Shi Hao gave Huo Ling'er assurance after assurance and even brought out a gift he had prepared especially for her.
"This is a Phoenix egg."
Shi Hao took out an egg wreathed in blazing flames and handed it to Huo Ling'er.
Five-Colored Immortal Light swirled around the egg, making it look wondrous beyond the ordinary.
"The Little Immortal Phoenix from the South Sea Purple Bamboo Forest?" Meng Chuan recognized the egg's origins at a glance.
"Uncle Meng, you know the Phoenix Maiden too?" Shi Hao asked in surprise.
"I've been to the South Sea Purple Bamboo Forest as well," Meng Chuan said.
When he had first entered the South Sea Purple Bamboo Forest, the first ones he had met were a young woman holding a Qilin cub, a young Immortal Phoenix, and a young man carrying an Immortal Sword on his back.
Only afterward had he gone to meet the Bell-less Immortal King and the others.
"Right. The South Sea Purple Bamboo Forest seeks out people of great strength and exceptional talent. It's no surprise you could enter, Uncle Meng." Shi Hao nodded, then his expression turned hostile and fierce.
"Doesn't your heart ache from deceiving someone as innocent and guileless as me?" Shi Hao stared at Meng Chuan.
"Could someone with poor talent cut down a Supreme while still in the Heavenly God Realm?"
"Could someone with poor talent reach the Self-Slaying Realm in only twenty years or so?"
"And here I was, so worried about you when the Immortal Hall Supreme and the others descended to the Lower Realm."
"Uncle Meng, don't you owe me an explanation?"
Shi Hao said indignantly, "I feel like my kind and innocent heart has been gravely wounded!"
"Pay up!"
"An Immortal Artifact ought to cover it!"
Meng Chuan's expression did not change