Feeding Little Flower

A very intense craving for flesh and blood!

"Almost forgot, you're a meat-eater."

Zhou Xuan had a sudden realization.

Bloodthirsty Thorn—the name itself held the answer.

The nutrients its root system absorbed from the soil likely accounted for only a small portion; its true food was meat.

Zhou Xuan pondered for a moment, his figure flickering as he silently left the hut, sneaking toward the direction of the Chore Servant Courtyard's cafeteria.

With his current ninth-level Body Forging cultivation, combined with the keen perception brought by his strengthened soul, he moved through a place like the Chore Servant Courtyard as if it were empty.

He navigated the back kitchen of the cafeteria with practiced ease, swiped a few pieces of relatively fresh chicken, and quickly returned.

"Here, eat up." Zhou Xuan tossed the greasy, mundane meat toward the base of Little Flower.

However, Little Flower merely touched it lightly with the tip of a vine before recoiling in disgust.

The bud at the top of the vine drooped, looking completely uninterested, and the emotions it projected were filled with disappointment and disdain.

"Hey, a picky eater?" Zhou Xuan found it amusing.

He understood instantly. It made sense; although Little Flower was a product of mutation, it ultimately had chaotic spiritual energy flowing through its body, essentially placing it beyond the realm of mundane creatures.

Making it eat this spiritless, mundane meat was no different than asking a wealthy man accustomed to fine silks and delicacies to gnaw on tree bark.

"A bit troublesome, but not impossible."

A smile curled the corners of Zhou Xuan's mouth. He picked up one of the palm-sized pieces of chicken and focused his mind.

"System, Enlightenment!"

[Ding! Do you wish to consume 0.1 Gold Touch Value to perform Enlightenment on the mundane chicken meat?]

"Yes!"

As Zhou Xuan confirmed, a faint, imperceptible golden light flashed across the chicken meat and vanished.

The once plain chicken meat underwent a miraculous transformation in an instant.

The texture became firmer and more delicate, the skin took on an alluring pale golden luster, and a rich, meaty aroma wafted out of thin air, smelling more than ten times better than before!

[Ding! Enlightenment successful! Obtained high-quality Spirit Land Chicken Meat!]

Zhou Xuan presented the now excellent-looking chicken meat to Little Flower once again.

This time, Little Flower reacted.

Its vine reached out, sniffed the chicken, and the bud at the tip opened slightly.

It seemed tempted, but in the end, it still didn't take a bite; the emotion it projected was that it still wasn't enough.

"Still not enough?" Zhou Xuan raised an eyebrow, a flash of understanding in his eyes.

It seemed that a mere improvement in quality wasn't enough to satisfy this fellow's appetite.

What it truly craved was the energy contained within the food—spiritual energy!

"Fine, I'll let you eat your fill today!"

A surge of boldness rose in Zhou Xuan's heart; he was about to have a large amount of Gold Touch Value coming in anyway, so what was this little bit of consumption?

"System, continue Enlightenment!"

[Ding! Do you wish to consume 1 Gold Touch Value to perform Enlightenment on the high-quality Spirit Land Chicken Meat?]

"Yes!"

This time, the consumption increased tenfold.

Zhou Xuan watched as the chicken meat in his hand suddenly bloomed with a layer of soft white light. When the light faded, the piece of meat had completely changed its appearance.

It was crystalline throughout, as if carved from a piece of fine jade, with wisps of white mist lingering on its surface—that was pure spiritual energy!

[Ding! Enlightenment successful! Obtained Immortal Chicken Meat containing spiritual energy!]

Before Zhou Xuan could even toss the chicken over, a sudden change occurred!

Whoosh!

A green afterimage, fast as lightning, shot out from the ground!

It was Little Flower!

It could no longer suppress its instinctive craving for spiritual energy.

A vine, like an arrow released from a bow, instantly coiled around the piece of spirit-infused chicken in Zhou Xuan's hand and jerked back!

Zhou Xuan felt a powerful force pull on it, nearly losing his grip.

He clearly saw that once the spirit-infused chicken was wrapped by Little Flower's vine, it was like butter dropped onto a hot iron.

It dissolved rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into the purest energy, which was completely absorbed by Little Flower!

After consuming this meat containing spiritual energy, the entire plant projected feelings of joy and excitement.

The leaves, which had been merely emerald green, now looked as if they had been washed, shining with a vibrant, oily green luster.

A faint layer of spiritual light even shimmered across its surface, and the entire plant appeared much more vibrant!

"So that's how it is."

Zhou Xuan watched this scene, finally understanding.

Little Flower's diet wasn't just ordinary meat, but meat infused with spiritual energy!

A thought immediately surfaced in his mind: beast meat!

Beasts live in places rich with spiritual energy from birth, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, so their flesh naturally contains varying amounts of spiritual energy.

That stuff was likely the real feast for Little Flower!

"Yunlai Market."

Zhou Xuan's eyes flickered slightly.

He remembered that the sect's trading hub, Yunlai Market, seemed to have shops specifically selling various beast materials, which naturally included large quantities of beast meat.

Those items were treasures for inner sect disciples who needed beast materials for alchemy or artifact refining.

But for most cultivators, eating them directly yielded poor results, so the price wasn't particularly expensive.

"It seems I'll have to visit the market when I have free time."

Zhou Xuan made his decision.

Raising such a big eater would clearly be a significant expense.

However, when he thought about Little Flower's terrifying potential for infinite evolution, what was this little investment?

After completely digesting that piece of meat, Little Flower fell into a strange silence.

It no longer transmitted any emotions, simply rooting itself quietly in the soil as if it had fallen asleep.

But through the soul link between them, Zhou Xuan could clearly perceive that a pure stream of energy was rapidly circulating within its stalks, nourishing every inch of its flesh.

Visible to the naked eye, Little Flower's vines, which were originally only three or four meters long, were extending outward at an extremely slow but steady pace.

The emerald luster on the surface of the vines became increasingly deep, as if flowing light were hidden within, and the thorns that had been retracted seemed to become sharper and tougher.

"This guy's growth rate is a bit exaggerated."

Zhou Xuan rubbed his chin, his eyes flashing with contemplation.

It had only eaten a tiny bit—just one piece of meat.

If he fed it beast meat every day from now on, what would happen?

At this rate of growth, it wouldn't take ten or fifteen days before its vines reached ten or even dozens of meters in length.

By then, forget about hiding it in the corner of his small hut; the entire Chore Servant Courtyard wouldn't be able to conceal such a behemoth.

"I can't just coil it around my waist and carry it everywhere, can I?"

A strange thought flashed through Zhou Xuan's mind, but he immediately shook his head.

After all, this thing was a mutated plant and couldn't be considered a true member of the Demon Race.

He wondered if it would ever have the chance to reach a certain realm and shed its original form to take on a human shape, like the great demons in legends.

If it could transform, all his problems would be solved.

But thinking about that was too far off; for now, the most important thing was to keep it fed.

Just as Zhou Xuan was pondering, he suddenly noticed that a small, inconspicuous bump the size of a fingernail had quietly emerged from the middle section of Little Flower's whip-like vine.

It was a tiny, emerald-green bud.

"Hm? Is it going to bloom?" Zhou Xuan's heart stirred, and he immediately leaned in to observe it closely.

He was curious: would this newly grown bud grow into another mouth resembling a Venus flytrap like the one at the top, becoming a new attack organ?

Or could it actually bloom into a normal flower, or even bear fruit?

If it were the latter, that would be interesting indeed.