Chapter 22 The Golden Bodhi TreeAs soon as the conversation ended, Ronghua spied the tree not far away. Xia Pumo"s eyes lit up. It was the bodhi tree and was the golden one, which had a higher grade than the common ones. It"s called the Golden Bodhi Tree and the fruit of it could not only enhance the spiritual power of the warrior and purify the body, but also nourish the soul.
Even if Ronghua didn"t remind him, Xia Pumo knew its importance. He had an eager demand for it to nourish the soul of Murong Zhe.
He raced to the Golden Bodhi Tree before Ronghua reacted. Then she dragged his sleeve to stop him. Xia Pumo looked back at her suspiciously.
Ronghua motioned him to notice the thing beside the tree. He stepped backward after a glance. It was a two-headed golden python, which was difficult to kill.
However, he was determined to get it as his hands curling into fists. If they got this, Murong Zhe would not have to be afraid of his soul dissipating and could spend more time staying outside.
In fact, he didn"t hate Murong Zhe. When he kissed him, he felt at ease and even hoped to be sunk in that feeling. However, he knew that it was not the time to think about this now, at least.
“Do you want the Golden Bodhi Tree?” Ronghua asked. She could feel its importance to him through his desire to rush there. The fruits of the tree were not ripe yet. It seemed that it would take hundreds of years for them to ripen. Hundreds of years! Could he wait for that long?
“The Golden Bodhi Tree is useful to him.”
He had taken out the zither and put it on the ground. He caressed it with love, “I"ll be right back.”
After that, he approached the tree with a sword, and Ronghua didn"t even have time to stop him.
How great his love was! He did this recklessly only for an immature fruit. Was this love too heavy?
Xia Pumo kept silent, hoping that the two-headed python wouldn"t perceive him. His steps were very soft and quiet, and the two-headed python was so asleep that it did not feel him at all. Now he was close to the tree and tried to pick one fruit, making a big noise unintentionally. He squatted at once. Fortunately, the python did not awake, so he continued plucking.
Suddenly, Ronghua showed a feeling of tension on her face and dashed to Xia Pumo with the zither. She took him away from a fatal attack with a huge jump.
As a matter of fact, the two-headed python had woken up at the beginning and waited to see what he wanted to do. When it turned out that the man was here for the fruit, it let him get one with generosity. However, the d.a.m.ned man still wanted more. So its two heads both attempted to attack him, one spraying poisonous fog and one spitting fire, and when these two things mixed, it became more dangerous.
They let out an angry roar, and both of their b.l.o.o.d.y eyes glowered at Ronghua and Xia Pumo. Flames and poisonous mists came out from their mouth simultaneously. This scene brought Ronghua a strong sense of danger. She grabbed Xia Pumo to escape without hesitation and took the whole tree incidentally. Her act drove the python so mad that it wanted to swallow them all, so it crawled straightly towards Ronghua. Its body looked c.u.mbersome but was indeed agile and quick.
The man only took a few fruits, but the woman stole the whole tree in front of it. It had waited for so long before the tree finally fruited, but they stole the tree with roots before it ate any. No one could bear it.
Ronghua dare not stay a second, so she ran all the spiritual power in her body to leave as fast as possible.
Though she was fast, the python was more rapid than her and didn"t slow down because of its bulk. Ronghua could be quicker to get rid of it, but she had to bring Xia Pumo with her as well. If she let him run on his feet, he would be caught within a breath and be eaten or worse.
The two heads cooperated to a.s.sault via poisoning and firing, and Ronghua avoided them with difficulty. Looking at the hole that appeared under the python"s attack, Xia Pumo was frightened. He felt sorry when he saw Ronghua panting heavily. She would not be in such a dilemma if he did not insist on getting the fruit.
But he could not ask her to drop him now, not because of fear, but her safety. It would be harder to deal with the two-headed python if he diverted her attention.
However, thinking in another way, he only took a few fruits, while she took the whole tree. It was hard to say who brought about this situation. But he was the person who started all this, and she did everything for him. The bodhi fruits were so necessary to him, especially the golden ones, which had better effects.
Ronghua"s spiritual power consumed quickly. As nearly being caught up by the double-headed python, she made a bold decision. She stepped on a tree fiercely and turned herself directly towards the python while Xia Pumo was thrown away by her.
After falling on the ground, Xia Pumo just realized what had happened. When he saw Ronghua leaping to the python, he yelled, “Ronghua, watch out!”
Ronghua did not want to listen to him and rushed straight towards the monster.
The two-headed python was stunned for a second as it didn"t expect the thief would dare to turn back.
It was the short stagnation that gave Ronghua a chance to jump onto the top of its heads and stabbed in one eye of each head at the same time.
Nevertheless, the python reacted much faster than Ronghua had expected. Its eyelids closed to protect the eyeb.a.l.l.s before the daggers could reach, so the weapons only poked at the flesh around its eyes and left harmless scars. It was really competent. Otherwise, it could not guard the tree and live so long.
The two-headed python roared in a fury again and shook its head furiously to throw Ronghua away.
These tiny humans, from stealing the fruits to robbing the whole tree, from theft to aggression, were becoming more and more unscrupulous. Did she think she could kill me by a sneak attack? d.a.m.n it!
Ronghua did not expect that the snake"s skin was as thick as she needed.
She landed smoothly by leveraging the force of the shaking head and looked up at the monster with a meaningful smile. At first, it could not comprehend that smile, but then its eyes seemed to be a little painful. No, they were truly spoiled, and the skin of its both heads began to decompose from the places at which Ronghua had poked.
The python kept rolling on the ground because of pain, and an intense spiritual pressure broke out through its body. A strong gale appeared as its tail swinging and dashed to Xia Pumo along with sands. Ronghua rushed to help immediately. Xia Pumo was shocked by the significant change, and it was too late to elude when he tried. However, Ronghua saved him again without gentleness.
Ronghua lit an ice-blue flame in her hand, and Xia Pumo saw her threw it behind. He thought it was so small that it could not be very powerful, but everything was in a sea of fire later. Until then, Ronghua put him on the ground and stood there to restore her spiritual power.
The temperature of that fire seemed to be very high. Xia Pumo looked at there and could feel the wave of heat surging to them.
“Miss Ronghua, I…” He thought he"d better explain the reason for what he had done, for she nearly sacrificed herself to help him.
Ronghua adjusted her breath for a while and ended with an exhalation, “What"s the matter?”
“That…that tree, I just…wanted to get its fruits.”
Ronghua responded with a sneer, “If you were not for the bodhi fruit, why would you provoke that two-headed python? All the people who get close to it must aim at the fruit, and I know you were one of them for certain. I do not care why you need this, and I won"t stop you, but next time, can you tell me your plan in advance and tell me when you are going to take action? I need time for preparation.”
Xia Pumo bowed his head and accepted her criticism with humility.
“I promise I will, but the bodhi fruit…” He looked up at Ronghua with an obvious intention on his face, pleading for some fruits.
Ronghua sighed, “It"s of no use for me. I will give them to you.”
Ronghua stretched out her hand to Xia Pumo, and he looked puzzled.
The next second, smog appeared in one hand of Ronghua. After it dispersed, a bracelet without any decoration lay there, just like a common and low-cost one. But Xia Pumo would not think so. Simple and cheap were not the words used to label the things that belonged to Ronghua.
“This is a defective product but is still a bit useful. The tree is stored in it, and there is abundant spiritual power to support its growth. I think this can meet your needs.” Ronghua said.
Xia Pumo was drowned in mixed feelings now. He knew that even though this was imperfect to Ronghua, it could be a rare thing that might never appear in one"s life, including his.
It could prove her special ident.i.ty as she could forge a s.p.a.ce container easily, which could even hold living creatures.
“Thank you so much, Miss Ronghua!”
“You"re welcome. It will also do good to me if I help you. Remember that you can only take one at a time. Otherwise, you will be stuffed.”
Xia Pumo hadn"t had such warmth for a long time. He knelt, “You have done me so many favors. I swear I will be a follower of you and accomplish all your demands. I just hope I could be allowed to have a peaceful life after all the tasks were done.”
“Fine. I get your words. Please stand up. Let his soul come outside. I need to check how weak he is and whether the bodhi fruit deserves what you have done.”
After hearing that, Xia Pumo took the zither and played. Something flew out from the zither later and was more translucent than last time.
Murong Zhe was staring at Xia Pumo since he had come out and did not give Ronghua even a glance, “Why did you scramble for bodhi fruits?”
He started with a query as soon as he could, and held Xia Pumo"s face in his hands, face to face within an inch.
He said in a melancholy tone, “I won"t allow you to do such things for me anymore. I was so weak, and it"s meaningless to me. I just want you to be safe, rather than putting yourself in danger. It"s useless if I got back alive but lost you.”
Ronghua shivered for their honeyed words, “That"s enough. Before you resurrect, he would definitely be fine.”
Though her words were quite unpleasant at present, she still had to tell them, “As for your condition, the bodhi fruits might have a little bit positive effect on you.”
Xia Pumo could not understand her words, “A little bit? What do you mean? Can"t the fruits refresh his soul?
Ronghua retorted strangely, “Why do you think so? Who told you they had the function of soul healing?”
Xia Pumo was so disappointed by hearing this. Murong Zhe hugged him in arms to comfort him.
Ronghua continued, “Bodhi fruits can refresh a human soul. That"s correct. However, the precondition is that it is the soul of a living person. Is he alive? I think you were sort of sharing your life to keep his soul.”
Xia Pumo found there were tears in Murong Zhe"s eyes, “You will become weaker and weaker if you keep sharing your life with me. Others will feel your power is much worse than that before you were driven away. They will only think you are decadent, not knowing you are consuming your life to save me.”
Xia Pumo clenched the bracelet hopelessly, where the bodhi tree lay, “Then what"s the significance to me of owning these fruits?”
He was sore at the result, “What"s the significance of risking my life to attain them?”
“Uhm, I thought I was the one who got them at risk.” Ronghua thought awkwardly, but she did not say that.
“In fact, it could be useful if you made it to medicine.”
Xia Pumo, “How can he take medicine as a soul?”
Ronghua took a bodhi fruit, “Of course he can"t, but you can!”
Murong Zhe frowned, “What do you mean?” He did not think Ronghua was willing to give a good suggestion.
“You can take it and transform its potency into your spiritual power, and then use the power to nourish his soul, which can make him absorb the pure power of bodhi fruits indirectly. This should be a possible way.” She told Xia Pumo.