Meng Xing held the Azure Fire Lotus lightly in his palm.
The moment it appeared, the courtyard's temperature surged as if the air itself were about to combust.
A deadly heat radiated from the lotus, illuminating Meng Xing's expression with ghostly blue light.
He tilted his head slightly.
A cold, razor-thin smile stretched across his lips, revealing stark white teeth.
"You really think awakening some trash-tier combat talent gives you the right to step on me?"
Huang Jie's pupils shrank.
His Awakening was nothing more than an F-tier Strength Talent.
Peak human strength—nothing beyond.
A talent that couldn't even defend against bullets.
What was he going to do?
Punch the air? Block bullets with 400 kilograms of raw muscle?
Huang Jie swallowed hard, disbelief painting his face pale.
"You… you awakened? No—y-you have two talents? Brother Xing, you're a dual-talent Awakened?!"
His courage evaporated instantly.
In the slums, Huang Jie could swagger and bark orders.
But in front of real combat-type Awakened, he always tucked his tail between his legs.
And right now—
Meng Xing's presence felt stronger than any Awakened he had ever seen.
B-tier?
A-tier?
Could it even be… S-tier?
He didn't dare think further.
Fear flooded his eyes.
Meng Xing's killing intent was real.
Terrifyingly real.
Huang Jie's legs gave way with a muffled thud.
He collapsed to his knees.
"Brother Xing, forgive me! I—I was wrong!"
The Azure Fire Lotus hovered only three centimeters above Huang Jie's head.
One downward motion.
One breath.
And Huang Jie would be nothing but ashes carried by the wind.
Tears and snot streamed down his face as he begged.
"Brother Xing! Spare me! I—I'll be your dog! I'll do anything, please don't kill me!"
In this world, if a high-tier Awakened killed someone like Huang Jie, the law wouldn't even blink.
Silence stretched.
Huang Jie lifted trembling eyes upward.
Meng Xing looked down at him, one brow raised in faint amusement.
"My dog?"
Huang Jie kowtowed repeatedly, forehead slamming into the ground.
Meng Xing plucked a Devil Fruit from the tree, crouched down, and held it in front of him.
"Having you as a dog isn't all that useful."
His smile deepened.
"But you're lucky. Eat this. What you become… depends on your fortune."
Meng Xing was deeply curious about the Azure Lotus Core Flame's lingering aura within the fruit.
A unique flame, when fully developed, could rewrite the laws of nature.
What would happen if someone ate a Devil Fruit tainted by such a flame?
Would they evolve?
Or combust into ash on the spot?
Huang Jie knew exactly what he was being used as.
A test subject.
But he didn't hesitate.
He couldn't afford to.
He snatched the fruit and bit down savagely.
The taste was revolting—rubber soaked in foul sludge.
The worse it tasted, the faster he chewed, devouring the entire fruit with desperate abandon.
When it was done, he didn't wipe his mouth.
He simply closed his eyes and awaited his fate.
Meng Xing grew tense.
If he exploded… that meant the Devil Fruit was useless.
A cursed apple with a deadly aesthetic.
Moments later, Huang Jie's eyes snapped open.
He checked his body—
Confusion.
Astonishment.
Shock.
Then wild, uncontrollable ecstasy.
He had awakened another talent.
In his sea of consciousness, beside the glowing red orb symbolizing his Strength Talent, floated another miniature image—
The fruit he had just eaten.
[Bird-Bird Fruit: Falcon Form — C-tier]
Activate to transform into a falcon-human hybrid, gaining flight, immense speed, and heightened strength.
Meng Xing's eyes narrowed.
His cultivated Devil Fruit could bestow a talent directly.
Not assist awakening.
Not stimulate potential.
Bestow. A. Talent.
And all this…
From a thirty-yuan sapling bought at a shabby agricultural store?
Before Huang Jie could proudly display his newfound power—
Meng Xing flicked his finger.
Huang Jie's expression twisted in horror.
His consciousness felt as if it were burning alive.
A catastrophic fire scorched through his soul.
He writhed on the ground, mouth opening and closing soundlessly, sweat pouring off him like rain.
Meng Xing flicked his finger a second time.
The agony vanished.
Huang Jie collapsed, drenched and trembling, staring at Meng Xing as though he were staring at a god—or a devil.
Meng Xing grinned.
When Huang Jie ate the Devil Fruit, the faint spark of Azure Lotus Core Flame embedded itself within his sea of consciousness.
And as the sole possessor of the Azure Lotus Core Flame—
Meng Xing controlled that spark.
He now controlled Huang Jie's life.
A shiver ran through him.
Not from fear.
From exhilaration.
He inhaled deeply, slowly regaining calm.
In the black-and-white clarity of his eyes, an ambition surged—dark, immense, unstoppable.
"I can cultivate Devil Fruits… and I can control the lifelines of those who eat them."
"This is my chance to carve out a kingdom in a world overflowing with danger."
Meng Xing gathered his thoughts.
His powers:
The Field
Created by his Farmer Talent.
The higher the Spirituality infused into the soil, the higher the chance of cultivating extraordinary plants.
The Azure Lotus Core Flame residue—
Supreme Spirituality—
was the reason he grew a Devil Fruit Tree.
Even though the field had now consumed that residue…
He could simply fertilize it.
Fertilizer could be extraordinary materials.
Or monster corpses.
The Devil Fruit Tree
As long as the field regained high Spirituality and fed the tree,
it could bear Devil Fruits again.
Each fruit could bestow at least a C-tier talent.
In this world:
F-tier = maximum human limitE-tier = true extraordinaryC-tier = powerful Awakened, capable of ruling a region
He could grant Devil Fruits.
And with the Azure Lotus spark inside each fruit—
He could also control their lives.
Meng Xing's smile sharpened.
Why give Devil Fruits for free?
Power always came at a price.
People would beg—no, fight each other—to be his dogs.
And they would pay dearly for the privilege.
A sudden tremor ran through him as a new idea took shape.
A guild.
A Hunter's Guild.
His Hunter's Guild.
He would cultivate various extraordinary plants—
Even if weaker than the Devil Fruits, they would still be priceless.
He could offer those plants as bounties.
Desperate Awakened would hunt monsters, complete missions, and risk their lives for the rewards.
The harder the quest, the higher the reward.
The more contributions they earned, the more points they amassed.
And the top contributors—
the most loyal, the most capable, the most persistent—
would earn Devil Fruits.
He wouldn't just be recruiting followers.
He would be selecting the elite, filtering the world for those with:
perseverancelucktalentloyalty
These people would become his inner circle.
His blades.
His army.
His power would grow.
His influence would spread.
His kingdom would rise.