"Thank you for your concern." Nero said and left the hall. Amaya knew that Nero still planned to go and she couldn't convince him otherwise, so she left it and didn't bother again.
Back in his room, Nero sat on his bed with his eyes closed.
"The Life restoring plume fruit is not worth much in the higher realms, but down here, it's just what I need to complete this potion…"
It was unclear who he was talking to, but what he said was true. The Life restoring plume fruit can be considered a miracle of heaven and a heavenly fruit that can be used to refine many miracle potions and pills. If one was to enter the Core Formation Realm, they would have to destroy their dantian and revolve the Qi scattered around it to form the Spirit core. This process was a bone-shearing painful process that made many martial artists perish before truly forming their core. The Life restoring plume fruit makes this painful process much less painful and gives room for one to focus more on forming the core than resisting the pain. This was a heavenly fruit that played a major part to those old martial arts masters to advance into the Core Formation Realm!
However, it was also what would play a major role when refining Nero's potion. If he could get this fruit, then his chances of successfully refining the potion he wanted would be higher. Now, he had 90% assurance that he would be able to refine the potion. But that would be at the cost of him finding it first, and also he might have to fight his way through it. The forces of the entire Western Earth Kingdom had been mobilized to find this fruit, and some of them needed this fruit to make a breakthrough, like the old man that was said to be at the Late-stage Grand Cultivation Realm. And some of them wanted to get and keep for future use.
The goal of every martial artist is to advance in their cultivation and live the life of a god. They were aware of how difficult this path would be, but the benefits were surely mouth-watering. When one begins to cultivate, they undergo a baptism of the Heaven and Earth Qi transforming them into vessels that can tap into the infinite power of the Universe. These vessels are then nurtured and trained in the ways of martial arts giving them limitless abilities!
From that moment on, they have as much power as they want and live as long as they want, as long as they continue to advance in their cultivation. Those old martial arts masters weren't ready to die yet so they had to join in on the hunt. Even if they didn't need the fruit now, they might still need it in the future.
Nero might encounter these people and even if he wouldn't be able to fight them, he could always escape. But to get the Life restoring plume fruit, he would have to confront the Beast King! Due to their different way of cultivating, beasts that cultivate are naturally stronger than a human martial artist at the same realm. And the Beast King's strength was said to be at the peak of the Grand Cultivation Realm and there was also a chance that it had surpassed it! So compared to the strongest martial artists of the human race, the beasts have more strength than they do. This was the hardest part.
Nero's strength far surpassed the Divine Sea Realm but was limited within the Grand Cultivation Realm. At the moment, he wouldn't think of having a confrontation with the Beast King.
"It's no use thinking so much about it. The fact remains that I need that fruit, I'll just have to think of a way to get it without anyone noticing." Nero calmly went over his plan. He had to first find the Beast king on his own and think of a way to get the fruit without causing a large-scale battle that would attract the attention of every other person. Nero resumed his meditation and didn't say a word again.
The late night came and the bright moon hung in the night sky. Nero slowly opened his eyes and propped himself from his bed. He spent the next few breaths of time preparing the materials he needed on his adventure.
"The Princess has helped me gather the materials I needed for my potion. If fate wills it then we shall meet again, but for now, I must leave…" It wasn't clear just who Nero was talking to but after he was done speaking, he leaped out from the window.
…
"What do you mean you lost him?" Alistaire's voice echoed through the State Master's palace. Before him was a young man dressed in black robes. He knelt before Alistaire, his body slightly trembling.
"My Lord, it seemed to have happened in the dead of the night. I don't know how but he seemed to have evaded my perception. I didn't detect any movement from him for many hours, so I came this morning to check him myself and I found that he was gone. All his things were gone too." The young man quickly explained himself.
These past six months, Nero had been the center of attraction that everyone was focused on. He had been the esteemed guest of the Gandor kingdom that had caused even the State Master to acknowledge him. However, this still didn't mean that Alistaire wouldn't monitor his every movement. He had been given many benefits and to that, he naturally knew the reason why.
The request to officially remain with the Gandor kingdom had many times been presented to him, but he bluffed it to the side. It was all to win Nero over to their side, to secure their position as the strongest ruling power in the Western Earth Kingdom. Nero had already displayed his strength in front of thousands of people, so no one doubted that his strength might even be able to contend with those State Master level characters.