Chapter 234 — What a Sin

At that moment, the household pets stared at one another, somewhat at a loss.

What kind of mess was this?

"There shouldn't be any problem over there, right?" Shi Qi looked toward the Undead Battlefield.

The Undead Battlefield did not even have a single overlord; even if this anomaly had spawned a new undead overlord, it could not stir up any waves.

A single Legend was enough to quell everything.

The Ancient Capital was, after all, a first-tier city, with several Legends holding court within, and countless taboo weapons hidden away capable of striking totems. Unless the Undead Nether Phoenix came out itself, it posed no threat to the city.

What truly posed a threat to Donghuang were the creatures from beyond its borders.

The reason Donghuang had never wiped out the dire beasts and malevolent spirits within the country was purely to protect the ecosystem; their existence had always remained within controllable bounds.

Having thought this through, Shi Jue turned his attention back to the undead battlefield. As a senior beastmaster, there was little he could do anyway. After all, he could not even be sure of beating a single monarch-tier undead.

"By the way, how much of the Undead Pool's power did you absorb?" Shi Tang asked Ginseng Baby, turning to a matter of their own.

They had fled in such haste earlier that no one had paid attention. By now, the Undead Pool was probably gone entirely.

"Eeh." Ginseng Baby extended a finger. With a flash of green light, a strip of wood condensed into the shape of a nine.

Good, good. While the Undead Nether Phoenix had been telling its story, it had listened with one ear while its hands never stopped condensing mutation fruits.

By its estimate, it had already absorbed ninety percent of the Undead Pool's power. Not a bad haul.

"Mm~" At that moment, Buggy tore open space and tossed out the death spirit fruits Ginseng Baby had condensed.

One black fruit after another lay spread across the table, about thirteen of them.

"Thirteen? That many."

Shi Qi was slightly taken aback at the sight of so many mutation fruits, then his expression turned cheerful.

This round, ah, this round Ginseng Baby was not far from evolving.

Soil of Time + Death Spirit Fruit + Time Secret Realm + Moon Gem—oh ho, invincible.

Wait, hold on.

If a max-level mutant could condense mutation power outside its body, then when the time came to visit the Time Secret Realm at the Imperial Capital University, was there a chance it could condense Time Fruits???

Those would be worth far more than death fruits.

Shi Jin had a bold idea.

"Eeh!!" At this moment, Ginseng Baby's expression was exceedingly smug as well.

After this evolution, it would be a true Ginseng Heavenly Emperor.

The process had been a little convoluted, but the power of death—it was set on learning it...

Even if this meant... Very quickly, Ginseng Baby caught sight of Little Crimson Pupil and could not help but grimace.

Evolution or no evolution, it was still fundamentally a wood-type.

Here was a sword spirit possessing the bloodline of the Solar Divine Phoenix, and of a high-tier overlord race at that. Without a single skill whose proficiency had passed the Mastered level, its energy value was already nearing Buggy's, who was piled high with max-level skills. Once Shi Xu began cultivating Crimson Pupil, Ginseng Baby felt that even after evolving, it would never seize the throne of the team.

And Buggy's skills were so absurd that whether it could even win was an open question...

Ginseng Baby looked at Eleven, eyes full of pleading hope.

It seemed that after evolving, the only one it might possibly surpass was the leader?

At least the leader's skills... all followed predictable patterns.

Eleven: ???

"Awoo?" Eleven pointed at itself.

Ginseng Baby shook its head vigorously.

Eleven puffed up with indignation. Outrageous—it was not as if it could not evolve either!

"Mm~"

Beside them, Buggy narrowed its eyes, exhausted by it all. Too cutthroat, far too cutthroat—they were about to drive the leader right to the bottom.

"Meow!!" Little Crimson Pupil flew off, aloof and unbothered by the world, fetched a glass of ice water, and began sipping through a straw.

Shi Jin still sat on the sofa, heaving long sighs, not yet recovered from the undead battlefield.

"The Undead Nether Phoenix..."

Never mind. Better to heed Feng Jin's words and stop dwelling on it. As for that undead battlefield, there was no way he would go there again.

From now on, he would just rely on stat points to raise Little Crimson Pupil's spirit release.

As for the secret realm the other party had mentioned, the one preserving resources, Shi Cen was willing but powerless.

That secret realm was in the Seven Isles. Before reaching legendary strength, even with the Gem Cat big shot leading the way, he probably would find it very hard to cross the national border.

Even if he had the chance to enter, that secret realm was not necessarily a good place. If any word the Undead Nether Phoenix had spoken was false, it could well be a trap.

"Let us just pretend we do not have this mother for now, and wait for the big shots of Bureau Eleven to investigate carefully first."

Shi Jue said to Little Crimson Pupil.

This time the Undead Nether Phoenix had revealed so much information. True or false, the other archaeology big shots of Bureau Eleven would probably reap something from it. He would just wait for the results.

"Mew..." Crimson Pupil, having melted a block of ice, was speechless. It had not even called her mother yet, so how had Shi Jin started calling her mom, mom?

Could he not hold a firm stance for once...

...

After that, Shi Jin quietly settled into review, preparing for his final exams.

"On the Matter of Me Claiming a Top-Tier Totem as My Mother, Causing an Undead Siege, and Still Having to Prepare for Final Exams" was no longer worth Shi Jin's scrutiny.

"Sinful, truly sinful."

Shi Shuo sighed as he remarked, while keeping tabs on news from the undead battlefield.

In the blink of an eye, a week passed.

Fortunately, no major problems had indeed arisen. Every sign of an undead siege seemed to have been nipped in the bud by the big shots of the ancient capital.

"No new deathlord was born this time, only a dozen or so mindless undead monarchs, but Yin Chuanqi killed them all clean."

"However, a massive amount of plague and curse energy continues to blanket the core zone of the undead battlefield. In the short term, we cannot rule out the birth of new high-tier undead, so that area will require ongoing surveillance."

Before long, Feng Jin brought back word, though his foremost concern was: "How did you do on your exams?"

He was worrying about Shi Ying's academic performance.

Shi Jin gave a sheepish laugh. "All the useful subjects are full marks, of course."

Feng Jin: ???

"What do you mean, useful?"

"Just, you know, the histories of architecture, clothing, cuisine, and the like, plus ideology class, and all the archaeology-related laws..."

Shi Cen's energy was limited; he could not possibly study every subject. Those were all meant for ordinary archaeologists. He only needed to make big things happen.

Feng Jin's face darkened. "I've called Qing Yi back. You are not to go running around this holiday. Be a good boy and study under Qing Yi. The Eleventh Bureau has handled the Undead Nether Phoenix matter for you. From here on, no more monkey business."

"Right now I am half-tempted to forbid you from going to Fuguang City at all. If you stir up trouble there, it will be more of a headache than releasing the Undead Nether Phoenix..."

"Uh... then..."

Shi You wanted to ask about the martial arts tournament, but seeing Feng Jin like this, he shut his mouth at once. Mm, leave that headache to the beast-eared senior.

Still, this round of exams—Feng Jin would probably be the one with the headache over the results.