Chapter 261: Plant Rat

The Dragon Carp’s guess was indeed somewhat reasonable.

After Lin Jing’s research, he discovered that it was indeed because the medicinal potency of the Cultivation Golden Core was too strong, causing the Pill Rat to be unable to adapt for a moment, which led to the phenomenon of hair loss.

This type of hair loss was completely reversible. The Dragon Carp refined another Life-Renewal Pill and used it on the Little White Mouse, a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and it immediately grew a new coat of dense, jet-black fur.

“Black fur doesn’t get dirty easily. I’ve changed your skin for you, no need to thank me,” Lin Jing said to the Little White Mouse that previously had white fur.

“Sigh—” The Pill Rat looked at its coat of black fur, feeling life was devoid of meaning.

“In other words, taking the Cultivation Golden Core requires a strong Physique and tough Meridians. Otherwise, it is possible that the body will be disrupted due to the excessive medicinal potency, leading to hair loss. Since this hair loss is completely reversible, it seems to be a minor issue. When combined with the Gluttony Pill to assist digestion later, this problem will be alleviated significantly.”

After studying the Cultivation Golden Core further, Lin Jing breathed a sigh of relief. Others might not know, but he and his Pet Beasts all possessed incredibly strong Foundations, so it was impossible for them to encounter a situation where they could not withstand the medicinal potency.

Of course, if they were to consume pills refined from Nascent Soul Demon Kings that were above their level, that would be another matter.

“The Pill Rat also possesses a Physique capable of withstanding medicinal potency, and even it lost hair. It seems that in the future, for most people taking the Golden Core, unless they are at the Qi Refinement Extreme Foundation, the process of increasing cultivation will likely be accompanied by varying degrees of hair loss… ->…”

Lin Jing rubbed his chin. Never mind; compared to the increase in cultivation, this little “loss” was worth it.

“Go rest on the side. Next, we will test the Tree-Man Pill.”

He sent the little black rat, which had just finished taking the Cultivation Golden Core, to the corner and had the other four Little White Mice stand in a neat row.

After distributing the “Blood Demon Vine Tree-Man Pill,” “Counter-Damage Adamantine Wood Tree-Man Pill,” “Flame Self-Destruct Fruit Tree-Man Pill,” and “Earth Vein Spirit Tree Tree-Man Pill” to them, the four Little White Mice nervously took the four Tree-Man Pills along with the Gluttony Pill.

Shortly after, the effects became immediately apparent.

The first Little White Mouse let out a “sigh,” and under its shocked expression, its long tail turned into a red vine.

The second Little White Mouse’s chubby skin immediately hardened, turning into a texture like tree bark.

The third Little White Mouse didn’t look any different on the outside, but after a scan by Lin Jing and the Dragon Carp’s Divine Sense, its heart had turned into a red fruit.

The fourth Little White Mouse was the most conspicuous; a tender sapling grew on top of its head. After taking the Tree-Man Pills, none of the four Pill Rats showed any adverse reactions.

“Let’s test their abilities.” Lin Jing called out and took out a drop of Mosquito Beast blood. Sure enough, the Little White Mouse that had obtained the Blood Demon Vine organ mastered a Blood Dao summoning Spell and successfully manifested a blood mosquito.

“This can be considered the first time a creature other than the Pine Leaf Squirrel has mastered the ability to synthesize plants, right?” Lin Jing was surprised.

The second Little White Mouse’s defensive power greatly increased, gaining the ability to reflect a portion of the damage received back.

The third Little White Mouse was the most miserable. To test the ability of the Flame Self-Destruct Fruit, it severed one of its ears and detonated it. Fortunately, the power was astonishing, enough to threaten those at the Foundation Establishment Stage. Seeing how pitiful it was, Lin Jing bestowed upon it the name “One-Ear” and some healing Medicinal Pill.

The fourth Little White Mouse was even more remarkable, gaining the ability to absorb the power of the Earth Vein and eject Spiritual Qi from the sapling on its head.

“Sigh, sigh, sigh—”

Watching its four companions become neither rat-like nor ghost-like, the little black rat that had eaten the Cultivation Golden Core breathed a sigh of relief. By comparison, its situation was the most normal; it had only changed its fur color.

Moreover, its cultivation was the highest among the rats, reaching the ninth level of Qi Refinement, just one step away from Foundation Establishment!

However, the next second, its fur stood on end. Lin Jing’s devilish whisper emerged.

“It seems the Tree-Man Pills were all successful, but this was only taking one individually. I don’t know if there will be any rejection reactions if all four are taken together. Generally speaking, a living being can only take one Tree-Man Pill, but during my derivation, I made improvements. Taking multiple pills should be fine, but I still need to conduct further experiments—to avoid any problems with the Pine Leaf Squirrel later.”

Lin Jing looked at the little black rat and beckoned to it, saying, “Little guy, your cultivation is the highest. Do you want to become as strong as the four of them? Come here, come here. You will eat all four of these pills, one by one.”

The black Pill Rat: “Squeak!”

Accompanied by the miserable scream of a rat, a brutal physical transformation began inside Lin Jing’s Immortal Cave.

When the little black rat took the first Tree-Man Pill, there was naturally no problem. However, starting from the second Tree-Man Pill, it was not so easy to rapidly transform it into an organ. The Pill Rat sat cross-legged on the ground with difficulty, converting the power of the second Tree-Man Pill, but it looked like it was not a task that could be completed in a short time.

“I’ll leave it to you.” Lin Jing handed the task of supervising the Little White Mouse taking multiple Tree-Man Pills to the Dragon Carp, while he himself took out the third-grade Spirit-Raising Pill, as well as the second, third, and fourth-grade Cultivation Golden Cores, and began to Cultivate on the side.

He first took a second-grade Cultivation Golden Core. Sure enough, just as he had guessed, this Golden Core refined from a Foundation Establishment Stage poison frog had no side effects for him. Of course, it didn’t increase his cultivation much either.

Lin Jing then took a third-grade Spirit-Raising Pill and subsequently discovered that the effect of the third-grade Spirit-Raising Pill and the second-grade Cultivation Golden Core was about the same. After eating it, the fluctuation in his cultivation could only stir up a tiny ripple.

Wanting to rely on this grade of Medicinal Pill to go from the Foundation Establishment Late Stage to the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, no amount would be enough.

“Let’s try the third-grade Cultivation Golden Core refined from a Poison Flood Dragon.” Subsequently, Lin Jing took another one. Accompanied by violent Spiritual Qi rampaging through his body, this time, he finally felt a definite increase in his cultivation, although the effect was still not very gratifying.

“It seems I was right. The Cultivation Golden Core refined by the Dragon Carp has an effect on increasing cultivation comparable to a higher-grade cultivation-increasing Medicinal Pill. The second-grade Cultivation Golden Core’s effect is comparable to a third-grade Spirit-Raising Pill, and this third-grade Cultivation Golden Core’s effect is comparable to a fourth-grade Spirit-Raising Pill!!!”

“The refinement efficiency is faster, and the consumption effect is better. After the Dragon Carp reaches the Nascent Soul Stage, this Demon Core Divine Ability will have great utility!” Lin Jing took a deep breath and continued to pick up the fourth-grade Cultivation Golden Core refined from the Blazing Sun Tiger King. Without a second thought, he consumed it along with a Gluttony Pill. Under the impact of the violent medicinal potency, Lin Jing steadied his mind. Although he inevitably lost a few more hairs, his cultivation, like the feedback from a Pet Beast’s Breakthrough, began to surge rapidly.

Several days later. When Lin Jing’s aura was stabilized at the limit of the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, just one step away from Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, the Dragon Carp, on the other side, looked at its results with satisfaction.

A “Plant Rat” with a fruit for a heart, tree bark for skin, a vine for a tail, and a sapling growing on its head was born.

“Bo—” It looked at Lin Jing, who opened his eyes, indicating that the Medicinal Pill was fine; even if they ate all of them, it wouldn’t poison the rat to death, and it could be given to the Pine Leaf Squirrel to eat.

“Is that so…” Lin Jing said with satisfaction, “It’s just right to use the Pine Leaf Squirrel’s Core Formation to break through to the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection—”