Shu Hua gently caresses his hair, with a glint of hope in her eye.
"With a supreme grade spiritual root, he doesn't need a cultivation technique to cultivate at all. It won't be long at all for him to reach the peak mortal realm."
Shu Hua peels her eyes away from Mu Xin and looks around as the light in her eye dims away.
"How long has it been since I was here? Thousand? Ten thousand years?"
She looks back again at Mu Xin as her eyes glow with intense light.
"But now I'm finally free from this cage. I can finally see the world myself, not just from memory inheritance..."
She slowly disappeared with a light-hearted feeling.
"I can't wait for tomorrow..."
The place becomes serene with the gentle flow of water as a lullaby.
The next day, Mu Xin woke up as he rubbed his eyes sleepily.
He looks around and remembers that he is still deep in the cavern.
Then Shu Hua appears again in front of him with her warm smile, but there is a glint in her eye as her body is slightly more restless.
"Morning, little Xin. So? Are you ready to leave?"
Mu Xin nods, leaves the leaf bed, and starts walking to the entrance.
"Sister Hua, do you know a way out of this forest?"
She laughed, a hint of amusement in her voice.
"Of course not. I've been trapped in this cavern the whole time. How would I know?"
Mu Xin scratched his head.
"Ugh… then I guess we'll have to wander around."
Shu Hua smiled calmly.
"No need. I can ask the other plants for directions."
"Huh? Ask plants?" Mu Xin paused, then blinked.
"Ah—right. You're a tree spirit."
He hesitated.
"But… normal plants don't talk, do they?"
Shu Hua chuckled.
"You've been talking to me this whole time, haven't you?"
"But sister Hua, you're not a normal plant..."
"But I'm very normal, you know? I grow fruit like other plants."
Mu Xin mumbles.
"Not a normal fruit either..."
They stop talking and just focus on leaving the cave. It took them about an hour to finally reach the entrance.
After walking out of the entrance, Shu Hua visibly froze. She looked around as if she were trying to take in the world itself.
After a while, her expression softens. She grows relaxed and starts walking to the nearby tree.
As she stood before it, she lightly traced her finger on the bark as she closed her eyes.
Soon, she opened her eyes and looked at Mu Xin with a smile.
"There's an open field to our left and a sign of humans, but it's quite far, so let's start walking."
She led the way as Mu Xin quickly gave chase.
"Is the plant really telling you that much? Was it that intelligent?"
Mu Xin looks at the surrounding trees and bushes in awe.
Shu Hua laughed in amusement as she explained.
"No, the plant doesn't have that much awareness. Otherwise, they would have formed their spirit already. They tell me in the form of sense or instinct that they ask around through their roots and tell me there—human, far."
Mu Xin looks around in admiration.
(I have always thought that plants are alive. Otherwise, how can they grow? But to know that they can communicate like this is surprising)
Mu Xin looks at Shu Hua in curiosity, then he asks.
"Then is it hard for plants to form their spirit?"
"It is hard. It takes a long time because unlike humans, who can actively cultivate to absorb spiritual qi, or animals that eat and absorb other animals' blood to increase their bloodline quality, plants can only cultivate by instinct at first until they form their spirit. That's why plants are slow and hard to form spirit."
Mu Xin became quiet after hearing her explanation as he absorbed new information.
(So this world is a cultivation world after all, just like all the web novels I read back on Earth. But how accurate are those novels? Can I use them as reference?)
As they walk, a rustling sound comes from the nearby bush. A boar with big tusks walks out of it and suddenly runs at them.
Mu Xin ran away by reflex as Shu Hua disappeared into a particle of light that went into the bracelet.
The boar chases Mu Xin relentlessly with a red glint in its eyes.
(Why does it chase me!?)
Mu Xin ran desperately with ragged breaths. Then he took a sharp turn before a tree to lose the boar.
The boar, running at full speed, failed to stop in time and hit the tree, breaking half of it.
Mu Xin briefly turned around and saw this, and he was covered in cold sweat.
(If that hit me, I'd be dead!)
Mu Xin keeps running desperately as the boar quickly recovers and gives chase once again.
"Sister Hua! Can you do something?!"
'I'm weakened after making a bracelet, but let me try something!'
Shu Hua's voice suddenly appeared in Mu Xin's mind, making him confused for a moment, but the situation did not give him time to dwell on it.
Then a root suddenly rises from the ground right on the path of the boar, making it trip and fall forward.
'Keep running, little Xin! I can only stall it!'
Mu Xin ran desperately toward the open field as he heard the sound of the boar behind him, already resuming its chase.
This run and chase keeps going for almost half an hour, leaving Mu Xin completely tired and breathless, but he keeps running for his dear life.
He remembered his promise with the noodle uncle to not give up on life as he grit his teeth with renewed vigor.
(I made a promise not to give up!)
He kept running for the next fifteen minutes.
Then a young man who looked to be around seventeen ran past Mu Xin from the front. With a sword in his hand, he slashed at the boar, splitting it in half easily.
Mu Xin tumbled and fell to the ground as he gasped for breath and looked at the young man in surprise.
(A cultivator?)
Then, from where the young man came from, two more people approached.
"Brother He, we don't have time for this. I don't think we need to save a single mortal boy who stupidly entered the forest on his own despite knowing how dangerous it is."
"Well, come on, don't say that. It doesn't take that much time since it's just a grade 1 rock skin boar, and it happened to be on our path, so why not?"
The young man, who was called Brother He, sheathed his sword as he looked at Mu Xin.
"Are you alright?"