Chapter 139: Consuming the Golden Sun Fruit

The budding of the Golden Sun Scarlet Paulownia tree brought great joy to Chen Mu, as it meant the tree would soon blossom and bear fruit.

However, noticing that the tree appeared capable of producing only nine fruits at a time, Chen Mu fell into a thoughtful silence. As is universally known, in the Dao, the number nine represents the ultimate extreme.

Since the Golden Sun Scarlet Paulownia bore neither eight nor ten fruits, but precisely this ultimate number nine, it indicated that the tree was extraordinary—as if bound by the unspoken rules of the Heavenly Dao, restricting its yield to this exact amount.

Although he knew the tree had an extraordinary origin, he had no idea what grade of heaven-and-earth spiritual plant it truly belonged to. From the very first time he laid eyes on it, he had felt it was exceptionally rare; yet because it had been completely ungrowth-oriented, he, like everyone else back then, had not paid it much attention.

It was only thanks to Xue Tian’s reminder that he had immediately recognized its value and secured the precious tree for himself. Otherwise, he likely would have dismissed it just like the others, ignoring it entirely due to its undeveloped state and perceived low value.

Now that the tree was gradually maturing, Chen Mu estimated its grade to be at least tier six. After all, the astonishing primordial energy radiating from the Golden Sun Scarlet Paulownia was simply incomparable to any spiritual plants or herbs he had seen before—the difference was as vast as heaven and earth.

Whether it was precisely tier six, he could not be entirely certain, but he was confident that tier six was the absolute baseline; its quality could only be higher, never lower.

With a sigh, Chen Mu put aside his stray thoughts. After all, ripening this precious tree to make it bear fruit was the priority. Filled with anticipation, he continued to channel his vital life breath into the Golden Sun Scarlet Paulownia, hoping it would quickly yield the Golden Sun Fruits and allow his bloodline power to advance to the next level.

He had expected that since the flower buds had already formed, it would blossom and bear fruit within two or three days. Instead, forcing the ripening process all the way to the fruiting stage took over a month. He had not anticipated that the amount of life breath required to produce the Golden Sun Fruits would be so immense—it rivaled, and perhaps even surpassed, the energy needed to nurture the sapling to maturity.

Around the middle of that month, the Golden Sun flowers slowly unfurled. Their petals resembled golden rays of light without any physical substance, looking like ethereal, burning flowers of fire—as breathtakingly beautiful as they were visually striking.

Shortly after, the fruits began to take shape piece by piece. The Golden Sun Fruits resembled tiny suns, brimming with an extreme abundance of solar primordial energy.

The fruits flashed with golden solar energy flames, and the energy radiating from them made Chen Mu's heart leap. The bloodline within his body seemed to awaken faintly, pulsing with a hungry urgency that urged him to swallow and refine a Golden Sun Fruit immediately, as if to thoroughly rouse himself.

On this day, Rou'er came once again to check on the progress of Chen Mu's forced ripening. Seeing the nine fruit-like miniature suns hanging upon the branches, Rou'er nodded solemnly and said, "Mm, they are practically mature. Although the age and energy of these Golden Sun Fruits are lower than those naturally generated by heaven and earth, they are more than sufficient to awaken the solar bloodline power within you once again."

Hearing this, Chen Mu was momentarily stunned. Energy this colossal was still considered low? Exactly what grade were ordinary Golden Sun Fruits?

Before Chen Mu could voice his questions regarding the detailed knowledge of the Golden Sun Fruits, Rou'er continued, "Cease the ripening process; you may harvest the fruits now. Bring these nine Golden Sun Fruits and follow me into the cultivation chamber. Shortly, I shall assist you in refining them to deeply awaken the solar bloodline within your body."

Hearing this, Chen Mu plucked all nine Golden Sun Fruits without a moment's hesitation. The instant his hand touched a fruit, he felt a distinct burning sensation. He immediately enveloped his hand in solar primordial energy, whereupon a comfortable and gentle warmth replaced the heat.

Carrying the Golden Sun Fruits, Chen Mu followed Rou'er to find a secluded cultivation chamber. After sealing the chamber and erecting restrictive barriers, he waited for Rou'er's next instructions.

"Were you wondering just now about my remark that the Golden Sun Fruits you forcibly ripened are lower in energy and grade than those naturally born of heaven and earth?" Rou'er glanced at Chen Mu, clearly having perceived his earlier doubts.

Seeing that Rou'er had seen through his confusion, Chen Mu scratched his head with some embarrassment and asked, "I indeed had my doubts. Please enlighten me."

With a solemn expression, Rou'er explained, "First, the Golden Sun Fruits you ripened were not grown slowly over a long period relying on the natural heritage of heaven and earth, but were rapidly forced into maturity using your life breath; thus, they naturally cannot compare to Golden Sun Fruits nourished by the primordial energy of heaven and earth over a long duration. Second, the Golden Sun Scarlet Paulownia generally grows in places rich in solar primordial energy, absorbing this supreme yang and fiery energy over extended periods. Your nine fruits, however, only absorbed life breath without long-term exposure to solar primordial energy; hence, the two cannot be mentioned in the same breath.

"Yet, this is also a blessing. These nine Golden Sun Fruits are precisely suited for you to consume at your present stage. Had they been natural Golden Sun Fruits, you would have undoubtedly been burned to ashes by the violent solar primordial energy the moment you ingested them. Even if you managed to endure that intense scorching heat, the sheer magnitude of their energy would have caused your body to absorb them to saturation, leading you to explode and die."

Chen Mu felt a chill of terror. He had no idea the Golden Sun Fruits were so terrifying—could this truly be something a human being was capable of consuming?

Seeing Chen Mu turn solemn, Rou'er felt a measure of reassurance. After all, during his previous body-tempering sessions, Chen Mu had frequently swallowed potent medicinal herbs raw and without a second thought.

If he were to cultivate such a habit long-term, he might eventually stop caring whether his body could withstand the medicinal properties of a given herb. She certainly did not want Chen Mu to perish from bursting apart due to accidentally swallowing a heaven-and-earth spiritual medicine of excessive potency; such an end would be too tragic.

Rou'er continued with grave earnestness, "Even when your body-tempering cultivation reaches the Meridian-Forging Realm, ingesting a normal Golden Sun Fruit would still cause you to burst apart and die. I am spelling out the severity of this matter to warn you: whenever you consume medicinal herbs raw, you must first ascertain whether your body can withstand the energy contained within them."

Swallowing hard, Chen Mu cautiously asked, "What grade of spiritual fruit are these Golden Sun Fruits, exactly?"

"Normal Golden Sun Fruits are spiritual ingredients required for refining pills that condense the intent of the Dao," Rou'er replied. "Of course, consuming a Golden Sun Fruit on its own also grants a chance to condense Dao intent, though the probability is lower than if it were refined into a pill. The Golden Sun Scarlet Paulownia and its fruits belong to the eighth tier of spiritual plants and flora. For a minor cultivator like you, trapped in the Origin Foundation Realm, to acquire heaven-and-earth treasures of this grade is equivalent to picking up a hot potato. Fortunately, no outsiders know of this; otherwise, you would truly be doomed.

"However, although your sapling-ripened Golden Sun Scarlet Paulownia has matured, its grade is visually estimated to be only around the mid-tier six. This has nothing to do with its age, but solely because it failed to absorb sufficient solar primordial energy, limiting it to the sixth tier," Rou'er said, casting a playful look at Chen Mu.

Chen Mu was too astonished to speak. He had never imagined the tree held such immense value. The eighth tier—that was a treasure capable of making even practitioners of the Mahayana Realm drool with envy. For a minor entity like himself in the Origin Foundation Realm to get his hands on it was sheer, unadulterated luck.

Stretching lazily, Rou'er continued her explanation, "The nine Golden Sun Fruits you ripened will certainly not allow you to condense Dao intent upon ingestion, but their effect is just right for continuing to awaken your bloodline power or deepening your mastery over yang-attribute applications.

"How a mere nobody like Daoist Fuchen—someone not even in the Dharma Image Realm—managed to acquire a Golden Sun Scarlet Paulownia remains somewhat incredible to me. I suspect it has something to do with that animal-skin map. It is very likely that Daoist Fuchen entered the territory depicted on that map and transplanted a sapling out of it. If so, that makes sense.

"Although the medicinal efficacy of these Golden Sun Fruits is several times lower than normal ones, they are still far beyond what you could swallow and refine raw. Shortly, I shall employ a secret technique to assist you in refining these Golden Sun Fruits. While you can resist the weakened scorching heat, the energy volume remains immense; thus, I must lend a hand from the sidelines to prevent you from being torn apart by the medicinal power."

Chen Mu nodded solemnly. He would entrust everything to Rou'er's arrangement for the refinement, as such matters tolerated no carelessness.

Chen Mu crossed his legs and sat in meditation. Rou'er pressed her small paws against his Dantian, resting on his crossed thighs, prepared at a moment's notice to channel her divine soul energy to suppress and guide the medicinal power, striving to help Chen Mu refine the Golden Sun Fruit.

If anyone else were to place their hands upon his Dantian, Chen Mu would undoubtedly refuse or remain utterly vigilant, for the Dantian was considered the foundation of one's cultivation.

Should the other party harbor even the slightest malicious intent, they could instantly shatter his Dantian—resulting in death in severe cases, or the complete ruin of his cultivation and severe injury in lighter ones. Thus, this was a perilous undertaking indeed.

Yet, Chen Mu trusted that Rou'er would never harm him, so he held not a shred of apprehension. After all, apart from monks, Rou'er was his closest companion.

Once all preparations were complete, Chen Mu looked at the Golden Sun Fruits. Reaching out, he picked up one of them and began to eat the flesh bite by bite.

The portions of fruit flesh Chen Mu bit off each time were extremely small. This was a deliberate measure to prevent the medicinal energy from tearing him apart. Although he was refining it slowly, mouthful by mouthful, the medicinal power of each bite was still beyond what his Meridian-Forging Realm body could naturally absorb.

Fortunately, guided and suppressed by Rou'er's divine soul energy, the colossal yang-attribute medicinal power was prevented from wreaking havoc inside Chen Mu's body, and was instead absorbed steadily and methodically.

Thus, after the span of an incense stick, Chen Mu successfully swallowed the first Golden Sun Fruit, and his body slowly absorbed the medicinal properties contained within.

Stirred by the efficacy of the Golden Sun Fruit, his solar bloodline instantly began to stir into activity. As Chen Mu continuously circulated the *Great Sun Ancient Scripture*, he found it increasingly effortless, and the primordial energy foundation within his Dantian grew progressively solid.

This foundation of primordial energy was the groundwork laid for condensing a Purple-Gold Origin Pill in the future. The more solid this foundation became, the greater his chances of successfully condensing the Purple-Gold Origin Pill would be.

After another half-hour of digestion, Chen Mu's solar bloodline had been activated to a significant degree, though achieving full activation remained impossible.

At the very least, if he wished to form a Purple-Gold Origin Pill, he had to reach a level where he could comprehend bloodline divine abilities.

In truth, Rou'er did not know the exact completeness of Chen Mu's solar bloodline, nor did she expect him to activate it entirely. After all, it was impossible for someone in the Origin Foundation Realm to fully activate such bloodline power. Yet, if he wished to condense an origin pill of a higher grade, he had to elevate his bloodline power.

While the foundation of Chen Mu's cultivation journey thus far might seem solid in the eyes of ordinary people, it appeared thoroughly ordinary and unremarkable to the great powers of the Immortal Domains and peerless geniuses.

Therefore, if he wished to walk higher and further on the path of cultivation, Chen Mu had to strive to condense a second-rank Purple-Gold Origin Pill. As for the first-rank Nine-Color Origin Pill, given his limited conditions, he could simply forget about it.