Chapter 408: Chapter 404: The Tree Spirit’s Fruit (1)
The extinguished Life Lamp was a bombshell, stunning everyone in the main office senseless.
Gao Feng stared at the extinguished Life Lamp in disbelief, his entire body trembling as if he’d been struck on the head with a club.
Group Leader Du was dead. Then who was it that came back with them? Who was the person that had just made him a promise?
He gasped sharply as a terrifying possibility occurred to him.
The one who came back had been an impostor all along. The real Group Leader Du Tianyi was already dead.
"What do we do? What do we do..."
Everyone in the main office was utterly bewildered. They were so shaken by this sudden development that they stood in a daze, as if they’d been shocked.
The leader of Group Two had just died not long ago, and now their leader from Group One was dead too. ’When did the lives of Demon Management Bureau group leaders become so cheap?’
’Anyone can just kill them, it seems. The Group Two leader was one thing; at least he wasn’t at the Rank Three Creature Level.’
’But our leader was a mighty, transcendent Rank Three Creature!’
"Quickly, the whole team, after him! The impostor just left. We have to catch him!" Gao Feng roared, snapping back to his senses and becoming hysterical.
The main office instantly erupted into chaos.
In a Spirit Monster’s cell deep within the Demon Prison, a strange old man was ferociously drinking the blood of a peak second Rank Spirit Monster. He drank with gusto, his life aura growing steadily stronger as he became younger and younger.
He now looked to be about thirty or forty years old.
WHOOSH...
Outside the cell, space rippled, and a man dressed in black appeared out of thin air. He immediately knelt and said in a low voice, "Director, Group Leader Du Tianyi’s Life Lamp is out."
At these words, the blood-drinking old man froze. He whipped his head around, his expression incomparably grim as a starlike light burst from his once-murky eyes.
After a long moment, he collected himself, seeming to understand everything in an instant. "So, I wasn’t mistaken after all," he said, his voice chillingly sinister.
"Good. Very good. How dare you treat my Demon Bureau as a mere decoration. You kill one of my men and then have the gall to come here."
’The one in the prison earlier wasn’t the real Du Tianyi. Not bad. To think he could pull the wool over my eyes like that.’
The strange old man’s expression was unreadable, and then he began to laugh out of sheer fury.
"Two Demon Management Bureau group leaders dead in such a short period. If word of this gets out, I’ll never be able to show my face again."
The man in black said, "Director, should we issue a kill order and start a city-wide manhunt?"
"That won’t be necessary."
The man in black froze, awaiting his orders.
"Our visitor’s intentions are malicious, and his methods are superb. I’m going to handle this personally."
The man in black was stunned. He couldn’t remember the last time the Director had personally taken action; it had been years. There was simply no one in Wencheng worthy of forcing his hand.
One could only imagine the extent of his fury.
When the Director of the Demon Management Bureau became enraged, all of Wencheng was destined to be thrown into a cataclysmic storm.
"To deceive me right under my own nose... I’m very curious to see just who you are."
The eyes of the man in black bulged. The Director was gone from the cell. Only the Spirit Monster whose blood had been drained was left, having narrowly escaped with its life.
. . .
Now in the city center, Tu Xiao’an was all smiles. His trip to the Demon Management Bureau had gone even more smoothly than he had imagined.
Not only had he gotten the Crow out, but it was a "buy one, get one free" deal—he’d also subjugated an Awakened Tree Spirit.
Tu Xiao’an had already reverted to his original appearance. The Blackbird on his shoulder was so excited it wanted to announce to the whole world that it was free.
"Snake Spirit, want to go party at a bar?" the Crow asked excitedly.
Tu Xiao’an rolled his eyes. ’You’re a crow. What kind of partying are you going to do at a bar? Who would even let someone with a crow inside?’
’You think you’re some auspicious bird?’
At that moment, many passersby were giving Tu Xiao’an strange looks. It was the first time they had ever seen someone taking a crow out for a stroll.
Did this person have a death wish? Weren’t they afraid of being cursed with misfortune?
Tu Xiao’an felt a little embarrassed by all the stares. He wasn’t particularly thick-skinned. The Crow, on the other hand, puffed out its chest with the arrogant air of the "number one Divine Bird in the world," utterly shameless and unbothered.
Afterwards, Tu Xiao’an called the Bull Demon King. His original villa was now a ruin, and even if it weren’t, he couldn’t go back there.
The Bull Demon King gave Tu Xiao’an a new address. This bull owned several villas, so there was no fear of having nowhere to stay.
Following the address the Bull Demon King sent, Tu Xiao’an soon arrived at a new villa. It wasn’t as luxurious as the last one, but it was still very nice, and located in the city center rather than the suburbs.
"Master, it’s so good to see you’ve returned alive."
The Bull Demon King came out to greet him, but his face looked... full of disappointment?
"Heh heh..." Tu Xiao’an chuckled dryly and strode inside.
The Crow looked at the Bull Demon King, a little surprised. "A Rank Three Demon Spirit calls you Master?"
"Now you see, right? It’s not you who’s losing out by taking me as your master. It’s me who’s lowering my standards and making a concession," Tu Xiao’an said with a smile.
"Tch..."
The Crow looked utterly disdainful.
As he entered the new villa’s courtyard, Tu Xiao’an looked around, completely satisfied. ’Subjugating this bull,’ he thought, ’was the wisest decision of my life.’
’This is what it means to get both the servant and the riches.’
Celestial Master Zhang also came out to greet him. Normally, he was unwilling to call Tu Xiao’an "Master" for no good reason.
It was probably a matter of his pride as a Snake Flood Dragon.
He’d spent half his life evolving from a Hu Snake into a Snake Flood Dragon, only to end up as another Snake’s Battle Companion.
"This courtyard isn’t bad, not bad at all! I, Uncle Hei, like it!"
The pitch-black Crow cawed as it flew back and forth, making itself completely at home.
Celestial Master Zhang and the Bull Demon King exchanged a glance. "Master," Celestial Master Zhang asked, "you risked going to the Demon Management Bureau just for this Blackbird?"
It was just a Rank Two Spirit Monster. Was it really worth all that trouble?
Tu Xiao’an just smiled without explaining. With a turn of his thoughts, a dense, two-meter-tall tree appeared out of thin air before them.
"Haha... Ben Charlie is finally free!"
The Tree Spirit appeared in the villa and let out a great roar to the sky. All of its branches trembled, and leaves fluttered down like a celebratory firework display.
"An Awakened Tree Spirit?"
The Bull Demon King and Celestial Master Zhang were taken aback. ’So all that risk was for a bird and a tree?’
"CAW CAW CAW... The Bird Divine Doctor is here!"
The Tree Spirit’s happiness didn’t last long. An instant later, it plunged into despair as the Blackbird landed on its trunk and began to peck furiously. PECK! PECK! PECK!
"Pain... Pain... Pain..."
"Why?! Why did I leave the Demon Prison, yet I still can’t escape this Crow’s torment?!"
The Tree Spirit began to have an existential crisis. ’Why did I acknowledge a Snake as my master? It seems the real reason wasn’t for freedom after all, but to get away from this detestable Blackbird.’
"Tree-tree, are you happy? Are you excited? The Bird Divine Doctor is removing your pests again!"
"FUCK YOU!" The Tree Spirit wanted to die. It wanted to die right now.
PLOP...
A piece of fruit fell from the Tree Spirit’s body.
Huh?
Tu Xiao’an watched in astonishment. ’Other people get so angry they spit blood,’ he thought. ’This thing gets so angry it spits fruit?’
’A fruit from a Rank Two Tree Spirit can’t be just any ordinary fruit, can it?’
