Danger!
An overwhelming sense of danger flooded his heart!
If he couldn't properly explain why he had called her a senior, he would be killed-slaughtered on the spot!
He hadn't even experienced the pleasures of a younger girl yet. He didn't want to die here.
"Uh, sorry. I originally thought you were around thirty or forty. Calling someone that age a senior isn't unreasonable, right? Who knew you were so young and beautiful?"
Flattery could get you through anything.
Under any circumstances, complimenting a woman on her beauty was absolutely safe.
Even if she was an ugly three-hundred-pound woman, calling her a beauty would soften her heart a little.
Women were just that shallow.
All Xu Le's theoretical knowledge came from those kind souls online in his previous life whom everyone wished a lifetime of peace. It was absolutely reliable.
Sure enough, after Xu Le said that, the woman in red's expression softened slightly.
The pressure weighing on Xu Le abruptly eased as well.
Come on, you should've told me you liked compliments. I'd have been happy to give you a few more.
Muttering inwardly, Xu Le looked at the woman.
Yeah, this woman really is beautiful. What a shame about... her eyes.
The woman noticed Xu Le's gaze and gave a faintly disdainful snort. Then she picked up her eyepatch from the rock beside her and gently put it on.
She slowly rose from the rock, then hopped down in front of Xu Le.
Because she was so close, Xu Le instinctively took a step back.
She's so tall! Xu Le figured that if he was 180 centimeters tall, this woman had to be at least 176.
She was barefoot just like him, meaning none of that height was artificial.
A woman this tall was probably rare in the Dark Age.
"Am I ugly?"
"Huh? No, not at all."
Xu Le lowered his head guiltily. For some reason, he kept feeling that he didn't quite dare meet this woman's gaze.
But when the woman in red remained silent for a while, Xu Le grew nervous and added with a little more conviction:
"Really, you're not. You're beautiful."
The woman in red turned her head away, keeping Xu Le from seeing the slight upward curl of her lips.
She walked back to the rock and gathered the things on it.
An eyebrow pencil and a mirror.
Only then did Xu Le realize that the woman in red had taken off her eyepatch and turned her back to everyone to draw her eyebrows!
At that moment, Xu Le noticed the fingers gathering the eyebrow pencil and mirror.
They weren't normal fingers at all, but digits made up of jointed wooden mechanical segments.
They looked like a puppet's.
Looking at the woman before him, Xu Le's thirst for gossip blazed like a raging fire.
What kind of experiences and past could have left her like this?
But did he dare ask? Not a chance.
So he could only stand obediently where he was, keeping quiet and pretending to be profound.
The woman in red turned and walked past Xu Le.
Only after she had passed him did Xu Le slowly turn around.
But the woman in red suddenly looked back, as though she specifically intended to make an announcement, and said to Xu Le:
"From today onward, you're Old Seven."
Xu Le: ???
"Uh, didn't we already..." Looking into the woman's eye, Xu Le didn't finish.
That fat Number Four had already said this earlier.
Why was this woman saying it all over again?
She made it seem as though he only became Old Seven once she declared it.
The woman in red headed toward the Guyinduo Tree, to the spot Xu Le had visited earlier.
From the looks of it, was she going to collect her reward for this Red Moon Calamity?
Xu Le thought that without this woman, he would most likely have handed over his Ice Element Fruit earlier.
Whatever way he looked at it, he ought to thank her.
"Thank you. If you hadn't warned me earlier, I probably would've handed this fruit over. Really, thank you so much."
Looking at the Ice Fruit in his hand, Xu Le offered the woman in red his thanks.
But the woman showed no intention of stopping. She didn't care, and didn't even turn to glance at Xu Le.
"How do you know I'm not after that fruit in your hand? Go on, give it to me."
"Well..."
Xu Le was momentarily speechless, but his mind was racing at the same time.
Right, there's no way to be sure!
Earlier, he had reasoned that the fat man wouldn't dare attack here, but he couldn't be certain the woman in red wouldn't!
Even if Xu Le was eighty percent certain that this woman wouldn't attack here either...
What about the other twenty percent?
Was this one fruit worth taking that twenty-percent gamble?
Xu Le's gaze shifted rapidly, though less than a second actually passed.
First, he asked:
"If I don't give it to you..."
"Then I'll kill ya."
"Uh..." Xu Le hesitated.
Judging by the fat man's earlier reaction, this woman was definitely no ordinary person.
If he absolutely had to give away the fruit, could he leverage it to earn some goodwill from this big shot and make himself memorable?
That way, this wouldn't be a total loss, right?
Staring into her increasingly sharp gaze, Xu Le quickly lost his nerve. Life was unpredictable; anything could happen.
Why gamble with his life at a time like this? He held out the fruit.
"Then... all right."
The woman finally stopped, turned her head, and narrowed her lone eye, studying Xu Le for a while.
"Not bad. At least you're not the sort who lets greed go to his head."
She didn't take the fruit, which eased Xu Le's heart. He hurriedly asked:
"Number Four said we could trade here. Does that mean you can only get someone else's fruit through a willing exchange?"
The woman in red ignored Xu Le. She simply walked straight up to the Gundo Mother Tree and clasped her hands together.
It looked as though she was praying.
Apparently, she hadn't collected her reward yet either.
Compared with Xu Le, the woman showed much greater reverence toward the Gundo Mother Tree.
Despite her somewhat haughty air, she bowed her head, bent her knees slightly, and knelt on one knee.
At the same time, five thick branches extended downward, each holding a fruit of a different color and shape.
These fruits were likewise shrouded in blue and gray mist.
But in Xu Le's eyes, they shone brilliantly!
Holy shit!
Looking at this woman's rewards, Xu Le's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
[Guyinduo Fruit - Lower-tier element - Iron] [Guyinduo Fruit - Longevity] [Guyinduo Fruit - Mystery - Corrosion] [Guyinduo Fruit - Upper-tier creature - Azure Dragon] [Guyinduo Fruit - Upper-tier element - Metal]
Holy shit!
Holy shit! Holy shit!
Xu Le repeated countless holy shits in his mind, because he truly had no other words to express the sudden, intense shock that hit him in that brief moment.
What did this woman do? Save the galaxy?
Well, he didn't even know whether this place was in the Milky Way.
But these rewards were way too ridiculous!
Even the seemingly worst one, the lower-tier elemental iron fruit, ought to be on the same level as his own lower-tier elemental ice fruit.
In other words, his best was equal to her worst?
The others were even more outrageous.
The Longevity Fruit-just from the name, he could tell it probably extended a person's lifespan.
Mystery Fruit - Corrosion. Its exact effect was uncertain. Perhaps it had something to do with corrosion? A mysterious ability.
Upper-tier creature - Azure Dragon. Xu Le didn't know much else, but he'd watched plenty of TV dramas and read plenty of novels. Had anything associated with dragons ever been ordinary?
Upper-tier element - Metal. Metal and iron-iron should be a kind of metal too. One upper-tier, one lower-tier. That made sense.
While Xu Le was still reeling from this woman's rewards, the woman in red began to hesitate slightly as well.
This Red Moon Calamity had been a disaster all around the world.
That meant the Guyinduo Tree's rewards would be especially generous.
Judging by the rewards of the people before her and this boy in front of her, talent fruits, which rarely appeared in the past, had gone to practically everyone tonight.
Since everyone else had received talent fruits, her rewards would surely only be better and stronger.
What would they be?
Which should I choose?
After thinking it over, she decided to choose the first one.
Mainly because she always chose the first one, and her luck had always been pretty good.
This time should be no exception.
Having made her decision, the woman in red reached toward the first fruit.
Of the five fruits, it was the seemingly worst one: lower-tier element - iron.
Sharp-eyed Xu Le naturally saw what she was reaching for, and immediately sensed trouble.
Passing up so many good things to choose a lower-tier element-calling that a waste would be an understatement!
Should I stop her? What reason could I give? Would she believe me?
Amid his jumbled thoughts, Xu Le still spoke:
"Hey, wait!"
Although she thought Xu Le was being a little rash, the woman in red stopped when she heard his call.
Truthfully, she always felt a little conflicted when choosing a fruit. Picking a weak reward or one that didn't suit her would seem terribly wasteful.
The fruits this time should be very valuable, so Xu Le's call naturally gave her pause.
"Hmm?"
"Crap, how should I explain this to her?"
Amid his panic, a cool current surged from his mind through his entire body. The Soul Tree's feedback calmed Xu Le down.
He looked at the woman in red and took a deep breath.
"I don't think you should choose the first one."
The eyebrow above her lone eye rose, and the woman in red tilted her head.
"Why?"
Looking at her, Xu Le froze slightly. The way the woman tilted her head didn't quite fit her identity or demeanor.
Without her earlier domineering coldness, she seemed a little cute instead.
The woman in red seemed to notice something different in Xu Le's gaze as well. She straightened her head slightly, her expression turning cold again as she waited for his answer.
"Go on. Why?"
"Give me a moment. I might need to get my thoughts in order."
Xu Le didn't know whether his thinking was correct either.
But from the weaker person's perspective, this woman in red had already shown him goodwill twice.
The first time, she had warned him to be wary of the fat man.
The second time, she had refused his fruit.
Putting himself in the weaker person's position made it easy to sort out his thoughts. This was a technique Xu Le had often used when writing novels in his previous life.
A talent fruit, even a lower-tier one, was worth a fortune.
Xu Le felt there really wasn't anyone in this world who could disregard the value of a talent fruit. Even someone powerful couldn't simply ignore it.
Since she had shown goodwill, shouldn't he make a gesture in return?
Only people with value would be taken seriously.
Only then would they have the standing to share information, abilities, and material resources.
It was precisely because Xu Le had demonstrated his value that Bai Jing had thought highly of him and brought him back to Lighthouse.
Here, that mattered even more!
This was the Mother Tree Realm.
A place one could only reach after eating a Guyinduo Fate Fruit.
Since my ability works here, could I gain something extra by putting it to good use?
For example, I could guide the other six people in choosing their fruits and gain additional benefits in return.
Once my ability gives me a firm foothold here, could I use the people in the Mother Tree Realm to obtain information about Warlocks, knowledge, and Spell Formulas?
Going a step further, I could use my ability to trade items and resources.
Perhaps one day, I could even truly take control of the Mother Tree Realm and become the one who ruled it.
Before you continue