Littledou Forest Part 1

Every step he took, Ye Guiying looked around very carefully. Even though something may seem harmless, if he wasn't careful, it would be too late to regret. This was something his parents had taught him a few years ago, while there wasn't anything dangerous in the village itself, they told him of the unknown dangers outside the village, preparing him for this day.

Every step he took, he felt very peculiar, he could clearly feel the grass beneath his feet even though he was wearing socks and somewhat thick shoes. It was weird for him to be able to so clearly feel every piece of grass under his feet.

"This is weird, is it possible that my Tree Spirit lets me become more sensitive to nature? It's the only explanation I can think of, I haven't read many books, so this is the best I could do." Ye Guiying thought.

To confirm his thoughts, Ye Guiying slowly approached a nearby tree and gently placed his palm onto the trunk. Instantly, he could sense the life and energy within the tree, as well as a small area of grass and flowers around it. This was the first time he felt like this. Ever since he awakened his Spirits during the Spirit Awakening Ceremony, strange things had been happening to him.

The tree he touched was full of life and Nature Energy, though it paled greatly in comparison to his Tree Spirit. If the energy of this tree was like a drop of water, the energy he felt from his Tree Spirit was as vast as the ocean itself. With this, his thoughts were confirmed. It was indeed as he thought. He could feel the energy within the tree, as well as the very grass beneath his feet, not only that he could sense an extremely faint aura around everything around him.

From the tree he was touching, to the grass and flowers on the ground. Both the trees, grass, and flowers had a strange aura. He closed his eyes and saw a tiny light within each and every piece of grass that was green in color.

He didn't know what this meant. He looked at the flowers, as well as the trees, which also had a green light within it. Turning around and opening his eyes, he moved closer to a strange-looking plant and closed his eyes without touching it and staying a meter away. Feeling the very grass beneath his feet, he closed his eyes and sensed his surroundings.

After a few moments, the grass beneath his feet had a small green light, up until the base of the plant. The grass around the base of the plant was purple, while the plant itself was also emitting a small purple light in the shape of a ball. He quickly jumped back and looked carefully at the grass. It seemed the grass that was purple had died, but the plant itself was still alive and full of energy.

"Is this plant poisonous? It would explain the dead grass, and this purple light coming from the ball I can see from it. That must mean that the green light means it's safe, while purple means it is poisonous." Ye Guiying thought.

He then wanted to find out if he could see any other lights. He walked around until he found different kinds of plants, mushrooms, and other kinds of herbs around the Littledou Forest to investigate. Fortunately, it was a safe journey and he didn't run into any Spirit Beasts.

He spent over an hour walking around and closing his eyes and stopped to gather his thoughts when he was done investigating. "Green is completely harmless, purple is poisonous, red is extremely dangerous, orange is dangerous, and yellow is mildly dangerous."

This was what he came up with once he was done. Of course, he couldn't prove it since he didn't want to endanger himself, but it was still a good outlook to pay attention to. The things that he found were green weren't only limited to trees and grass, there were also edible plants that he had seen in the forest of his village since they were green, it was probably safe to assume that anything that was green was safe to eat.

If this was the case, he wouldn't starve to death if he were ever in a desperate situation in a forest. "This Tree Spirit isn't normal, I already knew that when I first awakened it and communicated with it every day, I wonder why it doesn't show it's true form which is full of life, but instead showed this dead form. Father and mother didn't have a Tree Spirit, it must mean that one of mother's parents had one, or a similar Spirit, otherwise it would be impossible for me to awaken."

"Even so, my Tree Spirit seems to be different from the ones in the book I read on many kinds of Spirits. There were many plant Spirits, and some were trees, but none of them were like mine. It must've been a mutation that occurred, just like how my father's Sword Spirit mutated when I had awakened it, causing it to be very different."

Many thoughts ran through his mind, even though he was only but a child of 6 years old. Other children his age would be peacefully cultivating under the protection of their parents and teachers until they had grown up and were old enough to grow their own wings. Only Ye Guiying who had worked from a young age on the farm and was a little more intelligent than the average child had such thoughts at his age.

"I've spent enough time already, I should explore for a bit more and hope to run into a 10 Year Spirit Beast, hopefully I don't run into any stronger ones, otherwise I may not be able to survive." he thought.

Getting back on track, Ye Guiying explored the Littledou Forest once again. He had spent a while already to test his thoughts, only now would he truly begin his journey in the Littledou Forest.

******

Rustle! Rustle!

A small blue and yellow monkey that had spikey furs on its head jumped around on the ground. The little monkey wasn't even the size of a 5-year-old child, but it was extremely nimble and agile, with decent power in its arms. Its fur was blue, while a few areas around its body such as its arms and legs, as well as its spiky head, was yellow. It didn't really resemble a monkey either, its nose resembled a wolf rather than a monkey, but its build and long thin and furry tail were that of a monkey's.

This little monkey is called the Blue Wolfmonkey. Judging by its size, it had cultivated for barely over 10 years, making it a 10 Year Blue Wolfmonkey. It was one of the Spirit Beasts that Ye Guiying had seen in one of the books his mother showed him. This Spirit Beast was not only agile and flexible, but it was also quite annoying.

It was able to shoot out small charges of lightning from its tail and mouth, powerful enough to paralyze larger opponents easily if they were to get caught by it. The Blue Wolfmonkey could also create nets out of thunder to trap its foes after paralyzing them.

While the Blue Wolfmonkey was jumping around, Ye Guiying was hiding in a nearby bush, making sure to hide without alerting it. This would be his first-ever battle against a Spirit Beast, and he had to be extremely careful even though he knew what it was capable of.

Within the bush he was hiding in, he stared at the Blue Wolfmonkey that was still clueless about him. Slowly, he summoned his Tree Spirit and cast his 1st Spirit Ring's ability. 3rd Ability - Lotus Storm.

From his palms, dozens of small golden lotuses were being formed and released out of his Spirit Power. Within seconds, he had created almost a hundred of them. Once he thought that he created enough, he controlled them quietly so that it wouldn't attract the Spirit Beast's attention. The lotuses slowly moved around and hovered in the air, slowly surrounding the Blue Wolfmonkey.

Once his preparations were ready, Ye Guiying jumped out of the bush and revealed himself. Immediately, the Blue Wolfmonkey noticed him and attacked without wasting any time. It used its tail as a spring to leap into the air, before opening its mouth and pointed its tail at Ye Guiying.

Whoosh!

Blue lightning was fired from its mouth and tail, just as the book he read had described. The lightning came straight for Ye Guiying at an incredible speed. Ye Guiying was prepared, and used his 1st Spirit Ring Ability, Lotus Storm, creating an endless amount of small golden lotuses that shielded him from its attacks.

Seeing that its attack didn't work, the Blue Wolfmonkey didn't escape. Instead, it wanted to kill the human child that dared to confront it. The Blue Wolfmonkey landed, as its small body moved like lightning at Ye Guiying.

Ye Guiying didn't just stand there to get hit, he quickly turned to run in a different direction, only to find that he was incredibly slow. So instead of running futility, he turned around and narrowly dodged its right arm. Bending his back over, he felt some pain on his back from bending at this angle, he didn't fall on the ground, but neither could he attack.

The Blue Wolfmonkey used its long tail like a whip and aimed it towards Ye Guiying.

Whoosh!

A hundred or so golden lotuses suddenly appeared out of nowhere and defended Ye Guiying. He fell on his buttocks, as he quickly recovered and jumped away from the Blue Wolfmonkey after it had destroyed his lotuses.

"It's fast, fortunately, it's strength isn't that great, so I can defend its attacks even if I cannot dodge them." he thought. With some distance between himself and the Blue Wolfmonkey, Ye Guiying had successfully tested his defense against it.

Now, he could either escape or battle with it to the end and turn it into a 10 Year Spirit Ring. This was his first battle, he didn't want to turn tail and escape. It couldn't harm him, while he only had one way of defeating it. As the Blue Wolfmonkey leaped into the air towards Ye Guiying and spat out a small net of lightning, hundreds of golden lotuses that the latter had prepared beforehand suddenly appeared and gathered around the Blue Wolfmonkey in an instant.

Ye Guiying moved back, as he controlled his Spirit Power to detonate. He quickly turned around and leaped as far as he could and rolled up on the ground like a ball while covering his head. All he could hear was multiple explosions behind him, as well as the cries of the Spirit Beast he had just exploded to death.

After a while, when all the lotuses had detonated, Ye Guiying got up once all the noise was gone. Turning around, he was shocked. The luscious green grass he had seen had now become charred, and the Blue Wolfmonkey's body was lying on the ground like a rag with charred and burned fur all over its body. Above it, a white halo, representing a 10 Year Spirit Ring could be seen.

Ye Guiying already had his 1st Spirit Ring, so he could only let the Spirit Ring as well as the cultivation of the Blue Wolfmonkey to go to waste. As he thought about it, he felt sad for the Spirit Beast, since it had cultivated up to this day, only to let a child that was much younger than it to kill it.

He decided to kill as least Spirit Beasts as he could so that he could gain more Spirit Rings, and for him to grow stronger, otherwise, he wouldn't lay a hand on them. His 1st Spirit Ring didn't only grant him three different abilities. It also greatly improved his self-healing abilities, as well as made him feel more tranquil than he usually was.

He didn't know if it granted him anything else, but the golden lotus was extremely great. Staying there for a while, he wanted to stay with the Spirit Ring for a while longer, since he didn't absorb it, it would soon disappear and return into the atmosphere.

A while later, Ye Guiying felt better, as he decided to move on in search of a stronger Spirit Beast. He found that his defenses worked well against a 10 Year Spirit Beast, while his lotuses had killed it within a short timeframe. He didn't know how many lotuses it took to kill it, but he wanted to find out if it worked against stronger opponents.

Leaving the area, he went around the outer area of the Littledou Forest in search of a 100 Year Spirit Beast, only then could he be satisfied and return to Little Root Academy without any regrets.