Surrounded by wolves on every side, Yang Kai stood frozen in place.
Qu Huachang shouted, "What are you doing? Pick it and let's go!"
The three of them had fought tooth and nail to reach this point, and now Yang Kai was just standing there holding the fruit without picking it. Was he tired of living?
Yang Kai wanted nothing more than to pluck the fruit and flee, but the moment he gripped it, his hand closed on nothing at all. The Primordial Tree and its Primordial Spirit Fruit before him looked utterly solid, yet they were ethereal and intangible, as insubstantial as mist. His hand passed straight through the fruit without the slightest resistance.
Qu Huachang quickly noticed something was wrong, shock spreading across her face.
None of the Sacred Spirits behind them had ever mentioned anything like this. In that moment, neither she nor Yang Kai had the faintest idea what to do.
On second thought, perhaps the Sacred Spirits hadn't deliberately withheld information — they simply didn't understand the situation here either. All they knew was that the only way to leave the Grand Ruins Boundary relied on the power of the Primordial Spirit Fruit. But in all the years past, every Bearer who had obtained a Primordial Spirit Fruit, along with their Sacred Spirit, had left the Grand Ruins Boundary immediately. No one had ever lingered in this Land of No Old to describe what the place was actually like.
What now? Qu Huachang glanced at Yang Kai, her eyes brimming with anxiety.
Gu Pan whispered, "Do we still need to stay here?"
The crowd surrounding them had also ceased their attacks, staring blankly at Yang Kai's actions with furrowed brows. Not a single person had imagined that the treasure they had risked everything to seize could be so bizarre. If Yang Kai couldn't take the Primordial Spirit Fruit, it was unlikely anyone else could do any better.
For a moment the scene turned strangely calm, though being hemmed in by so many people left everyone on edge.
Yang Kai channeled his power ceaselessly, but his hand grasped nothing but empty air. In frustration, he surged his Divine Sense forward and seized with all his might.
The next instant, with a soft crack, the Primordial Spirit Fruit shattered under the gaze of the entire crowd, dissolving into a cascade of spiritual light that filled the sky!
Everyone was stunned speechless!
Even Yang Kai stood rooted to the spot, a chill creeping across his scalp.
He had only been testing it on a whim, pouring his Divine Sense into the attempt. He hadn't expected to stumble upon the key — but he had certainly never imagined that the Primordial Spirit Fruit would be so fragile.
The Primordial Spirit Fruit… had shattered!
Dozens of Bearers, each carrying the instructions and missions of the Sacred Spirits behind them, had fought to the death for this fruit. Some had sustained grievous injuries in the process, and others had perished on the spot. And now, the fruit had been crushed to pieces by Yang Kai's bare hand.
Shock, bewilderment, fury… a tidal wave of emotions surged through everyone. In the span of a heartbeat, the looks directed at Yang Kai had turned utterly hostile. Without the Primordial Spirit Fruit, there would be no way to account for themselves once they left the Land of No Old. If they encountered a lenient Sacred Spirit, they might survive — but if they ran into someone like Kun Sha, they would surely be killed in a fit of rage.
Yang Kai's grab had effectively cut off the path to survival for a great many of them. This was nothing short of an irreconcilable enmity!
Yet, strangely, the spiritual light that billowed from the shattered fruit did not dissipate. Instead, it churned and surged as one, pouring into the back of Yang Kai's hand.
In an instant, Yang Kai felt the skin on the back of his hand burning with searing heat. As the spiritual light continued to pour in, a bizarre yet profoundly mystical pattern materialized on his hand.
The moment the pattern took shape, a sudden flash of insight blossomed in Yang Kai's mind. In that instant, he comprehended the true use of the Primordial Spirit Fruit, and he finally understood why the individuals chosen by the Sacred Spirits were called Bearers!
The Sacred Spirits needed these Bearers' physical bodies as vessels. Only by channeling the power of the Primordial Spirit Fruit through them could the Sacred Spirits break free from the Grand Ruins Boundary's shackles and escape this place!
The Primordial Spirit Fruit was always meant to shatter. This strange pattern was always meant to form. Everything unfolded exactly as it was supposed to. The poor Bearers had all assumed the fruit needed to be delivered to the Sacred Spirits for them to consume — even Yang Kai had believed as much. The Sacred Spirits had probably thought so too.
The reality was entirely different.
But no matter what the truth was, the Primordial Spirit Fruit had been claimed!
All of this happened in the span of a heartbeat. First, Yang Kai's grasp shattered the Primordial Spirit Fruit, shocking everyone to their core. Then the spiritual light flooded into the back of his hand and formed the intricate pattern — all completed in the blink of an eye.
Though no one understood what the pattern's significance was, they could guess that it was clearly the key. The fruit was already destroyed, so the only option now was to seize this key.
Almost simultaneously, the attacks resumed. Technique after technique rumbled toward Yang Kai in a devastating barrage.
Qu Huachang and Gu Pan both paled and unleashed their own techniques to block, but their methods, though formidable, were hopelessly outnumbered. Within three breaths, their defenses were already on the verge of collapse.
Yang Kai activated the Dragon Shield technique to protect the two women, then called upon the Laws of Space. With a flicker of movement, he vanished and reappeared a thousand zhang away with both of them.
Before he could even steady himself, Fang Yue came charging in diagonally, his expression grave. "Senior Brother Yang, forgive me!" he called out.
As the words left his mouth, a stone lotus suddenly appeared beneath his feet. At first it was tiny, spinning rapidly as it swelled in size. Layer upon layer of lotus petals unfolded — there had to be a thousand of them.
Yang Kai raised an eyebrow. He could actually sense the aura of a Sacred Medicine emanating from this stone lotus. In other words, this lotus was nothing less than a Sacred Medicine itself. He had no idea what extraordinary properties it possessed, nor when Fang Yue had obtained it.