Chapter 225: Mumu

Chapter 225: Chapter 225: Mumu

Propelled by its roots, the new shoot inched its way forward, its leaves swaying gently. To his surprise, Jiang Xu could feel its happiness.

But when it reached the closed door and realized it couldn’t get out, its new shoot seemed to wilt considerably. Its roots went limp and stopped moving. It looked quite sad.

"How is this an ordinary plant?"

Jiang Xu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

’This plant has really become a spirit, hasn’t it?!’

He hurried over and opened the door to the Seclusion Chamber, clearing the path once more.

As soon as the door opened, sunlight from outside instantly bathed its roots and tender shoot.

It turned out that while Jiang Xu had been cultivating his Magic, night had long since passed. It was now approaching Noon, when the sun was at its most intense.

Under the sun’s rays, the new shoot rapidly regained its vitality. Its previously wilted leaves instantly plumped up, glistening with a crystalline sheen.

Its roots also became active once more. The moment they touched the sunlight, they began to feel their way forward again.

In this Yellow Level Cave Mansion, the floor of the Seclusion Chamber was made of stone, but the ground everywhere else was ordinary soil.

The moment the freshly sprouted plant touched the light and soil, it plunged its young roots directly into the earth. The newly born shoot turned to face the blazing sun, basking in its glow.

At that moment, Jiang Xu became even more certain.

This was definitely no ordinary Spirit Plant.

As for whether it was a special Spirit Plant or a special Spirit Beast, Jiang Xu wasn’t sure.

’The Cultivators in Dinghai State don’t know much about the Beast Taming Dao. I’ll probably have to wait until I get to Demon Spirit State to figure things out.’

’Since you’ve signed a contract with me, we’re in this together through thick and thin from now on.’

’That being the case, I can’t just keep calling you ’plant.’ But I don’t know your species name, so I’ll just have to give you one.’

Jiang Xu mulled it over.

He wasn’t very good at naming things. Besides, he knew very little about this tiny seedling. Coming up with a name that was both pleasant and fitting was asking too much of him.

’Since you look like a plant and have the Wood Attribute, how about I call you "Mumu"?’

Upon hearing the word "Mumu," the little seedling seemed to understand. Its tender shoot bobbed toward Jiang Xu, looking just like it was nodding, which made him marvel in amazement.

’Now that I’ve named my new contracted beast, I can’t forget my old one.’

Jiang Xu thought of the Mother-Child Spirit-Devouring Insect.

Although their first encounter had been unpleasant, and he had nearly suffered greatly because of it, the creature had proven to be a great asset after he subdued it.

Before breaking through to Foundation Establishment, he had relied on the Spirit-Devouring Insect for support.

’I should give the Mother-Child Spirit-Devouring Insect a name too. Can’t show favoritism.’

’What should I call it? "Devour"? Nah, doesn’t sound right. "Spirit"? Sounds a little feminine. "Insect"? Too plain and generic. Besides, if I contract another Spirit Insect in the future, it’ll be hard to tell them apart.’

’Whatever. "Insect" it is.’

’Oh, I almost forgot my Golden Silkworm Gu. "Silkworms" would be a good name for it, too.’

After naming his three contracted beasts, Jiang Xu began to study Mumu.

He used the Spiritual Eye Technique to examine Mumu and saw it was constantly absorbing the surrounding Spiritual Qi to strengthen itself. It also had Spiritual Qi fluctuations, but based on their current intensity, it had only just entered the Qi Cultivation Realm.

As far as Jiang Xu could tell, Mumu couldn’t even take on a regular, unarmed adult right now. It would be torn to shreds in a couple of moves.

However, every towering tree begins as a small, fragile seed.

In Jiang Xu’s eyes, Mumu’s potential was enormous.

The mere fact that it could move under its own power and possessed its own consciousness told Jiang Xu that it was something special.

What’s more, Mumu’s ability to absorb Spiritual Qi was, in his opinion, terrifying. To have such an astonishing ability to absorb and gather Spiritual Qi just after sprouting—he couldn’t even imagine what it would be like when it matured.

Jiang Xu felt that when the time came, Mumu, as a single tree, could sustain the Spiritual Qi of an entire Grotto Heaven Blessed Land.

’Wait, now’s not the time to be thinking about Mumu. I need to get back to practicing my Thousand-Faced Illusion Body. That’s the priority. As for Mumu, I’ll just let it stay here and grow on its own.’

At the thought of the Thousand-Faced Illusion Body, Jiang Xu sighed, a headache already forming. He returned to the Seclusion Chamber and resumed practicing facial transformations in front of the Water Mirror.

...

Five days of renting the cave mansion passed just like that.

Jiang Xu walked out of the Seclusion Chamber before anyone even came to rush him.

After five days of arduous Cultivation, his Skill Level for Thousand-Faced Illusion Body had reached 26 points.

Although he was still a long way from the "Skilled" level, Jiang Xu felt it was a decent accomplishment.

His ability to alter his facial features had advanced by leaps and bounds. He had gone from looking horrifically ugly to at least appearing human—a significant improvement.

The speed of the transformation had also improved dramatically, decreasing from one hour to just half an hour.

He was still a long way from being able to use it in a real fight, but at least there was a glimmer of hope.

As Jiang Xu emerged from the Seclusion Chamber, feeling relatively satisfied with his progress, his eyes immediately fell on Mumu. But his brow furrowed at the sight.

He saw that Mumu’s shoot above the ground had only put out another half-leaf; its growth wasn’t nearly as impressive as he had first imagined.

Given its speed of absorbing Spiritual Qi, Jiang Xu had expected it to have grown a good deal taller.

An ordinary tree seed, if left to grow in such a high concentration of Spiritual Qi for five days, would have been nearly waist-high. A special species like Mumu should have grown even faster.

But now, it seemed that not only had its size barely increased, but the intensity of its Spiritual Qi fluctuations also showed little improvement.

"I guess I took things for granted," Jiang Xu mused.

Humans were the spirit of all creation, the favored children of heaven and earth.

Though a human’s Lifespan was only a brief hundred years, as long as they possessed a Spirit Root, they could embark on the path of Cultivation.

For an ordinary animal to cultivate, however, it first had to awaken its intelligence through some twist of fate. Then, after a long period of absorbing the moon’s essence, it could cultivate into a demon—a Tier One Lower Grade Demon Beast.

To advance further after that, even a single minor Realm would take decades.

Of course, this applied only to ordinary animals. If it were a naturally born demonic species—the offspring of two Demon Beasts—that was another matter entirely.

However, such Demon Beast cubs were shackled by their bloodline, almost never able to break free from its limitations in their entire lifetime.