It can be any fruit tree, but only a very few fruit trees can become a Spring Dream Fruit Tree.
This particular Spring Dream Fruit Tree stood in a farmer's household.
The head of the house was an old man, known as Old Man Chen.
"Son, in another half-year, you'll be taking a wife. Your old dad will build you a new house, and the main beam for that house will be this fire-date tree," Old Man Chen said, standing under the tree and patting its hard bark as he spoke to his son beside him.
His son looked up at the jujube tree and gave a thumbs-up, saying with satisfaction, "Father, that's a great idea. This tree is older than the history of our village. As long as I can remember, it hasn't borne any dates. No matter how big it grows, it's useless. Chopping it down to serve as the main beam for my new house is perfect!"
Fang Yuan couldn't help but snort coldly.
He stood not far away, but had concealed his form.
Neither Old Man Chen, who wasn't even a Gu Master, nor his son could detect him at all.
Having learned the reason why the Spring Dream Fruit Tree was about to be chopped down by chance, Fang Yuan secretly frowned.
This Spring Dream Fruit Tree existed by grafting onto a date tree.
The true Spring Dream Fruit Tree was a tree that existed only in dreams and had no physical form. However, it needed a real-world tree as a foundational anchor to persist.
This fire-date tree was several thousand years old. Only such an ancient tree could be used by the Spring Dream Fruit Tree as a host.
Of course, the specific conditions for this weren't just about the tree's age.
People also needed to live nearby. The dreams of generations of people living there became the nourishment, sustaining the Spring Dream Fruit Tree.
Historically, this area had once been the foot of a volcano.
Because the volcano erupted every few hundred years, the massive amount of volcanic ash created the fertile soil of the surrounding area.
Attracted by the naturally excellent farmland, people would migrate here from time to time, gradually forming a village or town. Then it would be destroyed again by the volcano's eruption.
The fire-date tree was extremely heat-resistant, even capable of withstanding lava, and thus it had survived.
If the date tree were cut down, the Spring Dream Fruit Tree would be destroyed along with it. But to transplant the date tree without the corresponding dream-path methods to simultaneously transplant the Spring Dream Fruit Tree would ultimately only yield a normal date tree for Fang Yuan. He wouldn't get the Spring Dream Fruit Tree.
As for transplanting the Spring Dream Fruit Tree... Fang Yuan didn't have the means. He couldn't even harvest the Spring Dream Fruit from the tree yet. He still needed to refine some necessary mortal dream-path Gu to be able to harvest the fruit.
Back in the day, Mo Yao had seemed to recognize the unusual nature of this tree, but limited by her own knowledge, or perhaps realizing the impropriety of picking it carelessly, she had left it alone.
"It seems that for now, I still need to maintain the Spring Dream Fruit Tree's living environment and protect this place temporarily."
Fang Yuan flicked his hand, and two strands of will pierced into the minds of Old Man Chen and his son.
His son suddenly shed tears: "Father, let's not chop this tree down after all. Even if it doesn't bear dates, I still want to see it. It grew up with me. When I was small, I used to pee under its roots, and when I got a little older, I built a swing here. Let's just leave it be..."
"Sigh! Alright then," Old Man Chen's eyes reddened as well. He nodded emotionally. "Let it keep growing here then. We'll pick another tree. It might not be as tall and grand as this one, but it's still good enough for the main beam of the new house."
Having dispelled the mortals' intentions, Fang Yuan then set up a Gu formation here to protect the Spring Dream Fruit Tree.
However, to harvest the fruit from the tree, Fang Yuan still needed to refine some corresponding mortal dream-path Gu.
This would take time.
The Gu materials for mortal dream-path Gu were almost all extracted from dreams.
"According to the trajectory of my previous life, after refining the Transformation Immortal Gu, I helped Tai Bai Yun Sheng undergo his tribulation. Then came the battle for Lang Ya. After the battle, I entered the Eastern Sea blessed land under the identity of Star Constellation Scholar to participate in the operation on the Jade Dew Blessed Land. During this process, due to the unexpected collapse of a star fragment grotto-heaven, I was invited by the Heavenly Crane Sect to explore a fragment world from a shattered star grotto-heaven. After that matter, it was the Burning Sky Demon Woman who came knocking, driving off an Ancient Desolate Beast, the Finger Flowing Shark. I was plotted against by the Burning Sky Demon Woman and returned to the Northern Plains to obtain the Ditch Inheritance. Afterward, I killed Black City, was forced into a new alliance with the Burning Sky Demon Woman and others, and seized the Lost Soul Valley. Finally, I participated in the great battle at Yitian Mountain!"
"This time, having miraculously succeeded in my rebirth, my most important goal remains the Immortal Gu House, the Startling Rainbow Fighting Platform. As long as I become the master of this Immortal Gu House and use it to suppress the Eighth Transformation Da Li Zhen Wu Immortal Zombie, then the harvest will be immense!"
Although Fang Yuan's attempt to claim the Immortal Gu House ahead of time had failed, how could a single failure shake his resolve?
The Startling Rainbow Fighting Platform hadn't emerged yet, so he would just have to wait for the moment it did.
Originally, Fang Yuan's plan had been to claim the Immortal Gu House, then suppress the Eighth Transformation Da Li Zhen Wu Immortal Zombie. After waiting for the alliance's term to expire, he would use the Immortal Gu House's power to deal with Hei Loulan, Li Shan Fairy, and the Burning Sky Demon Woman. Perhaps he could even utilize the Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu House furnace within the Lang Ya blessed land to seize their Immortal Gu and gain the greatest benefit.
But now that wasn't possible.
Without the Immortal Gu House, Fang Yuan's strength was clearly inferior to Hei Loulan's faction. No matter how many schemes and plots he had, without the power to back them up, it wouldn't work. After all, Hei Loulan was also a formidable figure, certainly not one to be trifled with. This was fully evident from the fact that she had killed her own father and then disguised herself, preparing to infiltrate the Black Family.
Fang Yuan's original plan had been beautiful, but unfortunately, reality was harshly skeletal.
Fang Yuan calculated based on the worst-case scenario. If the Startling Rainbow Fighting Platform emerged at the same time as in his previous life, then he would no longer be able to quietly and sneakily claim this Immortal Gu House.