Chapter 46: Is the Ginseng Fruit Tree Playing the Victim? Does It Have to Be That Absurd?

Tang An acted sneakily, pulling Zhenyuan Daxian aside and whispering four words into his ear.

"Patriarch Bodhi."

It is no exaggeration; Tang An saw Zhenyuanzi's tiger-like body tremble, and he looked at Sun Wukong with shock in his eyes.

In that instant, his eyes lit up.

"Good, good, good, good."

Tang An was stunned. "Good?"

What was good about it? How was it good?

"No, you believe me just because I said it? Don't you want to verify it?"

Zhenyuanzi's smile held hidden meaning; it was clear he didn't just believe Tang An, but rather, he had suspected it before and was finally having it verified by Tang An now.

"You few, please follow me."

Originally, Tang An and the others hadn't even entered the main gate of Wuzhuang Temple.

Now, the Ancestor of Earth Immortals, Zhenyuan Daxian, was personally and cheerfully welcoming the master and his three disciples inside.

Qingfeng and Mingyue waited on both sides, not daring to speak, absolutely not daring to speak.

"Today is truly a fated encounter. I wonder if you two would be willing to swear an oath of brotherhood with me here in Wuzhuang Temple?"

As soon as Zhenyuan Daxian spoke, everyone in the Daoist temple was shocked.

Tang An looked at the "Heaven and Earth" plaque enshrined in the hall, then looked at Zhenyuan Daxian and Sun Wukong beside her; her brain couldn't quite keep up for a moment.

No, is it really this hasty? Swearing brotherhood right after entering the door?

It wasn't that he didn't know who Wukong's master was; he was purely waiting in the dark, waiting for someone to verify his conjecture, waiting for this moment to swear brotherhood, right?

Could it be that even the arrogant behavior of Qingfeng and Mingyue was intentional on the part of Zhenyuan Daxian, just to provoke them so he could find out who their backer was?

Seeing the look Tang An cast their way, Qingfeng and Mingyue were so scared they retreated a few steps, not daring to lift their heads to meet her gaze.

After all, the mortal they had looked down upon just a moment ago was now about to become their master's sworn sibling.

No one could have imagined that such a earth-shattering change would occur in such a short time.

"It seems they weren't faking it." Tang An saw that their guilty expressions were genuine.

But Zhenyuanzi's layout to probe the master and his three disciples' backer must have also utilized their arrogant personalities to intentionally let them appear and receive guests.

This scheme was truly the work of an old ginger—the older, the spicier.

"Are they not joining?" Tang An pointed at Nezha and Yang Jian.

Zhenyuan Daxian smiled and shook his head. "They are my juniors; we cannot mess up the seniority."

"Seniority?" Mentioning this, Tang An couldn't help but chuckle. "Then don't you think the seniority between me and Wukong is messed up too?"

Going from master to sworn second brother? Are you kidding?

Sun Wukong was overjoyed and hopped around laughing. "Master, it's fine, we'll count them separately. I'll call you Master, and you call me Second Brother, how about that?"

Three black lines appeared on Tang An's forehead. "Can I refuse?"

"Come on, Master." Sun Wukong also put on a display of "domineering monkey" literature, pulling Tang An to swear brotherhood with Zhenyuanzi.

Don't look at Sun Wukong as someone who is always laughing and carefree; he also understood that this brotherhood was a good thing for Tang An.

With Zhenyuan Daxian and Mount Lishan Laomu as backers, in the future, whether it be the Heavenly Court or the Buddhist sect, if they wanted to move against Tang An, they would have to weigh the consequences carefully.

"Dong! Dong! Dong!"

The bell of Wuzhuang Temple was struck, and Tang An, Zhenyuanzi, and Sun Wukong had successfully become sworn siblings.

Tang An's seniority had risen again and again. In a daze, she suddenly had the Ancestor of Earth Immortals as a good big brother?

"Big Brother, may I ask, I can understand you swearing brotherhood with Wukong, but why pull me into it?"

Zhenyuan Daxian smiled mysteriously. "You are a disciple of Mount Lishan Laomu; naturally, you are worthy of being my, Zhenyuanzi's, sworn sister."

Tang An had a hunch that Zhenyuan Daxian definitely didn't want to swear brotherhood with her just because of Mount Lishan Laomu.

Rather, Tang An had a feeling that Mount Lishan Laomu taking her as a disciple and Zhenyuanzi seeking to swear brotherhood with her both had a hidden reason she didn't know about, making them both want to be on good terms with her.

As for what that was, it was clearly not something she should know yet.

Since that was the case, Tang An didn't dwell on it. In any case, when she was meant to know, or when she could discover some clues, she would naturally know the truth.

It was better for these big shots to be on good terms with her than bad.

"Big Brother, what about that Ginseng Fruit Tree of yours?"

"Eat, eat as much as you like. If you want to eat, just have Qingfeng and Mingyue bring them to you."

"What the hell?"

Tang An had thought about it; she had made several versions of a plan, thinking that with a plan and preparation, things would proceed more smoothly. She just hadn't expected it to be *that* smooth!

So all the plans she made on the road were for nothing? She had wasted her brain cells for nothing.

"Then, Big Brother, can I go over and take a look?" She was also very curious about what the Ginseng Fruit Tree looked like.

"You may." Zhenyuanzi gestured for Qingfeng and Mingyue to take the master and his three disciples to see the Ginseng Fruit Tree.

Tang An and her three disciples followed them to the back courtyard. Before they even entered, they felt a fragrant scent hitting their faces, and just smelling it made their bodies feel light and refreshed.

"It truly is a great treasure."

As soon as the four of them entered the courtyard, they saw the solitary Ginseng Fruit Tree planted in the center.

The trunk was thick; it would probably take more than ten people holding hands to barely wrap around it.

The tree wasn't very tall, but it was laden with fruit, glowing with rosy light.

The appearance of the Ginseng Fruit was, just as the book said, exactly like that of a child.

Tang An was not Tang Seng; it was just a fruit that looked like a child, so she had no qualms about eating it.

"Hehe~ Now that Zhenyuanzi has become my good big brother, and he lets me eat the Ginseng Fruit as I please. Everything is going so smoothly, surely nothing will go wrong, right?"

People, sometimes you really shouldn't set a flag; it's really easy to get slapped in the face, or have situations arise that far exceed your expectations.

For instance, Tang An, holding the mindset of "since I'm already here," walked toward the Ginseng Fruit Tree, intending to observe it up close and then experience the joy of picking a Ginseng Fruit.

However, the very instant Tang An's hand touched the Ginseng Fruit Tree.

"Crack!"

With a sharp sound, the tree broke.

Yes! The Ginseng Fruit Tree just broke like that, right in front of Tang An!!!

It caught Tang An completely off guard; in a split second, she went through eight hundred motions, even reaching out to try and catch the Ginseng Fruit Tree.

"Rumble—"

The Ginseng Fruit Tree collapsed to the ground, falling right in front of the master and his three disciples, as well as Qingfeng and Mingyue.

Tang An turned her head mechanically, her mind going numb.

"Um... uh..."

"If I say I didn't touch it, would you believe me?"

Never mind not touching it; even if she had, with Tang An's current small frame, there was no way she could have broken the Ginseng Fruit Tree!

Wait...

Could she have been framed by a staged accident?

She, Tang An, had always been the one to stage accidents and scam others—a master scammer—and now she was being taught a lesson by a Ginseng Fruit Tree???

Good grief, has the world finally turned into a state she never dared to imagine?