“May I know your name?” Yun Hongqing asked.
“Sorry I can’t tell you. We’ll meet one day if we’re meant to see each other,” said Jing Yunyao.
“Sure, if you want to go back to the cultivation world, please feel free to let me know whenever you need help,” said Yun Hongqing. He was showing his kindness to Jing Yunyao.
“Great, I will go to see you, Elder Yun, if I need any help.” Jing Yunyao didn’t reject his kindness. She perhaps might really need his help one day in the future.
Hearing the way she called him, Yun Hongqing was slightly surprised. He didn’t tell her that he was an elder of Tiandaozong, and he only gave her his name.
Obviously, she knew him, but Yun Hongqing didn’t bother to ask further about it and their conversation ended.
“Oh, when I was in City C a few days ago, I ran into a humanoid tree vine. Once I cut it off, it could recover in three seconds. It can also turn into many vines. It told me it can achieve a human form after cultivating for a longer time,” said Gu Ning.
Hearing that, Shangguan Yang and the others were surprised.
“It’s rare to see a humanoid monster,” said Shangguan Yang.
Although he had seen many monsters and ghosts before, it was rare to see a humanoid plant. There were more humanoid animals actually.
Why? Because plants didn’t have senses and initiative. They could only grow in a fixed place before they became humanoid. Only when they grew in places with magical power could they absorb it and gain a consciousness before starting to cultivate. Therefore, they were only normal plants in places without magical power.
Animals had senses and could walk around. It was easier for them to find places with magical power, so they were more likely to cultivate.
Compared to plants, it was easier for animals to become humanoid, but the process was very hard. Nowadays, even cultivators could hardly find magical power, let alone animals.
“Yeah, I’ve never seen humanoid plants before. I’ve only seen humanoid animals,” said Jing Yunyao.
Although she had heard of the humanoid snow lotus at the Kunlun Mountain, she hadn’t witnessed it.
“I plan to plant the tree vine here so that it can cultivate with the magical power. When it has a human form, I can take it with me as a useful helper,” said Gu Ning.
“Good idea. Do it now. I also want to see what it is like,” said Shangguan Yang standing up. He was very curious about the tree vine.
Jing Yunyao and Leng Shaoting were also curious about it. This was their first time that they had ever seen a humanoid plant.
“Sure!” Gu Ning answered and they walked to the backyard together. They would plant the tree vine in the backyard.
It was quieter in the backyard, since it was only cleaned sometimes, and no one would go inside except for Shangguan Yang.
Lao Zhang and Stone usually walked in and out of the front yard, so it might cause trouble if the tree vine did something and was noticed by them.
In the backyard, Gu Ning let the tree vine out. Because it already had senses, they didn’t need to dig a hole for it. Once it was released, it would get into the soil by itself.
The second the tree vine was out, it felt a thick magical power and exclaimed, “Wow, the magical power here is so thick!”
As soon as it finished, the tree vine sensed the air of cultivators at high levels. It was scared and jumped far away.
“Senior cultivators?” asked the tree vine in an affirmative tone.
“Well, it seems this tree vine has lived for at least a thousand years.” Shangguan Yang said, smoothing his beard.
However, that didn’t mean it was at a high level even though it had lived for a very long time. After all, it was just a plant and just had senses. It didn’t have a human shape yet.
Not every humanoid plant and animal was a monster, and not every monster was evil.
“My owner, can I cultivate here?”
The tree vine turned to look at Gu Ning. In fact, it didn’t have eyes, so it could only locate her position with its consciousness. When it focused on Gu Ning, it was looking at her. Moreover, the tree vine was fawning over Gu Ning. It tried to please her.
Gu Ning hadn’t allowed it to follow her yet, but the tree vine already took her as its owner. The tree vine simply wanted to stay here to cultivate by flattering Gu Ning.
“Ha-ha, when did I become your owner?” Gu Ning was amused. She understood what the tree vine was thinking, and she joked about it on purpose.
“Now! From now on, you’re my owner. My owner, actually I’m not weak. I know you’re very strong, but there are always stronger people in this world. With me by your side, I can be very helpful if you encounter people stronger than you in the future.” The tree vine did its best to sell itself. It tried to convince Gu Ning to keep it as her assistant.
The tree vine didn’t think it was shameful to listen to a human. After all, all it wanted now was magical power. It could soon achieve a human shape with the help of the magical power, and it would be able to look around this beautiful world. If it didn’t have magical power, it couldn’t imagine what would happen to it. It didn’t want to die!
In addition, it wouldn’t do it any harm if Gu Ning became its owner and it could stay here to cultivate the thick magical power. There was no reason for it to miss this great chance.
“Now you take me as your owner, but will you betray me when you meet someone who’s stronger than me in the future?” asked Gu Ning. She felt it was possible given the current behavior of the tree vine.
“Of course not!” The tree vine promised at once, sounding quite sincere. In case Gu Ning didn’t believe it, it made a further explanation. “Since you’re my owner now, you have my loyalty. You can kill me if I betray you one day.”
In order to win Gu Ning’s trust, it said that she could kill it if it betrayed her.
“Great! You can follow me now.” Gu Ning stopped joking with it. Actually, ever since she brought it back, she had the idea of keeping it as a helper. She also had thought about its loyalty and she wasn’t worried about it.
No one would trust other people unconditionally at the very beginning. It took time to build trust.
