Call Me Dad

"Detection complete. This tree's life value is: 2530."

Good grief. Trees as thick as an adult's waist? There had to be hundreds of thousands of them in the Star Dou Great Forest, if not millions.

To evolve his Azure Nether Staff martial soul, he only needed to absorb another thirty trees with life values above 1000. To the entire forest, that was nothing more than a single hair from nine oxen. It would cause no trouble at all.

Let's get to it!

Liu Hao walked up to a tree whose life value met the requirement, bent his upper body down, and wrapped both arms around the base of its trunk. Soul power surged through him, and he gave a mighty heave. A rapid series of popping sounds rang out as the roots snapped, and he easily pulled the entire tree out.

That was how strong Liu Hao's physique had become. Uprooting a waist-thick tree with his bare hands posed no difficulty whatsoever.

Once he had uprooted the tree and completely separated it from the ground, Liu Hao summoned his Azure Nether Staff martial soul and pressed it against the trunk.

An azure glow radiated from the Azure Nether Staff and seeped into the trunk. In mere moments, the staff devoured the entire tree.

Progress +1

Liu Hao kept repeating the process.

An incense stick's worth of time later.

"System notification: Your martial soul, Azure Nether Staff, has successfully evolved into the god-level martial soul-Kunlun Divine Wood Wooden Stick! Its substance resembles solid jade, its weight is that of ten thousand tons. Rootless yet undying, it neither rots nor decays."

Good grief. Even its species changed.

Liu Hao's eyes brimmed with affection as he gazed at the Kunlun Divine Wood Wooden Stick before him. Its azure-green color had become a pale green tinged with white, and it radiated an ancient, sacred aura.

Its smooth, warm texture made him reluctant to put it down.

As expected of a god-level martial soul. I shouldn't have to fear Qian Daoliu now, right?

No, it still wasn't enough.

Excitement burned in Liu Hao's heart. Who did Qian Daoliu think he was? Did he deserve a martial soul on the same level as a cheat-user like me?

I had to keep evolving it!

"System, show me the requirements for evolving my Kunlun Divine Wood Wooden Stick again."

"The requirements for evolving the host's martial soul, Kunlun Divine Wood Wooden Stick, again are: Devour 300 trees with life values of at least 10000."

Hiss-

Another tenfold increase!

Liu Hao frowned slightly, but he was not too worried. The Star Dou Great Forest was full of enormous trees, after all. There should be plenty with life values of 10000.

Using his powerful spiritual sense, he swiftly searched for larger trees, checking them one after another.

A tree as thick as two people's waists had a life value of 4760.

A tree as thick as three people's waists had a life value of 6630.

Finally, he measured a life value of 10660 from an enormous tree five people thick and forty meters tall.

Good grief. Trees this big weren't exactly common.

"Damned system, can't you simplify it a little more for me? Finding trees this big will take some time, even in the Star Dou Great Forest."

"Damned host, aren't you getting a little full of yourself? I've already simplified it for you, so take what you're given. What's with all the whining? You want it even easier? Do you think conservation of energy doesn't exist?"

"Then where's the conservation of energy when I get stronger just by lying down?"

"...Damned host, don't ask questions you shouldn't. Keep running your mouth, and I might just self-destruct and take back everything I've given you."

"???"

This time, Liu Hao did not dare say another word. He felt wronged, but yes, he was probably just a pawn chosen by some higher being. He had been asking for a mile after being given an inch.

Without the system, what could a lowly beast of burden like him accomplish? He was no good at studying, had mastered no trade, and could not navigate human relationships. All he could sell was his labor.

He might as well obediently rely on the system and enjoy himself. Every day of enjoyment was another day gained. As for how things would ultimately end, he could worry about that when the time came.

The boat would straighten itself when it reached the bridge; a man would rest when his lifespan reached its end.

Having comforted himself, Liu Hao began patiently searching for enormous trees that met the requirement.

Though trees that large were uncommon, he still found one every so often.

Just as Liu Hao thought he would have to keep searching like this, he suddenly detected the life value of a ten-thousand-year tree soul beast.

51000!

Holy crap?

Looking at the tree soul beast, which was the same size as those ordinary enormous trees but had five times their life value, Liu Hao's eyes lit up.

Who knew soul beasts had so much more life value? Had using cheats really made me stupid? How had I never thought of this?

No matter. Fools had their own luck. If I weren't stupid, perhaps this system would never have bonded with me.

Liu Hao was already in the central region of the Star Dou Great Forest, where ten-thousand-year soul beasts frequently appeared.

However, they were all ground-dwelling soul beasts and of no use to him, so Liu Hao had been ignoring them.

Since tree soul beasts had several times the life value, he only needed to find one as thick as a person's waist for it to more or less meet the requirement.

Unfortunately, it was extremely difficult for a tree to become a soul beast and survive.

Not only did they grow extremely slowly, but tree soul beasts a thousand years old or younger generally had very limited offensive capabilities and often lacked any means of escape.

That was why Liu Hao had searched for so long before finding even one.

Forget it. At least it would speed up the evolution a little.

Somewhat resigned, Liu Hao could only continue using his powerful spiritual sense to search his surroundings.

He devoured one tree after another whose life value met the requirement.

Ten trees... twenty trees... fifty trees... a hundred and fifty trees...

After keeping busy for nearly two full hours, he finally heard that wonderful system notification.

"Ding! System notification: Your martial soul, Kunlun Divine Wood Wooden Stick, has successfully evolved into the god-king-level martial soul-Heaven-Reaching Ambrosial Arbor Wooden Stick! The first heaven-reaching divine tree born when heaven and earth first opened, its roots pierce the Nine Nether Depths, and its branches touch the Nine Heavens. Not only is it tougher and more vigorous, but it has also gained the spatial attribute. It can tear space apart and exile enemies into the void. Unless they can travel through the void or survive within it, death is certain!"

Ho~ly~freaking~crap~~~

God-king-level!!

Seeing that rank, Liu Hao finally felt that his two hours of effort had not been wasted.

"Damned system, I misjudged you again. I never imagined you were this awesome. I'm still in the mortal world, and you've already given me a martial soul that's considered incredibly powerful even in the Divine Realm~"

"Damned host, now that you know how good I am, hurry up and call me Dad."

"Ptooey~"

"..."

"Damned system, even though you treat me well, and even though I'm a useless little beast of burden, I still have my dignity! You want me to call you Dad? Dream on!"

"Dear host, this system has noticed that you do not need the requirements for your martial soul's next evolution, so I've hidden them for you~"

"Godfather! I was wrong! Hurry up and tell me the requirements for my martial soul's next evolution!"

"Hmm? Damned host, what should you call me?"

Tears of humiliation trickled from the corners of Liu Hao's eyes. Grinding his teeth, he forced out each syllable: "...Da...ddy."

"Yeees~~~"

The system answered with satisfaction, completely failing to notice anything strange about his tone. It merely assumed Liu Hao was so humiliated that his voice had changed.

Seeing that the system had noticed nothing amiss, Liu Hao breathed a sigh of relief and felt immensely fortunate.

Could the damned system not read minds? Or did it have some sort of restriction?

With that thought, Liu Hao silently tested it in his mind: Damned system, I'm your dad~

"Hmm!? Damned host, what did you say? How dare you! Do you still want this job? If not, I'll find another host."

"I do, I do! Come on, system, you're getting angry again. I was only joking~ Don't be mad, don't be mad. We're still good partners~"

"Hmph~"

For some reason, the system did not pursue the matter. It merely snorted and fell silent. At the same time, a system notification rang out.

"The requirements for evolving the host's martial soul, Heaven-Reaching Ambrosial Arbor Wooden Stick, again are: Devour 3000 trees with life values of at least 100000."

"Huh? The damned system actually let me off just like that? Strange."

Liu Hao was puzzled and curious, but he asked no further questions. He did not dare provoke the system again.

Still, trees with life values of a hundred thousand would not be easy to find, and he needed three thousand of them.

He had just spent nearly two hours searching for trees with life values above ten thousand, and during that time, he had not encountered a single one above a hundred thousand.

Would he have to venture deep into the Star Dou Great Forest? That might work. With his current strength, he shouldn't have anything to fear even if Di Tian, a soul beast on the verge of the demigod level, appeared, right?

His only concern was Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena, the being born from the Dragon God's division.

Though she was gravely injured now, her divine origin still made her far stronger than Di Tian.

However, as long as he did not slaughter those ferocious beasts hundreds of thousands of years old, she probably would not act without cause.

Besides, he had no need to kill those ferocious beasts. He only wanted to explore the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest and see whether there were any trees with life values of a hundred thousand, and how many.

Most importantly of all, Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena was said to be a peerless beauty too~

Liu Hao could not bear to hurt her and worsen her injuries.

With that in mind, Liu Hao used the aura-concealing ability granted by the system and quietly ventured deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest.

Soon, he arrived at the edge of an immensely vast lake.

This was the very heart of the Star Dou Great Forest, the Lake of Life.

Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena, Black Dragon King Di Tian, Emerald Tianhe Bi Ji, and the other ferocious beasts slumbered in the depths of the Lake of Life.

Just then, a low voice rang out, threatening yet wary.

"Human, what have you come here to do?"