The trees drooped beneath the sun, like a group of scolded children hanging their heads in dejection. The water in the pond seemed to have drifted into a dream, tranquil and at ease, as though dreaming a clear, transparent dream—dreaming of embracing the blue sky and white clouds, dreaming of fish swimming back and forth among the blue sky and white clouds...
Under the blazing sun, a cicada clung to a pear tree and chirped incessantly, its noise irritating enough to set one's teeth on edge. Then a praying mantis, far larger than an ordinary one, pounced on the cicada. At last... it seemed as though the entire world had fallen silent!
But before the mantis could eat, a monkey suddenly leaped onto the trunk and stomped it to death. However... it had not come for the mantis, but for the dozen or so pears on the tree, each as large as an adult's fist.
It had been guarding this place for many days because birds would come and compete with it for food. Even before the pears ripened, they would impatiently come to eat them.
To guard against those birds stealing its food, it would come inspect the tree from time to time.
Today... the pears had finally ripened!
The monkey began preparing to pick the fruit that belonged to it.
But... in the next moment, a ball of flame scorched its arm, frightening the monkey into hurriedly pulling back its arm and retreating.
Chapter 101: A Ghostly Maze, or Me Beating Ghosts
"So many pears. They look incredibly juicy too. I'll pick them all and take them back to quench that blockhead's thirst!" Cang Xiaoxuan floated in midair, her eyes lighting up as she looked at the pear tree before her.
She had merely been wandering around, looking