Chapter 423: Nine Sun Bloodwood (2)
After an entire month of feeding it, the Nine Sun Bloodwood still continued to ignore Rezen, but it didn’t dishearten him. He knew that it wouldn’t be easy to make the tree submit to him, but that didn’t mean it was impossible.
Just like the previous times, Rezen dumped over a thousand Blood Fruits into the pond. As expected, as soon as the Blood Fruits made contact with the pond’s water, they dissolved into a blood-red liquid.
"I know that this many Blood Fruits don’t have much effect on you, but if you give me a bit of your pond’s water, their quality would improve. If you give me enough pond water, you won’t even need to hunt living beings anymore. You can sustain yourself with my Blood Fruits."
After dumping the Blood Fruits, Rezen started talking to the tree. The tree might not have the same sentience as humans, and it couldn’t speak, but it could definitely understand Rezen’s intentions.
Despite the tree not attacking him, due to how greedy and stingy it was, if Rezen dared to steal the pond water, the Nine Sun Bloodwood would definitely attack him. A single attack was enough for a Great Rank being to kill a Senior Mage.
As such, Rezen didn’t dare steal the pond water. Not to mention, as a treasure coveted even by Noble Mages, Rezen was more inclined to subdue the tree and turn it into an ally rather than simply killing it. Besides, he didn’t have the ability to kill it.
Unfortunately, despite communicating his intentions, the tree still didn’t respond. It continued to ignore Rezen as if it hadn’t heard anything.
Seeing this, Rezen retreated and didn’t say anything else, but his eyes remained locked on the pond water.
Compared to a month ago, the blood patches in the pond had significantly lessened. In at most a couple of months, they would all be gone.
By that time, the Nine Sun Bloodwood would have no more blood to sustain its frenzied cultivation. That would be the moment Rezen achieved his initial success.
Despite sneering inwardly, Rezen didn’t show it on his face or through his actions. He simply retreated calmly to cultivate.
In just a month, thanks to the superior environment of this realm, he broke through and reached the second cycle. In a few more months, he could reach the third cycle.
These were the effects of a superior environment! If this were the Savage Beast Realm, who knew how long it would have taken him to break through?
The further a person cultivated, the harder it became to reach the next realm. Yet in this kind of environment, Rezen’s cultivation speed was definitely no slower than when he was only at the Junior Rank.
Five more days passed, and just as usual, Rezen dumped another batch of Blood Fruits into the pond. However, compared to the previous batches, there were barely a thousand Blood Fruits.
"Sigh... it’s getting harder for me to produce Blood Fruits. If only I could take some of the pond water. Not only could I give you more Blood Fruits, but their quality would also be better."
Rezen spoke loudly enough for the Nine Sun Bloodwood to hear. It still didn’t give him any response, but Rezen sensed that it seemed to have given him a "glance."
He knew that his plan was slowly working. While the current Blood Fruits had barely any effect on the Nine Sun Bloodwood, if both their quantity and quality improved, things would definitely be different.
Unfortunately, just like before, the tree was still unwilling to give him any pond water. Aside from that "glance," it continued to ignore Rezen.
Time passed again, and after another five days, Rezen sacrificed the next batch of Blood Fruits. But this time, there were even fewer. The amount was only a little over nine hundred Blood Fruits!
After that, the amount of Blood Fruits continued to lessen until Rezen could only provide around five hundred Blood Fruits every seven days.
After a whole month, there were barely any blood patches left in either the pond or the Nine Sun Bloodwood. Its blood reserves had started to run low!
After all, the Nine Sun Bloodwood’s intelligence was not yet fully developed. It didn’t know how to practice "sustainable farming."
It had wiped out the entire insect nest for short-term gain without considering the long-term benefits.
Its location was inside a cave with a very small entrance. Not to mention, the inside was like a maze filled with numerous narrow passages.
It definitely wasn’t easy for any other living creature to discover the tree, and without attracting living creatures, it couldn’t obtain enough blood.
At the moment, the only source of vitality it still had was Rezen, but the amount he could provide was far from enough.
"Sigh... I am sorry. I am powerless as well. I am just a weak Senior Mage. There’s a limit to what I can do. If only I could get your pond water, I could have done more."
Rezen sighed as if he were truly powerless. He knew that it wouldn’t be long before the tree voluntarily gave him some pond water. It was simply too stubborn and stingy.
Another week passed, and before Rezen could dump the Blood Fruits into the pond, he sensed something and hurriedly backed away.
Boom!!
A part of the Nine Sun Bloodwood’s trunk suddenly exploded, scattering charred pieces of bark in every direction.
Without enough blood to replenish its vitality while still greedily absorbing solar power without knowing its limits, an accident had finally occurred.
The Nine Sun Bloodwood had absorbed more solar power than it could endure, causing a portion of its trunk to explode from the excess energy.
To remedy this, the tree used up all of its remaining blood reserves just to barely stabilize its injury.
However, its nature hadn’t changed. Despite sustaining an injury, it didn’t stop absorbing solar power. It was as greedy as ever!
Rezen knew that the time was ripe. He dumped a few thousand Blood Fruits into the pond before speaking.
"These are all the Blood Fruits I have. I know they’re of little use to you, but I hope they help, even if it’s just a little bit. I have to go now. I don’t have enough energy to continue producing them anymore..."
Silence reigned over the area. The Nine Sun Bloodwood still didn’t give any response, and seeing that, Rezen turned around.
He walked back toward the passage he had come through months ago, intending to leave.
"One..." Rezen counted in his head. His footsteps remained steady.
"Two..." he continued without looking back at all.
"Three..."
At that moment, he was only one step away from the passage when the Nine Sun Bloodwood finally made a move.
The water in the pond surged as if inviting Rezen back, and a smirk appeared on his face.
He knew that he had succeeded, but when he turned back toward the Nine Sun Bloodwood, he didn’t reveal a victor’s smile.
"You... are you finally willing to give me the pond water?" Rezen asked uncertainly.
The pond surged once more.
That seemed to be an affirmative response, and Rezen immediately returned to the pond’s edge.
Although it seemed like he had succeeded, he still decided to be cautious. He didn’t dare touch the pond water directly and simply used magic to control it before sending it into his farm.
As soon as the pond water entered his farm, it immediately transformed into pure energy that nourished it, and the farm’s recovery rate skyrocketed.
First of all, its size expanded directly to ten kilometers in diameter, and the quality of the Spirit Plants that could grow there jumped from the first cycle of the Second Rank all the way to the sixth cycle of the Second Rank!
Rezen could also sense that his affinity for sun-type magic had improved. After all, the pond water was condensed from the Nine Sun Bloodwood’s power, so it naturally contained pure solar energy.
Just as Rezen was about to continue siphoning more pond water, the Nine Sun Bloodwood suddenly released a threatening aura.
When Rezen turned to look at the pond, he saw that the water level had decreased significantly. Previously, it had been at least eight feet deep, but now it was less than half that.
"Ahem..." Rezen coughed awkwardly. "I just got carried away. F-for now, take these Blood Fruits. In a few days, I’ll give you more, and they’ll be of much better quality."
With a wave of his hand, several thousand Blood Fruits were dumped directly into the pond. While they were still far from enough, they managed to stabilize the Nine Sun Bloodwood’s condition a little.
In a few more days, once the sixth-cycle Second Rank Blood Fruits had grown and were dumped into the pond, the tree’s condition would definitely improve significantly.
While he still couldn’t produce Third Rank Spirit Plants, sixth-cycle Second Rank Spirit Plants were definitely far more potent than first-cycle ones.