Chapter 64

Two weeks ago, when his brother mentioned the Red Scarves at the dinner table, Zhang Tie listened to the story with a casual attitude. To Zhang Tie, an ordinary guy, the Red Scarves, a band of ruthless robbers who had caused chaos throughout the Andaman Alliance, seemed as distant as a copper coin. Although the Red Scarves were active within the Andaman Alliance, Zhang Tie always felt that he and they belonged to completely different worlds.

However, when Black Flame City began its curfew, Zhang Tie realized that the Red Scarves had started to affect his life, albeit slightly. He became more worried about his brother, hoping that he would not encounter these bloodthirsty killers.

The Red Scarves were notorious and feared throughout the Andaman Alliance, their reputation built on countless blood and bones. Twelve years ago, in the Blackson Human Corridor, after the Red Scarves captured the emerging small city of Baroque, they orchestrated the "Baroque Massacre," which sent shivers down everyone's spine. A beautiful city with over ten thousand inhabitants was completely wiped out, with no one spared, not even the animals. It turned into a ghost town.

The brutality of the Red Scarves made everyone tremble. Despite having fewer than a thousand members, the Baroque Massacre alone meant that each member of the Red Scarves had the blood and souls of over a hundred innocent victims on their hands...

During their operations, all members of the Red Scarves wore red hoods. Apart from a few well-known figures, no one outside the group knew the names of the others. The Red Scarves were secretive, disappearing after their crimes and reappearing unexpectedly, making them almost impossible to guard against.

Zhang Tie never imagined that one day he would confront such a terrifying organization, not only confronting them but also personally killing two of them.

The words "Red Scarves" made Zhang Tie sit on the ground, his mind in a daze for a while before he recovered. Once he did, he ran to Snider's body, lifted his outer clothing, and found a similar opening on the right side of his inner armor. From the opening, he pulled out an identical red hood.

"Damn it, I'll show you how to be cocky, I'll show you how to bleed me, you bastard, thinking you're great just because you can kill..." Thinking about how close he had come to dying at the hands of the Red Scarves, Zhang Tie's initial fear of the two bodies turned into anger and hatred. He kicked Snider's body fiercely over a dozen times.

After this outburst, Zhang Tie felt a sense of relief. "So what if they're the Red Scarves? Are they going to sniff out and bite my ass?"

"Spit..." Zhang Tie spat heavily on Snider's body. Then, dragging Snider's foot like a dead dog, he pulled him towards the Pool of Chaos. Snider, who weighed only half as much as Hack, was much easier to drag.

He took two breaks and used five minutes to drag Snider's body to the edge of the Pool of Chaos. With a strong push, the body fell into the black mud, slowly sinking. Then, Zhang Tie turned back and spent about ten minutes dragging Hack's massive body to the edge of the Pool of Chaos. With another strong push, another member of the Red Scarves disappeared from this world forever.

After finishing this, Zhang Tie ran over and collected the two men's medicine pouches, money bags, clothing, and the crystal box, throwing them all into the Pool of Chaos, erasing all traces of their existence in this world.

With this done, Zhang Tie felt a great sense of relief. From now on, who could say these two men had anything to do with him?

After that, Zhang Tie casually opened the basic attribute panel of the Black Iron Fortress.

— Black Iron Fortress

— Length: 1 Krosa

— Width: 1 Krosa

— Spirit Energy: 328

— Merit Points: 2122

— Basic Energy Reserve: 43.7

— Special Output: None

The values for Spirit Energy and Basic Energy Reserve did not surprise Zhang Tie. The seeds in the space had been sprouting more and growing better, leading to an increase in Spirit Energy. However, the Merit Points shocked him. How did they jump to over two thousand? Zhang Tie quickly checked the log.

— Upholding justice, killing the wicked members of the Red Scarves, Snider and Hack, rewarding the good and punishing the evil, placing the greatest benevolence of the gods in the world, avenging the countless souls on their hands, and ensuring that the wicked receive their due punishment, earning 2048 Merit Points.

Reading this, Zhang Tie felt a surge of righteous indignation. Those two beasts truly deserved to die.

After closing the basic attribute window of the Black Iron Fortress, Zhang Tie went to the small tree. The disappearance of the Nirvana Fruit after a week of waiting made him heartbroken. He wanted to see the current state of the Nirvana Fruit.

The originally mature Nirvana Fruit was now only the size of a peanut, pitifully hanging on the branch. As Zhang Tie reached out, a message appeared.

— Nirvana Fruit temporarily stopped growing. It will resume growth once the fusioner's body and blood recover.

Zhang Tie estimated that his body was currently busy producing blood. Given his current state, it would take about two to three days for his body to fully recover, and the next Nirvana Fruit would mature in about ten days.

"Damn it!" Zhang Tie cursed Hack and Snider again. Without yesterday's incident, his strength would have increased significantly. The Nirvana Fruit was truly a great thing.

There was nothing he could do but wait.

Next, Zhang Tie checked the Iron Seed Fruit. This fruit was just beginning to develop, with only about one-fifth of the progress bar filled. To mature, he would need to find an opportunity to get beaten up.

Just as Zhang Tie was about to leave the Black Iron Fortress, his eyes caught something on the small tree.

"Huh!" Zhang Tie turned back and walked to the other side of the tree. On the opposite side of the Nirvana Fruit, he noticed a golden glow that had just flashed.

Zhang Tie circled the tree and, parting the lush branches, found a golden, shiny fruit hanging there. The fruit was as large as a mature Nirvana Fruit, perfectly round, with a deep golden color. Inside, it seemed to have golden light flowing. Unlike the Nirvana Fruit and Iron Seed Fruit, this fruit had no fragrance, but its light was even more brilliant.

Zhang Tie was stunned, completely unsure when the tree had produced this fruit.

Since he couldn't understand, he decided to take a closer look. As Zhang Tie touched the dark golden fruit, several lines of text appeared.

— Glory Fruit, matured. Usage: Pick and consume directly. Note: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Black Iron Fortress. After twelve hours, the energy and essence within the fruit will gradually dissipate.

Seemingly understanding Zhang Tie's confusion, another line of text appeared.

— The glory of the fallen soul, with the death of the fallen, will be stripped away. The soul of the fallen will return to the dark land, and the glory of the soul will remain. This is the power given to the soul by the Creator, not to be desecrated. All glory belongs to the righteous warrior who upholds justice, the brave one who wields the sword against darkness. You are the light that judges evil, and the glory of the soul will merge with you, bringing you even greater power.

Zhang Tie swallowed hard, unsure what the glory of the soul and its power meant, but he knew that this Glory Fruit was incredibly powerful. It seemed that the glory of the soul came from the power stripped from Hack and Snider. Although he didn't know how strong Hack and Snider were, they only felt slightly less oppressive than Captain Collin. Now, all the power from these two men was contained in this Glory Fruit.

This was a windfall! Zhang Tie's heart raced. He took a deep breath, rubbed his face, and carefully picked the gem-like Glory Fruit. Such a good thing, with Zhang Tie's character, he would definitely consume it to feel at ease. With the experience of consuming the Nirvana Fruit, Zhang Tie sat cross-legged under the tree and, like Zhu Bajie eating the Ginseng Fruit, swallowed the fruit in one bite, breaking it open...

At the moment he bit into the fruit, Zhang Tie heard a loud boom in the depths of his mind, and then he lost all sensory perception.

What followed was like a dream. In the dream, he felt his body become transparent and weightless. In the sea of consciousness in his brain, a faint golden mist was swirling around a mysterious point. Then, a faint golden mist began to emanate from the gem-like Glory Fruit in his mouth, seamlessly merging with the original mist in his mind. As the two mists merged, a sense of joy, never before felt, rose in Zhang Tie's soul. Joy, joy, joy, from the deepest part of his heart, this joy made Zhang Tie feel an unprecedented sense of peace and comfort. In this state, the golden mist from the Glory Fruit continued to merge with the mist in his mind, growing thicker and brighter, changing from a pale gold to a pure gold, and becoming even more radiant...

After an unknown amount of time, when the process stopped, the volume and quality of the mist in Zhang Tie's mind had changed dramatically. The volume of the mist had expanded by at least seven times. If the original golden mist was compared to a pencil, the current golden mist was like a golden bamboo, far surpassing the original. In terms of quality, the mist was now even more vibrant and full of life...

After a long time, Zhang Tie, sitting cross-legged, opened his eyes and suddenly noticed that the Black Iron Fortress seemed different. All the colors appeared more vivid and bright, his nose seemed more sensitive, and the fragrance of the soil around him became more layered. The world began to become more vivid in Zhang Tie's senses.

Zhang Tie stood up and moved his limbs, feeling a sense of renewal and vitality. Every cell in his body seemed to be rejoicing and celebrating. This feeling was incredible.

What just happened? What was that golden mist?

Zhang Tie closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them, his face showing a look of shock. He finally understood what the Glory Fruit and the golden mist were. The golden mist was his mental energy, which was previously too weak to be perceived. The glory of the soul was mental energy. After he killed these two wicked men, it seemed that the Manjusha Tree of Cause and Effect had stripped their mental energy to form the Glory Fruit. The Glory Fruit increased mental energy. The mental energy of the two men was each about three times his own, and combined, it made his mental energy increase to seven times its original amount...

Understanding this, Zhang Tie looked at the silent tree with a newfound respect...

Because he had little knowledge in this area, or no opportunity to learn more, although he didn't understand what mental energy could do besides igniting a bright point, the sevenfold increase in mental energy meant that his future cultivation would be much more efficient. In the same amount of time, he could achieve better results or sustain longer cultivation periods. Just this alone made Zhang Tie very satisfied, not to mention that the increase in mental energy also enhanced his perception and sensory abilities, making his body more responsive. This was the best gift from heaven as he was about to begin the survival trial!

"Come on, survival trial!"

Zhang Tie shouted loudly in the Black Iron Fortress...