50: Chapter 50 Thunder Essence Fruit Tree, A New Approach!

After the caravan left Feng'an County, it headed west.

The next two counties, Yongchang and Linjiang, were peaceful.

The Yongchang Zhao Family was newly established with a shallow Foundation and urgently needed spiritual items to turn things around, so they accepted almost all of Sun Mao's terms.

The Linjiang Fang Family was a bit shrewder, haggling over the pricing of Spiritual Plant for half a day, but in the end, they were silenced by Sun Mao with a batch of discounted Medicinal Pill.

After finishing the two counties, the caravan returned fully loaded and set out again fully loaded; the flow of goods was extremely fast.

Sun Boan remained hidden in the shadows and never showed his face.

He became more and more convinced that this young man before him no longer needed his guidance at his side, and he could breathe a sigh of relief for the future.

The fifth stop, Ninghe County.

Ninghe is located in the southwest corner of Baiyun Prefecture, sparsely populated, and guarded by the newly promoted Foundation Establishment Family, the Wang Clan. The Family was newly established and also living in straitened circumstances.

However, the few local Qi Refining small clans could still hold their own.

The caravan entered the Ninghe market and, as usual, booked the venue for a banquet, but very few Cultivators came to attend. If not for the presence of the Wang Clan Old Ancestor, it would have looked exceptionally shabby...

There were fewer than a hundred Cultivators in attendance, not even filling the tables.

But Sun Mao didn't mind; he discussed what needed to be discussed and collected what needed to be collected. Although Ninghe was poor, it had the advantage of having many mountains and dense forests...

The quality of the Low Grade Spirit Medicine and Yao Beast Materials was actually not bad.

Transporting these back to Hongtian City for processing and resale yielded considerable profits, especially since the Family had a huge consumption of animal hides and Spirit Medicine.

These were the main raw Materials for Alchemy and uniform making...

The next day, at noon.

Sun Mao was checking the accounts in the backyard of the station, with the Black Dog dozing at his feet and the Spirit Rat nestled on his shoulder, gnawing vigorously on a spirit fruit pit.

A Guest Elder lifted the curtain and entered: "Young Lord, an old man surnamed Zhou has come from outside, saying he is the head of the Ninghe County Zhou Family and wants to discuss a deal with you."

"The Zhou Family?"

Sun Mao flipped through the roster at hand. When his gaze scanned to the end of the roster, he finally saw the relevant information and asked:

"Is that the one with few Cultivators in the whole clan, the one that specializes in cultivating spirit trees and fruits?"

"Exactly."

"Fine, let him in."

A moment later, a hunched old man walked into the backyard.

His gray hair was tied into a loose bun, his clothes were washed white but clean and tidy, his face was weathered, and his hands were rough.

He didn't look like a practitioner, but rather like a farmer who had been tending to Spiritual Plant for many years.

"Zhou Family Head Zhou Dehou greets the Young Lord."

The old man cupped his hands in a salute, bending his waist very low and being very polite. In front of such a large power, he had no dignity to speak of.

"Senior Zhou, there is no need for such formalities, please sit."

Sun Mao gestured with his hand and personally poured a cup of spirit tea and pushed it over:

"I heard you want to talk about a deal?"

Hearing this, Zhou Dehou rubbed his hands, appearing a bit uneasy: "To tell you the truth, Young Lord, my Zhou Family has been cultivating spirit trees for generations. The craft passed down by our ancestors barely counts for something in Ninghe County."

"The Emerald Spirit Fruits and Green Leaf Ginseng Fruits in the Family are not produced in large quantities, but the quality is passable."

As he spoke, he took several wooden boxes out of his Storage Pouch. After opening them, a dozen or so First Grade spirit fruits of excellent quality were neatly arranged inside.

Sun Mao picked up an Emerald Spirit Fruit, probed it with his Qi, and nodded: "The quality is indeed good, one grade better than what is circulating on the market."

"The Qi is full, the fruit flesh texture is clear, and there are no traces of forced ripening."

Zhou Dehou's eyes lit up: "The Young Lord has a good eye! My Zhou Family never uses forced ripening methods; we rely entirely on natural growth. Although the yield is lower, it has the advantage of pure medicinal properties."

The price was quickly agreed upon.

Sun Mao bought all of the Zhou Family's Emerald Spirit Fruits and Green Leaf Ginseng Fruits for this year at a price 10% higher than the market price, and settled the Spirit Stones on the spot.

Zhou Dehou took the Spirit Stones with a face full of joy, hesitated for a moment, and then took out a cloth bag the size of a palm from his bosom.

After opening it layer by layer, it revealed a dark purple fruit that looked unremarkable.

The fruit skin was rough and covered with fine cracks, like dry, old tree bark, which looked quite peculiar!

But looking closely, deep within those cracks, there were occasionally extremely faint silvery-white light spots flickering, fleeting.

"Young Lord, I have one more thing, I don't know if you are interested."

Zhou Dehou carefully held the fruit in his palm, his tone hesitant: "This is called a thunder element fruit, and it was produced by an old tree left by my ancestors."

"The tree is seventy years old, but the lei yuan fruit tree grows extremely slowly, bearing fruit only once every five years, with only three or five fruits each time."

"This thing... to be honest, my Zhou Family has tried it several times. After eating it, the whole body goes numb, and the Qi becomes restless and very difficult to control."

"Several juniors in the Family have eaten it and all said it was extremely uncomfortable, not as good as the Emerald Spirit Fruit."

Sun Mao took the thunder element fruit and probed it with his Qi.

The Qi inside the fruit was completely different from ordinary spirit fruits.

That strand of Qi was not flowing gently, but carried an extremely subtle sense of jumping, as if something was constantly exploding and reorganizing inside.

The Spirit Rat on his shoulder suddenly stopped gnawing, twitched its nose a few times, squeaked twice at the dark purple fruit, and then shrank back, seeming a bit fearful.

The Black Dog also raised its head, its nostrils flaring, but it didn't show the same desire as it did for the Dark Gold Ape bone fragments; instead, it sneezed and shook its head.

Sun Mao's heart stirred.

The reactions of the Spirit Rat and the Black Dog showed that the Qi of this fruit had a certain special attribute, neither purely attractive nor purely repulsive, but a kind of...

Stimulation?

"Senior Zhou, is there any record of this thunder element fruit in any classics?"

Zhou Dehou scratched his head: "The ancestors did leave a few words, saying that this fruit 'is hot in nature and bitter in taste; long-term consumption can induce thunder into the body'."

"My Zhou Family has been spirit planters for generations, with low cultivation, and no one dares to eat this thing for a long time, even those at the high level of Qi Refining cannot take it for a long time."

"Those who have tried two or three, do say that when they use their Qi, there is occasionally a bit of numbing power, as if they were struck by lightning."

"But later when they stopped eating it, that feeling slowly faded away."

Long-term consumption can induce thunder into the body.

Hearing this, Sun Mao's pupils shrank, and his brain immediately spun rapidly!

A First Grade High Grade spiritual item; the effect of a single one is negligible, but what if it could be taken long-term and in large quantities?

The Qi and True Essence develop thunder properties... adding explosive attributes...

For ordinary Qi Refining Cultivators, this change is too slow and almost imperceptible, which is why the Zhou Family thinks it is useless.

But what if it were a Yao Beast at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Peak, with a strong physique and deep Qi, eating thunder element fruit as a side dish every day, accumulating over time, year after year...

That trace of lightning power would, like water dripping through stone, slowly permeate every inch of the beast's flesh and every Meridians.

The Bloodline cannot mutate?

Then change the attributes of the Qi from the root!

Exchange time for qualitative change!

Sun Mao took a deep breath, his face calm.

He put down the thunder element fruit, picked up the teacup and took a sip, his tone casual: "A bit interesting, but the yield of this thing is too low, and the medicinal effect is not obvious. It's okay as a snack, but I'm afraid it's not qualified to be used as medicine."

Zhou Dehou nodded repeatedly, not denying it:

"The Young Lord is right, that's why no one has been willing to collect it all these years."

"However..."

Sun Mao changed the subject: "My Sun Clan is researching some special Pill Formula, and we need various obscure spiritual items for experiments."

"Although this thunder element fruit is inconspicuous, its properties are unique, so it can be collected to try."

"Senior Zhou, is the Zhou Family selling that lei yuan fruit tree?"

Zhou Dehou was stunned.

Sell the tree?

That was an old tree left by his ancestors. Although the fruit couldn't be sold, it was, after all, a Family heirloom, and he was really a bit reluctant to sell it.

"Young Lord, this..."

"I know this is a Family heirloom of the Zhou Family, and I won't let you suffer a loss."

Sun Mao took a list out of his Storage Pouch and handed it over: "I can use three years' worth of Spiritual Plant cultivation Materials, plus two hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones."

"And I'll add a set of First Grade Medium Grade Spiritual Plant maintenance Formation Plate to exchange for your lei yuan fruit tree. Senior, what do you think?"

Zhou Dehou took the list, his fingers trembling.

Three years' worth of Spiritual Plant cultivation Materials?

That would be enough for his Zhou Family to expand the existing spirit tree nursery by more than three times!

Not to mention the maintenance Formation Plate; with this thing, the quality of the Emerald Spirit Fruits could be raised to another level...

And on the market, the price is high, no less than three or four hundred Spirit Stones!

Plus two hundred Spirit Stones...

This deal, for the Zhou Family, was simply a huge sum of money falling from the sky, enough to further strengthen the Zhou Clan.

"Young Lord, are you serious?"

"Black and white, signed on the spot."

Zhou Dehou was silent for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth:

"Deal!"

The contract was signed, and the Spirit Stones were settled.

The lei yuan fruit tree was obtained, and the future is promising!

...

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