The procession soon descended onto the island that belonged to the special Spiritual Object known as the Three Pearl Tree.

But before they could see the Three Pearl Tree—

Sixteen tall members of the Human Race with two arms each came walking toward Li Ye and the others, lining up neatly there, practically like a wall.

They were obviously blocking the way, not letting anyone pass.

Jiang Qingqiu quickly leaned close to Li Ye’s ear and said:

"Brother, they’re the Two-Eight Gods."

"They’re the Deities guarding the Three Pearl Tree."

"You really, really must not get into a conflict with them, even my mother can’t beat them!"

Hm?

Is that really "don’t get into a conflict"?

Why do I feel like this kid is deliberately fanning the flames?

Li Ye patted his head. "Have they bullied you before? Tell your senior brother, I’ll go beat them up right now!"

The little fox’s eyes lit up.

He had been about to keep fanning the flames; his mother treated him extremely well, but she would never defend him so unconditionally like Li Ye did.

Just as he was about to complain—

The leading Two-Eight God said helplessly:

"Little fox."

"Don’t you smear your own conscience. Back then you wanted to stroll around the Three Pearl Forest, and we didn’t stop you. It’s just that you wanted to eat the Pearl Fruit of the Three Pearl Tree, and that truly isn’t allowed."

"With such shallow foundations, if you swallow the fruit of this tree, it will be of no benefit to your future at all. Didn’t your mother also say you should wait until you’re an adult before coming to ask for a Pearl Fruit?"

The little fox froze on the spot.

He wanted to tuck away that big tail he’d just been swishing around.

But Li Ye had already grabbed the skin at the back of his neck and lifted him up to eye level, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly as he said:

"So you still dare to lie to me, kid."

He stretched out his other hand and unceremoniously smacked the fox’s butt, but it was just a light pat. After all, this child was his master’s "son" and also his junior brother.

A harsh punishment was definitely out of the question.

Just a light smack to put on a show would do.

But the little fox covered his eyes with his paws, his whole body turning so red it looked like he was about to bleed—heavens, getting his butt smacked in public like this, and being seen by the clansmen behind them, when he was the Young Clan Leader!

Still, he knew it was his own fault.

He didn’t resist or argue, obediently letting Li Ye punish him.

Once he was done, Li Ye set him on his shoulder again and patted his head, then cupped his fists toward the Two-Eight Gods and said:

"I’d like to ask for a Pearl Fruit for my younger brother as well."

"I have my own way to refine it for him. I wonder if you all could grant us some convenience?"

The Two-Eight Gods looked at each other.

The one in the lead nodded and said, "If you wish to seek a fruit, we naturally won’t stop you. However, this treasure is a Celestial and Earthly Treasure, formed from the Spiritual Qi of the sun and moon and the Spiritual Power of Mountains, Rivers, Lakes, and Seas."

"It is further irrigated by the power of the Scarlet Waters."

"If you want it, you must pass our test."

"Please, speak freely." Li Ye made a "please" gesture.

The Two-Eight God showed a strange smile, then pointed downward and said:

"Come pierce the heavens once."

"Although this place is called Inverted Heaven, the real sky is actually below, and it was patched with Five-Colored Stone. If you can poke a hole in it, I’ll give you an entire Three Pearl Tree. How about it?"

Wait, what kind of ridiculous test is this.

I thought you were going to say something like restoring vitality or whatever, but it turns out you want me to go and puncture the sky?

This already sounds a bit suspicious, doesn’t it.

"You’re not trying to trick me, are you?" Li Ye said suspiciously. "Is it that because I didn’t have a Magical Duel with you, you’re feeling upset and planning to use my poking holes in the sky as an excuse to fight me fair and square?"

Su Ya: "..."

The Two-Eight Gods: "..."

The Fox Race procession behind them also showed subtle expressions.

Because as far as they knew, that really wasn’t the test... At most it was some Spiritual Power resonance to see whether one was fated with the Three Pearl Tree, and only then could they take away a single fruit or an entire tree.

But a "test" is just that.

At the end of the day the Two-Eight Gods decide it themselves.

Whatever they say goes. Normally they wouldn’t just go insane, but since one of Li Ye’s senior brothers had done something less than pleasant here earlier, it did seem understandable that they were targeting him now.

"I didn’t—" The Two-Eight God had just opened his mouth to refute when he saw Li Ye already raising his hand, gripping a bow and drawing back the string with an arrow nocked. Golden light gathered where the arrow met the string, and at its most dazzling, it condensed into a pitch-black dot.

He instantly felt a surge of panic in his heart.

Like he was looking at something terrifying.

Even the Spiritual Qi around them began to solidify; vast terror and Spiritual Pressure, though not aimed at anyone in particular, were already making it hard for all of them to breathe.

"Yang Ke Dao You." Li Ye looked back, baring his teeth in a grin amid the halo of surging radiance. "I heard that when the sky is punctured, it’s Lady Nuwa who comes to patch it. This was your idea—so if I cause some huge trouble, don’t blame me!"

"It... it won’t."

The Two-Eight God felt like his teeth were about to shatter from clenching them.

What Nascent Soul has such terrifying Divine Techniques!?

Shooting down heavenly wolves?

He didn’t even have time to react. The moment Li Ye let go of the bowstring, that black dot had already fallen onto the "sky," instantly triggering an incomparably vast Spiritual Power upheaval.

It could only be described as heaven and earth being turned upside down.

That deep, heavy sky burst forth with countless rifts of light, surging from bottom to top like the collapse of the Heavenly River, raining down from the ground and shrouding half of the Inverted Heaven within it.

"Who is it!?"

"Who’s breaking the sky!?"

"Has Gonggong been resurrected? Wasn’t he imprisoned!?"

One Divine Sense after another swept through Inverted Heaven, and then they saw Li Ye, who hadn’t even put the bow away yet.

And the Two-Eight Gods, who were now wearing dark expressions as they escorted this little troublemaker into the forest—upon seeing this, those Divine Senses could only sigh softly and withdraw.

This place was constructed by Brother Jianmu’s power; if Li Ye wanted to kick up a fuss, let him. They were all family anyway, and it was obvious this mess was stirred up by those Two-Eight Gods!

Just wait!

Just wait until Li Ye leaves, then you’ll get what’s coming to you!

...

The Three Pearl Forest.

Li Ye strolled along at a leisurely pace.

Countless Spirit Veins hung down from the sky in vortex shapes here, encircling trees whose leaves were like fish scales, their branches bearing innumerable dazzling gems of pearls.

They were as large as canopies, and with each tree as a center, the surrounding area for several li was shrouded in the radiance of its pearls. Combined with the multicolored glow of the Spirit Veins, the entire place shone like a dreamscape.

It truly was beautiful.

But unfortunately, Li Ye had simply seen too many beautiful things.

[Name]: Three Pearl Tree

[Mood]: None

[Status]: Spiritual Power abundant

[Bindable]: Beasts willing to gestate Spiritual Pearls for it.

Oh.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t used his Golden Finger in a while.

Li Ye actually felt a little nostalgic, but the problem was that to bind it, he had to obtain it first.

"Sigh."

"I just shot such a huge hole, right? That should be worth more than a single tree. How about I shoot a couple more times?"

He blinked and looked at the Two-Eight Gods.

The latter were panting like oxen.

They glared at him, but there was nothing they could do, and could only say:

"Five trees..."

"No more than that!"