Chapter 223
“Master, Master! We went on a picnic today!”
“A huge, enormous tree appeared on the plains! I flew and flew, and no matter how high I went, I couldn’t reach the branches!”
As it spoke, the little round sparrow’s previously cheerful voice turned indignant. The already plump fluffball puffed up even more in frustration, becoming as round as a soft dumpling.
Behind his mask, the red-robed man’s calm crimson eyes reflected a trace of thought.
“A tree spirit?”
The round sparrow tilted its tiny head in confusion. “A tree spirit? What’s that?”
“A type of demon,” he replied tersely, offering no further explanation.
Compared to Su Ci, whom the little sparrow often interacted with, the red-robed man was far more reserved, speaking only when necessary. The little sparrow had grown used to this.
“A demon… probably like a monster, right?” it thought aloud.
Well, it hadn’t sensed any threat from the giant tree. Plus, when it started to wither, Su Ci stepped in to save it. That meant the tree spirit was probably a good one!
Consoling itself with this reasoning, the sparrow grumbled, “Flying that much was exhausting! That tree is way too tall. How did it grow so big?”
The little sparrow then started talking about Mu Yuncheng and his son. It seemed to have taken a liking to the pair.
“I’m telling you, Mu Bao’s hair can turn into fine vines, and it can even bloom flowers! Oh, that tree also bloomed flowers, and they smelled amazing. I’ve never smelled anything like it before…”
It was that captivating fragrance that had driven the sparrow to try so hard to reach the treetop—though it ultimately gave up halfway.
After talking about Mu Yuncheng’s family, the little sparrow moved on to Su Ci’s art lesson with Little Li Hua.
“Little Li Hua wants to be a painting cultivator someday! It sounds so cool! Too bad I can’t draw, and it looks super hard…”
Hopping around on the red-robed man’s palm, the little sparrow chirped incessantly, sharing its day’s experiences. Its lively, childlike voice filled the otherwise silent space, creating the impression that ten people were speaking at once.
The red-robed man listened quietly, occasionally nodding his head. To the little sparrow, even this small gesture was a great encouragement.
Eventually, the sparrow ran out of energy. It flopped onto its back in his hand, rolling around lazily before stretching out its tiny legs and letting out a contented sigh.
The empty barrier seemed to echo faint traces of its earlier chatter.
“Master, when will I be able to take human form?”
Before, Chirp Chirp had never considered the idea of being human and saw nothing wrong with being a little sparrow.
But now, its perspective had changed.
It wanted to play with Xue Wei and the younglings at the nursery. It wanted to join them on adventures, fighting monsters side by side. Most of all, it wanted to stay by Xue Wei’s side to protect her…
Yet, as a little sparrow, it would always remain the one being protected.
At the nursery, every youngling had their unique strengths.
Even Lai Qian Qian, the panda cub who had arrived later than it, had transformed back into human form and started learning artifact crafting with Brother A-Yan.
Chirp Chirp, with her immense strength that wasn’t as uncontrollable as Xue Wei’s, had been praised by Su Ci for her dexterity and potential to become a skilled artifact cultivator. Under A-Yan’s guidance, she was learning to craft all sorts of tools and equipment.
For example, the storage pouches the younglings used were the work of artifact cultivators. Brother A-Yan was also teaching her to make other incredible items.
Though Chirp Chirp’s progress wasn’t yet obvious, it was clear that she would become a valuable asset in the future.
But what about the little sparrow? Its small body couldn’t even carry a storage pouch…
Thinking about this, the sparrow couldn’t help feeling a deep sadness.
“I really want to transform into human form quickly…”
“Master~”
The little sparrow gazed up at the red-robed man with its bead-like black eyes, its childish voice sweetly pleading. It was the kind of charm no one could resist—except the red-robed man, who remained unmoved.
He reached out a finger to tap the sparrow’s head, giving it a light push. The chubby little bird, which had just hopped up, rolled back like a fuzzy ball, tumbling right off his palm.
“Master!” the sparrow squawked, flapping its wings furiously.
“If you focus on your cultivation instead of slacking off, you’ll eventually transform,” the red-robed man replied, brushing the dust off his palm with a calm, cool tone.
The sparrow’s beady eyes flickered with guilt as it stubbornly retorted, “I haven’t been slacking! If I were slacking, how could I have learned to talk so quickly? Isn’t that right?”
The red-robed man glanced at it, not bothering to respond.
The sparrow began to reflect on itself. Okay, fine—it had been slacking. Ever since learning to talk and gaining the ability to come and go freely from the barrier, it had spent most of its time playing outside and had gotten a bit lazy…
It flapped its wings, finally settling on the man’s shoulder. Its tone softened as it tried to please him. “Master, I know I was wrong. I won’t play outside every day anymore. Please don’t be mad at me.”
Seeing no response, the sparrow boldly added, “If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as you’ve forgiven me, okay?”
“…”
The red-robed man stayed silent, and the sparrow beamed with glee. “Hehe, I knew Master was the best!”
Growing more audacious, it flew to perch on the man’s head. But no sooner had it landed than he plucked it off and dropped it into a floating orb of water.
The orb, roughly the size of two adult hands clasped together, hovered in the air. Despite the sparrow’s frantic flailing, it remained perfectly still.
“I’ve already bathed! I’m clean!” the sparrow protested.
“What did you use to bathe?”
“Of course, I used sand!”
The moment it said that, it was dunked back into the water, forced to swallow a few gulps before it wisely shut its mouth.
After thoroughly scrubbing itself, washing off all the sand, the water orb finally vanished. What remained was a dripping wet sparrow, looking utterly bedraggled.
It cast a pitiful glance at the red-robed man but dared not shake the water off onto him. Only when he conjured a towel did it chirp in protest and burrow inside.
After much wriggling, the little sparrow poked its damp head out from the towel.
It gazed at the red-robed man, who remained seated in his usual posture, the chains binding him extending outward like a web. The sparrow couldn’t help but ask, “Master, when will you be able to leave this place?”
Although the sparrow knew its master was another form of Su Ci, it couldn’t reconcile the two as the same person.
Its master had stayed in this sealed space, guarding the barrier, for countless years. The sparrow had only been here for about a month before it felt like it was going crazy—otherwise, it wouldn’t have learned to talk so quickly.
Thinking of how its master had been confined here for so long, unable even to step outside for fresh air, the sparrow felt deeply sorry for him.
But the red-robed man’s reaction was indifferent.
He lifted his gaze to the void above. Although the Resentment Spirit had been dispersed, the malevolent energy it controlled had not dissipated. It remained sealed within the earth.
If this vast reservoir of malevolence were to break free, it wouldn’t just devastate life on this planet but could also threaten the entire star system.
At that point, the Resentment Spirit might truly rise again.
However, the efforts above ground over the past few months had yielded significant results. The purification grass was growing rapidly, thriving even in harsh environments. At this rate, the malevolence could be fully cleansed in less than a century.
He spoke as though it were a trivial matter, but the sparrow let out a startled shriek. “A century?! That’s way too long!”
It doubted it could even live that long.
“Too long?” The red-robed man glanced down at it. For someone who had been guarding this place for tens of thousands of years, a century felt like the blink of an eye. But for the little sparrow, it might indeed span its entire lifetime.
If the other version of himself were to consider this, he’d likely be saddened, but the red-robed man remained unmoved.
“Such is the nature of life,” he thought. “Why trouble oneself over it?”
“If you cultivate diligently, you might be able to shorten the time,” he said coolly.
The total amount of malevolence wasn’t fixed. While purification reduced it, the emergence of new wraith spirits replenished it. Purifying malevolence was merely treating the symptoms—guiding wraith spirits to return to the earth was the true cure.
“Really? If I work hard on my cultivation, you can leave here sooner?” The little sparrow popped out of the towel, flying up eagerly to face the man, its tiny body brimming with anticipation.
Its feathers were nearly dry, with just a faint damp sheen, making it look fresh and adorable.
“Yes.” The red-robed man nodded slightly.
“Then I won’t slack off anymore. I’ll stay here to cultivate tomorrow, and… maybe the day after tomorrow—or no, the day after that—I’ll go out!” The little sparrow declared solemnly.
Su Su had said that balance was important, and taking a break to play every few days wasn’t excessive, right?
The red-robed man neither approved nor objected to its arrangement. The little sparrow didn’t seem to need his response either and began its cultivation immediately after making the announcement.
Chirp Chirp didn’t ask why its cultivation could speed up his release. After all, its master was Su Su, and everything Su Su said was always right!
The red-robed man quietly watched it. For the first time, a faint trace of a smile rippled through his pale-red eyes.
*
Having followed the advice of the children at the nursery, Mu Yuncheng decided to wait until the next day to meet Su Ci. After dinner, he left the nursery with his son.
Although Base 24 had provided them with accommodations, Mu Yuncheng couldn’t stop worrying about his ancestor, now rooted alone on the plain.
He boarded a small shuttle with Mu Bao, leaving the base and heading toward the great tree for the night.
Due to months without any monster attacks, Base 24 had significantly relaxed its nighttime patrols. Mu Yuncheng’s shuttle departed the base unimpeded.
This time, his mood was completely different from before, allowing him the leisure to observe the surrounding landscape.
After passing beyond the base’s protective walls, he saw the once-barren wasteland now covered in Star-chain Fruit—though “barren wasteland” was no longer a fitting term for it.
With his plant-based bloodline, Mu Yuncheng immediately sensed that something was unusual about the Star-chain Fruit plantation.
“Dad, this Star-chain Fruit is so big!” Mu Bao exclaimed, wide-eyed.
Mu Yuncheng nodded, gently ruffling his son’s hair, then continued studying the sprawling plant.
Since autumn arrived, this Star-chain Fruit vine had stopped bearing fruit, and the giant insects that had once roamed the plantation had diminished. Now, under the night sky, the area exuded a peaceful and serene atmosphere.
Although Mu Yuncheng had seen larger plants before—like Mu Qing, the millennia-old ancestor of the Mu clan—those plants had taken tens of thousands of years to reach their size.
Yet, this Starvine Fruit vine was clearly young. Mu Yuncheng could confidently estimate that it hadn’t been growing for more than a year.
This fact alone was astonishing.
But then he remembered: this was Prison Star, notorious for its mutated plants. He had once considered coming here to study such phenomena himself.
However, various circumstances had delayed him. Moreover, the Star Alliance strongly discouraged Mu clan members with awakened bloodline abilities from visiting Prison Star, fearing they might become “polluted” or affected like the plants.
As a result, no awakened Mu clan members had set foot on Prison Star. Ordinary clan members, lacking the ability to sense the planet’s abnormalities, had been unable to connect it to their long-lost Mother Planet. Thus, they had fruitlessly searched for countless years without finding it.
Thankfully, it wasn’t too late now. And with the emergence of plants capable of purifying pollution on Prison Star, there was hope that the planet could eventually be restored to its former beauty.
Mu Yuncheng’s small shuttle left the Star-chain Fruit plantation behind and continued its flight toward the plain.
The plain at night was tranquil, with only the sounds of insects chirping breaking the silence. Overhead, clouds and mist shrouded the moonlight, but the plain wasn’t plunged into darkness because—
The towering ancient tree standing in the plain emitted a faint green glow.
Mu Yuncheng thought he was seeing things until Mu Bao cheerfully exclaimed, “Daddy, Grandpa Tree is glowing!”
Only then did he confirm it wasn’t a trick of the eyes—the tree was truly glowing! This had never happened before, and Mu Yuncheng couldn’t help but feel astonished.
He piloted the shuttle around the tree twice, carefully recording all the details he observed.
He noticed that Mu Qing had not yet awakened, but the tree’s glow flickered rhythmically, almost like the cadence of breathing, creating a mesmerizing sight.
However, as the night deepened, the atmosphere on the plain seemed to subtly shift. Mu Bao sensed it and instinctively clung to his father’s clothes.
At that moment, Mu Yuncheng’s communicator chimed.
When he checked, he saw it was from the nursery’s caretaker, Zhou Yan—the young man who always seemed to be by Su Ci’s side.
After connecting, he received Zhou Yan’s simple message:
[Zhou Yan]: Please stay in the riverside cabin.
Though puzzled, Mu Yuncheng’s tendency to heed advice came in handy. He thanked Zhou Yan and promptly took Mu Bao to the small cabin by the river.
As soon as they stepped inside, the eerie atmosphere of the plain dissipated. Mu Bao, who had been feeling uneasy, immediately calmed down.
The cabin was small but fully equipped, with everything they needed. Mu Yuncheng quickly settled in and gave his son a warm bath.
As he watched the child’s legs, now functioning normally, he couldn’t hold back the redness in his eyes, even though he knew it was real. “Your mom will be so happy when she sees you’ve recovered,” he said softly.
Mu Bao’s cheeks, flushed from the steam, glowed as he nodded. After a moment of thought, he asked, “When can I see Mom? Can we bring her here too?”
“Of course,” Mu Yuncheng replied. “Daddy’s making the arrangements. In a little while, you’ll see her.”
“Yay!” Mu Bao cheered, his face lighting up with a radiant smile that hadn’t been seen in a long time.
That night, father and son snuggled under the same blanket, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling but feeling a deep sense of comfort and affection for their surroundings.
“Daddy, I really like it here,” Mu Bao said. “I like everything about this place!”
“Go to sleep, little one. Tomorrow, we’ll meet the Earth Spirit.”
“Okay!”
