Hei Deng Xia Huo

Chapter 505 Peach

“A strange technique?”

Bai Yongyan shook his head and chuckled, “There are countless talented individuals within the Shu Prince's estate. This banquet alone holds hidden dragons and crouching tigers. As a mere wandering Taoist, I wouldn’t dare display my mediocre skills and make a fool of myself.”

“Why must you be so modest, Brother Bai?”

The Old Spider Dancer laughed heartily. “Since this gathering boasts such hidden talents, all the more reason for you to show off your skills and prove that we, the Prince's esteemed guests, are not just useless freeloaders.”

The Old Spider Dancer had always been annoyed by Bai Yongyan's pretentious attitude and self-proclaimed status as the number one Taoist in the Prince's estate. He was deliberately trying to force Bai Yongyan to reveal his abilities.

Bai Yongyan couldn't display his most proficient alchemy skills at the banquet. He could only resort to his second-best, illusions. However, illusions were most vulnerable when surrounded by many eyes, as other illusion experts could easily expose the magic.

The Old Spider Dancer had already prepared thoroughly. He was waiting for Bai Yongyan to cast his illusions, creating celestial palaces and alluring fairies. Then, he would secretly strike, dispelling the illusion, and embarrassing Bai Yongyan in front of everyone. This would force him to lose face and resign from the Prince's estate in disgrace.

“Hmm…”

Bai Yongyan frowned and pondered for a moment. “Since Brother Wei has put it that way, if I don't act, I'll be disgracing the Prince's estate. Very well, then I, Bai, shall make a fool of myself.”

He put down his wine cup and solemnly cupped his fist towards the crowd at the banquet. “The first thing I will perform is the Mind Control Technique.”

“Mind Control Technique?”

The Old Spider Dancer frowned deeply. Something wasn't right. Other than alchemy and feng shui, Bai Yongyan only knew illusions. When did he learn mind control techniques?

Moreover, the Mind Control Technique could be roughly divided into two types.

One involved using talismans combined with special drugs to bewilder ordinary people, clouding their minds and making them obey the caster's simple commands. This was a kind of bewitchment technique and considered rather low-level. Not to mention other Taoists, even strong young men with a bit of willpower could resist it.

The second type of Mind Control Technique was much more advanced. It could keep the affected person's mind clear, and their daily life wouldn't show any abnormalities. However, their way of thinking would be completely distorted and reversed. Even if the caster told them to jump into a fire pit or slaughter their entire family, they would do it without hesitation, with a smile on their face.

“Wasn't the Demonic Evil Sect, which held the only inherited Mind Control Technique scriptures, slaughtered by the imperial court a hundred years ago?”

At the banquet, a handsome, almost妖艳 (yaoyan, bewitching) fair-skinned and beardless man said in a feminine voice, “Could it be that Mr. Bai has somehow obtained the Demonic Evil Sect's forbidden secrets?”

The man speaking was none other than Yu Qingqiu, the West Bureau of Investigation's Chief Warden, who was leading the escort for the Annam delegation's entry into the capital.

“No!”

Bai Yongyan shook his head like a rattle drum. “Lord Yu has misunderstood, misunderstood! I wasn't talking about *kong xin* (控心, control mind), but *kong xin* (控薪, control firewood). Xin as in firewood.”

Bai Yongyan took out several long, thin pieces of firewood from his bosom, stood them upright on the ground, bent down slightly, placed his hand on the top of the firewood, took a deep breath, and shouted in a low voice, “Xin Release: Wooden Realm Descent: Youth Edition!”

The several pieces of firewood, which had long dried out, immediately extended slender roots and rootlets, burrowing into the cracks of the wooden planks. At the same time, branches and leaves sprouted from the top.

After a few breaths, a towering tree that reached the dome of the hall actually grew out of the wooden floor. Its branches were full of lush green leaves and pinkish-white, peach-like fruits, gently swaying in the night breeze.

“This, this…”

The Old Spider Dancer was instantly dumbfounded. His experience told him that the tree in front of him was definitely not an illusion, but a real tree.

When did he learn this trick?

Bai Yongyan smiled and picked a fruit from the tree, took a bite, and juice splashed everywhere. A refreshing fragrance filled the air, proving the tree's authenticity.

Not only that, but Bai Yongyan slapped the tree bark, and three cracks immediately appeared on the trunk, arranged in an inverted triangular shape, like two eyes and a mouth on a human face.

Even more strangely, the tree's eyelids were slowly rising.

!?

The Old Spider Dancer's expression suddenly changed, the guests were terrified and shouted loudly, and the serving girls lost their color and fell to the ground. Only Yu Qingqiu and the monks from Yongling Temple and the Annam delegation remained seated, motionless, with indifferent expressions.

The tree person slowly, very slowly, raised its eyelids, revealing a pair of hazel eyes, surveyed the hall, and said in a low voice, “I am Groot!”

???

The crowd looked at each other, puzzled. They only vaguely felt that the tree person's words were some foreign language.

Unfortunately, no one understood foreign languages. The Old Spider Dancer had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask Bai Yongyan, who was standing calmly under the tree, “Brother Bai, this is…”

“This tree? This tree is the descendant tree of the ginseng fruit tree from the Longevity Mountain Wuzhuang Temple of the Great Immortal Zhenyuanzi in the legend.”

Bai Yongyan opened his eyes and started talking nonsense. “It's introducing itself to everyone. I once attended the Great Immortal Zhenyuanzi's ginseng fruit banquet in a dream, and I obtained a fruit pit at the banquet. I can use the fruit to cast a spell, transplanting one thing for another, turning ordinary firewood into a ginseng fruit tree.

In the legend, the ginseng fruit tree blooms once every three thousand years, bears fruit once every three thousand years, and ripens only after thirty thousand years. Ordinary people can live for three hundred and sixty years just by smelling the fruit, and eating one will grant them forty-seven thousand years of life.

The fruit tree I planted doesn't bear ginseng fruits that can prolong life, just ordinary peaches, but it has a thin skin, a large filling, delicate flesh, and is fragrant, sweet, and juicy.

Eating it makes you happy, juice running down your face.

I know you all want peaches. Come on, don't be shy.”

He brought a plate, picked peaches one by one from the tree, and distributed them to all the guests and serving girls present, but the guests who were given the fruit stared at the pink and white peaches placed on the table, somewhat hesitant.

“I am Groot!”

The tree person roared again.

Bai Yongyan immediately explained, “The fruit tree is saying that its fruits are all newly grown, top-quality fruits that are priceless.”

“Hmm?”

The Old Spider Dancer subconsciously asked, “But I heard that sentence was exactly the same as the one just now? How can it mean two different things?”

“You don't know this,”

Bai Yongyan said seriously, “The ginseng fruit tree only has this one way of speaking.

Outsiders hear the same sentence, but in the ears of tree people or tree language speakers, they are two completely different sentences.”

“I am Groot!”

The tree person roared again, and Bai Yongyan hurriedly translated, “The ginseng fruit tree is urging everyone—the fruits it bears cannot be preserved for long and must be eaten immediately.

If you leave them uneaten, they will spoil immediately.”

As if to confirm Bai Yongyan's words, the fruit tree shook its branches, and the few remaining fruits hanging on the tree changed color from white to black at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The crowd looked at each other. Seeing that Bai Yongyan himself was eating happily, they followed suit and took a few bites. As he said, it was indeed fresh, sweet, and juicy.