"Wait! Doesn't that mean the Devil Heart has broken free of its seal?"
"But the grand formation wasn't triggered..."
The youth with the devilish charm froze for a moment, then was overjoyed.
The fat man looked at the handsome middle-aged man and asked with some displeasure, "Sword Demon, was this the risk you mentioned?"
"You nearly got us all killed!"
Sword Demon nodded slightly, making no attempt to deny it.
He said, "We've been trapped here for three hundred thousand years. Rather than keep waiting in despair, we might as well take a bold gamble."
"Amitabha! Blessed be, blessed be!" The old monk with white eyebrows pressed his palms together in prayer.
"From this day onward, neither I nor any of you will need to expend our cultivation to suppress this thing."
"This truly calls for celebration!"
Zhao Manzi, however, knitted his brows and stepped forward to look at the infant in the old monk's arms.
"But have you considered that the Devil Ancestor might use this body to return from the dead?"
"How could the Devil Ancestor's heart willingly serve anyone? It will surely corrupt this baby."
"With his feeble soul, I'm afraid..." he said.
"Why don't we dig the heart out again?" the devilishly charming youth asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's already broken free of the seal, so it won't trigger the killing formation again."
The fat man nodded in agreement. "Flower Thief has a point."
"The grand formation is still here. With our current strength, who knows how many more years we'll need to break through it?"
"If we let him grow, we may not be able to suppress the Devil Ancestor once he returns in this body."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Sword Demon snorted coldly and raised his hand, drawing the infant straight out of the old monk's arms.
His fingertips reached toward the infant's chest, poised to gouge out the Devil Heart.
But just then, the baby stirred and stretched out his chubby little hands to clasp one of Sword Demon's fingers.
The baby opened his eyes with a giggle and gazed curiously at Sword Demon before him.
Sword Demon gave a quiet huff, immediately tossed the baby to Zhao Manzi, and turned away.
"You do it. You love eating people most, so eat this child!"
Zhao Manzi looked down at the baby. Seeing him reach out toward him, he couldn't help smiling.
"He doesn't look tasty. Fatty, you do it!"
Zhao Manzi tossed the baby to the fat man.
Without even looking, the fat man immediately passed him on to the devilishly charming youth, Flower Thief.
Flower Thief held the baby awkwardly, seemingly unable to find a comfortable position no matter how he tried.
Holding the baby was like holding a live grenade, and he immediately tossed him to the white-browed old monk.
"I... I hate children most. Master, you do it!"
The white-browed old monk held the baby and gently rocked him a few times to soothe him.
Then he looked up at the four men in the hall and smiled. "After making the rounds, he has still returned to my hands."
"But I am a monk. My hands have never been stained with blood."
"Let it go! Spare this poor little baby's life."
"Old monk, stop pretending to be merciful!" Flower Thief chuckled.
"Weren't you the one who slaughtered the Xu Kingdom? It had at least tens of billions of people back then. Your hands are bloodier than anyone else's here!"
"You killed tens of billions without so much as twitching an eyebrow."
"Now we're asking you to dig out one heart, and you're hemming and hawing."
The white-browed old monk gazed quietly at the devilishly charming youth without saying a word.
His stare made Flower Thief's skin crawl, and he sheepishly moved aside.
His tongue might be sharp, but he knew his own limits in a fight. He was absolutely no match for this old monk.
"The chaos saint body isn't famed for nothing, either. Look closely."
"The Devil Heart is trying to infect his soul, but the innate divine aura of his saint body is blocking it."
"It meant to seize another bird's nest, but underestimated the power of the chaos saint body. Now the saint body has trapped it instead, and it couldn't escape even if it wanted to," the old monk continued.
"I will build a second barrier for him with the Golden Soul Mantra. That should ensure the Devil Heart cannot corrupt him."
"So there is no need to gouge out his heart. Let him live!"
The four men said nothing, but the old monk knew they had tacitly agreed.
"Starting today, we will take turns caring for the child."
"When he's a little older, we'll each teach him our skills."
"If he can learn everything the five of us know, we won't need to fear any future backlash from the Devil Heart."
When they still said nothing, the old monk added, "I'll take that as your agreement."
He carefully examined the baby's swaddling cloth and found two characters embroidered in gold thread-Fang Ling.
"This baby's surname is Fang, and his given name is Ling. From now on, we'll call him Little Fang Ling!" he said.
Time slipped by, and five years passed in the blink of an eye.
Inside the hall, the old monk sat motionless before a Buddha statue, chanting sutras and praising the Buddha.
Suddenly, a little head peeked out from behind a pillar with a giggle.
The child, who looked about five years old, tiptoed toward the old monk, then suddenly launched an attack.
"Galaxy Boundless Fist!" Fang Ling shouted, throwing a punch at the old monk's back.
Though he was only five, his punch already whipped up a wind that tore through the air, seemingly carrying the force of ten thousand tons.
The wind from his fist became a swaying river of stars and slammed into the old monk's back.
The old monk slowly opened his eyes amid his chanting, then flicked a white eyebrow and hoisted Little Fang Ling into the air.
Dangling from the white eyebrow, Little Fang Ling was terrified and hurriedly begged for mercy. "First Master, put me down! I know I was wrong!"
"I won't dare do it again! Boohoo..."
But the old monk refused and began spinning his white eyebrow.
Little Fang Ling spun like a yo-yo, his head swimming and his senses reeling.
"First Master... I'm going to throw up. Don't blame me if I accidentally throw up on you."
"I really can't take it anymore!" Fang Ling shouted, already feeling his stomach churn like an overturned sea.
With a thud, the old monk's eyebrow suddenly withdrew, and he dropped straight onto the gleaming golden floor tiles.
The old monk rose and looked down at Little Fang Ling, who lay sprawled on the floor.
"How long have you been practicing the Galaxy Boundless Fist?" he asked.
Fang Ling sat up and mumbled, "Almost two years. Master Manzi taught it to me two years ago."
"Am I really bad at it? Master Manzi said he learned how to use it in just three days."
The old monk smiled. "Your Master Manzi was boasting. It took him at least three hundred years to learn that move."
"This was the supreme art of the Galaxy Sect, the strongest body-refining sect of its time!"
"The Galaxy Sect? Where is it?" Fang Ling asked curiously.
"I don't know. Perhaps it no longer exists, or perhaps it's hiding somewhere unknown to the world," the old monk replied.
"Your Master Manzi came from the Galaxy Sect."
"But later, he became too savage. He went around eating people and offended many powerful factions."
"After that, the sect expelled him, and they chose to seal their mountain and withdraw from the world."
"Is my Master Manzi a bad person?" Fang Ling asked.
"Yes. Apart from me, your First Master, everyone here is a bad person," the old monk said with a smile. "That's why we were locked up here and can't get out."
"Your Master Manzi likes eating people."
"Your Fat Master is covered in poison."
"Your Sword Master likes killing people to refine his swords."
"And your Flower Master is the worst of all. He used to be the most notorious flower-plucking bandit in the world."
"A flower-plucking bandit? What does that mean?" Fang Ling mumbled.
"I like picking flowers too! I picked all the flowers in the back courtyard. They smelled so nice."
The old monk said, "You'll understand when you're a little older."
"His flower-plucking and the flower-picking you mean are two entirely different things. You must never follow his example!"
"They're all terrible villains. So, Little Fang Ling, you should spend more time with your First Master and chant sutras and praise the Buddha with me."
"Damned bald donkey, stop spreading lies!" Just then, Flower Thief strode in furiously.
"Little Fang Ling, your First Master is lying to you. The four of us are good people. He's the bad one."
"Back then, anyone who refused to become your First Master's disciple was beaten to death on the spot. He's killed more people than any of us!"
Fang Ling ran to the old monk's side, gripped his robes with his little hands, and grinned at Flower Thief, Xiao Luosheng.
"Stop trying to fool me, Flower Master. I'm not a three-year-old."
"First Master is always so kind. He won't even swat a mosquito. He's nothing like you say."
"You little brat, you actually don't believe me!" Flower Thief's face darkened with anger.
The old monk burst out laughing and raised a hand to stroke Fang Ling's little head.
"Little Fang Ling is so clever. You can already tell right from wrong."
"Come, your First Master will teach you that move again. You must learn it soon and be the first to inherit my supreme art!"
Before you continue