"By the way, something important I forgot to mention is that after eating the fruit you will fall unconscious for 24 hours. This is because the mana inside the body becomes slightly unstable as it tries to adapt to the skill acquired by natural means and somehow external to the Soul Record." Bai Zemin suddenly remembered the matter of falling out of combat for a whole day so he quickly pointed it out.

Nangong Yi's face changed slightly for a second before he regained his composure, "Since that's the case, then I guess I'll have to rely on you guys to take care of me in the meantime."

"Don't worry, I'll stay in your room until you wake up." Nangong Lingxin was the first to respond, which was normal considering that the person on the line here was her blood relative.

"All right, just eat the fruit in your room." Bai Zemin nodded calmly.

"All right then." Nangong Yi stood up and prepared to leave, "Man, I'm already looking forward to tomorrow so I can receive that skill. Somehow I feel like when I was still a teenager hahaha!"

He didn't seem worried about being attacked while was completely unprotected, which from a certain point of view made a lot of sense. To begin with, if an enemy wanted to harm him they would first have to break through the blockade set up by powerful soul evolvers as well as the mighty and terrifying Bai Zemin; if such a thing happened, then Nangong Yi knew that he wouldn't have any possibility of living even if he was awake, so he didn't worry too much.

As for someone from his own faction attacking him, Nangong Yi didn't think about it. If he couldn't even trust the people he fought with every day shoulder to shoulder and with whom he was going to fight many more wars in the future, then it was only a matter of time before they stabbed his back. 

Perhaps it was the thoughts of a person resigned to fate, but it also seemed reasonable from a logical and objective point of view.

After Nangong Yi returned to his room together with his sister Nangong Lingxin, who would protect him for the 24 hours he would be passed out, the room was silent for a moment before Bai Zemin finally looked at Shangguan Bing Xue.

"You can have the second fruit." He finally offered and thrust his hand forward with the open palm facing upward.

Just above his hand was the small red fruit the size of a human fingernail which, although it looked extremely delicious, Bai Zemin knew it was a great deception as it was even more acidic than lemons.

Shangguan Bing Xue stared at his open palm, more specifically, she stared at the red fruit with a hard-to-read expression. Finally, after several seconds of silence, she withdrew her gaze and looked Bai Zemin straight in the eye before saying curiously, "Why are you giving one fruit to me? I haven't agreed to join you yet, have you forgotten? That fruit represents a powerful Second Order active skill of the highest level, which in turn means the birth of a powerful soul evolver. Aren't you afraid that in the end I might decide to join another faction or even decide to establish my own?"

Bai Zemin laughed indifferently at her words. While the beautiful silver-haired woman's questions made perfect sense and her doubts were certainly justified, she was not the only observant person.

He calmly replied, "Since day 1 of the apocalypse, we had many discussions and differences. Even now, more than a month later, we still have our differences; which is perfectly normal given that we are two different people with different thoughts. Still, I think that at the very least I know you well enough to understand that even if in the end you decide not to join my faction and my ideals, I firmly believe that you will not become my enemy in the future."

Shangguan Bing Xue raised an eyebrow and said with a hint of amusement in her voice, "That's quite confident of you, who is usually as wary as a fox. Do you really think I won't become your enemy in the future?"

Bai Zemin chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, "Even if you become my enemy, it's not like you can defeat me anyway, can you?"

Kang Lan almost burst out laughing when she heard Bai Zemin's words, while the corner of Fu Xuefeng's mouth began to twitch furiously and a bead of sweat slid silently down his face.

"Hmph!" Shangguan Bing Xue coldly snorted and was about to say something when Bai Zemin continued.

"All joking aside, to be honest, the reason I'm doing this is because even if after all this finally you become my enemy, then that just means that my eyes were wrong and that I evaluated you too high. That's all." He said calmly and looked at her with a sincere expression, "If at the end of the day it turns out that I was wrong, then I will take it as a valuable lesson and not as a loss. Regardless, it's not as if the Thousand Lightning Plant won't produce any more fruit, is it?"

Shangguan Bing Xue's expression changed several times as she heard Bai Zemin's words. In the end, she let out a peculiar sigh and shook her head. She leaned her body forward and used her fingers to take the red fruit lying in Bai Zemin's palm.

Bai Zemin nodded and was about to say something when his expression froze in the next instant.

Shangguan Bing Xue looked at the fruit for a second before bringing her thin fingers to her slightly open lips before slipping it into her mouth. Her lips closed together once more and the line of her elegant jaw moved once before her throat fluttered softly.

"You... You ate it? Just like that?" Bai Zemin looked at her speechlessly.

Even Kang Lan and Fu Xuefeng gawked at her.

Shangguan Bing Xue's perfect white face became redder and redder and her breathing turned slightly heavy, which showed that the effect of the fruit began to do its part immediately.

She said with a bit of difficulty, "You'll have to take care of me until tomorrow then..."

"Why didn't you just wait until we got back to Beginning Village? There you could have asked Wu Yijun or Chen He to take care of you. Aren't you afraid that I might do something to you while you are sleeping?" Bai Zemin pointed out stupefied.

Although he trusted her quite a bit, he definitely wouldn't dare to stay 100% unprotected against her. If someone asked Bai Zemin if he would be willing to wholeheartedly faint in front of Shangguan Bing Xue, which would basically mean leaving his life in her hands, he would undoubtedly slap that person and scoff mercilessly.

He in no way believed that the trust between him and her had reached such a height.

Still, she actually...

"If something like that happens..." Shangguan Bing Xue uttered in a low voice and her eyelids began to close together rapidly. Just before she fell unconscious, she whispered, "Then I guess I was wrong about you and evaluated you too high..."

Bai Zemin's mouth opened slightly and a hint of surprise flashed in his black eyes.

"Hehe... This woman gave you back your own words." Lilith's voice rang in his head. She said with a hint of delight and amusement, "She really got you this time, little brother Zemin."

Bai Zemin rolled his eyes and sighed heavily before standing up and looking at the woman passed out on the couch adjacent to his.

Because it was uncomfortable to wear armor that none of them were used to yet, they preferred to wear cloth clothes when they could relax; this was no different with the current Shangguan Bing Xue.

The current her had started to perspire a lot, which caused her dress to begin adhering to her seductive body quickly, outlining her charming curves. This added a completely different shade of attraction to her usual coldness, and regardless of whether one was an old man or a young man, Bai Zemin could swear that as long as one was a man, he would definitely be attracted.

Even the shy Fu Xuefeng was slightly dumbfounded as he looked on in a daze, and it was only after Kang Lan teased him that he finally looked away with a face as red as an apple.

Bai Zemin looked at Kang Lan and was about to say something when she hurriedly shook her head and said earnestly, "Leader, she is trusting in you, not in me. Don't you think it would be good to respond to that level of trust in the right way?"

"You..." He looked at her and wanted to say something but was at a loss for words.

What he wanted to ask Kang Lan was to take Shangguan Bing Xue and bring her to her room. After all, he was a man and the relationship between him and her was not particularly close. Besides, Bai Zemin was aware of Shangguan Bing Xue's wariness and clear dislike of men; he did not want to betray the trust she had reposed in him.

However, what Kang Lan said was true as well; which left Bai Zemin with no way to reply.

Shangguan Bing Xue had made it more than clear that she was entrusting her total security to him. In that case, wouldn't it be right for him to take care of it? Even though he did not respond positively and was more like her throwing herself on her own without caring about the opinion of others, it was true that her high level of trust was unexpected for Bai Zemin; which resulted in him wanting to act in the right way.

"Forget it then. Let it be like that then." He shook his head and stopped overthinking things. It wasn't a big deal anyway.

Bai Zemin walked around the small glass table and took Shangguan Bing Xue's body in his arms. The first thing he did was to put both of her arms around his neck to make it easier for him, then, one of his arms hugged her tender back from her shoulder to her slender waist while the other arm went just below her knees.

When he stood up, Kang Lan clapped her hands and said excitedly, "Leader, you are embracing the No. 1 beauty of Beijing University and the most desired woman in the whole faction like a newlywed couple!"

Bai Zemin almost fell to the ground when he heard what Kang Lan said. He looked at her with wide eyes and said dumbfounded, "I say, my cherished healer, when did your shy personality turn into a playful personality?"

He could still remember how not so long ago, Kang Lan was as shy as a rabbit. She definitely wouldn't have dared to joke with him like that in the past.

Kang Lan stuck out her tongue before saying with a smile, "That's, of course, because I know the kind of person you are. I'm only like that with less than five people so far."

Bai Zemin shook his head and walked upstairs without giving his opinion on the matter.

Fu Xuefeng finally coughed and murmured, "Hey, Kang Lan, I'm sure if that good-looking guy Chen He hears about this he'll definitely die of a heart attack!"

"Hehehe... I'd say that while Chen He dies of a heart attack, someone else might also get hurt in the process!" Kang Lan grinned like a little fox and started gossiping as if she had found something funny.

Fu Xuefeng quickly thought of something and pursued, "You mean Wu Yijun?"

"That's right."Kang Lan nodded and said in a low voice, "I think if she finds out about this she might start to see Shangguan Bing Xue as her new love rival!"

Fu Xuefeng rolled his eyes and muttered, "There are many women who want big brother Bai anyway. If we're talking about rivals in love, then could you be one too?"

"Me?" Kang Lan pointed to herself with a surprised expression before bursting out laughing and saying between laughs, "Of course not! I know my place! Besides, I don't think weak people like us have time to think about things like love!"

* * * * * * *

Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3