Just as Stark was about to speak, another flash of white light lit up the scene—this time revealing two figures arriving at once: one tall and one short, one with long hair and the other with short. It was the yet-to-arrive Esdeath and Xiao Mei.
"Long time no see, darling."
Esdeath looked around at the surroundings.
She quickly ignored everyone else and walked straight up to Kizaru, wrapped her arms around his neck, and gave him a kiss.
Fortunately, Esdeath had long legs and loved high heels. If it had been Fubuki and Kizaru hadn't leaned down, she probably wouldn't have reached his face.
"Whoa~ Now I'm jealous!"
Tony Stark let out a dramatic shout from the side—only to be met with a sharp glare from Esdeath. Immediately, he felt a chill run through his entire body and was left speechless.
Against Esdeath, who had already mastered all three types of Haki, a beginner-level Iron Man clearly didn't stand a chance.
"Sir, I'm detecting a sudden spike in heart rate and a drop in your body temperature by 1.5 degrees…"
The voice of the AI in Tony's armor—J.A.R.V.I.S.—sounded in his ear.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., shut up!"
Stark muttered sharply, still stunned by Esdeath's mere gaze.
If Pepper ever found out that Tony Stark was intimidated by a woman, she'd probably tease him about it for an entire year.
Thankfully, Esdeath had no intention of picking on Stark. After her affectionate greeting with Kizaru, she casually glanced around at everyone else.
"Zhang… Master Zhang, right? Here's my birthday gift—please accept it."
Esdeath tilted her head slightly, examining Zhang Sanfeng. Once she confirmed he wasn't particularly powerful, she instantly lost interest in him.
With that, she initiated a trade request to Zhang Sanfeng. The gift she was giving was a bit large and could only be transferred through the chat group's trading system.
"Oh crap! Mine too! Master Zhang, please accept my gift as well!"
Passerby suddenly came back to his senses and hurriedly sent a trade request as well—giving Zhang Sanfeng no chance to politely decline.
"Ai-chan, my gift…"
Fubuki sidled up to Haibara Ai. She had asked Haibara to help prepare the birthday gift.
Not that Fubuki was stingy—it was just that Haibara's ideas were clearly better, and she had taken full charge of the preparations.
"It's all packed. I'll send it over once they're done."
Haibara was never sloppy when it came to tasks. Their gift consisted of enough injectable antibiotics and aspirin for 3,000 people—just about the size of two large backpacks. There was no need to bring it out so early.
Meanwhile, Zhang Sanfeng modestly declined a few times before ultimately accepting the trades. As everyone watched, a massive white tiger with black stripes suddenly appeared in the open space—causing the young Taoist boy, Song Qingshu, behind Zhang to scream in fright.
This tiger was nearly a full size larger than a typical water buffalo. When it stood upright, its head was almost level with a tall adult's height.
Clearly startled by being transported into an unfamiliar place, the tiger growled menacingly at everyone around—but before it could do anything, a small iceberg came crashing down beside it with a loud boom.
Inside the ice was the lifelike, frozen head of an enormous beast. Judging by the sheer size of the head, the creature it once belonged to was at least a hundred times bigger than the tiger!
"I made a special trip to the Far Northern Ice Fields. Took a lot of effort to hunt down this super-dangerous species deep within the glacier. It wasn't fully mature yet, but even a juvenile's head is a rare trophy."
Esdeath casually punched the mini iceberg. What looked like solid ice instantly shattered into pieces.
The bloodstained head of the giant beast was revealed beneath.
From its razor-sharp fangs to the furious glare frozen into its eyes even in death, everything about this creature screamed overwhelming dominance.
The poor white tiger, cowering beside the massive head, went limp with fear. It lay flat on the ground, not daring to move a muscle.
Trembling like a kitten, it looked utterly pitiful.
"…That's… a really big head…"
Kobayashi glanced at the beast's head, then at Tohru beside her—as if trying to compare whose dragon form had the bigger noggin.
"Tch, what's the big deal? If it weren't such a hassle to return to my world, I could've caught a giant beast too… Hey, Kobayashi! Let's go catch a whale!"
Tohru sounded a bit indignant. If going back to her original world wasn't so complicated, she could have easily captured a beast just as massive.
But then she remembered—there were huge animals in Kobayashi's world too. Last time they saw whale meat in the supermarket, Kobayashi had told her that whales were even bigger than houses.
"Let's not… Didn't we already prepare our gift?"
Kobayashi, facepalming mentally, tugged Tohru back.
If anyone else had said that, it might've sounded like a joke. But Tohru was absolutely serious.
While Kobayashi wasn't against eating whale meat, sending Tohru to go catch one just for a birthday present felt… wrong somehow.
"This isn't scientifically possible! Only planets with extremely low gravity could support land animals of this size. Under Earth-like gravity, something this big should be crushed under its own weight!"
Haibara Ai stepped forward and examined the beast's head, her small face full of disbelief. Her basic understanding of biology was being utterly challenged.
Still, she wasn't an average little girl.
Strictly speaking, beings like Kizaru and Esdeath had already shattered her concept of reality.
"Uh… Master Zhang, that tiger over there is my birthday gift. Maybe you could have some hunters skin it and use the hide as a rug?"
Passerby scratched his head awkwardly. Compared to Esdeath's gift, the tiger he worked so hard to catch suddenly didn't seem impressive at all.
Still, a tiger hide this size was a very sincere offering. In his original world, a pelt this massive would've easily sold for millions.
Even the biggest Siberian tigers would look small next to this beast. A unique tiger hide of this magnitude would definitely fetch a sky-high price at auction.
"This… there's no need to kill for my sake. Let it… be raised on the mountain instead."
Zhang Sanfeng looked troubled. While Taoism didn't strictly forbid killing like Buddhism did—and Wudang sect didn't focus heavily on precepts like that—it still felt wrong to kill two massive beasts just for his 100th birthday.
The beast head Esdeath gifted was already dead, so there was no changing that. But as for the tiger from Passerby, he'd rather let it live.
However, given how much stronger and fiercer this tiger looked compared to regular ones, letting it loose might cause chaos.
With no better solution, Zhang Sanfeng decided to keep the tiger on Wudang Mountain. At least with his disciples watching over it, there'd be no danger of it attacking villagers.
"Eh? No rug? What a waste… I was even planning to use the tiger's, uh, tail for some… ahem… anyway, never mind. Saving a life—oh, saving a tiger's life—is better than building a seven-story pagoda of virtue, right?"
Passerby looked regretfully at the cowering tiger. The poor thing, still lying on the ground, had no idea…
It had just brushed past death's door, and even its most sacred parts almost didn't make it.
While Passerby was still sulking, Haibara Ai used the chat group's trade feature to send the large backpacks full of medical supplies directly into Fubuki's hands.
"Master Zhang, this is the birthday gift from me and Fubuki—three thousand doses of portable antibiotic injections, plus five hundred boxes of aspirin…"
Haibara and Fubuki approached Zhang Sanfeng together, with two oversized military backpacks floating behind them.
After Haibara patiently explained how to use the medicines and what they were for, the once-weary expression on Zhang Sanfeng's face finally gave way to a smile.
With martial arts cultivated to his level, it wasn't that he was immune to all illness, but it was very rare for him to fall sick.
Still, Zhang Sanfeng had always been deeply compassionate toward common folk, and the Wudang sect was known for being a righteous presence in the martial world. To him, the gifts from Haibara and Fubuki weren't just medicine—they were a bounty of life-saving merit.
The young Taoist Song Qingshu stared unblinkingly at the two massive backpacks, thinking: Are all of Grandmaster's guests gods or monsters come down from heaven? How else could they look so strange and bring such miraculous gifts?
That gorilla-looking guy could summon a giant tiger. The blue-haired woman made an iceberg appear with a wave, then shattered it with another to reveal a massive beast's head—he didn't even know what kind of monster that was supposed to be.
And that first guest—ten feet tall, with a face so beautiful he hardly looked human. Even legendary beauties like Pan An or Song Yu probably didn't look that good!
Just then, another flash of white light appeared, and a cold-faced Jotaro Kujo stepped out in front of the crowd. He was the last member of the chat group to arrive.
"Kizaru-san. Long time no see."
Jotaro instinctively scanned the gathering and quickly locked eyes with the only familiar face—Kizaru.
Though it had only been a few months since Kizaru traveled to the JoJo world, for Jotaro, several years had already passed.
"Mm, it's Jotaro."
Kizaru glanced at him and was slightly disappointed to find that Jotaro seemed even weaker than before. He wasn't sure if it was due to a lack of training or something else.
Still, Kizaru didn't say anything about it.
After all, without crises or powerful enemies to push someone forward, it was hard for most people to keep training diligently.
Even Kizaru himself had gone through a slump back in the day—so much so that he gave up on his plans within the Revolutionary Army.
Fortunately, joining the dimensional chat group had reignited his sense of purpose and given him a new path forward.
"Master Zhang, this sword is my birthday gift to you. Wishing you good health and long life…"
Jotaro removed the long sword wrapped in cloth from his back.
Since it had already been arranged that he'd come for Zhang Sanfeng's birthday, Jotaro had specially sought out a blacksmith's forge that still made weapons by hand, and personally crafted this sword as a present.
Just one glance at the obviously hand-forged blade and the thick calluses on Jotaro's fingers, and Zhang Sanfeng immediately understood the sincerity behind the gift. He reached out with both hands and accepted the sword with respect.
"What a fine blade. Thank you."
He flicked the blade lightly with his finger, and what looked like an ordinary sword rang out with a long, resonant hum—so pure that it felt less like a weapon and more like a musical instrument.
"That sounds so nice…"
Tohru tilted her head, eyes half-lidded in contentment, quietly listening to the hum until it faded away. Then she turned to Kobayashi with sparkling eyes full of longing.
"Nope, no way. There's a kid at home—we can't keep dangerous weapons around."
Kobayashi instantly shook her head. Even though Kanna was technically a centuries-old dragon, Kobayashi always treated her like a child based on appearance alone.
And to be fair, from a dragon's age perspective, Kanna really was just a kid.
"Master Zhang, this is a birthday gift from my cousin Xiao Yan and me. Wishing you… uh, fortune as vast as the East Sea, and longevity as great as the Southern Mountains!"
A pink-haired girl named Xiao Mei stepped forward nervously. As the only actual underage member of the group, it wasn't surprising she felt a little anxious.
But remembering her cousin Xiao Yan's instructions—and seeing the kind, benevolent look on Zhang Sanfeng's face—gave her the courage to offer her small gift box with both hands.
"Thank you. And please thank young Xiao Yan on my behalf."
Though her gift was clearly modest compared to the others, and her words fumbled and nearly forgotten, Zhang Sanfeng's attitude didn't change one bit. He still received the gift with both hands, treating it with the same respect.
Seeing this, Orochimaru and Tony Stark stepped forward with their own offerings.
Orochimaru handed over a pale green syringe. According to him, as long as someone wasn't already dead, a single injection could preserve their final breath.
Kizaru could sense an astonishing vitality inside the syringe. Even though it held less than 20 milliliters of unknown liquid, the life force it radiated wasn't much less than that of an A-Class hero from One Punch Man's world.
Stark, on the other hand, offered an original painting by Tang Dynasty artist Wu Daozi, claiming it had cost him seven million US dollars to acquire. It was a very on-brand, Stark-style gift.
Unfortunately, Stark didn't know Zhang Sanfeng well enough. If given a choice, the old Taoist would likely have preferred a few thousand dollars' worth of antibiotics over some priceless artwork.
"Everyone, please follow me."
°°°
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