Astral Cockroach

Bamboo flowering is too infrequent.

Although no one explicitly said it, everyone, deep down, didn't hold much hope for the flowering and seeding of the God-given Emerald Bamboo.

Including Banbu himself, he had no certainty in his heart, harboring hope, yet feeling it was unlikely.

Li Zhu's sudden words were like a bolt from the blue.

Hei Sang reacted the fastest, jumping up and shouting, "Where? Where?"

Banbu also looked in the direction of Li Zhu's gaze, asking, "Li Zhu, where?"

Yan Cu Ban Mao, at this moment, couldn't bother worrying about startling the Emerald Bamboo Tree Spirit or anything else. He immediately unleashed his mental power, scanning through the bamboo forest, and then questioned, "I didn't find it. The dry season hasn't arrived yet, will bamboo flower? From this distance, Li Zhu, have you been looking for too long and are experiencing an illusion?"

"What do you know! I can't be mistaken!"

Li Zhu couldn't help but crawl forward quickly, covering some distance, then suddenly turned around and said, "Yan Cu Ban Mao, Hei Sang, the two of you don't follow, you'll frighten the Tree Spirit. Banbu, come, I'll take you to see."

Banbu also scanned with his mental power, but found nothing.

"Li Zhu, are you sure it's flowering?"

Li Zhu said, "Banbu, the inherited memories don't have detailed records of bamboo flowering, it's normal that you don't recognize it. Come, I'll point it out to you."

Banbu followed along, completely bewildered, arriving at the base of a bamboo stalk at the edge of the bamboo forest.

Li Zhu carefully bent his antennae, gently pointing to the position of the culm sheath ring where the bamboo nodes connected, and said, "Banbu, look closely."

There was a green dot protruding at the culm sheath ring, likely a very small change that had just occurred in the last half-day, easily overlooked.

Banbu sighed inwardly at how carefully Li Zhu looked, and asked uncertainly, "Li Zhu, can you be sure that's a flower spike? And not a bamboo branch bud?"

"It's definitely a flower spike." Li Zhu said, "The culm sheath ring in this position won't produce bamboo branches, moreover, the bamboo stalk's growth is fixed, the height and size are stable, it won't produce new bamboo branches."

As Li Zhu spoke, he became puzzled himself, muttering, "The flower spikes of Golden Silk Bamboo and Mottled Bamboo both grow from the bamboo branches, although the hybrid offspring are different from any one bamboo species, the flower spikes shouldn't grow on the culm sheath ring, right?"

Banbu calmed his emotions, stilled his mind, and tried to communicate with the Emerald Bamboo Tree Spirit.

The Emerald Bamboo Tree Spirit was now extremely angry, constantly urging to kill the territory invaders, not responding to Banbu's inquiries at all.

Without any thinking ability, the weak soul, besides instinct and scarce memories, is just a blank slate. It probably doesn't even understand its own current state.

Banbu then focused his attention on the bud at the culm sheath ring.

Li Zhu pondered for two seconds, and asked hesitantly, "When two extremely similar but different species of plants are hybridized, the resulting new plant can grow taller and stronger. Banbu, do you think, could the God-given Emerald Bamboo have undergone some kind of qualitative change… that is, instead of condensing bamboo rice, it's condensing bamboo fruit."

Li Zhu continued to analyze, "Bamboo rice flower spikes grow on bamboo branches, bamboo fruit flower spikes grow on the culm sheath ring."

"This TMD… is possible?" Banbu couldn't suppress his excitement.

"It's possible." Li Zhu nodded his antennae.

Subsequently, they both fell silent, saying it was possible, but with no certainty in their hearts, the mutation from "bamboo rice" to "bamboo fruit" was too drastic.

In the distance, Yan Cu Ban Mao couldn't restrain his impatience and shouted, "Have you seen clearly? Is it flowering? Where's the flower? I can't find it!"

Banbu analyzed, "Xun grass seeds are very small round particles, but the grass seeds condensed by the God-given Xun grass are long rice grains. From this, we can infer that the God-given Emerald Bamboo condenses bamboo fruit… it's not impossible."

Li Zhu said, "Actually, we don't need to speculate at all, we'll know for sure after observing for a day or two."

Banbu said, "That's right."

Li Zhu said, "Don't disturb the Emerald Bamboo Tree Spirit anymore, let's go."

Banbu said, "Li Zhu, you guys move further away first, I'll wait for the Tree Spirit to calm down and try to communicate with it and ask."

Li Zhu nodded his antennae and quickly left.

…

After a long time, the Emerald Bamboo Tree Spirit's angry emotions finally subsided.

Banbu bent his antennae, pointed to the bud on the culm sheath ring, and sent a string of inquiring thoughts: What is this? A flower spike? Or a bamboo branch bud?

The Emerald Bamboo Tree Spirit also sent back a puzzled thought: Why don't you kill the invaders?

Banbu was helpless and could only send a gentle soothing thought.

The Emerald Bamboo Tree Spirit's emotions slowly calmed down, returning to its usual tired and lazy state.

Banbu again gently pointed his antennae at the bud on the bamboo stalk culm sheath ring, and sent an inquiry: What is this?

The Emerald Bamboo Tree Spirit sent back a puzzled thought: Not sure.

Banbu thought for a while, changed his way of asking, pointed to a bamboo branch that had already grown, and conveyed the thought: Bamboo branch.

New vocabulary.

The Emerald Bamboo Tree Spirit had a strong desire to learn, sending back a thought: Bamboo branch.

Banbu sent another inquiry: Is this a bamboo branch?

The Emerald Bamboo Tree Spirit sent back a puzzled thought: Don't know.

It doesn't even know what's growing on itself…

Banbu thought and thought, and finally pointed at the bamboo stalk, conveying the thought: Bamboo stalk.

The Emerald Bamboo Tree Spirit followed and sent back the thought: Bamboo stalk.

Banbu then dug open the floating soil, pointed to the underground bamboo rhizome, and conveyed the thought: Bamboo rhizome.

The Emerald Bamboo Tree Spirit followed and sent back the thought: Bamboo rhizome.

…

Banbu spent some time exchanging various structural terms of bamboo with the Emerald Bamboo Tree Spirit, but in the end, he couldn't get any answers, so he had to give up.

Li Zhu and Yan Cu Ban Mao in the distance were arguing, and when they saw Banbu approaching, they asked in unison, "Banbu, is it confirmed to be a flower spike?"

Banbu said, "It can't be confirmed yet, let's wait two days and see."

Hei Sang finally digested all the primal force of the pine nuts, became lively again, and asked, "Banbu, where did you plant the hybrid bamboo species of Golden Silk Bamboo and Mottled Bamboo? How is it growing? Let's go take a look."

"For the same plant species, the difference between the God-given species and ordinary plants is worlds apart… yet there are also similarities." Banbu thought for a while and said, "Let's go, let's go take a look."

…

The Golden Silk Bamboo and hybrid bamboo species were both planted on the north side of the mountain peak, in an open space in the middle and lower layers.

The growth of the Golden Silk Bamboo plants was noticeably slower. The two seeds sown this year currently only have 1 bamboo stalk each, and the height is only about 200.

The hybrid bamboo species were slightly faster. The underground stems were well-developed, and mostly 3 bamboo stalks had sprouted. Excluding the first bamboo stalk, which was relatively short, only about 200, the second and third bamboo stalks that grew later reached heights of 500 and 800 respectively. Continuing to grow and develop, the bamboo stalks could definitely be taller, exceeding the 1000 height of Mottled Bamboo.

Feng Ling had long sensed the arrival of Li Zhu and the others. Having conflicts with Yan Cu Ban Mao, she sensed Yan Cu Ban Mao's aura and chose to pretend not to know, not showing her face. Now sensing that a group from the mountain had intruded into the bamboo forest she managed, she couldn't sit still and flew up the mountain.

"Li Zhu, Hei Sang, you're here!" Feng Ling greeted and then asked, "Banbu, what happened?"

Li Zhu stared at the bamboo stalks of the hybrid bamboo species and excitedly said, "It should be about to flower!"

Banbu also discovered that there were inconspicuous buds bulging on the culm sheath rings of the hybrid bamboo stalks!