Since you want to repay my kindness, call me Daddy!

Chen Sheng had assumed it would be like the birth of Pangu—or, failing that, like some monkey making its grand entrance into the world—and that she would simply spring out of this stone sphere. But after absorbing a vast amount of divine power as energy, the sphere had turned into an egg?

Was she going to hatch from it?

Chen Sheng didn’t know what to say.

Still, that life force inside the egg was truly overwhelming!

Feeling it at close range, Chen Sheng seemed to glimpse the life of dozens of worlds converging in one place. The sheer impact on his senses was immense. He could barely withstand the force radiating from it; an urge to retreat rose in him despite himself.

“Is this the power of rank?”

At last, Chen Sheng let go of his remaining doubts. The life inside the egg was that little girl, Yu Youxin.

After all, a life force on a level above his own could only belong to a demigod of the Tenth Chain. Even a demigod of the Ninth Chain wouldn’t do. In terms of life force, a Ninth-Chain demigod was actually not much different from one of the Second Chain.

The Second Chain was the lowest level for demigods. There was no such thing as a First-Chain demigod.

After all, in the food chain of the cosmic civilization chains, intelligent beings of the First Chain were at the very bottom. There were no intelligent beings for a First-Chain demigod to include in its diet.

Put another way, demigods were exceedingly picky eaters. If an intelligent species did not meet their standards, they would never add it to their menu—and they would not eat just anything out of desperation.

If suitable food could not be found, a demigod would sooner go hungry for several eons.

Chen Sheng was much the same. Though intelligent beings of the Third Chain were easy enough to find, he still couldn’t bring himself to treat other intelligent beings as food.

Especially since most intelligent beings of the Third Chain seemed to be human…

And Earth’s humans were classified by the Cosmic Will as a Third-Chain civilization. Though Chen Sheng was one of the few who had broken through the limits, the Fourth Chain was already the furthest he could go.

When demigods consumed intelligent beings that met their standards, it was only to accumulate the civilizational matter that could help them evolve and grow stronger.

That was why Chen Sheng could remain so calm, without showing the slightest hunger for greater power.

After all, he was already the strongest human on Earth.

There was no room left for him to grow—not unless the Cosmic Will changed its view of humanity and reclassified them as a Ninth-Chain civilization.

Though the life force inside the egg was vast, there was no sign of activity. It seemed the life within was still developing.

So Chen Sheng waited patiently.

He had thought it would take a long time, but in reality, only a few hours passed before signs of life stirred inside the egg. Vast amounts of divine power surged through it, fashioning a divine body for the life within.

Chen Sheng stepped forward and released some divine power. He assumed the life inside the egg would need a great deal of it, since that little girl had once possessed rank.

But the divine power the egg had absorbed earlier had been enough.

The moment the life within was fully formed, Chen Sheng sensed a pair of eyes opening inside the egg and studying him.

He smiled in greeting.

The life inside the egg did not respond. Its owner seemed curious, and the gaze shifted restlessly. Countless currents of divine power flowed along with it, giving shape to what had been an intangible look.

The rays of its gaze shimmered gold. Wherever they passed, the staircase gained a spirit and became conscious; the vase sprang to life and bounced about; even the carpet on the floor took off like the flying carpet in the tale of Aladdin, as if longing for the open sky and yearning to fly away. Chen Sheng stopped it before it could.

“What are you doing?” Chen Sheng asked with a laugh, leaning closer.

She had given life to every lifeless thing in the room. What was the little girl trying to do—scare the strange beings of this martial-arts world?

Though each object had acquired only a faint trace of divine power, it was still divine power—the kind of power only a demigod could possess!

For that power, fathers and daughters, fathers and sons, brothers and sisters, mothers and sons, brothers, mothers and daughters—any of them might slaughter one another. In the face of divine power, all family affection and blood ties seemed pitifully weak.

These newly animate objects were therefore far stronger than the most fearsome class of anomalous beings, strong enough to rival the vengeful spirit from that illusory world.

But compared to a vengeful spirit, these newly living objects were also far more fragile.

They had no true life of their own, and could never attain immortality. If one day the little girl decided that these lifeless things ought not to be alive, then in an instant, they would revert to being lifeless objects—even though their strength surpassed that of the most fearsome anomalous beings.

Chen Sheng could only look on in helpless amusement.

Then, to his astonishment, a tiny handprint appeared on the egg. The shell seemed to turn to rubber, stretching as the handprint tugged at it. Before Chen Sheng could react, it came flying at him and knocked him far across the room.

Chen Sheng stared in bewilderment. What was the little girl doing?

Then he saw a face appear on the egg. Its features were so clear that he could tell at a glance she was making a face.

Chen Sheng: “…”

Childish!

Chen Sheng thought the word, and his expression mirrored it. That seemed to delight the egg. It sprang up and smacked straight into his face.

It didn’t hurt, but Chen Sheng was startled and fumbled to catch it.

Once he had it cradled in both hands, he couldn’t help scolding her. “You little rascal, stop jumping around! What if you cracked?”

The egg was even more displeased by his lecture. It struggled violently, releasing wave after wave of divine power. Every being in the world capable of sensing those waves froze in fear.

“Don’t make a fuss,” Chen Sheng said, then immediately realized he wasn’t dealing with his own little troublemaker, the brat who was always causing chaos and getting him into trouble. He hurriedly explained, “There are no demigods in this world to block your divine-power waves. If you keep releasing them, the supernatural power system here will collapse, and everyone who possesses supernatural powers will be assimilated by you.”

Chen Sheng thought that would make the egg settle down, but it only struggled more fiercely.

If the divine power inside it hadn’t come from him, he might not have been able to hold her at all.

A trace of suspicion arose in Chen Sheng’s heart.

This wasn’t the little girl he knew. That girl had such a gentle disposition that she never got angry, no matter the circumstances—much less behaved so mischievously.

This one was like a wildly rebellious, disobedient little imp!

“Wait…”

The thought eased his suspicions a little. The life inside the egg had already formed a divine body, yet it hadn’t made a sound.

Could it be… that the little girl had truly returned to the moment of her birth, losing all her memories along with it?

“Do you know who I am?” Chen Sheng asked at once.

No sound came from the egg, but at least it stopped struggling. Another little face appeared on the shell.

Its expression was perfectly clear: I don’t know! Who are you? Why are you holding me?

Its brows were knitted so tightly that the little face looked rather fierce.

Chen Sheng realized she still couldn’t speak. His own brows furrowed too. Judging by the look of things, the girl had truly forgotten everything about her past.

Did that mean he would have to pursue her all over again?

At the thought, Chen Sheng’s brow suddenly smoothed.

That wasn’t because, as a demigod, he had now mastered every trick for winning a girl’s heart and felt entirely confident. Even though Chen Sheng was a demigod now, he was still the same “Chen Three” who had mastered three hundred and sixty-five ways to remain single.

The only reason his brow had relaxed was that he had just remembered how utterly hopeless he was at pursuing girls.

And pursuing a female demigod was an entirely different matter!

But—

He could raise her!

Wasn’t this the perfect opportunity?

Just then, the fierce little face on the eggshell changed to one of confusion. Its expression asked: What are you thinking about that’s making you so happy?

Before Chen Sheng could figure out how to give a convincing answer, the little face changed again. This time it looked uncertain: Why do I suddenly feel like I know you?

“That’s because we met a long time ago,” Chen Sheng said, smiling. “As it happens, you did me a great kindness, and it was no small favor.”

The little face on the shell immediately replied: Really? That explains it!

Chen Sheng nodded.

Then he saw the face on the eggshell take on a completely new expression. He instantly understood what it meant: If I did you a favor, then you should call me Daddy!

Chen Sheng’s expression stiffened. “…”

Seeing his reaction, the little face immediately changed again, this time to one of reproach: You won’t? How heartless!

Chen Sheng thought it over and decided to pretend he couldn’t read her expressions.

“What are all these expressions supposed to mean? Are you saying I don’t need to thank you? What’s past is past. Yes, I think you’re right. Let’s just leave the past behind us!”

Chen Sheng nodded along as he spoke, as though the meanings he attributed to the little face’s expressions were exactly what she meant.

The little face on the eggshell was thoroughly displeased. Its tiny nose scrunched up, its little brows slanted, and a faint, raised “anger mark” appeared on its forehead.

Chen Sheng noticed it at once, but pretended not to.

The egg immediately tried to run away, but failed. All the divine power within it came from Chen Sheng. When he began drawing that power back, most of it—still unrefined and not yet fully transformed into her own divine power—flowed back into him. The result was that the divine power in Chen Sheng’s body became dangerously overfilled.

His body changed accordingly. Every inch of him was packed with sharply defined muscle, thick cords and bulges knotted together like the roots of an ancient tree. He looked rather intimidating.

Chen Sheng’s whole appearance changed in an instant, now fitting the general aesthetic of this martial-arts world.

After all, even the martial-arts masters were built like him.

Muscles were the source of the body’s explosive force. The stronger the muscles, the greater and more explosive one’s strength—and the more vast and terrifying the martial energy one could wield.

With so much of her divine power gone, the egg lost its energy for hopping about. It rolled around angrily on Chen Sheng’s body, protesting.

Seeing this, Chen Sheng simply bound the egg to himself. From then on, he gave her a portion of divine power each day, rather than releasing his hold and letting her take as much as she wanted.

The egg refused to speak to him for quite some time.

Not that she completely ignored him. Each time she finished absorbing her daily portion of divine power, a little face would appear on the shell, make a scornful expression at Chen Sheng, and vanish at once. No matter how much he talked to her, she wouldn’t respond.

Chen Sheng didn’t mind. He began telling her the story of how they had first met, as though speaking to himself.

At first, the egg showed no reaction.

But one day, after another visit from his martial-arts teacher, Chen Sheng was so full of complaints that he could only twitch at the corner of his mouth while figuring out how best to beat Chen Xiaoyi. He forgot to tell the egg about his history with Yu Youxin.

The little face on the shell appeared at once, glaring at him.

Its expression said: What happened to today’s story? Did you eat it?

Seeing the face, Chen Sheng came back to himself. His gaze slid sideways, and his eyes drooped.

Why had Yu Youxin been so hot-tempered as a child?

She wasn’t just unlike the gentle, easygoing person she would become—she couldn’t even be bothered to put on a sweet little expression.

Had the girl simply been pretending in front of him back then?

Was this her true nature?

Chen Sheng wondered to himself as he began telling her about his past with Yu Youxin.

“That day, she was discharged from the hospital. She told me she’d come back to visit often. And then she really did—she came back that very afternoon, waiting for me to finish work…”