Chapter 172: Little Wooden Head

Li Changsheng’s thoughts whirled. Once he came back to his senses, he patted the python-like roots of the Snake Saliva Spirit Tree and smiled. “Now that you’ve become a demon, you can’t go without a name. Hmm… what sort of majestic name should I give you?”

CLINK CLINK CLINK…

Waves of joyful emotion surged from the ignorant consciousness of the Snake Saliva Spirit Tree. Its branches and leaves swayed, and the snake-scale-like leaves clattered together with a crisp, pleasant sound.

Li Changsheng stroked his chin, muttering, “Three-Headed Wood Flood Dragon? Black Mountain Demon? Blood Demon? No, no, that’s too mythical. Names that sound too majestic never live long.”

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He clapped his hands and laughed. “I’ve got it! Taking the meaning of all wood reviving in spring, from now on, you will be called Little Wooden Head!”

CLINK CLINK CLINK…

Joyful emotions poured out from Little Wooden Head’s consciousness.

Li Changsheng glanced around and patted Xiaohua’s neck. The man, the pig, and the Tree Demon then hurried toward the courtyard. Passing by the dark, deep pool, Little Wooden Head stretched out its python-like roots and drank until the water level dropped by a full half-meter before finally stopping.

Back at the courtyard.

The swarm of insects scattered with a loud buzz, settling around the yard. A booming sound followed, kicking up clouds of dust.

A moment later, not far from the Stinky Sock Tree stood a new addition: a two-meter-tall, dark red sapling.

Li Changsheng flipped down to the ground and walked up to the small tree. With a shift in his thoughts, the Insect Mother landed on the trunk out of thin air.

HISS…

Sensing Little Wooden Head’s Demon Realm aura, the Insect Mother let out hurried, frantic hisses, waves of unease flooding its consciousness.

“We’ve all been together for so long. What are you afraid of?” Li Changsheng sighed helplessly. He spent a good while comforting it before watching the Insect Mother crawl back into its damaged nest.

Just as he turned to leave, the Insect Mother’s hissing sounded behind him again. This time, the emotion welling up from its consciousness wasn’t fear, but anger.

Li Changsheng looked back in confusion. Under the Insect Mother’s eviction, a green snake nearly three meters long lazily slithered out of the nest. It immediately coiled around a branch and fell fast asleep.

“Huh?” Sensing its aura, Li Changsheng’s face revealed a look of surprise as he focused his gaze.

[Target: Green Snake]

[Race: …]

[Tier One Mid-Grade: 35%]

[Innate Magic: …]

[Status: Exhausted.]

The Green Snake’s race column was blurry, and so was its innate magic column.

“What good luck,” Li Changsheng chuckled. The Green Snake had previously eaten the flower that had bloomed from Little Wooden Head. That flower possessed the power to excavate the spiritual beast bloodline of snakes, although the effect was minimal. He hadn’t expected this Green Snake to have such good fortune. It seemed it was about to awaken its bloodline and innate magic.

Li Changsheng checked its condition with his spiritual sense. Finding that it was in no danger, he glanced at the sky and turned toward the kitchen.

Before long, cooking smoke curled into the air, and the crisp sound of chopping vegetables echoed from the house.

Little Xiaohua snorted and walked to the kitchen door to peek inside. Its cub waddled behind its backside, occasionally letting out a little howl. Xiaohua and Big Flower, the couple, lay by the door, snuggled closely together.

Shortly after the chopping sound began.

CLINK CLINK CLINK…

Little Wooden Head’s branches and leaves swayed. The crisp sound of its leaves clashing mingled with the rhythmic chopping of vegetables, creating an incredibly amusing chime.

An hour quickly passed.

After pouring the pig slop, Li Changsheng sighed as he watched the family of four ferociously chowing down on their food. Xiaohua, Big Flower, and Little Xiaohua had all reached the limits of Tier One Mid-Grade. However, despite recording so much Spirit Plant information, his Golden Finger still hadn’t provided their advancement requirements.

He wondered if he was heading in the wrong direction.

With these thoughts in mind, Li Changsheng carried the wooden bucket back to the kitchen. After a simple cleanup, he walked to the front door. With a slight shift in his thoughts, Big Bro and Little Bro swiftly flew over from outside the courtyard. Li Changsheng fixed his gaze on their cultivation column.

A moment later, there was no change at all.

“How do I get them to advance?” Li Changsheng shook his head, waving to disperse Big Bro and Little Bro. He shifted his thoughts once again.

BUZZ…

Insects rose from all around the house and courtyard. Counting them carefully, there were over a hundred. Li Changsheng led them into the room and immediately issued the order to advance. He then strode upstairs.

The multitude of insects on the first floor went still for a fraction of a second before madly ramming into their surrounding kin. In just a few breaths, several bugs had been devoured into empty husks, becoming the advancement nourishment for their peers.

Li Changsheng shielded his senses from them and walked back to the third floor. He looked at Xiaobai, who was sprawled out on the soft couch, sleeping soundly, and focused his gaze.

[Target: Xiaobai]

[Race: Mutated White Jade Fox (Female)]

[Tier One High-Grade: 86%]

[Innate Magic: Confuse Mind.]

[Status: Healthy.]

Under continuous cultivation, Xiaobai’s cultivation progress was also nearing completion, showing promise to become the third demon he could act as a Spirit Binder for. However, its lazy temperament made him somewhat helpless. Usually, it was never seen going out to play. After eating, it would only stroll up and down the stairs for a few steps before returning to the soft couch on the third floor to sleep heavily.

“I don’t even know how you manage to sleep so much.” Li Changsheng pinched its upper limbs, lifting it up like a dangling noodle.

YIP YIP YIP…

Xiaobai groggily opened its eyes. Upon seeing Li Changsheng, its narrow eyes immediately curved into slits, its mouth looking as if it were smiling, and its tail wagging more happily than a dog’s.

Seeing its adorable appearance, a smile appeared on Li Changsheng’s face. He pulled it into his arms and rubbed its head vigorously.

YIP YIP…

Xiaobai whimpered, squirming endlessly in his embrace.

After playing with it for a while, Li Changsheng took out snake meat that had been broken into several pieces, along with ten stalks of Jade Grass, and placed them into its food bowl.

“Go eat.”

YIP YIP…

Xiaobai rubbed against his chest, happily jumped to the ground, picked up a piece of snake meat, and began munching with a loud crunch.

Li Changsheng smiled and sat cross-legged on the soft couch. He took out a Spirit Fusion Pill, swallowed it, and immediately brought out the Yin Blood Jade, circulating his Cultivation Technique to absorb it.

As his Cultivation Technique ran, the pill in his stomach dissolved, while a dark red thread of blood surged out from the Yin Blood Jade and flowed into his body. Li Changsheng only felt a frigid aura enter him. Soon after, he sensed an extra cold energy within his Spiritual Power. As he circulated it, it gradually merged completely. His originally bright yellow Spiritual Power took on an imperceptible tinge of blood red.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. On the third floor of the courtyard, located at the center of the peak on Ten Thousand Snake Lake Island.

“Phew…”

Li Changsheng slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, opened his eyes, and focused his gaze on himself.

[Cultivation: Qi Cultivation Eighth Layer (1%)]

“True Skills are so hard to cultivate,” Li Changsheng sighed.

The Blood River Refining Yang True Skill not only involved many branch meridians, but over time, the originally opened Spirit Veins also grew wider and tougher under the nourishment of Spiritual Power. Naturally, they could accommodate more Spiritual Power. This resulted in his cultivation speed slowing down significantly as he progressed. If it weren’t for the assistance of pills, given his current cultivation speed that barely rivaled a third-grade aptitude, he would probably be old and decrepit by the time he reached the great perfection of the Qi Cultivation Twelfth Layer.

This also highlighted the preciousness of the Spirit Ascending Liquid. One would first open their Spirit Veins, nourish them for a period of time, and then refine a Tier Two Elixir meant for the Vein Condensation Realm, rapidly completing the accumulation phase of the Qi Cultivation Stage. This was likely one of the reasons why sect disciples improved their cultivation so quickly while maintaining such a solid foundation.

“It’s all debts of gratitude,” Li Changsheng said with a shaking head and a smile, putting away the Yin Blood Jade.

Since Tan Hu treated him with such sincerity, if he truly advanced to become a Spirit Plant Master, the very first thing he would do was plant a Dao Foundation Spiritual Object for his good senior brother. No matter how high the price was, he would accept it without hesitation!