"Excellent!" Lei Qinian replied excitedly, and the two figures immediately shot into the air.
He went to pick the thousand-year-old golden laurel fruits, while Jun Moxiao took out a Jade Tablet and hung it on a branch.
Hovering mid-air, Jun Moxiao stared intently at the Jade Tablet without blinking.
Encountering a Thousand-year Cassia Tree for the first time, Jun Moxiao was extremely thrilled. He fervently hoped for some unusual phenomenon to occur after he hung the Jade Tablet.
Yet, after waiting approximately the time it takes to burn one stick of incense, Jun Moxiao was disappointed to find that none of the phenomena he expected had occurred.
The Jade Tablet hung on the branch, swinging softly in the gentle breeze; everything seemed perfectly natural.
"Failed again."
Jun Moxiao flew over and removed the Jade Tablet.
Lei Qinian came over and comforted him, "Jun, donât be too disappointed. There are other Thousand-year Cassia Trees."
Jun Moxiao nodded.
Lei Qinian muttered in a low voice, "Anyway, with Brother Monkey to help us, why worry that we wonât find the other two trees?"
"Brother Lei has a point."
Jun Moxiao laughed joyfully and descended from the sky.
He returned to the Monkey Leaderâs side and took out five more Demigod Dragon Tiger Pills.
"I kindly ask that Brother Monkey continues helping us search for the other Thousand-year Heavenly Moon Cassia Trees. This is your reward," Jun Moxiao said with a grin.
The Monkey Leader, stroking its chin in a very human-like manner, stared intently at Jun Moxiao. This gave Jun Moxiao a chill.
Is this Monkey Leader going to drive a hard bargain?
After all, Iâve produced God-level Dragon Tiger Pills several times; perhaps it looked too easy.
As expected, the Monkey Leader shook its head and then held up two fingers.
Jun Moxiao understood instantly; this meant the monkey wanted double the reward.
In other words, ten Demigod Dragon Tiger Pills were needed.
The thought of giving so many Dragon Tiger Pills to this Monkey Leader made Jun Moxiaoâs heart ache.
Nevertheless, there was no other way. Finding the Thousand-year Heavenly Moon Cassia Trees was impossible for Jun Moxiao and Lei Qinian alone.
After some consideration, Jun Moxiao still believed in the saying "no pain, no gain." So, he took out ten God-level Dragon Tiger Pills and handed them to the Monkey Leader.
Holding the pills, the Monkey Leader chittered excitedly.
Apparently, it realized that consuming these pills would yield unimaginably immense benefits to its cultivation.
The Monkey Leader chittered excitedly a few times and stuffed these Demigod Dragon Tiger Pills into its cheeks.
These monkeys did not have storage rings; if they wanted to hide pills, they could only stuff them into their cheeks.
Watching Jun Moxiao take out ten more of those precious pills, Lei Qinianâs heart was also bleeding.
At that moment, Lei Qinian decided he would not take a single one of the Thousand-year Tianyue Osmanthus Fruits they acquired. Not even if Jun Moxiao held a knife to his neck would he accept them.
After all, he felt he didnât deserve them.
For Lei Qinian, obtaining the golden laurel fruits hidden by his ancestors was enough.
The Monkey Leader shouldered its staff and then began to lead the way.
Jun Moxiao and Lei Qinian followed behind it, and the other monkeys followed behind the two humans.
Initially, Jun Moxiao was extremely excited, thinking he would soon find the second Thousand-year Heavenly Moon Cassia Tree.
But he hadnât expected things to go that way.
They searched the Heavenly Moon Secret Region for three full days but still found nothing.
Only then did Jun Moxiao realize that finding these Thousand-year Heavenly Moon Cassia Trees was probably extremely difficult.
After all, the Heavenly Moon Secret Region was incredibly vast and expansive. To find a Thousand-year Heavenly Moon Cassia Tree adept at camouflage and prone to running around, one truly needed immense luck.
Their luck before had been exceedingly good; there was a Thousand-year Heavenly Moon Cassia Tree nearby, allowing them to pick up a huge bargain for no reason.
Over these few days, Jun Moxiao encountered some disciples from the Xuanyang Sect again, but upon seeing Jun Moxiaoâs group, those Xuanyang Sect disciples quickly fled.
They didnât dare to approach and cause trouble at all.
"Brother Jun, those fellows from the Xuanyang Sect are terrified of you now," Lei Qinian laughed loudly beside him.
Jun Moxiao awkwardly chuckled along.
How could it be his achievement?
This was all thanks to the Old Ancestorâs grand gesture, wasnât it?
Without the Old Ancestorâs God-level Dragon and Tiger Pills, trying to command the Monkey Leader would be harder than ascending to Heaven.
Their party continued searching everywhere for Thousand-year Heavenly Moon Cassia Trees without stopping. In a flash, another three days passed.
On this day, the Monkey Leader was in a cassia grove, searching for traces of a Thousand-year Cassia Tree.
Suddenly, Jun Moxiao heard a clamor from the distance.
He shot into the air, looking down towards the distant commotion.
He saw that a hundred miles away, three torrents of people were rapidly chasing something in a particular direction. Each torrent consisted of at least a thousand individuals.
"What are they chasing?" Lei Qinian also ascended, standing beside Jun Moxiao and murmuring to himself as he watched the distant scene.
"Could it be another Thousand-year Heavenly Moon Cassia Tree?" An idea suddenly flashed in Jun Moxiaoâs mind, and he considered this possibility.
Lei Qinian nodded, "Brother Jun, your guess is likely correct. Those three forces are probably the three great sects of the Heavenly Moon Dynastyâthe Xuanyang Sect, the Zhengyi Jianmen, and the Mo Xue Sect."
"There are so many people. If we want to get a piece of the action, it might be quite difficult." Jun Moxiao frowned, feeling uncertain.
He only had a little over three hundred monkeys on his side; they couldnât possibly compare to those teams of thousands.
Let alone snatching the golden laurel fruits right under their noses.
"Brother Jun, your main task is to hang the Jade Tablet anyway. Once theyâre done fighting and leave, we can just go over then, canât we?" Lei Qinian said with a hearty laugh.
Jun Moxiaoâs eyes lit up, and he couldnât help but smack the back of his own head.
He had been so focused on snatching those golden laurel fruits that he had completely forgotten his task of hanging the Jade Tablet.
All he had to do was hang the Jade Tablet on a Thousand-year Heavenly Moon Cassia Tree. As for those laurel fruits, they werenât particularly important.
Besides, they had already obtained quite a few.
Thinking of this, Jun Moxiao also laughed in embarrassment.
At this moment, the three torrents suddenly changed direction, splitting into three different paths, yet still tightly pursuing that one Heavenly Moon Cassia Tree.
"Strange. Why is that Thousand-year Heavenly Moon Cassia Tree running so fast, when theyâre supposedly the same?" Lei Qinian blinked.
"Itâs because that first Thousand-year Heavenly Moon Cassia Tree hadnât detected us that it lowered its guard. Then, after Brother Monkey pummeled it for a bit, I reckon it was injured and couldnât get away, so it had no choice but to reveal its true form," Jun Moxiao speculated after a momentâs thought.
"Thatâs probably it," Lei Qinian nodded in agreement.
Just then, the three torrents, numbering in the thousands, suddenly converged at one point.
Clearly, the three major forces had completely surrounded that Thousand-year Heavenly Moon Cassia Tree.