Akata looked on confused. “The Flora Rank? What is that? I’ve never heard of that of that before.”

Peizhi Xiuying looked at Akata confused also. “You’ve never heard of the Flora Rank before? It’s the Rank that comes after the Seed Rank for plants. How could you have not heard of it?” She asked curious to his answer.

“Seed Rank for plants? What? Is it like a cultivation path for plants then?” Akata asked still confused as ever.

“Exactly. You’re saying that you haven’t heard of the Plant Realm then?” She asked.

“Plant Realm? No… I never knew that existed. Since when was this?” Akata felt like he wasn’t getting anywhere as more questions popped up then answers. “And could you just tell me besides asking me more questions?”

“Ah! Sorry I was just surprised you never heard of it. Well first I should say that my clan specializes in cultivating plants. Since ancient times plants have had their own cultivation path along with mortal. However due to the passage of time that was lost. An ancient ancestor of my clan came up with a technique that allowed us to absorb the blood of our foes through plants to get stronger, this in turn let the plants get stronger as well. Which eventually led to us rediscovering the cultivation path of plants.

Plants cultivate on the path of the Plant Realm. Of course now in modern times we don’t know exactly what will happen to plants once they advance up in cultivation.Some of our ancient texts say that the plants once lived like mortals and beasts do, walking and talking like us. Well only time will tell if that was ever true.

Anyways when plants start off cultivating they begin at the Seed Rank. After reaching the Great Circle of the Seed Rank they can then move on to the Flora Rank. Once a plant reaches the Flora Rank they become extraordinarily powerful. Capable of growing to the size of a small forest or even affecting all plant life in a small forest. In my clan if your plant that you cultivate reaches the Flora Rank you can become an Elder even if your own cultivation base isn’t as powerful.”

Peizhi Xiuying explained on and on about plants, cultivation, and her own clan. It was actually pretty common knowledge about plant cultivation where she came from so she didn’t feel the need to hide anything from Akata.

“So does that mean that there is another Rank after Flora? If so what does that do? And what about your plant? What cultivation base does it have?” Akata was very intrigued about plants right now. He felt as if a big secret had been kept from him and now he could uncover it.

Peizhi Xiuying giggled and continued on. “There is another Rank after Flora. It’s called the Verdure Rank. There’s not much known about that Rank since nobody in the clan has reached that Rank. Only that ancient member of our clan ever has but he didn’t leave any knowledge behind for us. And also since there is almost nothing known about that Rank we don’t know if there is anything after it.” She said with a look of gloom appearing. But then it quickly cleared up.

“However I aim to change all of that! I’m going to reach the Verdure Rank and then surpass it in order to pass on the knowledge tomy clan. Right now my vine is at the 3rd Grade of the Seed Rank. If I can find better opponents then it’ll be at the Flora Rank in no time.” She said with a look and voice of determination.

Akata finally understood everything about plants and nodded his head. “Mn. That is a great motivator to become stronger! Well then that means that I can’t just let you slack off then, can I? So we have to work extra harder.” He said with his voice booming.

“Right then shall we get going to the next flower then?” She said, already walking along the path her voice fading as she moved.

“Yes let’s go right away. The more plants your vine absorbs the stronger it’ll get right? Then let’s get moving.” Akata said and then started to walk, following after her. But then he stopped and turned around. He bent over to pick up one of the red lotuses and after a bit of hesitation also an Illusory Phoenix Lily. He put the two flowers in his bag and ran to catch up to Peizhi Xiuying.

It was a little past midday by now but the two were full of energy. They walked their way around the forest looking for more flowers and plants. But by the time the sun started setting there weren’t any that could be found. After a bit of discussing they set up camp for the night.

“Well there aren’t any beasts in the area so it should be safe to start absorbing this blood.” Akata suggested. Peizhi Xiuying nodded her head in agreement and sat down. She flashed an incantation gesture and brought out her vine which contained the ten crimson red lotuses.

Peizhi Xiuying’s vine had different tendrils that she could use. One of her tendrils contained the ten red lotuses and another one had five white lotuses and five white lilies. Of course she was going to spread the lilies to the other tendrils but it was going to take some time to do that.

Akata sat down beside her and also flashed an incantation gesture. A blood colored ball the size of a fist flew out of his mouth and floated in front of him. “Refine.” He spoke softly and the ball of blood began to shrink. Soon is was about half the size it had been before. Akata nodded his head in satisfaction. “Good. Now I can absorb it properly.”

When Peizhi Xiuying brought out the red lotuses she looked closely at them for a moment. After a while she plucked one off and planted it in the ground. “Now I can start the refinement process.” She said full of contentment.

She flashed an incantation gesture and the blood colored lotuses floated up into midair. They then started to spin around in a circle and before long began to inch closer to each other. Akata looked on amazed at her refinement process.

Soon the lotuses began to superimpose upon each other until there was only one lotus left in the sky. The bloody light shining from it lit up the whole area and created a deep bloody aura. However even after all this the process wasn’t done yet. The lotus began to swirl and soon petals on it began to fall off. Each time a petal fell that petal would be completely white in color. After a bit of time there was only one petal left in the sky. It held a deep crimson red that surpassed the previous lotuses.

The petal slowly floated down to the palm of Peizhi Xiuying where it rested there. The boundless bloody aura that emanated out of it caused her face to pale. In fact she seemed to be hesitating to absorb it at the moment. She then looked down at the planted blood lotus and shook her head vigorously. With a face full of determination the petal flew into her forehead and she began to absorb it.

Akata nodded his head and the ball of blood in front of him flew into his forehead as he too began to absorb blood. They both sat cross legged with their eyes closed focusing on the absorption process. Neither of them moved but their aura’s slowly grew along with their cultivation base.

In this fashion hours went by quickly for the two. The bloody aura coming from them caused all the beasts to not want to get near them so they were relatively safe. Akata still wanted to be safe so he diverted his attention. He had his nature sense spread out to monitor their surroundings just in case.

Even though his attention was diverted amongst surveying his surroundings and absorbing the blood, Akata still managed to finish his absorption faster than Peizhi Xiuying. This was because he had more experience with absorbing blood and also he only absorbed one kind of beast’s blood, the Fanged Monkey.

As he opened his eyes and looked around he could feel that he had become more powerful. His eyesight was way better than it had been to the point he could see ten meters out in complete darkness. “I never thought I would reach this level of strength in my entire life. But this is just the beginning.” He said eyes shining. “I want to reach even better heights! Levels of strength I don’t even know exist! I want to reach the pinnacle and then… surpass that level!”

“Then can we reach it together hehe.” As Akata finished speaking Peizhi Xiuying opened her eyes and spoke out as well. “It might get pretty lonely at the top by yourself so I’ll get strong enough to meet you there. That way you’ll have somebody with you.” Her voice soft she stood up. “Right now I’m at the peak 2nd Grade. If I can absorb just a bit more… blood then I’ll be able to break through to the 3rd Grade.”

Akata nodded his head. “Right. Well there really is no point in just staying here since we’re neither tired and we can operate at night. How about we look for another plant and get you to Grade 3 on the way then?” Akata suggested in a playful manner.

“I would like that.” Peizhi Xiuying said with a laugh. Then her face turned serious and she said. “But Akata… How about we head in deeper. I feel like there isn’t another flower that I’m looking for in the outer perimeter. I know it’ll be dangerous but I can handle myself. You don’t have to worry about me that much. Besides I used to protect you so I can definitely hold my own.” She stated.

Akata’s face was calm and serious. He didn’t speak for a while before he sighed and said, “You’re your own person and I have no control over you. If you feel that you can head in deeper then I’ll just go with you.” He said, his voice booming with determination.

“Mn.” She spoke and hugged Akata. “Then let’s get going. Oh. I should be more serious haha. Alright I’m ready.” Her attitude did a complete 180 in an instant. They both started walking, heading deeper into Misty Forest.

The deeper you went into Misty Forest the more dangerous it became. Misty Forest was separated into four sections. The outer ring, the middle ring, the inner ring, and the center circle. Beasts on the outer ring mostly ranged from the 1st to the 2nd Grade while in the middle ring they could be as strong as the 5th Grade. Past the middle ring the beasts were even stronger. Till this day nobody in modern times has made it into the inner ring and came back out.

You could tell when you were about to enter into the next section of the forest because at each section there was a barrier of mist. Akata and Peizhi Xiuying approached the mist barrier in stood in front of it. They took a few deep breaths and then entered.

Even as they walked through the mist barrier they could still see each other clearly. They stuck close to each other and were on high alert. Cries from beasts could be heard coming from the other side of the mist as they walked along. A bead of sweat could even be seen coming from Akata’s forehead as he walked in the lead.

After a few minutes of time passed they were out of the mist. They could see the forest clearly in front of them now. It looked almost exactly the same as the outer ring except for a few more plants here and there. Akata had his nature sense spread out to the max as he surveyed the land around them. Only until he confirmed they were safe did he let out a long breath.

“There doesn’t seem to be any beasts in our area. We’re lucky to have come this way.” Akata said in his calmest voice possible right now.

“So what should we do now then?” Peizhi Xiuying asked. Her sense of the surroundings weren’t nearly as great as Akata so she didn’t know if they would wait some, move to a different location, or if they can begin searching.

“We can actually start looking for the flower right now if you feel up to it. We should start heading that direction. There are some beasts on the way but they are merely Grade 2.” Akata said full of confidence.

“Alright then. Let’s get going shall we.” Peizhi Xiuying giggled and began to walk alongside Akata.