"But what?" Houtu secretly sensed the leaf, flower, and fruit, only to discover that, just as the old Daoist had said, immense tribulations lurked faintly behind both the leaf and the flower.
Only the fruit gave her a sense of utter peace.
The old Daoist merely shook his head without speaking. With a gesture of his hand, the leaf and flower vanished.
Only the fruit remained.
Houtu's expression shifted slightly, and she was about to speak.
But suddenly, the entire world shattered like glass. An instant before it broke, the fruit had already flown toward her.
It flew straight into the space between her brows and entered her sea of consciousness, drawing her Primordial Spirit inside.
The moment her Primordial Spirit entered the fruit, she felt as though she were a fetus nestled in its mother's womb.
It was indescribably comfortable.
"Hum!!"
Houtu found herself back where she had been.
As for the Nine-Curved Yellow River Formation and the old Daoist, they had vanished as though they had been nothing more than a dream.
So this meant...
The old Daoist had forced a choice upon her?
For no apparent reason, a wave of unease swept through Houtu.
What had the old Daoist left unsaid after that "but"?
Houtu felt certain it was something extremely important.
Yet the old Daoist had not continued.
Why? Why hadn't he told her?
Could there be some drawback?
At that thought, Houtu tried to take the fruit out of her sea of consciousness, only to discover that it seemed to have taken root there.
It had already become one with her sea of consciousness and could not be removed at all.
Houtu could do nothing about it. No matter how she pondered it, she could reach no conclusion, so she could only set the matter