Chapter 163: Cerulean Devil.

  Cerulean Devil patiently waited inside SCP-124. She reached the 1st stage of the Qi Gathering realm not too long ago by absorbing the qi in the air with her leaves. Her cherries grew plump, juicy, and hard from the intake of qi. Inside of them laid the sweetest of juices and cherry flesh that would empower anyone that ate it. Something that would be impossible to know without tasting them first or having a keen sense of smell. A keen sense of smell was something that nearly every flying spirit beast had. This was why multiple spirit beasts started flying overhead the Golden Serpent Sect in search of this tantalizing and overwhelming sweet smell coming from Cerulean.

  Cerulean wasn't aware that she was giving off a smell because of the snack Jing gave her. All she was aware of was that a lot of tasty-looking prey was far above her looking down at her. Nectar leaked from her mouth in anticipation of eating one of them. Instinctively, she knew that she wouldn't be able to reach them by tossing one of her cherries at them. At least, not at this range. They were flying too far up.

  So, she patiently waited. Waited as if she was nothing more than stone, blending into her surroundings. Saliva still dripped from out of her mouth but she didn't move an inch. The spirit beasts may have held more intelligence than the carnivorous plant but like most animals, they were a slave to their desires. All of them noticed the big teeth that reminded them of other predators they saw and some of their own. But none of them could resist flying down to take a bite of the fruits and nectar despite the dangers they could sense. They understood that if they wanted to eat some of those goodies, they'll need to have reflexes fast enough to snatch and fly.

  One brave spirit beast flew straight down like a swift sword strike. Its wings sliced through the air as it snatched one of Cerulean's cherries before swooping back into the air with a nice tasty treat. This signaled the green flag for all the other dozens of birds brought to the Golden Serpent Sect by Cerulean's intensified aroma it was giving off. They all began to fly down in hopes of snatching the other cherry or taking a quick drink of the qi-rich nectar. And that was when Cerulean attacked.

  With deceptively quick movements for a plant as big as this, Cerulean opened its maw wide and in one bite, devoured several birds. The remaining birds in their fright suddenly dropped into the backyard. Unable to do anything but scream on the ground as Cerulean turned and stared at them. If a human saw this, they would perhaps picture her as smirking at frightened prey. But to Cerulean, she was only looking at helpless food that was just barely out of her reach.

"The birds were dropping over here!" A human appeared in Cerulean's line of sight.

  They were just outside the boundary her owner set for her. Cerulean didn't understand how her owner talked to her but she understood exactly what she was supposed to do regarding other humans. If they stepped past the boundary, she kills. If they don't, she stays and looks "pretty". So, when these three humans came to move their mouths outside the boundary, she started simply looking pretty.

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"So, I'm just gonna come out and say it. I don't care who the owner of this place is, I'm not going in there with that big ass Spirit Plant planted in that backyard." First Human said.

"Blood and feathers around its mouth, birds sprawled out on the floor, and that smell. Holy hell, that smell." Second Human had drool leaking from the side of his lips.

"It's only at the first stage. It can't be that dangerous..." Third Human's stomach grumbled from the sweet aroma flowing into his nostrils.

"Then go in there and take that fruit from its leaf." First Human said.

"Fine, I will. You bunch of pansies." He hopped over the fence and as soon as he landed on the neatly trimmed grass, he felt a sharp pain in his foot. "Ah! What the hell!?"

  The grass stabbed into the foot of the cultivator and as he tried to pull his foot away, he only managed to uproot the grass not dislodge it from his foot. His friends hurriedly tried to drag him back over the fence, completely confused about what he was going on about. But before they could drag him over, Cerulean tossed her cherry at his forehead at such speeds that a loud boom could be heard from its acceleration.

Crack!

  Second and Third Human were blown away from the impact of the fruit hitting their friend's skull. The only thing they managed to drag over the fence was a corpse with a shattered skull and a leaking pulverized brain. Both humans panicked at the sight of their dead friend and quickly fled from the house without any thoughts of returning. However, there were more humans watching the house that were watching the three humans from earlier.

  With how many birds were currently circling above the Golden Serpent Sect, it was obvious that someone would be investigating the source of this disturbance. Many more began investigating the mysterious plant in the backyard. It wasn't until much later than the Supreme Commander's men and some of the higher-ranked elders understood that this was Little Monster's house. Unfortunately, more than a few lives were lost from the Inner Court as the greed of the disciples was too much. To them, it didn't matter if 1, 2, 3, or 10 people were just devoured by the Spirit Plant. All that meant was that they were weak and stupid to be eaten by something as dumb as a Spirit Plant. Nothing like how they were: smart, strong, and better.

  Carnivorous Spirit Plants were known to be dumber than the dumbest spirit beasts early on in the cultivation realms. They would attempt to eat anything if it was within their range, even if they couldn't digest it. If a sword entered their bite range, they chomped at the sword. It was all instincts with them until they began to develop their souls. Then that was when you needed to be wary of a carnivorous Spirit Plant. Those Spirit Plants knew how to avoid detection from prey and strike at the most opportune moment. Only death awaits you if found yourself slacking in the presence of a Spirit Plant that has a craving for flesh.

  However, Jing's Cerulean Venus Flytrap didn't exactly follow the rules. It wasn't as dumb as it should've been, as it somehow knew the difference between the things it could eat and couldn't eat. There was also the fact that it realized that humans wanted something from it so, it no longer tried looking pretty once everyone knew that it wanted to eat them. The damn thing even played mind games with some of the desperate and greedy disciples. Acting as if nothing more than a ravenous beast that wanted to devour the disciple just out of its range when it ran out of cherries to throw, then suddenly picked up one of the swords that were thrown at it at the disciples just out of its biting range. He would've been pierced straight through the stomach all the way through his back if he didn't have a life-saving spirit tool on him that formed a barrier to block the blade.

  As the disciples continued their attempts to harvest the plant, it continued to learn, grow, and kill. Eventually, it got to the point where it seemed that the Venus Flytrap was completely cornered and countered by the combined assault of multiple disciples in the Qi Consolidation stage. A sword was heading straight for the stem connecting it to the soil. Once this was hacked off, Cerulean would surely die.

  But Cerulean wouldn't go without fulfilling her owner's wishes. She willingly let herself be separated from her root and flew into the air with her large jaws directly over the person who tried killing her. Her mouth closed shut and he no longer had an upper half to his body. This didn't mean she was done just yet though. Cerulean instinctively used her qi to strengthen the remaining part of her stem and bounced over to the closest disciple, tearing him apart with her huge teeth.

  The rest quickly tried to flee out of the backyard but couldn't due to the piercing grass that didn't seem to want any of them to leave. Unintentionally aiding Cerulean in slaughtering the intruders that came past the boundary. They fed off of the remaining pieces of meat, flesh, and blood from those that died from Cerulean. As Cerulean killed the last human inside the boundary, she used the last of her qi to hop back into the soil she was born in. Now she could only wait for death as she successfully did what her owner asked her to do.

"Of course, the sect's Little Monster would grow something like this in her backyard... A true freakish existence in the form of a Spirit Plant." An elder sighed.

"I'm excited to see just how monstrous her companions are in the Grand Tournament." Another elder said, watching the disciples flee from the Little Monster's backyard.

"I can't wait to see her usher in a new age for the Golden Serpent Sect! At the Meeting of Great Talents, there's no doubt that we'll win for sure."

  Their conversation was halted as the both of them sensed an incredibly pure qi source heading towards Jing's backyard. She followed the massive wave of insects and birds to this location before investigating what could excite so many spirit beasts inside her own sect. After watching the unusual Cerulean Venus Flytrap, she decided that something like this was frankly impossible. Even if it was a mutation of some sorts, mutations still had their limits. But regardless, she couldn't let a valuable plant of this absurdity just die.

  Elder Ru walked into the Little Monster's backyard with the elegance and beauty of a gentle queen. She grabbed the cherries that grew from the Venus Flytrap's leaves and stored them into her storage ring before making her way over to the dying Spirit Plant. It savagely attacked her despite being on the verge of death, shocking both elders witnessing the sight. But this wasn't the part that they were most shocked about. It was when they saw Elder Ru calmly petting its head as it bit her arm with everything it had. The Flytrap used all its remaining strength to tear her arm off but no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't even pierce her skin.

"Aren't you cute? I'm interested to learn more about you and your owner but you don't need to worry. I'm here to help you." She whispered to the plant as qi flowed from her arm not being gnawed on.

  She transferred her qi into the plant and watched as its stem began growing. The stem already knew where it wanted to go. It went straight into the soil underneath itself to replant itself. As this was happening, Elder Ru began collecting the golden-colored nectar from inside its mouth and some of the soil. Once she cleaned Cerulean Devil's mouth clean of all the nectar and took a small portion of the soil, she left just as soon as she came. Leaving both elders in complete disbelief.

"We absolutely must find ourselves in Little Monster's good graces."

"I'm going to ask one of her followers to become my disciple, right this instant!"

"Don't you already have 3 disciples that treat you better than their own father?"

"What do I need with such trash!? Do you think any of those brats will reach half the height that the Little Monster or her followers will!?"

"I suppose that does make some sense... I should do the same."

"Don't forget! The Little Monster is a freak! Her followers should be the same too! So, prepare adequate gifts for them!"

"Right! We better do this before any other elders get any ideas!"

  Unbeknown to the two loud high-ranked elders, they weren't the only ones who decided to watch the situation in Little Monster's backyard. Many more elders hid to watch the situation to see if there was anything they could gain from this situation just like the disciples. They would've gone in to steal the cherries and nectar themselves but when a powerful figure such as Elder Ru appeared on the scene. There was nothing they could do as one of the pillars of the sect strolled in, intent on taking all the goodies in sight. Now the only thing they could do was prepare for the change in hierarchy inside the sect as the Little Monster and her followers were everyone's focus.