Fruit

Zhang Shuhui heard the sound of chewing and suddenly pinned Gu Ling down, prying at her mouth while roaring nonstop.

The latter clenched her teeth tightly, guarding the city gates.

"Spit it out! Hurry up and spit it out! Who knows what you ate last time? Your head swelled up for half a month, and you looked like a bee dog!"

"Spit it out! Hurry up and spit it out! Cult Master told me to keep an eye on you and make you break your habit of eating random things!"

"It's not like I won't let you eat! Why are you eating random things? Spit it out!!"

"Ahhh! What did I do to deserve this? Just when Lord Yan Chi finally got rid of me, here comes another one!!"

"Open your mouth!!"

"..."

By the time Zhang Shuhui pried open Bai Yin's mouth, only a few broken shell fragments remained inside. She was still smacking her lips, clearly unsatisfied.

Her expression remained blank, but Zhang Shuhui was about to go insane.

Soon, Zhang Shuhui's roar abruptly stopped, and her eyes went vacant.

Clearly, she had been affected by Bai Yin's mental power.

Bai Yin took the chance to flee, but after only two steps, a vine whipped over and wrapped around her waist. She was then hung from a tree.

Bai Yin's wooden eyes met Jiang You's pitch-black pupils head-on.

"I told you, you're not allowed to use mental attacks on anyone in this house."

Bai Yin tilted her head slightly. "She tried to pry my mouth open."

"She's different. She's one of mine."

Bai Yin did not understand. She asked blankly, "So am I."

"Not yet."

Jiang You said calmly, "As punishment, you're not allowed to eat for three days."

Bai Yin looked at her in confusion, unable to understand why she was not yet one of Jiang You's people.

She was no longer Gu Ling. She was Bai Yin now.

The Gu family's rules involuntarily flashed through her mind: to replace someone, one had to kill someone.

Her gray pupils fell on Zhang Shuhui, who had just climbed to her feet, as the words repeated endlessly in her mind.

"To replace someone, one must kill someone."

"Kill... replace..."

"Kill her!"

The gray pupils held not the slightest ripple of emotion, but Zhang Shuhui suddenly sensed killing intent.

Her entire defense instantly activated, and she ran swiftly in front of Jiang You, spreading her arms wide.

"My lord, there's killing intent!"

She warily scanned the surroundings.

Jiang You's gaze fell on Bai Yin. This seemingly frail little girl was a vicious beast.

She was a hundred times more ruthless than Zhang Shuhui to the bone.

A beast that had not been fully tamed had to be taught to obey the rules.

And the only rule here was Jiang You.

Bai Yin was different from normal people. She lacked some normal human emotions and had no empathy.

Although she was human, she was more like a machine.

The concepts of allies and enemies did not exist in her mind.

However, over the past few months, Bai Yin had improved greatly compared to when she first arrived.

At least now, when she used her mental power to attack the people in the tree house, she no longer struck to kill.

In the beginning, she had gone straight for the kill whenever she got the chance.

She had directly used her mental power to launch sneak attacks, attempting to destroy her opponent's brain.

Whenever Jiang You discovered such behavior, she would hang Bai Yin up and beat her for three days.

The carnivorous tree's vines were soaked in salt water and showed no mercy.

It was painful and cruel, but highly effective.

After only two times, Bai Yin no longer dared to launch sneak attacks with the intent to kill in one blow.

Gradually, she began reducing the force of her attacks.

She no longer dared to strike lethally.

For example, right now, she wanted to kill someone, but it was only a thought.

Taming a beast was always a process.

And trying to win a beast over with love was the stupidest thing one could do.

If one kept treating it well, it would only believe that it was the master.

Only by letting it feel strength day after day, while combining kindness with authority, could one make it submit completely.

The status of the wolf king was established through an authority forged in blood!

Jiang You had always been patient. If a good weapon was not tempered, how could it become useful?

At first, Jiang You had only wanted to use Bai Yin to help train her own mental power.

But after capturing her,

she heard Zhang Shuhui's spoilers. Then, after carefully observing Bai Yin, she discovered that Bai Yin's mental power was vastly different from that of ordinary mental-type ability users.

Aside from being exceptionally condensed, her mental domain was also extremely unusual...

That was why she had changed her mind.

She believed that once this blade was honed, it would become a divine weapon.

Zhang Shuhui was the shield, and Lord Yan Chi was the sword.

As for Bai Yin's highly condensed mental power, it would make her an excellent long-range shooter.

She watched coldly as Bai Yin's slender body hung from the tree, without a trace of sympathy in her eyes.

She did not look as though she were watching a person. Rather, she looked as though she were watching an inanimate object.

After a thunderstorm, the carnivorous tree felt that something had finally grown inside its head.

Jiang You stood beneath the tree, staring at the solitary fruit on the carnivorous tree. Her eyes held barely restrained excitement and anticipation.

The thunder and torrential rain that night had seemed capable of tearing the sky apart. Water droplets hung from the deep-green, luxuriant leaves. As the breeze passed and the crown swayed, a deep-red fruit hung alone from the tree.

A spot of red amid a sea of green, it was exceptionally conspicuous.

The fruit was deep red all over, round at the top and pointed at the bottom, with a shape somewhat like a persimmon.

The closer it got to the tip, the deeper the red became. The very point was a dark crimson.

Judging from its appearance alone, this was not a "kind" fruit. It looked more like a devil fruit.

The carnivorous tree swayed its crown back and forth, seeming rather excited as well.

It was a carnivorous tree. How could it have fruit?!

How could it possibly have fruit?!

Wasn't this insulting to a tree?

No, perhaps this was not a fruit. Perhaps it was...

A brain!

It had really grown a brain!

The moment the carnivorous tree began swaying, Jiang You shot up to the treetop, reached out, and plucked it.

A red Crimson Fruit was now in her hand.

The carnivorous tree immediately felt that something inside it was hollow.

Its brain!!

She had plucked out its brain!!

After being stunned for a few seconds, the carnivorous tree began wildly shaking its crown, its leaves rustling loudly.

Jiang You shot it a warning glare. "What are you making a fuss about? It's just one fruit. Keep making trouble and I'll burn you down and make you grow another one!

"Now that you have the first fruit, you'll have countless more in the future."

The fear of being burned until only its parent body remained, with its charcoal even used for cooking, instantly dominated its mind.

The carnivorous tree immediately dared not move.

Jiang You raised the red Crimson Fruit in her hand and examined it against the sunlight.

From the dark-crimson tip of the Crimson Fruit, faint, almost imperceptible lines meandered upward. They were impossible to see without looking closely.