Sublime Mountain was located in the central region of the Ninth Continent.
The mountain was a famous ancient ruin. It was called Sublime Mountain not because there was an ancient Sublime Sect, but because a sublime tree grew there.
The sublime tree bore fruit once every hundred years. The fruit looked like a human heart with several holes. The least number of holes was one, while the greatest was nine.
The fruit with nine holes was also known as the nine-chakra sublime heart.
It absorbed the essence of the heavens and was considered a spiritual object. One’s cultivation base would increase greatly after eating it.
Other than that, there was an even greater use.
If an awakening period cultivator in the process of breaking through to the State of the Golden Core ate a sublime fruit, their golden core would be different.
Someone that unsealed one chakra could eat a one-hole sublime fruit to cultivate a one-chakra golden core. A two-chakra cultivator could eat a two-hole fruit to cultivate a two-chakra golden core, and so on.
Similarly, if a nine-chakra cultivator ate a nine-hole fruit, they would be able to cultivate a nine-chakra sublime golden core.
Unsealing chakras upon one’s golden core would speed up the accumulation of qi. Every chakra unsealed would increase one’s power by several times. Those who had unsealed nine chakras would have the strongest golden core, and their power was unparalleled.
Naturally, to possess a nine-chakra golden core, one would have to unseal nine chakras in the awakening period. That was why cultivators with a nine-chakra golden core were exceedingly rare.
Every time the sublime fruit ripened, it would be a major event in the Ninth Continent. Prodigies from all over would gather at the tree.
Of course, other places in the Ninth Continent had sublime trees, but there were not many.
The news that sublime fruits were ripening spread widely, causing a sensation throughout the entire Ninth Continent and attracting the attention of all the prodigies.
Many Golden Core cultivators were piqued too. It was said that an epiphany tree had been discovered at Sublime Mountain. Anyone who was facing a bottleneck in their cultivation could benefit a lot by sitting under the tree.
Sublime Mountain became extremely lively as people continued to flock there.
Young prodigies could be seen everywhere, and they had faint points of light on their bodies. Three-chakra and six-chakra cultivators were usually rare, but they were thronging the streets in large groups.
“Look, the people from Broken Sword Mountain are here! That’s Nangong Lie, what a sharp gaze…”
“That’s Ximen Yidao! What’s going on? Why do they look like they’re here to kill someone?”
Everyone cried out in surprise when they saw the people from Broken Sword Mountain arriving.
In the Ninth Continent, Broken Sword Mountain was considered one of the top ten factions.
The group of Broken Sword Mountain prodigies entered the market and looked around seriously as though searching for something. A moment later, they blended into the crowd.
Not long later, Treasure Trove Mountain arrived. The person in the lead was as strong and burly as an iron tower. He was none other than Shentu Meng.
“That’s Treasure Trove Mountain! The one that looks so scary is Shentu Meng, and the one beside him is his sister. You can’t tell that they’re born from the same parents,” someone muttered softly.
Everyone looked at Shentu Meng curiously.
“Where are you looking? You wanna fight?”
Shentu Meng roared, and his eyes flashed with killing intent.
Everyone immediately shut their mouths.
Shentu Meng grunted angrily and looked around before stepping into the market.
Following that, people from the Rainmaker Tribe and the Di family arrived one after another.
All the prodigies were filled with killing intent.
The arrival of a young man in green robes caused a commotion at the market entrance. Countless people swarmed over to witness that person’s elegance.
“He’s Dao Jiu, the number one prodigy of the Ninth Continent?”
“He’s so handsome!”
The people in the crowd discussed. Some girls were shrieking.
Dao Jiu of Primeval Mountain had always been known as the number one prodigy of the Ninth Continent, and he had countless fangirls.
The scene was almost out of control.
“Number one prodigy? Hmph, he doesn’t look that great!” Someone mocked him.
The people around that person turned around and looked at him as though they were looking at a lunatic.
“Heh, he’s number one alright. Who else could it be? Nangong Lie? Forget it, he lost to Dao Jiu several times!”
“You’re only jealous of how powerful and handsome he is!”
They reprimanded him. Some girls glared at him angrily, as though they wanted to fight him to the death.
They could not tolerate anyone talking negatively about their idol and dream lover.
That person seemed unfazed. “All of you are ignorant! There’s someone in the Ninth Continent more powerful than Dao Jiu.”
“Ha! Keep bragging! How is that possible?”
“I don’t care if you believe it!”
“Tell me then, who is that person?”
The person looked at the sky wistfully and muttered, “That person… his surname is Qin, but no one knows his name. Everyone calls him Nameless Qin.”
“Nameless Qin?”
The people around him were stunned. They thought that they heard the name somewhere before.
Soon, they recalled that Nameless Qin was a notorious wanted criminal. Many factions had issued bounties on him.
They did not know the reason why. Everything related to Nameless Qin had always been a mystery.
“It can’t be! How can he be more powerful than Dao Jiu?” The girls were not convinced.
“I don’t care if you believe me or not. I wonder if he’ll come this time. It’d be very interesting if he does,” the person said.
“Ha, he won’t dare to come! So many factions are hunting him down!”
“What kind of prodigy is that Nameless Qin? If he’s being hunted down by so many people, he must be an irredeemable supervillain who kills indiscriminately,” a young girl said angrily.
“Supervillain?” The person was startled and said with a smile, “Maybe!”
Soon, no one paid attention to him. The people continued their way, and the scene became livelier than ever.
More prodigies arrived at Sublime Mountain in the next two days. Some of them sat under the sublime tree waiting for the fruit to ripen, while others went to look for the epiphany tree.
An endless stream of people was traveling on the road leading to the mountain.
Naturally, some people would take the opportunity to commit robberies.
“Hah! Stop right there! I’m the tollkeeper of this road. You’ll have to pay if you want to walk through here!”
“Th… this… this is a robbery. H… hand over y… your crystals and Artifacts!”
A group of masked men waited by the side of the road. Whenever they saw people traveling alone or in small groups of twos or threes, they would jump out and intercept them.
“Wahaha! We’re rich! We’re rich!”
“Look at all the money, Senior Brother! We’re so lucky!”
Other than prodigies, some people went to Sublime Mountain to join in the crowd. They were not powerful, so the robbers managed to get quite a lot of money from them.
They were all beaming with joy.
At that moment, another person came along the road. He was dressed in white and looked unremarkable. Judging from his cultivation, he was only in the middle or latter period of the State of Foundation Establishment.
“Stop right there! I’m the tollkeeper…”
The robbers jumped out and shouted fiercely.
The young man in white clothes stopped walking and looked at them with surprise.
“Hey, pay up! You won’t want to get hurt, right?”
The robbers became impatient when they saw the person standing there.
Suddenly, the young man smiled. “What a coincidence! We meet again!”
