Chapter 147: Golden Thorn Fruit

The body of the iron-backed black bear was like a small mountain as it slumbered deeply dozens of miles away. Behind it, the cliff face stood steep as a sword, cleaving the sky open.

A spirit root several dozen zhang tall was rooted between the cliff walls, thousands of feet above the ground. Pale yellow fruits hung among its branching leaves, and a few had even turned golden, exuding a wisp of intoxicating fragrance that stirred the fierce beasts in the surrounding mountains into restlessness.

Yet, the aura of the iron-backed black bear deterred those fierce beasts completely.

Seeing the spirit root from afar, Yi Tian could not help but feel his heart stir.

He had not expected that after venturing only two or three hundred thousand miles deep into the Crouching Dragon Mountain Range, he would discover a spirit root.

Such spirit roots could be said to be extremely rare. Only after growing and breaking through the threshold of ten thousand years, surviving the life-and-death tribulations of metamorphosis, would they transform into spirit roots.

At regular intervals, spirit roots would bear various wondrous fruits imbued with powerful energy, known as spirit fruits. These possessed diverse functions: some could temper the physical body, some could strengthen the soul, and some could awaken specific innate abilities of the human body, unlocking the mysteries within.

In short, a single spirit root could continuously nurture spirit fruits comparable to treasured medicine.

For major sects and various organizations, spirit roots were never in short supply.

Some spirit roots could even sustain a faction's prosperity over the ages, endlessly forging supreme giants and even overlords.

Though the spirit root occupied by the iron-backed black bear before him was only of the lower grade, it could bear fruits comparable to lower-grade treasured medicines at regular intervals—the Golden Thorn Fruits!

This was a type of spirit fruit that possessed a formidable capacity for tempering the physical bodies of living beings.

It was said that once a Golden Thorn Fruit was consumed, the sensation was akin to countless thorns piercing the body. It was excruciatingly painful, forcibly reshaping and tempering the flesh while serving as a profound trial of one's willpower.

Compared to supreme body-refining medicines like the Blood Bodhi, the Golden Thorn Fruit was still vastly inferior in several aspects.

First, the Golden Thorn Fruit possessed drug resistance; its effects would progressively diminish with each consumption, eventually reaching a point where it provided no further enhancement, much like the Golden Armor Fruit, which had its limits.

The Blood Bodhi, on the other hand, had virtually no limits or restrictions for practitioners, and it lacked drug resistance. It could be said that the Blood Bodhi was born from absorbing the blood of legendary beings akin to gods and demons, possessing boundless potential.

As long as one had a countless number of Blood Bodhi fruits, an ordinary practitioner's physical body could undergo continuous transformation and breakthroughs, ultimately achieving a physique comparable to that of gods and demons.

Even so, the Golden Thorn Fruit remained a precious body-refining treasure, a hundred times more valuable than the Golden Armor Fruit, and ranked among the top tier of lower-grade body-refining medicines.

The Golden Thorn Fruit merely stimulated and tempered the physical body through formidable force, without the drawback of the Golden Armor Fruit, which left behind residual power embedded within the flesh and bones that was difficult to purge.

Therefore, the effect of a single Golden Thorn Fruit surpassed that of hundreds or even thousands of Golden Armor Fruits.

On that spirit root, four or five Golden Thorn Fruits had unmistakably ripened—a prospect that definitely made Yi Tian's heart race.

This was a fortune worth thousands of elemental crystals. For Yi Tian, who possessed very few dragon crystals or elemental crystals, it was undeniably alluring, even though the Golden Thorn tree was occupied by the iron-backed black bear.

Just as Yi Tian was preparing to make his move, that iron-backed black bear was finally awakened by the scent of the ripened Golden Thorn Fruits on the cliff above its head.

It opened its eyes and then hoisted its bulk up from the ground.

Its body, over six hundred zhang long, made it resemble a small mountain, invisibly exuding a boundless and mighty aura.

Seeing that several more of the fruits on the tree had ripened, it could not help but feel overjoyed.

Ever since it returned from its last hunting expedition and consumed a few Golden Thorn Fruits, it had slept for months. The ripening of another batch of Golden Thorn Fruits was undoubtedly good news for it.

The iron-backed black bear immediately extended its massive paw, looking as though it was about to pluck a Golden Thorn Fruit.

At that very moment, Yi Tian rushed in from dozens of miles away, his powerful aura immediately alerting the iron-backed black bear.

"Roar..."

The iron-backed black bear was somewhat displeased.

It turned its head and saw a tiny speck of a human trespassing into its territory and charging toward it.

This thoroughly infuriated the iron-backed black bear. Mere brat though he was, he dared to ignore its deterrence, trespass into its territory, and charge straight at it, clearly not taking it seriously at all.

The iron-backed black bear's paw immediately lashed out toward Yi Tian.

Rumble...

Under this single palm strike, the void trembled, unleashing a terrifying gale of fierce wind.

Swish!

With a thought of his divine sense, Yi Tian shifted and teleported dozens of zhang away.

Boom!

That terrifying gale instantly swept past Yi Tian's original location and slammed into the ground, gouging out a giant crater a hundred zhang wide and hundreds of zhang deep.

"Hiss!"

Seeing this, Yi Tian could not help but shudder inwardly.

The strength of this iron-backed black bear was simply too terrifying. Had he been struck by it, he surely would not have survived.

Such was the might and terror of a high-grade fierce beast.

Seeing that its attack had actually missed Yi Tian, the iron-backed black bear flew into a rage.

It launched successive attacks. Its paws, resembling towering black mountains, instantly blanketed Yi Tian's location. Rumble after rumble, the violent tremors could be sensed across a thousand miles of land.

The iron-backed black bear's attacks were as smooth as nature itself, resembling an immensely powerful palm technique with a terrifying, endless succession of blows.

Time and again, Yi Tian narrowly dodged the iron-backed black bear's assaults.

Its attacks were ceaseless and covered a vast area. Fortunately, Yi Tian had cultivated his Divine Shift Secret Technique to the realm of perfection. With a mere thought of his divine sense, he could instantly teleport, dancing on the edge of a blade with extreme peril.

Although the iron-backed black bear's attacks were extremely fast, Yi Tian's consciousness was still able to capture them.

Consequently, the iron-backed black bear was entirely unable to land a hit on him.

Thus, Yi Tian continuously closed the distance toward the Golden Thorn tree. To the iron-backed black bear, Yi Tian was like a cunning mosquito that it failed to swat to death no matter how many times it tried.

"Roar! Roar!"

The iron-backed black bear roared repeatedly.

Finally, Yi Tian closed in right before the iron-backed black bear, and a surge of sword qi erupted from his hand—the Firmament Sword Qi.

Clang...

This stream of sword qi cleaved across a distance of several hundred zhang and slashed directly into the iron-backed black bear, sending sparks flying in all directions.

What?

Although Yi Tian had some premonition, actually witnessing this scene still left him greatly startled.

One had to know that condensing the Firmament Sword Qi with the true essence cultivated from his sixth-grade heavenly art was extremely effortless, and its power had increased manifold. Given the sharpness of the Firmament Sword Qi, even a lower-grade transcendent magical treasure would likely be left with a deep sword scar.

Yet, Yi Tian's strike had only left a white mark on the iron-backed black bear.

To the iron-backed black bear, Yi Tian's attack was no more than an itch, but it served to infuriate the beast even further.

A mere tiny creature dared to attack it; this was undoubtedly a provocation against its majesty.

Roar!

Suddenly, every single hair on the iron-backed black bear's body stood on end like a hedgehog's spines.

The next moment, those hairs, each resembling a long sword, were instantly discharged, transforming into a torrential rain of swords that came screaming toward Yi Tian, covering the entire space and leaving nowhere to hide.

Yi Tian repeatedly executed the Divine Shift Secret Technique.

At the same time, he unleashed the Great Sun Divine Fist to its absolute limit, punching out torrents of scorching, boundless fiery divine fists that collided with those sword-like hairs. A continuous series of explosions shook the heavens and earth.

Boom!

Yi Tian blasted apart yet another hair that was charging straight toward him with nowhere to dodge.

However, this particular hair was nine feet long and hard as steel, resembling a long sword of a standard lower-grade magical treasure with astonishing destructive power. Only by exerting his full strength could Yi Tian blast apart and incinerate these hairs capable of cleaving mountains.

He also repeatedly employed the Divine Shift Secret Technique, allowing him to evade the vast majority of the attacks.

Amidst the boundless rain of swords, Yi Tian forcefully carved a path out.

However, Yi Tian realized that he simply had no way of subduing this iron-backed black bear.

Although his Great Sun Flame was powerful and tyrannical, he estimated that it posed no major threat to the iron-backed black bear. After all, the creature's greatest asset was its supreme physical body and impenetrable defense.

How could he possibly seize those Golden Thorn Fruits?

Yi Tian understood that engaging the iron-backed black bear head-on was a dead end. He had to devise another plan to bypass direct confrontation with the beast and pluck the Golden Thorn Fruits.