Tianming was thinking too much. Even if the Radix World Tree was a plant, it could still move, so he wouldn't be rooted to the ground even if he gained a Radix World Body. But that didn't mean it didn't differ from the other three bodies he already had. Thanks to the Radix World Body, his vitality and life force was like that of a plant, which changed how his metabolism and energy conversion worked. Most importantly, he felt like he could regenerate himself like plants regenerated their broken branches. It was a slew of information that overwhelmed him; there was still much more to it than what lay on the surface.
So I'm basically a plant-animal hybrid now, he thought. He had the best of both worlds of animals and plants. Most importantly, a fourth energy core was forming within his saint palace when he cultivated using the Radix World Codex. Initially, he had thought it would be rainbow colored, but what he saw was pure white and filled with sacred life force instead. It was really pleasant to behold. This new spiritsource was called a radixsource.
Even though it was wood-type, it was much more complicated than that. He felt the power of life, cleansing, killing, control, and other plant-like powers within. However, he couldn't adequately compare it to the other spiritsources yet, as it was still too tiny.
Tianming and Xian Xian were still rapidly absorbing lifewood essence to fuel the growth of their spiritsource. They blazed through the stages and reached the Saint stage, during which the radixsource changed into a white saint spring before continuing to widen. Eventually, it reached the Empyrean Saint stage and turned into a beast saint spring. When all of the lifewood essence at the bottom of Heaven Cauldron had been absorbed, the new saint spring took its place among the other three great saint springs.
The Grand-Orient Vortex and Imperealm Sword Formation didn't have any conflicts with those four at all. The four saint springs were his foundations. The infernalspring burned like a blazing fire, the chaosspring surged with chaotic lightning, the primordialspring boasted the impressive power of mountains and seas, and the radixspring was old and ancient, shrouded in a mystical white mist.
It was a whole new power, though he didn't know why the radixspring's power was different from what he had imagined. Even so, his first symbiotic cultivation with Xian Xian was complete. The hatching had succeeded, and it was now at the seventh level like its elder brothers. As expected, this lifebound beast was a cute little girl waiting to be spoiled.
......
After the cultivation ended, a brand new Radix World Tree appeared before his eyes. He looked at it and didn't know how to react.
"Is this... a potted daffodil?" The plant that was rooted on his arm wasn't a tree, but a single white daffodil. It was fresh, fragrant and pure.
"Hmm... the Radiant Daffodil?" Tianming recalled in that dream that there were nine flowers growing on the Radix World Tree. Among the two flowers that caught his attention, the snow-white sacred flower was one of them. He hurriedly took a closer look and did indeed could see eight different-colored buds on him, each one giving off a different kind of power. However, only the white daffodil had bloomed. The others were all shut tight, colored black, blue, green, purple, orange, and so on. However, a bright red bud seemed to be close to blooming.
"So this is the Scarlet Lily then." Was it the same flower growing along the banks of the Yellow Springs that he had seen in that dreamscape? He knew that the Radix World Tree had its roots stretched through tens of thousands of worlds, so it definitely wasn't as simple as a wood-type plant beast. What he was more curious about was how a mere flower could speak to him.
Then a thumb-sized girl revealed herself in the middle of the blooming daffodil. It was a spiritual body that slightly resembled Feiling in her Spiritual Attachment, but was less ethereal and capable of being touched. It had two white, petal-like wings that it used to fly to Tianming's nose.
The spiritform had leaves as its head, large eyes and a small mouth on its round face, and fair limbs. It was dressed in a colorful dress made of leaves and petals that made it look immeasurably cute and dainty, to the point he was worried it would melt if he ever put it into his mouth. Not to mention, the 'dress' and 'hair' were all part of its body too.
He was aware that the flower was the true body of the Radix World Tree, while the spiritform was akin to its soul. No doubt, its main combat capabilities resided within the flower while its mind and personality were within the soul. The Radix World Tree he had seen in his vision also had a spiritform that looked just as cute and had the same name, so it was likely to be the same individual. However, the one before him was much smaller, as it hadn't evolved yet. Tianming only saw a single star in its eyes.
"How cute," he said. It was a flower spirit, pure and innocent. Even looking into its eyes made him feel refreshed.
"Daddy, Xian Xian likes you a lot!" it said as it flew toward his nose and gave it a hug, rubbing its face against it.
"Hey, I'm not your dad. We're more like siblings," he said with a chuckle.
"No, Xian Xian wants a daddy," it said, pouting.
"Fine, a big brother isn’t too different from a father anyway. I'll be your half dad then," he said.
"Alright, Half-daddy!"
He felt like he was on the top of the world. From today onward, he would be a quad beastmaster. Even though Xian Xian looked puny and weak, he knew from his experience with Ying Huo that her cuteness belied the true savagery that lay underneath.
"Tianming! Bring our little sister inside now! I can't wait! Quick!" Ying Huo was so impatient he was spitting fire in the lifebound space. Meow Meow and Lan Huang also excitedly got in line.
"Alright, go meet your big brothers!" Tianming said as he stroked its little head like a gentle father would.
"Right away!" It finally withdrew its roots from Tianming and entered the lifebound space, drawing its spiritform along with it.
"Haha! I'm a big brother now!" Ying Huo said, its heart melting from the cuteness.
"Chicken Bro, aren't you forgetting somebody? Are we invisible or something?" Meow Meow said, glaring.
"Sorry, I was so excited that it got to my head."
The two of them circled the little flower while Lan Huang waited outside, too big to budge in between them. When it finally got to see Xian Xian, it bellowed, "Haha! I'm finally a big brother!"
The voice was so loud that the leaves of the flower shook from the sheer volume. "It's so noisy!" Xian Xian said as its spiritform clutched its ears.
"Tortoise Bro, shut up! You're bothering my sister!" Ying Huo snapped.
"Fine!" Lan Huang stopped talking, but it still jumped about excitedly, causing the whole area to shake, much to the others' dismay.
"Flower Sis, do you remember me? I'm your Chicken Bro! I played with you all the time!"
"Of course I remember! You're the meanie that used me as a pillow every day!" it snapped. Its true colors were showing, and they didn't quite match her innocent exterior.
"What? No way that could be true!" Ying Huo tried to cover it up.
"It is too! Xian Xian shall take a bite out of you!" All of a sudden, it stretched its roots around Ying Huo's head.
"Huh? Flower Sis, let me down quick! Having a flower on my head makes me look too girly! Aaah!" It felt like crying all of a sudden. "Sis, it's my fault, alright? I don't have much meat for you! That tortoise over there is big and meaty and almost stomped you flat a few times! Go after it!"
"Hmph, I remember it too! The noisy one!" As Xian Xian's spiritform spoke, it took root in Lan Huang. "What? It's skin is too thick! I can't catch a bite!"
"Hmm? My back feels a little itchy. Is it a mosquito?" Lan Huang swiped its tail toward its back.
"Spare the girl!" Ying Huo hurriedly stepped in like a hero saving a damsel in distress. "Flower Sis, let's forget about this tortoise. What do you think about cat meat?"
Meow Meow immediately ran off.
"Don't run!" Ying Huo charged with the flower still attached to it. It felt like it was losing weight by the moment! "What in the world? Is this a new diet plan?"
It turned around and teared up the instant it saw even more roots on its head. "Dammit, Tianming! Stuff this thing back into its egg!"
Tianming was laughing so hard he found it hard to breathe. "It's getting late, so try to get along, you three!"