Today, Li Ban finally understood what it meant to be "treading through iron shoes without finding a place, obtaining it without any effort at all."
The Wizard Embryo Fragment he had spent months searching for was actually inside the eyeball he had obtained at the very beginning.
He shook his head and laughed, marveling at the unpredictability of the world.
Still, it was a good outcome.
Li Ban took out the Wizard Embryo Fragment. Although it was tiny, it was more than enough for someone who had not yet reached the Priest tier.
Furthermore, it was incredibly pure and free of any external interference. There was no need to worry about it having adverse effects on the person who assimilated it.
Li Ban had already guessed why this eye contained a Wizard Embryo Fragment.
The small world Gao Jiaren inhabited had been on the brink of destruction.
The surface of its wizard embryo had been covered in cracks, expanding and contracting violently.
Because of this Wizard Embryo Fragment, Gao Jiaren had gained absurdly immense power, allowing him to be the only one among all those heroes to reach the dinosaur demon king.
However, he had not known how to harness the fragment's true power. That was why, in his final moments, his only option had been to self-destruct in an attempt to take the demon king down with him.
"It makes sense. Only power enhanced by a wizard embryo could rival power mutated by a wizard embryo."
Li Ban held the rice-sized fragment in his palm and presented it to Cat Girl. "Little Cat, take this for now."
Cat Girl's eyes went wide as she stared at the seemingly unremarkable little chunk.
It sparkled in Li Ban's hand like a shattered ice crystal.
"So this is a Wizard Embryo Fragment." She looked up at Li Ban. "Are you really giving something this important to me?
Couldn't you absorb it to increase your own strength?"
"Why are you being polite with me now? Didn't I promise you back then? As long as I have the ability, I'll definitely take you up to the heavens too. Just living in Unreturning Place doesn't count as reaching the heavens."
Little Cat rubbed her hands together, her tail swishing back and forth behind her. The whole situation felt utterly surreal.
The very thing she had always dreamed of had just dramatically appeared right before her eyes.
It brought the thrilling shock of placing a single copper coin on a bet and winning three thousand taels of gold.
"I won't be polite then! Anyway, once I become a Priest, I won't treat you badly either!" Little Cat was so excited she was starting to babble.
She pinched the ice crystal between three fingertips and carefully placed it in her own palm.
After studying it for a long time, she looked at Li Ban in confusion.
"This—should I eat it?"
"No, you can't assimilate it just yet. Keep it on you for now. Let it gradually get used to your presence while you get used to its power. Later, I'll figure out a way for you to successfully fuse with it."
When this fragment left the wizard embryo, it had chosen to enter Gao Jiaren's body. Therefore, the fragment recognized the people of their small world, not some unfamiliar feline.
If Li Ban wanted to force the Wizard Embryo Fragment to acknowledge Cat Girl, he still needed to make some preparations.
However, with the most crucial step already complete, the rest of the work was actually quite easy for a Priest like him.
Cat Girl held the tiny fragment, unsure of where to put it so it would be safe.
Finally, gritting her teeth, she tossed the fragment into her mouth.
Li Ban wanted to facepalm. "Did you really just eat it?"
"No, no!" Cat Girl frantically waved her hands. She opened her mouth to show him her teeth. "I pulled out one of my teeth and stuffed it in the gap! This way, I can tell if it's still there just by poking it with my tongue."
Well, alright. It was just a single tooth; restoring it with the Flesh on White Bones element wouldn't consume much spiritual rhinoceros.
Li Ban waved his hand, letting Cat Girl do as she pleased.
The two sat on the roof for a while longer until Priest Qian Que came looking for Li Ban.
Suspecting there might be a clue about Xiao Suo, Li Ban stood up. "I'm heading out. Don't tell anyone about the fragment for now."
"Don't worry, don't worry. I know full well that harboring a treasure invites trouble."
Although most white-robed priests were reasonable people, Li Ban still had to be careful. He couldn't pin his hopes on the inherent good or evil of human nature.
He wasn't worried about someone robbing Little Cat; he was worried they would kill her after taking it.
Before I leave next time, I need to prepare a few more Plain Rings with protective and teleportation abilities for Little Cat, Li Ban thought as he vanished in a flash.
Wizard World. Capital City.
A man with a face so thoroughly ordinary that it was impossible to remember was riding a donkey, leisurely making his way down a small road leading to Capital City.
He wore a faint smile, his head swaying gently with the donkey's gait, looking as though he might fall asleep at any second.
A two-horse carriage galloped past him, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
The man simply waved his hand to fan it away, entirely unbothered.
By noon, Capital City was not far ahead.
He stopped by a roadside tea stall, dismounted from his donkey, and ordered a pot of tea and two small side dishes for a quick meal.
While waiting for his food, the man pulled a small mirror from his robes. He gazed into it, adjusting a stray lock of hair on his forehead.
"Hahaha, why does this big brother like looking in the mirror just like my mom?" A bare-bottomed little boy with his hair tied in twin buns stood in the corner of the tea stall, giggling.
The man wasn't angry. Smiling at the child, he said, "When one goes to see their beloved, one must naturally pay attention to their appearance."
He spoke rather elegantly, so the little boy didn't quite understand.
"What's a beloved?" The boy took two steps forward.
"It means the most important person to me. For example, your mother's beloved is your father, and your father's beloved is your mother."
The little boy thought about it, then pouted. "My mom's beloved is me."
The nearby tea stall owner finally couldn't listen to this anymore. He straightened up with a dark expression. "You little donkey turd, get back here! Don't bother the customer."
On the other side, the proprietor's wife brought over the side dishes and tea, her face tinged red.
Folks like them, who worked the land for a living, didn't spend their days talking about 'beloveds' this and 'beloveds' that.
Even just hearing someone else tease about it made her too embarrassed to lift her head.
Of course, if another dozen years were to pass and she saw more of the world, the proprietress might be able to turn around and jokingly scold the man without batting an eye.
The troublemakers had been shooed away, but the man didn't immediately put his mirror away.
He toyed with the mirror in his hand, lost in thought.
His fingers were incredibly nimble; the mirror flipped and danced across his fingertips without ever dropping onto the table.
Number 18's setup in Capital City has vanished. Is he dead? Did he not even manage to escape with a single clone? Since when did the white-robed priests act so flawlessly that not a shred of information leaked out? The Crown Prince hasn't been replaced... it seems Li Zhai ultimately chose to side with the White Robes. Heh, a mortal willingly embracing his own degradation.
The man—who was none other than Xiao Suo—narrowed his eyes.
He was not very pleased.
Without touching a single bite of his food, he put the mirror away, stood up, and mounted his little donkey.
He didn't continue toward Capital City. Instead, he turned west, eventually vanishing at the end of the road.
The sun rose in the east and set in the west, then set in the west and rose again in the east.
The little boy from the tea stall was squeezed between his parents, sound asleep.
But even though the sky was bright, no one patted his bottom to wake him up.
The boy rubbed his eyes, sat up, and mumbled to his mother, "Mom, I need to pee."
No one answered him. Instead, the pungent stench of blood assaulted his nose, making him feel sick, though he didn't understand what had happened.
He opened his eyes to look at his mother, but he didn't see her head. Instead, resting upon his mother's chest, he saw his father's head.
Stunned, the little boy turned his head to look at his father sleeping on his other side.
He didn't see his father's head either. Instead, resting upon his father's chest, the little boy saw his mother's head.
Your mother's beloved is your father, and your father's beloved is your mother...