Free Web NovelChapter 227: Chapter 227: Mo Luo Fruit
One day, after dinner, the group stared at a plate of bright red fruits on the table. The fruits gave off a sweet, fresh aroma that was very tempting. Although they had found some berries over the past two days, those tart-tasting berries were clearly not as alluring as these.
"I don’t know what variety these red fruits are, but they have energy fluctuations. For them to be preserved so perfectly out here in the wild, with no signs of being bitten by birds or beasts, I’m afraid there’s something strange about them," Lin Mo said.
Lin Mo’s meaning was clear: he suspected the fruits were poisonous and inedible.
"I’ve never seen this kind of fruit before. We’ll have to study it to see if there’s anything strange about it, no?" Di Youlin said, curiously picking one up to observe it in his hand.
"Oh, right. Lan Xin, didn’t you specifically study all sorts of plants before you came? Come take a look," Di Youlin said, turning to Lan Xin.
Lan Xin glanced at Ning Xuan. After she nodded, he took two steps forward, picked up the fruit, and a faint cyan halo of energy condensed at his fingertips.
"The plant that bears this fruit has a distinct main trunk. It’s a tall, umbrella-shaped tree. Its main stem is crimson like coral with snake-scale-like rings on the surface. The leaves grow in opposite pairs, are elliptical, and have serrated edges. Generally, fruits from a tree with these characteristics are non-toxic," Lan Xin concluded based on his analysis of the plant’s features.
"I can concoct a universal reagent. It’s colorless and transparent, but it will change color if it encounters any toxic substances. I’ll squeeze out some juice now and test it."
After saying this, Lan Xin immediately went to prepare the reagent. A few minutes later, he cut off a piece of the red fruit, squeezed a few drops of scarlet juice into the tube, and the clear reagent quickly turned red.
"This is just the juice’s natural color, not a chemical reaction. Judging from the reagent, the fruit should be non-toxic," Lan Xin said confidently.
For further verification, he ate the piece of red fruit he had just cut.
"Hey, why did you eat that? We could have caught a live animal to test it on first..." Nine-tailed said anxiously.
Before Nine-tailed could even finish speaking, Lan Xin had snatched up the rest of the whole red fruit and started gnawing on it, mumbling, "So sweet and fragrant! So delicious!"
While the others were still stunned, Ning Xuan smacked Lan Xin’s hand, trying to make him release the fruit. However, he was holding it in a death grip with both hands, and she couldn’t knock it away.
"Hold him down! Get that thing away from him!" Ning Xuan commanded.
Chen Nan, Qinghe, and Nine-tailed all moved to restrain him, but Lan Xin struggled desperately. Now, everyone could see that something was terribly wrong.
Lan Xin thrashed wildly, and Chen Nan and the others, afraid of hurting him, were momentarily unable to hold him down. Ning Xuan released a vine that quickly bound Lan Xin securely, leaving him to struggle like a fish out of water. "Let me eat! Give it to me!"
Ning Xuan checked Lan Xin’s pulse. It was rapid and shallow, but his qi and blood were abundant, showing no signs of poisoning. His breathing was shallow and fast, and his autonomic nervous system was extremely agitated. It was clear that Lan Xin was trapped in a hallucination.
Ning Xuan took out her Golden Needles, selected several acupoints, and swiftly inserted them into Lan Xin’s body. Some of them were meant to induce sleep and should have knocked him out instantly, but he continued to struggle relentlessly.
Over and over, he just kept yelling, "Give it to me!"
Ning Xuan found a bottle of Clear Heart Potion—which could clear the mind and calm the spirit—in her medicine box and had Nine-tailed pour it down his throat.
While everyone was focused on Lan Xin, Zhang Nan had somehow picked up the fruit that had fallen on the ground and was opening his mouth to take a bite.
"Put it down," Ning Xuan commanded, having caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye.
After Ning Xuan took the fruit away, Zhang Nan snapped back to his senses. He scratched his head in bewilderment. "I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened... I just picked it up. It felt like I was being controlled." ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"I saw something in the Alchemy Department’s Exotic Plant Atlas," Ning Xuan said thoughtfully, gazing at the fruit with its broken skin. "There’s a fruit that hasn’t been seen for many years called the Mo Luo Fruit. The juice from its flesh has a powerful hallucinogenic effect. Once the skin is broken, the juice releases a substance that lures prey into eating it."
"Contractor, are you saying that this fruit could be the Mo Luo Fruit?" Chen Nan asked.
"Not necessarily the Mo Luo Fruit itself, but it clearly has a similar effect," Ning Xuan said.
"Nngh... It hurts! It hurts so much!" Lan Xin groaned in agony.
Qinghe pushed up Lan Xin’s sleeve and saw a layer of cyan scales erupting on his arm. The scales were standing on end, like tiny, sharp knives stabbing back into his flesh.
Bright red blood was seeping out from the areas where the vine had bound him.
"Master, the scales inside Lan Xin’s body are trying to grow outward. The vine is blocking them, so they can’t break through and are injuring his internal tissues. That’s why he’s bleeding," Qinghe explained. Having been through a similar experience, he understood a little of the pain Lan Xin was currently suffering.
Ning Xuan stored the fruit with the broken skin in her Space Ring, then retracted her vine.
Once freed, Lan Xin immediately scrambled around the room, sniffing the air as if searching for the fruit. When his search yielded nothing, he tried to charge outside in a frenzy. Qinghe moved to block him, and the two immediately started fighting.
Lan Xin was now displaying combat strength far beyond his normal capabilities. Fearing they would destroy the inside of the tree hollow, Lin Mo released a Guardian Barrier, enclosing the immediate area.
After about ten minutes of fighting, Lan Xin’s azure-blue eyes turned completely bloodshot, and a black mist began to seep out from around his body.
"Master, Lan Xin’s Spiritual Sea is in turmoil! His Mutated Value is too high! I’m afraid... I’m afraid..." Qinghe shouted to Ning Xuan, glancing back while continuing to fight.
By now, Ning Xuan could also see Lan Xin’s abnormal state. She had Lin Mo and the others help Qinghe restrain him and fed him a vial of Alienation Value Clearing Potion. Simultaneously, she placed her palm on the Baihui Acupoint at the crown of his head and probed his mind with her spiritual power.
Inside Lan Xin’s Spiritual Sea was a raging tempest. Black, monstrous waves churned upon the surface of the tumultuous sea.
The instant Ning Xuan’s fingertips touched the boiling Spiritual Sea, the violent energy sent a numbing shock through her finger bones. The seawater was an eerie color, and the colossal waves, carrying hurricane-force winds, ripped the entire space into fragmented whirlpools.
BOOM!
As a bolt of lightning crashed onto the sea’s surface, she finally got a clear look at the creature lurking beneath the inky waves. A giant serpent, its form flickering in and out of view, churned the water. Its blue tail whipped up colossal waves, and its scales reflected a cold, metallic glint in the flash of lightning. Each of its movements made the Spiritual Sea roil even more violently.
Witnessing the scene through her consciousness, Ning Xuan was filled with disbelieving horror. She never would have imagined that the Spiritual Sea of the gentle, mild-mannered Lan Xin could be so turbulent and treacherous.
