Grove
After looking at the bright green grass full of spiritual energy, the small deer went towards it without hesitation.
The moment the small deer wanted to take a bite of the grass, some of the fur on the left side of it's body was cut off.
Hesitation filled the small deer's face as she turned her head and looked at it's fur then the grass multiple times.
Even though the small deer was more intelligent than a mortal deer, the utter safety of the region it inhabited had made it's danger senses.
As such, the deer went to once again try and take a bite of the grass, but before it could do that a second time, all of the fur on it's body suddenly disappeared, causing the deer to start shaking before running away at a fast speed.
...
"So troublesome," thought Cao Ling as she saw the cute little deer ran away desperately.
[If host finds it troublesome I coul-]
"No need, no need if noone comes around, how would I have my fun," thought Cao Ling as she silently felt the happiness of her fellow brethren.
In these past few decades, under the care of Cao Ling, the grass around her had grown splendidly. even though a second grass spirit had not managed to be born.
"So it's the child of Ling Lu?" asked Cao Ling using her spiritual sense.
"Um, I remember when Ling Lu was just born, now she even has her own child," said an ancient causing the trees in the vicinity to shake.
"Back th-"
"You already told this story old man," said Cao Ling, causing an ancient tree to shake.
The old man, was in fact a tree, and a rather ancient tree, Cao Ling had not ever seen him change, nor had any of the other spirits, even the other ancient ones.
Not even Yanshi, the rock spirit was as old as the old man, as no one knew his name, the nickname old man was given to him long ago.
As the old man kept pestering Cao Ling with his stories, a much larger deer suddenly appeared in the distance and began running over to Cao Ling.
"I'm sorry Cao'er, I hadn't taught Xiao'er well," said the deer in a pleasant female voice.
"Just make sure she's not naughty anymore," said Cao Ling as her body, still a single blade of grass went from side to side.
"Um," said Ling Lu before dropping a stone next to Cao Ling while making sure not to crush other blades of grass.
"I don't need it, this is too valuable," said Cao Ling as her spiritual sense examined the brownish-green stone, but even so, the blade of grass seemed unwavering.
Before Cao Ling could say anything more, Ling Lu had already disappeared, leaving the blade of grass alone with the wood elemental stone.
"You should keep it," said old man tree as several braches swiftly placed the elemental stone closer to Cao Ling.
"I guess I shouldn't embarrass her," said Cao Ling as her small body stretched and embraced the wood elemental stone.
"The host really isn't too smart yet," thought the system as it looked at the wood elemental stone that was swiftly being absorbed by Cao Ling, who acted as if someone would steal it from her is she didn't do so.
Nearly fifty years ago, Cao Ling reached the 3rd realm of demon cultivation, achieving the ability to use her spiritual sense and communicate with the other spirits in the area.
With some insignificant help from the system, in merely fifty years Cao Ling managed to nearly reach the level of a 5th grade demon, with this elemental stone being enough to push her over the edge.
...
"You did good," said Ling Lu as she looked at her daughter with a smile on her deer face.
Even though Xiao Ling was young, and couldn't yet use spiritual sense she was still happy with her mother's praise.
"The old man really dotes on Cao'er," mumbled Ling Lu as she and Xiao Ling began aimlessly running.
...
"You are a million years too young to reject my help little girl," thought old man tree as he and Yuanshi the rock spirit were looking at Cao Ling while the latter was breaking through.
After the wood elemental stone was absorbed by Cao Ling, no immediate outside change took place, she still maintained the same look as before, a somewhat bigger blade of grass.
But at the same time, a large transformation was taking place inside Cao Ling, causing her to remain silent for a while.
...
"System, why didn't you notify me the old man was tricking me?" asked Cao Ling, this being the first thing she did as she regained her senses.
[System detected that host was too stubborn and was rejecting something with large benefits and no downsides, doing this is within the authority of the Grass Growing System]
Hearing what the system had to say Cao Ling stopped paying attention to it, her body then started going downwards towards the ground as she wanted to find a place to bury herself.
"Too stupid..." mumbled Cao Ling as she remembered the hundreds of times old man tree had managed to give her benefits without herself even realizing.
But even so, Cao Ling could not find herself getting mad at the old tree.
Suddenly, the tiny blade of grass rose from the ground as a single thought entered it's mind.
"Since the old man could be so generous he should have a lot of treasures," thought Cao Ling as greed filled her mind.
It was unknown if Xu Yue had rubbed off on the developing soul as the two of them shared the same place for several years.
But what was certain, was that their greed was truly similar, with Cao Ling being just a bit slower than Xu Yue.
...
"What have I gotten myself in," thought the old man as he looked at the weird blade of grass in front of him.
Sadly for him, right now the old man was not saving up treasures for old age, as he didn't think he could end up in poverty.