Lu Yin's mouth twitched. It couldn't be a normal tree branch, right? That was ridiculous, as he had spent 7.2 billion star crystals to upgrade this item. If it really was just a normal tree branch, then it would leave a psychological scar on him.
On the ground, the sapling moved under Lu Yin's astonished gaze. It then suddenly stood up as if it had been awakened and faced Lu Yin directly.
It should be facing him directly, as the little green leaf swayed and then stopped moving.
Lu Yin blinked, raised his foot, and took a step forward.
The sapling swayed again and retreated slightly, as if afraid.
Lu Yin took another step forward, and the green leaf at the top of the sapling grew brighter and brighter, even forming a beautiful green halo behind it.
Lu Yin approached the sapling step by step, and the sapling retreated at first. However, when Lu Yin placed his hand on the branch, it stopped retreating and instead moved forward. The branch rubbed against Lu Yin's hand, transmitting a happy and dependent emotion.
Lu Yin smiled when this emotion appeared, but it was not the smile of conquering the Blazing Mist Flowzone or defeating an enemy. Instead, it was the warmest, most primitive, and happiest smile of all.
The branch was hard to the touch, but it was also very soft. It felt very comfortable to the touch and exuded vitality.
At the same time, within Intelligence Pass, the Origin Artifact's branch was also exuding vitality and interacting with the sapling.
Lu Yin was surprised. Could this be an Origin Artifact? Impossible! The Astral Source Pill was mass-produced by Shamrock Enterprises, so how could an Origin Artifact be born? If it really was an Origin Artifact, then the Leaf King would be the Mother Tree.
Lu Yin's expression changed as he suddenly thought of something and stared at the sapling.
The sapling seemed to be able to sense Lu Yin's emotions, and when Lu Yin turned serious, it trembled and retreated slightly. Its forked branches also shrank back as if it was afraid.
Astral Source Pill, Mother Tree, Germination, Leaf King.
Putting all of these together, Lu Yin had a terrifying guess: plants had seeds, and the Astral Source Pill contained the Leaf King's seed!
That was why the Astral Source Pill could allow one to enter the Astral Source Universe, and because the Leaf King possessed such power. Yu Mu's death was unclear, and it was impossible that he had not been assassinated by Shamrock Enterprises. He had been killed by the Astral Source Pill, which was why Balsam had happily given him the pill.
He had thought that he was the mastermind and had forced Shamrock Enterprises to lower their heads and hand over the Astral Source Pill, but in reality, Shamrock had beaten him at his own game. They had been eager to give him the Astral Source Pill so that he could counterattack..
Lu Yin couldn't deny this conjecture.
Lu Yin had seen the Nine Clones Technique and Undying Yushan's spiritual energy sphere. Now, there was an additional Leaf King's seed. It wasn't something that he couldn't accept, and it wasn't something that couldn't be established. Otherwise, why would a Celestial Source Pill have sprouted? It was because the Leaf King's seed was here, and a seed could have sprouted.
Lu Yin's eyes blazed as he looked at the sapling. This little fellow was the Leaf King, the newly born Leaf King.
The sapling was frightened by Lu Yin's stare and retreated a little, its branches jumping up and down on the ground.
He smiled and walked up to the sapling. "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you."
The sapling swayed its green leaves like a newborn child recognizing the first person it saw as its parents. It was naturally close to Lu Yin, and when Lu Yin smiled, it became happy as well. It extended a branch to rub Lu Yin's face before jumping into his embrace like a spoiled child.
Lu Yin would never have thought that the first child he held would not be his own child, but a small tree.
A sapling.
The sapling's dependence and closeness to Lu Yin was very strong. Lu Yin could feel that this sapling had been born from the call of life, and it gave him an instinctive desire to protect it. At this moment, he treated the sapling as a family member since he had personally nurtured it.
"How about I call you Little Sapling from now on?" Lu Yin smiled.
The sapling grew even happier and swayed its branches like a spoiled child.
The scene in front of him changed, and Lu Yin brought the sapling out of the Time Stop Space.
The sapling was a little afraid in an unfamiliar environment, and its branches wrapped around Lu Yin's fingers as it trembled.
Lu Yin smiled and glanced at his cosmic ring. His mouth twitched; he was out of money. What a wastrel! He only had a little more than a hundred million star essence on him right now. This was an astronomical sum to a normal cultivator, but to Lu Yin, it was just pocket money. Pocket money was nothing compared to his die.
With a sigh, Lu Yin brought the sapling out of the Time Stop Space. The sapling wrapped its branches around Lu Yin's fingers and hopped behind him. It was obvious that it was afraid of an unfamiliar environment, and it wrapped its branches tightly around Lu Yin's fingers, not wanting to shake him off.
The moment Lu Yin brought the sapling out of the Time Stop Space, the Leaf King exited his seclusion in the Neoverse's Shamrock Enterprises.
The Leaf King had always been mysterious, and very few people had seen him. Balsam was the one who dealt with external affairs the most.
However, no one had expected the Leaf King to be a devilishly handsome youth who was even more handsome than Yao Xuan. It was a gentle kind of handsomeness, and he looked very young, about the same age as Lu Yin.
Balsam was the first to know that the Leaf King had exited seclusion, and her expression changed.
"Leaf King, why are you out now?" she asked when she saw him.
The Leaf King stood in place with a Astral Origin Pill in his hand, deep in thought.
Balsam did not dare disturb him, and she just stood behind him.
"Who has a Astral Origin Pill?" he asked.
Balsam immediately gave him a list of names.
The Leaf King looked at the list and fell into deep thought once more.
Not long after, the Leaf King said, "One Astral Origin Pill escaped our control."
Balsam was shocked. "Escaped?
Used it? "
She regretted it the moment she said it. How could using it be considered as escaping control?
The Leaf King calmly asked, "Who on this list has the ability to cause the pill to escape our control?"
Balsam looked at the list and scanned through it one by one. In reality, even though Shamrock Enterprises had kept the Astral Origin Pill a secret for many years, that was only because they had concealed its uses. They had given out some of the pills themselves, including the Hall of Honor, the various powers of the Neoverse, and many important figures, including the Seven Courts.
There were quite a few people who had Astral Origin Pills, and there had not been any problems over the years. The pills' effects had been reduced, and they were not enough to break through the Astral Source Universe. Thus, no one really cared about them. It was not strange for someone to occasionally use them, as it was just tearing through the void. It was not as shocking as breaking through the Astral Source Universe.
However, to say that the pill had escaped control was different. This meant that someone had discovered the secret of the Astral Origin Pill, which was a huge problem for Shamrock Enterprises.
"Leaf King, if someone knows the secret, then …" Balsam was interrupted. "No one will know the secret, and it's impossible for them to know," the Leaf King said.
Balsam felt uneasy, and for some reason, she suddenly thought of Lu Yin.
The Leaf King had only given Lu Yin Astral Source Pills recently.
Lu Yin knew the pill's uses, so this person was the most likely to be the cause. This person had endless opportunities, and his background was as vast as the heavens. He should also have a mysterious master. Who knew what he could do?
"Follow the plan and deliver the Astral Origin Pills," the Leaf King said.
Balsam was shocked. "The plan has been brought forward?"
The Leaf King fell silent as he held the Astral Origin Pill in his hand. No one knew what he was thinking.
Back in the Ross Empire's stronghold, Lu Yin left seclusion with the sapling, which surprised many.
He wasn't afraid that the sapling would be exposed, as there were many strange creatures in the universe. There were astral beasts that could take human form, and there were also plants that had successfully cultivated their bodies. There were even some that had successfully cultivated black holes. There were all sorts of strange creatures out there, and the others were only surprised that there was a sapling that could jump around, but they weren't too surprised.
The Second Nightking and Liu Huang were even less surprised, as they had lived for so long that they had seen everything.
Ku Wei came over and stared at the sapling in a daze. "Master, what is this?"
His voice was too loud, and the sapling was afraid. It hid behind Lu Yin, revealing half of its branch as if it was trying to peek.
"What is it?" Lu Yin asked.
Ku Wei smiled. "Nothing, I just missed Master." He then looked at the sapling curiously.
The sapling swayed its leaves, giving Lu Yin a similar feeling of curiosity. It was very curious about everything in the outside world.
"If you have nothing to do, then find me more strange plants that can move," Lu Yin ordered.
Ku Wei was curious why Lu Yin was doing this, but he knew that Lu Yin would not tell him even if he asked. He looked at the sapling curiously one more time before leaving.
Beep beep beep!
Lu Yin's gadget beeped.
The sapling jumped in fright and clung tightly to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin patted it, and it finally calmed down.
"Alliance Master Lu, sorry to disturb you. I'm Balsam."
Lu Yin's eyes flashed, and he glanced at the sapling. "What's the matter?"
Balsam smiled. "Congratulations to Alliance Master Lu for conquering the Blazing Mist Flowzone and stepping into the Innerverse. Shamrock Enterprises sincerely congratulates you, and we're also gifting a batch of pills to the Great Eastern Alliance as a congratulatory gift."
"The Blazing Mist Flowzone's surroundings have been sealed off. How did you guys get in?" Lu Yin asked.
Balsam smiled. "Shamrock Enterprises has been in the Innerverse and Outerverse for many years, so we still have the ability to do so."
"Alright, then I'll have to thank you," Lu Yin said.
Balsam said a few more polite words before ending the call.
Lu Yin's lips curled up, as his guess was becoming more and more likely. Shamrock Enterprises did not have a good relationship with him, and although they were not enemies, they were not friends either. It was too suspicious for them to be willing to offend the Innerverse's great powers to seal off the Blazing Mist Flowzone and gift him pills. If he was not wrong, then Balsam had personally come this time just to test out the Astral Source Pills.
As he thought about this, Lu Yin sent a message to Ku Wei and told him to find some strange moving plants as quickly as possible. At the same time, he also thought about some natural treasures that could help him avoid danger. He was looking forward to seeing Balsam's expression when she saw this.
If no one had seen the sapling before, then he would be looking for trouble. When Balsam saw so many plants, her abnormal behavior would easily arouse her suspicions. However, he had just swaggered through the city with the sapling, and many people had seen it. He believed that his every move would be watched by countless people, and Balsam would know as well. He could only find some moving plants to fool her. As for the sapling, he looked at it and saw that it was swaying its green leaves. It was very adorable, so he decided to hide it!