A New Skill

"One more thing, kid. Wait there, I need to bring you something you may need!"

After those words rang out, Li Zhu waited outside the wooden hut, curios about what Shen Zan would want to give him. He had just taken away one of the best plants in the man's collection, so Li Zhu would not have been surprised if Shen Zan grew angry towards him, let alone gifting him something.

He did not have to wait long to find out, though, as Shen Zan, a tall, middle aged man with long black hair walked out of his hut, an imposing aura around him.

"Li Zhu, right? How do you plan on using the Hundred Deaths Tree?" asked Shen Zan, surprisingly recognizing Li Zhu from the four people he had been told about.

After a short moment of hesitation, Li Zhu simply replied, "As you have probably noticed from before, I have a summon that can go in the shadow realm, and I will use the Hundred Deaths Fruits to boost his bloodline once every year."

Li Zhu saw no reason to lie to Shen Zan, since his purpose in choosing the Hundred Deaths tree was quite clear to all. That said, he yet again failed to understand Shen Zan's motives, while the man himself simply smiled.

"You know that the fruit grows once a year, but do you know how to nurture the tree?" asked Shen Zan, confident that Li Zhu's knowledge was much inferior to his own in the field of spirit plants.

Realization struck Li Zhu, as he finally understood that Shen Zan wanted to help him make use of the plant, and had wanted to test his knowledge beforehand.

Slightly embarrassed, Li Zhu shook his head, replying, "The book where I learnt about the Hundred Deaths Tree was a collection of many different spirit plants, and did not have much information other than the basic purpose and growth timing."

Although Li Zhu had extensive knowledge about spirit plants and beasts, it was mostly superficial, since learning everything about the hundreds of thousands of species would be close to impossible, especially for the young kid he used to be.

"As I suspected, I can help you get the most of the tree. To grow most demonic spirit plants, you will need specific types of demonic soil, which can only be found in dangerous places where demonic beasts run wild. Since I am quite sure you do not have such soil, I am willing to give you enough to grow the tree, and I'll even gift you a spirit ring for live objects, where you can keep and nurture it." said Shen Zan, sounding extremely generous and willing to help Li Zhu in every way possible.

"And what do you want in return?" asked Li Zhu, knowing there was no free lunch in this world.

"You're smart, kid... but what I want is much less than what you probably expect. All I need is a seed from the fruit, so that I can grow another tree in the future. There are three seeds in each fruit, so I do not think that asking for one is a big request. As for what you do with the two remaining seeds, that is up for you to decide, but I will not provide any more demonic soil." Shen Zan didn't beat around the bush, as he directly asked Li Zhu to spare a seed, which was a small favor when compared to the soil and spirit ring he would give in return.

Shen Zan had only found the Hundred Deaths Fruit a few years prior, and since it took about five years to mature, the first fruit that had grown was the one which Li Zhu was going to give Buddy. Since finding a new plant of this rarity in the wild would be close to impossible, Shen Zan naturally wanted one of the seeds, so he could in the future make more fruits and explore their uses in alchemy.

Li Zhu, who had been expecting a major request, was slightly surprised, but that did not stop him from immediately nodding, saying, "Yes, yes... definitely!"

After all, demonic soil was very hard to find, and spirit rings were quite expensive, especially ones where living creatures could be kept. These two items were both things that Li Zhu would have needed at one point or another, so giving away one seed which he had no particular use for was not a problem at all.

"Great, I'll take the seeds right now, and here is your new spirit ring, with the demonic soil inside!" said Shen Zan, before pointing towards the Hundred Deaths Fruit, still hanging off of the tree.

With a sudden shine of light, three little spheres were lifted into the air, one of them floating all the way to Shen Zan's palm, and the other two landing precisely in Li Zhu's pocket. At the same time, Shen Zan passed a small silver ring to Li Zhu, who gladly accepted it, excitement covering his face.

With that, Shen Zan returned into his wooden hut, and Li Zhu was left in the garden with a small tree in his hands, and two seeds and a silver ring in his pocket.

Eager to find out what skill Buddy would learn, Li Zhu headed to the outer sect housing, where he would continue to stay for a few days before he officially became an inner sect disciple and received his identification token.

There, he placed the Hundred Deaths tree in his spirit ring, nestled into the demonic soil. He also placed the Phoenix-Blood Armor and the Blue-Thunder gauntlet in the spirit ring, since he had not had a use for them since he had found them in the Kill Illusions tower. The spirit ring was three cubic meters in volume, so although the three objects did not touch, there was only about half of the initial space remaining.

Li Zhu then threw the Hundred Deaths fruit to Buddy, who was by now salivating in anticipation. It was instinctual for Spirit Beasts to eat treasures that strengthened their bloodline, so the moment Buddy had seen the fruit at the garden, that was all he could think about.

As Buddy ate the shiny red fruit, Li Zhu simply sat on his bed cultivating, knowing that the transformation would take quite some time.

Buddy's body first transformed into the Demonic Shadow Wolf Form that he was used to, before changing further. First of all, he began to grow, and from the size of one grown adult, he gradually grew by about a foot. He was now extremely large, and further transformations would not affect his size that much.

This was not very important, though, since after spirit beasts reached a very high realm of cultivation, they could increase or decrease their size at will, albeit with some restraints.

The red markings on Buddy's body also shifted around, but they still only formed abstract images, which didn't particularly catch Li Zhu's attention.

The only notable part of the transformation was Buddy's paws, which, with his legs, grew larger in size. The red markings, which had until now stayed on Buddy's back, reached across his legs, forming small symbols on each of his paws. The symbols shined bright, causing even Li Zhu to look over, surprised. The symbols were different for each paw, and Li Zhu recognized neither, since they probably had to do with Buddy's demonic bloodline.

The transformation did not change Buddy's appearance by a whole lot, but it still took about half an hour to complete, as Li Zhu cultivated.

When a frightening aura of blood-lust filled the room, Li Zhu knew that the transformation had finished, and he opened his eyes to see Buddy shrink back to his usual size.

'What skill have you gotten?"' wondered Li Zhu, realizing that the symbols on Buddy's paws probably signified a new skill.

After quickly fusing with Buddy, Li Zhu stood frozen in his room, knowledge about a new skill flowing into his mind. As he had predicted, Buddy's bloodline had reached a new stage, bringing with it a new skill. As a spirit beast strengthened their bloodline, it became increasingly tough to advance, to the point that most beasts only ever learned two skills.

"Shadow Claws, an attack skill with two different modes. One can either shoot incorporeal strikes that simply pass through an enemy, or a real strike which causes incredible damage. Furthermore, any other skill can be infused into the shadow claws, which can be used at short or long range" mumbled Li Zhu, going through all of the knowledge he had just learned, excitement visible in his eyes.

Shadow Claws was unlike Frost Touch, which Li Zhu had named himself, and it had surprisingly come with a name. This was probably due to the fact that demonic beasts were some of the smartest spirit beasts, and once they reached a high level of cultivation they even named their own skills, something which was carried on from generation to generation.

As he analyzed the new skill, Li Zhu grew increasingly excited, since he understood the potential it had in a fight. By alternating between real and fake strikes, an enemy could never fully be on the offensive, and would always need to be cautious. Furthermore, Li Zhu could even infuse Frost Touch into the shadow claws, although that would require a very high amount of heavenly energy, which would place him at disadvantage in a long fight.

'Finally I have an attack skill... now I am ready for what is to come!' thought Li Zhu, feeling slightly more confident over entering the inheritance trials.