Using Clairvoyant Vision, Ian Song once again tracked the elusive plant, now relocated to a tree several hundred meters away.
Standing beneath the tree, Ian didn’t act rashly this time. Even Gravity Domain couldn’t slow this plant down—who knew if Spatial Stasis would work on it?
“What should I do now?”
Even with Ian’s cunning, he couldn’t think of a good way to catch this plant right away.
“Forget it, I’ll just try Spatial Stasis.”
With a thought, Ian shot upward. As he neared the plant, he activated Spatial Stasis.
Instantly, a small space about ten meters across centered on Ian was frozen—but it would only last for three seconds.
Feeling a bit nervous, Ian reached out quickly to grab the plant.
“Whoosh!”
A flash of green light—Ian’s hand closed on empty air as the plant teleported away again, landing on a tree several hundred meters off.
Ian couldn’t help feeling especially frustrated.
Suddenly, an idea struck him. He mentally contacted Meow-Meow, the system sprite: “Meow-Meow, do you know what this plant is?”
“Consultation fee: one million Fame Points.”
“You’re just robbing me blind.” Ian complained, clearly annoyed.
“Knowledge is wealth. You don’t have to ask.” Meow-Meow replied in a tone that could drive anyone mad.
“Fine, I’m not short on Fame Points anyway. One million it is—now spill, what’s up with this plant?”
After deducting a million Fame Points, Meow-Meow said, “This is a God-grade Medicine. I never expected one to show up on a planet this starved for spiritual energy.”
“What’s a God-grade Medicine?” Ian asked curiously.
Meow-Meow scoffed, “Ignorance is scary. Let me educate you. Herbs are divided into four ranks: ordinary, Spirit Medicine, Immortal Medicine, and God-grade Medicine. Ordinary herbs need no introduction. Spirit Medicine refers to anything that’s grown for at least a hundred years, and it’s split into nine grades—first grade is the lowest, ninth is the highest.
Immortal Medicine also has nine grades and usually grows in places with extremely abundant spiritual energy.
God-grade Medicine doesn’t have internal grades—each one possesses world-defying power, so it’s impossible to judge which is stronger. The plant in front of you is called the Heavenly Dao Fruit Tree. Its fruit has two major effects: first, it can endlessly purify the soul.
The purer your soul, the easier it is to comprehend the laws of heaven and earth, and high-level intents.
Of course, laws and intents are still way out of your league right now. But if you eat a Heavenly Dao Fruit, your future cultivation path will be smooth sailing.
The second effect is that it can alter your Fate Pattern.
Normally, everyone’s Fate Pattern is set at birth—the stronger your Fate Pattern, the greater your luck and the higher your achievements.
“No way!” Ian was skeptical about Fate Patterns. “If that’s true, then people with strong Fate Patterns wouldn’t have to do anything and could still achieve huge success. And those with weak ones would never get ahead!”
Meow-Meow explained, “I’m talking about the general case. Actually, Fate Patterns can be changed. For example, if someone with a weak Fate Pattern spends enough time around someone with a strong, compatible Fate Pattern, their own fate can gradually improve.
There are lots of examples among humans—someone lives in obscurity for decades, but one day gets help from the right person and suddenly takes off.
Of course, there are also cases where Fate Patterns clash—say, a rich kid marries someone whose Fate Pattern is stronger but incompatible with his. In that case, his fate will keep getting worse until the family declines and he ends up a beggar.”
Ian thought about it—this kind of thing really did seem to happen a lot.
“So how do you detect someone’s Fate Pattern, and figure out if two people’s fates are compatible or clash?” Ian asked.
“Fate Patterns are divided into nine stars—one-star is the weakest, nine-star the strongest. To detect someone’s Fate Pattern, you just need to cultivate the Heavenly Eye.”
Ian asked curiously, “When can I cultivate the Heavenly Eye?”
“There are two ways. First, reach the Golden Core Realm and you can open the Heavenly Eye. Second, you might win it in the system lottery. As for judging Fate Pattern compatibility, there’s no simple way to tell.”
Reaching Golden Core was a distant dream—probably decades away. The lottery, though, was at least possible.
Suddenly, Ian realized he was getting sidetracked and asked Meow-Meow, “So how do I actually get my hands on that Heavenly Dao Fruit Tree?”
“God-grade Medicines have intelligence. With your current cultivation, you won’t catch it!” Meow-Meow said coolly. “But it’s not impossible!”
Hearing the first part, Ian was disappointed. But the second part made him perk up. “What’s the method?”
“Want the answer? Pay another million Fame Points!”
“Scammer!” Ian muttered under his breath. But he really didn’t want to give up on this God-grade Medicine, so he caved.
After deducting another million Fame Points, Meow-Meow said, “This planet is starved for spiritual energy, but God-grade Medicines need massive amounts to grow. Right now, the Heavenly Dao Fruit Tree can only survive by parasitizing ordinary trees and absorbing nutrients. If it goes too long without spiritual energy, its quality will degrade—so if you can give it some, you might actually have a shot at getting its fruit!”
Ian’s eyes lit up. With a flip of his hand, a fiery-red spirit crystal appeared in his palm.
“Will this work?”
“Compared to the nutrients in ordinary trees, that lower-grade spirit crystal should be pretty tempting for the Heavenly Dao Fruit Tree. Talk to it nicely—if you’re lucky, you might even score a Heavenly Dao Fruit.”
“Whoosh!”
A flash of green light—the Heavenly Dao Fruit Tree shot straight toward Ian’s palm.
“Collect!”
Startled, Ian quickly stashed the spirit crystal in his storage ring, leaving the Heavenly Dao Fruit Tree grasping at thin air.
“Rustle, rustle!”
Having failed to snatch the spirit crystal, the Heavenly Dao Fruit Tree was clearly unhappy. It hovered in midair before Ian, shaking its branches and leaves.
Ian couldn’t help but laugh. He said to the Heavenly Dao Fruit Tree, “Want the spirit crystal?”
To Ian’s delight, the Heavenly Dao Fruit Tree actually understood him—it bent its trunk three times, like it was nodding.
“You can have it, but you’ll have to trade me a Heavenly Dao Fruit!” Ian grinned even wider.
“Whoosh!”
The Heavenly Dao Fruit Tree shivered, and a bright red fruit shot toward Ian. He reached out and caught the Heavenly Dao Fruit.
“That easy?” Ian could hardly believe it.
“The Heavenly Dao Fruit drains most of the tree’s nutrients. By giving you one, its own burden is lightened quite a bit,” Meow-Meow explained.
“Here you go!”
Ian took out the spirit crystal and tossed it to the Heavenly Dao Fruit Tree.
The tree’s short roots curled around the spirit crystal, then—whoosh—it vanished from Ian’s sight.
“Meow-Meow, how do I take the Heavenly Dao Fruit?” Ian asked, staring at the fruit in his hand.
“Just swallow it!”
“Alright!”
Without hesitation, Ian tossed the Heavenly Dao Fruit into his mouth. It melted instantly, transforming into two streams of energy—one rushing into his mind, the other into his body.