Lin Mu talked with Senior Xukong for a couple more minutes before celebrating Little Shrubby's breakthrough. The reward was of course, more Beast Qi and was quickly taken by Little Shrubby as if it would run away at any moment.
Lin Mu could only chuckle at this and wait for Little Shrubby to assimilate it. While doing this, a thought came to him.
'If Little Shrubby has had this much growth and difference after getting Beasts Qi when he had already matured a bit, what would be happening to a beast that has been fed Beast Qi since birth?' Lin Mu thought. 'Or perhaps… before birth?' he recalled the Grey Egg.
The Fire Fang snake and Black Water Snake's egg had been sitting in the Ring for most of the time. Lin Mu only took it out to inject Beast Qi into it every day for a couple of minutes.
It had become routine to him, just like eating and drinking, and he would do it without even thinking much of it. He had done it when he was riding Little Shrubby too, and would simply pull the egg out before injecting the Beast Qi for a minute before putting it back into the ring.
It had stayed mostly the same ever since then and Lin Mu wondered when it would be hatching. Senior Xukong also didn't know when it would do, since the egg had certainly gone on a completely different path after having been given Beast Qi.
If it were a normal egg, it would have possibly hatched by now, or would soon. But in the case of the Grey egg, it was showing no such signs.
"I think it's time we leave now and head on forward," Lin Mu said after an hour.
Little Shrubby opened his eyes and looked around before nodding. The forest had become really quiet ever since the battle and Lin Mu attributed it to the strong aura of a Dao Shell realm beast and perhaps its blood as well.
In addition to that, Little Shrubby's Bloodline had also become stronger, and the aura exuding from him was also suppressive for other beasts and would make them think several times before coming close.
And this was the case for beasts who would be at the same cultivation base as Little Shrubby, which was the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm. The ones that were weaker would run away with their tails between their legs.
Just a mere wisp of the aura was enough to terrify them more than enough.
~thud~ shua~
Little Shrubby and Lin Mu continued on ahead and traversed the deep forest. Their travel was easy at the start, but after about three days, they started to meet beasts again. The strange thing was that they would still attack them from time to time, which was strange considering Little Shrubby.
"Isn't this not supposed to happen? The beasts earlier were afraid of coming close." Lin Mu said.
"This might actually be more of a territory thing. You two are passing through the territories of thousands of beasts who already fight a lot amongst themselves. There are already other Dao Shell realm beasts here that they cannot provoke.
Even if they are scared and want to escape, they can't really go to other areas as they may be the places where Dao Shell realm beasts live. So their only choices become either fighting a Dao Shell realm beast by intruding on its territory or to fight you two who are at the Nascent Soul realm.
And the choice must be obvious here." Xukong explained.
"I see…" Lin Mu understood. "But then, doesn't this also mean… there are Dao Shell realm beasts nearby?" he added.
"Indeed. You can take this as a sign. If a beast attacks you despite not being provoked and seeing you two, then it's quite likely there are Dao Shell realm beasts living nearby. Of course, there is always a chance that the beast is just stupid and fights anything.
There are often many examples of such beasts. Then there are also those that don't really have a good enough spirit sense and thus can't judge very well who they are fighting against." Xukong replied.
Lin Mu could only nod and pity the beasts that would be coming to fight them. But it also made him alert about the Dao Shell realm beasts.
While he had indeed fought and won a battle against the Bronze Tribe Wolf earlier, Lin Mu knew that the same would not be the same for other Dao Shell realm beasts. Little Shrubby and he were simply lucky that their match up was favorable.
Plus, the Bronze Tribe Wolf was at the Shell Initiation stage. Lin Mu didn't have the same confidence in dealing with one that was at the Shell Genesis stage. After all, only after a Dao Shell was created would the true powers of the Dao Shell realm be visible.
The Dao Shell had many more functions than to just protect the Dao Embryo. It could also be used for offense and defense. One must know that a Dao Shell was quite tough, in fact, many Dao Shell realm cultivator's bodies were weaker than their Dao Shell.
Thus, they would often use their Dao Shell to defend against attacks that they could not bear with their own bodies. Then on the other hand, since the Dao Shell was so hard, it could be used as a direct weapon by using it as a smasher.
One just had to slam it onto their enemies and turn them into a pancake. Lin Mu was doubtful if he would be able to take on the toughness of a Dao Shell at this moment and thought that perhaps only the Third Form of the Boulder Collapsing Fist might have any luck at causing it damage.
While the second form piercer was focused on piercing barriers and defenses, it was still limited, depending on the opponent's cultivation base.
Lin Mu and Little Shrubby continued their journey and one week after Little Shrubby's breakthrough, they finally found their mission's destination.