Such a turn of event was beyond everyone’s expectations.
Before Wang Shiyu could see what had happened, her wrist was broken with a snap. That ginseng fruit truly turned into a human baby, who then jumped onto the ginseng fruit tree with remarkable dexterity.
“What happened?”
Yuan Hou was the first one to come to his senses, who immediately leaped forward and stood in front of Wang Shiyu.
How come the other three finished their ginseng fruits without any incident, but when it was Wang Shiyu’s turn, her ginseng fruit sprang to life and escaped on its own accord?
Wang Shiyu’s face was as pale as a sheet. The excruciating pain in her wrist made her almost faint.
“Hurry, get, get it back…” She cried, struggling to suppress the pain.
She would not let the hope of fixing up her physical problem fly away from her like that.
Quick as a bolt of lightning, Ming Yue reached the tree in an instant. She held out a hand and caught the ginseng fruit without effort. But curiously, when facing Ming Yue, the ginseng fruit did not seem to be rebellious and just let itself fall into Ming Yue’s hand.
Wang Shiyu was relieved to see the ginseng fruit be captured again.
But next, something even stranger occurred.
When Ming Yue passed the ginseng fruit to Wang Shiyu, it started struggling again, and pulled itself free from Ming Yue’s hand after a few tries, hopped out of her palm, and went back to the tree again.
“What’s going on?”
By that time, the four of them had all realized that there must be something wrong.
“I don’t believe it!” Ming Yue barked, her fierce vigor surging up.
She was determined to catch that ginseng fruit and give it to Wang Shiyu. Once again, she seized the ginseng fruit in her hand. This time, she even fully activated the lotus illusion of image of the white lotus against a blue sky, restraining the ginseng fruit from escaping.
High-pitched squeaks came out of the ginseng fruit, which was flailing frantically as if it had turned alive.
Ming Yue urged, “Sister, I’m holding it tight. You eat it fast. Open your mouth now…” With that, she held ginseng fruit close to Wang Shiyu’s lips.
Wang Shiyu opened her mouth and bit at it.
But at that precise moment, a branch of the ginseng fruit tree suddenly jerked and turned into a magic whip. It slashed straight at them. Before the four could react, the whip hit Ming Yue. It shattered her lotus illusion before biting into Ming Yue’s delicate body, leaving a streak of bloodstain deep to the bones on her back…
“Ah…” Being sent flying by that blow, Ming Yue spilled a mouthful of blood in midair.
That ginseng fruit took the opportunity and escaped, once again leaped to the tree and stood on the treetop like a real baby. Looked infuriated, the fruit baby pointed a finger at Wang Shiyu, who was stunned on her spot, while babbling something which sounded like curses.
Wang Shiyu, by that time, was thoroughly dazed.
Yuan Hou helped Ming Yue, who was lying on the ground, get to her feet, and checked her injury. He exhaled in relief when he found that there was no grave injury. Then, he took Ming Yue to the side of Qing Feng’s wheelchair.
“Why did that happen?”
The other three had encountered no difficulties in eating the ginseng fruit. No horrible incident happened to them. But that one ginseng fruit surprisingly turned alive and appeared to be unwilling to be eaten… Of the four ginseng fruits, had the very one Wang Shiyu picked become demonic?
Wang Shiyu was extremely pallid.
She looked up at the treetop to find that the ginseng fruit was still pointing at her with a look of fury, and a hint of disdain, disgust, and loathing. Suddenly, she could no longer feel the pain in her wrist, but her heart started aching.
“Sister, are you okay?” Ming Yue asked, wiping the blood at the corners of her mouth.
On the way to the tomb, Ming Yue became the closest friend of Wang Shiyu. She talked with her the most and understood what was on Wang Shiyu’s mind best. Ming Yue knew that this time the Countess had ventured into the Tomb of the God of Sin to find opportunities that might change herself. Sadly, when the ginseng fruit was just before her, it turned out that she had no way to eat it. So, she could imagine how desperate and confused Wang Shiyu was at that moment.
“It’s okay, I’m okay.” Wang Shiyu muttered, her face still frighteningly pale. She then tore her eyes away from the ginseng fruit and came to support Ming Yue. She helped mop the blood from the corner of her mouth and said, “I’m sorry, it’s me who got you into this. How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. That can’t kill me.” Ming Yue gently grabbed Wang Shiyu’s wrist, injected a stream of her natural qi into her veins to heal the broken bone. Eyes flashing like fiery flames, Ming Yue gritted her teeth and said resolutely, “Sister, rest assured. Today, even if the sky is falling, even if there is hell in front of me, I will get that ginseng fruit for you! I just don’t believe it…”
Then, she ran her Cultivation Method, forcibly conjured the enigmatic image of the white lotus against a blue sky, driving her cultivation to the peak. She was ready to strike again and arrest the ginseng fruit on the treetop by force.
As if hearing Ming Yue’s words, alarming thunderclaps emerged from the sky. Silver bolts of lightning shuttled across the dark sky, carrying the power to destroy everything.
It felt as though some supreme existence in heaven had been provoked by Ming Yue’s remark.
Qing Feng’s complexion changed greatly.
Yuan Hou also noticed that it was not a good sign.
Somehow, it felt as if it the wrath from heaven.
How could that be? The wrath from heaven should have occurred during the time of outrageous brutality, mayhem, and tragedy. Indeed, the alarming signs of heaven and earth rarely appeared.
When the gods in heaven were enraged, they sent thunder and lightning down to the mortal world.
Thunder and lightning were the penalty from heaven.
Qing Feng had remained silent by far, for he was observing and musing. At the scene, his face paled despite himself. He knew that the thing that incurred the wrath from heaven was definitely not Ming Yue’s defiant remark but the…
“Humph, send me some thunderclaps, so what?” Ming Yue was fuming. She stood straight, pointing her index finger to the sky, and yelled, “What’s wrong with my sister eating a ginseng fruit? Anyone else can eat them, but why can’t my sister have one?”
Rumble!
Clap!
In the sky, the thunder and lightning gathered together, forming a silvery ocean.
Terrible pressure bore down onto the ground. The thunderclaps that grew steadily more deafening seemed to be the warning and condemnation from heaven.
“I don’t care. Today, even if I have to be ripped into a million pieces, I will get the ginseng fruit for my sister…” Ming Yue growled like a furious female beast.
But before her voice died away—
Another thunderous clap sounded!
A flash of lightning landed right at Ming Yue’s feet. The dreadful power in it could blow up the experts of grand extraterrestrial factions, let alone those in the Sage Realm or the Void-breaking Realm.
That was the final warning.
“But I still will…” Ming Yue was startled, but then she became even angrier. As she opened her mouth to say something, a hand coming from the side covered her mouth.
With a look of strange calmness, Wang Shiyu said, “Don’t say a word.”
“Sister, you…” Ming Yue looked sideways at Wang Shiyu, then uttered, “Don’t worry. Even if I have to deal with thunder and lightning today, I will…”
Wang Shiyu smiled and shook her head. “No, no, I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to eat the ginseng fruit anymore.”
“Why? Sister, don’t you want to be with Young Master…” Ming Yue said. “Sister, be at ease. I’m not afraid. My master has told me that I’m blessed by the Divine Way, and I am unlikely to suffer an immature death. So, I’m not gonna die. I…”
Still, Wang Shiyu shook her head disapprovingly and sighed, “There got to be other ways.”
“No! Why can we seize such an opportunity but you can’t? It was you who brought us here, and it was also you who told us the story about the fruits. You…” Ming Yue protested as her eye sockets reddened.
At first, she was not very fond of Wang Shiyu. Because she was under the impression that the number one beauty of the Northern Song had zero knowledge of martial arts and treated her Young Master rather casually and disrespectfully. That made Wang Shiyu exactly the opposite of Hua Xiangrong, who always obeyed her master.
But later, as Ming Yue had more chances to spend time with Wang Shiyu, she came to realize that the tacit understanding between that girl and her master seemed to be more precious. That was not something that anyone else could have. Further, when her master was reported to be seriously injured and sieged by the world’s major ancient factions and reclusive clans, Wang Shiyu rushed hundreds of miles to see him, disregarded her own safety… In her life, Ming Yue had only held on to one belief— she would do everything to reciprocate the man who treated her master well, for she owed her life to master.
She was well aware of the devil troubling Wang Shiyu in her head.
And she also knew that a large part of the reason why her master ventured into the Tomb of the God of Sin was to find a solution to fix Wang Shiyu’s incompetence in practicing martial arts.
But now, with the opportunity right before her, she had no means to obtain it.
No matter what other people thought, Ming Yue just could not bear it.
She refused to think about the heavenly rage or the strange vision. For her, those were all bullsh*t. She was just a carefree attendant who seldom found herself useful and had no business other than eating and sleeping. Now, she finally had a chance to help others. Thus, she vowed to herself that she would never give it up.
In spite of her sorrow, Wang Shiyu began to comfort Ming Yue. “Opportunities can’t be brought by force. Though sometimes we have to fight for our chance, that only happens when we are following the trend instead of snatching it against the will of God. If it is not meant for me, I can never have it.”
“But sister, you…” Ming Yue still could not resign to the hard fact. Her eyes were now welling with tears.
Nevertheless, Wang Shiyu already turned around, knelt in front of the ginseng fruit tree. With her hands clasped together, eyes closed, she prayed, “I, the humble Wang Shiyu, will not rob the ginseng fruit. My younger sister Ming Yue is inexperienced in life. She made the wrong remark all because of me. Gods from heaven, please appease your wrath of thunder, as the humble me will exit the orchard immediately.”
With that, she pressed her forehead against the ground, prostrating herself in front of the tree.
Rumbles!
More alarming thunderclaps rang in the sky, as if to warn the poor girl prostrating on the ground praying. But in the end, the thunder and lightning in the sky gradually dispersed.
The sky was soon restored to the dark cyan of a long night.
On the ginseng fruit tree, the ginseng fruit bounced here and there, wearing a look of abhorrence toward Wang Shiyu. At last, to everyone’s surprise, it plunged into the soil at the root of the tree and disappeared out of sight.
When she’s still kneeling in front of the tree, Wang Shiyu’s forehead lowered into the dust.
She then slowly looked up, a bitter smile on her face.
“Sister…” Ming Yue hurried over to prop her up, yet had no idea how to comfort her.
Qing Feng had looked thoughtful throughout the event.
He guessed it right. It was not that the fourth ginseng fruit went awry. Instead, the problem was with Wang Shiyu— she had been rejected by the ginseng fruit.
But that was even weirder.
The ginseng fruit tree was the plant of heaven and earth. It was born with intelligence. Now that he, Ming Yue, and Yuan Hou had all swallowed the fruits without meeting any challenge, it showed that the intelligent tree did not repel living creatures. But why did it have to repel Countess Huanzhu?
Moreover, Ming Yue’s strong act of catching a ginseng fruit for Countess Huanzhu actually caused the wrath from heaven.
Did that mean even the Great Way of heaven and earth was ostracizing the number one beauty of the Northern Song?
