Gods Eat Babies? Definitely Evil Soul Masters?
When the Soul Masters of the Douluo Continent saw what was on the jade platter, the entire continent erupted!
"Holy shit!!!"
"Th-that's a baby?!"
"Oh my god! The gods are eating babies?!"
There on the jade platter sat two things as clear as crystal, resembling fruit.
Yet those fruits looked exactly like babies less than three days old!
They had all their limbs and facial features, and even the tiny pores on their skin and their belly buttons were clearly visible.
"Devil! That's an Evil Soul Master! An Evil Soul Master of the highest order!"
"How cruel! The gods actually eat babies?!"
"Wait! Look! Doesn't Qian Renxue look like a six-year-old child right now?!"
"The case is solved! It all makes sense now! No wonder Bai Yi took Qian Renxue as his disciple, and no wonder he said he would cleanse her muscles and marrow!"
"Oh my god! He's going to fatten Qian Renxue up, then toss her in a pot and stew her!"
The many Soul Masters of the Douluo World watched with their hair standing on end.
Yet Tang San, alone at Shrek Academy, was trembling all the more with excitement, his eyes filled with sinister, wild delight.
Eat her!
Hurry up and eat her!
What Immortal Dao inheritance? It's a devil's den and a sea of blood!
The reason Tang San now hated Spirit Hall so deeply was plainly that, after the Heavenly Screen first appeared, Tang Hao had emerged from hiding to speak with him and told him the truth about how his mother had been harmed by Spirit Hall.
Now, in Tang San's heart, Spirit Hall already had a way to death!
Spirit City.
The Worship Hall.
Golden Crocodile Douluo had gone deathly pale with fright, and kept looking over at Qian Daoliu.
"Big brother! What are we going to do? Xue'er, she..."
Watching the scene on the Heavenly Screen, Qian Daoliu remained perfectly calm and let out a cold snort.
"What are you panicking for?!"
"Sit down! All of you, sit down!"
"Every day, how many times has the situation turned around? Haven't you learned your lesson yet?!"
Golden Crocodile Douluo was taken aback.
"Big brother, you mean...?"
Qian Daoliu shook his head.
"How could the likes of us fathom the gods in the Heavenly Screen?"
"Just watch. This definitely isn't some man-eating business!"
Sure enough, no sooner had Qian Daoliu spoken than the image on the Heavenly Screen changed.
Bai Yi looked at the fruits on the jade platter and exclaimed in admiration:
"Fellow Daoist Zhenyuan, the Innate Ginseng Fruit Tree of your Wuzhuang Temple truly seizes the creative power of heaven and earth."
"It flowers once every three thousand years, bears fruit after another three thousand, and takes another three thousand to ripen. In the space of ten thousand years, it produces no more than thirty fruits."
"A mortal who takes a single whiff can live for three hundred and sixty years, and eating one grants another forty-seven thousand years of life."
"Such a wondrous use for an innate spiritual root, yet you serve it to me like ordinary fruit, fellow Daoist. That is rather a waste of heaven's gifts."
Zhen Yuanzi stroked his beard and laughed, waving a hand.
"Hahahaha! Fellow Daoist Bai Yi, you are mistaken!"
"No matter how fine a spiritual root may be, it is ultimately a gift from heaven and earth. At our level, Ginseng Fruits have long since ceased to be of much use to our cultivation. They do little more than satisfy our appetites, so how could this be called a waste of heaven's gifts?"
"Come, come, fellow Daoist, please eat!"
Before the Heavenly Screen.
The people of the Douluo Continent, who had been howling like ghosts and wailing like wolves, fell silent in an instant, and the bullet comments likewise died away.
A moment later, countless large question marks filled the entire livestream.
"Ginseng Fruits? Fruits from an innate spiritual root?!"
"One whiff lets you live three hundred and sixty years? Eating one lets you live forty-seven thousand years?!"
"Forty... seven thousand years?!"
In the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, Xue Ye's eyes rolled back. Had a minister beside him not reacted quickly and supported him with Soul Power, His Majesty would have suffered a cerebral hemorrhage from excitement and passed out on the spot!
The recorded history of the entire Douluo Continent spanned only about ten thousand years!
Eating one fruit could let someone live forty-seven thousand years?!
The Soul Masters from all sides who had just been frantically posting bullet comments mocking Spirit Hall over the prospect of being stewed and eaten felt their faces burn.
Inside the Daoist temple.
Zhen Yuanzi took a sip of spiritual tea and smiled as he asked Bai Yi:
"Fellow Daoist Bai Yi, you have always been the leisurely sort who never visits a temple without a reason. Your sudden visit to my Mount Wanshou today can hardly be just to taste this old Daoist's Ginseng Fruits, can it?"
"Tell me, fellow Daoist, what exactly brings you here?"
Bai Yi leisurely took a bite of a Ginseng Fruit, then spoke.
"You guessed right, fellow Daoist. I came today to ask you for a few Ginseng Fruits."
Zhen Yuanzi was taken aback, then laughed.
"Oh? If you have a craving, fellow Daoist, simply take them. But given your cultivation, what use do you have for the fruits?"
Bai Yi sighed and spread his hands helplessly.
"Ah, don't even mention it."
"A few days ago, on a whim, I took in two disciples."
"One is a Lingming Stone Monkey born and nurtured by heaven and earth, so he's no trouble."
"But the other... is a mortal girl who popped out of who knows what remote corner."
"That girl has weak, slender meridians, a mortal body, and far too many impurities."
"Since I've taken her as my disciple, she should at least start out as a Daluo Golden Immortal under my tutelage."
"I've thought it over, and I need to reshape the girl's foundation. Only your Essence of Innate Yi Wood is truly suitable, fellow Daoist."
By the time Zhen Yuanzi finished listening, he was utterly stunned. He stared at Bai Yi for a long while before bursting into laughter.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Fellow Daoist Bai Yi, a mighty figure at Quasi-Saint Peak like you actually took disciples?!"
"Taking disciples is one thing, but instead of taking a fine exotic being of the Primordial World, you went and took a little mortal girl with a mortal body? Aren't you just making trouble for yourself?!"
Bai Yi shook his head helplessly and replied:
"Fate is a mystery within a mystery. Who can explain it clearly?"
"Besides, how many exotic beings of the Primordial World worth teaching are still left in the world today?"
Hearing this, Zhen Yuanzi nodded thoughtfully.
"True enough."
Now that he knew why Bai Yi had come, Zhen Yuanzi immediately turned to the two attendants outside the door and instructed them:
"Qingfeng, Mingyue."
"Go to the rear garden and use the Golden Striker to knock down three Ginseng Fruits. Lay them on a red platter with silk handkerchiefs and present them to fellow Daoist Bai Yi."
Qingfeng and Mingyue bowed, accepted the order, and hurried away.
Across the Douluo Continent, everyone was almost mad with jealousy.
Three!
A whole three divine fruits that could let a person live for forty-seven thousand years, given away so casually?!
And what was more, they were only to cleanse Qian Renxue's muscles and marrow?!
That was far too great a waste of heaven's gifts!
Why should such good fortune come knocking on Spirit Hall's door?!
Spirit Hall had committed countless evil deeds, so why should Qian Renxue receive such an opportunity?!
At that moment.
Qingfeng and Mingyue came forward carrying a jade box with its seal intact and respectfully presented it to Bai Yi.
Bai Yi casually put the jade box away and chatted with Zhen Yuanzi for another cup of tea's time. Then he rose, transformed into a long rainbow, and returned to Mount Lingtai Fangcun.
Many Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent could not help feeling waves of doubt.
A treasure like that, given away just like that?
Even for the sake of satisfying an appetite, that would not do!
Little did they know, the karmic ties between Bai Yi and Zhen Yuanzi ran far deeper than they imagined.
Back when Bai Yi had been cultivating in seclusion in the Primordial World, upon breaking through to the Daluo Golden Immortal realm, he had stumbled upon a spiritual treasure in an ancient ruin, left behind after Patriarch Hong Yun's fall.
The Nine-Nine Soul-Scattering Red Gourd!
Patriarch Hong Yun was the only close friend Zhen Yuanzi had known over endless ages.
When Hong Yun fell, Zhen Yuanzi had been heartbroken and searched fruitlessly for his belongings for countless Yuanhui.
Later, Zhen Yuanzi followed the karmic connection to Bai Yi, who readily offered the red gourd back to him, honoring Zhen Yuanzi's longing for his old friend.
Moved by Bai Yi's generosity and sense of honor, Zhen Yuanzi not only became close friends with him, but also swore an oath on the spot, taking on three immense karmic debts to Bai Yi!
In Zhen Yuanzi's eyes, the few Ginseng Fruits today did not even count as repaying half a debt; at most, they were merely a small token for a dear friend.