Chapter 31: Bai Ze's Tears, Threads of Golden Fate
"Xiao Bai doesn't know either, but it looks really tasty."
Just as Xiao Bai opened its mouth, preparing to drink the liquid inside the jade bottle, Fan Chen snatched it away in one swift motion.
Immediately after, he knocked Xiao Bai on the head with a fist.
"You'll eat anything you come across? Do you even know what it is before you try to drink it?"
Xiao Bai's foodie nature was truly beyond saving—he even dared to eat unknown things without hesitation.
"Xiao Bai isn't eating randomly. This thing smells really nice and isn't poisonous."
Xiao Bai covered the spot where Fan Chen had knocked him with his little paw, his face full of grievance.
"Even if it's not poisonous, you still can't drink it. We need to figure out what it is first."
Fan Chen remained unmoved. Xiao Bai wouldn't eat actual poison, that much was certain.
But that didn't mean he wouldn't eat something strange. After all, some things weren't harmless just because they weren't toxic.
And, to take a step back, what if it were some kind of super supplement? What if he overdosed and got a nosebleed? Spraying blood all over the street would be seriously embarrassing.
If he was going to drink it, they'd do it after returning—at least then there'd be no social death.
"Mm…."
Xiao Bai pouted helplessly and nodded. That pitiful expression made him look as wronged as could be.
Qian Renxue, standing nearby, could only comfort him by gently patting his small head. After all, Fan Chen was right—she couldn't possibly side with Xiao Bai and argue against him.
With the jade bottle in hand, Fan Chen no longer felt like continuing their stroll. He decided to end this outing early.
When the two of them returned, they happened to run into Golden Crocodile Douluo and the others right at the entrance, who had just finished a "friendly exchange."
At this moment, each of them bore more or fewer marks on their faces. After all, they were brothers—if you didn't use a few dirty tricks on your brothers, wouldn't that be a waste?
"Holy crap, Master, you guys got into a fight? You didn't even call me—I could've gone to watch… no, to cheer for you!"
Fan Chen looked at Golden Crocodile Douluo with a regretful expression, feeling deeply sorry for missing such a good show.
"You little brat, what nonsense are you thinking? This was sparring—sparring, got it?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo was speechless. It was obvious Fan Chen just wanted to watch the fun.
"Then did you win?"
"Nonsense. Of course, I won. Don't you know who your master is?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo instantly puffed out his chest when Fan Chen asked that. Even if he had lost in the end, he couldn't lose in momentum.
"Shameless. You were clearly the one getting pinned to the ground and beaten. How did it suddenly turn into your victory?"
"Exactly! If we couldn't beat you one-on-one, did you really think we couldn't beat you in a group?"
…
Faced with Golden Crocodile Douluo's blatant lack of shame, his old brothers naturally stepped in to tear him down.
"Then how about you fight again? I'll be the referee."
The arguing group instantly fell silent at Fan Chen's words.
Everyone turned to look at him, then exchanged glances.
Their eyes quickly became resolute, as if they had just made some kind of decision.
"Well… you guys carry on chatting. I won't disturb you anymore—I'll just be going now, okay?"
Sensing that the atmosphere had taken a dangerous turn, Fan Chen tried to slip away. Unfortunately, his speed was no match for the people in front of him.
He hadn't even made it two steps before he was grabbed and pulled back.
"Good kid, you even dare to scheme against your own master. Today I'll make sure to properly—hm? What's that in your hand?"
Just as Golden Crocodile Douluo was about to lay down the law, his attention was suddenly drawn to the small jade bottle in Fan Chen's hand.
"This? We picked it up by the roadside. We didn't know what it was, so we brought it back to take a look."
Seeing Golden Crocodile Douluo's attention diverted to the jade bottle, Fan Chen hurriedly explained.
"Picked it up by the roadside?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo looked puzzled. He then took the jade bottle from Fan Chen's hand.
Reaching out, he pulled out the stopper. Instantly, an extremely dense aura of life spilled out from the bottle.
The life energy contained within it was so powerful that even taking a single whiff made one feel refreshed and invigorated.
As the life energy spread, some of the small wounds on Golden Crocodile Douluo and the others' faces began to fade—the healing effect was shockingly good.
"This is…"
"That's Xiao Bai's thing! You can't steal it from me!"
Xiao Bai panicked. It was fine while the item was in Fan Chen's hands, but once it fell into Golden Crocodile Douluo's hands, there was no guarantee it would ever come back.
"Second Grandpa, this bottle was something Xiao Bai found. You can't take his things."
Seeing how anxious Xiao Bai was, Qian Renxue immediately spoke up to explain.
Although Xiao Bai was Fan Chen's martial soul, she had always treated him as an independent individual.
If it was something in Fan Chen's hands, Golden Crocodile Douluo, taking it as his master, would be one thing—but Xiao Bai's belongings were off-limits.
"Uh… we're not taking it. We're just looking—just taking a look."
Seeing both Xiao Bai and Qian Renxue speak up, Golden Crocodile Douluo quickly explained himself.
"Tch, so if it were mine, you could just take it, huh?"
Fan Chen muttered a quiet protest from the side. This blatant double standard clearly deserved serious condemnation from a moral standpoint.
"With such a dense aura of life, this thing is definitely not ordinary."
Luan Yuqing and the others also gathered around at this point.
The life energy inside the jade bottle was far too concentrated—something even they were seeing for the first time.
"Explain in detail where you found it. Were there any other unusual circumstances when you discovered it?"
Faced with Golden Crocodile Douluo and the others' questions, Qian Renxue answered them one by one.
Especially after hearing about Fan Chen's rather unconventional method, they once again turned their gazes toward him.
"What? I was just worried about running into danger."
Fan Chen puffed out his cheeks slightly, muttering as he defended himself.
"Danger? You'd be lucky if you didn't cause trouble yourself."
Golden Crocodile Douluo shot Fan Chen a speechless look. He knew all too well how good his disciple was at stirring things up.
As long as Fan Chen didn't actively go looking for trouble, trouble rarely came to him.
Everything that had happened to him so far was, without exception, something he had brought upon himself.
That said, Golden Crocodile Douluo didn't criticize Fan Chen's approach.
After all, there are plenty of geniuses, but the vast majority of them die halfway through their path.
Fan Chen's sense of caution was actually very strong.
To put it bluntly, he was afraid of death—but that personality allowed him to avoid most dangers.
Only a genius who grows up is a true genius. Those who die young are nothing more than passing clouds, quickly forgotten by history.
"We're not sure what it is yet, but it shouldn't be some kind of poison. You didn't drink it, did you?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo asked tentatively. After all, he understood Fan Chen—and he understood Xiao Bai as well.
This one was a complete foodie, someone who would shove just about anything into his mouth.
"No. I stopped him. I wanted to bring it back and let you guys take a look first to see what it actually is."
If Xiao Bai had found it, then it was definitely something good—but they still needed to figure out exactly what it was first. Just because something was good didn't mean you could blindly consume it.
"We don't really know either. We'll need to study it."
The moment Xiao Bai heard this, his head drooped.
He already knew the item was going to be taken away.
His face was filled with grievance, his eyes misting over with a layer of tears, looking as though he was about to cry at any second.
Qian Renxue felt heartache just looking at him.
"Second Grandpa, you guys—"
Drip—
A single tear slipped from Xiao Bai's eye and fell onto the ground.
Space trembled. Strange energy fluctuations spread outward around Xiao Bai.
A sense of unease surged in Golden Crocodile Douluo's heart.
"Hey, hey, hey—don't cry, don't cry. We're not taking it. We're just investigating it—once we're done, we'll give it back to you."
Golden Crocodile Douluo was clearly flustered. For some reason, he had a strong feeling that if this thing wasn't returned to Xiao Bai, something terrible would happen.
"Really?"
Xiao Bai lifted his head and looked at Golden Crocodile Douluo.
"Really. Guaranteed. How could I possibly steal your things?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo felt his heart pounding wildly. He was panicking—really panicking.
"Then it's a promise. You have to return it. Don't lie to me… or I'll be very sad."
"Alright, alright. I won't lie to you."
As Xiao Bai's emotions gradually settled, the sense of panic also faded away. Golden Crocodile Douluo finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Standing off to the side, Fan Chen was the only person besides Golden Crocodile Douluo who had sensed that strange presence.
He stood there silently. In the instant Xiao Bai shed that tear, he had clearly seen a golden thread on Golden Crocodile Douluo's body snap apart.
The mysterious energy carried by that golden thread was neither soul power nor any form of energy Fan Chen was familiar with.
Its faint radiance was enigmatic and dazzling.
Golden threads weren't exclusive to Golden Crocodile Douluo—others had them as well.
However, the only one that had broken was Golden Crocodile Douluo's. And after Xiao Bai's emotions stabilized, it reappeared and reconnected.
After that, all of them vanished.
Or rather—more accurately—they didn't disappear. They simply became invisible.
—
End of Chapter