Volume Five: Emerging Brilliance - Chapter Six: Ulterior Motives

For days, Li Chengzhu spent all his time within the City Lord's Mansion accompanying his wife and watching his little girl grow more mischievous by the day. She was becoming increasingly adept at using low-level spells. With the rascal-like Shadow acting as her mentor on the side, Boss Li certainly suffered quite a bit at his own daughter's hands.

Before the little girl had even hit the ground, her very first target for attack had been him. Although that had some connection to the fact that Li Chengzhu's body was weak at the time and his spiritual power completely exhausted, one had to admit that the little girl's innate talent was truly extraordinary. Now, with two mothers backing her up, her methods for keeping Li Chengzhu in line became increasingly diverse and increasingly audacious.

Watching his daughter's joyful expression, Li Chengzhu simply let her be. Although those spells posed not the slightest threat to him, he still had to put on an act of being defeated by her, coaxing her into gales of giggles.

For the baby's one-month milestone, Li Chengzhu did not notify many people. Only the few individuals residing within the City Lord's Mansion gathered together to let the child perform the *zhuazhou* ritual of choosing her future path.

Originally, this ceremony was held when a child turned one year old, but Li Chengzhu figured that once he left on this journey, he might not return within a year, so he decided to hold it early when the baby was a month old. Naturally, beings who had lived in the Immortal Realm for hundreds of years knew nothing of these Earthly customs. Even Gu Linglong only had a vague impression of such a ritual.

Therefore, no one took the ceremony too seriously.

The little girl sat upright in the middle of a table surrounded by a wide variety of items: spiritual fruits, immortal pills, magical treasures, and flying swords. Li Chengzhu had even specifically asked Qiu Feng to borrow his Rainbow Cord and Bone-Shattering Hammer, making up the excuse that he wanted to bring the child some good fortune. Faced with a little girl he genuinely liked, Qiu Feng showed extraordinary generosity and handed over his two immortal artifacts without a second thought.

Li Chengzhu also contributed his own Meteor Sword and Nine Heavens Great Luo Cauldron, and even Gu Linglong's Butterfly and Emptiness Mirror were not spared. A whole table of immortal artifacts radiated a dazzling brilliance that made it difficult for everyone to keep their eyes open.

Li Chengzhu squinted, watching his daughter's every move on the table, waiting for the moment she grabbed Qiu Feng's Rainbow Cord or Bone-Shattering Hammer so he could loudly declare that whatever she held now belonged to her.

Heh heh, his scheme was quite well-calculated. To make the little girl familiar with the Rainbow Cord and Bone-Shattering Hammer, Li Chengzhu had even specifically found two similar-looking toys for her to play with for several days.

The little girl widened her round eyes and gazed at the various objects surrounding her. Taking advantage of everyone's distracted attention, the little thing stealthily grabbed a few pieces of Heavenly Mystery Stones and several spiritual fruits, scampering off to the side to happily gnaw on them.

Slowly, the little girl's attention was finally drawn to that oddly shaped hammer. Supporting herself with trembling hands on the tabletop, she crawled over toward it step by step. Li Chengzhu's mouth curved into an arc as he thought: *Brother Qiu, don't blame me for being ruthless. On this trip to the Immortal Forbidden Land, I need to get my hands on a high-grade immortal artifact to protect myself no matter what.*

The little girl raised her chubby little hands, knelt on the tabletop with her plump little buttocks sticking out, drool dripping from the corner of her mouth, and tried hard to get that hammer into her grasp.

*Come on, you can do it!* Li Chengzhu could not help cheering for his daughter in his heart, his breathing growing