'Foraging, avoiding predators, hiding, camouflaging...'
'How to fly more effortlessly, where to find places with insects...'
'If I were a bird, these memories and experiences might actually be of some use to me.'
Jiang Lan shook his head slightly.
The short life of a sparrow flashed through his mind like a fleeting shadow.
He was beginning to understand some of the peculiar aspects of the Destiny Dao Fruit. "Manipulating life" wasn't just about controlling his own life; within a certain range, he could also control the lives of external things.
For instance, with a single thought, he could absorb the Life Force from the willow tree outside the window lattice and obtain its corresponding memories, experiences, talents, and so on.
This ability was less like acquisition and more like outright plunder.
'As long as I wish it, is there any living thing among the myriad creatures of the world that I cannot plunder?'
The only limitations were perhaps the range and a vast disparity in power between himself and the target.
'In other words, from now on, any living being can serve as my nourishment, helping me grow stronger quickly.'
'This is truly a test of my character.'
In the hands of someone with an improper Heart Skill, this power could cause boundless disaster. But was his own Heart Skill proper?
Jiang Lan didn't consider himself a good person, but he didn't want to be someone who committed evil for evil's sake.
His consciousness sank into his Mud Ball Palace.
The Destiny Dao Fruit was still a vibrant, crystalline green, flawless and pure. Its surface was wreathed in a dense, surging Life Force, mysterious and profound, showing no significant change.
This was only the first stage of the Destiny Dao Fruit. He still didn't know what stage it would grow to next.
'Manipulating lifespans? Truly raising the dead and regrowing flesh on bones? Or achieving true immortality? Granting eternal life?'
He didn't know how long it would take to reach the second stage, nor how much Power of Destiny it would require.
'When the Destiny Dao Fruit fully matures, what new Dao Fruit will grow?'
Jiang Lan's gaze fell upon the end of the vine, where a tiny sprout was budding, faintly showing signs of breaking through.
Clearly, a second Destiny Dao Fruit would grow there. After it was fused, he had no idea what kind of Dao Fruit it would evolve into.
Jiang Lan couldn't help but feel a flicker of anticipation.
The appearance of the Destiny Dao Fruit could be said to have solved his most pressing physical problem.
Relying on its immense, surging Life Force, Jiang Lan even felt that he could dig out the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Immortal Heart without suffering any significant consequences.
His current Spring of Life was the Destiny Dao Fruit.
With that terrifying self-healing ability, as long as the speed was fast enough, he could achieve a state of being Immortal and having an eternal physical body.
The only thing to consider was whether his Life Force could be depleted.
During the self-healing just now, Jiang Lan had clearly sensed a slight decrease in his Life Force.
Although the Destiny Dao Fruit quickly replenished it, if he suffered a severe injury in the future and the rate of replenishment couldn't keep up with consumption, it was still possible to be drained to death.
To achieve the effect of an Undying Body, he still had to strengthen himself.
In this world, for those with profound cultivation, regrowing severed limbs or reviving from a single drop of blood was not difficult.
There were even those who could be decapitated, their limbs torn asunder and buried in the four corners of the world, sealed for tens of thousands of years, and still revive.
Not to mention those beings whose souls could be annihilated and bodies destroyed, yet could reawaken from the river of time as long as their true name still existed in the world...
For now, this ability of his could only be said to have solved his most urgent problem. He didn't have a pressing need to obtain the Immortal Embryo Creation Dew to reshape his constitution and physical body.
'Strength and cultivation are primary, while innate talents and abilities are secondary. I can't rely too much on the Destiny Dao Fruit and get my priorities mixed up...'
'For now, I still have to do my best to raise my cultivation and increase my Life Force. No matter what I'm planning, having a higher cultivation level will make things more convenient.'
Jiang Lan remembered very clearly that in the original story, there was a lost Cultivation Technique that perfectly matched his current Destiny Dao Fruit.
As for the Immortal Embryo Creation Dew, he would find a way to get it after dealing with Lin Fan.
The matter of the Destiny Dao Fruit was his greatest secret; he couldn't let a second person know.
With the Immortal Embryo Creation Dew, even if his cultivation and strength were exposed in the future, he would have an excuse to cover it up.
Just then, Jiang Lan got up, left his room, and went outside to order the servants to prepare a medicinal meal.
He actually wanted to test whether relying solely on meat and the like could increase his vitality and Life Force.
Another peculiar aspect of the Destiny Dao Fruit was that it allowed him to manipulate his own or external Life Force with meticulous, seamless precision.
Under these circumstances, even if his internal vitality was as vast and surging as an ocean, his outward appearance was no different than before—pale and thin, as if a strong gust of wind could blow him away.
'With lying low being the current meta, was this really setting me up to be the ultimate lurker?'
Jiang Lan actually felt that once he had absolute strength, openly and honorably displaying his talent and cultivation would be a better way to acquire resources and connections.
However, for now, that wasn't something he needed to worry about.
Soon, the City Lord's Mansion became a hive of activity.
The City Lord, Wang Anming, personally ordered his butler to go to the major shops and Marketplaces in the city to purchase the meat of various Spiritual Birds and Fierce Beasts to prepare a medicinal meal for Jiang Lan.
Regarding Jiang Lan's "Heart-devouring Syndrome," not even Ying, who was responsible for his safety, was very clear on the details.
He only knew that Jiang Lan had been frail and sickly since childhood, and that his condition would flare up periodically.
As for the exact reason, he didn't know, nor did he dare to ask.
And in the Imperial Capital Jingyang City, there were very few rumors about Jiang Lan's illness.
Everyone thought that a problem with his physical constitution made it impossible for him to cultivate.
Even those Noble Families and Clans who knew that Jiang Lan had seemed to cultivate in the past kept silent, not daring to speak recklessly. By tacit understanding, it had become a kind of unspoken "taboo."
「Meanwhile, in Yu Yi City, at the Su Mansion.」
A large, exquisite, gilded mahogany plaque hung high above the courtyard gate, flanked by stone lions, giving it a very grand appearance.
The news—that after the City Lord's banquet, the Su Family's young miss, Su Qinghan, had not returned to the Su Mansion, but had instead stayed behind and not been seen for two days—had already spread rapidly, deliberately circulated by several of Yu Yi City's major Noble Families.
In the various pavilions and teahouses, it became a topic of gossip for many over their tea and meals.
Some relished the news with wonder, while others were deeply distressed. Still others expressed envy, bluntly stating that the Su Family was about to latch onto a powerful connection.
Naturally, there were also those who were jealous, subtly mocking the Su Family's young miss for being a social climber who fawned on the powerful.
Some called her a femme fatale, a black-hearted beauty who had long been having a secret affair with the Son of the Prime Minister. They claimed that, unhappy with her engagement to Lin Fan, she wanted to use the Son of the Prime Minister to get rid of him.
That was why she had a clandestine meeting with the Son of the Prime Minister in the Snow Moon Pavilion, only to be discovered by Lin Fan. As a result, Lin Fan, burning with rage, ended up being framed for assassinating the Son of the Prime Minister...
Of course, it wasn't long before the people who spread such talk were found by the City Lord's Mansion's Patrol Guards. They had their tongues cut out in public before being thrown into the dungeons, charged with the crimes of colluding with an assassin and slandering the Prime Minister's Mansion.