Lin Mu witnessed all the changes and felt amazed.
'Little Shrubby seems at the very edge of Immortal Ascension Realm too… It shouldn't take him long to breakthrough again.' Lin Mu reckoned.
"Am I good?" Little Shrubby asked in a childlike tone.
"Good? You're great!" Lin Mu replied before coming to hug the large beast again.
Even if he could only grasp the lower part of Little Shrubby's body, Lin Mu still lifted the beast up easily.
"Ahahah! You'll only get stronger from now. There are many surprises waiting for you." Lin Mu said while holding up Little Shrubby in the air.
"Surprises? Like what!?" Little Shrubby was quite excited too.
It couldn't tell exactly where he was, and neither could he tell how long it had been since he was last awake. The only thing he could tell was that Lin Mu was a lot stronger than he was the last time he saw him.
'Master seems different now.' Little Shrubby thought from his own observation after being unable to sense Lin Mu's cultivation.
~SHUA~
But just as Little Shrubby had asked that, another presence appeared close to them.
"There are surprises for sure…" Xukong's voice was heard.
Little Shrubby's ears perked up, and he immediately perked up. His instincts were screaming at that time and his bloodline was trembling too. He felt a pressure he had never felt before in his life.
~grrr~
A growl escaped his mouth unconsciously as he turned to face Xukong who had just appeared. Even though he was still grasped within Lin Mu's hand, it wasn't difficult for him to turn his head.
Lin Mu sensed the rising tension and quickly moved to calm down Little Shrubby.
"It's fine Little Shrubby. There is no danger. This is Senior Xukong… My master." Lin Mu finally revealed.
"Master's Master?" Little Shrubby's unease lessened.
He gazed at the bone white spider that was floating some distance away from them. It was slightly larger than the size of a palm, but had ten golden yellow eyes.
"Yes. He's the one who you wanted to meet before." Lin Mu reminded while stroking his fur.
Little Shrubby calmed down under Lin Mu's placation and didn't feel any danger now.
"Sorry senior. He was anxious." Lin Mu lightly apologized.
"I expected this to happen. So don't worry. This is normal." Xukong laughed. "Though… I think you've missed something big." He added.
"Missed something big?" Lin Mu raised a brow in doubt.
"Yes… the fact that all three of us are in the Sleepscape now." Xukong reminded.
As soon as Lin Mu heard this, his eyes went wide.
"OF COURSE!" Lin Mu looked around and couldn't understand how he had missed it.
Before this, Lin Mu had never been able to bring any beast in the Sleepscape. He could only bring in inanimate, and as for the plants, even that was limited to a few.
But if the plants were sentient, he could still let them live in the Sleepscape and even plant them, so that they could be nurtured further.
In case of the beasts, only Xukong was the exception and even that was because he was simply an existence that could bypass space as he wanted too. But now, Lin Mu had witnessed another major change.
"When did this happen?" Lin Mu couldn't figure it out.
"It seems like when you reached the Immortal realm, the Sleepscape might have grown once more. But this time the growth wasn't a quantitative but a qualitative growth. It can now allow beasts to enter it as well." Xukong guessed.
"Hmm, I guess since I never tested it, I missed it." Lin Mu agreed. "Though I don't think that's the full extent of it. There should be more restrictions to it." He said after thinking for a bit.
"Possibly." Xukong agreed as well. "Perhaps it is only your tamed beasts that can enter this place. Since they have your imprint on them, they are technically your belonging and will be able to enter the Garden of Karma as well." He analyzed.
"I see. But if it is like this, I wonder how am I supposed to take them out, or make them return." Lin Mu wondered.
"The Garden of Karma is a part of you. If you will it, it should respond accordingly." Xukong suggested plainly.
"Yes, I'll try that." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Also senior, can you check little Shrubby better now?" he wondered if there were things that he was missing.
"Of course. I want to see what the child has within him too." Xukong replied, as his senses covered little shrubby.
The beast couldn't even feel this though as Xukong's senses were on a different level.
To Xukong though, a whole different set of information was presenting. He closed his eyes for a minute as he observed Little Shrubby and analyzed his body.
"Did you learn anything new Senior?" Lin Mu questioned with great curiosity.
"I did indeed." Xukong confirmed. "Little Shrubby has far greater potential than I originally thought. And I think it is only being amplified due to the Beast Qi you've been providing him." He added.
"Really?" Lin Mu was excited.
"Indeed. And now just that, his bloodlines are still stable despite the Fume Wood Panther Bloodline rising higher." Xukong revealed. "I think from this point onwards, as along as you don't overpower one bloodline, his body should be able to handle them with little issues." He explained.
"I could tell that his Fume Wood Panther bloodline has strengthened, but how are the others faring? I can't sense them like this." Lin Mu inquired.
"If I were to rank them, I would say that his Flash Fire Liger, Scorch Claw Tiger, and Fume Wood Panther Bloodlines are on an equal level. After this, it would be the Thunderbolt Cheetah bloodline that is the second highest, while the rest are below it but are on an almost similar level." Xukong explained in detail.
Lin Mu took care to memorize this information as he knew that strengthening these bloodlines would be the key to Little Shrubby's growth.
