Long Di’s brow rose a few levels, as not even he could have foreseen this outcome.

He couldn’t help mumbling to himself, “Did I just become a strange uncle?”

****

“Long Di!” A cry echoed out, shaking Long Di from his stupor.

He looked to where the cry came from to see the group surrounding Shen Ling. He could see bright blood streaming down her face as she lay unconscious.

Upon seeing this, Long Di went silent and immediately, the temperature of the surroundings fell by a few degrees.

Mina, who was mostly expressionless during all this, opened her eyes in shock when she saw what was happening.

‘No way… is he?’

Shi-Shi-Shing!

A bright light flickered on and off her body, the power of her divinity was pulsating in intensity.

Vhwoom!

A monstrous killing intent pervaded the space. It was cold, emotionless, and terrifying!

Not to mention Yaomu Shou and the others, even Mina, who was affected by very little in the mortal realm, felt a heart-wrenching trepidation in the face of this.

“H-How is this possible? He shouldn’t be able t-to…” her words trailed off into silence. The reality muted her.

They trembled in fear as they had never felt it as real as they did right now.

Sure, the Shidashi Mao’s killing intent felt wild, feral, and unrestrained. This killing intent, however, was chillingly calm and boundless.

All eyes turned to Long Di, the progenitor of this intent who was as impassive as ever. He leapt from the tree before lightly landing on the ground.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Every step he took forward was like the prelude to a slaughter. Each footstep caused a wave of killing intent to wash over everyone.

The Monarch Gale Crow in particular, who was the recipient of this killing intent, was twisting in a panic as it could finally feel the danger that Long Di posed to it.

Unfortunately, it couldn’t move from where the heavenly levyance tribulation lightning spear impaled it. While it infiltrated the Monarch Gale Crow from a rather questionable entryway, it existed through its back, pinning it to the ground.

When Long Di finally arrived before it and saw how it struggled, he wordlessly took hold of the tribulation lightning spear.

His eyes slightly narrowed when his grip around the spear tightened.

He made sure to look the Monarch Gale Crow in its eyes as he quietly circulated his somatic essence.

A faint rumble radiated as the energy rushed through his meridians. The veins on his arms pulsated before everything came to a head.

Vrrrm!

“Hngh!”

With a grunt, the somatic essence erupted, bringing with it a monstrous surge in strength!

The spear was twistingly drawn back before it was viciously drilled through the Monarch Gale Crow!

Krrrsh!

“Krrrreeeeeeee!!!!”

The lightning crackled as the spear tore through the Monarch Gale Crow’s body.

Its cries of pain were deafening, but Long Di aptly remained deaf to it as he pushed the spear further and further in.

The destructive energy of the tribulation lightning wreaked havoc in its body. Its organs broke down and its meridians were shattered.

It wasn’t long before its cries came to an end. But even then, Long Di still pushed it farther in.

Seeing how he was so close to mutilating the corpse of a magical beast, surprisingly, the one who came to stop him was Mina.

Yet, even when she placed her hand on his shoulder, he didn’t react.

“L-long Di…” she called with that rare show of worry.

Hearing her call his name caused him to pause. He then turned his head to look at her.

When she stared into his eyes, she felt like her soul was dropped into an ice cellar. The killing intent that swam in his unmoving eyes was ten types of terrifying.

A genuine sense of fear gripped her, and it showed. Her pale, petrified expression and trembling shoulders were all too clear.

However, even with this, he refused to let go.

Long Di stood there, unmoving, and like a murmur, a whisper that was carried on the wind, “I’m sorry.”

Mina’s expression softened before replying, “It’s not your fault.”

When these words came out, the killing intent subsided and the light flickering on Mina’s body finally dimmed, putting her at ease.

“You really care for her, huh?” Mina asked.

He nodded to confirm he did. “I care for all of them.”

He then turned to look at Shen Ling’s unmoving body. “At the risk of sounding like an idiot. I-Is she alright?”

Xiannu Liang, whose hands were glowing green, sighed with a complicated expression, “It’s not life-threatening, but it’s not an injury I can heal either. The backlash she suffered by using that ability is not something I can heal at my level.”

“What level are you?” Long Di asked.

D-D-D-Dum! D-D-Dum! Dum!

Eight cauldrons burst into existence behind her. They all shone with an emerald green light.

“Green?” Long Di was caught off-guard by this.

Dense life energy radiated from them in waves that caused everyone present to feel their energy returning at a rapid pace.

“I see…” Long Di nodded upon seeing this. He then waved his hand, causing over a dozen Ever Dew Fruits to appear. “If I give you these to eat. Will you be able to heal her?”

“I-If I’m able to get to the Core Formation Realm, I think so, but I can’t take all the E-”

“Guys…” Long Di interrupted, looking towards everyone else. “Please. Friends are… unusual to me. Please don’t let one di-”

“I’m going to stop you right there,” Yaomu Shou waved her hand with an annoyed expression.

Seeing this, Long Di grew worried even though it didn’t show. Did she want the fruits that badly? Long Di started to rummage through his storage rings, looking for something to placate her.

When Yaomu Shou saw this, her anger flared. “Long Di, what do you take us for!?”

He looked up at her, confused. “What do you mea-”

She cut him off. “Look at everyone here!”

When he saw the concern and anger in everyone’s expression, he grew a bit flustered and couldn’t react appropriately. Even though his expression was steady, he was bewildered at what he should do.

“I-I don’t know…”

Yaomu Shou snapped! “What do you mean you don’t know!? Do you think-”

Mina couldn’t take this anymore and stepped in front of Long Di with her hands outstretched, defending him. “Stop right there!”

“Tempesta Mina, don’t you see he thinks less of us for asking something like that!?” Yaomu Shou’s face was dark with anger.

Mina shook her head. “You think too highly of him. Do you think he understands social norms and the etiquette of friendship!? He never had friends before, you idiot! He doesn’t know what the rules are. He may have common sense, but the normal workings of emotions are lost on him.”

Yaomu Shou didn’t know what to make of this, “What do you mean the normal working of emotio-”

“Look at him!” Mina pointed behind her where Long Di was fidgeting, but his expression was still as stoic as ever.

“Does that look like someone who can read between the lines after deciphering the differing levels of intimacy of friendship? Look Long Di isn’t insulting you all, he honestly doesn’t know. He’s not well, he’s broken and you all should-”

“Mina.” A whisper came from behind her and she turned to see Long Di staring at her, shaking his head.

“But they-”

“It’s fine,” Long Di said, cutting her off. “I don’t want anyone pitying me after all.”

Mina’s hands balled up into a fist. “Fine!”

She stormed off to the side in a tirade. Mina was one of the persons that knew Long Di the best, barring Pebbles. Sure, he was expressionless and monotonous at most times, but that was outward. The physical remnant of a trauma that went soul-deep.

It was even worse when he just came into this world. The love he got from his parents healed him somewhat, but he was forced to leave them at a young age. She gave Long Di crap, sure, but she wouldn’t allow anyone to attack him in his weakest points.

“Sorry again…” Long Di uttered.

Yaomu Shou’s anger finally lessened when she heard Mina. Then, after seeing how Long Di appeared, she realised that she might have overreacted.

“N-No… I’m sorry. What I mean to say is… we don’t need the Ever-Dew Fruit,” explained Yaomu Shou. “Xiannu Liang can have all of it if she can heal Shen Ling. We weren’t angry because we weren’t getting any of the Ever-Dew Fruits. We were angry because we thought you thought so little of us. That you considered us materialistic or greedy to the point that we would put Shen Ling in danger.”

“I don’t have a lot of friends myself,” she went on. “So, in a way, you guys are my first real friends and I’ve grown attached. I don’t know what you went through where you never learnt or came to know such things, but I’ll… we’ll try to be more understanding.”

Long Di nodded to indicate he heard her. It was here that he knew that whilst having common sense was enough to have one dominate the entire cultivation world; he had a lot more to learn if he wanted to live comfortably within it.

“Alright.” Long Di already had all the Ever-Dew Fruits in his hand. So he walked over to Xiannu Liang and handed them over to her.

“Here you go. Just u-”

“Ever-Dew Fruits!”

A startled cry came from the small crack that Long Di and friends came through and they looked over to see a small group filtering through it.

They were about half a dozen human cultivators and they stared at the Ever Dew Fruits Long Di held with undisguised greed.

“Hand over the Ever Dew Fruits and scram!”