"Should I just leave her here and go, or wait until she wakes up?" Su Chen glanced at Han Yue, still unconscious in the Immortal Pond.
After a moment of hesitation, he shook his head.
"No… I should go. I don't know how much longer I'll be allowed to stay in this Immortal Palace. If I get thrown out one day like I was thrown in, without taking advantage of it, that'd be a huge loss."
Without looking back, he turned and shot toward the exit gate at full speed.
Soon, he left the tree hollow and descended into the vast forest below. Activating his Plant Sensing Technique to its maximum range, he began scanning the surroundings—not just for danger, but for other people and hidden treasures.
He continued flying through the forest canopy, passing through ancient groves and untouched land. Along the way, he gathered several precious spiritual herbs—some over ten thousand years old, and even one or two that had reached fifty thousand years. Their value made his heart tremble with delight.
Eventually, he reached a mountainous region, and while soaring between two peaks, he suddenly stopped mid-air.
Below, standing across from one another, were two familiar figures.
One was a feminine-looking young man he had seen before on the Immortal Platform—the kind of person Su Chen always thought had questionable preferences, even in this world… those overly delicate types...
The other was Lin Yu—our dear son of a village chief, or well, former son. Now clad in plain monastic robes, his head cleanly shaved and even shining a little under the sunlight. The guy had gone full Buddhist monk.
Su Chen's gaze narrowed, a flicker of coldness passing through his eyes.
"Tch… this bastard," he muttered inwardly.
"He ambushed me on the Heaven Stairs and forced me to flee like a stray dog, calling me a demonic piece of trash… orphan bastard."
His gaze shifted again to the man across from Lin Yu—the same delicate, flowery youth.
"…And that pretty boy too. Tch. Why do people like that exist even in this world?"
Su Chen snorted softly, folding his arms as he hovered silently above them.
"Fine then. Today, I'll deal with both of you… dead weight on earth..."
Then his gaze moved toward the space between them.
Between the two stood an extraordinary tree.
Its leaves came in all shapes and colors—some like swords, some like spears, others resembling the moon, the sun, and even forms of living beings: dragons, tigers, phoenixes, and even humans.
Suddenly, a name came to Su Chen's mind.
Enlightenment Tea Tree.
He had seen a description of it once in the records of the Wood Sovereign Script—
A mythical tree from the previous era, said to produce spiritual tea leaves capable of assisting even True Immortals in comprehending the Dao. The stronger a cultivator was, the harder it became to understand the next step in cultivation. This tree, however, could bridge that gap.
"A priceless treasure… something that can't be bought, no matter how many spirit stones or precious treasures one has," Su Chen murmured, eyes gleaming.
"Heh… finally, a proper baby."
But his gaze sharpened. There were faint runes in the air—a restriction formation protecting the tree.
"If I use the Immortal Rebirth Armor, I might be able to enter… but what if it harms the tree or teleports it somewhere else? What if the formation reacts violently? It's better to wait and watch. I can enjoy the show and take the prize at the right moment."
He activated Plant Sensing Technique again.
Suddenly, he detected another presence—a child, no older than twelve, hiding in the rocks nearby. The child seemed to be waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
"Tch… kids these days," Su Chen muttered, sighing softly.
He descended silently, blending into the terrain using his Earth Escape Technique. Because of his Outsider Aura, this child shouldn't be able to sense his presence—
Unless he has a powerful force-type physique… something that can resist or ignore my aura.
As Su Chen passed through the mountain stones like a shadow, he approached the hiding child from behind—unseen, unfelt, while the child, completely unaware, was already calculating how to turn the situation to his own advantage.
"First, that Aunty and the monk will clash," the chubby child murmured, his stubby fingers drawing odd patterns in the air, as if divining the future. "Their cultivations are both suppressed to the Core Formation Realm… so neither will be able to overpower the other."
He paused, eyes gleaming with calculation.
"Then they'll compromise—break the restriction together, split the treasure afterward. And that's when I'll strike. Hehehe… at the key moment, I'll snatch the entire Enlightenment Tea Tree right from under their noses."
A sly grin stretched across his round face—shameless and eerily familiar.
Su Chen's expression stiffened. He instinctively took a step back, eyes narrowing at the little strategist.
"…What the hell is this child?" he muttered. "Why does he remind me so much of myself?"
He stared at the pudgy figure, completely thrown off. "No, it can't be… he's just a kid. Probably just… obesity. His brain can't be fully developed yet…"
His gaze darkened as he recalled the child mistaking that feminine-looking man for a woman earlier.
"…And he thought that famine-stricken man was a woman…"
Su Chen gulped, feeling a cold breeze drift past his back.
The grin. The shamelessness. The perfect timing.
It was like staring into a cursed, miniature version of himself.
"If I hadn't known I was still single for two lives… I might've really thought that little brat was my child. What the hell am I even thinking…" Su Chen muttered to himself, shaking his head.
His gaze shifted toward Lin Yu and the effeminate young man standing opposite each other, the Enlightenment Tea Tree swaying gently between them.
"You bald donkey! Get lost!" the effeminate man shouted, his voice shrill and unmistakably feminine. "I discovered this Enlightenment Tea Tree first! Get out of here before I smash that bald head of yours!"
Lin Yu's expression darkened as a vein popped on his forehead.
"What did you just say, you bitch?!" he snapped. "Who the hell are you calling a bald donkey?! Your father's a bald donkey! Your whole family's a bunch of bald donkeys!" He took a step forward, pointing aggressively. "I'm the reincarnation of a great Buddha, and you're lucky I don't vomit just looking at you!"
The effeminate man's eyes twitched as he screamed back, voice rising even higher:
"You son of a bitch! Who are you calling a bitch?! I'm a man! A real man! I'll wipe out your entire family, you bald freak!" He paused, then tossed his hair dramatically. "Sick of my face?! Hmph! You've probably never seen a man this beautiful in your life!"
The ridiculous exchange made the little boy crouching beside Su Chen let out a soft snort, barely able to hold back his laughter. Thankfully, he had already used a silencing talisman to mask his presence.
"Hahaha… how can that aunty be a man?" the boy whispered to himself, grinning wide.
Su Chen glanced down at the boy and chuckled softly. For a brief moment, he felt an odd sense of comfort—like maybe he wasn't alone in this insane world.
But then his smile faded slightly.
"...Though honestly, can this world even survive having two people like us?"
[Author]
[Should I kill Lin yu or keep him?]