"Thankfully, I'm all right. I'm just a little hot," Shaoyao replied. Xiangyi took out the wet wipes she'd bought earlier from the Flower God Ring and wiped Shaoyao's face.
Shaoyao's face was burning hot. It seemed her whole body was on fire. The sensation made Xiangyi think of a frightening possibility.
Xiangyi: Huangquan, I don't know what you used, but no matter how you look at it, this doesn't seem right.
Xiangyi pressed Huangquan for an answer, knowing she was the only one who would respond.
Huangquan didn't pay her any attention. Maybe it was because they hadn't interacted by channeling Spiritual Power lately, causing Huangquan's already low Affinity with Xiangyi to plummet even further.
Several minutes passed. Shaoyao's breathing had turned strange, but Huangquan still didn't answer.
"Flower Master..."
Shaoyao's eyes were moist as she clutched Xiangyi's clothes. Her posture reminded Xiangyi of Huangquan's character setting.
Huangquan was the most beautiful in the Six Realms. Her tears could turn into Spirit Stones, and her blood could grant people eternal youth and immunity to all poisons.
That was part of Huangquan's character setting, but Xiangyi had thought it too long-winded, so she'd replaced the rest with an ellipsis. Clearly, this world had imagined something else, and that imagined detail was now making Shaoyao suffer.
"Flower Master, what's happening?" Shaoyao seemed to be experiencing this kind of pain for the first time, too. Sweat ran down her forehead, and she looked to be in terrible agony.
Xiangyi shook her head helplessly, once again regretting that she'd made Huangquan an icy beauty, cold on the outside and even colder on the inside. At this critical moment, that setting was hurting everyone.
Then she thought of her agreement with Muning. Wasting time out here wasn't a good idea. Xiangyi led Shaoyao into a private room, then carried her into the Flower God Ring.
The scenery around them shifted again. Since Xiangyi had stuffed all sorts of odds and ends inside, several cabinets had appeared nearby. Their classical style clashed with the modern items displayed on them.
Everything had been neatly arranged, and the clothes hung in orderly rows. Each item was protected by a green barrier, apparently to prevent the Flower God Ring's time difference from affecting them.
As for Huangquan, she was still sitting in her old-person-like chair, reading a book titled The Complete Encyclopedia for Primary School Students.
Compared with last time, Huangquan had advanced to more difficult material. Her eyes moved through the text at astonishing speed. It seemed this Flower God, Huangquan, had gathered all the flower people's strengths in herself.
"Huangquan, just tell me what to do. It only takes a few words," Xiangyi said helplessly as she approached. There was nothing she could do about the beautiful Flower God Huangquan, who was a woman of few words.
Little Grass was still hard at work nearby. What was more astonishing was that Xiangyi saw several kinds of modern fruit. She had no idea how they'd managed to grow them.
As Xiangyi stared at the changes that had taken place in the Flower God Ring over the past few days, Huangquan finally looked at her. Her eyes held no joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness; only the reflection in them told Xiangyi that Huangquan was looking at her.
It was a very subtle expression. Xiangyi said awkwardly, "How about I bring you a copy of The Complete Encyclopedia for Modern College Students?"
The book seemed to have finally caught Huangquan's interest. She looked at Shaoyao and said, "She... is only evolving."
Xiangyi thought the Flower God was messing with her.
If this was evolution, there didn't seem to be any signs of it. It looked more like the reaction to a Rejuvenation Pill, making Xiangyi think the world had forcibly harvested her to fit some deranged wrestling-fiction scenario.
Today, have you eaten your vegetables?
Now that Huangquan had explained it, the explanation seemed awfully far-fetched.
"Really?" Xiangyi asked. Huangquan handed her a sheet of paper. On it, she had elegantly written several Chinese characters—the titles of books that all seemed to be about modern culture.
Apparently, this was Huangquan's condition for answering questions. If Xiangyi wanted her to explain things in person, she had to buy Huangquan books.
"Fine, I'll buy them for you. Can you answer my question now?"
Only then did Huangquan continue in her cool, clear voice. "My blood can help flower people purify their baleful energy. It can also help them evolve."
Huangquan's reply was only one sentence, her voice still as beautiful as a heavenly melody. But Xiangyi thought that if Huangquan kept being this cold, she might go find some cucumbers and let Huangquan enjoy a little family time with them.
"Got it." The thought made Xiangyi quickly avert her gaze, in case Huangquan realized she wasn't pleased with her coldness.
After confirming Huangquan's answer, Xiangyi looked at Shaoyao again.
Shaoyao had remained curled up since earlier. Xiangyi used the long sword to hack at a nearby rock a few times, making a crude stone stool, then carried it over beside Shaoyao.
Hua Nu saw this and twitched at the corner of her mouth. Xiangyi asked in confusion, "Hua Nu, do you want a chair too?"
Hua Nu shook her head and looked at the long sword with a complicated expression. "No. I was thinking of its previous owner. If that lady knew you were using her divine weapon like this, she'd probably come charging down from the Immortal Realm to take your life."
Xiangyi's eyes lit up. "Great! If a cultivator comes down, I won't have to be the Flower Master anymore."
Xiangyi was thrilled at the thought that someone else could take her place as the Harem Harvester. Even Huangquan looked over at her, as if she'd said something utterly outrageous.
Huangquan's gaze was especially icy.
"If that lady really does come, then you won't have anything to do, Flower Master," Hua Nu said with a meaningful smile. A hint of glee suddenly appeared in her eyes.
Clearly, though, there was no way that hypothetical would come true. In Xiangyi's outline, she wouldn't cross paths with anyone from the Immortal Realm until several thousand chapters later.
She even suspected the book might meet a tragic end before she reached a hundred chapters, because there was simply too much hanky-panky in it.
Xiangyi smiled wryly, then asked, "So, what's this sword called?"
Hua Nu's expression turned serious as she introduced the weapon.
"This sword is called Dragon City Phoenix Fragrance."
"That's a nice name. Much better than anything I could come up with."
Xiangyi praised it. Hua Nu gave her an even more peculiar look, then seemed to mutter to herself, "Of course it sounds nice. Unlike Yaoyao. She was named Yaoyao because she was a peach tree."
Even now, Hua Nu still hadn't cleared up the strange misunderstanding between herself and Xiangyi. She thought Xiangyi was some important lady.
"Could that person you mentioned be surnamed Ye?" Xiangyi thought of the protagonist from before. Since Hua Nu kept mistaking her for someone else, that person was probably connected to the previous protagonist, Ye Fan. Ye Fan's ancestors would naturally have been surnamed Ye, so Xiangyi made a wild guess.
Hua Nu's usually unreadable face turned wonderfully expressive. She quickly concealed the subtle look, while Huangquan picked up another book and continued reading. Whether or not Huangquan's memorization skills were simply too good, she was holding it upside down this time.
Watching the strange atmosphere, Xiangyi thought she'd guessed everything correctly. But she didn't know that her guess and what the Flower Gods had imagined were two entirely different things. The misunderstanding continued to grow in its own peculiar way.
Hua Nu was still somewhat harsh with Xiangyi, occasionally making cutting remarks that left Xiangyi wondering whether the long sword's owner and Hua Nu had once been lovers turned enemies. Hua Nu was always so sarcastic.
If Xiangyi hadn't wanted to see this so-called evolution, she thought she'd have left the Flower God Ring already...
Several hours passed quietly. Stems sprouted from the ground around Shaoyao and gradually began to encase her. Shaoyao's flower form appeared, unfurling into a massive bud. Its inner structure was hidden, but it still gave off a tremendous sense of pressure.
Xiangyi sat on her little stool and watched the fascinating scene. It was a shame that she had too few flower people under her command to use one of the Flower God Ring's special abilities: time acceleration. This space was like a second paradise, a game of The Sims. Not only could she fast-forward or rewind time and create things, but she could accomplish many tasks with a mere thought.
All of it cost Spiritual Energy. Xiangyi worked herself to the bone absorbing Spiritual Energy from the real world every day and only gained ten points. It was easy to imagine how much Spiritual Power she'd need to turn the Flower God Ring into the paradise she wanted.
Besides, Xiangyi was short on Spiritual Power as it was. She always needed to keep some Spiritual Energy points in reserve for emergencies.
After waiting a few more hours inside the Flower God Ring, Shaoyao's flower began to show signs of opening.
"Flower Master, please move back so you don't get hurt." Hua Nu patted Xiangyi on the shoulder. Xiangyi replied, "Oh," and carried her stone stool back about ten paces. Then she saw Little Grass running over to circle around the Shaoyao flower.
At first they moved slowly, like little girls running—cute and charming. Then their speed picked up, and every one of them revealed the Little Grass on their heads.
The green Little Grass swayed gracefully, as if performing some kind of ritual.
The more Xiangyi watched, the more interesting it became. Little Grass had reached their limit, and a green barrier formed around them. They gathered together, linking arms to form what looked like a defensive ring.
"Could this evolution explode?" Xiangyi wondered aloud, asking Hua Nu, who was watching the show with her.
Hua Nu nodded. "In our terms, it's called Undergoing Tribulation. Whenever someone crosses a major threshold, they must face a Heavenly Tribulation. But because the Heavenly Tribulation can't come through, the body naturally produces a force of its own. You'll experience this someday too, Flower Master... although it'll probably be a long time from now."
Hua Nu looked Xiangyi over as though her aptitude was so hopelessly poor that she wouldn't face a Heavenly Tribulation for hundreds of years. Xiangyi was a little speechless, but still said, "Thank you for the guidance, Hua Nu."
"Heh."
Hua Nu laughed without a trace of feeling. Unlike Shaoyao, who confronted Xiangyi head-on, Hua Nu was always sneaky about it. Xiangyi quietly thought of cucumbers, and considered doubling the number she needed to buy. She'd let Hua Nu experience the joy of cucumbers too.
Thank you for answering the questions in the comments earlier. I'll keep doing my best.
Huhu, don't bite me!
But Xiangyi still watched the scene intently, unwilling to miss a single detail of Shaoyao's evolution.
Nearly an hour later, Xiangyi felt the atmosphere around her change. The energy was terrifying, as if it could swallow the world whole. A powerful pressure swept over her, making it hard to breathe.
Seeing this, Hua Nu reached out and touched Xiangyi's shoulder. A stream of true energy flowed into her, making her feel much better. Little Grass still stood hand in hand around the massive Shaoyao flower, their cute, delicate faces turning solemn.
Then the enormous Shaoyao flower began to split open, releasing a great deal of black mist.
Little Grass immediately opened their mouths and sucked in the black mist. The more mist there was, the faster they ate it. They kept their cute appearance, but their formerly flat, humanlike teeth suddenly became jagged like a shark's.
Even with their newly fearsome look, they were still very cute.
"Ah..." The shockwave continued. Certain that she was in no danger just watching, Xiangyi asked, "What's that black mist?"
Hua Nu was still the most reliable of the three. She explained, "It's resentment."
"Oh. Can one person really have this much resentment?"
"No. This must be from at least ten thousand people. There were quite a lot of people in Assassin Tower, after all. I heard Shaoyao went through the list and killed them one by one."
"..."
The memory Xiangyi had finally managed to forget came rushing back. She knew this world was dangerous, but it felt different when the people in her bed were all dangerous. Besides, Xiangyi was most reckless around Shaoyao. She worried that one day she might meet the same gruesome end.
"Don't worry. Little Grass's job is to purify this resentment, just like purifying the air." Before Hua Nu had finished speaking, there was a bang, and another huge cloud of black mist emerged from the enormous flower.
The monsters had strange shapes. They bared their teeth and looked ferocious.
"Is this resentment too?"
"No, these are Fierce Ghosts. There was too much resentment, and nobody had guided them to the afterlife. So they settled in with the resentment, waiting for this day of Undergoing Tribulation to run wild." Hua Nu answered with a smile, looking every bit like a teacher. Xiangyi couldn't help looking at her a few more times, imagining Hua Nu in a little suit, glasses, and stockings, standing at a podium with a pointer.
"Flower Master, why are you looking at this old woman with such a lecherous gaze?" Hua Nu noticed, unsurprisingly. She was still smiling, but her eyes were cold.
"No, I just think Hua Nu knows a lot."
"Because this old woman has lived a long time."
"Ha ha ha..."
Xiangyi laughed without feeling, while watching some idle Little Grass charge in and start eating the Fierce Ghosts that had appeared. They looked delighted, as if Little Grass were eating delicious cotton candy. Xiangyi even wanted to try one of those so-called Fierce Ghosts herself and see whether it tasted like cotton candy.
As Little Grass ate with relish, buds began to sprout from some of the Little Grass on their heads, foreshadowing their transformation. Even though Little Grass had originally existed just to be cute, Xiangyi now thought that if she raised them properly, they would become the world's most terrifying fighting force.
After all, Little Grass's true form was the man-eating plant, the ruler of the plant kingdom.
She watched even more intently, wondering if something even scarier would appear. Then a huge, fat monster emerged from the massive Shaoyao flower. It had many mouths, and Little Grass stopped defending themselves and immediately bit into it.
"What is that?"
"This is a Heart Demon. I didn't expect someone as brainless as Shaoyao to have such a massive Heart Demon," Hua Nu said, completely unaffected. Her tone made it sound as though this was a perfectly ordinary part of a flower person's evolution.
Xiangyi had naturally heard of the term. Seeing all those mouths on the Heart Demon reminded her of the story Hua Nu had told earlier. Its accuracy was questionable, but Shaoyao's love of eating was clearly true.
Just as Xiangyi thought the Heart Demon should be easy to deal with too, an unidentified object flew toward her. She instinctively caught it and found, unsurprisingly, that she was holding a Little Grass.
"Waaah, don't bite me!" Sharing memories meant that Little Grass, who was still afraid of Xiangyi, panicked and tried to escape. Another Little Grass flew over too.
With one Little Grass already in her arms, Xiangyi could only hold out one hand and steady the other by the back. Even though the movement seemed easy, Xiangyi was pushed back a little.
The other Little Grass struggled when she saw Xiangyi approaching, but more Little Grass were being knocked over by the Heart Demon. Since there was a barrier around them, they still got hurt when they hit it. Xiangyi put down the one in her arms and hurried to catch the others.
She was having a great time, and noticed that every Little Grass reacted exactly the same way.
There was no Little Grass left beside the Heart Demon, so it turned toward the enormous Shaoyao flower, apparently planning to deal with Shaoyao, its main body.
According to the laws of novels, if Shaoyao couldn't defeat the Heart Demon, she would suffer a backlash and die. Xiangyi hadn't written anything about this, so she looked at Hua Nu and asked her a question.
"Hua Nu, can I beat up this Heart Demon?"
Hua Nu's expression changed. She looked at Xiangyi as if she were an idiot. Xiangyi felt she must have said something wrong again to make Hua Nu look so disgusted.
Then Hua Nu said, "You can, but with your current strength, if you don't kill it, it'll eat you. See all those mouths? Once it catches you, you'll be eaten clean in a few breaths."
Hua Nu warned Xiangyi not to overdo it, clearly thinking she was being too reckless. Even that lady wouldn't dare fight a Heart Demon barehanded.
After all, this kind of evil creature required special weapons.
For example, a Taoist's peachwood sword, or a Buddhist cultivator's prayer beads.
"So it's incorporeal? Can't I hit it?"
Xiangyi asked again, thinking about how she hadn't fought anyone since coming to this world.
Hua Nu said, "As long as you gather true energy, you can hit a Heart Demon too."
Before you continue