightning bolts fell one after another, and the sword energy of the Sword God hacked down sword by sword; finally, the red bone cracked, revealing the glowing red liquid inside, emitting an alluring aura.

As soon as he smelled the aura, Lu Hu knew that this was another kind of pure origin, like evolution liquid; if ordinary creatures obtained it, their life level would definitely evolve!

This should be a bone of the Heavenly Immortal level; stewing soup with the essence would be a great supplement!

Lu Hu was moved, and just as he was about to set up a pot to stew soup, he saw the cracks in the red bone recovering quickly.

"Roar?" Lu Hu was stunned; he couldn't even stew this soup, right?

Boom! Clang, clang, clang! Lu Hu continued to strike with lightning and hack with the sword; the bone cracked again.

Lu Hu didn't hope to stew soup anymore; he inserted the blood-drinking sword into it, wanting to dig out the energy inside.

As a result, before it even touched the red liquid, it was blocked by a thin layer of flame; the bone healed, and the blood-drinking sword was stuck in the red bone.

"Hum hum~" The sword body hummed; its own hardness couldn't compare to the bone; if this continued, it might even be broken by the red bone.

Threatening itself, the blood-drinking sword panicked; its spirituality revived, and it began to save itself, actively releasing sword intent, tearing open a gap, and pulling itself out quickly.

Then, the blood-drinking sword hid behind Lu Hu's butt, refusing to hack the bone again no matter what.

Damn! How could the Sword God's sword be so cowardly?

Lu Hu was speechless; he stared at the bone for a long time, and finally forcibly used the blood-drinking sword to open the bone, forcing out a few drops of origin to dilute with water and drink.

...

"Meow~"

Two days later, Lu Hu was sleeping in the sun; the Cat Eagle flew back from afar, holding a piece of golden iron stone; these days, his colorful gourd vine had formed flower buds and was about to bloom; the Cat Eagle was very diligent, searching everywhere for substances beneficial to the gourd's growth to water the gourd vine.

"In the human world outside Tianduan Mountain, there is constant thunder; there seems to be some strange treasure."

The Cat Eagle stopped above Lu Hu and pointed in a direction; he flew in the sky, and when he returned, there was a huge thunderous sound in the human kingdom over there; he suspected that some treasure was about to be born! But he couldn't sense any spiritual energy.

"Roar~" (There is no treasure, it's just firecrackers made by humans, there are just too many of them.)

Lu Hu glanced at the direction and knew that the Cat Eagle was talking about the Pi Kingdom; the thunderous sound he mentioned was cannons and bombs.

Li Jiao was a man with heaven-defying manual skills; he had manually knocked out the machines that manufactured cannons and bombs.

After being plotted against by the empress, the machines he made all fell into the hands of the empress; nowadays, they should be manufacturing them on a large scale; when Wu Wen came, he said that the empress was forcibly conscripting all the young people of the Pi Kingdom as labor.

Now there was constant thunder; it seemed they had made a lot of cannons; he was indeed a person with great ambition.

"I thought there was a treasure!" Upon learning the reason, the Cat Eagle was disappointed and took the gold stone to water the gourd vine.

Lu Hu yawned and continued to sleep.

...

In the Imperial City of the Pi Kingdom, in the Empress Palace, the empress was wearing imperial robes, and majesty permeated the entire hall; at this moment, she had a gloomy face, as if it contained the anger of thunder.

"Life or death unknown... Is this the answer you give to me?"

The civil and military officials lowered their heads, not daring to offend the Empress's dragon might; only the three Grandmasters remained calm and didn't fear it at all; in a large country, a Grandmaster could ignore the emperor; so in a small country without a Grandmaster, a Grandmaster could also ignore the emperor, even if this emperor was a Grandmaster like them.

"Yes!" The Grandmaster with the big spear replied loudly, "That Tiger General carried Li Jiao and fled into Tianduan Mountain; we encountered a monster a hundred meters tall, fought three hundred rounds, lost track of Li Jiao, and had no choice but to return!"

A hundred-meter giant beast, fighting three hundred rounds... The empress's face became even gloomier, "Qiang Buzhong, do you think I am very stupid?"

"Hmph!" Qiang Buzhong snorted and said nothing.

The empress's gaze fell on the Grandmaster who used a bow; this Grandmaster's personality was relatively kinder than the other two, "She Jianzhun, you answer."

"Old Qiang's words are ninety percent true; believe it or not, Your Majesty. By the way, Your Majesty, don't forget our payment for the job!"

The Grandmaster who used the bow replied, silently using true energy to disperse the bruise on his arm; ever since he saw that monster in Tianduan Mountain, the three of them ran away and didn't return immediately, but found a flower house to enjoy themselves for a few days, and only then did they punch and kick each other before returning.

The empress had paid a great price to ask them to hunt down Li Jiao, and they had to be worthy of that price; they had hunted Li Jiao for a long time, but were just unlucky to encounter a monster, which was why they failed, and even each of them suffered some injuries; it wasn't that they didn't work hard, but they had already tried their best!

"Give Your Majesty another piece of intelligence." Seeming to feel that it was a bit excessive to cheat the commission like this, the bow-wielding Grandmaster said, "We saw a large number of top-grade golden rice fields in Tianduan Mountain; that should be the trump card Li Jiao secretly cultivated, and there might be a backup plan hidden there!"

"Top-grade golden rice." The empress's gloomy face eased; guns and bombs both needed golden rice as a material, and if there was top-grade golden rice, that was also good news.

But as soon as she saw the attitude of these three Grandmasters, the empress felt annoyed in her heart; but the Pi Kingdom only had these three Grandmasters left, and they would be very useful in the future, so she couldn't do anything to them.

Out of sight, out of mind, the empress let the three Grandmasters go down, leaned on the dragon chair, and the empress was annoyed; even though she had become an empress, she was still so aggrieved!

When would she be able to become the true ruler of the world?

...

(Happy New Year everyone!)