The Palm Thunder, just newly learned, could only erupt in a flash of lightning in the palm. However, Prince Nitat was, after all, a four-awakened non-human. As a large amount of his life energy surged in, the lightning in his palm flickered, crackling and jumping, casting the entire exhibition area and numerous faces in constant shadow and light.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, someone finally couldn't help but exclaim, "Holy shit!" followed by a cascade of amazed shouts.
Eyes were fixed on the palm of the Prince of the Land of the End, a mix of astonishment, doubt, and shock painted across their faces.
"Impossible!"
"There's absolutely no way to possess an ability so easily. Only a few hours have passed? Even His Excellency Myth cannot do this!" the president of the White Tower Merchant Guild muttered.
This indeed defied logic. From any angle, it seemed false, impossible, yet the fact was laid bare before their eyes.
A certain powerful individual from the Scorching Flame Great Oasis covered one of his eyes. Within his other pupil, silvery-white light patterns swirled. This was his awakened ability. With its aid, he saw the life energy flowing within the Prince of the Land of the End. White streams emerged from deep within his body, flowed, and finally coursed along his right arm to his palm. Gentle life energy was instantly transformed into berserk lightning power. This was an ability. No mistake!
The Scorching Flame expert was profoundly shocked. He glanced at the two remaining treasure boxes containing ability fruits in the display cabinet and quickly regained his composure. He whispered to a subordinate beside him, "Quick, inform Lord Cang Yan about what's happening here!"
He wasn't the only one to react. From Storm City, Sword Flower City, and Wave City State... several powerful individuals gradually came to their senses and realized the significance of the event. Their subordinates quietly departed, breaking into a sprint once they were out of the exhibition area, their eyes clashing and sparking with each other.
The most astonished individuals were not these bystanders but Prince Nitat himself, who truly experienced the power of lightning. "The Lightning Fruit, how miraculous!" The lightning in his palm flared and died down intermittently. After dozens of uses, Nitat had become much more familiar with this ability. He understood that attaching lightning to his palm was merely the beginning, with immense room for improvement. This way, he possessed two abilities, one offensive and one defensive, covering both aspects.
Not only that, but while using this lightning ability, he keenly sensed that it also served to temper his mental strength. With an additional ability, an awakened individual could further solidify their foundation, not only enhancing their combat power but potentially aiding in future breakthroughs in awakening! At this thought, his heart leaped with excitement.
He looked at Miss Bai Yansi, the steward, and asked impatiently, "Beautiful lady, I'll buy the remaining two ability fruits as well." His personal wealth could barely afford one, but as the leader of a caravan and a representative of the Land of the End, Nitat could produce far greater wealth. One million strange crystals each? Absolutely worth it! He could leverage this to gain more benefits upon returning to the oasis.
His words immediately drew glares from the surrounding merchants. These merchants were not those with the authority to make decisions within the merchant guild. In other words, they could not afford these strange crystals; while not a large sum for the entire Great Oasis, it was an astronomical price for an individual. Of course, some still didn't believe and had no intention of buying.
"Our merchant guild has a policy: currently, each faction can only purchase one ability fruit. In the future, we will offer more purchase packages. Please stay tuned to our mall news," Bai Yansi said with a smile.
It was only then that Prince Nitat noticed a small line of text below the product price and description, stating the purchase limit and other rules. He was dumbfounded. Such a restriction? He then considered it reasonable. This was, after all, an inherited ability fruit unearthed by the Burning Fire Merchant Guild from ruins, and once consumed, there would be no more. If the super oasis behind the Burning Fire Merchant Guild hadn't suffered a great disaster and desperately needed to recoup losses, such a treasure would never have been put up for sale. Would there be another chance to buy it?
Looking at the remaining two Lightning Fruits, Nitat felt both regret and relief. Others stared intently at the fruits within reach, symbols of power and incredible inheritance, their eyes filled with longing and burning desire.
A dark shadow suddenly lunged out. Reaching for the two fruits sealed within the sturdy display cabinet, the entire figure was like a mass of shadow, directly piercing the specially made glass. In less than half a blink, the fruits were stuffed into his pocket, and he shot out of the grand bazaar like a stream of black liquid. By the time the nearby merchants recovered, the dark figure had already darted dozens of meters away. No one had expected this.
The Burning Fire Oasis was small, and the grand bazaar, as its core, had eyes and ears from various factions. When the plunderer appeared and snatched away the two fruits, the news spread like wildfire. A major merchant, who was rushing to the grand bazaar to purchase fruits with a large sum of strange crystals, stopped in his tracks, a look of regret on his face. Others watched with cold smiles, a hint of amusement playing on their lips.
"As expected, the security of the merchant guild mall is quite limited."
"After all, this is likely a super faction that fled here due to disaster. Their personnel are limited. I observed their patrol officers; they are indeed elites, but there are simply too few of them."
"Indeed, and there are no ritual formations set up within the bazaar. Should we consider the people of the Burning Fire Mall naive or overconfident? Do they still think they are in their super oasis?"
"Don't underestimate them. Even a starving camel is larger than a horse. The Burning Fire Mall, no matter how you look at it, has some foundation and must have powerful individuals guarding it. It remains to be seen whether they can intercept that plunderer."
The fall of a former super oasis, its humiliation, was something many relished. At this moment, they felt superior to the super oasis. Major merchants and oasis leaders engaged in rational analysis of the impact of this event.
"The Burning Fire Merchant Guild is clearly aiming to develop this oasis into a commercial hub, much like Starfall Fortress. They not only sell their own goods but also rent out a large number of shops. It is said that Starfall Fortress alone generates tens of millions of strange crystals annually from shop rentals."
"But Starfall Fortress took centuries to achieve its current prosperity. Moreover, Starfall Fortress has the banner of the City of Fallen Stars. What does the Burning Fire Merchant Guild have?"
Dragons from afar often struggle against local snakes, and in this case, the City of Fallen Stars was the local dragon, while the Burning Fire Merchant Guild, in their estimation, was merely a crippled dragon crossing the river. Their strength had significantly diminished, and they had no influence in the area. This was one of the reasons why not a single shop had been rented out since the Burning Fire Mall opened. All the merchant guilds were observing. If the plunderer escaped safely today, their assessment of the Burning Fire Mall would plummet.
"Ritual formations? I wish we had them, but that requires having them in the first place!" Super oases are bound to possess various ritual formations, solidifying mysterious powers over a large area in the form of rituals, which is mainstream in the strange realm. Rituals for checking erosion, for defense and solidification, for secrecy and concealment—all rely on rituals. Whether through self-research, direct observation of high-level existences, excavating ruins, or trading with other oases, rituals are indispensable. However, Xin Huo (Burning Fire) lacked them. Rituals, especially those for defense and barrier formation, are extremely difficult to obtain from other oases. Selling a barrier ritual would be tantamount to revealing one's weaknesses to others. Xin Huo is merely a new organization, less than a year old. While they possess cutting-edge technology, they have many shortcomings.
"However, if we lack rituals, we have strange weapons to compensate."
"Hei Dao (Black Blade) has already presided over the formulation of dozens of defensive plans. Now, let's see how effective they are."
"After waiting for so long, a little mouse has finally appeared."
Fang You, on Blue Star, gazed into the distance. He stroked his chin and grinned mysteriously, "It seems there's more than one little mouse. Interesting."
"Plan C-26, execute!" As the pitch-black shadow shot out of the grand bazaar at extreme speed and dashed towards the outside of the oasis, an epic domain-type strange artifact descended like a large net. They were already waiting on the road. When a raid occurred, all possible escape routes for the plunderer had been deduced.
Small oases have their advantages too! Every escape route was guarded by a net-casting squad. From afar, it looked as if the dark shadow had plunged headfirst into it, everything within the Burning Fire Merchant Guild's expectations!
"Is it over already?"
"I thought they had succeeded, but I didn't expect the Burning Fire Oasis to react so quickly."
But in the next moment, explosions erupted from various parts of the oasis. A group of people dressed as mercenaries, awakened individuals from different places, charged towards the grand bazaar.
"This isn't a random incident! This is premeditated!"
"These seem to be members of the Green Demon Mercenary Organization?"
Like the Blood Blade Organization, the Green Demon Organization is a notorious group that takes on any job.
"But it's just the Green Demon Organization. There's no reason they would dare to attack the Burning Fire Mall, right?"
"There are many plunderers, not just the Green Demons. I even saw a peak six-awakened. It's the White Bone Sword King, who was killed by the High Priest of the City of Fallen Stars thirteen years ago! I didn't expect him to still be alive!"
"Clearly, they have mysterious supporters behind them. Who could it be?"
"Dilott, are you secretly orchestrating this? This goes against His Majesty's instructions." In the open-air garden of a tall hotel, a man of unremarkable appearance frowned as he observed the distant commotion, looking at a somewhat portly man dressed as a merchant. Both came from the same place, and within their collars hung star-shaped pendants symbolizing their identity and faith.
The portly man called Dilott waved his hand, "Oh, oh, oh, you misunderstand me. My loyalty to His Majesty is as clear as the sun and moon. How could I do such a thing?"
"However, I mentally support these people." He leaned against the railing, a schadenfreude smile playing on his lips, "This Burning Fire Merchant Guild snatched a large portion of our commodity quotas as soon as they arrived. I wish for such unruly merchants to decline."
"Now it seems we are not the only ones who dislike the Burning Fire Merchant Guild. Many factions do. Look, the Burning Fire Merchant Guild has incurred the wrath of the masses."
Wrath of the masses was unlikely. The appearance of the Burning Fire Merchant Guild had significantly reduced their trade volume for many goods, but it was beneficial to the major oases of the Fallen Star Grotto. These oases wished for the Burning Fire Merchant Guild to compete with them and hoped to obtain more affordable items from the mall. However, at this moment, facing the plunderers emerging from all directions, the oases and merchant guilds made no move, quickly retreating. They feared getting caught in the crossfire. After all, this group of plunderers was crazy and very powerful!
Two individuals led the charge. One wielded two bone swords, his exposed arms and face smeared with eerie pale stripes. This was the White Bone Sword King, a peak six-awakened expert renowned in the Fallen Star Grotto decades ago. The other was exceptionally burly, over four meters tall, his bare upper body rippling with muscles like writhing dragons and snakes. His skin was a striking dark green, and his face was also painted with eerie stripes. This was another six-awakened throne, the leader of the Green Demon Organization! Two six-awakened individuals! Even though there were mid-to-high-level individuals from major oases within the mall, if the scope narrowed down to six-awakened thrones, the entire Burning Fire Oasis couldn't produce many! Six-awakened individuals were already at the level of high-level officials and leaders of major oases. Even Cang Yan had only arrived in a puppet avatar.
Seeing the plunderers launch their attack, the merchants also worried about being caught in the crossfire and quickly retreated. The mall's patrol teams and guards rushed in from the surroundings, and a flurry of sword light, blade shadows, flames, and lightning ensued... The plunderers fell in droves.
The traveling merchants who had just dodged: "???" As weapons met, the plunderers were fierce and ferocious, but the mall guards were visibly powerful, their moves so exquisite that many strong individuals marveled.
"Sword Master, Blade Master!"
"Among these ordinary guards, there are quite a few weapon masters?!"
Although the Burning Fire Mall guards did not have the advantage in aura, the battle was one-sided. Furthermore, the impact of explosions and the scattering of abilities were contained by domain-type strange artifacts. These plunderers couldn't even breach the grand bazaar to loot, let alone damage a few floor tiles.
As they watched, the merchants began to realize...
"The Burning Fire Mall's patrol personnel, though seemingly few, responded very quickly to the emergency."
"Yes, I encountered an incident at Starfall Fortress before. The patrol personnel of the City of Fallen Stars were much slower to react. Several shops were destroyed, and Starfall Fortress didn't compensate much in strange crystals afterward."
"Compared to this, it seems... the Burning Fire Mall is quite safe?"
"If the Burning Fire Mall can establish a foothold, investing now might yield tenfold or even hundredfold returns in ten years." Several merchants fell into deep thought.
In the distance, within the domain that was merely for environmental protection, the White Bone Sword King and the Green Demon leader, both six-awakened, fought with great frustration. Although the two mall powerhouses blocking them only emitted aura of five-awakened, they were suppressed. This was an outrage! A disgrace to the six-awakened! But no matter how they cursed or felt aggrieved, they were being suppressed. As the surrounding plunderers fell one by one, their situation became increasingly dire.
The Green Demon leader roared, "You forced my hand!" He had originally intended to use this item during his retreat, but now he had no choice. A cube-shaped object flew into the sky, and at extreme speed, as it flew, it rotated and transformed, its volume increasing. From an initial size of one meter in length, width, and height, it grew to three meters, then seven meters, hovering high in the sky, with cannon barrels extending from within. The giant cube gradually turned fiery red, and terrifying energy surged from within, as if space itself was trembling. Oppression, killing intent, and dread enveloped the area.
"What is this?"
"Why do I feel like this cube contains energy comparable to dozens of six-awakened individuals?"
"It's not an illusion, it's... the Duo Luo Tian Destruction Sky Cannon."
"What is that?" The name was peculiar, but there were learned individuals present. Prince Nitat's gray-headed advisor stared at the object in the sky for a long time before realizing. He spoke rapidly, "The legendary super-ancient empire, Kandora, possessed a terrifying Sky Cannon. It is rumored that one shot could destroy a great oasis... Of course, this is not the real Sky Cannon, but a weakened version, a disposable item. Such items can be found in many Kandora Empire ruins. Our Land of the End excavated a batch over a decade ago. Their destructive power is terrifying! The only flaws are that they can only be used once and are uncontrollable. Once activated, they cannot be canceled! Your Highness, hurry and leave this place!"
The group from the Land of the End retreated rapidly. The president of the White Tower Merchant Guild was stunned and turned to flee. The two Fallen Star City powerhouses in the open-air garden also left after a moment of愣. The cube was continuously pouring out energy. Below, Roland stepped into the air, wielding his sword to unleash a brilliant holy light, but as it approached, it was canceled out by the almost inexhaustible energy.
"Useless. The technology of the Kandora Empire was extremely advanced. Before firing, the Sky Cannon possessed almost invincible defense. It has no weaknesses."
"These plunderers are all lunatics! Are they willing to risk their own lives!" Roland also heard the surrounding conversations, but he remained unshaken, continuing to slash his sword again and again. The Green Demon leader nearby was stunned. What? The Sky Cannon will destroy everything around? This wasn't what was agreed upon! He also turned and fled. The cube in the sky glowed redder and redder, emitting terrifying dread and oppression that made people breathless.
In a luxurious restaurant in the distance, two girls were having a meal. One had waterfall-like black hair, sat upright with an elegant posture, and possessed a slender frame. The other had striking, fiery, wine-red medium-length hair, with one foot casually propped on the chair, her posture unrestrained and潇洒, constantly shoveling food into her mouth. These two were An Jianyou and Yiloxi. An Jianyou was escorting supplies and happened to meet Yiloxi, who was stationed there, and was dragged out for a meal. A meal was a meal. An Jianyou never cared about money. Even though this restaurant served dishes made of ingredients of high quality, paid for solely with strange crystals, eating here for one meal was equivalent to a year's worth of dining in high-class restaurants on Blue Star.
"Who is out there?" Her gaze was distant, piercing through space towards the distance, her brow furrowed. Feeling the great threat contained within the cube and hearing the exclamations of the knowledgeable merchants.
"We cannot let that cannon fire, or the mall might truly be destroyed." she said. Her instinct was to summon Red Clothes and White Silk, but she remembered her mentor's instructions, stood up, and then sat down again. "Without the aid of the sinister babies, my power is at most equivalent to a strong six-awakened. I cannot stop that Sky Cannon."
"Yiloxi!"
"Got it, got it—" Yiloxi replied helplessly, and snatched another plate of blue-grade beast meat, casting a reluctant glance at the lavish spread on the table.
"Good girl, I'll treat you to more grand meals after you finish this matter. Go quickly, go quickly."
"You promised, okay~!" Yiloxi's eyes lit up, and she stepped on the Illusory Space Step, shattering the glass and flying out. Within a few steps, she ascended to the high sky. She took a look. At this moment, the energy of the Duo Luo Tian Destruction Sky Cannon had reached its peak. The cannon barrels that had extended gradually lit up, emitting beams of fiery red light imbued with terrifying destructive energy. The entire sky seemed to turn red, with hundreds of meteors about to fall to the earth. Nitat, being pulled away by a six-awakened expert, looked back. The fleeing powerhouses looked back, their bodies trembling, and then their eyes widened in astonishment.
The sky rippled, wave after wave. In an instant, the entire sky was like a pond struck by fine raindrops, with countless circular ripples spreading outwards. At the center of the ripples was a girl with wine-red long hair, her arms spread wide, as if to block the Sky Cannon.
"Guardian Field... Infinite!" Tens, hundreds, thousands of invisible membranes extended from the spatial ripples, like shields, densely packed and layered, enveloping the sky and the earth, forming a spherical shape.
Resisting, dissipating, controlling, compressing. The hundreds of fiery red beams that had just descended were like being covered by a circular light shield, constantly shrinking. From a hundred meters to ten meters, then to one meter, they continuously shrank. Finally, they formed a basketball-sized ball of crimson light, which fell into the girl's hand.
The wind calmed, and the waves subsided. The Sky Cannon, after its burst, shattered, falling from the sky like scrap metal. Only the strong individual with the wine-red long hair stood tall in the sky, like an empress descending upon the world. She weighed the light ball capable of destroying an oasis in her hand, her eyes condescending, her lips curling slightly.
"This toy isn't bad."