The more he thought about it, the more problems he saw and his face gradually darkened.

He had tried so hard to avoid the plot and the female lead, and yet the male lead had walked right up to his doorstep.

What now? Send it back? Ignore it? Recruit it?

These options flashed through Xiao Shou’s mind.

"Master! Guess what happened next?" Fu Young, seeing that he was no longer asking about the Water Qilin, became excited again.

Xiao Shou turned his head, looking confused. "What else happened?"

"This Water Qilin told me that right after it broke out of its egg, it was still in its juvenile stage and already heavily injured. After being bought by that ice spiritual root female cultivator, it was placed inside her immortal treasure space. Although that space’s immortal spring had excellent healing effects, it also caused rapid growth. It only stayed inside for a few days, and its divine beast body already grew from an infant stage to that of a five or six year old child," Fu Young said while summoning the white egg-like creature with blue patterns from his storage bag.

He continued, "If it had come out any later, it might have been forcefully matured into adulthood. Rapid forced maturation would damage a divine beast’s origin power and cause it to degenerate into a pseudo divine beast. But it had no choice but to heal, so it could only absorb the power of the immortal spring. Luckily, it only absorbed a small amount before it was swept out by the geomagnetic storm. And by coincidence, it was frozen here for five years and had no strength to break out on its own, so its injuries kept getting worse."

"But after it met me, it sensed that several items in my storage bag were extremely attractive to it. Its instincts took over its thoughts and, without waiting for my consent, it swallowed the things that attracted it. Then it discovered that low-grade creation pills had some effect on its injuries. Even more effective were beast essence and beast gel. Not only could they reduce its injuries, they could also restore its damaged origin."

"If it can keep consuming them long term, it might even evolve further. After that, in order to obtain more essence and beast gel, it agreed to join our sect and become our sect’s guardian divine beast."

Well, no need to choose anymore.

One of Xiao Ran’s so-called cheat opportunities had been taken by Fu Young.

However, thinking about the Water Qilin’s personality, Xiao Shou said with a slightly mischievous tone, "Does it know that beast essence and beast gel come from demonic beasts? The amount of demonic beasts required to heal its injuries, restore its origin, and even help it evolve is not small."

"It knows," Fu Young replied while the Water Qilin egg trembled slightly. "It also said that the law of nature is survival of the fittest and the strong prey on the weak. It is as natural as rabbits eating grass, wolves eating rabbits, and tigers eating wolves. As long as it is not pointless slaughter, it is fine."

Xiao Shou froze for a moment as he watched, then said thoughtfully, "You can understand its speech? Did you form a contract with it?"

"No," Fu Young shook his head. "I just touched it and it could understand my thoughts. Isn’t it the Water Qilin transmitting its divine sense to me?"

This child’s luck and physique were truly not ordinary.

Even the original female lead’s cheat opportunity had fallen right into his hands.

Even someone like him who had no fortune or destiny to speak of seemed to be affected by him and was starting to get lucky.

Xiao Shou smiled and said, "Probably your constitution is somewhat special. Just be a little more careful in the future."

"Alright!" Fu Young responded and followed Xiao Shou into the residence, then continued excitedly, "Master, I also found out that the beast essence and beast gel can only be consumed once per day. Any more than that has no effect. So it is better to use higher-grade beast gel instead."

"Mm. I noticed that too. We should try refining higher-grade versions in the future. Yawn... Also, the Water Qilin, let it rest near the spirit spring from now on. That place is helpful for its healing and recovery. It suits it quite well."

Today, in order to write down his notes, Xiao Shou had expended quite a bit of mental energy.

He rarely feeling so exhausted, so he yawned before finishing his sentence.

Seeing Xiao Shou’s tired appearance, Fu Young could not help but ask with concern, "Master, what did you do today? How did you get so tired?"

"What did I do?" Xiao Shou thought.

He could not tell his disciple about Ye Ying matter.

Fu Young was only at the Golden Core stage and did not have his advantages.

He would inevitably run into danger.

Moreover, the Fate Devouring Array was too sinister. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Any trace of greed could lead to loss of control.

In the original story, in the book read by Yu Lin, Ying Ying did not hire assassins, so Xiao Ran never encountered Ye Ying.

Later, the Demon Abyss race and beast tide erupted.

Because of that, people overlooked the changes in the Nine Abyssal Gate.

After the sealing formation was completed, Xiao Ran soon ascended to the spirit realm.

As a result, Yu Lin never learned about the Nine Abyssal Gate Ye Ying or the Fate Devouring Array.

In Xiao Ran’s previous reborn timeline, Xiao Ran had always been a pawn in Yu Lin’s hands and Jian Li had also been successfully drawn into her influence.

Yu Lin never needed to resort to desperate measures to use others to hunt him down, so neither of them knew the true background of the Nine Abyssal Gate.

Because of this, the Nine Abyssal Gate became the final hidden boss.

Otherwise, with the heaven defying effects of the Fate Devouring Array, neither Yu Lin nor Xiao Ran would have willingly let it go.