Chapter 889: Absorbing Geno Plant
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Han Sen walked to the banks of the river under the guise of fetching water, but he really wanted to perform a test.
He still had two waterdrops left to use, but the tree had spent its first waterdrop over the course of two days. Using the two waterdrops directly wouldn't be viable long term.
Han Sen wanted to look around for a few geno plants, to see if the black crystal would be willing to absorb their lifeforce.
The geno plants that could be found in the lands around the shelter were already owned, so he couldn't use those.
But Qu Lanxi said that the river was called Jade-Scale River, and its source resided someplace in Thorn Forest. Geno plants would most certainly live on the banks of such a river.
That being said, they'd only be normal geno seeds. And since they weren't cared for by others due to their lack of fruit, they wouldn't be missed.
Han Sen pretended to go get water so he could take a look at the wild geno plants.
Han Sen took the bucket and kept walking. He was still injured, though, and he knew he'd have to be careful to avoid exhausting himself too much. For company, he summoned Meowth.
It wasn't long before he found himself standing on the banks of the jade-like river. The Jade-Scale River was four meters wide, and its water flow was mellow. There were many plants skirting its banks.
Most of these were just everyday, natural plants, and not geno plants, however.
Although Han Sen was unsure which ones were geno plants, he was still able to use his senses to identify them by their lifeforce signatures.
Even the lowest tier geno plants were far more lively than normal, wild plants.
Han Sen followed the river up, with Meowth down by his feet in pet status.
"Meowth, if I knew things were going to be this tough, I would have brought Princess YinYang. They may not be able to fight very well, here in the Third God's Sanctuary, but they could at least chat with me. They could even massage me!" Han Sen spoke to Meowth because Meowth was the only person that could talk to him, right now.
"Meow." Meowth answered Han Sen, and seemed to agree with what he said.
Han Sen was surprised by the response he received, and he felt as if Meowth was smarter than before. Previously, he had never given a single response.
But Meowth was from the First God's Sanctuary, so its strength and intelligence was severely limited.
The reason Han Sen brought him was not because he was powerful or smart, though. It was because of his sentimentality towards the pet. Meowth had been with him for so long, and he cherished his company more as time went on. He couldn't ever imagine leaving him behind.
Before long, Han Sen was able to find a plant that looked especially strong. He squatted to give it a better examination.
It looked like a vegetable, growing near the river. It had eight long, serrated leaves coming out of its top. The roots were short, but stout. Across its middle, a few pretty flowers bloomed.
"This must be a normal geno plant," Han Sen thought, as he brushed the leaves with his finger. Then, he looked at the black crystal in his Sea of Soul. "Black crystal, perform your miracle once again. Everything depends on you now, after all. You got me into this predicament, so you can get me out!"
As Han Sen prayed, the black crystal moved. It became a black hole, and it absorbed the lifeforce of the plant without reprieve.
Within a second, the plant had dried up entirely. It was like it had been uprooted and left to wilt under the scorching sun for a few days straight.
"It works!" Han Sen was glad, as he looked at the black crystal's changes.
When the black crystal returned to normal, its body formulated another drop of water. Unlike before, though, this waterdrop was much smaller than the others. It was only one-third the size of the others, and energy it absorbed seemed to correspond with that, also.
Han Sen, however, was merely satisfied in the knowledge that this seemed to work. It did not matter how much energy he received right now.
In a joyous mood, Han Sen carried on his search for more geno plants. No creature or spirit needed such plants, so there were plenty for the taking.
Han Sen walked three miles and managed to find five plants, all in all. The black crystal absorbed each of their lifeforces and created five waterdrops.
Their sizes were all different, and the biggest was only half as big as the one from the Ink-Sword Tree.
"Strange. What is going on? The lifeforces of all these plants are similar, so why do the waterdrops differ in size?" Han Sen was unsure.
It was still early in the day, so Han Sen continued his search for more plants.
He walked another three meters and found a watervine near the river. It was purple in color, and it was about one meter long. When the wind blew, the water would submerge the vine.
The watervine was by no means outstanding in appearance, but Han Sen could sense its lifeforce. It was far stronger than the other five plants he had discovered, and it was special, too.
"Is this an ordinary-class geno plant?" Han Sen was thrilled at this discovery. When he approached the vine, however, Meowth suddenly engaged its battle mode. He meowed towards the water, as if he was warning Han Sen.
Han Sen took the warning and stopped moving. Then, he stared at the watervine. He had been injured, and his senses were weaker than they should have been. But after careful observation, he noticed another lifeforce near the vine. It was more powerful than any super creature he had seen in the Second God's Sanctuary.
Han Sen, seeing this shadow near the watervine, saw that it was about the size of a fist. If you didn't look closely, you'd believe it was the shadow of the watervine itself.
He noticed it was something alive, and judging from its shape, it was like a toad that was hiding in mud.
But Han Sen was very alarmed by its lifeforce.
Chapter 890: The Power of a Bucket of Water
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Han Sen slowly stepped away. If he wasn't injured, he'd have happily continued his approach, slain the toad, and grabbed the watervine.
But for now, he couldn't do that. Once he was healed, however, he resolved to return and kill it.
The toad, fortunately, did not seem to have noticed Han Sen. So, without trouble, Han Sen decided to go back. After fetching a bucket of water, he took off back to the house with Meowth at his side.
Chu Ming saw Han Sen riding Meowth on his way back. With surprise, he said, "You have a pet beat soul? What class is it?"
"Sacred-blood from the First God's Sanctuary," Han Sen responded.
"What is the point of bringing it here, then?! You could probably walk faster than that useless thing!" Chu Ming exclaimed.
"I am injured right now, don't you recall? I'm only riding it due to my injury." Han Sen hopped down off of Meowth and retrieved the bucket of water being carried in his pet's mouth. Then, after approaching the tree, he poured the water on its roots.
Han Sen touched the tree and slyly dropped a lifeforce waterdrop to its root, as well. It was quickly absorbed.
After that, Han Sen put the bucket aside and started walking back to the house so he could rest.
"That's it?!" Chu Ming yelled with shock and aggravation.
"Yeah, that should do it." Han Sen nodded.
"You toss some water on the ground and tell me that should do it? After all that waiting around?!" Chu Ming could hardly believe what he was hearing.
"Well, what else do you expect me to do?" Han Sen smiled.
Chu Ming's mood had dropped a considerable amount, and so he said, "I knew I shouldn't have placed any modicum of faith or hope you could aid us and this tree. Pah! What an imbecile. What use is that water going to provide, eh?"
"I don't know. Maybe it'll be a boon and instigate the tree's revival? It might work. It might not." Han Sen then continued toward the house.
Chu Ming wasn't keen to let this go, and his temper had been inflamed. He turned to Qu Lanxi and said, "This yahoo is toying with us. A three-year-old could toss water on the roots of a tree."
"He is still very injured. We can't exhaust him too much." Qu Lanxi wasn't half as disappointed as Chu Ming, primarily due to the lack of hope she had for the tree in the first place.
Only Chu Ming was sulking, but there was nothing he could do about it. And as much as he might have liked to, killing his burden and woe-bringer Han Sen would not achieve anything.
After Han Sen poured water onto the roots, he was done with the tree for the day. He planned to examine its lifeforce the day after.
If the Dragon-Blood Tree could absorb one such waterdrop a day, then it meant he'd have to find more plants; a lot more.
Han Sen lay down on the bed and practiced the Blood-Pulse Sutra, hoping his health could fully return quickly. Meowth was around the gourd often, showing a new interest in the item.
Nothing new had come from the gourd, since Han Sen's arrival in the Third God's Sanctuary. Aside from its continued pulsing, nothing had changed with it.
When Han Sen had nothing more to do and was bored, he spent some time with the gourd, pleading for it to deposit the weapons inside it. He tried a number of ways to get them out, but every method resulted in failure.
The next day, Han Sen was woken to Chu Ming shouting again; he was becoming his morning rooster, it would appear.
"How is that possible?!" Chu Ming spoke with complete shock and disbelief, but his body had frozen like a cartoon statue, as he stared at the tree in the yard.
"What is it this time?" Qu Lanxi walked out of the house and then froze mid-step; she too had caught sight of the tree.
They were in greater shock now than they had been upon seeing the tree first sprout its leaves.
Han Sen soon followed them out the house, and when he did, Chu Ming ran towards him in a crazed dash. He grabbed his clothes and said, "You! How?! How did you do that?"
"How did I do what?" Han Sen asked.
"How did you make the Dragon-Blood Tree razzle and dazzle like this?" Chu Ming pointed towards the tree as he spoke.
Han Sen looked at the tree and even he himself was surprised by what he saw. The tree's branches and twigs were all decked out in full, healthy red leaves. It looked like a gorgeous maple tree.
Overnight, the tree had grown as if it had received appropriate nourishment every day for the past several months.
"It grew that fast?" Han Sen did not expect the tree to grow this much, after the length of a single night, following an absorbance of one waterdrop.
If he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have used an entire waterdrop. It was too obvious something was afoot, and the sudden flourishing of the tree would be far too suspicious.
"San Mu, what did you do? How did the tree grow that fast?" Qu Lanxi politely asked Han Sen, in utter surprise at the morning's revelation.
It was difficult to believe that a Dragon-Blood Tree could grow into such a beautiful state overnight through natural circumstances and methods of cultivation.
"You saw what I did, didn't you? I fetched a bucket of water and simply poured it on the roots of the tree. I didn't do anything else." As Han Sen made his excuse, he swore to himself he'd never use an entire waterdrop again.
"But that was just river water; there is no possible way it could turn our tree into something as remarkable as this. Tell me, my darling cur, what did you do?!" Chu Ming's delight had slowly curdled into annoyance. With his rudeness seeping back into his words, he asked Han Sen with an irritated tone.
"Believe it or not, but I really did only pour out a single bucket of water," Han Sen said with a wry smile.
They did not entirely believe what he was saying, but they felt like that they had to. After all, they had watched him pour the bucket of water on the tree and later return indoors for the night.
Furthermore, Han Sen was injured and had no money. Even if Han Sen bought beast-blood, they should have been able to see it.
Although things were oddly suspicious, to the best of their knowledge, Han Sen really did only pour out a bucket of water onto the roots of the tree. And following that, somehow, the Dragon-Blood Tree was flourishing crazily fast.
"If I knew water from the river could achieve this, I would have done it myself many years ago," Chu Ming said to himself out loud, with a face full of regret.
"San Mu, are you an experienced arborist?" Qu Lanxi asked Han Sen, with an expression that said she was suddenly unsure of him.
"I told you I only learnt a few methods from Professor Sun. But I too am surprised they work as well as they do." Han Sen gave her a smile.
As they were talking, Chu Ming grabbed the bucket and started racing off into the fields.
"Where are you going?" Han Sen quickly stopped Chu Ming with his question.
"I am off to the river to retrieve more water. If I do this, we can get it to grow even faster!" Chu Ming replied, excitedly.
Han Sen then laughed in response and said, "Quality over quantity, my friend. Sometimes less is more, for if we add too much water to its roots, the results we seek may sour. Things could backfire and potentially ruin the tree."
When Chu Ming heard this, he immediately dropped the bucket. He ran in front of Han Sen and said, "Yes, sir! From now on, I'm going to listen to whatever you have to tell me!"
Chapter 891: Recovery
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Han Sen went to the river himself every day, mostly in the pursuit of wild geno plants.
Han Sen managed to collect quite a few at first, but after a few days of successful collection, the amount he was able to find each day was dwindling. Han Sen rode Golden Growler for about a dozen miles in either direction along the river, but it was all to little avail.
Fewer and fewer were there to be found.
In forty miles of travel, Han Sen was able to find forty-one geno plants in total. Aside from the purple vine that was watched over by the toad, the others were normal plants. Altogether, he was able to earn forty waterdrops.
Han Sen was unable to formulate a plan in which he might grab the watervine, without attracting the notice of the toad. Every time he passed the vine by, the toad was there. It sometimes hopped around, which was a little frightening.
The toad's body was coarse and rough, and it was colored yellow. It looked far bigger after it emerged from the water, about the size of a football.
Han Sen once saw the toad's warts unfold to ooze out poisonous blood. Then, the toad let it all seep into the watervine's roots.
A few days later, Han Sen noticed that the watervine had grown a few purple flowers.
That meant it had a chance to bear geno fruit, and it wasn't a normal geno plant.
"I don't know how long it'll take for it to grow fruit, though. Or how much longer it'd take for the fruit to mature, after that. Hopefully, whenever that occurs, I'll already be recovered," Han Sen thought to himself.
Ever since Han Sen demonstrated his ability to use river water to revive and maintain the health of the tree, Chu Ming had treated him completely differently. He listened to whatever Han Sen told him.
After the first sudden flourishing, Han Sen did not dare provide a whole waterdrop to the tree again, though. It was too much.
When it was given a whole droplet, it had grown over the course of a single night as much as one would expect after several months of arduous care. It was suspicious, and if he did it again, the questions he'd receive would never end.
Taking into account the size of the first waterdrop, Han Sen was able to gauge how much life he wanted to give the tree, and split up all the other waterdrops into the size he calculated to be ideal. And when he was ready to give the waterdrop to the tree, he mixed the waterdrop with the rest of the water in the bucket. While not as startling like the first night, the tree grew healthy at a quick and steady rate.
After a few days of caring for the tree, Han Sen was able to determine the exact size of waterdrop the tree would need to grow.
With his educated guesses, Han Sen was able to determine that one drop from the original three waterdrops was the equivalent of one whole year of lifeforce generation.
If the Dragon-Blood Tree absorbed one drop, it'd quickly exhibit a year's worth of development.
The size of the waterdrops Han Sen had personally collected were all different. The life they would provide might be a month, or several. He did not know.
He later learnt that the differing sizes were determined by how long the plants he collected had been growing. The size of their waterdrops reflected their age, not their lifeforce. Plants, however, were cyclical in nature, and there was a limit to how much energy they could generate.
The Ink-Sword Tree, which took three years to grow fruit, it could only provide three waterdrops. Even if it grew for another ten years, it'd only provide three waterdrops.
The waterdrops were created by the black crystal, and they provided concentrated energies. The age of the plants did not factor into their purity.
But if the plants had only just started to grow, and hadn't yet reached maturity, absorbing their energies would not provide half as many waterdrops.
As educated and well thought-out as these theories were, they were still just guesses, and not scientific facts. Still, evidence seemed to support his idea, so it was likely Han Sen was correct.
It made Han Sen happy to know that there was no level difference between the waterdrops.
Even the waterdrops from normal plants were still able to bring a mutant geno tree back to life.
It was a scary power, and Han Sen could absorb life energy to quickly grow mutant geno plants that might have ordinarily taken a hundred years to grow naturally. With this method, he could even grow a sacred-blood geno plant that might traditionally take thousands of years to grow.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Han Sen believed it to be cheating, and his body trembled at the thought.
He firmly believed he couldn't allow anyone else to find out about what he had learnt. If his ability was discovered by others, it was likely even King-class spirits would seek Han Sen out to make him their gardener.
The waterdrops seemed able to be used on pet and mount beast souls, too. Meowth and Golden Growler had consumed a small amount of the waterdrops, and now they seemed to have changed. They couldn't drink much at a time, so Han Sen could not gauge its true effectiveness on them, though.
The devil-ant king beast soul could not consume or absorb the waterdrop, unfortunately. Han Sen did not know why.
He thought about trying to use a waterdrop on himself, to see if it could help, but ultimately decided not to.
This was because after touching the waterdrop with his finger, his finger grew older. He didn't dare consume one after this.
Half a month had passed and still, his finger had not recovered. Without a detailed inspection, its aged appearance was not obvious, but when you looked closely, you could see the wrinkles with ease.
Carefully, Han Sen measured the right portion of a waterdrop he could give the tree, to control its growth.
Qu Lanxi and Chu Ming constantly wondered how it seemed to be doing so well. On occasion, they followed Han Sen out towards the river and watched him in secret. But all they could see was Han Sen fetching a bucket of water from the river as he had told them he did; there was nothing suspicious for them to see.
Han Sen did not do anything else except pour the water on the tree's roots, in their eyes.
Even on the odd instance that Han Sen instructed Chu Ming to fetch the water, it grew well.
It wasn't long before they gave up their investigation, however. They couldn't think of or catch an ulterior reason for the tree's growth, so they dropped it.
But of course, the existence of the tree was kept a secret from the wider world. The tree did not belong to them exactly, and if the spirit found out there was a mutant tree growing in their backyard, the spirit could very well take it away.
It was either that or they'd be instructed to keep growing the tree while the spirit and his fellow felons would only come by for the harvest.
So, they did their best to keep the tree's existence a secret, without the need for Han Sen to tell them to.
Another month passed, and Han Sen was far healthier now. He could cast dongxuan aura and his holy light to further heal himself. A few days after this, he was in tip-top condition.
"It's time to kill that copper toad!" Han Sen was very excited at the prospect of killing it.