For the next few days, Yu Xian slacked off.
Although he was mildly annoyed that the voyeur was profiting off his privacy and experiences, he never truly considered killing the person.
At most, he would beat the culprit black and blue, dangle them by their ankles, shake out every cent of ill-gotten gains made from the film, and confiscate all their unlawful earnings.
Of course, slacking off required technique; one could not neglect what actually needed to be done.
Yu Xian set up a giant tree avatar near the sun specifically to absorb sunlight. After storing energy for about ten days, it would be able to activate one of Little Nora's bloodline abilities.
To put it simply, ten days of accumulation from this avatar tree equaled a whole year of normal cultivation for Yu Xian.
With a workhorse avatar toiling in his stead, Yu Xian could relax and loaf around with complete peace of mind, waiting until enough energy had gathered before unlocking abilities for Little Nora.
When Little Nora grew stronger, it was essentially the same as Yu Xian growing stronger.
***
Island Grotto-Heaven.
The sunlight was brilliant beneath a blue sky dotted with white clouds.
Yu Xian lounged on a beach chair, smiling as he watched Big Nora, Little Nora, Gong Qian, Qingniao, and Little Huangquan splashing in the water in the distance.
On the beach chair beside him sat Zhang Shou, wearing sunglasses and browsing the Star Ring light screen Yu Xian had shared with him, reading news related to Crescent Bay.
"Salty Fish, do you think there's any method over at Crescent Bay that could make me stronger?" Zhang Shou closed a page and asked, clearly tempted.
Yu Xian said uncertainly, "Crescent Bay is vast, and it brings together extraordinary resources from countless worlds. Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. But precisely because it's so massive, even if there really is something, finding it would probably be like looking for a needle in the ocean."
"Big Brother, what are you two talking about?" Little Nora trotted back, panting, and asked curiously.
Yu Xian glanced at Zhang Shou, then explained his friend's situation to Little Nora. He and Little Nora were bonded as one, so there was no need to keep secrets from it. Besides, plenty of people inside Qilin knew about Zhang Shou's condition; he had gone through who knew how many physical examinations already.
Yet when he finished recounting the circumstances, Nora looked at Zhang Shou with an expression of astonishment.
It walked up to Zhang Shou, peered at him left and right, and began pinching and poking him all over. When it pinched a ticklish spot, Zhang Shou could not help squirming away, caught between laughter and tears. "What are you doing? Don't think I won't smack you just because you're cute!"
"Little Nora?" Yu Xian could not help speaking up, his tone filled with confusion.
The others had finished playing by then and strolled back one after another. Seeing Little Nora staring at Zhang Shou in sheer wonder, they were equally intrigued, waiting for the little beast to offer a sensible explanation.
"Big Brother, I'm looking at a miracle," Little Nora said to Yu Xian, reluctantly letting go of Zhang Shou's cheek.
Yu Xian sat up and glanced at Zhang Shou. "A miracle? Could there be something unusual about the Forbidden Fruit Old Zhang ate?"
"Could it be that the Forbidden Fruit I ate was especially poisonous, something that would kill an ordinary person, but I was blessed with good fortune and survived?" Zhang Shou immediately tried to flatter himself.
"Not at all," Little Nora retorted.
It turned back to Yu Xian and explained, "Big Brother, I don't know if the knowledge in my ancestral heritage is outdated, but according to it, Forbidden Fruits are actually divided into ranks."
"Forbidden Fruits have ranks too?"
Surprise showed on everyone's faces.
To this day, quite a few Forbidden Fruits had appeared on Earth, but no one had ever categorized them into ranks.
Categorization had been fundamentally impossible; any creature that encountered a Forbidden Fruit would simply eat it. To the general populace, Forbidden Fruits were nothing more than ethereal legends. Aside from those who had eaten one, most people only knew what they heard through the grapevine—like so-and-so having dumb luck and swallowing a fruit.
Beyond that, there was nothing.
Seeing that no one knew about this, Little Nora puffed out its chest, closed its eyes like a wise mentor, and nodded smugly. "Mhm! In the knowledge passed down to me, Forbidden Fruits are divided into nine ranks in total."
"Don't keep us in suspense. Keep going," Yu Xian said, giving its head a gentle rap when he saw it deliberately pause for effect.
In truth, he could have just had Little Nora share the knowledge with him directly, but since everyone was present, it was better for all of them to listen and broaden their horizons together.
After getting tapped on the head, Little Nora hurried to continue. "Forbidden Fruits run from one to nine, nine ranks in all. A Rank 1 Forbidden Fruit is the most precious, while a Rank 9 Forbidden Fruit is the lowest."
"I get it! Little Nora, you mean the fruit I ate was a Rank 1 Forbidden Fruit?" Zhang Shou blurted out eagerly.
Little Nora rolled its eyes at him and shook its head. "Not a chance. Based on what Big Brother described, the fruit you ate should be a Rank 2 Forbidden Fruit."
"A Rank 2 Forbidden Fruit!"
Everyone present turned to look at Zhang Shou. None of them had expected the fruit he ate to be so precious.
Zhang Shou pressed quickly, "Little Nora, since a Rank 2 fruit is only one step below Rank 1, what does it do? Are there hidden effects? Like untapped potential I haven't developed yet?"
"Well... I'm not entirely sure either. I only know the rank was very high because Big Brother said your body rejects all external energies." Little Nora scratched the back of its head and chuckled sheepishly.
It then explained that the higher the rank of a Forbidden Fruit, the stronger the body's rejection of foreign special energies would be. A condition like Zhang Shou's—completely repelling external energies while possessing more than three personal traits—was a textbook hallmark of a Rank 2 Forbidden Fruit.
As for a Rank 1 Forbidden Fruit, it likewise rejected all foreign energy, but would grant only a single trait.
Zhang Shou possessed healing, a system panel, and death-and-resurrection—three traits in total.
"Why would fewer traits mean a higher-ranking fruit?" Zhang Shou asked in confusion.
Little Nora said testily, "How should I know? That's just what the ancestral knowledge says! I can't guarantee whether it's right or not—all I inherited was outdated information anyway."
When it said the word 'outdated,' its voice dripped with resentment.
Over the past few days, it had frequently used the Star Ring given by Shui Yuetian to surf the net, quietly checking Crescent Bay's various star-linked websites to see how much of its ancestral knowledge had expired.
It turned out that a vast amount of its inherited knowledge was completely useless now.
For instance, there used to be a race called the Garudad, essentially cousins of the Garuda. The memories in its mind even contained a lethal dual-attack cultivation technique combining a Garuda and a Garudad.
Yet when it searched on Crescent Bay, it discovered that the Garudad and the Garuda were now mortal enemies.
The Garudad had defected entirely to the dragon clan, and their feud with the Garuda was as irreconcilable as fire and water. If they crossed paths, they fought to the death.
Fortunately, Little Nora was clever enough to search up the information beforehand. Otherwise, if it ever ran into a Garudad and assumed they were allies, it would have been finished.
"Since such a ranking exists, the Forbidden Fruit Old Zhang ate definitely has merits we haven't discovered yet," Yu Xian consoled Zhang Shou. "Don't worry too much, Old Zhang. Crescent Bay is so big; there are bound to be people who know deeper answers. We'll search together later."
Zhang Shou laughed. "I'm fine. Anyway, fortune favors me, so I can afford to wait."
The group then gathered together to chat about Crescent Bay. Everyone present was deeply intrigued by the place, and as the conversation went on, Yu Xian suddenly felt a spark of inspiration.
As everyone knew, he was the sort of person who acted on whatever popped into his head.
His eyes brightened as he looked at the group with a grin. "No time like the present. Why don't we go wander around Crescent Bay right now?"
With that, he snapped his fingers. A silver outfit materialized over everyone's body, accompanied by a mask covering the upper half of their faces and a black dragon scale resting against their wrists.
Before anyone could reply, he burst out laughing and shouted, "Let's go!"
In an instant, everyone present was teleported toward Crescent Bay.
Chapter 229