Chapter 18: A Rare Seed
It seemed like you couldn’t survive without joining the art studio, inexplicably stirring a bit of rebellious sentiment.
It wasn’t that Wu Xian was petty; he simply disliked the art studio’s holier-than-thou attitude.
How to put it?
It was like after you struggled and rose to prominence, the goddess who once chased you in vain haughtily said, “I’m willing to give you a chance to pursue me again.”
“Oh dear~ Sister Tiao knows you’re upset, but if you don’t join the art studio, how will you get certified and rated as a scroll painter later?”
“What, you can’t get rated and certified without joining the art studio?” Wu Xian frowned in doubt.
Tang Tiaotiao shook her head and said, “Not exactly. Individual scroll painting students can also get rated and certified, but it’s much more troublesome. Joining an art studio cuts down on a lot of processes and hassle.”
“Then that’s fine.”
Wu Xian understood—it was like being an independent trainee, he got it~!
The path would be tougher, but it offered freedom, without being manipulated by capital.
“Alright then, I won’t say much about your own affairs,” Tang Tiaotiao thought regretfully to herself. “By the way, where do you get all these weird concepts and inspirations from? And crucially, you can actually draw them successfully?”
“No idea,” Wu Xian played dumb. “Anyway, inspiration strikes, I try drawing it like that, and it works.”
“…”
Black lines popped on Tang Tiaotiao’s forehead.
Could this be the gap between geniuses and ordinary people that the teachers talked about?
As they spoke, the two had reached the edge of the mine pit deep in the base and saw the source of the plant element’s mutation here.
A sprawl of vine plants extending from the depths of the mine pit covered the entire pit like a spider web, with numerous mechanical monsters bound like prey trapped in the spider web, entwined by vines in various spots in the mine pit.
Where the vines converged was a brown object emitting faint green light, its hard shell slightly cracked, like a giant pistachio—giant in name, but actually only pillow-sized.
All the vines were just tender buds sprouting from the crack in that “giant pistachio.”
“A plant element seed?” Wu Xian’s expression was odd.
Tang Tiaotiao nodded excitedly. “A single seed causing dimensional mutation—this seed is definitely something special, an absolute rare material.”
You see, mutation formation mainly comes from strong spirituality infiltrating and assimilating weak spirituality.
In other words, this unknown seed’s spiritual strength far exceeded that of the surrounding mechanical monsters.
“Rare material, huh?”
Wu Xian immediately took interest and prepared to act.
However, just two steps after they descended, all the vines stirred like startled birds.
Though protected by the God of Wealth’s aura of wealth protection, everything outside the aura of wealth shield was instantly wrapped tightly by vines.
Fortunately, these vines hadn’t fused with mechanical system power, so clearing them was still easy.
Boom! Boom!
The God of Wealth casually unleashed two bolts of lightning magic, shattering large swaths of vines.
Over on Tang Tiaotiao’s side, the medicine pestle in the cute little jade rabbit’s hand seemed to have some restraining effect on the plant element. Each time the jade rabbit swung the medicine pestle, the vines shrank back like touch-me-nots and fled far away.
“Hee hee, that’s more like it~!”
Tang Tiaotiao was very satisfied with the jade rabbit’s performance.
With their combined efforts, they soon closed in near the “giant pistachio.”
Sensing danger approaching, the “giant pistachio” grew even more frenzied, with dense vines continuously sprouting from the crack.
“Little Xianzi, have your handsome big uncle coordinate with me—watch how I smash it open!”
After Tang Tiaotiao gestured, Wu Xian instantly got it.
The God of Wealth gathered lightning on his steel whip, unleashing a charged thunderbolt that pierced through the dense vines.
The jade rabbit followed right after, spinning like in a dance to hurl the medicine pestle.
Bang!
The medicine pestle hit the “giant pistachio” dead center.
The hard shell shattered instantly, exposing the tender green “nut” inside.
Without the shell’s protection, the “nut”‘s spiritual fluctuation instantly died out and rapidly retracted.
The vines that had blanketed the sky withered and crumbled in an instant, shedding from the “nut.”
“Hee hee, let’s get out first.”
The two climbed out of the mine pit and drove away under the aura of wealth’s protection.
From afar, spotting Pang Dahai’s team still tangled with the mechanical monsters, Tang Tiaotiao stuck her head out the window and flashed Pang Dahai the international “you’re weak” gesture.
Pang Dahai, already frustrated and stifled, exploded mentally on the spot.
Why?!
With so many of them, they couldn’t compete with just those two?
“Aren’t you top students from Xuantian Academy? This is your level?” Pang Dahai grew angrier the more he thought.
The Xuantian Academy group looked embarrassed, equally unwilling in their hearts.
“It’s not our fault—that kid’s clearly no ordinary person, especially that humanoid scroll painting of his.” They started making excuses.
“Yeah, yeah, I suspect that kid might be some scroll painter master’s descendant, or from a big family.”
Pang Dahai’s face flickered between dark and stormy; he could naturally see Wu Xian’s “impressiveness.”
But he was still seething inside, still stifled.
By now, Wu Xian and the other had driven the 【Lynx Generation 4】 far away to a safety zone.
Putting away the God of Wealth as a scroll painting, he inwardly winced—this wave had consumed nearly half of the God of Wealth’s aura of wealth.
In contrast, Tang Tiaotiao had already begun sensing the information network in the rare “nut.”
“What is this? I can’t understand it at all—no clues whatsoever!” Tang Tiaotiao grumbled while sensing. “Huh~ What’s that? Mechanical system information network?”
She then fell silent, and after a long while, opened her eyes excitedly.
“Haha, I think I’ve got a feel for it!” she said, tossing the big nut to Wu Xian. “Here~ You hold it and study it first. Just remember to give me a piece later; handle the rest however you like.”
“Got some thought process and inspiration?”
Wu Xian took the big nut in surprise and curiously sensed its information network.
Just like the mother insect’s brain marrow before, it was all jumbled, blurry afterimages and scenes—completely incomprehensible.
He also saw the blurry mechanical creature Tang Tiaotiao mentioned, but felt no insight or resonance.
“Is there something special about this mechanical creature’s afterimage?” Wu Xian wondered, full of doubt.
“You haven’t studied mechanical system inheritance, so of course you can’t see it,” Tang Tiaotiao said, her beautiful eyes gleaming. “Anyway, this lady is bursting with inspiration now and can’t wait to test it out.”
Wu Xian nodded lightly with an “oh.”
Mechanical system scroll painting inheritance?
Thinking about it, that made sense—you needed a certain cognitive framework first to trigger related associations and concepts.
Just like the mythological legends from his previous life: if you didn’t know them, even if the Ruyi Jingu Bang was right in front of you, you’d just think it was an iron rod or some weapon.
But no way would you associate it with Monkey Brother, because you didn’t even know who Monkey Brother was.
This gave Wu Xian a deeper understanding of “information network.”
“Associating through key information revealed in the afterimage scenes?”
The Lynx Generation 4 mountain bike sped back.
Wu Xian repeatedly sensed the information network emanating from the big nut, pondering it carefully.
Tang Tiaotiao had triggered associations and concepts because she knew some mechanical system inheritance.
So could he find elements or key info related to previous life mythological legends in it?
Blurry scenes flashed fleetingly in his mind, “playing” back and forth.
Finally, his attention was drawn to a blurry plant scene. “It kinda resembles the laurel in the Moon Palace map from some game in my previous life.”
Often, once an idea sparks, there’s no turning back.
“It looks just like it—so similar!”
It was clearly a blurry afterimage scene, yet the more he looked, the more it seemed to match. Though he’d never seen the real laurel from mythological legends, there was this inexplicable intuition and déjà vu.
“Could it be that this so-called information network really comes from the legendary laurel?!”
The moment the thought arose, Wu Xian felt his heart pounding wildly.
