Chapter 111: Making A Deal

Chapter 111: Chapter 111: Making A Deal

Hearing the voice, Sui Sui immediately became a little nervous. Before he could even think of a way to explain himself, another sentence came from inside.

"Who is outside? Show yourself."

Hearing this, Sui Sui knew he had no choice but to come out. He hesitantly knocked on the door before slowly pushing it open. He carefully slipped his head through the gap and gave the person inside an awkward little smile.

"Hello, Elder Shan Li."

Elder Shan Li seemed to recognize Sui Sui, however his expression still remained completely unchanged, his phoenix eyes merely settling on Sui Sui with the same calm, almost indifferent look.

"What are you doing here?" His voice was flat and emotionless, without even the slightest hint of curiosity or anger. It was almost as though he were simply asking about an ordinary matter.

Sui Sui scratched his head and gave an awkward, wry laugh. "Hehe... the thing is, uh..."

However, before he could even finish his explanation, MuMu, who was still dangling from Elder Shan Li’s hand by the collar, suddenly wailed even louder.

"Wahhh! Sui Sui, come save MuMu!"

Hearing this, Sui Sui really wanted to facepalm.

This kid really was trouble. He had not even given Sui Sui enough time to think of another way to deal with the situation before exposing himself completely.

Elder Shan Li calmly held MuMu up in front of Sui Sui. "This is your spirit beast?"

Sui Sui could only smile awkwardly and nod.

"This is indeed this disciple’s spirit beast. May I ask how my spirit beast offended Elder Shan Li? If it isn’t too excessive, perhaps we can discuss the matter?"

As the saying went, one cannot attack a smiling Buddha. Sui Sui decided that being polite was probably the safest approach. After all, this was an elder of the sect, and Sui Sui had no idea how serious the situation was yet.

Elder Shan Li’s gaze remained on Sui Sui as he spoke, his tone still calm but noticeably firmer. "This spirit beast broke through my residence barrier and caused it to collapse. It then ate three of my Jade Fruits."He paused briefly before asking, "Do you still think that is not excessive?"

Hearing this, Sui Sui sucked in a breath.

Breaking the barrier was already troublesome enough, but eating three Jade Fruits?

After spending so much time reading books whenever he had free time, Sui Sui naturally knew what Jade Fruits were. They were round fruits with a jade-like color and almost translucent green leaves. More importantly, they were a rare spiritual fruit that could greatly increase a cultivator’s chances of breaking through a major realm after consuming a certain amount.

According to the records, eating one hundred Jade Fruits could help a cultivator break through to the Golden Core stage, while one thousand could assist with breaking through to Nascent Soul. Ten thousand could aid a breakthrough to Soul Transformation, and so on and so forth.

But Jade Fruits were notoriously difficult to cultivate.

The tree only blossoms one time in a year, producing no more than a few numbers of fruit each time. It also had extremely strict growing conditions and required a constant supply of Spirit Stones to maintain itself. Even a small mistake during its cultivation could damage the tree and render it useless. To keep it alive and ensure that it continued producing fruit, cultivators had to carefully maintain it and continuously provide it with spiritual resources.

In other words, every single Jade Fruit represented an entire year of cultivation and a considerable amount of resources.

And MuMu had just eaten three.

Three whole freaking fruits.

Sui Sui’s heart ached just thinking about it.

Three years of harvest were gone just like that.

How many Spirit Stones had Elder Shan Li spent cultivating that tree ah?

Thinking about it, Sui Sui suddenly felt that this matter might be much more serious than he had initially assumed.

"This, this..." Sui Sui stammered, his heart aching at the thought of three precious Jade Fruits disappearing because of MuMu. He almost wanted to cry. This was definitely karma. He really shouldn’t have let MuMu wander around today. "Is there any way I can repay you, Elder?"

Elder Shan Li looked at him calmly before answering, "Either you pay me for the three Jade Fruits, or..."

Sui Sui’s heart immediately tightened.

Or what?

Tell me quickly!

I’m already dying from anxiety!

He stared at Elder Shan Li nervously, waiting for him to finish, but the elder seemed completely unhurried. He simply reached out and gave MuMu a slight shake by the collar, causing the little beast’s fluffy body to sway helplessly in his hand.

"You let me study this little thing."

Sui Sui blinked.

Study MuMu?

For a moment, he wasn’t sure whether he had heard correctly. His gaze shifted toward MuMu, who was still dangling helplessly from Elder Shan Li’s hand, before returning to the elder.

Why did he want to study MuMu?

And what exactly did he mean by "study"?

Sui Sui’s instincts immediately told him not to agree too quickly. He had no idea what Elder Shan Li intended to do with MuMu, and given how strange MuMu was, there was no telling what kind of experiments an alchemist might want to conduct on him.

He swallowed nervously before asking, "May I ask what kind of study you mean, Elder?"

Sui Sui’s expression became slightly more cautious. What if Elder Shan Li’s idea of "studying" MuMu involved some kind of torture? If that were the case, he would definitely refuse. He would rather go back to the Bai Family and ask them for a Jade Fruit. It would probably take a long time to obtain one, considering how rare they were and how few people would be willing to give them away, but at least MuMu wouldn’t have to suffer for it.

"I’m only interested in finding out how it can break through a barrier and consume so many Jade Fruits at once without suffering any adverse effects," Elder Shan Li explained straightforwardly.

Sui Sui paused to think. That... actually didn’t sound too bad.

Still, he wasn’t going to let his guard down so easily. He carefully looked at Elder Shan Li before asking, "It wouldn’t involve any, uh... torturous methods, right?"

Elder Shan Li gave him a deadpan look, as though he found the question somewhat unnecessary "None."

He glanced down at MuMu, who was still dangling from his hand. "At most, it will eat more."

Hearing this, Sui Sui seriously considered the offer. It didn’t sound like Elder Shan Li intended to hurt MuMu, but he still didn’t feel comfortable agreeing without asking MuMu first.

"Elder, may I speak with MuMu about this first?"

Elder Shan Li gave a small nod before simply letting go of MuMu.

The moment he was released, MuMu immediately shot toward Sui Sui like a cannonball and buried himself against his chest.

"Sui Sui! He bullied MuMu! You have to take revenge for MuMu, ahhh!"

His eyes were filled with enormous crocodile tears as he complained dramatically. He even rubbed his wet face against Sui Sui’s robe, leaving a large damp patch on the fabric.

Sui Sui’s mouth twitched.

He lowered his head and looked at the little beast clinging to him before reaching out and lightly poking his forehead.

"You little troublemaker. Didn’t I tell you to behave and not wander too far from me? Why did you come all the way here?"

His tone was stern, but there was more helplessness than anger in it.

"I-I..."

MuMu stuttered, suddenly losing all his earlier confidence. His eyes darted around nervously, clearly unwilling to admit what he had done.

Unfortunately for him, Sui Sui knew him too well.

After patiently questioning him for a while, Sui Sui finally managed to pry the whole story out of him.

It turned out that MuMu had simply gotten bored.

Earlier, he had been sitting around watching Sui Sui refine pills for what felt like an eternity, and eventually, he couldn’t stand it anymore. Just when he was wondering what he could do to entertain himself, a delicious fragrance suddenly drifted into his nose.

MuMu had immediately perked up and he followed the scent without hesitation, completely forgetting that Sui Sui had told him not to wander too far.

As it happened, that day was also the day the Jade Fruit Tree bloomed.

The moment the flowers opened, they released an unusually rich and alluring fragrance. Normally, Elder Shan Li would have sealed off the area around the tree to prevent the scent from attracting unwanted attention. Unfortunately, he had been busy with other matters that day and only remembered to activate the barrier later.

By then, MuMu had already followed the scent all the way to the courtyard.

The only thing standing between him and the delicious smell was the barrier.

And MuMu, being MuMu, had found a very simple solution.

He ate a hole through it.

Unfortunately, he apparently hadn’t considered what would happen after that.

The moment the barrier was damaged, the entire formation collapsed, leaving MuMu with a clear path inside. He happily followed the fragrance to the Jade Fruit Tree and began eating the fruits without a second thought.

He had only managed to eat three before Elder Shan Li noticed that something was wrong with his barrier and came over to investigate.

That was how MuMu had been caught.

And according to MuMu, Elder Shan Li’s punishment had been extremely cruel, the elder had repeatedly pinched his stomach and kept on questioning him. Apparently, MuMu considered this an unforgivable act of bullying.

Hearing the whole story, Sui Sui didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry.

He looked at MuMu’s innocent little face and could only sigh inwardly.

Aiyah.

It really was all MuMu’s fault.

"You really are a naughty little thing," Sui Sui said helplessly. He reached out and pinched MuMu’s cheek before asking, "So? Did you hear what Elder Shan Li said earlier? Are you willing to be his experimental subject?"

MuMu’s expression immediately became pitiful.

"Then... what will happen to MuMu?"

Seeing his nervous little face, Sui Sui suddenly felt like teasing him a little more.

"Who knows?" he said, deliberately making his voice mysterious. "You might have to undergo all kinds of experiments. Maybe he’ll inspect your stomach from the inside, check your mouth to see how you managed to eat through the barrier..."

The more Sui Sui spoke, the wider MuMu’s eyes became.

Sui Sui continued piling on increasingly terrifying possibilities, enjoying MuMu’s reaction. "And if the experiments don’t go well, you might even be fed so many things that you’ll be fed to death."

Anyway, Sui Sui had only wanted to scare him so that MuMu would not do it again. However, the moment he mentioned that MuMu might be fed to death, MuMu’s ears suddenly perked up.

"If MuMu gets to eat, then MuMu doesn’t mind, hehe!" MuMu said excitedly, his eyes already shining with greed.

Seeing this, Sui Sui almost burst out laughing. How could he have forgotten that this little fellow was a complete foodie? MuMu would even happily eat weeds that had no spiritual value at all, so if he really got to eat all kinds of things during the experiments, he would probably be ecstatic.

After the two of them finally made their decision, they turned toward Elder Shan Li.

"Elder, after thinking about it carefully, we’ve decided to agree to your terms. MuMu is willing to become your experimental subject," Sui Sui said. He then lifted MuMu up in both hands and presented him to Elder Shan Li.

MuMu looked completely eager to volunteer, his little eyes shining with anticipation.

"Good," Elder Shan Li said. "However, this isn’t enough"

Hearing this, Sui Sui’s heart immediately tightened.

There was more?

Before he could ask, Elder Shan Li continued, "Besides having this little fellow become my study subject, I will also need someone to help with the extra work he caused."

Sui Sui blinked.

"Since he was the one who caused me to lose those fruits, you will help me cultivate them again. You will also help manage my spiritual herbs."