Raising a Child is Not Easy, Especially an Earth Doll

Since the addition of "son" Earth Doll, Li Wuyang's cave dwelling life has become... chaotic.

Although Earth Doll was enlightened by Breathing Soil (fake) and possessed nascent intelligence, he was like a three or four-year-old child, full of curiosity about everything, and... extremely energetic!

When Li Wuyang meditated and cultivated, Earth Doll would poke his face with his little hands: "Daddy... move... move a little..."

When Li Wuyang studied spells, Earth Doll would grab the talismans he drew, stick them on himself, and then grin foolishly with a head full of flashing spiritual light.

When Li Wuyang wanted to sleep, Earth Doll would lie on his chest, staring at him with his stone eyes unblinkingly until Li Wuyang felt creeped out.

What gave Li Wuyang the most headaches was Earth Doll's "diet." The little guy didn't eat spirit fruit or gnaw on spirit stones; he just liked to... eat dirt! And he was picky about it! He wouldn't eat ordinary soil, only choosing to gnaw on spirit soil containing faint spiritual energy or pretty stones.

"Son, although our family isn't wealthy, can you eat something normal?" Li Wuyang tempted him with a Low-grade Spirit Stone, "Look at this, it's shiny, how delicious!"

Earth Doll glanced at the spirit stone, turned his head away in disdain, picked up a patch of mossy stone from the corner, and crunched on it with great relish.

Li Wuyang: "..." I can't afford to raise this kid! Will I have to go mining specifically for him in the future?

Not only that, but Earth Doll also had a special ability—he could sense and attract earth-elemental spirit items within a certain range. This was originally a good thing, equivalent to having a living treasure detector. But the problem was, this ability was unreliable, and it often attracted strange things.

For example, one day, a large swarm of fist-sized, golden-shining... dung beetles suddenly burrowed into the cave dwelling? They pushed spirit-energy-filled dung balls, chasing Earth Doll, and making the cave dwelling reek. Li Wuyang had to exert immense effort to drive away these "golden scarabs."

Another example, Earth Doll wet the bed at night (if mud people could wet the bed)... No, it was excreting some excess impurities, and the next day, a patch of colorful, dancing mushrooms grew under the bed! Li Wuyang almost tripped when he got up to go to the toilet.

Li Wuyang felt like he wasn't cultivating immortality, but playing a rip-off game called Simulated Child-Rearing: Mud Edition.

In comparison, Xuan was much calmer. She completely ignored Earth Doll's existence, meditating when she should be meditating, and refining the Devour Origin Core when she should be. Only when Earth Doll tried to approach her and call her "Mother" would she cast a cold glance, scaring Earth Doll into becoming a real clay statue, not daring to move for a long time.

One day, Li Wuyang was so exasperated by Earth Doll that he decided to take him out to "play" and expend some of his excess energy. He held Earth Doll's hand (afraid he would get lost) and ambled around the back mountain of Qingyun Sect.

Earth Doll was fascinated by everything he saw, chasing butterflies, chasing rabbits, and even wanting to gnaw on the bark of an old tree to taste its saltiness.

"Earth Doll! That's a tree! You can't eat it!" Li Wuyang quickly pulled him back, feeling utterly exhausted.

Just then, Earth Doll suddenly stopped, twitched his nose a few times (even though he didn't have a nose), and pointed to an ordinary-looking slope not far away, "Daddy... smells... delicious..."

Li Wuyang scanned with his divine sense. The slope had nothing but weeds and rocks, nothing special. "What's delicious? More rocks?"

"No... not... below... shiny..." Earth Doll gestured excitedly.

Li Wuyang, half-believing, walked over and scraped away some loose soil on the slope with his foot. Sure enough, he found a few High-grade Earth Spirit Stones emitting faint earth-elemental spiritual energy below! Although there were only a few, their quality was quite good!

"Hey! There really is something good!" Li Wuyang rejoiced, picked up Earth Doll, and gave him a big kiss (getting mud all over his face), "Good son! You're so capable! Daddy will rely on you to get rich from now on!"

Earth Doll was stunned by the kiss, then smiled happily, the little grass on his head swaying.

It seems this kid isn't entirely useless! Li Wuyang's mood greatly improved, feeling that the hardships of raising a child were all worth it... Not! Just as he finished his thought, Earth Doll wriggled free, rushed towards a nearby puddle, and jumped in with a splash, happily rolling around in it, instantly turning into a mud-covered doll.

The smile on Li Wuyang's face froze.

"Earth Doll! Get out here! You just got your new (mud) clothes!"

The path of raising a child is long and arduous!

(Chapter Forty-Six End)