Chapter 35 Triple Update: Little Nine Has Grown Up!
"What's so special about this bloodthirsty aura? This place used to be a giant oven."
Suanni told Qianchuan about the initial state of this spatial rift, and added, "Anyway, this place always changes drastically after each of the Nine Tribulations of Lightning. You'll get used to it."
Just as Qianchuan was about to ask him what was going on, a series of footsteps suddenly sounded behind him.
When Qianchuan turned around, those water-green eyes widened even more.
"Xiao Jiu?"
Xiao Jiu previously looked no more than five or six years old, and was as thin as a withered sapling.
Zombies shouldn't have this ability to grow, but now, the child who walked over was noticeably taller and much stronger, and even his small face, which had been slightly sunken due to being thin, had become fuller.
—Little Jiu has grown up.
He was probably around ten years old, with shoulder-length black hair and bright, dark eyes, like black jade that had been moistened.
However, his skin was a deathly bluish-gray, dry and rough, highlighting the fact that he was not alive.
Before Qianchuan could say anything, Xiao Jiu ran up to him and carefully took out a black object.
"Qianchuan, clothes."
Upon hearing these words, Qianchuan was truly shocked. As a zombie, Xiao Jiu had never been able to speak so fluently before, and couldn't even pronounce her full name.
Although Qianchuan's body has shrunk, his mind has not turned into that of a child.
He immediately recalled the brown kitten's "indifferent" behavior when the lightning struck earlier, and he instantly understood.
Qianchuan wasn't angry; he simply put his mind at ease.
It's good that everyone is alright.
Qianchuan took the clothes from Xiaojiu's hands: "It's okay, it's okay if it's broken. Xiaojiu has grown taller too, I'll make it again."
Xiao Jiu shook her head: "It's not bad."
"Um?"
The Heavenly Punishment Lightning was incredibly powerful. Qian Chuan could withstand it with the hard armor on his back, but Xiao Jiu's clothes were made of soft scales and had no defensive capabilities whatsoever. How could they not be damaged?
Under Qianchuan's questioning gaze, Xiao Jiu squatted down.
He placed the garment made of fine black scales on his knees and slowly opened it.
Each scale gleamed with a lustrous sheen, without a single flaw.
Qianchuan was extremely surprised: "This..."
Xiao Jiu said somewhat awkwardly, "Thunder, come over, it'll break. I'm... I'm hiding."
Qianchuan then recalled that before the third bolt of lightning struck, Xiao Jiu seemed to be grabbing this piece of clothing.
He initially thought Xiao Jiu was scared, but he didn't realize that Xiao Jiu was trying to take off her clothes and hide them.
The thunderbolts struck in an instant. Just thinking about how Xiao Jiu hurriedly pushed him away and protected the clothes makes him panic.
Looking at this unattractive, ineffective, and even somewhat uncomfortable garment, Qian Chuan felt as if a stone was hanging in his throat, heavy and choking him, making it impossible for him to speak.
Qianchuan lowered his head and remained silent for a long time.
Seeing the other person's expression, Xiao Jiu thought Qian Chuan was angry and immediately became anxious.
He went to look at the Suanni, only to find it looking up at the sky. He then looked at Fuyu, but Fuyu was playing with its fingers and didn't even look at him.
Xiao Jiu blinked her eyes, then blinked again, and finally cautiously stretched out her hand, pointing her index finger at Qian Chuan's hand, which looked like a small white steamed bun.
"I'm sorry, Qianchuan, don't be angry."
That small, jade-like hand immediately turned over and grasped Xiao Jiu's hand.
Qian Chuan's voice was a little muffled, so it sounded even deeper. He said, "I'm not angry. I just wanted to tell you thank you."
"Thanks?"
Qian Chuan, who had shrunk to the size of a child, finally raised his head. His eyes were curved, his eyelashes were wet, and he looked like a ball of snow.
He said to Xiao Jiu, "Yes, thank you for catching me back then."
Xiao Jiu still couldn't understand the connection between the clothes and the fact that Qian Chuan had been captured, nor could she understand why Qian Chuan had said thank you after seeing the clothes.
"Alright, alright, stop with the mushy stuff," Suanni interrupted the two, "Now that Qianchuan has been found, let's hurry up and take him to the system."
Xiao Jiu responded, and Qian Chuan immediately began altering his scale-patterned clothes.
Since he couldn't make any more soft scales, Qianchuan could only tear off a section of his clothes and turn it into a one-shoulder dress. When Xiao Jiu wore it, Suanni laughed for a long time.
With her shoulder-length messy hair and one-shoulder "animal skin" skirt, she looks quite like those concept art pieces about primitive people.
After walking with Xiao Jiu for a while, Qian Chuan realized a problem.
How did Fuyu get to that place?
Climbing was too difficult, and the cat didn't seem to be able to carry him either. Did he walk there by himself?
But clearly, when he looked, Fu Yu was still in a half-human, half-fish state.
But when Qianchuan stood before the crack that had once been there, his question was immediately forgotten.
Qianchuan stared in disbelief at the scene before him: "What...is this?"
Countless tree roots, each as thick as his arm, intertwined and pressed together, filling most of the large crack that was once about a hundred meters deep.
A clear spring poured down from mid-air, and with tree roots as its base, the spring water accumulated and turned into a large, crystal-clear lake.
The spring water is clearly clear and colorless, but when the water flows down and hits the lake surface, it splashes up round water droplets. The droplets take a while to dissolve, and at first glance, it looks like handfuls of white pearls have gathered where the spring water falls.
And those thinner tree roots that were soaked in water were not content to stay there either.
The lightning strikes had cleaved the earth into cracks of varying sizes and depths, with the largest cracks clearly visible near the larger ones.
These small tree roots grew out along the cracks on the side, and the lake water followed them, making it look like a huge, shimmering spider web spread out on the ground.
Upon hearing Qian Chuan's surprised question, Xiao Jiu replied, "It's a tree, for building houses, a tree."
Qianchuan guessed from the color that this was the "broken branch of the Elf Mother Tree" from before, but the question was, how did that small branch grow like this?
Also, if the roots are so impressive, what about the trunk?
Just then, a ray of golden-red sunlight shone down from the sky, landing directly in the center of the lake in front of them.
When Qianchuan saw the reflected image, he realized that the tree trunk had always stood in the middle of the lake.
However, the color of the tree trunk was very peculiar, as if it had a mimicry function, changing with the surrounding color blocks. It was impossible to detect with the naked eye or even with divine sense.
Looking up from where the tree trunk was, Qianchuan quickly noticed those red, cloud-like things.
Before he could even ask a question, a wisp of red mist slowly drifted down and condensed into a line of words in front of him.
[It was the red mist that had previously filled the spatial rift; the Elf Tree had completely enveloped it.]
The system was not surprised at all by Qianchuan's shrunken appearance.
After scattering the words, it pulled out a ball and kneaded it into a small, round ball about the size of a finger joint, letting the ball slowly float to Xiao Jiu's front.
Xiao Jiu skillfully caught the ball, stared at it for two seconds, then turned to Qian Chuan and asked, "Qian Chuan, hungry? Want to eat?"
Qian Chuan gently shook his head, his voice soft: "No, Xiao Jiu, you eat. I'm not hungry yet."
Xiao Jiu then put the red mist into his mouth and made a swallowing motion. Although his face was expressionless, a sound very similar to a cat purring came from his throat.
Xiao Jiu ate happily, but Qian Chuan watched for a while before asking, "System, are you now... growing together with this tree?"
After all, it was the system itself that just said the red mist was controlled by this elf tree, but the system can still manipulate the mist now.
Another wisp of red mist drifted down from above: "Pretty much. I can now extract information directly from these tree roots, so I have good news for you: after being irrigated by the Moon Spring, the soil quality around here has met the standards."
When Qianchuan saw the system mentioning soil issues, he realized that the farmland was missing.
Upon hearing this, the system used its red mist to draw an arrow pointing to the other side of the crack: [Most of the fields are here.]
Because the crack in the spatial wall that was once torn was so large, the six farmlands looked like several small biscuits placed side by side when viewed from this position.
Qian Chuan noticed that the system used the word "most". He thought for two seconds and guessed, "Then the seventh field wouldn't be in this lake, would it?"
Yes, it's right down there.
The system then carefully explained to Qianchuan what had happened near the spirit tree during the previous lightning tribulation.
Simply put, there was a farmland with a growth buff as a base, and a spring of moonlight constantly replenished its energy. This elven tree survived the heavenly lightning and even absorbed the energy of the lightning in return.
Qianchuan was familiar with this process, as it was the same as the process when those flowers, plants, and trees were awakened and transformed.
However, this spirit tree has its own unique energy system, so it did not embark on the path of cultivation, but continued to grow in the same way as the mother spirit tree.
Besides its well-known ability to nurture life, the most powerful ability of the Elf Mother Tree is to create barriers.
[In my data, the area enveloped by the authentic Elven Mother Tree's light is an impenetrable safe zone. Any intruder who approaches will be defeated by her powerful and sacred spiritual abilities, thus completely losing the will to attack or resist.]
The system dispersed the long string of text and wrote again: "[However, this broken branch effect isn't that powerful.]"
Qian Chuan sensed the surrounding atmosphere, a look of shock appearing in his eyes, before smiling and saying, "But its so-called ability to construct barriers is still there, right?"
That's right!
The system exclaimed excitedly: "Now that the crack in the spatial wall has stabilized, and the air and soil are gradually returning to normal, we can absolutely plant flowers in every corner here!"
At Xiao Jiu's invitation, Qian Chuan also clenched his fist and raised his arm: "Yay!"
Then he calmly lowered his hand: "So what should we do now?"
When asked this, the system suddenly changed the subject: "Actually, when the Heavenly Punishment Lightning struck, the Taotie, protected by the Elf Tree, ate its fill of lightning. Humans were dizzy from carbon, but the Taotie was dizzy from energy, so it's currently buried in some corner, fast asleep."
Qianchuan: "Mhm."
[During the host's tribulation, I was cleaning the data and accidentally reset the warehouse. After the reset, it automatically locked, rendering commands ineffective; only physical unlocking is possible.]
Qian Chuan first responded with an "Mmm," then widened his eyes and asked, "Hmm? Wait, why are these two things being discussed together?"
The system displayed several large characters: 【Taotie has been identified as the physical warehouse! All the seeds are with him; we need to dig him out quickly!】
Qianchuan: ......
Qianchuan: "...Huh?"
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