The Demon Eye Magic Tree!

"Woohoo!"

At the Spirit Master's affirmative answer,

the little girl was overjoyed.

She excitedly took out thirty thousand Federation Coins and handed them to the Spirit Master.

After the Spirit Master confirmed the amount was correct,

she skipped along behind him toward the Soul Spirit Gacha Machine room.

Lu Chuan quietly recorded this innocent scene with a recording Soul Tool.

If Tang San's protagonist halo kicked in

and he returned ahead of schedule,

then, without a shred of honor, he might resort to underhanded tricks again—splitting off a soul and sealing his daughter's memories

to turn Tang Wuyue against him.

Then he would bring out all the footage he'd recorded over the years.

The little girl cared about her reputation.

When the time came,

he'd take her to uphold justice by eliminating a family member!

Perhaps because it had only recently been invented,

the Soul Spirit Gacha Machine

wasn't as small and compact as modern claw machines and capsule toy machines.

It was a gigantic piece of equipment.

Three meters tall and six meters wide, it took up a vast amount of space.

There were two buttons on the machine.

Green meant start,

and red meant stop.

After it stopped,

the Soul Spirit Ball selected at random would roll out of the machine.

Through the machine's glass,

they could see a great many spheres, each about a foot in diameter.

They came in white, yellow, and purple.

Each one contained a Soul Spirit.

Every ball looked exactly the same,

so there was no way to see what was inside.

Tang Wuyue paid none of this any mind.

Although she'd never played the Lucky Draw Machine,

she'd scratched lottery tickets before—

and even won five hundred Federation Coins to spend on candy.

Lu Chuan had taught her

that if she wanted good luck,

she had to breathe in a puff of European luck!

"Ha!"

Tang Wuyue rubbed her hands together, breathed a "ha" onto them,

then solemnly pressed the green start button.

At once,

a string of lights came on inside the machine,

and all the Spirit Balls inside

began circling slowly along their tracks.

It looked a little like a little train going around.

They moved so fast

that the naked eye couldn't make them out at all.

However,

with the spiritual power of the Divine Origin Realm,

Lu Chuan could see them perfectly clearly.

He could even tell what Soul Spirit each ball contained through its outer shell.

"The white, yellow, and purple balls all contain Thousand-Year Soul Spirits. I wonder what the Spirit Master's face will look like when a white ball turns out to contain one."

Lu Chuan smiled slyly, waiting in quiet anticipation.

Meanwhile,

the Spirit Master was still humming leisurely,

already planning in his head

how to enjoy himself after payday next month.

Little did he know

that Tang Wuyue was about to shatter his carefree dream with one move!

"Thousand-Year Soul Spirit, Thousand-Year Soul Spirit, fall down, Thousand-Year Soul Spirit!"

"Open!"

After silently repeating "Thousand-Year Soul Spirit" countless times,

Tang Wuyue decisively pressed the red stop button!

Clang!

A Soul Spirit Ball dropped from the machine with a clatter.

It was a white ball!

"Ah, what a shame. It's a ten-year Soul Spirit Ball."

Seeing the white ball, the Spirit Master let out an exaggerated sigh of regret.

He was just about to explain the Thousand-Year Soul Spirits to Tang Wuyue.

But he hadn't expected

that the carefree Tang Wuyue and Lu Chuan, who had already planned everything, wouldn't feel the slightest pressure.

One happily ran over to pick up the white Soul Spirit Ball.

The other followed behind his little sister, strolling along at his leisure.

"Bro, guess how many years old it is?"

Tang Wuyue held the Soul Spirit Ball,

bustled over to Lu Chuan,

and grinned, her little tiger teeth showing—fierce and adorable all at once.

Lu Chuan gave it a casual glance.

The Soul Spirit inside was a Demon Eye Magic Tree about twelve hundred years old.

He was quite familiar with this Soul Beast.

The King of Ten Thousand Demons's true form was a Demon Eye Magic Tree.

"I can't tell. I'm not X-ray vision."

After pretending to ponder hard for a few seconds, Lu Chuan helplessly spread his hands.

He knew

the little girl loved seeing him at a loss.

"Hehehe, looks like even you don't know everything, Bro! I guess it's at least fifty years old!"

Tang Wuyue weighed the ball in her hand,

then gave it a few pats,

looking just like someone picking out a melon.

As she weighed it,

she seemed to remember something and turned to ask the Spirit Master,

"Mr. Spirit Master, if I open a fifty-year-old Soul Spirit, will you buy it back?"

"I don't want seventy thousand. Just give me thirty-five thousand. I'll give you half off."

The Spirit Master gave an awkward smile at that.

"Little princess, we don't buy Soul Spirits back."

"Really? What if I open a hundred-year Soul Spirit? You still won't buy it back?"

Tang Wuyue asked again, unwilling to give up.

What kind of wicked thoughts could a nine-year-old girl possibly have?

She just wanted to trade the Soul Spirit for thirty-five thousand Federation Coins,

spend thirty thousand of them on another go at the Lucky Draw Machine,

and keep the remaining five thousand for lollipops.

Thinking of lollipops,

Tang Wuyue suddenly felt a craving.

She looked at the Spirit Master expectantly.

The Spirit Master already wore a deeply troubled expression.

If Lu Chuan hadn't been rich,

he would have wanted to lose his temper,

but in his eagerness to meet his sales target,

he kept his patience

and explained carefully:

"Little one, once a Soul Spirit Ball is opened, the Soul Spirit inside will die if it isn't absorbed within twenty-four hours.

So even if you get a Thousand-Year Soul Spirit, we won't buy it back."

The Spirit Master's explanation was plain and clear.

Tang Wuyue finally gave up on finding a loophole and endlessly playing one round after another.

She gripped the clasps on either side of the Soul Spirit Ball and twisted hard.

Click.

The sphere split in two,

and a mass of dark green light seeped out through the gap,

slowly taking shape in midair.

It was a strange tree about half a person's height.

Its trunk was black as ink,

its branches twisted and gnarled,

and it had not a single leaf.

Most bizarre of all,

right in the center of its trunk was a vertical pupil the size of a fist.

It rolled around, taking in its surroundings.

The pupil was amber,

with a narrow, snake-like slit,

and gave off a cold, profound aura.

"What in the world is that?!"

The Spirit Master jumped back in fright.

If Lu Chuan hadn't been behind him,

he probably would have fled the room altogether.

"This Demon Eye Magic Tree seems pretty intelligent. Could that old King of Ten Thousand Demons have cut off a piece of himself?"

Lu Chuan examined the Demon Eye Magic Tree in amazement.

The little girl curiously moved closer too,

tilting her head as she met the Demon Eye Magic Tree's gaze.

The vertical pupil blinked.

She blinked too.

"Hello there, little tree!"

Tang Wuyue greeted it with a cheerful grin.

The Demon Eye Magic Tree couldn't help but freeze.

Normally,

Soul Masters who saw it would feel at least a little wary.

So why was this human girl acting as if she'd found a pet?

Nearby, ...

The Spirit Master finally snapped out of his terror.

Realizing he'd lost his composure,

he immediately tried to make up for it.

But when he saw the Soul Spirit Tang Wuyue had drawn,

he couldn't help screaming again. "D-Demon Eye Magic Tree... A Thousand-Year Soul Spirit, the Demon Eye Magic Tree!"

Seriously,

he was completely dumbfounded!

The white ball had yielded a Thousand-Year Soul Spirit.

That alone was incredible.

And the Thousand-Year Soul Spirit was a rare spirit-type plant Soul Spirit, the Demon Eye Magic Tree!

It was so absurd that absurdity itself had opened the door—and absurdity had come home to roost!

The Demon Eye Magic Tree was extraordinarily skilled at Mental Interference and illusionary control,

making it a top-tier match for spirit-type and control-type Soul Masters alike.

On the open market, it might not even go for less than eight million Federation Coins!

And the little girl had offered it to him at half price—two and a half million Federation Coins.

He'd turned her down!

"C-can I still take it back?" The Spirit Master looked ready to cry.