Defiance of the Fall

de of ice toward the Life-Death plant the moment it had stopped moving upward, which caused the area to explode with activity.
A dozen blade-like stalks sprung up from the ground as the ‘oyster’ started to descend toward the ground.
However, Catheya was too quick, and with a flash of ice she had passed the sharp stalks and appeared right next to the plant, and it was cut off in one swift swipe.

The sharp stalks started to flail about erratically, exhibiting power strong enough to take out middle E-grade cultivators with their thrashing.
A series of ice barriers sprung up with Catheya as the core, and she ignored the stalks as she placed her hands on the severed stem holding the oyster.
A storm of deathly energies burrowed into the plant next as she infused it with her Deathly Dao.

“Help me deal with the stalks, please?” Catheya asked, and Zac started to sever them while Qirai gripped them and ripped them apart.

Soon enough the two stood in front of Catheya who kept infusing the oyster with her Dao.
By this point, the oyster had actually started to absorb large amounts of Twilight Energy from the surroundings, which Zac guessed was the cue that the process of forming the pearl had begun.

“So that’s it?” Zac asked as he looked at the oyster.

“That’s it,” Catheya smiled.
“The process will take a few hours, and you can’t stop feeding it your Dao during that time.
Harvesting is simple enough.
When the pearl has formed, just crack it open and place the pearl in a sealed box.”

“There’s only three of us here,” Zac said as he looked around.
“How about we split up to speed things up?”

Qirai’s brows slightly furrowed since that differed from the original plan, but Catheya nodded in agreement.
“Remember, we are gathering for four though, so everyone will have to chip in a bit.”

“That’s fine,” Zac nodded.

’

A quick scan had indicated that the valley held over a hundred oysters, which was better than the average trial.
There were more pearls than he would be able to use even if the group consisted of seven members.
Now that just four members were remaining, he would probably have to discard most of them in either case.
Might as well feed some to Varo, so that he might gain something even while in a coma.

The trio soon spread out, and Zac walked toward a random Life-Death Plant some ways away from the other two.
Zac didn’t bother with coming up with some new method, and he simply threw out a crystal as well before cracking it with a pebble.
He activated his movement skill as the oyster rose toward the energy, and the world suddenly stopped.
A moment later he appeared right before the stem.

The weird creature didn’t even have a chance to react before [Verun’s Bite] had ripped right through the stem.
The ground heaved a bit as the root system below started to rampage from having its head cut off, but the plant never had the chance to extend its weapon-like stalks this time around.
Just three of them managed to emerge from the ground, but they were effortlessly cut apart as Zac started to infuse the head with the Fragment of the Coffin.

The dying Life-Death Plant greedily absorbed the energies Zac provided, and Twilight Energy started to surge toward the oyster as well.
The swirl of energy was more condensed in his case though, and Zac guessed it was because his Dao Fragment was higher compared to Catheya’s.
Zac wasn’t certain, but he guessed that her Ice-attuned Dao was either High or Peak mastery, while her Death-attuned Dao was at the middle stages.

The process continued for two more hours, at which point a ripple spread out from the oyster.
The ripple was rife with meaning, and Zac knew the pearl had been born.
The extremely enticing Dao Fluctuation made Zac’s thoughts turn to dozens of avenues for his cultivation, but he pushed down the burgeoning bout of inspiration as he hurried over and urgently ripped apart the shells.

Inside was a shimmering dark-green pearl no larger than the pearls that you’d find on a necklace back on Earth.
He looked at it with greed, and he was a bit surprised to find he wasn’t the only one.
The coffin on his back shuddered a bit, and he felt an intangible nudge of hunger in his mind, even stronger compared to when [Love’s Bond] indicated its desire for Twilight Fruits.

“So you want these things as well?” Zac muttered.
”Well, wait until we have finished gathering them. ”

That Alea wanted these pearls wasn ’t too surprising after her interest in the Twilight Fruits, and Zac was more than happy to provide.
There were more than enough pearls to go around, so it was with gusto Zac stowed the pearl into a jade box he had prepared.
The ripples disappeared just a few seconds after the lid was sealed, and Zac found his mind clear once more.

Zac wanted to immediately harvest another pearl, but he first rested for half an hour as he absorbed two Soul Crystals.
The process wasn’t as taxing as an all-out fight, but it was more taxing than running the purification array.
Half an hour of rest was enough, and Zac soon shot toward the next oyster.

Half a minute later, Zac was already infusing the next oyster with his Dao.
However, this time infused the fallen plant with the Fragment of the bodhi, though he first made sure that he was performing his experiment out of sight of the other two.
Catheya had said that the inspiration came from the plant itself, but he figured his Dao might influence the pearls at least to some extent considering the amount he poured into the thing.

Two hours later a second pearl was formed, and Zac curiously opened the oyster.
A small smile spread across his face as he saw that this particular pearl indeed veered a bit more toward a golden hue compared to the darker pearl he harvested before.
It also emanated ripples that were slightly more in tune with life than death, which was exactly what he was looking for.
Any little advantage was needed with his weird constitution.

’

The days passed, and the trio worked without rest as one oyster after another was harvested.
Thanks to splitting up it took them just above five days to pick the place clean.

“You were quite the farmer, ” Catheya laughed as the three gathered.
”It almost felt like your eyes were shining when you harvested these things.
How many did you manage to harvest? ”

”Fifty-four, ” Zac smiled.
”What about you two? ”

“As I expected,” Catheya nodded.
“I got 36, Qirai actually got 34.
Altogether it ’s 124, and 31 pearls each according to our agreement. ”

”I have a proposition, ” Zac said, drawing an interested glance from Catheya.
”I am willing to buy every pearl you don ’t need.
Ten D-grade Nexus Coin each. ”

”Are you planning on selling them? ” Catheya asked with a raised brow.
”They ’ll only last a month or so, even when sealed. ”

”I have other uses for them, ” Zac shrugged.

Qirai clearly looked interested in making the deal, almost to the point of salivating, and Catheya slowly nodded as well.
”How about we keep 15 pearls each, and sell the rest to you? That way we have a few extra in case we absorb them quicker than expected.
How does that sound? ”

”Perfect, ” Zac said and transferred 480 D-Grade Nexus Coins.

“Your means once again leave me in both awe and despair, ” Catheya smiled.
”Well, things turned out a bit hectic than I anticipated, but overall the mission was a success.
What are your plans now?”

“I’ll find someplace to seclude myself for a while,” Zac said.
”This trial is a bit more dangerous than I expected, so I ’ll need to make some breakthroughs before continuing alone. ”

He had wanted to do this for a while now, and not only for the pearls he had finally got his hands on.
The small hidden wounds in his body from his first node-breaking rally were pretty much fixed after these three long months, which meant he would be able to complete his second round of node-breaking.
Zac didn’t know how long he had before his immunity or accumulated toxicity became a problem, but he felt he should be able to gain at least a handful of levels in this round.

So between a few levels and potential Dao Breakthroughs, the power boost he stood to gain was tremendous.
And that was something he desperately needed considering where he was heading next.