The monarch soul fruit grew on a sandy cliff surrounded by three high mountains of golden sands.
Each of the mountains was thousands of meters high. From behind one of the mountains, a woman in red was watching Qingfeng Li and the others. Her eyes were icy-cold and devoid of any emotions, looking at them as if they were just a pile of bodies.
Behind the second mountain was concealed a skinny old man. With sparse hair and dried-up skin, he emitted a world-shaking presence and no animals dared to go near him.
Behind the third sandy mountain hid a demon beast which had a single horn on its head. It was covered all over by black scales, with some silver scales mingled in, signifying that it was evolving toward a dragon.
Unfortunately, all the self-cultivators were watching the four crown princes lay siege to Qingfeng Li and was oblivious to the spectators lurking behind the three mountains.
With much more powerful soul power than every other self-cultivator present, Qingfeng Li had faintly sensed there were eyes watching him.
He was sure the watching eyes he sensed came from other sources instead of the four crown princes.
He turned his head toward the area around the monarch soul fruit and saw the three golden sandy mountains around the fruit.
The hard and sharp sandy rocks emitted radiant light, blinding anyone watching it.
Qingfeng Li thought the danger he just sensed came from the three sandy mountains and he prepared to concentrate his energy to get a clearer feeling of them.
But the crown princes and their guards from Lingyun, Fiery-Sun, Golden-Arrow and Clear-Wood all gathered around Qingfeng Li, planning to launch attacks against him.
Behind Qingfeng Li, the Second Prince, Mengyao Xu, Li Yang, Black Puppy, Sky-Devouring Snake, and a dozen of black-clothed retainers walked to guard Qingfeng’s flanks. A battle would begin any second.
The air was permeated with intense killing intent signaling an imminent great battle. At this moment, a self-cultivator yelled, “Look! The monarch soul fruit is about to mature.”
As one, all the people turned their eyes toward the monarch soul fruit on the sandy cliff and saw a shiny golden fruit on the small golden tree.
The fruit emitted radiant golden light and an enticing aroma was released from it. They could smell it even from hundreds of meters away.
The intense aroma of the monarch soul fruit contained huge amounts of soul energy. With a sniff of it, the self-cultivators felt the cleansing of their pores, skins, and brains.
Some self-cultivators even felt their soul powers had gained an obvious growth.
Deserting Qingfeng Li, all the crown princes, princes, and princesses rushed toward the monarch soul fruit.
They wanted to kill Qingfeng Li, but they wanted to get the monarch soul fruit more. Now that the fruit had matured, no one could resist its temptation.
Even the prince of Soil-Border clawed out of the sands. After closing his wounds with vital essence, he dashed toward the monarch soul fruit on the cliff.
When the Second Prince, Mengyao Xu, and Li Yang were also about to run toward the monarch soul fruit, Qingfeng Li stopped them.
He called out, “You guys, don’t go there. Stay where you are.”
The Second Prince turned to look at Qingfeng Li in bafflement, wondering why he asked them to stay here instead of going for the monarch soul fruit.
Grim-eyed, Qingfeng Li looked toward the three sandy mountains around the monarch soul fruit and said in a low voice, “I sense some danger ahead. You must not go near it.”
Black Puppy nodded, saying, “Yeah, the monarch soul fruit is a supreme realm spirit herb which can heal souls. Such a rare treasure surely is protected.”
The Desert Giant walked over and said, “Master, I heard from the Desert Queen that she would hide near the monarch soul fruit and kill any self-cultivators who went near it.”
Cold sweat broke out on the Second Prince and others since they all knew the great power of the Desert Queen, who was one of the three super fighters in the Crimson Fire Desert and had killed many powerful supreme realm self-cultivators.
Besides Qingfeng Li and his group, all the princes and princesses rushed toward the monarch soul fruit. So, did some sect disciples among whom Qingfeng Li found several familiar faces.
They were Yangtian Jin from the Sword Supreme Sect, Yidao Leng from the Saber Supreme Sect, and Yifei Wang from the Black Elixir Sect. Flying in the air, they were as fast as those crown princes on the ground.
At least five thousand self-cultivators rushed toward the monarch soul fruit. There had been more than ten thousand self-cultivators coming into the desert but most of them had died on the way.
When the self-cultivators were within fifty meters of the fruit, they screamed. From the sands below the fruit, a red fire suddenly shot up.
With great speed, the red fire shot onto the people closest to it, burning through their clothes and flesh with loud crackling sounds. Painful screams and the smell of singed fabric and flesh filled the air.
The powerful princes and princesses had sensed the horrible danger of the fire and instantly retreated, dodging the attack.
But their followers were not so lucky. Most of them died in the fire and the loss of lives was heart wrenching.
“Back off, everyone! The red fire is too hot for us to withstand.” The Crown Prince of Fiery-Sun called out.
All the self-cultivators retreated and dared not to go near the monarch soul fruit. They looked ahead of them with horror on their faces.
The Second Prince turned pale with fear and large beads of sweat slid down his forehead. He reached out his palm to dry the sweat on his forehead and looked at Qingfeng Li with admiration.
The Second Prince and the black-clothed followers congratulated themselves for heeding Qingfeng Li’s warning and not rushing forward, otherwise they would have been dead.
Qingfeng Li turned his head and asked the Desert Giant, “Little Sandie, was the fire released by your Desert Queen?”
The Desert Giant shook his head and said, “Master, the red fire must have been released by the Fiery Supreme. He is one of the three super fighters in the Crimson Fire Desert and excels in controlling fires.”