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Xu Ye rolled his eyes and shot him a scornful look. "Are you stupid? Isn't tomorrow the one-month celebration for my and Senior Sister's baby? Huh, where's my daughter?"

As he spoke, he glanced at his right arm, then gleefully hugged it and kissed his elbow with a blissful smile. "There, there, there. Come give Daddy a hug!"

Outside the Mystic Mirror, a Wanjian Sect elder spat out a mouthful of water.

Ning Ning.

Zou Wu had heard of her.

A genius born with a Sword Bone, she had not only earned the favor of Elder Jiangxing of the Xuanxu Sword Sect, but had also been taken as Tian Xianzi's personal disciple as soon as she entered the sect. Her cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds.

She was sweet and gentle in appearance, and she had concealed her Sword Qi earlier. It was easy to mistake her for an ordinary cultivator who had just broken through to the Golden Core Realm. Who would have thought—

Zou Wu gritted his teeth in secret.

He was now at the Golden Core Third Layer, so he shouldn't be too far behind her. But if they really fought, he would likely be the one at a disadvantage. What's more, she had two other Sword Cultivators with her.

—Though those two might have grown heads only to look a little taller.

"So you're Junior Sister Ning Ning."

Zou Wu broke into a smile, changing his expression in an instant. If it had been the twenty-first century, he might have become a celebrated master of Sichuan opera's face-changing art. "I've long heard of your extraordinary talent, Junior Sister. A pleasure, a pleasure. Never mind. What is destined to be yours will be yours; what isn't, cannot be forced. Though you snatched the Heaven Heart Grass from me, at least it has found a good home."

He was truly committed to the act, even using the word "snatched."

He Zhizhou's temper flared. He curled one corner of his mouth into a cold smile. "Oh, still pretending to be a pure, innocent little white lotus? How old are you, little brother? Have you ever been to school? What medicine have you been taking? Why's your brain so muddled?"

Zou Wu: "You...!"

"What about me?"

He Zhizhou gave him no chance to speak. Whether it was the poisonous mushroom's effect or simply his nature, his little mouth kept chattering without pause.

"I've never seen anyone with skin thicker than the city wall. I stood eight zhang away, and your face still bounced all the way over here and hit me. If you ask me, it's a crying shame you didn't become a cook. You're so good at passing the buck. Keep spouting nonsense and I'll have Cuizui smash your fruit!"

Not only Zou Wu, but even Xu Ye beside him was stunned.

The mushroom poison rampaged through his mind, and he actually raised both hands and shouted, "Long live the Immortal Lord! Long live the Immortal Lord, ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand ten thousand years!"

He Zhizhou waved a hand grandly. "Eunuch Xu, there's no need to be polite. Take your daughter and withdraw."

Xu Ye: "Yes, Your Majesty!"

Only after he'd said it did he realize something was wrong.

With his battered body... how had he fathered a daughter with Senior Sister?

Heavens!

Xu Ye fell to his knees and howled at the sky, hugging his right arm and sobbing bitterly. "Senior Sister! How many surprises have you been keeping from me?!"

He Zhizhou let out a long sigh to hide his tears, then recited to him in a smooth broadcasting voice, "A feeling like an electric shock, unbelievable, like a miracle passing through your life. Unlike anything else, it is the green light, so utterly unique."

...No matter what, the two of them had finally managed to weave their acts together.

Their side was in utter chaos, but to Zou Wu's surprise, Ning Ning, at the center of it all, showed little change in expression. She even looked at him and smiled gently.

"Senior Brother Zou, hearing you say that makes me feel a little guilty."

She seemed a little shy. Lowering her head, she smiled with her lips pressed together. "Though I can't give you the Heaven Heart Grass... I found a treasure in the cave earlier, called the Jinyu Furnace. I wonder if you've heard of it?"

The Jinyu Furnace?

Zou Wu shook his head.

"The Human-Faced Scorpion in the cave told me this cauldron harmonizes yin and yang and is the pinnacle of its craft. It was made by an ancient immortal and can duplicate spirit plants of Rare Grade and below. Though it can't duplicate the Heaven Heart Grass, if you have any other precious spirit plants, you can come to me."

Ning Ning's words were airtight, but Zou Wu didn't believe her. "Could there really be such a good thing in this world?"

"The Jinyu Furnace needs time to duplicate spirit plants. For Rare Grade ones, it takes about one or two hours; but for flowers and plants you can find everywhere—"

As she spoke, she took a palm-sized golden cauldron from her pack, bent down to pick a Chaoyang Flower, placed it inside, and quietly recited an incantation.

Zou Wu watched with curiosity, not daring even to breathe. Before long, he saw Ning Ning reach into the furnace and actually take out two Chaoyang Flowers.

Zou Wu was astounded. "This...!"

"What would I gain by deceiving you, Senior Brother? I'd get no payment, and I'd even have to give up my own spirit plants. Wouldn't that be a terrible deal?"

Ning Ning hugged the furnace tightly to her chest, avoiding Zou Wu's hand as he tried to touch it. "I'll tell you in advance, Senior Brother Zou: don't get any ideas about it. The Jinyu Furnace has a unique activation incantation. No one but me knows it."

Though Zou Wu was greedy, he wasn't stupid. If he handed her precious spirit plants outright, she could take the treasure and slip away without a word. Then he wouldn't even have anywhere to cry.

The scene before him could only dispel half his doubts. After thinking for a moment, he took several Zhuohuo Sunflowers from his pocket. "All my things are at camp. This is all I have on me."

Spirit plants were divided into Mortal, Earth, Heaven, Rare, and Saint Grades. The Heaven Heart Grass was a Saint Grade, a treasure rarely seen in the world, while the Zhuohuo Sunflower was Heaven Grade, an average specimen—not too high and not too low, just right for a test.

"Heaven Grade plants take longer to process, so please be patient, Senior Brother."

Ning Ning accepted them with one hand. "I also have to look after these two friends of mine. Why don't you come back here in an hour to find me?"

It was an obvious dismissal. Though Zou Wu was only half-convinced, even if he'd been tricked, losing a few Heaven Grade spirit plants wasn't too great a loss.

But if it was true...

Then he'd hit the jackpot.

"I know! It's an investment scam!"

Watching the young man's presence vanish without a trace, He Zhizhou finally couldn't hold back his laughter. "It's that thing where they first hook him with a tiny profit, then wait until he's convinced and invests more, and finally disappear with both the person and the money, right?"