Ning sensed the bamboo's cultivation base and was surprised to find it was around Golden Core.
"Now that's something you don't see every day," he thought. Even in the other universe, he had been to, he had maybe seen 2 or 3 trees that could cultivate. Normally, plants just collected Qi to improve themselves, not their cultivation base.
"Since this plant has a cultivation base, that means it is intelligent enough to do it," Ning said. "Which means… there is a soul inside here."
"A soul?" Blue asked with a fascinated expression. He had never seen a plant be able to cultivate, so seeing one was already amazing.
Ning hesitated a bit. "I can't just uproot it or cut it in half, I will kill the soul inside," he thought.
"Master, that thing is getting angry at us, it seems," Blue said.
"Hm?" At the same time, Ning looked at the top of the bamboo plant to look at the beast that was eating all the bamboo leaves. He smiled a bit when he saw the intelligent eyes of the beast and realized it wasn't a normal beast either.
"Are you worried that I'm here with bad intentions?" Ning asked. "Don't worry, I'm not here to take away your food."
The beast growled a bit. It could tell that a very strong beast was below, not to mention the fact that it was wrapped around a human who seemed to be far more terrible.
If it was anything like the other human, the beast did not want to push its luck. "Please don't hurt it," the beast said.
Ning smiled and couldn't help but think the beast was a little cute.
"Right, Golden Core should be around which most beasts are intelligent enough to talk, right?" Ning thought. "Can plants talk?"
He knocked on the meter-wide bamboo stalk. "Hey, anyone inside?" he asked.
Ning waited for a bit, but nothing really happened. "Is the soul inside here not aware or what?" he thought. "System, can plants not communicate?"
<They can.>
"So this one is just choosing not to?" Ning asked. That was certainly frustrating.
<No, he cannot talk. His soul is being suppressed inside the bamboo and is being only used to make the bamboo able to cultivate.>
"Suppressed? By what?" Ning asked.
<A system.>
Ning couldn't help but frown when hearing that answer. "His soul is being suppressed by a system? Can you explain a bit more?" he asked.
<Someone has created a system that has deliberately attached to a dying person and sent their soul to a Heavens Devouring Bamboo where they can use the soul to make the bamboo cultivate and thus gather a massive amount of energy.>
<Once enough energy has been gathered, the system is implemented in a way where it is to take the energy back to the creator.>
Ning got angry when he heard that. "Do we know who the owner of this system is?" he asked.
<Some Galactical Will known as Bayrus in one of the universes currently in contact with this universe.>
"Wait, so this system is to go back to another Universe? Can it even do that?" Ning asked.
<Not if the galaxies from the different universes fully collide and then start to drift apart before the system has fully absorbed all the energy.>
Ning stayed quiet for a while as he thought about the information he had just heard. "Can I do anything about it? Or can I simply not interact anymore now that the system has attached itself to the soul?" he asked.
<You can do something. Using the energy in you, you can strip away the system from the soul.>
"Wait, I can do that?" Ning couldn't help but ask. "Any downsides?"
<If you do successfully separate a system from a soul, it will leave the soul in a damaged state. The better integrated they are, the worse the damage.>
<And it takes a massive amount of energy to do so. While you can recuperate the loss by absorbing the energy in the system itself, since there is a chance of loss, you might end up using all the energy for nothing.>
Even if Ning wanted to help this person, he had to be careful as to not weaken himself in the process. He couldn't just be a person that would let himself take the bullet for someone random.
Still, it just didn't feel right to leave someone so vulnerable when he had the ability to help them.
"Okay, what are my chances of successfully separating the soul and the system?" Ning asked.
<Because the system isn't aiding the soul, but rather just using it, you have a very good chance of succeeding. The chances of failure are one in ten thousand.>
Ning took a deep breath. There was still a chance of failure then. One in ten thousand was a very minuscule chance, but it was a chance nonetheless.
"Screw it, what's the point of having all this power if I can't help the ones in need. I have Space stones, so returning won't be a problem at all. As for the loss of energy, I will just take it away from one of the Constellations back on earth," he said to himself.
"Master, are you alright?" Blue asked. Ning had been lost in his own thought for a while now, mumbling something from time to time, so Blue was a little worried.
"Yes, I am fine," Ning said. "Can you go a little further away? I have to do something that might be dangerous."
"Okay," Blue said and flew away. He went away to outside the forest and used his senses to watch back at what was happening.
"Alright, system. Tell me exactly what I need to do. Do I grab the soul with my hand? Is there a sort of linking process? What?" Ning asked.
<Sending all necessary information to the host>
Ning closed his eyes as the mountain of knowledge entered his mind and to his surprise, he learned a new skill, one that he had witnessed being used by the system a very, very long time ago.
