Ning Shu wiped at her cold sweat, then set to work. She tied one end securely around the trunk of a tree, then tied the other end around her waist before slowly descending the cliff.

  She was really risking it all for the pearl. After sliding down to the longevity fruit’s side, she found that the fruit was even more astonishing up close. The fetus looked so real that there even seemed to be features on the face.

  Fudge, it couldn’t be that it’d really end up growing into a child, right?

  She remembered that the medicinal book had said that it was just a plant, but the fact that a plant could look so much like a fetus really was remarkable.

  “System 2333-san, what exactly is this thing?” Ning Shu reached out to pluck it.

  “It’s just a spirit herb, there’s nothing special about it. Once you get to a cultivation plane, you’ll be able to see all sorts of spirit herbs,” answered 2333 mildly. His tone contained no enthusiasm, it was clear that he didn’t want to explain anymore.

  Ning Shu was like a country bumpkin.

  “Hiss…” Something suddenly rushed towards Ning Shu’s hand. She hastily pulled her hand back and grabbed the rope while kicking the cliff to get away from the longevity fruit. She found that near the longevity fruit was a snake about the size of a finger. It was nearly the same color as the cliff, which was why she hadn’t noticed it before.

  The snake was coiled up as it looked warily at Ning Shu.

  It was fortunate that her instincts had kicked in quick enough, otherwise she would’ve already been bitten.

  They faced each other silently for a while. Ning Shu felt that she should’ve expected this. The longevity fruit grew at such a conspicuous place, if there wasn’t something guarding it, people would’ve plucked it already.

  It was clear that this snake had been guarding this fruit this entire time.

  So she had to get rid of this snake in order to get the fruit. She quickly pulled out the axe attached to her waist and hacked at the snake. She had already come this far, there was no way she could turn back.

  The snake arched back, then pounced towards NIng Shu’s wrist, but Ning Shu flipped her hand around to chop towards the snake with the axe. Fear emerged in the tiny snake’s cold eyes at the sight of the metal and it changed directions to fly towards her face.

  Ning Shu revolved her energy and held onto the rope with one hand as she kicked away from the cliff to dodge the attack. At the same time, she hacked at the flying snake, chopping it into two clean halves.

  The snake’s corpse fell down the cliff, but her limbs still felt weak from the fright. After taking a moment to recover, she plucked the longevity fruit and placed it inside the box the shaman had given her.

  When she got home, Father Zhuang was waiting for her. He saw that she looked quite worn out, but there were no mushrooms in sight, so he asked, “Where’s the mushrooms?”


  “I gathered some, but I found that they were infected with poisonous viruses, so I stopped gathering them. It’d be bad if the teachers fall ill from eating them.” Ning Shu came up with a random excuse.

  Father Zhuang got a bamboo basket and said that he would go look for some that weren’t poisonous.

  Ning Shu watched as he walked towards the mountains. This was truly a father that was always thinking of his children. Zhuang Yutong was fortunate to have parents like this. At the same time, she probably wouldn’t have requested for a counterattack if this wasn’t the case. She had wanted to live because of her parents.

  Ning Shu washed up slightly, then headed to the shaman’s house with the box. She stopped in the courtyard and shouted, “Grannie, I’m here.”


  “Come in,” said the shaman.

  Ning Shu entered the house and handed the box to her. “I’ve gathered it.”


  “Already?” The shaman extended a withered hand to open the box. When she saw that there was truly a longevity fruit inside, her hand started trembling. “It really is…”


  Perhaps because Ning Shu was here, she didn’t state the fruit’s name and quickly put the box away.