Cautiously Cultivating Immortality in a Strange World
Chapter 50: Strange Fruit

"Success!"

Chen Lin gazed at the ten crystal-clear pills in the iron pill furnace, and a smile finally appeared on his face, which had not seen joy for many days.

No matter what, he had finally left that strange place, and his innate abilities were still functioning as usual.

Although the Black Essence Gu still existed within him, and there was still the danger of the Enlightenment Pill's aftereffects, these could be slowly resolved.

He had already thought of a way to deal with the Black Essence Gu, which was to use the nameless sword qi to destroy it. Even if it self-destructed, it wouldn't necessarily take his life.

Of course, it would be even better if there were other methods. Yu Yuehai had given him eight Blood Qi Pills, which could nourish the Black Essence Gu for eighty days. During this period, he wouldn't have to worry about the problem of backlash.

After taking out the pills, Chen Lin directly swallowed one and began to cultivate.

Half a day passed in the blink of an eye, and his eyes sparkled with a bright light as he nodded in satisfaction.

The medicinal effect was indeed not as good as during the initial Qi Refining stage, but he could still feel the growth. At this rate, after using up all ten pills, his cultivation would make a significant breakthrough.

If he didn't use the pills, his cultivation would be like being stuck in a rut, unable to make any progress even after half a year of cultivation.

That's why he had been stuck at the Qi Refining second stage for twenty years.

From now on, Chen Lin would search for a way out while cultivating, occasionally collecting some heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

Along the way, he encountered several low-level demonic beasts, which he either avoided or killed.

Half a month passed, and his combat experience had increased significantly.

One evening, Chen Lin discovered a cave, and a faint light flickered within.

This immediately piqued his interest.

However, he didn't dare to rush in and instead observed from a distance, waiting for a whole hour to ensure that the light didn't move before cautiously approaching.

If it were a demonic beast, it wouldn't remain still for so long; it was likely a treasure.

Could his luck finally be changing?

Any heavenly material or earthly treasure that glowed would not be of a low grade, which excited Chen Lin.

The cave was winding, and the air grew more humid as he ventured deeper, with puddles of water appearing on the ground.

This made Chen Lin wonder if there was a river nearby.

If there was a river, following it should lead him to a human settlement, and he could finally leave!

He was even more excited. After wandering in this deep old forest for so long, he finally saw the hope of leaving!

But his attention was immediately drawn to the scene before him, and his breathing grew heavy.

As he turned a bend, the scenery suddenly opened up, revealing a pool of water over ten meters in diameter. In the center of the pool, there was a branch-like object, curved and twisted, with a thickness similar to an arm.

The branch protruded from the water's surface by over a meter, with a bright red, apple-like fruit at the top, emitting a dazzling light.

Chen Lin's mind raced, but he couldn't recognize what this thing was, only that it looked extraordinary.

In an instant, this fruit transformed into a large pile of spirit stones in his eyes.

He was currently penniless, and was worried about how to earn cultivation resources after leaving. With this thing, he should be able to solve his urgent needs.

However, according to legend, high-grade heavenly materials and earthly treasures usually had guardian spirits, so he didn't dare to act rashly.

After thinking for a while, he suddenly took out an ordinary Thunderbolt Bead, activated it, and threw it to the edge of the pool, then quickly retreated.

"Boom!"

The Thunderbolt Bead created a deep crater.

The splashing water droplets caused the withered tree branches to sway twice, but the fruit did not fall.

Chen Lin had anticipated this, as the power of an ordinary Thunderbolt Bead was not great, and he had chosen a location that was relatively far from the fruit.

He gazed intently at the water pool, holding his flying sword in one hand and three Fireball talismans in the other.

Then, he saw the water pool's surface ripple, and a large, dark green snake emerged, its body undulating as it swam to the shore, its long tongue darting in and out.

Seeing the snake, Chen Lin couldn't help but furrow his brow.

From the aura emanating from its body, it was clear that this was a level one demonic beast, but an extremely powerful one, equivalent to a Qi Refining late-stage or even a Qi Refining great perfection stage cultivator.

Such a demonic beast was definitely not something he could handle with his current cultivation, and he had encountered two similar ones before, which he had chosen to avoid.

However, he was reluctant to leave now.

The fruit looked extraordinary, and the chances of encountering another one of similar quality were low. Moreover, this snake, although formidable, had not yet reached the second level, and it was possible to kill it.

He checked his storage bag and found that he still had a Thunderbolt Three, two Thunderbolt Twos, and over a dozen ordinary ones, which were his trump cards.

Snake-type demonic beasts had low defense, and the narrow space here made it possible to operate without using the Thunderbolt Three.

Unfortunately, the Thunderbolt Bead required spiritual power to activate, and it would be great if it could be triggered like a landmine. He made a mental note to research this later.

As he thought, Chen Lin took out a Thunderbolt Two and an ordinary Thunderbolt Bead.

The snake looked around, but instead of approaching the cave entrance, it turned around and was about to return to the water.

Without hesitation, Chen Lin threw the ordinary Thunderbolt Bead, then retreated.

The water pool's space was too narrow, and using the Thunderbolt Two directly might blow the fruit to pieces, so his plan was to lure the snake to the cave entrance and then use firepower to cover it.

The Thunderbolt Bead landed slightly off-target, in front of the snake, and the explosion didn't seem to cause it any harm.

However, it did enrage the snake.

After a loud hiss, the snake sensed Chen Lin's presence, and its massive body charged towards him.

Chen Lin revealed a satisfied smile, retreating once more, and as soon as the snake entered the tunnel, he threw a Thunderbolt Two!

Next, he didn't even look at the effect, and threw five more ordinary Thunderbolt Beads, causing the entire tunnel to collapse, with a deafening roar.

After the dust settled, Chen Lin, who had already cast Golden Armor on himself, stood outside the cave entrance, peering through the rubble to see a section of the snake's body.

It was already mangled and unrecognizable.

Chen Lin was overjoyed, thinking that demonic beasts were just that – beasts, lacking intelligence. If this were a Qi Refining late-stage cultivator, he wouldn't even be able to escape, let alone launch a sneak attack.

After observing for a while, Chen Lin confirmed that the snake was dead, then used a Strength talisman on himself and began clearing the blocked tunnel.

When he encountered large rocks, he used his flying sword to chop them, and soon reached the snake's corpse.

The snake had been blown into two pieces, and Chen Lin had seen the upper half outside.

Snake-type demonic beasts' flesh was highly nourishing and could enhance cultivation, so Chen Lin didn't hesitate to collect it, then continued clearing the rubble.

It took him half a day to clear a narrow passage, which he then crawled through to reach the water pool area.