Lin Mu was now in a meadow filled with multicolored flowers. The ground was sprawling with flowers that let out a scent that enamored everyone. Little shrubby walked for a few steps and rolled on the ground.
"Ah~ this is sooooo goood~" Little Shrubby purred.
Lin Mu also couldn't help but sit down and take it all in. It was a pleasant sight that gave peace to his mind and heart, washing away his worries for a bit. The aroma of the flowers was also really nice.
~huu~
Lin Mu took a deep breath and let the scent of the flowers spread in his lungs. But just as he did this, his eyes went wide.
"Wood attribute spirit Qi?!" Lin Mu could tell that there was a different elemental spirit Qi in the air and the most obvious answer was wood.
Lin Mu spread his spirit sense around to his full extent and observed the area.
"There's wood elemental spirit Qi here… even though it is not in as high concentration as that of the volcano, it's still higher than normal air." Lin Mu spoke.
"That makes sense, wood element is something that plants favor of course, so if an area has a higher concentrator of it, plants would grow rather vibrantly there," Xukong replied.
"Hmm… that does seem like it senior." Lin Mu nodded his head.
Lin Mu now desired to cultivate here but knew that he should probably fulfill his mission first. As long as he got the thousand Year old Hong Lin trees, he would also be able to breakthrough and complete the second treasured organ.
"We'll return here later, definitely. Now that we know this place's value we will make use of it." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
He then looked towards little Shrubby who was rolling around on the flowers and spoke, "come on now, we have work to do. We'll come here later after we're done."
"Mmmh, okay…" Little Shrubby said with some unwillingness.
The master and beast then continued onwards and traversed the Billion Flower meadow. Lin Mu realized that the area was far larger than was mentioned in the records of Adviser Chu. And not only that there were also thousands of beasts wandering around here.
Though what was strange was they wouldn't fight, but rather just come here and lay around similar to what little Shrubby was doing. Lin Mu also saw several of them cultivating in peace.
Even beasts that would normally have the relationship of predator and prey were doing the same thing.
"This is quite strange… I've never seen something like this before. Don't beasts usually have battles for territories when they like one?" Lin Mu questioned.
"They do usually, but this is a rather unique location. You must know about watering holes right?" Xukong questioned.
"Yeah, the place where beasts come to drink regardless of their position in the predator chain and they don't fight either." Lin Mu answered.
"Exactly. Think of this place like a watering hole, but for spirit Qi and cultivating. There are many such areas around the world where beasts may reach a harmony and reside in peace.
These areas aren't too valuable either so stronger beasts like Dao Shell realm beasts won't occupy it as a territory either. As for the other beasts like nascent soul realm beasts, they have a high enough intelligence that they won't fight unless someone else offends them first in an area like this." Xukong explained.
Hearing this, Lin Mu was intrigued and had not expected for there to be something like this in the nature. And now that he thought of it, the area wasn't that concentrated in spirit Qi either, its main point was that it contained wood attribute spirit Qi.
"I reckon it is the beasts with an affinity with the wood element that come here." Lin Mu said before looking at little Shrubby. "And little Shrubby has the bloodline of the Fume Wood Panther as well which means he has some affinity with wood too. No wonder he liked the place so much."
Having learned this, Lin Mu continued onwards but the flowers would just not end, prompting him to think of something.
'Is the meadow perhaps expanding? It was definitely not this big according to adviser Chu's records and neither did he mention the peculiarity with the beasts.' Lin Mu thought.
Taking note of this point in his mind, Lin Mu kept an eye out for anything that may have been causing this to happen. For an area like this to expand by over seven times in size in two hundred times meant that there was certainly something catalyzing it.
While Lin Mu did have a desire to find out about the cause, his luck was just not with him and he didn't see anything. He finally reached the end of the area and it took him over a day for this as well.
Another dense forest had now started but the trees in it were filled with broad leaves. The floor was covered densely with dried and dead leaves and fallen logs could also be seen. Low beast cries echoed around the area and winds rustled the trees.
Stepping into the forest, Lin Mu could straight away feel a dangerous aura in the area.
~gulp~
"This area is just as how Adviser Chu described… I'll have to be careful." Lin Mu muttered.
Little Shrubby narrowed his eyes and fluffed his fur as well.
"There are a lot of beasts here… strong beasts… I can feel them…" Little Shrubby spoke his voice slightly strained.
"Indeed… this is also where Adviser Chu got injured the most. It took him over a year to escape this forest." Lin Mu added.
~HOWL~
A loud howl spread across the forest silencing all of the beast's cries and chirps that could be heard till now.
"And speak of the devil…" Lin Mu said before withdrawing the short sword and the Iron Thorn Spear.
~Grrr~
Little Shrubby bared his fangs and growled towards the front sensing a beast approaching.