He Mengxi didn't know why Luo Qinghan had visited the Lightning Sword Sect, so that was why she asked.
Zhou Donghuang smiled casually at her question. "If we are fated to meet, we will eventually... Why should I rush it?"
"Could it be that you are unaware of the fact that the Alliance Hunt, which happens once every ten years, is happening soon?"
He Mengxi looked hard at Zhou Donghuang, as if she was trying to see through his neutral expression.
"Alliance Hunt?"
Zhou Donghuang was momentarily stunned. "What is that?"
"You don't know?" He Mengxi replied in a somewhat shocked manner.
"I previously assumed that you did not go looking for Luo Qinghan as the Alliance Hunt was taking place soon. I didn't know that you weren't aware of the Alliance Hunt!"
The Alliance Hunt was a hunt that was organized once every ten years by the top few elite sects of the Hengliu galaxy. The main stars were, of course, the Dharma adepts of the sects.
Several of the Dharma adepts of the top few elite sects would all enter, and they could use the hunt to kill beasts and earn points for their sect.
Once the Alliance Hunt ended, they would calculate the rankings of the sects and award prizes according to the rankings. Furthermore, the awards would all be contributed generously by the sects that were a part of the Alliance.
"I see."
After hearing the explanation offered by He Mengxi on the Alliance Hunt, Zhou Donghuang finally understood what she had been insinuating. The Alliance Hunt was basically a chance for all the Dharma disciples of the various top elite sects of the Hengliu galaxy's Alliance to test their skills.
"As long as one is a Dharma adept, one can participate? Is there an age restriction?" Zhou Donghuang asked curiously.
In his opinion, since the various big sects of the Hengliu galaxy had already prepared awards for this Alliance Hunt and had made the event so hyped up, they probably would not want to waste their awards on those old Dharma adepts who were limited in skills.
"There are restrictions, of course."
He Mengxi nodded her head. "For the Alliance Hunt, they only allow Dharma disciples of the various elite sects who are below the age of 50 to join... Furthermore, there can only be 40 representatives per sect.
"Among which, the ten early Dharma adepts have to be below the age of 30, the ten mid Dharma adepts have to be below the age of 35, the ten late Dharma adepts have to be below the age of 40, and the ten ultimate Dharma adepts have to be below 50."
As she spoke to this point, He Mengxi glanced meaningfully at Zhou Donghuang. "In this case, as long as Luo Qinghan fulfills this criteria, she will very possibly be one of the disciples of the Jihan Sect taking part in the Alliance Hunt this year."
"What's the prize if we win?" Zhou Donghuang asked directly to the point.
It was not that he was afraid of letting the Autumn Valley Head down. In any case, with his current abilities, if he wanted to earn the Lightning Sword Sect a good reputation, it would be easy for him to do so.
"Actually, the prizes are pretty good... Among the prizes, the most valuable would be the Sky Sun fruit!"
He Mengxi spoke as she glanced into the distance wistfully. "However, if one wishes to obtain the Sky Sun fruit, they not only have to be the top scorer in the entire Alliance Hunt... Their points also have to exceed a certain amount."
"Sky Sun fruit?"
Zhou Donghuang was shocked. He had not imagined that the Alliance of the top sects in the Hengliu galaxy could actually produce the Sky Sun fruit.
The Sky Sun fruit was able to allow someone who had recently entered the early Dharma stage to quickly advance themselves and enter the Primordial Soul stage within a short period of time.
Of course, whether one was able to borrow the power of the fruit to cross over to the Primordial Soul stage was dependent on the perceptions of the consumer.
For the majority of Dharma adepts, after consuming the Sky Sun fruit, their essential core would be able to reach the peak of the ultimate Dharma stage. However, they would still need an opportune moment to cross over into the Primordial Soul stage.
The Sky Sun fruit was not limited in power to the usage of just Dharma adepts but was usable for any martial arts adept of any stage.
It was just that for adepts of the Primordial Soul stage and above to consume this fruit, although one's essential core would still be raised, it would still not be of much help.
Throughout the entire infinite universe, the Sky Sun fruit was one of the top three spirit fruits that all the Dharma adepts hoped to be able to consume.
"Third Senior Sister, is the Sky Sun fruit really available as a prize?"
Zhou Donghuang took a deep breath as he confirmed this fact.
In the past two years, it was undeniable that in the Lightning Sword Sect, the Autumn Valley Head had been extremely accommodating in helping him find various rare herbs to create core drugs.
However, even if one combined the power of those core drugs, it could not be compared to that of the Sky Sun fruit.
"If I can obtain the Sky Sun fruit and use it as my main drug, I'll be able to create an even better Sky Sun elixir... Then, it can become essence!"
The Sky Sun elixir was made primarily from the Sky Sun fruit, and when paired with other rare herbs to form a core drug, it worked like the Sky Sun fruit but with further accelerated effects.
"Little brother, it isn't that easy to obtain the Sky Sun fruit."
He Mengxi could easily guess that Zhou Donghuang was rather interested in the Sky Sun fruit and so gave him a little reminder. "The Sky Sun fruit prize of the Alliance has been advertised by the Alliance for hundreds of years.
"As for the Alliance Hunt, they only organize it once every ten years... This means that in the past hundreds of years, out of the top disciples of the various elite sects who were nominated to participate in the hunt, even their points gathered in the hunt had not been high enough to obtain the Sky Sun fruit.
"Being the top scorer in the entire Alliance Hunt is only one of the conditions to obtain the Sky Sun fruit... The other condition would be that one has to reach the minimum score standard set by the sects," He Mengxi reminded Zhou Donghuang carefully.
"Has anyone ever reached that set score?" Zhou Donghuang asked.
"Of course."
He Mengxi nodded her head. "About 400 years ago, the Great Star Fireism had a late Dharma adept. He was the top scorer of the Alliance Hunt, and his points met the standard set for the Sky Sun fruit. He thus managed to obtain the Sky Sun fruit."
The Great Star… Fireism?
Zhou Donghuang's eyes flickered as he heard those words that were extremely familiar to him. Within the Great Star Fireism, he had killed someone called Gong Sunling in the past due to a debt he owed to the person who left him an inheritance. This inheritance was left by an ultimate Dharma adept named Mo Gan. He had left behind the Divine Soul Shaper to Zhou Donghuang.
At this point, He Mengxi continued to speak. "In that matter, the Great Star Fireism had originally been prideful... However, it was an extremely unusual situation. After obtaining the Sky Sun fruit, that talented Fireism disciple actually betrayed Fireism and joined one of the two Transcendental Forces of the Hengliu galaxy instead, the Qi Dynasty.
"Afterwards, this individual's identity was exposed, and everyone realized that he was the youngest son of King Qi of the Qi Dynasty, who many knew little about!
"He had entered Fireism in hopes of obtaining the Sky Sun fruit.
"In the Hengliu galaxy, there is only one tree that bears the Sky Sun fruit. According to the agreement between the two Transcendental Forces and the Alliance... For every 3,000 years, the Sky Sun fruit tree bears four fruits. The two Transcendental Forces receive one Sky Sun fruit each, and the Alliance receives two.
"The rarity and value of the Sky Sun fruit is, of course, very high... After all, for every 3,000 years, the Alliance only receives two such fruits in total!"
"That time, the young master of the Qi Dynasty used his trip to obtain one of the Sky Sun fruits and thus caused the entire Alliance to become enraged... Many of the top sects all sent forth representatives to demand an explanation from the Qi Dynasty.
"However, as there had been no explicit clause stating that this behavior was illegal, the Alliance could only swallow their pride and accept this loss of the Sky Sun fruit.
"After that incident, the Alliance sought out the Qi Dynasty and the other Transcendental Forces to set the clause and agreement that the two Transcendental Forces were banned from sending representatives to join the top elite sects and fight with the general Dharma disciples for the Sky Sun fruit. Otherwise, the Alliance would not hesitate to kill the Transcendental Force disciples!"
As He Mengxi spoke to this point, she paused for a while before continuing with her speech with a slightly pained smile, "If not for the young master of the Qi Dynasty who had obtained one of the two Sky Sun fruits belonging to the Alliance, the Alliance would still have two such fruits in its possession.
"The remaining Sky Sun fruit belonging to the Alliance as well as well as the Sky Sun fruit that the Qi Dynasty's young master had obtained were both picked recently a thousand years ago from the Sky Sun fruit tree."
...
After saying her piece, He Mengxi successfully conveyed the meaning of the Alliance Hunt to Zhou Donghuang. That was why every top sect would encourage their disciples to participate in this competition. It was a one-of-a-kind hunt.
For such a huge competition, the Alliance was even willing to take out the Sky Sun fruit as a prize, which was only picked once every 3,000 years and of which they only had two of.
"Third Senior Sister."
Zhou Donghuang asked, "If in the upcoming Alliance Hunt, someone manages to obtain the last Sky Sun fruit from the Alliance, the Alliance will no longer have any more Sky Sun fruits to place as a prize for the next 2,000 years. In that case, for a disciple who manages to not only become the top scorer but who also meets the standard points required to receive the Sky Sun fruit, would he be unable to do so then?"
After all, the Sky Sun fruit in the hands of the Alliance was only picked 1,000 years ago.
The Sky Sun fruit tree only bore fruit once every 3,000 years.
This meant that the next time the Alliance and the Transcendental Forces could receive the Sky Sun fruits was in 2,000 years.
"Yes, that is how it is."
He Mengxi nodded her head. "In the history of the Alliance, many talented disciples have been forced to endure such a consequence. Well, it is just too bad that they were unlucky enough to be born in a fruitless decade.
"When is the Alliance Hunt taking place?" Zhou Donghuang's eyes twinkled as he asked.
"In seven months," He Mengxi smiled and said.
"In a month, the sect will start to use the remaining six months to decide the 40 nominees who will get to represent the sect in the hunt... As for those who are selected as the 40 nominees, for the remaining six months, they will not be allowed to leave the Lightning Sword Sect till it is time for them to enter the venue of the Alliance Hunt."
"Third Senior Sister, the Valley Head should probably have some say over the nominees, am I right?" Zhou Donghuang asked.
"Regarding the nominations, you need not worry... Your nomination cannot be snatched away by anyone. According to gossip that I've overheard from my dad, our Sect Leader is extremely excited to see your performance in the Alliance Hunt. If you don't join the nominations, Sect Leader may even visit you personally to invite you to sign up as a representative."
He Mengxi sighed and shook her head. "The Alliance Hunt is, in a way, a competition of status among the top few sects... For the Lightning Sword Sect Leader, he would definitely hope that the disciples we send as representatives can obtain good results and earn a good reputation for our sect.
"As for Da Zhuang and I, we will have to pass some test before we can be nominated."
As she spoke to this point, the corners of He Mengxi's mouth turned up into a teasing smile. No matter whether it was for her or for Da Zhuang, the nomination test for the Alliance Hunt was an easy feat for either of them.
Well, this did prove to be true in reality.
A month later, even though she and Da Zhuang had held back at some points, they still easily and comfortably earned themselves a nomination to compete in the Alliance Hunt as part of the ten Mid Dharma adepts.