Leng Xiang saw the demonic wind rise again and couldn't help but frown. She instinctively formed a hand seal, stopping the demonic wind, saving herself the annoyance of it blowing. Her original plan was actually to chop down the tree directly. But then she thought, this was, after all, a place she and her master had lived. If she couldn't control her strength and damaged the house, it wouldn't be worth it. And given her master's personality... she probably didn't intend to kill the tree directly either.
The wind stopped, and leaves fell. Su Qing and Leng Xiang walked into the courtyard. Seeing Su Qing and Leng Xiang enter, the ginkgo tree once again conjured a wind, striking towards Su Qing. It knew this wind couldn't harm Su Qing, yet it still conjured the wind regardless. It was clear that it might not truly want to kill Su Qing, but rather was venting its anger. This, however, left Su Qing a bit speechless; she had been quite good to it! How could she return after a hundred years only to be disliked by it?
Su Qing looked at the ginkgo tree and asked, puzzled:
"A hundred years ago, when I was still in this courtyard,
I often chatted with you and frequently fertilized you. Logically, I treated you quite well, didn't I?"
"How is it that a hundred years have passed, and instead of missing me, you're attacking me?"
The ginkgo tree already possessed sentience, and Su Qing believed it definitely understood what she said. It wouldn't even be strange if it could respond. Indeed. As soon as Su Qing finished speaking, a voice resonated in Su Qing's mind, clearly a telepathic message from the ginkgo tree. The ginkgo tree's voice sounded like that of an eight or nine-year-old child. While childish, it also carried a sense of exasperation, as if it had been bullied.
"You stinky snake, you big green worm, how dare you even say that!!!!"
"You're infuriating me, infuriating me."
"I don't even know where you get the nerve to say such things!"
"Were you 'chatting' with me? You were clearly just unilaterally harassing me, alright."
"Who would just talk to themselves under a tree for half a day for no reason?"
"And those sparrows of yours... they're so heavy and completely oblivious. My branches were almost broken!"
"Furthermore, were you 'fertilizing' me?"
"You were clearly just dumping unwanted trash near my roots!"
"You've practically infuriated me to death."
"And I nearly died several times because of you!"
The ginkgo tree was probably seething with anger. It humanly let out a few heavy breaths. Then it continued to scold:
"Couldn't you stay further away from me when you were undergoing tribulation? Every time you underwent tribulation, you had to drag me into it."
"I had just barely gained some sentience, and several times I was almost struck down during your tribulations!"
"You're infuriating me, infuriating me!"
"If my willpower hadn't been strong, I would have been long dead."
The ginkgo tree's voice echoed in the minds of Su Qing and the others. She could almost see an eight or nine-year-old girl stomping her feet in anger, furiously pointing and scolding her. This image, when thought of, was quite amusing. Unfortunately, the ginkgo tree only had a voice and no physical form... Without reaching the Divine Immortal realm, it couldn't transform.
However. After Su Qing heard the ginkgo tree's words, she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. It seemed she had indeed inadvertently caused the ginkgo tree a lot of trouble. Especially the matter of undergoing tribulation... After a hundred years, she had almost forgotten about it. Now, recalling it, her tribulations did seem to frequently affect it. Especially when undergoing tribulation in the courtyard... almost every time, the ginkgo tree suffered. But it wasn't as if Su Qing intentionally wanted to torment the ginkgo tree. At the time, the lightning tribulation came quickly and suddenly, and she hadn't thought much about it... So she underwent tribulation directly in the courtyard. Who knew that every tribulation would implicate this ginkgo tree? And she never imagined this ginkgo tree would hold such a grudge. It still remembered after a hundred years!
"Cough, cough, cough... that was an accident! The tribulation wasn't something I could control."
Su Qing felt slightly awkward... This matter... to be precise, it was indeed her fault.
"Once is an accident, but what about the second and third times? I even suspect you were intentionally striking me!"
The ginkgo tree said, gritting its teeth:
"When I undergo tribulation... I will definitely drag you along! Then you can also experience the feeling of being inexplicably struck by lightning!"
"Uh..." Su Qing's mouth twitched slightly upon hearing this. She just felt that this fellow was a bit childish. Even its method of revenge was quite childish. Although Su Qing didn't take it seriously, Leng Xiang, upon hearing it, did. The long sword in her hand immediately showed a tendency to be drawn. Leng Xiang said in a cold tone:
"Master... it's threatening you. Should I chop it down?"
When Leng Xiang heard that the ginkgo tree wanted to drag her master into its tribulation, a murderous intent immediately arose within her. Undergoing tribulation... was not something one could casually drag others into. That could genuinely lead to serious trouble. As long as Su Qing nodded, Leng Xiang would undoubtedly strike without hesitation to cut down this ginkgo tree. Seeing this, the ginkgo tree also felt a hint of murderous intent. It realized that Leng Xiang truly wanted to chop it down. It immediately backed down! Anger was anger, stomping feet was stomping feet, but when it was time to back down, it had to back down. After all, it couldn't defeat either of the two in front of it. Su Qing had a good temper, a bit of stomping wouldn't cause trouble... But Leng Xiang genuinely wanted to chop it down. So, it immediately offered a triple apology.
"I'm sorry, I was wrong, I won't dare to say such things next time."
"I... I was just, j-joking earlier."
"I'm not stupid, how could I possibly drag someone stronger than me into tribulation? I was just a bit exasperated, don't take it seriously~"
"Can we please put the sword away~"
"Let's talk things out properly, we should be reasonable, shouldn't we?"
Leng Xiang: "..."
Leng Xiang was momentarily speechless. Seeing this, Su Qing also couldn't help but let out a chuckle. This girl backed down quite quickly. Listening to those words, she almost saw the stomping girl from earlier now acting cute and pleading not to be beaten... It was truly a quick change of face. However, Su Qing had to admit, while it backed down quickly, this ginkgo tree was not stupid at all.
"Alright, alright, Leng Xiang, stop scaring it. Put your sword away!" Su Qing said, "It's just a little tree, no real threat."
Su Qing didn't take the ginkgo tree's earlier threat to heart at all. To her, it was merely the exasperated words of a childish outburst. Leng Xiang nodded helplessly upon hearing this.
"I understand, Master."
Leng Xiang would certainly still listen to her master's words. However, she still couldn't help but glare at the ginkgo tree... As if warning it not to actually do anything out of line. The ginkgo tree was incredibly aggrieved. It was the one struck by lightning, and now it was the one being threatened... Why was being a tree so difficult? It was almost on the verge of tears from grievance. Su Qing smiled helplessly and no longer dwelled on what had just happened. She just said to the ginkgo tree, "Speaking of which... now that you have sentience, do you have a name?"
The ginkgo tree paused, then said, "What is that?"
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