That speck of red slowly expanded, drawn bit by bit from the top of the little soul figure's head. At last, all the red had emerged, revealing its complete form.
It was a graceful, upright sapling about three feet tall, composed entirely of Blazing Red Flames.
Xu Yi nearly burst into tears. He wanted to shout at the sky, I'm not a monster! I have a spirit bud too—it was just hidden so deep that even I didn't know about it.
As soon as the fiery-red spirit bud was drawn out, the force tugging at Xu Yi's little soul figure abruptly vanished. White clouds began to part in the sky, sending wisps of cloud energy toward the spirit bud.
The moment the spirit bud came into contact with the cloud energy, the spiritual sea in Xu Yi's Qi Sea Realm was turned upside down. His physical body also underwent all manner of changes. Many Hidden Vessels in his body—ones he had never even known were there—were opened. His spiritual sea boiled, surging in waves through one Hidden Vessel after another, straight into his spirit platform, ceaselessly washing over the spirit bud as it absorbed the cloud energy.
Gradually, the spirit bud began to change. First, its patterns shifted; then it began to sprout and grow.
By the time the white clouds above his spirit platform were nearly depleted, the spirit bud had grown into a tree more than five feet tall, with seven or eight branches.
Xu Yi swallowed another Spirit Derivation Pill. As warmth rose in his belly, icy cold formed anew on his spirit platform, and another mass of white clouds appeared.
A fresh round of cloud energy was consumed, and the spiritual sea began washing over the spirit bud again.
About an hour later, the second Spirit