Invitations from the Star Domain Powers — Terrifying

"Oh, right — I've got a few Blood Spirit Fruits on me. Would you like some, Mentor?"

Lu Yuan had been thinking about the Blood Spirit Fruits he'd set aside. He'd used one himself, leaving four. Since Li Qinghe had no need for them and they were of limited use to him, he figured he'd ask whether his mentor and the others could put them to good use.

Si Tingyu raised an eyebrow and smiled. "These are from your Rankings climb?"

"Yep. They're pretty good."

After using one himself, Lu Yuan had found that a Blood Spirit Fruit delivered a comprehensive attribute boost roughly equivalent to what a Lord Grade Transcendent Gene provided — an extra enhancement that required no Gene inscription whatsoever. By any measure, that made it a remarkable treasure.

Si Tingyu smiled. "Truly excellent. Blood Spirit Fruits rank among the most precious spirit fruits. Even when climbing the Rankings, not everyone manages to obtain one — you've been lucky."

Lu Yuan smiled back. The rewards from each challenge were randomized; the overall value stayed roughly consistent, but the specific items varied.

"I received one myself back when I was climbing the Rankings," Si Tingyu continued, "so I won't need another. Tingxue and Rebecca should be able to use them, though — if you have any to spare."

"I have four," Lu Yuan said.

Si Tingyu's expression shifted to mild surprise. "Five altogether? Hmm... now I remember — someone issued a reverse challenge against you recently, which jumped your rank by over thirty positions at once. That must be why. A reward that rare clearly came from a climb that significant."

She glanced over at Si Tingxue and Rebecca, who both looked a little puzzled, and explained what Blood Spirit Fruits could do. Both women stared wide-eyed, a spark of excitement rising in their faces.

Rebecca still seemed slightly disbelieving, then raised her chin with sudden conviction. "So the Prodigy Rankings actually hand out treasures like this? Right, then. I'm going to work harder — I *have* to make it onto the Rankings!"

Si Tingxue gave a quiet nod. She was already working as hard as she could.

Lu Yuan smiled and produced two Blood Spirit Fruits. "Here — take them."

Rebecca accepted hers with a grin. She reached out and hooked her fingers around his hand.

"A-Yuan~, these are pretty valuable, right? If you want too many Spirit Crystals for them, I definitely can't pay. How about... I sell Little Xue to you as collateral instead?"

Si Tingxue stiffened. She turned a cold glare on Rebecca. "Rebecca! What are you saying?!"

Rebecca was long accustomed to Si Tingxue's fury. She stuck her tongue out unrepentantly.

Si Tingyu watched from the side with an amused smile and spoke up.

"Spirit fruits like Blood Spirit Fruits aren't usually sold for Spirit Crystals — but if you were to put a price on them, the value would be comparable to a standard King Grade Transcendent Gene. And since they're rarer and more precious than most King Grade genes, you could put them on par with the finest ones. Around two million Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals, I'd estimate."

"That much?!"

Rebecca's eyes went wide. She was the daughter of a Battle Emperor bloodline and never lacked for cultivation resources, but two million Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals was still an enormous sum. Her entire family wasn't there to fund her alone — she was just a member of the younger generation, hardly in control of the family's main wealth.

Everything she owned, adding it all up, probably fell short of two million Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals. In pure liquid Spirit Crystals, she had barely over nine hundred thousand Fifth-tier.

Even so, for someone at the peak of Battle General rank, owning nine hundred thousand Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals was the kind of figure that would make most people flush with envy.

Si Tingxue's personal wealth exceeded Rebecca's by some margin — but not a large one. She too was visibly surprised.

Lu Yuan shook his head with a smile. "Think of them as a loan. Once you make it onto the Rankings and earn Blood Spirit Fruits of your own, just pay me back then."

Two million Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals meant nothing to Lu Yuan — he'd accumulated more than most Battle Emperors. But he understood all too well what that sum would mean to Rebecca and Si Tingxue. If they actually bought the fruits outright, they'd be left without enough resources to cultivate properly.

The two women paused.

Rebecca, who had just been joking about selling Si Tingxue as payment, felt a flush of embarrassment spread across her face. "Wait — A-A-Yuan, that doesn't feel right either, does it...?"

Lu Yuan went quiet for a moment, then said with complete composure:

"Hmm, you're right — a loan does seem a little awkward. In that case... maybe you could just pay me back with your body?"

Rebecca froze. Then her cheeks went scarlet. She instantly released his hand and scrambled behind Si Tingxue for cover, wrinkling her nose at him from there.

"Go bother Little Xue, then."

Si Tingxue shot Rebecca a withering look, then pressed her lips together. Her face faintly flushed, she accepted the Blood Spirit Fruit and said with a stubborn tilt of her chin:

"I'll make it onto the Prodigy Rankings. When I do and earn a Blood Spirit Fruit of my own, I'll repay you."

Lu Yuan thought for a moment, then smiled again. "Oh, and one more thing — I also have some cultivation resources. Purple Heart Fruits, specifically..."

He produced the Purple Heart Fruits and gave a brief explanation. Both Rebecca's and Si Tingxue's breathing grew a touch heavier.

Resources of this quality were exactly what they craved. These could multiply their tempering speed several times over.

Seeing their reactions, Lu Yuan smiled. "For the Purple Heart Fruits, I will be charging Spirit Crystals. Mentor, what would be a fair price?"

He figured that if he kept giving things away, the two of them would start feeling genuinely guilty — even though all the Purple Heart Fruits combined amounted to only a small fraction of his wealth.

Si Tingyu, who had been watching the whole exchange with an amused smile, thought for a moment before replying.

"A single Purple Heart Fruit contains Spirit Power equivalent to a hundred thousand Fourth-tier Spirit Crystals, but the energy inside is far easier to absorb and gives a substantial boost to cultivation speed. On the open market, three hundred thousand to even four hundred thousand Fourth-tier Spirit Crystals per fruit wouldn't be considered overpriced."

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow and looked over at Rebecca and Si Tingxue. "Heard that? I'll sell to you two for two hundred thousand each."

Rebecca's expression crumpled. "I... I want twenty — no, thirty."

Thirty Purple Heart Fruits at two hundred thousand Fourth-tier Spirit Crystals each worked out to six hundred thousand Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals — more than half of everything she owned in liquid assets.

Si Tingxue considered briefly. "I'll take fifty."

That came to one million Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals.

Lu Yuan smiled and made the trades with both of them.

He'd started with one hundred and seventy Purple Heart Fruits. After eighty had changed hands, he had ninety left.

He planned to sell the rest to Amy and Wang Lingling when the time came. And the last two Blood Spirit Fruits — he might as well let them have those too.

It suddenly occurred to him that someone had once accused him of being a kept man living off women. That was absolutely a slander. Did any of this remotely look like being kept?

Lu Yuan gave a helpless shake of his head.

After that, he turned back to training Heaven-Sundering Slash and Steel Body.

In the weeks that followed, Lu Yuan split his time between the real world — where he trained his Body Technique and Spirit Techniques — and the Land of Origin, where he climbed the Prodigy Rankings and pressed forward with the tempering of his final gene: Sacred Light.

Fully tempering Sacred Light would require a significant expenditure of Spirit Power. By his estimate, roughly two point seven to two point eight million worth — approximately four months.

His Rankings challenges proceeded at a steady pace. Each visit to the Land of Origin allowed him roughly two challenges, and each time he jumped five ranks. Progress was smooth.

In the fights themselves, almost no opponent posed any meaningful threat. After passing rank thirty, the challengers he faced were essentially all Innate King Grade warriors. They were formidable, but against Lu Yuan, they fell just as easily as the rest.

With each decisive victory and every rising rank, his fame continued to grow. Nearly every intelligence agency in White Cloud City was now combing through whatever information they could find on him — firsthand accounts of Lu Yuan had become currency.

He heard as much from Yeye and Amy. Yeye had Small White out collecting news from the wider world; Amy had Wang Lingling doing the same.

Worth noting: Amy and Wang Lingling had each received one Blood Spirit Fruit, and the two of them had bought out all ninety remaining Purple Heart Fruits between them.

All told, one hundred and seventy Purple Heart Fruits yielded Lu Yuan three million four hundred thousand Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals. The five Blood Spirit Fruits? Not a single Spirit Crystal.

*If I ever went into trading,* he thought, *it would definitely be a losing business.*

He gave a resigned shake of his head.

Just over a month later, Lu Yuan entered the Land of Origin for the fourth time.

His current challenge target: rank 8.

Rank 8 was held by a Blood Wolf-kin named Hong Liao. Beat him, and Lu Yuan would take the position.

Per the Prodigy Rankings' benefit structure, reaching rank eight meant his Auction House commission would drop to zero. Once that happened, he could finally put all the treasures he'd been accumulating up for auction.

Lu Yuan arrived at the central plaza with Yeye and Small White, the same as always.

The plaza was packed.

As his name had spread, the crowds showing up to watch his challenges had never thinned — and each time, they seemed to grow larger. Lu Yuan found it mildly exasperating. But as long as no one got in his way, it was fine.

The three of them had barely reached the stone stele when a tall Kaman stepped forward, a warm smile on his face.

"Mr. Lu Yuan, hello. My name is Goshi — I represent the Starriver Transport Group. On behalf of the group, I'd like to extend a sincere invitation for you to join us. In terms of compensation, we offer a Battle Sovereign-level package: a base salary of one million Sixth-tier Spirit Crystals per year, not including benefits or performance bonuses. Of course, any and all discoveries you make personally during your Land of Origin expeditions remain entirely your own. A genius of your caliber shouldn't be confined to a single planet."

Lu Yuan's expression didn't change. He smiled. "Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Goshi. For now, I have no intention of leaving Great Qi Star. If that ever changes in the future, I'll reach out to you first."

Goshi's brow furrowed slightly, a trace of disappointment crossing his face. "I hope you'll reconsider, Mr. Lu Yuan. The Starriver Transport Group's operations span not only the entire White Cloud Star Domain, but extend beyond it as well. Within the whole of the Human Race's territory, we have subsidiary branches. Joining us would give you the best possible environment to develop."

Lu Yuan smiled pleasantly. "I understand. I'll give it serious thought."

Seeing that Lu Yuan still wasn't going to agree, Goshi exchanged Communication Crystal contact information with him, then departed with visible reluctance.

No sooner had he gone than an Elf stepped forward, smiling.

"Mr. Lu Yuan, a pleasure — I'm with the Yuantian Commerce Guild..."

Lu Yuan kept his smile steady and listened without a trace of impatience.

This was hardly his first time. After he had crushed the rank-twenty-eight challenger with overwhelming force, every visit to the Rankings had brought recruiters — representatives from organizations that spanned not just one planet but the entire White Cloud Star Domain: great trading houses, powerful factions.

Organizations that could maintain a presence across an entire star domain were inherently formidable entities. They counted Battle Saint-rank warriors among their ranks — and likely more than one or two.

The strength Lu Yuan had displayed clearly marked him as no weaker than a top-five contender on the Rankings. Of course he'd draw this kind of attention.

Their offers were genuine, their intent simply to recruit. Given that, Lu Yuan saw no reason to make enemies. Offending a faction of that scale would be a headache — Great Qi Star, at least, had nothing that could project power across an entire star domain.

Frankly, the terms on offer were extraordinary. The Starriver Transport Group's base salary alone was one million Sixth-tier Spirit Crystals a year — and that was just the floor, before any additional performance compensation.

Even by Lu Yuan's standards, that was a figure worth a second glance.

But he didn't need the resources right now. Organizations like these ran deep, and joining one would likely mean trading freedom for wealth — a life where he was no longer his own master. He'd have far less room to breathe than he did on Great Qi Star.

As for what to do once the Aier Mechanical Ruins' resources eventually ran dry, he had a plan: keep drawing on the Land of Origin. It would build slower than working for one of these star domain-level powers — but safety was worth more.

The onlookers watching Lu Yuan decline invitation after invitation wore expressions mixing envy with genuine puzzlement.

The envy was obvious — to be courted so heavily by forces of that caliber was remarkable. The puzzlement was because no one could understand why he kept refusing every single one.

If Lu Yuan had been backed by a Battle Saint-level power, that might have made sense. But Great Qi Star's ceiling was Battle Emperor rank. Against Battle Saint, the gap was enormous. And more to the point, nothing in Great Qi's rules actually prohibited joining a cross-domain organization — it wouldn't have conflicted with his existing allegiances at all. So why was he turning down such a windfall?

They couldn't figure it out. Eventually, they chalked it up to a genius's eccentricity. After all, having a strange temperament was nothing unusual for a genius.

High above the plaza, a massive blood-red bird floated in the air, and a cluster of Nightshade women sat upon its back, watching Lu Yuan below.

Two of them sat upright. A third reclined against their thighs.

She was extraordinarily beautiful — dark red hair that moved like no ordinary flame, restless and vivid, as though alive. Her long elegant brows arched with a natural air of command. Those dark crimson eyes held a piercing, regal dominance, and yet her every movement carried a strange, irresistible enchantment. Like a queen seated high above the world, and like a demon who ensnares all souls. She was simply sitting there — and still, somehow, she was the center of everything.

Around her were several other Nightshade women of striking beauty, among them Xia Zhi.

One of the group, watching Lu Yuan smile patiently as yet another merchant guild representative finished his pitch, arched an eyebrow.

"So that's the famous Lu Yuan?" she said with a playful lilt. "He seems... rather ordinary, doesn't he? Wouldn't you say, Your Highness Anastasia?"

Anastasia's dark crimson eyes held their piercing authority without the faintest ripple.

She reclined lazily against her companion's thigh, her gaze fixed on Lu Yuan below. When she spoke, her voice was unhurried.

"I can feel the power within this human's body."

A brief pause.

"It's terrifying."

The words fell, and a hush settled over the surrounding Nightshade women.

*Terrifying...*

When was the last time that word had crossed Anastasia's lips?