GAMMT - Chapter 106
Chapter 106: Demon Orchid
Xie Siyi was never a normal person. When Fu Chuan asked her such a question, her face, whiter than snow and frost, showed no annoyance, not even a ripple of emotion. Her words, however, lacked any human warmth, carrying the chilling strangeness of a demon before a meal—light and airy.
"With a wife and child on the way, you've really grown up. So much so that you've forgotten your manners."
Fu Chuan knew this woman was aware of the truth about her body; the so-called wife and child were likely a fiction in her eyes. But that didn't matter.
It was a fiction to begin with.
"I just don't understand why Aunt is poking a cactus."
"It looks like you."
"…"
Like who?
No wonder Sang Jiu said this person was no good. She had probably been wounded by that sharp tongue for years.
Fu Chuan didn't respond, simply raising a hand in a gesture.
"Aunt has come from afar. Please, come in."
"No need. I'm here to take someone away, not to scrounge for a cup of coffee."
Take someone away?
Fu Chuan suddenly remembered—the Xie Clan's young master vote was today, wasn't it?
There was no refusing this. Besides, a person like Xie Siyi, who had little regard for conventional ethics, couldn't even be bothered to go inside and see her nominal niece-in-law. With a demonic gust of wind, she swept Fu Chuan away.
"Don't worry about your little wife's safety. I left Flame Dragon behind."
Fu Chuan: "…"
That enormous dragon?
Flame Dragon had already shrunk to the size of a seven or eight-year-old child. Standing upright, he took off his hat, placed his hands on his hips, and surveyed the surroundings. Then he asked Fu Chuan, "Can I eat the stuff in your fridge? I'm hungry."
Fu Chuan: "You can. But if he's staying, what are you taking?"
Xie Siyi glanced at her with a slightly strange look in her eyes.
"Teleportation."
The voting was to take place in the ancestral temple.
However, they could teleport there directly from the Xie Clan's old residence. Many members of the Xie Clan's direct line were with them, including Xie Yiyuan and the others. Fu Chuan was the only one from a branch family.
The moment Xie Fuyun saw Fu Chuan, he smiled, his expression warm and friendly. "Keli, how is the child? I'll come visit another day… I've already prepared the gift money."
"He's fine, thank you."
Fu Chuan thought to herself that the Xie Clan was full of talented people; even Xie Yiyuan could squeeze out a flawless smile.
However, the older generation had their reservations about an outsider like Xie Keli. They were staunch purists of the bloodline, believing that genetic inheritance determined everything. Xie Keli's genes were what they were; his rapid progress must have been due to Xie Siyi piling vast amounts of precious resources on him. But weren't her resources from the Xie Clan?
Thus, they looked at Fu Chuan with a rather critical and displeased air.
They were the second-to-last group to enter the teleportation array. The last to arrive was… the eldest grandson of the direct line, Xie Fujin, who was attending university.
Nearly everyone of the same generation bowed to him.
Everyone except Fu Chuan, who didn't know him. Not that he cared. He only looked at Xie Siyi. "Greetings, Aunt."
Xie Siyi gave a slight nod, noncommittal about her eldest grandson's respect. Instead, she glanced at the few people crowding behind Fu Chuan.
She frowned, reached out, and pulled Fu Chuan to her side.
Xie Fuyun and Xie Yiyuan: "???"
The others: "?"
Xie Fujin's expression tightened slightly, and he lowered his head without a word.
Fu Chuan sensed the subtle shift in the atmosphere, but Xie Siyi had already instructed an elder to activate the array.
After the array activated, they arrived at their destination in less than three seconds. Fu Chuan remained silent and was the first to step out. The island wind was strong, but so were the experts gathered there.
When they arrived, the main direct line of the Xie Clan and the heads of various branch families from all over had already gathered.
Only then did Fu Chuan realize the true power of the Xie Clan.
There were over 300 Arcanists at level 70 or above, and every single one was a descendant of the Xie Clan, most possessing the pupil technique bloodline. This didn't even include the other non-Xie masters they kept under their command.
Inside the spacious, warm, and solemn hall, the Xie Clan had no intention of holding a long and tedious preliminary meeting. They went straight to the most crucial part—the vote.
Fu Chuan looked around but didn't see the current head of the Xie Clan, the old man. She did, however, see many indifferent grand elders of the family, each with a poker face, looking cold and shrewd, as if they were all craft goods from the same production line.
The Xie Clan's hereditary shrewdness?
In any case, it was only when she went to collect her voting rights that Fu Chuan learned her side had five votes.
"Keep in more contact with the family in the future, and you'll know how much power you have," a grand elder in charge of the matter said to Fu Chuan with a hint of warmth.
Evidently, the old guard came in many varieties.
Those with a sense of the bigger picture would be delighted by the appearance of a disciple like Xie Keli.
After receiving her voting rights, Fu Chuan couldn't help but ask, "Is there a salary? I mean, besides what corresponds to the voting rights. I'm not asking for money, just… how much is it?"
She asked with such sincerity, it didn't seem like a joke.
The grand elder's face remained stern. "Theoretically, as the head of a branch family, you are required to pay taxes to the main family each year…"
Before he could finish, the person asking for money had already turned and walked away.
The grand elder: "…"
There were quite a few options for the young master vote, ten in total. After all, the Xie Clan was vast, with several branches in the direct line alone. Xie Siyi was the head of one such branch, but overall, there were only three core candidates.
Xie Fujin's father, Xie Siyi, and Xie Fuyun's father.
Everyone had their own calculations, weighing the pros and cons. Many were hesitating, caught in a dilemma. After all, a three-way stalemate meant the underlings had to choose which way the wind blew.
Fu Chuan didn't sway at all. She was the first to go up and cast her votes. After she came down, Xie Siyi glanced at her. "You want money that badly? You could have sold the votes to those two fathers. Give me half."
Fu Chuan: "Is that allowed?"
Xie Siyi: "So you really did think about it. You're done for."
Entrapment?
Fu Chuan was speechless. Wary of getting into trouble with this woman, she was about to find a corner to sit down in when someone grabbed her sleeve. "Come with me."
Go? Go where?
In front of everyone, Fu Chuan was reluctant to offend these powerful figures, so she hesitated slightly. "It's not over yet. Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"
Xie Siyi: "A reward."
The resource merchant's DNA activated again. Fu Chuan immediately stood up and even reached for a lamp. Here, let me light the way. Aunt, please lead on.
Xie Siyi gave her a faint, knowing smile before turning to lead the way.
As they walked down a quiet corridor, one behind the other, Fu Chuan asked if she was so confident in securing the position of young master.
"I won't get it."
"?"
Whenever Xie Siyi was in this solemn and ancient ancestral temple, she always acted as if she were strolling through her own backyard. Her sleeves fluttered, and her words seemed to float.
"You know, emperors are often reluctant to name a crown prince while they're still alive, especially when they have many children and no shortage of heirs."
Fu Chuan: "Power makes one lonely, and loneliness tolerates no rivals."
That was the answer to this young master election. The final result would surely be a three-way tie, or a tie between two of the three, leaving the position of young master vacant once again.
"Then you don't need to arrange for people like us."
Didn't that make her value equal to zero?
Yet this woman had consistently listed her as part of her faction. Was it purely because she saw a bit of potential in her to be used?
But up until now, she hadn't been asked to do a single thing, or kill a single person.
Xie Siyi, however, said coldly, "The environment is what it is. But if you just let things slide, you might not be able to maintain this situation."
True, without votes, how could one maintain the balance?
A thought flickered in Fu Chuan's mind: So, this situation is also what she wants?
"I thought you wanted this position. It seems I was wrong."
"If the great king does not die, what use is a lesser king?"
Those words were absolutely treasonous.
But Fu Chuan knew this was the real Xie Siyi, unwilling to be controlled by others.
Perhaps her opponents, and those of the other two fathers, were not each other, but the old man at the very top.
However, this was Xie Siyi's game. Just as she had accepted benefits from the Fu siblings, Fu Chuan would do the job without asking why.
Speaking of rewards, the gene pool?
"Seventy-two hours in the gene pool over three days, and one chance to comprehend the Xie Clan's Demon Orchid Stele for one hour."
Fu Chuan only knew about the gene pool; she had never heard of the Demon Orchid Stele. It must be a secret of the Xie Clan, something inaccessible to players like them in the past.
"Do the Li Family and the others have something similar?"
"No."
Exclusive to the Xie Clan? Fu Chuan instinctively wondered: could this be the key to why someone from the Xie Clan's ancestry was able to break through to Purple Blood, while the other three great noble families never had?
Xie Siyi led Fu Chuan deeper into the ancestral temple. After more than ten minutes, they arrived.
This had to be the deepest part of the temple. The great bronze doors were heavy and ancient, adorned with grim and terrifying reliefs that were shockingly bloody. Fu Chuan estimated that the seals on them were probably unbreakable even for a level 90 expert.
"The Demon Orchid Stele is an inscription carved by our founding ancestor after he rose from obscurity. The body of the stele is based on his own bones, the text written with his blood essence, and his will was infused during its creation… It took a hundred years to complete. Since then, renowned experts of the Xie Clan have offered their own bodies, strengthening it generation after generation, until it finally became the Xie Clan's most important resource."
Fu Chuan was enlightened. So that was it. This thing was indeed far more powerful than the gene pool.
"Then, Aunt, when you die, will you do the same?"
What if she hadn't left the Xie Clan by then and came to comprehend this Demon Orchid Stele? It would feel strange.
This woman wouldn't climb out of the stele, would she? Like Sadako.
As if sensing her thoughts, Xie Siyi turned to look at her, the corners of her lips curling up.
"If I am worthy, I suppose I will. And my soul will float out to see you. No matter how late it is, I will keep you company."
"Because you are my favorite nephew."
That… that won't be necessary.
Fu Chuan was reminded of the movie A Wicked Ghost. The protagonist, Cissy, adored her nephew… but ended up killing him too.
Xie Siyi couldn't be bothered with this scoundrel who was already anticipating her early demise. She took out a seal and embedded it into the lock slot on the great door. A totem on it corresponded, and the veins of the reliefs on the door were connected and activated.
"The old man's incantation is on it. Only he can open this door."
As Xie Siyi spoke to Fu Chuan, the reliefs on the wall had already activated, and the seal did indeed emit the low, hoarse voice of an old man chanting an incantation.
With a clang, the great doors slowly opened, but a terrifying pressure forced Fu Chuan back seven or eight steps.
Xie Siyi didn't move an inch. She glanced at her. "Go in by yourself. You have one hour. I'll come get you in an hour."
Fu Chuan couldn't see anything inside. It was filled with a thick, damp mist that carried a faint, fresh scent of plants.
The pressure was understandable, given that the Demon Orchid Stele was created from the offerings of generations of Xie Clan experts. But what was this plant fragrance?
Fu Chuan was a little puzzled but didn't ask further. She pushed against the pressure and walked in.
The door boomed shut behind her.
There was no light ahead, only a vast expanse of white. There was indeed mist, and it was very damp and smelled of plants. Fu Chuan tentatively extended a tentacle from her fingertip to analyze the scent in the air, but she quickly found it difficult to maintain the tentacle.
The pressure inside was like a Forbidden Arcane field, suppressing all arcane power. The only thing that could withstand it was power on a genetic level.
Fu Chuan realized this was likely the Xie Clan's Demon Orchid Stele testing its descendants.
To truly see it, one had to get closer, constantly moving forward.
Fu Chuan stood where she was and used her pupil technique to observe. The Demon Orchid pupil was related to genes and possessed the ability of perspective and insight. If it could normally see 10% of the truth, then… what Fu Chuan ultimately saw was a 50% result.
Aided by the Mental Eye, she could see threads of Mental Power.
The Demon Orchid Stele must contain the residual spiritual will of generations of experts.
She saw its direction and began walking that way, pushing through the mist and pressure.
As she walked, she saw a corridor.
Both sides of the corridor were lined with steles—bodies of white bone, with blood-red characters and diagrams. They basically contained the life's essence of generations of experts.
The most recent expert's legacy Fu Chuan saw had to do with the attachment of arcane weapons.
The arcane stage, after enlightenment, was only the completion of the first initial phase. The second phase was spirit attachment, allowing the arcane power to manifest in the martial spirit and leave the body, achieving ranged attacks from any position.
Normally, enlightenment was considered the upper limit of an Arcanist's strongest attack, concentrating all energy into their arcane weapon, but it was generally controlled near the body's surface. If it could be freely controlled from a distance and used for surprise attacks, the effect would be completely different.
And this second phase was also divided into two parts.
1. Detached Spirit Attachment: Separating it from the body and continuously increasing the distance of the attachment. This involved Mental Power. The stronger the Mental Power, the better the control. Otherwise, no matter how high one's arcane talent or how strong their mastery of techniques, it would be difficult to maintain the martial spirit too far from the body for too long without the support of Mental Power.
2. Arcane Martial Spirit Enhancement: This enhancement was simple—it was about deepening the comprehension of the arcane truth, purely dependent on arcane talent. The enhancement was also divided into three stages: level one, level two, and level three. However, exceptionally talented arcane martial spirits could reach a fifth level, due to their higher ceiling.
This expert was one of the Xie Clan's highly talented individuals, and his achievements were naturally impressive—a spirit attachment range of five hundred meters, and a level five martial spirit enhancement.
This meant that within a five-hundred-meter radius, his arcane weapon could attach and manifest anywhere, launching a surprise attack.
An average Arcanist at this stage could at most achieve a spirit attachment range of a hundred meters.
That was a five-fold difference.
Fu Chuan didn't rush to comprehend it. Instead, she memorized all the text and totems on it, then moved forward.
This was not her limit, but her time was limited.
The resource merchant had surveyed this game like a god, but after entering the game, things like these steles were not something she could master from outside. By experiencing it firsthand now, by immersing herself in comprehension, it would become her future strength.
Technique, experience—this was wealth that couldn't be bought with resources.
The second, the third… by the time Fu Chuan saw the seventh expert's stele, she began to feel a pain in her soul.
Her will, her will was about to break under the pressure.
If her will couldn't hold, her body certainly couldn't.
Fu Chuan took another step forward. A sharp pain came abruptly, severely injuring her body. She staggered and fell to her knees, spitting up blood.
She glanced down at the time.
Twenty minutes had passed. She had forty minutes left. It seemed this was her limit.
Seven steles. That was good enough.
Fu Chuan began to comprehend the seven steles. What was on these bone steles was not an arcane stone or an arcane book; it was the most correct path, already formed. It was like reading and receiving, just needing to analyze what was beneficial and turn it into her own experience. This efficiency far surpassed that of an arcane book, a truly meteoric advancement.
The progress of her four-field fusion was increasing wildly, the effect a hundred times greater than the Lesser Heavenly Book.
Fu Chuan was infinitely approaching the shadows of these experts, and also approaching a truly perfect infinite flow.
Time passed, second by second. In the final three minutes, a perfect, transparent four-sided cube suddenly appeared around Fu Chuan, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground. The four fields had fused perfectly. The moment she opened her eyes, her expression was a little strange.
"So the greatest benefit wasn't the cultivation essence of these experts, but the tempering of my will. My will seems to have strengthened; otherwise, I wouldn't feel the pressure has lessened slightly."
So, the longer one stayed, the farther one went, the better the tempering effect.
Then the value of this one hour was very high. What if the time was longer?
"It seems being first in two provinces is necessary. The Xie Clan is willing to feed the horse in this regard."
Seeing only three minutes left, a thought struck Fu Chuan. She had an idea. Instead of moving forward, she manifested her sequence tentacle, not integrating it with light or her body, but releasing it according to its genetic essence.
She wanted to test if the difficulty of maintaining a body walking in this corridor was far greater than a genetic tentacle, and if the genetic tentacle could approach the stronger, more advanced bone steles with less consumption of will.
Especially since… she didn't know if she could ever enter this place again. But the Demon Orchid Stele of the true Xie Clan ancestor, she hadn't seen it yet.
She was already here. It wouldn't be right to miss it.
Besides, heaven had given her a first sequence that produced a density-less tentacle and gave the tentacle the ability of Forbidden Arcane. Heaven was offering her a meal; shouldn't she try it?
So, Fu Chuan, bold yet meticulous, applied the Forbidden Arcane in reverse to the tentacle itself. The moment the tentacle went out… the pressure was naturally there, but it was indeed several times weaker than before. And because of the Forbidden Arcane, the resistance it endured was almost nil.
Fu Chuan narrowed her eyes and quickly controlled it, shrinking it to be as thin as a hair. She also altered its density, allowing it to appropriately change its own density to match the different spatial densities at different distances, and then pushed on, climbing inward against the ever-increasing pressure.
This required very microscopic and precise control. One mistake could easily attract the attention of the pressure, which would then crush it with full force.
Soon, Fu Chuan had rapidly passed many steles, but she didn't stop to comprehend them. Her goal was clear: she wanted to see the final ancestor's Demon Orchid Stele.
Finally, a minute later, with her head throbbing, Fu Chuan saw a faint, eerie purple light at the end of the corridor, through the thick mist.
It was there.
But she couldn't get past.
There were about ten meters left to the stele behind the thick fog, but Fu Chuan felt she was about to break.
Her head was going to explode.
This was her only chance… What if one day the perverse Xie Siyi tried some grand move, failed, and then died? The Xie Clan might not treat her so well then.
So, she had been wrong before. If Xie Siyi was gone, she would have no chance of entering this place.
Then…
If her soul was truly special, there might still be some potential to dig out.
And even if she failed, it would be good to let the pressure and will here stimulate and temper her a bit.
Fu Chuan gritted her teeth and unleashed everything in one final push. The limp tentacle suddenly shot out.
In the final minute, Fu Chuan felt the sensory vision from the tentacle see, beyond the thick, damp mist, a three-meter-tall stele.
Purple bone.
The blood-red characters and totems on the purple bone were grim, but… a patch of a dozen or so bewitchingly beautiful purple flowers was growing on it.
This was? The Demon Orchid?
A true Demon Orchid, nurtured by the ancestor's bone body… that was one of the most supreme plants in the world, growing only in the most extreme and hidden environments. In the normal world timeline, it would take several hundred years to grow.
But the Xie Clan had used their ancestor's bone body… no, or rather, the founding ancestor had already figured out a cultivation method using Demon Orchid seeds.
No wonder the Xie Clan produced prodigies generation after generation.
This was the real secret.
As Fu Chuan was stunned, she noticed that some of the flowers on the vine had already been picked.
Clearly, someone had used them before. She reacted extremely quickly. Just as the tentacle was about to wither and be destroyed by the pressure, she made it flick out one last time.
It wrapped around a flower.
With a snap, a flower was twisted off.
A flower thief!
Run, run, run!!
Immense pressure slammed into Fu Chuan's body. As she was pushed out of the space by a powerful force, Fu Chuan integrated the Demon Orchid into her body, and then… whoosh!
She was thrown out the door, right into Xie Siyi, who was standing outside. The latter frowned, stepped aside… and Fu Chuan slammed into the wall, weakly spitting blood.
She looked up at Xie Siyi, who had dodged.
"Aunt…"
Xie Siyi felt no guilt at all, saying calmly, "Sorry, I didn't realize it was you. It was just instinct."
Heh.
Fu Chuan, spitting blood, struggled to her feet, leaning against the wall. She was a little confused. "I wasn't over time. Why was it so fierce?"
Xie Siyi sized her up, then turned her face away. "If you go over time, you'll be executed. It's not like disciples haven't been killed in the past."
"…"
"Come with me. Gene pool."
Fu Chuan's heart trembled. She limped after the woman to the gene pool, asking about the result of the young master election along the way.
"A three-way tie."
"It really was a tie. So they've all left? Aren't they staying for a meal?"
Fu Chuan remembered that in her original world, whenever there was a major family event, it would always end with a meal. Both her parents' families were like that. Was this world different?
If she skipped the meal for the gene pool, would she offend those big shots in the Xie Clan? Would she be assassinated? Would her next reward be reduced?
Back in her hometown, she had a cousin whose private life was a mess. He skipped a family banquet to meet his mistress, and the old patriarch was very displeased. Later, when his affair was exposed, the elders, who valued the family's reputation above all, were furious. The family came down hard, giving him a choice: either leave with nothing and elope with his mistress, or clean up his act for the sake of the family business.
By then, the family had already risen, and the business was not small. Her second uncle couldn't go against the elders' wishes, especially since he had more than one son.
In the end, the cousin, who understood the stakes, tearfully abandoned his mistress. However, his wife still decisively took most of the assets and left with their child.
Right up until she died and came to this world, that cousin would occasionally ask her out to eat and cry his eyes out, full of regret.
What could she say? She could only rub salt in his wound, telling him how well his ex-wife was doing, with a handsome, loyal, younger man for her second spring, and that their child could even call him 'daddy'—though it was someone else he was calling.
So, one should never ignore the opinions of family elders. They were the ones who could decide the size of your wallet.
Xie Siyi: "The family only has banquets like that when someone dies. Next time you die, I'll arrange one. What kind of cuisine do you like?"
"…"
They had already reached the gene pool space. But after they looked at each other, they both suddenly realized that neither of them was talkative by nature, yet in front of each other… they seemed to talk a lot.
Especially after her identity was revealed by Xie Siyi, their statuses had become somewhat closer. Certain things were said more openly, and the personalities they showed were a bit more direct.
The verbal sparring was subtle but present.
At the very least, it seemed Xie Siyi quite enjoyed joking with her.
Fu Chuan was a little puzzled, but just before she walked into the gene pool, Xie Siyi suddenly handed her something.
Fu Chuan: "?"
In Xie Siyi's hand was an egg.
After her initial surprise, Fu Chuan's gaze narrowed slightly. She asked, "Is this a reward from you, Aunt?"
"I heard you've been spreading the word that I've been a great help on your path of growth. Just now, many elders were mocking me for my favoritism towards you. I can't bear such a great injustice for nothing. Here, for you."
The other woman had clearly seen through her intentions, but Fu Chuan pretended not to hear the teasing in her words and thanked her sincerely. When she took the egg, her heart jolted in shock.
Orange tier?
Such a grand gesture.
"This must have cost Aunt a lot."
This was genuine.
"It was taken from the Xie Clan's treasury. It hardly cost me anything. It's just a fossil. Its potential is good, but it went dormant with the death of its original master. It might not awaken—it all depends on what you gained from the Demon Orchid Stele."
Aunt Xie was so cold, and her words were so pointed. Fu Chuan had wanted to say something nice, but she didn't get the chance. She just looked at her quietly.
Xie Siyi smiled without a word, as if waiting for her decision.
At this moment, Fu Chuan felt something subtle: Xie Siyi knew her secrets best. Had she seen through the fact that she had obtained a Demon Orchid from the stele?
Otherwise, why would she give her such a pet egg?
As her heart pounded, Fu Chuan looked down at the fossilized pet egg.
Demon Orchid Flame Dragon (Orange Tier, Two-winged Dragon-type pet, Fossilized dormant state)
Attributes: Not awakened, cannot be observed.
Description: Because its species is born beside the purple-tier special plant group, the Demon Orchid, it is a symbiotic dragon species. It grows and evolves by consuming the Demon Orchid for generations. Its growth potential is extremely high, not limited to the orange tier.
She had known about the Demon Orchid Flame Dragon before. She also knew that not everyone in the Xie Clan had one. One had to have a sufficiently high bloodline and status to obtain it. Someone like Xie Siyi got one when she was young because her branch of the family was basically wiped out. With fewer people, the ancestral Flame Dragon fossil could be passed down. Otherwise, it would have been sealed in the treasury, waiting for a worthy heir to appear.
For her to get one was definitely not as casual as Xie Siyi made it sound.
So, why was this person being so good to her?
Was it purely to invest in a powerful confidant? But she should have seen that Fu Chuan was unwilling to get too involved in the Xie Clan's affairs and was not easy to control. At the very least, she now had the backing of the Sage Medical Hall and the academy, and had connections with the Dean and others. She wasn't without a way out; she just wasn't willing to tear off the facade with her.
Fu Chuan had a faint feeling that a person with Xie Siyi's disposition would never make an aimless investment based on emotion.
"She must have a big plan, and she'll need my help then."
Fu Chuan felt a headache coming on. But could she refuse?
If she refused, it would mean tearing off the facade, but she still didn't know where this person's limits were.
At the very least, she felt this person was stronger and more dangerous than Sang Jiu.
Three seconds. She only thought for three seconds, then smiled faintly. "Thank you, Aunt. You're so good to me."
She reached out and took the Flame Dragon egg. Xie Siyi chuckled lightly and turned to leave.
She had indeed never taught Fu Chuan any cultivation techniques, but she had given her benefits that others could not.
Fu Chuan touched the Flame Dragon egg and walked into the gene pool.
Inside the pool, Fu Chuan took out the Demon Orchid in her hand. She only had one. Should she use it on the Flame Dragon to see if it could awaken it, or use it on herself to enhance her bloodline?
Fu Chuan hesitated for a moment, then chose the latter. One Demon Orchid was probably not enough to awaken it.
Doing things by halves was meaningless. It was better to improve herself first. In three days, the Xie Keli body would need to go out with the Fu Chuan body.
Time flowed like water. Three days later, at the Sage Medical Hall, a security guard had been hired a few months ago. He wore blue overalls and a small hard hat.
He ran like the wind, and the jiggle of his chubby body made people want to hug him and give him a good squeeze.
"Hey, hey, Tu Tu, slow down, slow down!"
"Oh no, oh no, I'm going to be late for work! Big Bear is going to dock my perfect attendance bonus!"
"Hey, don't worry, I have food here. Do you want some?"
"No, no…"
Though his mouth said no, when he smelled the aroma of the egg tarts wafting from the paper bag in the person's hand, he still zipped over in a sharp turn, grabbed it, and then hurried towards the main entrance.
A sniper rifle on his back, two small hatchets at his waist—a fluffy, chubby groundhog, the mighty and majestic little Tu Tu.
Beep!
He pressed the check-in button at the last second and swiped the ID card on his chest, saving his perfect attendance. But then he was suddenly lifted into the air. Big Bear had arrived, picked him up, placed the groundhog on the table, took the bag of egg tarts from his arms, and ate half of them.
"Cutting it close every day. Are you dancing the tango?"
"No, Big Bear. Where's Sister Chuan Chuan? I wanted to share the egg tarts with her."
"She's on leave for something. She's very busy with heavy cultivation tasks. What about you? What dungeon have you been running lately? Want to ask her to run one with you again?"
"How many days is she off? Don't say that, I just purely miss my sister."
"A week, I think. She hasn't used her vacation days."
As the two chatted, Tu Tu hopped onto a chair, sat down with a plop, and shared the egg tarts with Big Bear, swinging his short legs. He happened to glance at the time on the wall and couldn't help but sigh, "Wow, it's already been seven months since I first came to our clinic for treatment."
"It's been fast. I still remember you crying while holding your tail that day."
As they chatted, Tu Tu, being talkative, got really into gossiping. Just then, Shen Qixi arrived.
It was Sunday, her day off. She came over to accompany Tu Tu and chat with him about running dungeons.
She arrived just as they were having breakfast. Big Bear quite liked this girl and invited her over for egg tarts. As they were eating, Tu Tu asked, "I saw some news about East Guan Academy yesterday. It said something happened to Xie Keli and Fu Ye's child. Can it still be born?"
He didn't know that Xie and Fu were the same person; he was just gossiping out of curiosity.
So was Big Bear.
Shen Qixi's motion of eating the egg tart paused slightly. She lowered her head and said vaguely, "It probably can."
But what she was thinking about was the strange atmosphere in her family recently, and her usually carefree father's recent sensitivity. He had a mission and left yesterday. Before he left, he told her to be cautious in everything, and if the family asked her to do anything, to discuss it with her mother first.
Shen Qixi was naturally cautious and felt that something must have happened behind the scenes.
Could that matter be related to the Li Family?
After they finished chatting, once Tu Tu's shift was over, Shen Qixi took him out of town to run a dungeon. On the way, she received a message from the Li Family, telling her to return to the family's ancestral temple tomorrow afternoon to go through the gene pool.
It was a family reward.
Shen Qixi instinctively frowned.
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