Super Gene

”Chu Ming, it is too early for jokes. Go get washed and get ready for work,” Qu Lanxi said as she walked outside in her misty-eyed haze. She glimpsed the Dragon-Blood Tree and her mouth dropped.

”You weren’t joking. How in the sanctuaries did the Dragon-Blood Tree spring back to life?” She ran in front of the tree and noticed the presence of small, newly sprouted leaves adorning the branches of the tree.

Although there weren’t many leaves, the significance of the new ones that had appeared was astounding, and it heralded the fact that the tree was not truly dead.

If it was alive, that meant it could grow. If it could grow, it’d have a chance of bearing fruit.

Han Sen exited the house and saw the tree’s overnight developments. He sensed the lifeforce, and felt the bounty of energy that had returned to it.

Qu Lanxi and Chu Ming were in the middle of exuberant joy, extremely excited over the prospects of the tree’s revival.

Han Sen walked in front of the tree and touched its trunk. He wanted to examine the lifeforce with greater accuracy, and when he did, he frowned.

The tree had been revived enough for it to come to life and spawn leaves, but it had absorbed every ounce of energy the waterdrop had given to it. The energy would not be enough for the tree to produce fruit.

It took normal geno seeds a few months to grow harvestable fruit, but ordinary geno seeds took one to ten years.

Han Sen feared mutant geno seeds might take one hundred years to grow, and the old spirit had already been growing it for ninety years when he perished and it came into the possession of Qu Lanxi and Chu Ming. It could very well take another ten years for the fruit to develop.

Having this tree alive and not growing fruit would be useless, though.

Two days later, the tree had fully come to life; it looked like it was going to fully regrow.

Another two days passed, and on that day, they noticed the leaves start to lose their color and turn yellow.

”Oh, no! Why is it dying again?” Chu Ming asked in saddened shock.

Qu Lanxi, with a wry smile, said, ”I don’t even know why it came back to life in the first place. But I suppose without the proper nutrition it needs, its death ought to have been expected. Unless we can find the blood of Blood-Scale Snakes, it’ll just wither and die again.”

Chu Ming heard this and was upset; he exhaled like a leaking balloon. ”This is an empty happiness. But where might we find the blood of Blood-Scale Snakes? The old spirit was a knight class spirit, and was almost as strong as Qing Ming Knight. Yet, on his venture into the Thorn Forest, he died. It’d be nothing more than suicide for us to voyage into that wretched tangle of overgrown shrubbery.”

Qu Lanxi, who was equally upset, said, ”I have heard that a veil of darkness shrouds Thorn Forest. They say an evil presides there, one that moves unseen. Qing Ming Knight himself would never dare venture there. The old spirit’s death there is quite telling, and he never traveled much further than its outskirts.”

Chu Ming nodded and said, ”I have heard murmurs that coincide with what you speak of. Any spirit that enters there is killed, and their spirit stones somehow self-destruct immediately after.”

They both looked very depressed, contemplating these matters. Going to Thorn Forest to slay Blood-Scale Snakes was not a wise course of action. They lacked the power to compete with that domain’s mysterious monsters.

When the mutant geno seed tree sprang back to life, it delighted them to witness its rebirth. Now, they could do naught but watch it wither. They had to watch it perish alongside their newfound hopes and dreams for fruit that would allow them to escape their current poverty. They felt terrible.

Han Sen suddenly interrupted them and said, ”I know a thing or two about restoring trees. Would you like to give my methods a try?”

Chu Ming immediately rejected Han Sen, by saying, ”No! No! No! No! Do not mess things up any further. You have only just arrived in the Third God’s Sanctuary, so how would you know about geno trees? Do you think these are akin to your finely trimmed hedges in the Alliance? Do you think you can sprinkle some tap water on the tree and everything will be fine and it’ll grow?”

Qu Lanxi was more composed, and she instead simply asked, ”Do you really know how to help us with this?”

Han Sen answered, ”I have learnt much about botany from a certain professor I used to know. Of course, I was taught these methods back in the First God’s Sanctuary. I am unsure whether or not these methods can be applied to successful results in this place. Provided you don’t have any other methods you’d like to use first, would you like to try mine?”

”Which botany professor did you learn these things from?” Qu Lanxi asked.

”Professor Sun Minghua,” Han Sen answered. When he protected Sun Minghua, he actually only learned how to identify plants. He wasn’t taught anything about growing trees.

Han Sen used this reasoning as a guise, so he could apply another waterdrop from his black crystal onto the tree.

”Professor Sun? He is a respectable teacher. I didn’t know he accepted students; I just thought he was a lecturer.” Qu Lanxi, knowing about the professor, looked at Han Sen in shock.

Han Sen waved his hand and said, ”Oh, I wasn’t his student. I just learnt a thing or two off him, every now and again.”

Qu Lanxi did not ask any further questions, but just pointed at the tree and told Han Sen, ”Well, take a good look. Are there any other ways we might keep it alive, without having to feed it the blood of Blood-Scale Snakes? We don’t require that it grow fruit, and just keeping it alive would be more than enough.”

”Pah! You really believe in this yahoo? Look, it needs beast blood to grow. End of story. Nothing else will make it grow,” Chu Ming rebutted.

”But we’re out of options; so, let’s allow San Mu to try what he can,” Qu Lanxi said.

Han Sen walked in front of the tree and circled it. He told Qu Lanxi, ”I will do what I can. But if I do bring this tree to life, will that wipe the slate clean of my debt?”

”If you can grow it, then yes. That would more than make up for the debt. And if we sell the fruit for a good price, we’ll even cut you in for a portion of the sales,” Qu Lanxi said.

”Then I will try my best! Here’s to hoping it works.” Han Sen grabbed a bucket.

”What are you doing?” Chu Ming asked.

”I am collecting water from the river. I’ll be right back!” Han Sen said.

”Why? Do you really believe water is all that it takes to bring this tree back to life?” Chu Ming said, with eyes wide open in disbelief.

”Yes. If there is no blood, then we must use water.” Han Sen smiled.

Chu Ming’s started to get feisty once again, and he barked, ”Are you here just to bullsh*t us? This is a mutant gene tree, you dipsh*t. It’s not a palm tree of the Alliance, so using water on it is pointless.”

”Well, do you have any beast-blood I can use?” Han Sen asked, sarcastically.

Chu Ming did not respond. They couldn’t even afford normal beast blood.

They spent all the money they had on the Ink-Sword Tree, and it had emptied their wallets. Before the harvest, they only had a small amount of money to afford the basics.

”Lanxi, are you really going to let him do this? How can he think of using water on this tree? If it works, I’ll kiss his feet and call him Big Boss. Pah!” Chu Ming mocked, as he watched Han Sen head towards the river.

”Well, there’s no harm in letting him try,” Qu Lanxi said.