Littledou Forest Part 2
Walking through the dense forest that is the Littledou Forest, Ye Guiying was searching for a 100 Year Spirit Beast. After defeating a 10 Year Spirit Beast, he felt that it wasn't enough to test his capabilities, so he sought a stronger foe. He already had his 1st Spirit Ring but didn't know his limits, hence he was able to bravely search for a strong foe that those above his age may struggle against.
After a while, he had already gotten used to feeling the grass beneath his feet. It now felt like an extension of his own body, rather than grass that he would step on. Looking for a while, he couldn't find any Spirit Beasts at all, let alone a 100 Year Spirit Beast. He did, however, find many kinds of plants that he had never seen before, from glowing mushrooms that were the size of an adult man, to weird plants that had mouths on them.
His search wasn't going well, no matter where he searched. Eventually, he found a 10 Year Spirit Beast, known as the Spearhorn Serpent. It was a serpent that was as hard as steel, with a large spear edge on its head. Its body was relatively large, being over three meters long, and roughly fifty centimeters thick in diameter.
He went around and avoided it since this wasn't what he was looking for. After a while, his search didn't end well at all. He would need to venture in a little bit deeper towards the border between the outer area and the central area of the Littledou Forest.
Taking a deep breath, Ye Guiying decided to risk it and test his luck. As soon as he spotted a Spirit Beast that was equivalent or more than 1000 Years, he would immediately turn tail and bolt as fast as he could.
Munching on some edible mushrooms, Ye Guiying filled his stomach while searching for the right foe. He was being extra careful since the area he was exploring was even more dangerous than before.
Suddenly, he stepped on a patch of land that wasn't grass and felt that something was wrong. Immediately, he jumped back and summoned his Spirit, sending out hundreds of golden lotuses. By now, his Spirit Power was running quite low thanks to summoning all the lotuses. Still, his recovery rate was fast and was constantly recovering on its own, even without him cultivating.
Hundreds of small golden lotuses flew out from his palm and entered the atmosphere, as something large moved in front of him. Since he stepped on it, whatever he had stepped on was angered and moved to hunt him down.
In a matter of moments, Ye Guiying saw a huge pair of eyes looking at him. The huge pair of eyes came from the head of a Spirit Beast that was over three meters tall. Immediately, something he had seen before popped up in his mind.
A large plant-like Spirit Beast that was huge and entirely brown in color, matching dirt and had some grass growing out of it. The Spirit Beast looked almost identical to tree roots but had eyes and hands, as well as a mouth.
This was a 100 Year Root Ent. Judging from its aura, it was actually far stronger than a regular 100 Year Spirit Beast. It's Spirit Ring that could be faintly seen was not yellow, but was almost purple. This meant that this 100 Year Root Ent was at least 800 years old and incredibly close to becoming a 1000 Year Spirit Beast.
Danger. Was the only thought that ran through his mind at this moment. Ye Guiying immediately detonated all of his lotuses that he had created earlier in the blink of an eye. He ran away quickly, as he formed a shield to protect him, in case his attack didn't work.
Since he was focused on running, all he could hear was multiple large explosions. It seemed his attack had done some damage, but he didn't dare to look back and check. Unfortunately, Ye Guiying wasn't fast enough in his escape. The 100 Year Root Ent roared, as its arms transformed into countless roots that spread in the direction that Ye Guying was running in.
Even though the lotuses blocked its vision, since it knew the general direction that he ran in, it could easily spread its roots out in a wide area and grab him. Its hands that had transformed into countless roots spread quickly and shot out into the distance.
Ye Guiying felt something coming for him and changed the direction he was running in. Unfortunately, the roots were incredibly wide, making capturing its target child's play. Thick tree roots wrapped around his entire body and captured him. He couldn't move at all, while his head was the only thing that could slightly move. He saw himself being brought closely towards the 100 Year Tree Ent, while its huge eyes stared directly at him.
While it was a Spirit Beast, it was also a kind of tree. Inside its grasp, he could feel its powerful vigor and energy that he couldn't see from many other kinds of plants. He closed his eyes and could see a red light, indicating that it was extremely dangerous to him. Even so, it didn't seem to want to kill him immediately, it must have sensed the powerful Tree Spirit that was sleeping deep within Ye Guiying's body, making it curious about him.
The longer it looked at him, the more it felt intrigued by the small boy it had captured. Slowly, its light went from red to orange, then from orange to yellow and stopped there. It didn't change to green, but since it was yellow, it was still much better than being red.
He could feel the 100 Year Root Ent's grasp on him loosen. It slowly loosened its arms and placed Ye Guiying on the ground. Its hands transformed back to normal, while the wounds he had inflicted on it were still there. The explosions he had created had dealt it some damage, but it wasn't very harmful to it.
This 100 Year Root Ent was known for its sturdy defense. Since he could injure it a bit, it meant that he could probably heavily injure the regular 100 Year Spirit Beast. This was especially so since it was approaching the 1000 Year doorstep, in which it would gain a qualitative leap in its power.
The Spirit Beast shrunk and became a little bit smaller, as it stared at Ye Guiying. The powerful Spirit within this human had a powerful suppression effect on itself. It slightly felt like obeying the little human's orders when it got close to him. Fortunately, Ye Guiying didn't have any control over his Tree Spirit, so he couldn't do anything about it.
"Sorry for stepping on you." Ye Guiying apologized. His uniform was a little bit dirty, but it wasn't damaged. Only, his arms and legs felt sore from being wrapped up in its roots like a mummy.
The 100 Year Root Ent seemed to understand him. It shook its head as if approving his apology. "It's getting late now, I'll have to return soon, it was great meeting you." he told it. The Spirit Beast didn't react much to this. It simply backed off and returned to its huge size, before lying back onto the ground and pretending to be one with the ground.
Ye Guiying knew that he was now safe and dusted his uniform, before heading out the Littledou Forest so that he could return to Little Root Academy.
******
Hours later, Ye Guiying barely managed to get into the school gate before it closed on him. As he caught his breath, he wiped his sweat and headed for the dining hall. After all that running, he was quite hungry, even though he had eaten wild mushrooms as a snack on his trip to the Littledou Forest.
In the dining hall, he ordered one of the menu items and noticed Xia Jingyi sitting by himself. He immediately passed through the crowd and sat down across the former and joined him for the meal.
"You're back." Xia Jingyi said. "En, I had something to do outside of school and barely made it back in before the gate shut." Ye Guiying replied. Xia Jingyi had nothing else to add, as both their meals arrived on the table very shortly.
After dinner, Ye Guiying and Xia Jingyi returned to their dorm. Since it was dark now, it was time for them to cultivate for the night, before the school term began shortly. Taking a bath, Ye Guiying changed and jumped onto his bed, as Xia Jingyi swapped and took a bath.
On his bed, Ye Guiying cultivated the Ancient Mandate technique for a while, before the Spirit Essence he expended was renewed. When he was done, he realized he was getting close to breaking through to the next Spirit Rank. It was a little bit more than halfway, which was thanks to his trip to the Littledou Forest during the day, pushing him to expend his Spirit Power. Soon, he stopped cultivating the Ancient Mandate technique and focused on communicating with his dual Spirits instead.
In the blink of an eye, it was the morning of the beginning of the school term. Ye Guiying woke up early as he usually did, and found that Xia Jingyi was already gone again, just like every other morning. He was a little curious but held back since they weren't that close to each other.
Changing into his uniform and washing his face, Ye Guiying locked the dorm room and headed towards the dining hall for breakfast. After breakfast, he headed directly for the First-Year building. There, up to seven homerooms could all take place at once, while there were other facilities within for other classes as well. There was not only homeroom, where their homeroom teacher would teach them the basic theory behind Spirit Cultivation, as well as the world and its history, there were also other classes such as Blacksmithing, Alchemy, Engineering, Talisman making and more.
Every student was able to pick which classes they took after the few compulsory ones that happened every day during the first few periods, after that, they were free to pick whatever class they wanted. Students had to choose a class to attend, they were unable to skip and head to their dorms during this time. It was mandatory for them to pick up one of the classes, which many of them taught Occupational classes.
Entering the First-Year building, Ye Guiying was excited. He had just found out that he was in class 1-3, which was his favorite number. He couldn't wait to meet his teachers and fellow classmates that he would be spending the next year with. He soon found his classroom which read, '1-3' on a sign above the door, he fixed his uniform, before slowly opening the door.
When the classroom door opened, a smooth sliding sound was heard. After a blinding light burned his eyes for a brief moment, Ye Guiying found himself in a large classroom that was able to fit many students at once. On one end, was a blackboard for the teacher to write on, as well as a podium for their belongings.
On the other side, were a large staircase that leads upwards for students to pick a seat. Each seat had another seat behind it with a one-meter gap, filled by wood that separated them. The seat behind was also on a higher level, so the ones sitting at the back could see just as well as those below. Only those that sat at the very end, would have a little bit of trouble seeing since they were so high up.
He was still early, so nobody was in the classroom yet. Since there were many empty seats, he didn't know where to sit. Eventually, he decided to sit in the third seat, in the third row, since three was his favorite number.
Sitting in his seat, he quietly waited for his fellow classmates, as well as his homeroom teacher for the next year he would spend at the Academy.