Chapter 7: Soul Tree
Xu Le gazed at the tree before him and looked around. He discovered that in this dark area, only this spot had light.
And the source of light was this very tree in front of him.
The tree itself was glowing, emitting a pale blue radiance.
This tree looked somewhat like a willow tree, about the same size, with branches drooping down one by one, bearing some leaves.
Unlike a willow, Xu Le could see some dangling fruits on these branches.
Looking at the patterns and shapes of these fruits, Xu Le's eyes flickered slightly.
He suppressed his emotions and took a deep breath:
"Phew, don't be so uncouth, great writer!"
After composing himself, Xu Le moved closer. When he was close enough, his pupils also turned blue.
A feeling similar to a mental connection appeared in his mind.
For a moment, Xu Le felt as if he was this tree.
Or rather, this tree was a part of his body.
Curious, Xu Le slowly raised his right hand.
At the same time, a branch of this blue tree also lifted up.
It mirrored the movement of Xu Le's right hand.
Xu Le experimentally circled his arm, and the branch followed, circling in sync.
This result made Xu Le's heart increasingly excited.
Perhaps...
No, there was one last step.
Xu Le lowered his hand, slowly closed his eyes, and maintained that focused state.
In the dream space, this state was much harder to achieve than under normal conditions.
The strangest thing was that here, he seemed to have difficulty gathering his intense emotions.
Even positive feelings like excitement and happiness would quickly disappear.
It was as if in this dream world, he would involuntarily calm down.
"Relax, don't be nervous, there's no one else here, this is your own dream.
I should... be the master of this place."
After this self-suggestion, that feeling of agitation finally appeared.
But now it couldn't be described as agitation anymore, that feeling was more like a warm current.
Like the warmth flowing through the body after intense exercise.
Opening his eyes again, Xu Le looked towards the treetop.
[Guyin Duo Soul Tree]
He clenched his fist, then relaxed it again after a moment.
Xu Le's excitement lasted only for an instant before becoming as calm as still water.
He reached out with his right hand, controlling the branch he could manipulate, and brought it next to a black fruit on the tree.
Gently touching it, the fruit seemed to squirm slightly in his vision, like a shy child.
This time, Xu Le didn't hesitate or wait.
He directly used the branch to grab the black fruit, forcefully plucked it off, and brought it in front of himself.
[Guyin Duo Fruit - Fear]
"So it really is a Guyin Duo fear fruit, what about the other fruits?"
Curious, Xu Le used the branch to count the other fruits.
There were three types of fruits here: black, red, and pink.
The black ones were fear fruits, including the one in his hand, there were 3 and a half in total, with the half being an unripe one.
The red fruit was called [Guyin Duo Fruit - Anger].
After confirming these two types of fruits, Xu Le looked at the most abundant pink fruits, of which there were 16 in total.
When Xu Le eagerly touched a fruit with the branch:
[Guyin Duo Fruit - Lust]
Xu Le: ?
He was silent for a few seconds, then tried another one.
[Guyin Duo Fruit - Lust]
Xu Le: ...
He tried a few more, lust, lust, lust!
Well, all 16 pink fruits were lust.
Xu Le fell silent again, until those floating, distorted words disappeared. He slowly looked up, his eyes slightly strange:
"A man of culture?"
Although he didn't understand why there were so many lust fruits here.
But Xu Le guessed these fruits might be related to this body's experiences.
Though unsure if this could connect to reality, the abundance of Guyin Duo fruits still made the corners of Xu Le's mouth turn up slightly.
But soon, the smile naturally disappeared.
He was slightly surprised, the things before him... were truly treasures, why couldn't he feel happy?
"Is it because I know it's a dream, so I can't be fully happy?"
Xu Le shook his head. He could confirm he was happy, but how to put it...
That feeling of happiness seemed to have been suddenly drained away.
As Xu Le pondered, a thought suddenly burst into his mind.
"Wait, could this be what the Golden Toad wanted?
If these things are real..."
Xu Le looked at the fruit in his hand. By now, he had a good idea of what the Golden Toad wanted.
"Does it want Guyin Duo fruits?
On one hand, it belittles Guyin Duo relics, on the other, it wants Guyin Duo fruits.
Even deities are hypocrites!"
Just as Xu Le finished speaking, a long tongue descended from the sky.
In this world, Xu Le's senses were very clear, without any mosaic or pixelated feeling.
So, he could be certain that the descending tongue was a toad's curled tongue!
It was inlaid with nine golden rings.
The tongue landed and began to grope around as if unable to sense its surroundings.
Xu Le watched this tongue with curiosity.
"Is the Golden Toad coming to find the tribute I promised earlier?"
Seeing it about to touch a fear fruit, Xu Le quickly controlled a branch to offer a lust fruit.
After the tongue curled around the fruit, as if finding something satisfactory, it quickly withdrew.
Xu Le looked at his remaining Guyin Duo fruits and muttered.
"In that case, the tribute thing seems quite simple."
Xu Le looked at the fruits, recalling the parts about Guyin Duo fruits from the original owner's memories.
The information was too scarce, only knowing that these were extremely valuable items for supernaturals.
But there was no information on how to use them.
He only knew that Guyin Duo fruits could be eaten, but each person could only eat one.
Sorcerers had methods to eat multiple Guyin Duo fruits, but as an ordinary person, the original owner currently had no information on this.
Without a method, Xu Le couldn't eat the fruits here, because he had already eaten a Guyin Duo fruit before.
That was the reason for the original owner's deadly conflict with Old Zhou.
That fruit was covered in special patterns, had a colorful appearance, and after eating it, everything around would distort.
Xu Le didn't know if his ability to distort vision and perceive information came from that colorful Guyin Duo fruit.
But he could be sure that fruit was much higher level than these in the dream.
"Forget it!"
Without answers, he decided to give up for now. The items were with him and wouldn't run away.
Putting the black fear fruit back in its place, Xu Le felt waves of strong drowsiness coming over him.
His eyelids felt like heavy gates, about to fall at any moment.
After struggling for a while, Xu Le was defeated by this fatigue.
When he closed his eyes, this world of the tree also faded away.
(End of Chapter)