Chapter 70: Flame Fruit!

“Pull!”

Rustle! Rustle!

At the command, ten ropes and chains snapped taut, instantly binding the fifteen-meter-long Flame-Swallowing Serpent.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Sensing the anomaly, the Flame-Swallowing Serpent thrashed violently, yanking the fifty-plus soldiers in all directions; several ropes slipped from their grips.

Fortunately, several squads reacted swiftly, wrapping their ropes twice around nearby tree stumps, preventing total loss of control.

Of course, the original ten ropes now held only five, doubling the pressure on the soldiers.

“Lei Meng, act now!”

Gervas and Lei Meng knew there was no time to waste; they drew their longswords and leapt into the fray.

Seeing the two-legged creatures who had ambushed him emerge, the Flame-Swallowing Serpent finally found its target for rage, hissing as it lunged toward them.

The ropes fixed to the tree stumps on either side immediately began to slide with a hissing sound.

This burst of force was too immense for ordinary soldiers to resist.

Yet even if they couldn’t fully immobilize the serpent, they could slow its speed.

“Beast, still daring to be bold?”

Gervas and Lei Meng dodged the serpent’s bite from left and right, then swiftly moved beneath its body.

Puff! Puff!

Two swords pierced its belly, one on each side, and blood gushed forth.

Aaaagh!

The serpent’s thrashing intensified.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

In an instant, three of the remaining five ropes snapped outright, leaving only two iron chains.

Freed from further restraint, the Flame-Swallowing Serpent launched a frenzied assault on Gervas and Lei Meng again.

The two had no choice but to retreat.

“Quick, everyone, come help!” Mi Gen rushed to the two remaining chains and joined the pull.

With more hands pulling, the serpent’s movements were once again restricted.

“Lei Meng, now!”

Gervas seized the moment, leaping upward with Lei Meng, slashing at the serpent’s vital seventh inch, momentarily halted midair.

Puff! Puff!

Cold blades flashed through the air two meters high; blood sprayed as their swords, enhanced by aura, carved deep gashes on either side of the serpent’s seventh inch.

The Flame-Swallowing Serpent let out a final, mournful roar, thrashed violently for an instant, then slumped, its head drooping lifelessly.

Yet for safety, Gervas and Lei Meng continued striking.

After four more cuts, they confirmed the serpent was dead beyond doubt, and finally exhaled in relief.

“The Flame-Swallowing Serpent is dead! Mighty! My Lord is mighty!”

“Mighty! My Lord is mighty! Knight-Marshal Lei Meng is mighty!”

The soldiers on both sides surged from the nearby groves into the clearing, cheering wildly.

Lei Meng exchanged a glance with his lord, then hurried to the serpent’s corpse.

He used his dagger to cut open the serpent’s belly, then pulled out a green serpent gallbladder.

“My Lord, this serpent’s gallbladder enhances eyesight!”

Gervas nodded and swallowed it whole.

Soon, a warm stream flowed steadily toward his eyes.

The warmth lasted over a minute; when Gervas looked around again, he truly felt his vision had improved—clearly, unmistakably.

“If this were in my past life, selling this gallbladder to a bunch of nearsighted capitalist tycoons would fetch over a hundred million, wouldn’t it?”

After a brief fantasy, he ordered his men to handle the serpent’s corpse, then walked alone with Lei Meng toward the mountain hollow.

Soon, the two spotted a one-meter-tall Flame Fruit tree deep in the hollow ahead.

The tree grew from the base of a massive rock five or six meters tall; hidden by the rock, it was nearly impossible to spot under normal circumstances.

On the tree now hung a single, brilliant red fruit.

Its surface pulsed with flame-like magical and elemental ripples, emitting a faint glow.

“My Lord, this is the Flame Fruit! And it’s precisely ripe—no wonder the second-rank Flame-Swallowing Serpent guarded this rocky hill with so few trees. It was waiting for this!”

Lei Meng stared wide-eyed; the Flame Fruit was a rare treasure.

It greatly nourished fire-attribute aura cultivators and could serve as an auxiliary medicinal fruit for breaking through realms.

On the market, it cost roughly fifty gold coins.

Even as a knight-marshal, he’d need ten years’ salary to afford it.

“Good fortune. Yue Yue actually warned me earlier, but I wasn’t sure what fruit it was then!”

Gervas plucked it directly, examined it in his palm for a moment, then handed it to Lei Meng.

Lei Meng froze.

“What are you standing there for? Take it! This Flame Fruit is yours as a reward!”

“My Lord, the Flame Fruit is too valuable! I dare not accept it!” Lei Meng bowed deeply, refusing.

This was a fruit worth fifty gold coins—how could he dare take it?

“Dare or not? It’s just a few dozen gold coins. Compared to your value in my eyes, it’s well worth it!”

“Besides, aren’t you about to break through? Eat it—you might become a Silver Knight by tomorrow morning!”

“Otherwise, why risk so much to kill the Flame-Swallowing Serpent? All this would’ve been for nothing!”

Lei Meng’s eyes shimmered with emotion.

He recalled his lord asking him that morning about his impending breakthrough—this entire expedition had been for him.

“My Lord!” Lei Meng’s eyes grew slightly red.

“Lei Meng, you’re a knight-marshal—don’t be so timid. And don’t let anyone else know.”

“Though this is my gift, no one dares oppose or speak ill—but hearts are unpredictable. Someone might harbor envy or resentment. That’s trouble.” Gervas frowned, as if annoyed by Lei Meng’s hesitation.

“Thank you, Lord Gervas! I will be grateful to you for life!”

Other nobles flaunted their favors, eager for everyone to know.

But my lord gives favors—and tells me to hide them.

Lei Meng suspected it wasn’t just to avoid jealousy—it was to spare his dignity.

After all, this gift was too hot to hold.

Knight-Marshal Lei Meng knew: he could never repay his lord’s kindness in this lifetime.

…

“Come, let’s keep moving!”

With the serpent’s corpse aboard, Gervas’s caravan headed west toward the rocky hill.

After about half an hour, they reached a narrow gorge.

The gorge had little elevation change, with steep cliffs only twenty meters high on either side.

The gorge stretched over two hundred meters wide and more than a kilometer long, with no large plants—only lush, knee-high grass and wildflowers.

Gervas knew this was almost certainly the gorge the system had indicated as holding Dragon’s Blood Grass.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

No sooner had Gervas thought this than several Fire Horses nearby, as if catching a scent of delicacy, grew wildly agitated.

“Quiet! Zhui Lang!”

“Quiet! Zhui Tu!”

Lei Meng, Mi Gen, and the other knights, unsure of the cause, hurried to calm their suddenly restless mounts.