Taian Fruit

Taian Fruits are bright-red, human-faced island products that grant a one-time five-year lifespan increase to cultivators no higher than Foundation Establishment. (Chapters 50–51)

History

Five centuries before Li Fan's guardianship, every mortal resident of Taian Island disappeared and a forest of smiling human-faced fruits appeared where their city had stood. Alliance investigators never publicly explain the transformation. The trees are removed, the fruit-beings resume a city-like cycle of life and reproduction, and the Alliance encloses the site in a formation with dedicated guardians who harvest each “death” as a ripe fruit. The corpus preserves He Zhenghao's account of this origin but does not independently identify the force that caused it. (Chapters 50–52)

He Zhenghao teaches Li Fan the harvest procedure and gives him a newly ripened fruit. Li Fan eats it and confirms a five-year increase on Truth's age limit. As acting guardian he later saves five mature fruits over two years and exchanges them with contribution points for cultivation insight. Subsequent branches show Zhou Qingang selling out the available crop and, much later, island representatives asking leniency after a poor harvest. (Chapters 50–53, 185, 632)

Description and function

Before ripening, Taian Fruits live as human-faced figures with households, work, mourning customs, and life cycles inside the formation city. At “death,” a guardian taps the body with the harvest method; it shrinks into an apple-shaped fruit of unusually vivid red, while its mourners lose their grief and dissipate. The ripe fruit emits a penetrating fragrance that creates mounting hunger in a potential consumer. (Chapters 50–51)

Abilities and limitations

One-time life extension

Eating one ripe fruit adds five years to the lifespan limit of a Qi Condensation or Foundation Establishment cultivator. Li Fan directly verifies the increase after consuming a fruit. The benefit applies only on the first consumption and is not stated to work above Foundation Establishment, preventing repeated stockpiling from becoming unlimited longevity. The fruit itself is consumed in the process. (Chapters 50–51)

Controlled harvest and uncertain nature

The island owes thirty fruits annually, while a guardian can keep surplus production—historically about two per year—and sell it through the Tianxuan Mirror for roughly ninety to one hundred contribution points each. Although He Zhenghao says the beings lack independent consciousness and retain only remnants of human desire, their origin in transformed islanders makes their exact moral and metaphysical status unresolved. (Chapters 51–52)

Custody and users

The Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance controls Taian Island through its formation, quota, and appointed guardian. Zhou Qingang holds the original guardian office, He Zhenghao brokers temporary management, and Li Fan harvests, consumes, saves, and exchanges fruits while acting in that role. Each ripe fruit is an individually transferable consumable rather than permanent equipment owned by one character. (Chapters 50–53, 185)