The Transmigrator with a Belly Full of Schemes

"Ah, didn't the Thorn Flower have instincts like poison-spitting, rooting, Offshoot Summoning, corpse-eating, and spores? There aren't any corpses for corpse-eating right now, and spores can only be used at a higher level, so I used Offshoot Summoning. Wah—what are you doing?" Yue Yang found his collar being grabbed by the little girl.

"You know Offshoot Summoning? I didn't hear wrong?" Yue Bing, dressed in black, was so excited that her face flushed red. Her tiny hands clutched Yue Yang's collar tightly as she stared at him and pressed for an answer.

Among plant-types, most possessed the ability of "Offshoot Summoning."

Flowers, vines, and fungi in particular could almost all summon offshoots. A few plant-type war beasts, such as trees and bamboo, might not be able to.

The academy instructors taught students rooting and poison-spitting, but they did not readily teach Offshoot Summoning. They normally would not even mention it. Yue Bing had only learned from books that plant-types possessed such an ability. She had previously asked an instructor for guidance, but that greedy fellow had hinted that he would charge at least fifty gold before passing on such a secret technique. Yet all the family's money had been taken to the Ethereal Sect to buy Beast-Spirit Enlightenment Pills for Third Brother.

With no money, Yue Bing could only refuse this disguised bribe in resentment. As a result, she had never learned how to make plant-type war beasts perform "Offshoot Summoning."

Now, unexpectedly, even her Third Brother—whom everyone considered worthless—knew this skill that instructors kept secret and refused to teach.

How could she not be excited?

"Third Brother, teach me! Teach me the technique for making this plant-type war beast perform Offshoot Summoning!" Yue Bing was beside herself with excitement. Even the hand gripping Yue Yang's collar trembled.

"Let go first. Don't get so excited..." Yue Yang was drenched in sweat. This little girl really loves learning. Fine—she had just been his teacher, and now it was his turn. "Seventh Sister, this is actually very simple. It's like an ordinary summon: first establish mental resonance, until you feel completely united in mind and spirit with your war beast. That feeling means you can control the summoned beast completely. Then have it use its Offshoot Summoning instinct... Mm, there's one thing to note. At this point, the spiritual energy in your body must be sufficient. Then it will send an image back to you, as though there are two Thorn Flowers in your mind. Keep the main body, then summon out the secondary body produced through Offshoot Summoning... As long as you have enough spiritual energy and the main body remains unchanged, you can summon many secondary bodies. But that's exhausting. Your mind gets very confused, and it feels awful!"

Yue Yang drew upon the Thorn Flower-related knowledge instilled in his mind by the Bronze Codex, then combined it with his own experience as he explained it to Yue Bing.

He knew that even plant-types surely possessed more profound knowledge.

But his level was too low right now. He was merely a novice apprentice, so he had no way to sort it all out.

Even this knowledge was most likely only available to him because he possessed the Insight Talent, allowing him to "see through" the Thorn Flower's hidden skills. Otherwise, how could this little girl—who had studied at the academy for so long and was a genuine genius—still not have learned Offshoot Summoning?

"Yes, all right, I'll try it right away." This time, Yue Bing listened as seriously as an elementary school student, nodding again and again. The excitement on her face refused to fade.

"Take it slowly, don't rush..." Before Yue Yang could finish, the little girl had already reached out and lightly pressed the pattern, closed her eyes in meditation, and began trying.

A long time passed without the slightest response, until Yue Yang began to wonder whether he had been wrong.

Then he suddenly saw pain appear on Yue Bing's face, turning it deathly pale.

Her little hands began to tremble.

After about a minute, golden light streamed from between her fingers, and two Saliva-Spitting Thorn Flowers were summoned at the same time... The one on the left was clearly slightly taller, and its stem was also thicker. Other than that, however, the two plants were identical in form. Their colors, shapes, and movements were exactly alike, differing only slightly in size. Sweat now beaded Yue Bing's forehead, as though she had fought a great battle.

She opened her eyes, wiping away sweat with one hand while breathing in suppressed gasps.

Though she looked utterly exhausted, her eyes brimmed with the excitement and joy of success.

"I succeeded! I succeeded! Thank you, Third Brother! I've always wanted to learn Offshoot Summoning, but the instructor refused to teach me. Thank you, Third Brother!" Perhaps Yue Bing had recalled all the grievances she had suffered at the academy, for her eyes had begun to redden.

But the little girl was very strong. She did not cry. Instead, she gave Yue Yang a deep bow.

Yue Yang hurriedly shook his head and waved his hands. "You're welcome, Seventh Sister. If you hadn't given me the Saliva-Spitting Thorn Flower, I wouldn't have known it had this ability either!"

At his words, Yue Bing came back to her senses.

Right—hadn't Third Brother only just obtained the Saliva-Spitting Thorn Flower? How did he know about Offshoot Summoning?

Yue Yang discovered the little girl staring at him as though he were a monster. Feeling dizzy inside, he hurriedly made up a lie to fool her. "Seventh Sister, it's like this. My talent is a hidden talent. In other words, I can discover some hidden skills or attributes in things. But my talent is only Level One, so the secrets I discover are probably only the most basic ones."

"Your talent really can't be seen. I didn't notice just now. I never expected Third Brother's talent to be such a miraculous hidden talent!" No matter how talented Yue Bing was, she was still just a little girl. Yue Yang spun a tale, and she believed him.

"Yes, but you absolutely mustn't tell anyone. Otherwise, it could easily invite jealousy." Yue Yang was a low-key person. His greatest wish was to make a fortune in silence!

"Third Brother, you said earlier that besides poison-spitting, rooting, and Offshoot Summoning, plant-type Thorn Flowers also have corpse-eating and spores. What are those two?" Yue Bing had now completely become Yue Yang's student. Having resolved the Offshoot Summoning skill she had desired most, she eagerly asked about the other two skills as well. Only now did Yue Yang realize that he actually possessed more knowledge than an outstanding student who had studied at the academy for four years.

Yue Yang dearly wanted to arrogantly tilt his head toward the sky, clasp his hands behind his back, and pace with the measured stride of an old scholar, while little Yue Bing sweetly called him Teacher Yue!

After the transmigrator indulged in his pride, his scheming nature surfaced again.

Although Yue Bing was absolutely harmless toward him, telling her everything still somehow felt wrong. He was plainly a shameless villain—how could he be so good to a little girl?

Thus, Yue Yang decided to conceal part of the Thorn Flower's secrets.

"The Thorn Flower's corpse-eating ability means swallowing animal corpses to gain very, very slow evolution. When ordering a Thorn Flower to eat a corpse, you need to control it with complete unity of mind and spirit. For example, if you want the Thorn Flower to swallow a bristle-furred rat, you must also think about swallowing that bristle-furred rat." Before Yue Yang had even finished, Yue Bing's face had already gone somewhat pale.

Ordering the Thorn Flower was one thing, but she had to think about swallowing a rat herself?

At the thought of it, the little girl nearly vomited.

In truth, the transmigrator had deliberately used a rat as his example, and the Thorn Flower's corpse-eating skill was not nearly so simple. He had concealed its true secret.