The atmosphere in the small woodshed became awkward.

Ou Yangming twitched his mouth. He initially thought he was purely the victim, and that Hong Feiyu was simply being unreasonable for finding trouble. Who knew, the thief that stole the Tree of Splendour was indeed from his side.

Although Big Yellow was not a human and was a spirit beast, Ou Yangming regarded him as family. In fact, he considered it a family member closer to him than Multi-armed King Kong and the goshawk were.

No matter what it did, he would also be responsible.

Ou Yangming sighed and uttered helplessly, "Big Yellow, you… Ah…"

The little bird flapped its wings and channeled its thought through its conception. "Big Yellow did very well, so why are you displeased?"

"The theft…" Ou Yangming shook his head.

"It's not theft," the little red bird replied to him without any hesitation, "The Tree of Splendour is the universe's treasure, and it can only be possessed by a worthy being. It was brought into this world by this fella, but he stole it too!"

Ou Yangming was stunned. From another perspective, the little red bird was right.

At the end of the day, the weak would be prey to the strong in this world. Even among the Humans, where there was a relatively balanced order, the law of the jungle remained the same but in a slightly different form.

Nonetheless, the more powerful the strong, the frailer the weak. It had always been like that.

Since Hong Feiyu could steal the Tree of Splendour from the spirit beast in the upper realm, why could Big Yellow not steal it away from him?

Nevertheless, this theory deviated very much from Old Craftsman's teachings, so while Ou Yangming could understand it, he might not be able to accept it.

Back when the young fellow was still an orphan, he had acted against his will to feed himself from starving to death, but he learned much more when he stayed by Old Craftsman's side for 2 years.

No matter what, he could not ignore the matter.

Seeing as Ou Yangming's expression was ever-changing, Hong Feiyu was appalled. He suddenly shouted, "Brother, the Tree of Splendour doesn't have an owner. Since it ended up with you, it belongs to you now. I dare not try to lay my hands on it anymore! Besides, I'm willing to obey you and serve you for a century!"

Hong Feiyu was furious after he found out that Big Yellow was the thief, but he knew very well how he would end if he continued to pursue the matter. Moreover, if the scholar was in Ou Yangming's shoes, he did not think that he would let the offender go too.

Under the circumstances, the best way to solve the problem was to kill the offender.

Hong Feiyu was ready to risk everything to survive. While there was life, there was hope, hence he must stay alive first no matter what.

Ou Yangming furrowed his eyebrows and responded, "Recuperate from your injuries first, and we'll discuss this again once you recover."

He turned around to push the door open and left. Big Yellow glared hatefully at Hong Feiyu before he picked up the Tree of Splendour and left the room too.

Hong Feiyu finally sighed a breath of relief after they left.

Earlier on, he was really afraid that Ou Yangming would suddenly lose it and kill him right away.

※※※※

Back in his room, Ou Yangming did not know to cry or to laugh when he looked at Big Yellow wagging its tail to flatter him while holding the Tree of Splendour in its mouth.

"That fella has ill intentions, and he'll only be a curse if you let him stay. You're not really planning to let him stay, are you?" The little red bird remarked.

"Big Yellow stole his treasure, and he bears a grudge against us now, so it'll be too dangerous to let him stay." Ou Yangming smiled bitterly.

"Easy—burn him," the little red bird suggested casually.

Ou Yangming shook his head. "It'll be fine to kill him if Big Yellow didn't steal the Tree of Splendour, but now… Besides, he fought the Aquatics' spirit beast and protected Canghai City, so he at least deserves credits for his effort. If we kill him just like that, God knows how the people in the city will think about us."

"Will we be affected by how the common folks think about us?" The little bird was indifferent.

"You won't be affected, but it's different for me." Ou Yangming sighed.

The little red bird tilted its head but no matter how it pondered, it could not understand why Ou Yangming would care about what the other people would think.

Being a noble being from the Phoenixes, it had never looked at problems from an ant's perspective.

Therefore, the little red bird felt that Ou Yangming was being too foolishly sentimental. Having said that, it was rare that it was able to find a comrade in this world. Since the young fellow liked it this way, the little bird was going to let him be.

Ou Yangming questioned after some thought, "Lil' Red, do you have a way to erase one's memories?"

The little bird answered loudly, "Of course! There are a few among the Phoenixes' secret techniques!"

The Phoenixes' secret techniques were broad and profound. Ou Yangming could only begin learning and cultivate the smallest magic arts for the time being. As for bigger tricks such as a technique to erase one's memories, they were out of his reach for now.

"Lil' Red, do you know how to do it?"

"Of course." The little red bird stuck out its chest proudly.

"Okay, use it on him once he recovers. Everything will be fine if his memories of Big Yellow and the ones related to the Tree of Splendour are erased," Ou Yangming expressed in a deep voice, "If not…"

He did not finish his sentence, but the little red bird and Big Yellow understood him right away.

Ou Yangming would certainly try to keep the scholar alive if he could but if nothing could be done, he would not be pedantic and would not let an enemy stay by his side.

Even though the little red bird still felt that it was too troublesome, it agreed to it without any hesitation.

'The magic art to erase one's memories… I might not be very familiar with it already since I haven't used it for a while, but it's okay, I'll treat it as a game.'

It casually wondered.

If Hong Feiyu knew his fate was in the hands of such an unreliable little red bird, he would probably be so shocked that he would turn into a fool.

The next day, Hong Feiyu had indeed recovered a bit after he consumed a spiritual pill given by Ou Yangming.

His injuries had not fully recovered but at the very least, he had no trouble walking. Despite that, the scholar dared not think about escaping at all because he could sense two incredibly strong conceptions in this residence constantly keeping an eye on him.

If he came up with an unrealistic idea and decided to act on it, he would only be given one chance, and the consequence would be unbearable if he failed.

Hong Feiyu's condition became better after 3 days, and he was no longer in a severe state.

Throughout the process, Ou Yangming also used up some precious pills that he had in store.

It was not that Ou Yangming did not care about the pills at all, but because Hong Feiyu was a supreme powerhouse, thus ordinary medicine would not be effective for him. As such, the young fellow was forced to go to some expense so that the scholar could recover as soon as possible. That said, the pills that he gave away were nothing much if he compared them to the number of treasures he received from the imperial family in the past.

Even when Hong Feiyu was already fully recovered, he did not plan to flee at all. When Ou Yangming visited him in the woodshed again, he looked at him differently.

The young fellow did not mean well when he left Hong Feiyu hanging for several days on purpose. In particular, the goshawk had been ordered to be ready outside the city, so the scholar's fate was already fixed if he decided to escape. However, since Hong Feiyu ended up staying obediently in the residence, Ou Yangming could not kill him openly.

Hong Feiyu uttered with respect as soon as he saw Ou Yangming, "Brother, thanks for the medicine. I'm eternally grateful."

"We were the ones that injured you, so it's not a big deal for us to treat you." Ou Yangming waved his hand gently. "What do you plan to do next, Brother Hong?"

"I told you I'm willing to follow you and serve you for a century, so please allow me to, brother," Hong Feiyu answered without any delay. This was his second time saying the same thing, but he sounded more sincere this time.

"Brother Hong, why do you want to do this?" Ou Yangming chuckled.

'I likely can't survive if I don't do this,' Hong Feiyu thought, but he explained with an eager look on his face, "I'd like to return to my hometown while I'm still alive, but I can only achieve that goal by relying on you, brother."

Ou Yangming was dumbfounded. The scholar made sense, but he did not change his mind. "Brother Hong, it's fine if you'd like to stay, but I have a few questions for you."

'It's coming indeed,' Hong Feiyu thought as he tensed up. He knew the following conversation would decide his fate, hence he dared not make any mistakes. "Brother, please ask away."

Ou Yangming nodded but did not direct any questions at the scholar; he only stared at the man with bright eyes.

Hong Feiyu was extremely anxious. He dared not relax at all because he was too nervous from facing Ou Yangming, but he became so focused on the young fellow that he neglected everything else.

A flash of light was suddenly seen in the little red bird's eyes. Those eyes seemed to contain indescribable magic, which entered Hong Feiyu's eyes in a split second. The powerhouse could not help but shiver a little and seemed to have noticed what was happening, but he could not react in time.

He was quite unlucky because he put most of his attention on speculating Ou Yangming's thoughts. Needless to say, he was also quite wary against Big Yellow, which previously exchanged blows with him and displayed notable combat power. As for the birdcage in the young fellow's hand… How much should one rack one's brain to be able to tell that the real boss was hiding inside?

Almost without the ability to resist at all, Hong Feiyu fell into a spiritual world created by the little red bird. He instantly looked dazed as if he became an idiot, and he also seemed lifeless.

Ou Yangming sighed. 'The little red bird is certainly extraordinary in certain aspects, and I'm truly fascinated by it. The power used to construct such a spiritual world is truly beyond my reach.'

Nevertheless, since he had an expert by his side, he decided that he would learn from it as much as possible to pick up the ability!