“M-Master?”
The willow branch retreated as subtly as it reached out. Having developed sentience recently, it was actually stuttering in its spirit voice.
That left Jiang He very much shocked.
Trees had gender too?
Still, it made sense when he thought about it—the tree was already a special lifeform since it had developed ‘sentience’.
“By the way, I remember reading a novel which had a willow goddess or something living inside…”
Jiang He studied the willow tree he planted thoroughly, a thought occurring to him…
Would the willow tree take human form after it ascended up to a certain level?
There was no telling if it would be pretty after it did either…
“Kya!”
The willow tree suddenly cried out, its dangling branches covering its tree trunk as it exclaimed with a flustered tone, “M-master… why are you staring at me like that?”
Jiang He couldn’t help becoming amused at that.
It was actually embarrassed?
Still, he could try grooming this tree since it’s a strong floral spirit on its own. Its loli voice was quite melodious, and whether it could take human shape remained to be seen.
“Since it’s a floral spirit, nitrogen or composite fertilizers would definitely promote her growth.”
Suddenly inspired, Jiang He pointed a finger at the corner of a wall.
Slither.
A sheet of green leaves crept out his body, quickly forming a wooly green bundle that landed at the corner of the wall.
Roots soon grew out of the green bundle, entrenching itself into the soil and soon grew into the massive Cloudscraper Vine.
With a wave of his hand, Jiang He took out the Red Toad King’s corpse from his System Backpack, cutting it in two and giving the Cloudscraper Vine half.
Delighted, the tendrils of the Cloudscraper Vine danced and covered that half of the Red Toad King’s corpse.
Dumbo threw Jiang He a look of grief at that, quietly grumbling, “Master, you’re biased…”
Huh?
Jiang He could not help chiding the dog with a smile. “Learnt to give your opinions, have you now, dog? Well, it’s fine, since you and Trumbo have a variety of powers and lack only in cultivation.”
Dumbo and Trumbo each possessed four superpowers as well as Ucchusma Stonebreaker Palm and swordplay, although they were still short of rank-seven.
That said, they were not too far behind.
After some thought, Jiang He took out four bottles of rank-nine Origin Fluid, giving Dumbo and Trumbo two each while saying, “You’ve learnt many superpowers and had a lot of cucumbers that could enhance your spirit. Moreover, after having bucketsful of qi pellets and blended qi pellets, your potential is abundant and just a step away from rank-seven.”
“This Origin Fluid enhances spirit and cultivation respectively. Having one bottle each could help you break through the shackles to reach rank-seven.”
Both Dumbo and Trumbo were overjoyed.
Still, Jiang He rubbed his temples rather worriedly… he still had some blended qi pellets, but those wouldn’t help with his cultivation, and it would be the same for Dumbo and Trumbo after they ascended up to rank-seven.
“Surely I can’t feed Dumbo and Trumbo with Origin Fluid every day, can I?”
“I don’t have much of it, so what am I supposed to drink if I get thirsty after feeding them with those?”
Jiang He mused to himself for a long time, before his eyes suddenly lit up and exclaimed, “Right… if humans have immortal arts or martial arts, then Ferals would definitely have theirs too!”
“Maybe I should come up with some Feral cultivation manuals for Dumbo and Trumbo to use.”
In fact, Jiang He found that idea very viable.
The only problem was…
There was none available online, and it was difficult even if he tried to come up with one.
“By the way, if the Diamond Sect head monk was right, the Golden-Winged Roc would have mutated over a hundred years…”
“But are there Ferals with a longer history than the Golden-Winged Roc?”
Jiang He believed that there definitely would be.
First and foremost, the Nine-Headed Serpent Emperor of the pacific would have already existed for several hundred years, just as there would be some that had lived since a thousand or thousands of years ago. According to most novel plots, Ferals would have a longer lifespan compared to humans, and it wouldn’t be difficult for them to live for thousands of years especially for certain mutated species.
“If I have the chance, I could talk to those powerful ancient Ferals, get myself a handful of Feral cultivation manuals to train Dumbo and Trumbo with.”
Jiang He turned towards Dumbo then.
The dog was ready to open his bottle of Origin Fluid, but it caught on to Jiang He’s intention instantly with a wag of its tail.
Extending its paw, its claws glinted with earthen-yellow glimmer as it casted its earth-type powers.
Multiple craters began to form on the ground.
Jiang He planted a whole bunch of Orirocks with a flip of his hand, saying, “Dig more. A little over two hundred would be enough.”
Hence, Dumbo continued digging holes with its earth-type powers.
Meanwhile, Jiang He counted the Orirocks while planting them… but paused when he reached fifty, exclaiming in surprise, “Keep going, Dumbo! Why did you stop?”
Dumbo complained tearfully and miserably, “Can’t I dig fewer? Two hundred is so difficult!”
Thud!
Jiang He promptly slapped out at the dog, barking, “Goddamn it! Your earth-type powers are not that weak. Are you that reluctant to actually dig two hundred and eighty holes?”
Rising to its feet, Dumbo rubbed its dog face with its dog paws in grief, “Master… It’s not that I don’t dig… I can’t count beyond fifty!”
“???”
Jiang He suddenly remembered…
Dumbo had indeed miscounted before, insisting that the Orirock trees Jiang He planted before grew fifty Orirocks even if each bore a hundred.
It was a pain in Jiang He’s head.
He was actually hoping for the dog to work for his every errand after it improved in ability, only for the rather clever canine to be math dumb.
“Just dig as much as you can. Can’t you just bury any additional holes?”
Jiang He remembered the seven Bottle Gourd Brothers he left at home then, who would be sleeping in their bottle gourds at this hour.
“After planting the 280 Orirocks I have, I will have more than enough with the 100 Wang Hou promised me. With that, I could feed them fertilizers every day and don’t have to worry about improving abilities… but not going to school is a no-no for children.”
Even so, sending the seven Bottle Gourd Brothers and his pets to school?
Jiang He was really worried that they would take the school apart.
“Should I…”
“Get a home tutor?”
Jiang He thought even as he planted the Orirocks, “Well, forget it. Jinyintan village is a wildland now… would any home tutor be willing to teach here?”
There’s a chance of running into Ferals every time they came to his house to give a lesson.
“Eh…”
“I could plant a teacher!”
Jiang He’s eyes suddenly lit up—worrying about that problem was unnecessary if he had just planted a teacher.
Still…
What sort of teacher should he plant?
First of all, it must be a woman with good looks, and the type with a tantalizing figure at that.
After all, good-looking teachers would usually be… patient in their teaching!
