"They're from Polaris Biotech. A major organization in our Huaxia," Asura said, trying to persuade them by revealing the identities of Ice Fairy and the others, hoping the other party would give up.
He truly didn't want to stir up trouble, especially since he himself was Huaxian.
"So what about Polaris Biotech? We saw them as well, so we naturally have a share," A Westerner said. Despite being in clerical clothes, he sounded fierce and hostile.
"Stop wasting words with them," Jennifer finally said, declaring, "That beast is about to die. Move and seize those fruits!"
With that, she turned to stare at Asura and the others. The cold threat in her eyes was unmistakable as she tightened her grip on her staff. Her gaze served as a warning toward Asura and the others.
"Understood." Hans grinned and rushed forward, moving at breakneck speed. Upon reaching the base of the tree, he plucked those spiritual fruits without hesitation.
"Westerners?"The faces of Ice Fairy and the others changed. They had done so much to obtain those fruits, but soone else had just stolen them right before their eyes.
"Put those down!" Ice Fairy exclaid. She stepped forward, and a cold energy rushed out of her, instantly freezing every branch, leaf, and stone around her. She showcased the strength of an Awakened Realm expert, displaying a level of strength vastly stronger than before.
The experts from Polaris Biotech stepped forward as well, unleashing their power. They had no idea why there were Westerners in Shennongjia, but this wasn't the ti to think about such things.
What belonged to them had been stolen, and they ought to take them back.
"Hmph!" Jennifer snorted coldly at the sight. She raised the angelic staff in her hand and slamd it into the ground.
Boom!
A radiant white light shot out of the staff, illuminating the surroundings as well as vanquishing the cold energy emanating from Ice Fairy. Even Ice Fairy trembled, sensing extre danger from the wave of light.
Without hesitation, she retreated far away with her subordinates. Upon knowing that they were a safe distance away, Ice Fairy then stared at Jennifer with knitted brows.
"Are you Jennifer? One of the Twelve Apostles under the Vatican's Celestial Archangel?" Ice Fairy asked, swiftly seeing through Jennifer's background.
Like Huaxia, Western countries had powerful Awakened as well. The majority of those powerful Awakened were subordinates to the Western Holy Knights and the Vatican's Celestial Archangel.
The Celestial Archangel possessed unfathomable strength with twelve Apostles under their command.
According to Polaris Biotech's intelligence, those twelve Apostles had all beco Awakened Realm experts. To make matters worse, those twelve Apostles also possessed sacred relics left behind by the gods from the West.
Thanks to those sacred relics and the Celestial Archangel's supre might and leadership, the West remained stable beneath the relentless mutated beast tides.
Despite Polaris Biotech's extensive intelligence network, Ice Fairy still clearly hadn't expected to see them here.
Just then, Ice Fairy's gaze fell on Asura.
"I didn't expect that soone would recognize here. It seems that the glory of God has indeed been spreading across the world," Jennifer said, staying calm despite having been recognized. "God has bestowed grace upon Their devout believers, so do not nurse any grudges and just leave. God will forgive your transgressions."
The way Jennifer kept on uttering the word "God" in every sentence seed to fra everything that had just happened as an act not of her own greed but as a righteous fulfillnt of God's divine will.
The people from Polaris Biotech were visibly furious. They were the early birds who fought well for the sake of those spiritual fruits, and now that woman actually dared to say that God would forgive them for their transgressions?
Ice Fairy's gaze turned as cold as winter, but she did not respond. Instead, she stared coldly at Asura and said, "I need an explanation."
She knew that negotiating with Jennifer and her group was impossible, but Jennifer's staff was undeniably strong. She could not act rashly; otherwise, her side would surely suffer heavy casualties.
In the end, her only recourse was to question Asura. The other man was, after all, from Skygod Technologies, and Skygod Technologies was from Huaxia.
"Asura, rember your duty," Apostle Jennifer interjected, her gaze as sharp as a blade.
Upon hearing that, Asura stiffened, and his face turned ugly. After taking a deep, pained breath, he walked up to Ice Fairy and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't expect this to happen. You should... leave."
His gaze flickered nervously toward the staff in Jennifer's hand. He lowered his voice even further as he added, "That thing is extrely dangerous. If you end up truly fighting her, your chances of winning are very... slim."
Asura's words were sincere, with an undercurrent of pleading. It was clear that he did not want this conflict to escalate.
Ice Fairy held his gaze for a long, hard mont. Rage burned within her, and every instinct scread at her to act, but she was no fool.
She knew Asura's warning wasn't false. These people from the Vatican would not have dared to venture so deep into Shennongjia without a powerful trump card.
Finally, she held her emotions in and said, "I understand."
"Thank you." Asura let out a quiet sigh of relief, but his fists unconsciously clenched tight. Beneath his cloak, he was trembling, seemingly out of sha. In the end, he forced himself to turn around.
"Miss Jennifer, we've decided to back off. May we leave now?" he asked.
Jennifer's sharp gaze softened. She looked at Ice Fairy and said, "God bless you."
Without another glance, she turned and led Hans as well as the other Westerners away. Asura and those from Skygod Technologies team offered a light nod to Ice Fairy before following after Jennifer's group.
Once they were nowhere in sight, the Polaris Biotech mbers erupted into a clamor, looking furious.
"Those were five whole spiritual fruits! And we're letting them leave just like that?!"
"Yeah. They weren't exactly supre treasures, but we still expended considerable effort to find and fight for them."
"And Skygod Technologies... I'd heard rumors they were cooperating with the West. I never expected it to be true."
They had co to Shennongjia under direct company orders, but they knew this special place held great opportunities for them to take. Hence, they accepted the orders to search for spiritual fruits and exotic herbs, which would certainly bolster their evolution.
They found a few of such spiritual herbs, but just as they were about to land in their hands, a group of foreigners chid in and stole what belonged to them.
To make matters even more infuriating, Skygod Technologies colluded with the Vatican, essentially betraying them by guiding those foreigners through Shennongjia.
"Silence," Ice Fairy said, her gaze shining coldly. "It seems many forces have developed their own sches. Before long, I fear the situation will beco truly dire, and we might end up finding ourselves in the middle of a war."
Polaris Biotech's background ant Ice Fairy knew more than the average person. In other words, the sches of powerful forces like Skygod Technologies hadn't eluded her.
At the very beginning of the Global Awakening, so factions even wanted to start wars for the sake of dominating the world, but the ergence of the mutated beast tides had forced them to abandon those plans.
Now that the world had sowhat stabilized. It was no surprise that those people abroad could no longer sit still. The Westerners had already appeared, so how long would it take for the Holy Knights of Mount Olympus and those from Tianzhu to appear?
"I really can't take this," one of her subordinates protested, unable to hold his rage. "And that Asura... he's unworthy of his title as one of the Five Supres. He's nothing but a lapdog of those outsiders!"
"Asura has his own difficulties," Ice Fairy said, shaking her head. She knew more of the inside story. "He's one of the Five Supres, that is true, but in reality? He's just a puppet. He's under the control of Skygod Technologies; he can't possibly defy them."
In the past, Asura was an invaluable asset to his organization. As ti went on, powerful Awakened erged, which ant Asura's standing as one of the Five Supres was no longer as terrifying as before.
A great example of such powerful Awakened was Zhu Qingyu from Aurora Academy. She had made trendous progress in a short period of ti, and her level of strength would soon catch up to the Northern Emperor's.
And she was just one of the many known formidable Awakened out there...
What about those still unknown?
The people from Polaris Biotech exchanged glances. They were all aware of the rumors that Skygod Technologies had been conducting various illicit experints even before the Global Awakening, with the goal of creating beings that surpassed humans.
Apparently, Asura was one of the results of their experints. They had always thought those were just wild rumors, but now, it seed they were all true. In the face of that grim reality, they had nothing more to say.
"Alright. There are still many spiritual fruits and exotic herbs to obtain in Shennongjia," Ice Fairy said, not wishing to explain any further. She signaled for everyone not to dwell on the matter.
"Let's go and find them." With that, she led them away.
Ice Fairy was correct. In Shennongjia, spiritual fruits remained hard to encounter, but exotic herbs were surprisingly common.
Shockingly, however, before they could make any harvest, the sa Westerners from earlier would appear and take their harvest away. Afterward, Asura would be forced to diate once again.
This exact scenario happened several tis. Apostle Jennifer and her people took a huge chunk of the pie, leaving Polaris Biotech with the re crumbs.
Even more infuriating was that Apostle Jennifer would always leave behind the sa phrase, "God has bestowed grace upon Their devout believers."
Ice Fairy was furious, and her people were even more infuriated. One of them couldn't help but attack, but he ended up getting injured with nothing to show for it.
Jennifer was indeed strong. Even without resorting to the power of her sacred relic, her personal strength was enough to firmly suppress Ice Fairy by a clear margin.
Hence, the people from Polaris Biotech could only watch helplessly as the precious spiritual fruits and exotic herbs of Shennongjia were taken away right before their eyes.
Ice Fairy also reached a conclusion—the sacred relic in Jennifer's hand had to be capable of sensing valuable spiritual fruits and exotic herbs from a distance.
Of course, she couldn't rule out the possibility that they had simply been following them all along.
Unfortunately, the people from Polaris Biotech couldn't really do anything in this regard. Deep within Shennongjia, there was no reception, making it impossible to seek reinforcents.
Otherwise, they would have certainly engaged in a full-blown battle with those fanatics from the Vatican.
They were in an infuriating and frustrating situation. Moreover, Jennifer's action reminded them of that dark period of history about a hundred years ago.
Unfortunately, Ice Fairy and her team had no choice. In the end, they decided to stop their own active search for spiritual fruits and exotic herbs. Instead, they would follow Jennifer, as they believed that they had co to Shennongjia for the sake of a larger sche.
Just like that, the two groups ventured deeper into Shennongjia with one file ahead and one file behind.
"Lady Jennifer, they're following us. Will they affect our plans?" Hans asked, sensing Ice Fairy and her group trailing behind them. He then made a throat-slitting gesture while staring at Jennifer.
"If they want to follow us, then let them follow us. It doesn't matter. They pose no threat to us whatsoever."
Apostle Jennifer was aware of Ice Fairy's goal, but she couldn't care less. With a sacred relic in her hand, she was confident against Ice Fairy. Of course, she couldn't say for sure if there were other powerhouses here.
"Miss Jennifer, I think we're going too far here," Asura said. Once or twice would have been fine, but they had repeated such actions more than twice.
Moreover, they clearly had a way to locate spiritual fruits and exotic herbs, yet they insisted on stealing from others.
Knowing that his pleading was the reason Ice Fairy had decided not to escalate the conflict any further, Asura felt truly guilty. He decided to speak up, hoping the other party could show so restraint.
"I know what you an, but so what? I quite enjoy this feeling. If you don't wish to obey, you are free to go back." Jennifer's gaze was cold. Clearly, she wasn't taking Asura's words seriously at all.
Skygod Technologies had been cooperating with the West for a long ti ago now, and this was simply another joint operation. Asura? He was quite formidable, but so what?
Hearing her dismissive tone of voice, Asura's face beca grim. He knew it was true. If he were to turn back now, the higher-ups would certainly be furious and would not spare anyone related to him, including his family.
He was just an experintal subject, after all. Skygod Technologies' collusion with the West ant that it wouldn't be long before they created more beings just like him.
The others from Skygod Technologies knew that, too, and they lowered their heads one by one, falling silent. Seeing this display of submission, Hans and the others sneered from the side.
"Hm?" Jennifer exclaid in surprise. She looked down at the cross-staff in her hand, which was emitting a soft light. "There are more spiritual fruits and exotic herbs up ahead. Let's go there and take a look."
Asura and his team's expressions tensed, but they had no choice but to follow her.
***
"Master, this furnace is aweso! This is already the thirty-third exotic herb that we've found all thanks to this thing!" the Golden-Winged Great Peng exclaid, chirping in admiration with its golden eyes full of wonder as it stared at three more exotic herbs sporting seven leaves each in the distance, awaiting harvest.
It used its special ability to shrink itself to the size of one's palm. Even though it had gotten smaller, its abilities remained unaffected.
Lu Yuan was smiling as he put away the ridian Heavennd Furnace.
They had already entered the depths of Shennongjia, but the Golden-Winged Great Peng's inherited mories about their target were vague.
Plus, the Dragon-blooded Jiao was a living creature and couldn't possibly be expected to stay in one place. If they wanted to find it, they would need to spend more ti searching and effort searching for it.
Rather than gaining nothing while wandering aimlessly, it was better to do sothing productive. For instance, searching for spiritual fruits and exotic herbs to collect along the way.
Hence, Lu Yuan had pulled out the ridian Heavennd Furnace.
For Lu Yuan, those spiritual fruits and exotic herbs weren't that effective. His foundation was simply too deep and profound. Unless it was a true divine treasure, ordinary spiritual fruits and exotic herbs certainly wouldn't further his evolution.
However, he knew that he could refine those spiritual fruits and exotic herbs into pills as long as he had enough of them. In other words, it was better to take them than not, as enough quantities would eventually lead to a qualitative change.
Lu Yuan had already collected quite a few of them. There was also the saying that went, "even mosquito legs have at."
As for the ridian Heavennd Furnace, it didn't matter even if the Golden-Winged Great Peng beca aware of its existence.
After all, they shared a Blood Bond. In addition, after spending much ti together, he had co to understand that while the Golden-Winged Great Peng was powerful, its personality was very much like that of a five-year-old child.
"Alright." Shaking his head, Lu Yuan spoke. "Go and harvest them."
"Yes, Master!" The Golden-Winged Great Peng was thrilled. It spread its golden wings and was about to move when its golden eyes narrowed. Looking intently in a certain direction, it said, "Master, there are people coming this way."
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