Ever since he gained a "son" named Earth Doll, Li Wuyang's life in the cave dwelling had become... complete chaos.
Though Earth Doll had been awakened by Breathing Soil (pseudo), his intelligence had only just developed. Like a three- or four-year-old child, he was curious about everything, and... possessed boundless energy!
Whenever Li Wuyang sat in meditation, Earth Doll would poke his face with his little hand. "Daddy... move... move..."
Whenever Li Wuyang studied spells, Earth Doll would grab the talismans he had drawn and stick them all over himself, then grin foolishly with flickering spiritual light flashing all over his head.
Whenever Li Wuyang wanted to get some sleep, Earth Doll would lie on his chest and stare at him without blinking with his pebble eyes until his skin crawled.
What gave Li Wuyang the worst headache was Earth Doll's "diet." The little fellow did not eat spirit fruits or chew Spirit Stones. He only liked... eating dirt! And he was a picky dirt-eater, too! He would not touch ordinary soil, only nibbling on spiritual earth that contained faint spiritual energy or pretty-looking stones.
"Son, our family may not be wealthy, but could you eat something normal?" Li Wuyang tempted him with a Low-grade Spirit Stone. "Look at this. It's all shiny. Doesn't it look delicious?"
Earth Doll glanced at the Spirit Stone, turned his head away in disdain, picked up a moss-covered rock from the corner, and crunched away on it with great relish.
Li Wuyang: "..." I can't afford to raise this kid! Am I supposed to go mining specifically for him in the future?
Not only that, Earth Doll had a special ability—he could sense and attract earth-element spiritual objects within a certain range. This should have been a good thing, like carrying around a living treasure detector. The problem was that this ability worked only sometimes, and it often attracted all sorts of strange things.
For example, one day, a huge swarm of fist-sized, golden-glowing... dung beetles suddenly burrowed into the cave dwelling. They pushed balls of dung brimming with spiritual energy as they chased after Earth Doll, stinking up the entire place. Li Wuyang had to exert tremendous effort before he finally drove off those "Golden Sacred Beetles."
Another time, Earth Doll wet the bed in the middle of the night—if a mud person could even wet the bed... No, he had discharged some excess impurities. The next morning, a patch of colorful mushrooms that could dance had grown beneath the bed! Li Wuyang nearly tripped over them when he got up to use the toilet.
Li Wuyang felt that he was not cultivating immortality at all, but playing a maddening game called Raising a Child Simulator: Mud Edition.
By comparison, Xuan was much calmer. She completely ignored Earth Doll's existence, meditating when she needed to meditate and refining the Devour Origin Core when she needed to refine it. Only when Earth Doll tried to approach her and call her "Mother" would she sweep him with an icy glance, frightening him into immediately turning into a genuine mud statue, too scared to move for a long while.
That day, after being tormented beyond endurance by Earth Doll, Li Wuyang decided to take him outside for some "fresh air" and burn off some of his excessive energy. Holding Earth Doll's hand so he would not get lost, he wandered through the back mountain of the Qingyun Sect.
Everything seemed new to Earth Doll. He chased butterflies when he saw them, ran after rabbits when he spotted them, and when he saw an old tree, he even wanted to take a couple bites of bark to see what it tasted like.
"Earth Doll! That's a tree! You can't eat it!" Li Wuyang hurriedly pulled him back, feeling utterly exhausted.
Just then, Earth Doll suddenly stopped. His nose twitched a few times, even though he had no nose, and he pointed toward an ordinary-looking hillside in the distance. "Daddy... smells good... something tasty..."
Li Wuyang swept the hillside with his divine sense. Aside from weeds and rocks, there was nothing special there. "What tasty thing? Rocks again?"
"No... no... underneath... shiny..." Earth Doll gestured wildly.
Half-convinced, Li Wuyang walked over and scraped away the loose dirt on the hillside with his foot. Sure enough, beneath it, he found several High-grade Earth Spirit Stones emitting faint earth-element spiritual energy! There were only a few of them, but their quality was quite good!
"Hey! There really is something good!" Li Wuyang was overjoyed. He scooped Earth Doll up and kissed him hard, getting mud all over his mouth. "Good son! You're amazing! From now on, I'll rely on you to get rich!"
Earth Doll was dazed by the kiss, then happily laughed, the little blades of grass atop his head swaying wildly.
So this kid was not completely useless after all! Li Wuyang was in high spirits, feeling that all the hardship of raising a child had been worth it... Yeah, right! The moment he finished sighing, Earth Doll broke free and charged toward a puddle nearby. With a splash, he jumped in and happily rolled around inside, instantly turning into a mud-covered doll.
The smile on Li Wuyang's face froze.
"Earth Doll! Get out here! Those were your freshly changed new clothes!"
The road of raising a child was long and arduous indeed!
Before you continue