Chapter 50 Even a few claws from the magic weapon would be fine! ...

The moment it saw its host disappear, the system was ready to fight to the death.

However, a few minutes later, it was just running around and roaring.

"Aaaaaah, what is this! What is this?!"

A sphere, larger than an adult's fist, was rolling wildly on the ground, while hundreds of strangely shaped flowers were chasing after it, their roots swaying wildly.

The Suanni was lying on the ground, laughing hysterically.

"Hahaha, did you guys hear the system's tone just now?"

He mimicked the system's cold, angry tone, deliberately lowering his voice: "You did this on purpose! What are you trying to do!"

After saying that, Suanni immediately started laughing wildly.

He laughed louder and louder, his gestures becoming more and more exaggerated, when suddenly, he froze.

Fu Yu was sitting on the ground as usual, not far from the Suanni. Seeing this, he got up worriedly and rushed over: "What's wrong?"

Suanni: "...I laughed so hard I almost choked."

Fu Yu: "......"

After Suanni recovered, Fuyu stretched out his left hand in front of Suanni, blocking his view of the distance.

Fu Yu said speechlessly, "Meow Meow, stop laughing and help me put out this fire."

A handful of orange-red flame burned in Fu Yu's hand. This flame had been quite reassuring in the previous eternal night, but here...

He looked up at the sky, which was red as if it were burning even though there was no sun, and whispered, "It's a bit hot."

The Suanni didn't say anything, but casually swept its tail across Fu Yu's hand, and in an instant, the flame that was burning fiercely was extinguished.

Just then, a hoarse voice came from afar: "Awooo!"

Fu Yu turned his head to look, but his eyesight was poor, and he could only see a bunch of blurry colored blocks moving around.

In reality, it was a group of strangely shaped creatures running wildly.

Among these runners, the one in the lead was a sphere of indistinguishable material, which shouted as it ran, "Ahhh, don't chase me!"

A cluster of flowers followed closely behind the sphere. Their petals were bowl-shaped and orange-red, and their long, thin stamens made a strange rustling sound as they ran, which was quite unpleasant to listen to.

Behind the flower was a large gray ball of fur, with a child bigger than itself carrying on its back.

Taotie's long, fluffy fur was blown almost parallel to the ground by the wind as he struggled to catch up, panting, "System, stop!"

Xiao Jiu, who was being carried on his back, also shouted, "System! Stop!"

The system's voice was filled with despair: "But if I stop, they'll eat me!"

Taotie had no choice but to run and shout, "Little Jiu, hold on tight! I'm going to speed up!"

The flowers seemed terrified of the Taotie; at the sound of its approaching footsteps, they ran even faster.

Thick, white roots thudded and slammed to the ground, moving so fast they almost sparked.

If they were just running, that would be one thing, but as they ran, they also tried to grab the sphere in front of them with their roots. After almost getting caught in the roots, the sphere desperately lurched forward, instantly increasing its speed.

The ball ran faster, the flower chased even faster, and the gluttonous beast could only accelerate again.

This is a never-ending cycle.

Fu Yu, who was observing from the sidelines: "..."

Fuyu: "They're not going to keep running like this forever, are they?"

The Suanni continued to laugh: "That's even better, it sounds very interesting."

However, this situation of constantly accelerating and running changed after a short while.

The earth here is dry and cracked, with some cracks even as wide as half a palm. So when the ball rolled to a certain spot, it was suddenly stuck in one of the cracks.

It was so fast that it flew diagonally backwards with that one hit.

The flowers chasing behind didn't have such good mobility, and they immediately fell and crashed into each other, smashing into a mess with a loud crackling sound.

The Taotie chasing behind didn't have time to brake and crashed straight into it.

"Bang!"

In an instant, the mutated flowers with strange root systems were smashed into the air and scattered everywhere. While they were in the air, they tried their best to move their thick root systems, and before they knew it, they were entangled with the flowers next to them.

Xiao Jiu climbed out of the pile of flowers and ran after the sphere that had flown away.

The flowers were still tangled together in the same spot, so the sphere didn't move either. It swayed slightly on the ground, looking a little dizzy from the impact.

Xiao Jiu ran up to the sphere, grabbed it, and placed it in her palm, anxiously asking, "System, does it hurt?"

The system quickly said, "Host, I'm not in pain, I'm fine!"

At this moment, Fu Yu also arrived with the Suanni.

A cat-shaped Suanni, about the size of a palm, jumped off Fu Yu's shoulder.

He squatted down next to Xiao Jiu, craned his neck to look at the golden ball in Xiao Jiu's hand, and said, "You're adapting quite well, aren't you? When Qian Chuan comes back later, we'll have to tell him that you don't need to start over yet."

"Huh?" The system tried to struggle: "But without hands and feet like this, it's inconvenient for me to do anything. If all else fails, you could give me a few claws."

Suanni rolled its eyes: "Do you think forging weapons is so easy? Look at my hands, do I look like I'm capable of sculpting the details for you?"

The system glanced at the Suanni's little paws and couldn't help but mutter, "Why don't you just sign a contract with the host..."

"Hey!" Suanni suddenly became agitated upon hearing this. He questioned the system, "Speaking of this, I haven't settled accounts with you yet. Were you planning to scheme against me before?"

The system was still a bit confused, and upon hearing this, it was also stunned: "Huh?"

The Suanni patted the ground with its paw: "Back in the Rift Valley, the whole sprint-style human pyramid you guys set up was ultimately designed to get me to the top first, right?"

The system's reasoning at the time was that the Suanni was the lightest, making this operation the most likely to succeed.

But from another perspective, the Suanni is so small now, even if it really jumps out of the rift, what can it do?

The Suanni was filled with righteous indignation, and its long tail swished loudly behind it: "When I'm on the ground, I won't be able to do anything. And I can't use my strength in this state. If I get thirsty or hungry, I'll have to go find Xiao Jiu."

He snorted, "But Xiao Jiu is at the bottom of the valley, so you just want to use the matter of returning to your original form to blackmail me, to take the opportunity to force me to sign a contract with Xiao Jiu!"

After saying that, the Suanni raised its tail high and tilted its head back, looking as if it had seen through the Suanni's wicked scheme.

However, the system remained silent for only a few seconds before exclaiming bitterly, "So that's how it works! A miscalculation!"

Suanni: "......"

Fu Yu, listening with trepidation, remained silent.

Suddenly, the system thought of another question: "Wait, then why did you agree in the first place?"

If Suanni had known it was a "treacherous scheme," he could have simply ignored them. But in reality, despite Suanni's constant complaints, he actually cooperated quite well during their attempts.

Suanni sighed: "Sigh, to be honest, I was thinking that this place was too boring. If I could really jump up there, I would just sign a contract with Xiao Jiu."

system:! ! !

But the next second, Suanni grinned, looking like he was showing his teeth or laughing: "It's such a pity, I've tried so many times, but I haven't succeeded even once."

system:"......"

The system tried to deceive itself: "You're lying to me, aren't you? You never even considered the contract, did you?"

The Suanni flicked its tail and coldly uttered a few words: "Why would I lie to you?"

A single, casual remark caused the system's morale to collapse.

The golden sphere immediately let out a mournful wail, trembling uncontrollably in Xiao Jiu's hand as it cried out, "Why are you telling me all this! Why!!"

The Suanni swung its tail, sat on the ground, and burst into laughter: "Hahaha, of course I wanted to see your reaction."

Looking at the cat and the ball, Fuyu felt speechless once again.

He was about to say something when he felt a strong gaze upon him.

Fu Yu turned his head following the gaze and saw that it was Xiao Jiu looking at them curiously.

Xiao Jiu leaned closer: "Ayu, System, Meow Meow, what did you say?"

The system interrupted, "Host, ask me! Ask me!"

The system used to multitask, often talking to others while giving Xiao Jiu private lessons on the meaning of words and phrases.

However, the system was not yet used to this form, and for a moment its words were incoherent, as if it had split apart.

After observing for a while, Fuyu silently accepted the responsibility.

But... after recalling the content of the conversation just now, he fell silent.

These "schemes and plots" are something I can't tell Xiao Jiu at all!

Fu Yu took a deep breath, squatted down to be at eye level with Xiao Jiu, and said in a serious tone, "Actually, what you just said was a battle between Miao Miao and the system. Xiao Jiu, you can't listen to it."

Xiao Jiu blinked, trying hard to understand the sentence.

A few seconds later, he first put the ball in Fuyu's arms, then raised his hands and covered his ears with his two hands, one long and one short.

Fu Yu immediately felt as if an arrow had pierced his conscience.

He clutched his chest and looked at the system, which had turned into a sphere: "System, let's find a way to help Xiao Jiu level up quickly."

The guilt of deceiving a good child is too heavy!

The system sighed: "The host absorbs the blood mist himself every time he levels up. I've tried it before, and it's useless if the host doesn't absorb it himself."

Upon hearing this, Fu Yu could only sigh and say, "Alright."

After confirming that the "battle" between the system and the Suanni had temporarily ceased and that the child would not be led astray, Fuyu pulled Xiaojiu's hands down from covering his ears.

Just as things were calming down for them, a chilling voice suddenly rang out again.

"Rustling..."

The system, which had turned into a spherical shape, suddenly stopped moving.

Immediately afterwards, a voice as sweet as honey rang out behind them: "Little Jiu, Little Jiu, I caught the flower!"

They turned around and saw that it was Taotie carrying a flower in its mouth as it walked over.

The flower is only about 40 centimeters long from the highest point of the blossom to the bottom of the stem, which is a normal flower size.

Strangely, it's the roots of this flower.

Its root system is particularly well-developed, with thick and long roots, the longest of which can even reach two meters.

As it was being carried forward by the Taotie, its roots dragged on the ground, resembling giant, dead worms.

As the Taotie approached, both Suanni and Fuyu couldn't help but take two steps back with expressions of disgust.

But from an angle where no one could see, the Suanni, with a look of disgust on its face, secretly swallowed its saliva.

Fu Yuqiang suppressed his nausea and leaned closer to take a closer look.

Upon closer inspection, he found it strange: "System, is this... the mutated sunflower you mentioned before?"

The system's voice trembled slightly: "It should be correct; its bioenergy is the same as that of the mutated sunflower."

That would be even stranger.

Putting aside the issue of the flower's appearance, a normal mutated sunflower does have a debuff—a debuff called "mania".

When they first successfully cultivated this flower, both Suanni and Fuyu were affected by the debuff, but now, even though they are so close together, they haven't experienced any abnormal reactions.

Fu Yu guessed, "Could it be malnutrition?"

After all, the mutated sunflowers that were planted in the fields before were much bigger than this one, with each plant nearly two meters tall. But this plant seems to have grown all its size up to its roots.

Suanni said directly, "Why bother with all that research? Just sell one and you'll know."

Simple and crude, but effective.

Xiao Jiu: "For sale."

[Ding—Sale successful, 50 points added, 900 points remaining]

The system gave an affirmative answer: "This is indeed a mutated sunflower, but it is of damaged quality."

It muttered to itself in confusion, "But how did so many flowers grow in such a dry place?"

The Suanni's eyes lit up after hearing the "ding" sound. It licked its lips and said, "Never mind that for now, this one can sell for 50 points!"

The universal grain block in the store is also 50 points each, which means you can exchange one flower for one grain block!

A fiery fighting spirit suddenly ignited in the eyes of Taotie, Suanni, and Fuyu.

"Charge!"

Those flowers are actually quite fast runners, but they don't have much offensive power. If they fall down while running, they have a hard time getting up.

So, not long after, Xiao Jiu and Taotie were rapidly harvesting the miniature mutated sunflowers.

Xiao Jiu grabbed Taotie's hind legs like a vacuum cleaner. Taotie was hanging upside down with its head down. Taotie opened its mouth wide and inhaled sharply, gathering all the flowers on the nearby ground into the warehouse with a whoosh.

Suanni: "Forward."

Suanni: "To the right, and then to the right again."

The Suanni perched on Xiao Jiu's head, directing the direction; Xiao Jiu was in charge of moving; and the Taotie was in charge of opening its mouth to suck.

Wherever the three went, not a single flower remained.

Because of their incredibly high efficiency, Fu Yu, who originally wanted to help, ended up just standing quietly to the side, watching peacefully.

Although the environment here is hardly comfortable for a fish, looking at Xiao Jiu and the others' energetic appearance, Fu Yu actually felt that this dry and hot place wasn't so bad.

Because she needed to collect flowers, Xiao Jiu didn't take the system with her; it remained in Fu Yu's hands.

Fu Yu felt the heavy weight in his hands and let out a long breath.

Unexpectedly, the system suddenly said, "What's wrong? Is there some noise around us?"

Fu Yu understood that the system was not yet used to this physical form and was being a bit paranoid.

So he patiently said, "No, I just suddenly felt a little sentimental about everything I've been through so far, that's why I sighed."

But the system suddenly became excited: "Yeah! I never expected him to play such a trick on us, I was terrified!"

Fuyu: ......?

It seems the system and what he said are not the same thing?

However, Fuyu did not interrupt the system and continued to listen.

The system was furiously condemning the actions of the Suanni.

In short, Suanni played a prank on all of them.

Previously, when Suanni was preparing to force its way through the spatial barrier, it found this gap. It originally intended to crawl through it, but unexpectedly, it ended up in this strange place.

The sky here is devoid of the sun, turning a blood-red hue; the entire space is arid and scorching, and the earth is cracked.

This is clearly not the space where Xiao Jiu and the others are.

Since they were already there, Suanni decided to take a stroll around.

He originally just wanted to wander around and look around, but unexpectedly, he discovered something strange as he walked.

—A fan.

The fan was entirely golden, looking extremely luxurious and exquisite. What truly piqued the Suanni's curiosity was that the fan actually bore traces of a lingering soul.

The reason it is described as "having been there" is because the fan is actually a natural vessel for intangible things like souls and spirits, making it an extremely rare treasure.

In summary, it can nurture remnants of the soul and preserve the spirit of a vessel that is about to dissipate due to the shattering of its original body.

The Suanni immediately became interested.

Remnant souls and artifact spirits can be used, but what about the system? Doesn't the system also lack a physical form?

But if he were to directly tell the system, "I've found you a body, come and see if you can use it," Suanni would definitely not agree, so he kept the matter of the gap in the spatial wall a secret.

Then, there was the scene in the Rift Valley about "the Calabash Brothers saving their grandfather".

As for the system being relentlessly pursued by the mutated flower...

In fact, none of them expected that there were mutated sunflowers that could actually be seen and touched here, since the system initially said that they could only feel the debuff of the flower at most.

Furthermore, perhaps because the system had become a "spirit," every time it moved, it would stimulate a trace of spiritual energy in this golden magic weapon.

It's unclear how the flowers sensed it, but after discovering the wisp of spiritual energy generated by the system, they went berserk and instantly surged out from all directions.

The system, surprisingly, couldn't accept the appearance of the mutated flower at all.

As soon as the flowers rushed over, it stopped all calculations and deductions and started running wildly.

The system explained that its previous "vision" was different from what people understood. In the past, it was more like directly reading a bunch of numbers made up of 1s and 0s, but now that it's inside the sphere, it can actually "see" things.

The appearance of that mutated flower was truly indescribable.

Recalling what had happened, the system also felt somewhat uneasy.

But then it suddenly remembered something and asked Fuyu, "Did Qianchuan say where he went?"

Following the order in which they entered, the first to enter was Qianchuan, followed by Taotie and Fuyu, and finally Xiao Jiu, the system, and the instigator Suanni.

When Xiao Jiu and the others came in, they didn't see Qian Chuan. According to Fu Yu, Qian Chuan greeted them and then walked away.

Fu Yu shook his head: "He didn't say."

After a few seconds of hesitation, he added, "However... Qianchuan seems to have something on his mind."

Are you preoccupied with something?

The system suddenly tensed up again.

Is there really something wrong with this place?

But that's not right either.

Qianchuan isn't a Suanni (a mythical lion-like creature). If he really discovered something strange about this place, given his personality, he would definitely warn everyone immediately.

Just as the system was pondering what the problem was, Xiao Jiu and the others arrived.

With a Suanni on its head and a Taotie in its arms, Xiao Jiu loudly proclaimed, "System, Xiao Jiu, Doggy Meow Meow, Warehouse, Flower."

Although it had changed its appearance, the system could still communicate with Xiao Jiu without any problems, so it immediately praised, "Host, you are amazing!"

Little Jiu puffed out her little chest: "Doggy, meow meow, awesome!"

He then asked, "Flowers, for sale?"

System: "Keep two plants and sell the rest. What do you think?"

Xiao Jiu nodded, put the Taotie down, and began to pluck flowers out of the Taotie's mouth.

However, the flower's root system... is very long, very long.

This made it seem as if Xiao Jiu was pulling out huge, fat worms from the belly of a gluttonous beast when she took the flowers.

Moreover, this "worm" can move, and the flower stamens make a rustling sound as it moves.

The system and Fuyu closed their eyes in pain.

Since the flower can move, Xiao Jiu could only catch one and sell the other.

When the last item was sold out, it turned out that a total of 50,000 points had been sold!

The Suanni was overjoyed: "Quickly, quickly, grains, grains!"

Xiao Jiu immediately exchanged 100 grain blocks.

He divided the grain into four portions, giving three portions to Suanni, Taotie, and Fuyu respectively, and kept the last portion for Qianchuan later.

However, Fuyu's level was already 29, so the upgrade value that could be stored was very limited without breaking through.

System: "That's simple, just have the host replace it with a long fruit."

The price of a general growth fruit is much higher than that of grain blocks, costing 5000 points each.

As Fuyu listened to the announcement of the points deduction, holding the fruit that looked like amethyst, she was at a loss for what to do.

"I...I..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Suanni leaped up, pried open his mouth with its two paws, and shoved the fruit into his mouth with its tail: "Why are you so slow?"

The fruit melts in your mouth, and a broadcast announcement sounds simultaneously.

[Name: Fuyu, Level: 29, Upgrade Value: 1000%, Growth Value: 100%... Breaking through]

Breakthrough complete

The breakthrough in the system is similar to the advancement in the cultivation world. According to the level of Fuyu, level 29 is roughly the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

This breakthrough means becoming a Golden Core cultivator.

However, none of the expected scenes of "colorful clouds and surging spiritual energy" occurred.

Fu Yu stared blankly at his hands: "So this means... I've successfully advanced?"

This feels so unreal.

Suanni: "Why don't you just punch the ground a couple of times and you'll know?"

The biggest difference between human cultivators at the Golden Core stage and those at the Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment stages is that spiritual energy is formed into a core within the body.

However, since demonic beasts already possess demonic cores, the effects of this advancement are primarily manifested in a significant increase in their physical attributes.

Fu Yu nodded, took a few steps back, and slammed his fist into the ground.

"boom!!"

The land was parched and the soil was hardened, yet Fu Yu managed to blast a huge crater out of it with just one punch.

The shockwave from that punch traveled further and further across the parched earth.

Xiao Jiu suddenly turned her head and looked in a certain direction.

He tilted his head in confusion and blinked.

"I did it!"

Hearing Fu Yu's excited voice, Xiao Jiu immediately turned her head and looked towards Fu Yu.

In the crater that had just been created, Fu Yu looked at his fist. Although he was covered in dirt, he was so excited that his cheeks were flushed.

The Suanni flicked its tail: "Look, a genuine Golden Core cultivator."

Fu Yu advanced to the next level, and only then did he remember that he had promised to give Suanni the evolution fruit. His face turned even redder as he said, "I... I will definitely give you the evolution fruit next time."

The Suanni tilted its head back and wagged its tail: "Hmm, it's good that you remember."

Fu Yu has advanced to the next level, and everyone's stomachs are full. Taking advantage of this time, they started discussing their future plans.

Putting aside the question of what exactly happened in this place and what was going on with those flowers, the most important thing is that four hours had passed since Xiao Jiu and the others entered.

Qianchuan, however, has not yet returned.

Everyone agreed that they would go back together after they found Qianchuan.

Since there are still points available, the system wants to perform a scan directly to easily locate Qianchuan's position.

But as soon as the scan started, the system was completely bewildered.

"Has the target area already been scanned?"

It was extremely puzzled: "When did I sweep this area?"

Fu Yu, who was brushing dirt off himself, suddenly remembered something and immediately said, "I remember when we did the holographic scan before, you said that the points were exactly twice the number you expected!"

The system realized it too: "That's right! That's it!"

It quickly retrieved the previous holographic scan data.

Familiar silvery-white specks and rays of light gradually appeared in the air, but the patterns they formed had changed.

In this holographic image, there are no mountains or rivers, only endless plains and barren land.

The system gestured for everyone to look at the light spot located slightly below: "We've found Qian Chuan! But why is he underground?"

The light spot flickered on and off rhythmically, perfectly matching Qianchuan's heartbeat.

Fu Yu: "Could it be... something underground?"

The system was starting to doubt itself after all these events, and it didn't dare to be so decisive this time. It just whispered, "Actually... before we came in, the host kept saying that he heard the sound of water."

But this place is so arid that there is simply no water.

Where did the sound of water that Xiao Jiu heard come from?

After the previous "other world travel" incident, they had no doubt that Xiao Jiu had misheard this, so for a moment they stared blankly and confusedly at the scene in front of them, trying to find some clues in it.

Xiao Jiu stood behind them.

He should have been very interested in the scene, but instead, he turned to look to his right rear.

His dark eyes, reflecting the red light of the sky, looked as if they were soaked in blood.

Zombies have exceptionally good hearing.

Hearing the familiar rustling sound, Xiao Jiu turned around and walked over there.

Because the system has been transformed into a physical entity, its field of vision is no longer bound to its host. However, this also means that if there are obstructions, it will not be able to see Xiao Jiu at all.

Meanwhile, Taotie Suanni and Fuyu were also facing away from Xiao Jiu, their attention still drawn to the system's visuals.

So, for a moment no one noticed that Xiao Jiu was getting further and further away from them.

The monsters were very slow to perceive the passage of time, while the system was still adapting to its new body and had no concept of how much time had passed.

It wasn't until more light particles gradually appeared in the image projected by the system, and Taotie suddenly stood up and looked in a certain direction, that they discovered that there were actually a few wisps of red mist floating in this space.

Suanni: "How did this fog get here?"

Only then did the system realize that Xiao Jiu was missing, and it frantically called out, "Host! Host!"

The next second, the fog became increasingly dense, almost surging towards a certain location like a river.

Without a second thought, the system rushed in that direction, with the others following closely behind.

After the system left, in the gradually dissipating holographic image, several larger light particles were connecting with each other, forming a new pattern.

It has beautiful curves and is enormous.