What gave Lu Lei an even greater headache was that although this group of Flaming Rhinoceroses had successfully paired up, they remained restless. They spent their days inside the Flaming Rhinoceros Garden head-butting and stomping around. When they weren't fighting, they were tearing the place apart, their roars so deafening that Lu Lei couldn't even find the focus to cultivate.
"Did this bunch of beasts lose their minds?" Lu Lei frowned, surveying the wreckage of the Flaming Rhinoceros Garden. He had just finished giving the lot of them a beating to make them settle down, but it hadn't taken long for them to grow frantic again. "No, this definitely isn't just about the females being in heat. The males are just as manic."
Sensing that something was amiss, Lu Lei decided to investigate. He walked up to the Flaming Rhinoceros that had reached the Half-Step Spirit Spring Realm and tapped its head. "Hey, buddy, what’s gotten into you lot lately? Why are you so worked up all day long?"
The Flaming Rhinoceros tilted its head, looking at Lu Lei with a blank expression; it clearly didn't understand its own agitation either. It let out a few low grunts and shook its head, indicating it didn't know the cause—it just felt an uncontrollable urge rising within its body.
Lu Lei frowned and decided to give the herd a full physical. He lined the Flaming Rhinoceroses up and checked them one by one. Yet, after searching high and low, he found nothing out of the ordinary. "Strange. Am I overthinking this?" Lu Lei scratched his head, feeling puzzled.
Just then, it was time for the rhinos to eat. The caretaker in charge pushed in a cart of Red Flame Fruits, and the rhinos instantly grew excited, scrambling toward the food. Watching them wolf it down, something suddenly clicked in Lu Lei’s mind. "Could there be something wrong with the food?"
His eyes lit up. He rushed over and snatched the food away from one of the rhinos. The creature froze, offering a pathetic look, daring to be angry but not daring to speak. Lu Lei inspected the spirit fruit in his hand. Externally, it looked no different from a regular Red Flame Fruit, but its color seemed more vivid, and the surface shimmered with a faint luster. Unfortunately, being a crude Body Cultivator, he could study it all day and still not know what he was looking at.
"System, is there a problem with this thing?" Lu Lei asked internally.
The System’s voice chimed in promptly: "This is a Blazing Sun Fruit. It looks nearly identical to a Red Flame Fruit, but the spiritual energy contained within is far more volatile. Blazing Sun Fruit cannot be consumed directly; it usually requires refining and must be combined with other medicinal herbs into a pill. Long-term consumption will lead to mental agitation and, eventually, a cultivation deviation."
Lu Lei’s eyes widened in realization. "So that’s it! No wonder these guys are so hyped up all day—they’ve been eating this!"
He immediately turned and roared at the herd as they gorged themselves: "Still eating? Keep it up and you'll suffer a cultivation deviation! Stop it, all of you! Quit eating!"
However, the rhinos were too caught up in their feast to pay him any mind. Frustrated, Lu Lei stomped his feet, charged into the herd, snatched the food from them, and tossed it aside.
"ROAR!" The rhinos growled in dissatisfaction, especially the Half-Step Spirit Spring Realm one, which looked at Lu Lei with such aggrieved eyes it was as if it were saying, "Boss, why are you stealing our meal?"
Lu Lei glared at them. "You bunch of idiots! Do you even know what you’re eating? Eat too much of this and you’ll go insane!" The rhinos just stared at him blankly; they clearly didn't understand a word.
Lu Lei sighed. Knowing it was useless to reason with spirit beasts, he simply took matters into his own hands and collected all the Blazing Sun Fruits. A few of the rhinos, seeing their meal being confiscated, turned hostile, but before they could move, Lu Lei treated them to a few punches. "What are you looking at? You want to try me?" Faced with Lu Lei’s sandbag-sized fists, the rhinos dared to be angry but not to act, and they quickly quieted down. They knew the difference between losing a few fruits and getting a sound thrashing.
With the herd subdued, Lu Lei gathered all the Blazing Sun Fruits and asked inwardly: "System, aren't you the 'Body Refinement to Sainthood System'? How do you know about spirit fruits?" As far as Lu Lei was concerned, this System was usually unreliable; shouldn't it be as ignorant as he, a crude Body Cultivator, was?
System: "This item contains volatile spiritual energy. Consuming it places stress on the physical body, but long-term consumption can increase resistance to fire-attribute spiritual energy. It is recommended that the host consume three fruits, three times a day."
Lu Lei: "To hell with 'three times a day, three at a time'! You think this is cold medicine? I might not be human, but you’re a real dog. Didn't you say eating too much leads to a cultivation deviation? Why are you telling me to eat it?"
System: "If consumed alongside Clear-Mind Grass, the side effects of cultivation deviation can be eliminated."
Hearing this, Lu Lei’s eyes lit up. He patted his chest and said solemnly to the herd of rhinos, "From now on, I will be overseeing your meals personally! This stuff is toxic, so I’ll take care of it for you." The herd widened their bovine eyes, looking at this human with skin thicker than their own, and let out disgruntled grunts.
"What are you braying about! You won't die from missing a few meals! Go on, if you're hungry, go graze outside." Lu Lei shooed the entire herd away, keeping them far from the Blazing Sun Fruits. Although he spoke that way, he had already noted the strangeness of the situation. He was their new boss, after all; he couldn't just leave them to starve. And this was definitely *not* because he wanted to keep the Blazing Sun Fruits for himself.
The next day, Lu Lei found the caretaker in charge of the Flaming Rhinoceros Garden’s supplies. "Brother, where do these spirit fruits come from?"
The caretaker, an outer sect disciple of the Huanhuan Sect who looked like an honest fellow, scratched his head. "These fruits come from the Spirit Plantation. They said there’s been a bumper harvest of Red Flame Fruits recently, so they sent some extra for the garden."
"Red Flame Fruits?" Lu Lei took out a Blazing Sun Fruit meant for the rhinos. "Are you sure this is a Red Flame Fruit?"
The caretaker paused, picked up a fruit, and inspected it closely. "It looks like a Red Flame Fruit... isn't it?"
Lu Lei shook his head and relayed the System’s analysis. The caretaker’s face went pale. "This... how is that possible? Why would the Spirit Plantation send Blazing Sun Fruits? That would kill the spirit beasts!"
Lu Lei narrowed his eyes; he felt there was more to this. "You really didn't know? Let me be honest with you: several outer sect disciples have already been gored to death by these rampaging rhinos. The situation here has caught the attention of the outer sect elders, and I was specifically sent in by them to investigate. Why else do you think I, a mere Spirit Breath Realm (Early Stage) cultivator, could survive under this herd?"
The caretaker was completely taken in by Lu Lei’s bluster and hurriedly said, "I really didn't know! I’m only responsible for moving the fruit that Manager Li sends over. I have no idea why it would be Blazing Sun Fruit instead of Red Flame Fruit."
"Who is Manager Li?" Lu Lei caught the lead.
"He’s the manager in charge of allocating spirit fruits at the Spirit Plantation. He’s always been the one handing the Red Flame Fruits to me."
Lu Lei stared intently at the caretaker’s expression, confirming he wasn't lying. Besides, with the man's cultivation only at the Spirit Breath Realm (Mid-stage), he didn't have the capacity to pull off such a switch.