As soon as this thought emerged, Lu Li hurriedly directed his Divine Sense into the Spirit Object Hall.
Upon looking inside, Lu Li's heart immediately started pounding wildly.
He saw that the three-foot-tall stem and branches were flowing with red light. The originally emerald green leaves had now turned bright red, and the ten unripe fruits had also become crimson red. Each one was the size of a baby's fist, and their shape closely resembled a tightly clenched infant fist.
"What kind of fruit is this? Can it really be eaten?"
"It shouldn't be poisonous, right? It looks so beautiful."
"......"
Lu Li hesitated back and forth, then suddenly his expression became determined. "I'll go for it! If I win this bet, I'll achieve enlightenment and become immortal. If I lose, I'll just pretend I never came to this world!"
With this thought, one fruit instantly appeared in his hand.
In an instant, a refreshing fragrance wafted to his nose.
Lu Li's spirit shook, immediately feeling his entire body become much clearer and more refreshed. He couldn't help but exclaim with delight, "It really is an immortal fruit!"
Thinking this, he eagerly took a bite.
There was no seed inside; it practically melted in his mouth.
As the spirit fruit entered his stomach, suddenly, an extremely violent force spread through his body like a tidal wave. The scorching heat made him feel as if he had fallen into raging flames.
Ah--!
Lu Li screamed in agony, turned around, and plunged into the pool of water beside him with a splash.
Gurgle gurgle......
Immediately, the pool water began to bubble, but Lu Li still couldn't feel even the slightest bit of coolness. The burning sensation was like countless small knives constantly cutting through his flesh, blood, and bones.
Ugh!
Lu Li's eyes turned bloodshot as he thrashed about in the water. He clenched his fists tightly, his fingernails deeply embedding into his palms. With his face contorted, he appeared extremely tormented.
After a short while, Lu Li directly fainted, floating on the water surface like a corpse.
Around his body, strands of dark gray sticky substance were frantically oozing out. Waves of foul, fishy stench rapidly spread toward the surroundings of the pool.
No one knew how much time had passed.
Lu Li was suddenly awakened by the sunlight from the sky. The moment he opened his eyes, a foul stench assaulted his nostrils. He instinctively wanted to cover his nose and mouth but nearly sank down instead, only then realizing he was in the center of the pool.
And on the water surface within a nine-foot radius around him was now covered by thick filth.
Lu Li hurriedly swam to the pool's edge, rolled himself onto the bank, and lay on his back on the ground, panting heavily. "What kind of fruit is this? It nearly killed me with pain."
A long while later, Lu Li finally climbed up from the ground. Looking at the blazing sun in the sky, he thought to himself, "This is troublesome. I actually slept until noon." He immediately prepared to shoulder the water buckets and head down the mountain to continue fetching water.
But after taking just a few steps, Lu Li stopped again.
He felt something was off. He seemed to have become much sturdier?
Lu Li raised his hand to look and couldn't help but have his pupils constrict. He discovered that his arm, which had been as thin as a twig, had actually become much fuller. His skin had become very taut and firm. Looking at his other body parts, it was the same.
Moreover, he felt that his strength seemed to have increased considerably.
Overjoyed, Lu Li shouldered the water buckets and charged down the mountain.
This pair of water buckets weighed at least twenty to thirty catties, but now Lu Li couldn't feel their weight at all. Running all the way to Boshui River, he directly filled both large buckets to the brim.
Slightly testing his strength, he never expected that the two buckets of water, weighing approximately four to five hundred catties, could be easily lifted by him. "Holy shit, this really is an immortal fruit!"
Lu Li was so excited he could barely contain himself. Carrying the two buckets of water, he dashed all the way back to the peak of Cuiyun Peak.
After searching for a while, he finally found the half-eaten immortal fruit in the grass beside the pool. With a fierce expression, he directly swallowed the remaining portion.
Sure enough, the feeling of falling into a volcano struck him once again.
Without hesitation, Lu Li directly jumped into the pool. This time, having learned from his previous experience, the moment he entered the water, he placed a piece of withered tree branch between his teeth. He could clearly feel his flesh, blood, and bones continuously growing and condensing.
During the condensation process, countless impurities drifted out. Gradually, he became numb; this level of pain was no longer enough to make him faint.
After roughly half an hour, Lu Li could no longer feel any changes in his body. Only then did he reluctantly climb out of the pool. He felt his strength had increased by another fraction.
Moreover, his body seemed to have grown taller, and his physique had become much more normal.
He checked the first floor space; there were still nine spirit fruits inside. After thinking for a moment, he took out another one and ate it all.
This time, the pain was more than halved compared to before. He could endure it even without jumping into the water or holding a branch in his mouth. The expelled impurities were no longer so sticky, and the stench had almost completely disappeared.
He had a feeling that his current self could completely lift five to six hundred catties with one hand. If using his shoulder to carry, a thousand catties would also be effortless.
However, he wasn't satisfied with this. He ate another immortal fruit. To his disappointment, after eating it, he could only feel his flesh, blood, and bones slightly writhing at the beginning, but later on, this sensation completely disappeared.
Moreover, no more impurities were expelled. With inner vision, he was astonished to discover that his bones had become as clean and smooth as jade, and his flesh and blood cells were tightly bonded together, completely airtight.
"The feeling of strength is truly wonderful!"
Lu Li stood tall and straight on the pool's edge, gazing into the distance. A faint glow shimmered in his eyes, and his aura directly elevated by one degree, as if he had completely transcended mortal flesh.
"Let's do the work first!"
He shouldered the water buckets once more and rushed down the mountain.
After one round trip, he felt this method was still too slow. He found another set of water buckets, now carrying four buckets at once, roughly a thousand catties in weight. He was still at ease, but he couldn't control his body's balance well; walking too fast would cause quite a bit of spillage.
At night.
Chen Zhong was still chopping wood, and Qin Shouren hadn't returned yet.
Lu Li didn't stop either. He had already progressed from four buckets to eight buckets, and each bucket was filled to the brim, equivalent to the power of two thousand catties. Only at this point did he start feeling somewhat strained going uphill.
Moreover, maintaining balance was extremely difficult; the slightest carelessness would cause him to sway left and right.
Lu Li didn't dare to increase further and continuously practiced his water-carrying technique, keeping all the water buckets balanced. It was extremely difficult at first, but the more he practiced, the more proficient he became. By midnight, Lu Li could already manage without using his hands to steady the buckets; they wouldn't slip off.
He had developed his own water-carrying method-using his Divine Sense to detect which bucket was tilting, then controlling his muscles to adjust the balance.
By the end, he could even control the muscular strength in most parts of his body.
What Lu Li didn't know was that with his current level of muscular control, if he were to learn fist techniques, it would absolutely achieve twice the result with half the effort.
Early morning the next day.
Lu Li finally stopped. Looking at the six completely filled pools of water before him, he revealed a satisfied expression. Then, with immense joy, he headed down the mountain. Under normal circumstances, this extra pool of water could last about five days.
In other words, he didn't need to fetch water for five days.
He arrived at the mountainside and noticed the tapping sound of wood chopping still coming from the dense forest nearby. After pausing briefly, he walked in. With a light sigh, he said to Chen Zhong's back, "Fatty, take a break. I have something good for you."