With a foreseeable goal and outcome, Yang Hong recited the Heart Sutra with greater motivation.
He also did so with more focus.
If not for the extremely slow recovery of true qi by the Great Bright Scripture, Yang Hong would have wanted to continuously circulate the Great Bright Scripture to hasten the maturation of the mutated spirit awakening fruit tree.
He attributed the rapid growth of the mutated spirit awakening fruit tree to the "Pudu Demonic Sound."
After all, his previous and current blessings could not make the mutated spirit awakening fruit tree grow quickly.
That mysterious will seemed to see an opportunity, constantly sending in ferocious demonic beasts with red eyes for Yang Hong to convert.
Then, he would kill and absorb the blood and corpses of the demonic beasts whose spirits had been restored.
This was used for the nurturing of the spirit awakening fruit.
On the second day after the spirit awakening tree advanced to seventh grade, the bud quickly bloomed, and on the third day, it withered, giving birth to a thumb-sized green spirit awakening fruit.
Over the next few days, the spirit awakening fruit grew at an astonishing rate, like a balloon inflating.
The next day, it was the size of a billiard ball; the day after, it was directly the size of a fist; and on the fourth day, it grew to the size of an adult's head.
At this point, Yang Hong could no longer remain calm.
"Are there spirit awakening fruits that grow this fast?"
He temporarily stopped reciting the Heart Sutra and took out the "Spirit Medicine Compendium" to study it again.
"A first-grade spirit awakening tree takes a hundred years to mature, ten years to flower, ten years to bear fruit, ten years to ripen, and ten years to hang after ripening.
For every grade it ascends, the growth time is multiplied."
Confirming again that his memory was not mistaken, Yang Hong became vigilant.
The spirit awakening tree before him was clearly abnormal.
Let alone the effect of the Great Bright Scripture combined with the Pudu Demonic Sound, a Xuan-grade cultivation method plus a third-tier secret art could not be so heaven-defying.
However, Yang Hong searched the "Spirit Medicine Compendium" thoroughly but found no explanation for the phenomenon before him.
He also found a note.
"A first-grade spirit awakening fruit is slightly larger than a thumb; a second-grade spirit awakening fruit is slightly smaller than a chicken egg; a third-grade spirit awakening fruit is comparable to a chicken egg...
A ninth-grade spirit awakening fruit is slightly smaller than a fist."
In other words, spirit awakening fruits were never large; the largest ninth-grade spirit awakening fruit was not even as big as a fist.
The spirit awakening fruit before him was clearly problematic.
Even if it was mutated, it had become excessively so.
Yang Hong was merely a novice in cultivation, not an idiot.
"For a tree to grow rapidly, it must have nutrients. Even if I imbued ordinary plants, they wouldn't grow at such an absurd rate."
"So, what nutrients is this mutated spirit awakening tree absorbing?"
Muttering to himself, Yang Hong stood up. The demonic beasts around him, who had not yet fully recovered, looked at him with confusion.
Although they had not fully regained their intelligence, these demonic beasts had some consciousness.
In their subconscious, they all instinctively respected Yang Hong.
Thus, upon seeing Yang Hong approach, the demonic beasts would spontaneously huddle together, clearing a path for him.
He walked forward for over a mile, reaching the center of the Spirit Monkey Mountain basin, by the spiritual wine lake.
"Huh? The spiritual wine hasn't decreased, and it's even increasing. The lake surface has also risen slightly."
Yang Hong first thought of the spiritual wine lake as a source of nutrition for the spirit awakening tree, so he immediately came to check.
"Spirit Appraisal Technique."
Still uneasy, Yang Hong cast the Spirit Appraisal Technique on the spiritual wine in the lake.
"Fourth grade. The quality of the spiritual wine has not diminished. It can be confirmed that the inflowing spiritual wine has not changed."
"Then, what is the nutrient for the spirit awakening fruit tree?"
With lingering doubts, Yang Hong continued forward along the spiritual wine lake, wanting to see if there were any treasures like spirit stone veins in this area.
"Wait... sniff sniff..."
Just as Yang Hong was about to leave the lake, he suddenly smelled a scent that shouldn't have been there.
"The smell of blood! There's a smell of blood here!"
Yang Hong's expression changed, and he erected a true qi shield, pushing his way towards another area.
There were too many demonic beasts crowded here. Even with the beasts voluntarily clearing a path, it took him a quarter of an hour to reach the other side of the fruit grove.
"Hiss... those corpses are indeed gone."
From the initial battle with thirty-four Golden Core demonic beasts to the subsequent extermination of tens of thousands of spirit monkeys, Yang Hong had deliberately avoided the spiritual wine lake and the streams that fed into it with spiritual wine.
Logically, there shouldn't have been any demonic beast blood flowing into the spiritual wine lake.
However, there was a scent of blood emanating from the spiritual wine lake.
Upon looking at the place where the demonic beast corpses were piled up, Yang Hong's expression changed.
Then, he looked enlightened.
"Heh heh... I knew it. No matter how powerful my secret art is, it shouldn't have been able to ripen a seventh-grade spirit awakening tree so quickly.
There's something wrong with the mutation direction of this spirit awakening tree."
"A big problem."
Pushing through the crowd of demonic beasts, Yang Hong returned to the spirit awakening tree.
Looking at the seventh-grade mutated spirit awakening tree, Yang Hong felt a touch of dread in his eyes.
"This kind of thing that grows by absorbing blood cannot be left here."
Yang Hong approached the spirit awakening fruit and reached out to pluck it.
But...
"Huh! This spirit awakening fruit isn't ripe yet? I can't pull it off."
"I don't believe it. I can't even pick a piece of fruit?"
The spirit awakening fruit was firmly attached to the main trunk of the spirit awakening tree, and Yang Hong couldn't detach it.
He continued to increase his strength.
However, even with his full strength, Yang Hong, whose power was as high as 450,000 catties, could not pluck the spirit awakening fruit.
"Hmph! I refuse to believe it!"
Angered, Yang Hong took out a third-tier magical artifact saber, intending to cut the connection between the spirit awakening fruit and the tree trunk.
"Yaaaaaah!"
Just then, a ghostly wail echoed through the demonic beast crowd.
"What's going on? Did this demonic tree develop intelligence?
Then it's even more imperative that it be destroyed."
Without hesitation, Yang Hong immediately slashed down with his saber.
"Clang!"
Another clang of metal against metal. The seemingly fragile fruit tree was harder than steel.
However, Yang Hong was prepared. He gripped the saber with both hands, activated his indomitable spirit, and continued to hack.
"Bang bang... bang bang..."
In the distance, the sound of firecrackers exploding reverberated, becoming louder and louder.
If someone were in the sky looking down, they would surely be stunned.
Within a radius of over 600 li of Spirit Monkey Mountain, all the demonic beasts, without any warning, began to self-destruct simultaneously.
In less than thirty breaths, within a radius of 600 li, over a hundred million demonic beasts...
All dead!
A river of blood formed almost instantly!
Except for the less than 50,000 demonic beasts within a two-li radius of Yang Hong,
The entire 600-li area was devoid of any living demonic beasts.
As the demonic beasts died, countless roots emerged from Spirit Monkey Mountain.
The river of demonic beast blood visibly receded.
The spirit awakening tree in the basin's fruit grove also underwent a terrifying transformation.
The once emerald green leaves began to turn red, then blood-red.
Even the mutated spirit awakening fruit rapidly turned red.
"If I can't chop it off, I'll twist it off."
Seeing that the spirit awakening tree was unyielding to his saber, Yang Hong shifted his attention to the spirit awakening fruit. However, the spirit awakening fruit directly chipped his third-tier magical saber.
Yang Hong threw away the saber, took a step forward, and hugged the mutated spirit awakening fruit with both hands.
"Gale Force, Whirlwind!"
He was also ruthless, casting two spells on himself. Under the effect of the spells, his body began to spin.
As Yang Hong spun, the mutated spirit awakening fruit actually moved.
"Hahaha... it works!
Whirlwind."
Although he was getting dizzy from spinning, Yang Hong burst into laughter.
In his hands, the stem connecting the mutated spirit awakening fruit to the tree began to twist.
"Crack!"
With a crisp sound, the mutated spirit awakening fruit was plucked.
"Plop!"
Yang Hong was also flung far away, landing directly in the spiritual wine lake.
"Hahaha... I didn't expect picking fruit to involve taking a bath."
Looking at the mutated spirit awakening fruit before him, Yang Hong smiled happily.
But in an instant, he looked at the fruit in his hand with terror.