~
Dabao: "Chirp~ (Master, are you done yet~?)"
Erbao: "Chirp chirp~ (I'm starving, I'm starving~!)"
"All done, all done."
Ji Ruo couldn't be bothered to fuss with it, so he simply pulled some roast meat out of Rosie's stash. The storage space in the All-Encompassing Mirror was currently governed by the rule of "time stopped, food preserved," so the food stored inside remained exactly as it was, without the slightest change.
Under Rosie's unusually heartbroken little gaze, the two Wind God Falcon chicks ate more than a dozen pieces of steaming, fragrant roast meat before they finally went to sleep, thoroughly satisfied.
Then Ji Ruo told Liang Shixian he was going exploring and asked if Liang wanted to come along.
But Liang Shixian rolled his eyes and said he needed to focus on his cultivation. He didn't have time to play with Ji Ruo, and told Ji Ruo to be careful and watch his safety.
Ji Ruo readily agreed. With Little Rosie perched on his head and the Small Wooden Stick in hand, he headed deeper into the Wind God Falcon's Nest.
"Walking~ down a country lane~ with a little wooden stick in my hand~"
Singing his own off-key tune with lyrics and melody of his own making, Ji Ruo swung the Small Wooden Stick and strutted along with a swagger that said he didn't care what anyone thought.
"Meow meow~ meow meow meow meow~ meow meow~"
A kitten's moods came and went in a flash. Rosie lay on Ji Ruo's head and meowed along with his song. She didn't follow his tune, but she sounded pretty happy anyway.
After all, Ji Ruo had just said he was taking her out to play, and she'd immediately forgotten that he had confiscated her precious treasure.
Liang Shixian: "..."
Watching the childish master and servant sing and dance as they gradually disappeared into the distance, Liang felt helpless, but also a little envious. He couldn't be as carefree as Ji Ruo. This was the dangerous Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, the Nest of the Sky Sovereign of Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, the Wind God Falcon. Reason told him he had to be cautious, but Ji Ruo's antics kept ruining the mood.
"Ah, I wonder when Ji Ruo will finally grow up."
Liang Shixian shook his head with a sigh, then focused wholeheartedly on his cultivation.
Ji Ruo walked for about twenty minutes. After looking around and finding no other creatures nearby, he summoned the very long-named All-Encompassing Mirror from his Card Collection Album.
"My turn! Draw!"
Ji Ruo suddenly shouted. Then he raised the index and middle fingers of his left hand and pinched a card out of thin air. It looked like a child's doodle.
The crude lines on the card depicted the All-Encompassing Mirror.
As for that line, it was the required command for using the system's Card Collection Album.
Light flowed across the card, and in the blink of an eye it changed back to its original form.
"Meow! (My treasure!)"
Rosie cried out and tried to grab it with her paw, but Ji Ruo pressed her back onto his head. Her short limbs flailed wildly as she babbled something incomprehensible, as if protesting that Ji Ruo had stolen the kitten's treasure.
The mirror had two special effects. Ji Ruo had already tested its storage function, and using it barely consumed anything.
Now, he planned to try out the other effect.
From the description, that effect seemed to let him travel through space.
"All-Encompassing Shuttle!"
Ji Ruo said in a low voice, unconsciously ignoring the function's original name and coming up with a nicer one instead.
The next moment, a blood-red vortex appeared in front of him—a portal.
On the other side of the portal was the Nine-Eyed Demon Spider's Nest, which Ji Ruo had visited earlier.
"Does 'recorded spatial coordinates' mean places I've been before? Or..."
Ji Ruo sensed how much energy it consumed and made a rough estimate. At his current level, it seemed like he could open a hundred or so portals like this.
He waved a hand, dispelling the portal, then tried again.
This time, he didn't choose a specific location. Instead, he silently thought of something more abstract: "Martial Exam candidates, dead or alive."
No portal appeared.
"Does it need to be more specific?"
Ji Ruo thought it over, then tentatively said, "Tree Demons?"
No portal appeared.
"The Tree Demon Tribe I've come into contact with?"
Whumm—
A portal appeared. Through the blood-red vortex, Ji Ruo could clearly see what lay on the other side.
He could even hear the sounds coming from over there.
"Rustle~ (Leader, maybe we shouldn't...)"
"Rustle rustle~ (That's right, we can't fight the Wind God Falcons! Let's just forget about the Fertilizer Tree brothers, okay?)"
The stout Tree Demon Leader shook its leaves and scolded them, "Rustle rustle rustle rustle rustle~ (Nonsense! How can we not save them? Sure, we Tree Demons can survive with just sunlight and water, but who wouldn't want to get up at night and have a bite of something hot? The little monsters and fiends passing by might occasionally produce some fertilizer, but do they do it every time?
"Once we rescue the Fertilizer Tree brothers, we'll grow even more robust in the future, to say nothing of having a reliable source of fertilizer!
"If we can get something to eat, who wants to spend every day living on 'welfare'—sunlight and water?)"
"Rustle~ (But...)"
"Rustle rustle~ (But what? We're already here!)"
"Rustle rustle~ (No, Leader, the Wind God Falcon's Nest is ten thousand meters up in the sky, and we can't fly. How are we supposed to rescue them?)"
The Tree Demon Leader said, "Rustle rustle rustle rustle~ (Idiots! We're Tree Demons. What's a mere ten thousand meters? Give me a few tens of thousands of years and I'll definitely grow that tall!
"By then, the Wind God Falcons will have died of old age, and we'll be able to rescue the Fertilizer Tree brothers without a hitch!
"Perseverance is victory, brothers!)"
"Rustle~ (That's amazing, that's amazing!)"
"Rustle rustle~ (As expected of our leader. How could I not have thought of such a perfect plan?)"
The Tree Demon Leader proudly swayed its branches. "Rustle~ (That's why I'm the leader, isn't it? That's wisdom!)"
Ji Ruo froze for a moment.
Were these guys trying to save him?
He was a little touched—but the Tree Demons' method of saving him was just a little...
Ji Ruo laughed and cried at once. Give them a few tens of thousands of years? By then, his bones would've turned to dust!
After thinking for a moment, Ji Ruo stepped through the portal.
The instant he crossed through, one-third of the Blood Qi Power in his body was consumed.
He didn't notice the faint black glow that appeared across Rosie's body. Rosie herself was black, and the glow was so faint that it wasn't conspicuous.
Ji Ruo didn't notice, and Rosie didn't seem to notice either. Ji Ruo was simply surprised: traveling through the portal consumed so much more than opening it?!
But thinking about it, it seemed perfectly normal.
After all, he was traveling through space!
Looking up, Ji Ruo used the powerful eyesight of the Qi Pulse Realm and spotted a small black dot ten thousand meters above: the Floating Island where the Wind God Falcons lived.
Having confirmed that the travel function worked, Ji Ruo turned to look at the Tree Demons discussing their rescue plan. These Tree Demons were kindhearted!
As he watched them, Ji Ruo suddenly called out, "Leader."
The Tree Demons had come to the area beneath the Wind God Falcon's Nest, and they were already terrified. Any stir of wind that didn't come from them might scare them—so Ji Ruo's voice left them too frightened to move.
Ji Ruo said, both amused and exasperated, "Don't worry, Leader. It's me."
"Rustle~ (You're... one of the Fertilizer Tree brothers?)"
"That's right."
The Sense of Immersion skill really was great!
These guys were scared out of their wits, yet they still remembered him.
Before you continue