An incredibly intense craving for flesh!
"I almost forgot. You're a meat eater."
Zhou Xuan suddenly realized.
The answer was right there in Bloodthirsty Thorn's name.
Its roots probably drew only a small portion of their nourishment from the soil. Its real food was meat.
After pondering for a moment, Zhou Xuan's figure blurred. He slipped silently out of the thatched hut and made his way toward the Chore Servant Courtyard's dining hall.
With his current Ninth Layer of Body Forging cultivation and the keen senses that came with his strengthened Divine Soul, a place like the Chore Servant Courtyard was practically his to roam as he pleased.
He knew his way around the dining hall's kitchen. He crept around back, grabbed a few reasonably fresh pieces of chicken from beside the kitchen, then quickly returned.
"Here. Eat up." Zhou Xuan tossed the greasy scraps of ordinary meat at the base of Little Flower.
Little Flower merely tapped them lightly with the tip of a vine, then shrank back as if disgusted.
The bud at the vine's tip drooped, looking thoroughly uninterested. The emotions it conveyed were full of disappointment and disdain.
"Hey, you're picky too?" Zhou Xuan chuckled.
He understood at once. Little Flower might be a mutated creature, but its body still held chaotic Spiritual Energy. In essence, it had already left the realm of ordinary life.
Making it eat meat devoid of Spiritual Energy was like asking a wealthy man accustomed to fine clothes and rich food to chew on tree bark.
"This is a bit of a problem, but it's not unsolvable."
A smile tugged at Zhou Xuan's lips. He picked up one palm-sized piece of chicken and focused his thoughts.
"System, Enlighten it!"
[ Ding! Would you like to spend 0.1 Gold Touch Value to enlighten ordinary chicken meat? ]
"Yes!"
At Zhou Xuan's confirmation, a faint golden light flashed across the chicken and vanished.
The utterly ordinary piece of chicken changed in an instant.
Its texture grew firmer and more delicate, and its skin took on an enticing pale-golden hue. A rich meaty aroma wafted through the air, more than ten times stronger than before!
[ Ding! Enlightenment successful! You obtained high-quality Spirit Land Chicken Meat! ]
Zhou Xuan held the now mouthwatering piece of chicken out to Little Flower again.
This time, Little Flower reacted.
Its vine reached over and sniffed the meat. The bud at its tip opened slightly.
It seemed tempted, but in the end it still didn't take a bite. The emotion it conveyed was still that it wasn't enough.
"Still not enough?" Zhou Xuan raised an eyebrow, a knowing look flashing in his eyes.
It seemed that improving the quality alone still couldn't satisfy this fellow's appetite.
What it truly craved was the energy in its food—Spiritual Energy!
"Fine. I'll let you eat your fill today!"
Zhou Xuan felt a surge of bravado. He was about to receive a large sum of Gold Touch Value anyway. What was this little expense?
"System, keep enlightening it!"
[ Ding! Would you like to spend 1 Gold Touch Value to enlighten high-quality Spirit Land Chicken Meat? ]
"Yes!"
This time, the cost had increased tenfold.
The chicken in Zhou Xuan's hand suddenly shone with a layer of gentle white light. When the light faded, the meat had completely changed.
It was translucent all over, as if carved from a piece of fine jade. Wisps of white mist curled over its surface without dispersing. That was pure Spiritual Energy!
[ Ding! Enlightenment successful! You obtained Immortal Chicken Meat infused with Spiritual Energy! ]
Before Zhou Xuan could toss the meat over, a sudden change occurred!
Whoosh!
A green blur shot out of the ground like lightning!
It was Little Flower!
It could no longer suppress its instinctive craving for Spiritual Energy.
A vine shot out like an arrow loosed from a bow, instantly coiling around the spiritual-energy-infused chicken in Zhou Xuan's hand before yanking it back!
A powerful tug pulled at Zhou Xuan's hand. He almost lost his grip.
He clearly saw the spiritual chicken meat caught in Little Flower's vine melt away like butter dropped onto a hot iron.
It dissolved at a visible speed, turning into the purest energy, which Little Flower absorbed completely!
After eating the meat infused with Spiritual Energy, Little Flower radiated delight.
Its branches and leaves, which had been merely Emerald, now looked as if they had been washed clean. They shone with a vivid, oily green.
A faint spiritual glow even spread across them, and the entire plant looked far more vigorous!
"So that's it."
Watching this, Zhou Xuan finally understood.
Little Flower's diet wasn't ordinary meat. It was meat infused with Spiritual Energy!
One thing immediately came to mind: Demon Beast flesh!
Demon Beasts lived from birth in places rich with Spiritual Energy, breathing in the essence of heaven and earth. Their flesh naturally contained varying amounts of Spiritual Energy.
That was probably the real feast for Little Flower!
"Yunlai Market."
Zhou Xuan's gaze flickered.
He remembered that there seemed to be shops in Yunlai Market, the Sect's trading hub, that specialized in selling all kinds of Demon Beast materials. Naturally, those included plenty of Demon Beast flesh.
For Inner Sect Disciples who needed Demon Beast materials for Alchemy or crafting weapons, those things were treasures.
But for most Cultivators, eating them directly was not very effective, so they weren't especially expensive.
"Looks like I'll have to visit the Marketplace when I have some free time."
Zhou Xuan had a plan.
Keeping a glutton like this was going to cost him quite a bit.
But when he thought of Little Flower's terrifying potential for endless evolution, what was a little investment?
After completely digesting the meat, Little Flower sank into a strange silence.
It stopped conveying any emotions and simply stayed rooted in the soil, as if asleep.
But through the Divine Soul link between them, Zhou Xuan could clearly sense it.
A stream of pure energy was racing through the plant, nourishing every inch of its flesh.
Before his eyes, Little Flower's vines, which had originally been only three or four meters long, began extending outward—slowly, but with steady determination, inch by inch.
The Emerald Green of the vines grew ever deeper. Light seemed to glimmer within them, and the thorns they had kept retracted appeared sharper and tougher.
"This fellow's growth rate is a little ridiculous."
Zhou Xuan rubbed his chin, his eyes glinting with thought.
It had only eaten that tiny amount. Just one piece of meat.
What would happen if he fed it Demon Beast flesh every day?
At this rate, in less than half a month, its vines might grow ten or even dozens of meters long.
When that happened, there'd be no hiding a monster like this in the corner of his little thatched hut. The entire Chore Servant Courtyard probably wouldn't be able to conceal it.
"Am I going to have to coil it around my waist and carry it off every day?"
A strange thought crossed Zhou Xuan's mind, but he quickly shook his head.
After all, this thing had mutated from a plant. It couldn't really be considered part of the Demon Race.
He wondered if it might one day, like the great demons in legends, shed its true form and take human shape once it reached a certain level of cultivation.
If it could undergo Transformation, all these problems would be solved.
But it was too soon to worry about that. The most important thing for now was to raise it and see what happened.
As Zhou Xuan pondered, he suddenly noticed an inconspicuous spot midway along Little Flower's whip-like vine. A tiny bump, about the size of a fingernail, had silently appeared there.
It was a tiny, Emerald Green flower bud.
"Hm? Is it about to bloom?" Zhou Xuan's heart stirred. He immediately leaned closer to examine it.
He was curious whether this newly grown bud would become a mouth like the one at the vine's tip, resembling a carnivorous plant and serving as a new attack organ.
Or could it really bloom into an ordinary flower, perhaps even bearing fruit?
If it was the latter, things would get interesting.
Before you continue