To Austin's utter disappointment, neither he nor Violet could identify the strange little beast in front of
them. Neither of them had encountered or even heard of such a creature.
"Well, we have lingered in this cave for a couple of days already, and I think it's time for us to go,"
Austin said, giving up on studying the little beast. Although neither of them could recognize it, it seemed
quite cute and adorable from Austin's perspective, and he somehow grew fond of it.
So he decided to leave it alone instead of bringing it along, and leave the place at once.
But to his surprise, the little creature suddenly hopped out of the cave. It took a few steps before
looking back at the two of them. The creature then waved at him with its small paw, earnestly, which left
Austin confused and amazed. It took Austin quite a while to realize what it was trying to say to them.
It actually wanted Austin to follow it somewhere which was beyond weird.
Seeing that the little beast acted so much like human beings, Austin's interest immediately peaked. But
he was still not sure whether he really understood what it meant. Pointing to himself, he curiously
asked, "Did you just ask me to follow you?"
The little thing nodded vigorously like an eager child who just got the attention of an adult, which had
added to its cuteness. It then turned and hopped on quickly.
Austin was very much intrigued. Without thinking twice, he ran out of the cave and followed the little
beast, the curious Violet on his heels. He was very eager to find out where the beast wanted him to go.
The beast sped up after they got out of the cave. Before Austin and Violet could catch up with it, the
little beast suddenly jumped across the cliff and raced through the obstacle course.
The two of them had to use bodily movement skill to try to catch up with it. The little beast was
incredibly fast. The fact that its size was small had only added to its agility. It was like a whizzing ball of
fur in the distance. It darted in the mountains like an arrow, and at every turn of the road Austin thought
that they were going to lose track of it. They never managed to catch up with it until after an hour of
playing follow the leader, when they reached a dark and mysterious forest in the mountain.
It wasn't a vast forest, but it was really dark and dreary. Sunlight was unable to penetrate through the
thick canopy of the towering trees. Austin felt as if they had suddenly entered a different and isolated
world. The place was so cold and creepy. They had to stoop down while walking through the dense
forage and hanging vines. Even the grass was so thick that they had a hard time going through it.
It was even harder to trace the beast in this dense jungle, but luckily it came to a halt after a while.
Austin paused and saw the little thing turn around and point to something in front of it.
'Is there something up ahead?' Austin wondered. 'Maybe that's the reason why this little fellow
earnestly brought us here.'
Driven by intense curiosity, Austin lifted his foot and was about to go in the indicated direction, but the
beast instantly stopped him in his tracks by placing its paw in front of Austin's legs. What was more, it
even made the "shh" sign by placing its finger on its lips, like a little boy silently scolding an adult to
keep quiet.
Austin understood what it meant at once. It wanted him to move cautiously and quietly, perhaps
whatever laid ahead was easily frightened, and might run away even with the slightest sound, a sign of
danger approaching.
Austin obediently did what it suggested, and activated the Wind-commanding Skill. Without his feet
touching the ground, he quietly flew towards the direction that the little beast had just pointed, like a
ghost swooping in.
Austin wasn't even able to go very far when he was suddenly greeted by a burst of red and white light
which came out from nowhere.
He was suddenly alarmed and ready to attack and defend himself. He flung his arm forward at once,
thinking that he was being attacked by an unseen enemy.
His fist connected with nothing but air, but was shocked to see that the light dodged his fist as if it had
the ability to think on its own. The next thing he knew, the light flew past his arm and came rushing at
his face!
Austin with his fast reflexes suddenly flew back, and subconsciously reached out with his other hand to
seize the light, to stop it from getting nearer.
He actually caught it with his bare hand. Confusion was written all over his face as he felt that
something wasn't quite right.
He realized that it was not an attack of an enemy. In fact, it didn't even feel like a beam of light at all. It
was tangible and alive, and Austin actually felt it struggling in his hand as if it was trying to escape his
grasp.
He slowly looked down upon it in utter disbelief, and discovered that he was holding a, well, if he was
not sorely mistaken, a human shape fleece-flower.
To be specific, it was simply a weird-looking out of this world fleece-flower, not only because it looked
so much like a human baby, but also because it was acting like one. Its eyes were wide open, and were
gazing straight at Austin. Austin could tell how horrified and frightened it was by its wide-eyed facial
expression and determined squirming action. It was obviously trying its best to break off from Austin's
firm hold.
Austin had never seen anything like it before in his entire life, but he was sure of one thing--this fleece-
flower was filled with energy, a high-quality and powerful energy from this world.
When he was holding it in his hand, he could feel a burning sensation on his palm, which indicated that
the energy it contained was of strong and of prime masculinity. It was heating up like a burning coal.
It just so happened that the Golden Sun Scripture Austin was practicing at that time was of prime
masculinity as well. It was such a weird coincidence.
The fleece-flower kept struggling to free itself, its human-like face contorting as it concentrated on
squirming. But Austin was gripping it so tightly that its escape was simply impossible.
"My gosh! It's a thousand-year-old fleece-flower!"
exclaimed Violet, who had been observing it for some time.
"You know what this thing is?" Austin asked, his voice filling with complete excitement.
"Of course, and I'm sure about it! It's a real treasure, both magical and very rare to find!"
Violet almost shouted excitedly, like she had discovered some exciting new animal. She stared at the
fleece-flower intently with her eyes as round as moon, as it writhed in Austin's hand. Based on her
reaction and utter fascination, one could deduce that she was in fact telling the truth.
"I have lived in deep mountains and forests for a long time, long enough to have an extensive
knowledge about many rare and valuable herbs. For all I know, this fleece-flower has already shape-
shifted and taken a human form, and is able to develop cognitive skills. It usually takes a thousand
years for a fleece-flower to develop and change into such a treasure," Violet continued to explain.
"You have refined at the premium stage of Earth Realm now, my master, soon you will make it to the
Mysterious Realm. And when you are close to a breakthrough, taking this fleece-flower could rather
increase the probability of success by thirty to forty percent," she added enthusiastically.
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