Anomaly? Or evolution?

That's right, it was a spirit beast egg. The oval shell presented a somewhat muted dark silver color, covered in strange, fiery red patterns.

The aura radiating from those patterns was identical to the flame aura on Little Flower.

But aren't canines viviparous? What the hell is this spirit beast egg?

Could it be that Little Flower isn't a canine?

Mu Qian looked over Little Flower's appearance once more, unable to help but shake his head, secretly thinking he had lost his mind.

How could that be possible?

Unfortunately, there was no sign of life to be felt from the egg; it was clearly past the point of hatching.

Otherwise, it would have been nice to hatch it and verify his theory.

"Woof, woof..." Little Flower barked urgently a few more times.

Mu Qian turned his gaze toward it and asked, "Brother Flower, are you saying you want to eat it?"

Over the past few years, he had grown accustomed to it and could always understand the other's meaning immediately.

Little Flower didn't bark incessantly this time. It broke free from Zhu Zhuqing's embrace, trotted in circles on the ground, and nodded its head repeatedly.

"I agree, but how are you going to... eat it..."

Mu Qian's words were only half-finished when Little Flower, having received its master's consent, darted toward the stone and hopped lightly onto it.

Perhaps Little Flower's expression hadn't been precise; rather than eating it, "absorbing" it was a more accurate description.

With Little Flower at the center, a powerful burst of fire-attribute energy erupted in the room. The rock layer encasing the eggshell instantly turned to powder, revealing its true form.

"It's an egg?" Zhu Zhuqing exclaimed in surprise. At this moment, she finally understood that the item Mu Qian had bought was related to Little Flower.

Mu Qian immediately shielded Zhu Zhuqing behind him, his internal spirit power surging wildly to form a transparent barrier, isolating the flame energy from the outside world.

He dared not be careless. In Martial Soul City, countless powerhouses were watching; the slightest leak of a treasure's aura could bring a fatal disaster upon them both.

Slowly, the flame energy continued to converge, forming a light cocoon half the height of a person around Little Flower.

"I originally thought Little Flower was just an ordinary puppy... I never expected..."

A trace of shock and doubt remained in the depths of Zhu Zhuqing's eyes. Her soft, red lips were parted in an exaggerated arc, which looked quite cute in Mu Qian's eyes.

Mu Qian's expression held a hint of worry as he explained, "Actually, even I don't know what species Little Flower is. I found him in a hidden volcano once."

"When I found him, he was already extremely spiritual. He seemed starved and kept rubbing against my feet..."

"I just hope this is a good thing for Little Flower."

Having said that, Mu Qian let out a long sigh.

Zhu Zhuqing hugged his arm tighter and rested her head gently on his shoulder: "Don't worry. Since Little Flower was so proactive just now, this thing must be of great help to it. It will definitely be fine."

The sensible girl saw Mu Qian's anxiety and offered words of comfort.

Mu Qian nodded and said, "I hope so. It's getting late, Zhuqing. You should go to the master bedroom to rest first. I'll stay here and watch Little Flower."

Zhu Zhuqing didn't listen to him and get up. "Let's stay together. Even if I lie down, I won't be able to sleep."

Mu Qian smiled and ruffled her hair: "You, you're clearly already exhausted. You spent so much mental energy fusing with the Jade Scale Ice Armor spirit bone during the day. If you want to keep me company, just say so."

"Hmph!" Zhu Zhuqing's tone was slightly indignant: "Who wants to keep you company?"

Despite her words, she still made no move to get up. She leaned her head against Mu Qian's shoulder, her expression also carrying a hint of worry.

Mu Qian didn't press the issue further.

Time always passes slowly when waiting. An hour later, the red light cocoon enveloping Little Flower finally began to change.

The flame energy that composed it began to shrink rapidly, converging toward the center point.

The attention of both Mu Qian and Zhu Zhuqing instantly sharpened. Finally, they saw Little Flower's figure again.

The strange spirit beast egg had long since disappeared, and at this moment, a massive change had occurred in Little Flower itself.

Its body, which had only been the size of an arm, had grown much taller. Standing on the ground, it was already taller than Mu Qian's knees. Its fiery red fur appeared somewhat duller, not as bright as before, but it didn't look sickly; instead, its muscles had become increasingly solid.

Interspersed among the dark red fur were some purple-black patterns, radiating a terrifying flame aura, which added a great deal of dominance to its appearance.

The most critical part, and the one that shocked the two of them the most, was Little Flower's head.

At this very moment, two more heads had eerily sprouted from its shoulders!

The three heads seemed to possess independent consciousness, looking at Mu Qian and Zhu Zhuqing respectively, yet the expression in their eyes was identically affectionate and joyful.

"This... what happened to Little Flower?" The bizarre appearance made Zhu Zhuqing, who had never seen such a scene, feel somewhat panicked.

Mu Qian patted the back of her hand to reassure her, then began to use his spiritual power to probe Little Flower's condition.

Setting aside the strange appearance, the most critical factor was its cultivation.

The cultivation that had originally been equivalent to a ten-year spirit beast had actually soared to the thousand-year level in just one hour!

That's right, a thousand years—it had skipped the hundred-year spirit beast stage entirely!

In all of Mu Qian's knowledge, this was a situation he had never encountered before!

"Little Flower, can you change back to how you were before?" Mu Qian asked tentatively.

Little Flower seemed to understand his words, its expression shifting into a display of human-like contemplation.

Soon, as if by its own volition, its bloated body began to shrink at a speed visible to the naked eye, while its other two heads gradually faded, transforming into pure energy that merged back into the main head.

The dark purple patterns on its body also slowly vanished, and in the end, it returned to its original appearance and size.

"Whew~" Zhu Zhuqing let out a sigh of relief; the posture Little Flower had just taken, even without malice, had still exerted an inexplicable pressure on her.

Seeing it return to its normal state, she felt much more at ease.

Mu Qian felt the same, the worry in his expression gradually fading as Little Flower recovered.

"It looks like Little Flower has evolved in a direction that makes it stronger, which should be a good thing."

"However, there isn't enough time to test the changes in its strength right now; we'll talk about it once we reach Death Canyon."

The fact that Little Flower could return to its normal state was also good news, as it meant it wouldn't attract as much attention when they traveled together in the future.

The night grew deeper, the sky outside the window remained dark and gloomy, and the heavy rain poured down like a bursting dam.

Martial Soul City was extremely quiet, with only the occasional lonely chirp of a swallow that hadn't made it back to its nest in time.

Inside the hotel room, things had long since quieted down; Little Flower lay on the soft carpet and drifted off to sleep, drooling slightly at the corner of its mouth, perhaps dreaming of some delicious food.

In one of the bedrooms, Mu Qian was uncharacteristically not cultivating; he stared up at the dark ceiling, lost in a daze.

He was thinking about the path ahead for himself and Zhu Zhuqing.