Yin Hu let out a deep sigh as the girls seemed busy stuffing their faces with bowls of rice. They hadn't noticed anything yet. No obvious changes occurring and most importantly there were no new limbs growing out of their necks. Everything seemed perfectly fine and calm.

Just the way he liked it.

He was sick of having to face strange and unexpected situations he had no idea how to deal with in real time. Dangers that threatened the lives of the Hu girls. It was not a good feeling having to suffer the worry that he may have fucked something up and bad. Killing them would not even have been the worst outcome, turning them into mindless killing machines or murderhobos was far worse.

Gratitude was all he could feel currently as they acted as normally as they always did. Mostly being dead silent and not utter a sound during their meal. Neither one of them wanted to be distracted from eating the bland, dull, and same exact meal they always ate.

Not that they had another option. If he had to suffer the rice then they would too. Disciples were meant to carry the burdens of their masters after all and his was the lack of variety in food and the absence of sweets in his life.

Shui gasped. Forgetting to breathe as she ate. Only to choke and need Jun to slap her back and help her.

It didn't take another few moments before they were completely done.

Clean, fed, and full of energy.

He wasn't quite sure how he was going to explain the entire thing to them. The hardest part was trying to make sense of mutations when Yin Hu himself had very little knowledge about how they really affected them and how they came about. Did they naturally happen? Were people born with unique bloodlines and spiritual roots already? How did they originate? How did their mutation itself happen other than the system going in blind?

There were a hundred other questions he had for the system, but he knew better than to ask.

It was incapable of giving him a good answer. If anything, he feared it would give him something that would either confuse him more or lead him astray. The system was anything but reliable. Full of inconsistencies and contradictions that made no sense.

He still remembered the notification he received after he attempted Jun's Weapon Spirit's sword skill. Something along the lines of universe alterations being prevented. Something like that was impossible. He doubted the system did anything other than make an unreasonable excuse for going haywire and failing to compute the loophole he almost figured out.

Yin Hu made a mental note to test out that option more often.

Those spirits all seem very strong. I'm sure they can teach me their skills and maybe even help me figure out how to use Qi in this cultivation world. Then again… How much embarrassment can I take before returning back to the ancestor persona. Or was there a way to get around it…?

"Done!" Shui shouted as she slammed her bowl onto the low table they were sitting at. She gulped her cup of water and wiped her mouth. "Can I go see the new people? What's their names? Are they strong or are they regular people? Refugees? Or maybe they are actually spies sent to keep track of us and keep notes of Ancestor for their evil master under the threat of being killed!"

Jun tapped Shui's head with a finger.

"Shu Shu," she said as she put down her own bowl. She tried to hide it, but she was devouring the food just as fast as the little girl was. The only difference was decorum. "Master said we would see them eventually. Only after we listen to what happened first."

Yin Hu smiled. Jun always made his job easier. He couldn't imagine having to deal with Shui and her energy all by himself. "To start, the purification of your Spiritual Roots was an astounding success. No hitches in the matter and most importantly, it resulted in fortuitous results that I guided—"

Both girls listened to him with rapt attention.

He had hoped his initiation of the conversation would get them to speak up if they noticed any new oddities. Or if they started seeing a screen with letters and level ups in their vision. He rested the case when nothing like that happened. Shui would not have been capable of keeping a tight lid on the matter if she did get system access like he had.

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The biggest danger officially averted! Wouldn't know what to do if they had been cursed with this bastard system.

"—your Spiritual Roots mutated. I encouraged and augmented the process to strengthen your mutations and make them the best possible versions you could have received."

Jun's eyes widened comically as Shui didn't seem to understand what was happening exactly.

"Is that even possible?" Jun said with awe in her voice.

Yin Hu leaned into his persona heavily. He had no information to really give them other than surface level stuff. He needed to keep everything vague. The second he got into said specifics was the moment everything crumbled around him. "What isn't possible when I am dealing with the matter? Do not underestimate your Ancestor, Jun."

"Forgive me, Ancestor," she bowed deeply. "I would never presume to underestimate or insult your being in any form."

"Apology accepted." He huffed.

Shui leaned back on her arms, looking back and forth between the two of them. "I dont understand. What does any of this mean?"

"Jun. Explain."

He would need to reward the older girl somehow. She was the answer to most of his more difficult situations so far. Taking care of Shui's unreasonable amount of curiosity and satisfying it too. The questions were far more than before and each one encompassed for greater ideas and concepts. They weren't the innocent children's questions.

Yin Hu feared he might give them an answer that would hurt their cultivation. Not that he would stop trying his best. He just needed to be careful.

It took some time, but he was quick to figure out even Jun had an incomplete view of what Spiritual Root Mutations were. Only that they were not something common. If anything they were the elite of the elite and tended to dominate the entire world with their potential growth alone.

The three at the pinnacle currently all had mutated Spiritual Roots, whether they were born into it or something happening to change them forever. Or maybe they had a lucky encounter with some venerable ancestor.

Much like the Hu girls.

Yin Hu let out a sigh when Shui didn't ask a dozen follow up questions. Taking the answer at face value, but he had a strong suspicion why that had happened.

"So… Can we see the guests now?" she blinked innocently at him.

He smiled at her antics. "Sure, but only when you are together with Jun. Even if I've been with them for almost a month, they are still strangers. Do not trust them further than you can throw them. Do you understand?"

Both of them nodded seriously.

"C'mon." Yin Hu said as he stood up and walked toward the entrance of the pavilion.

They followed him closely. Shui could barely control her curiosity and seemed liable to bolt out and to meet Zhong Da and his wife at this very moment. Only Jun holding her tightly prevented her from charging ahead.

As soon as they stepped out, their guests noticed. They were sitting together around their own little table with a pot of still steaming tea and cups that they were sipping from. A plate of what looked like dry sugared biscuits sat to the side. Zhong Da had a half eaten one on his plate currently and crumbs showed Wu Xui had taken a few already.

"Senior! You finally came out of your seclusion! Welcome back!" Zhong Da said as he stood up. Wu Xui followed a few moments later but remained behind him. She still looked pale and weak, but stronger now than she was before. "Please join us! Have a biscuit and tea! The best leaves and sweets that I could get my hands on. Trust me when I say this, these bland looking things are just heavenly and stuffed with Qi."

It was a good sign to see her growing more sturdy and not liable to topple unconscious every few minutes.

Yin Hu nearly blanched at the offer. There was no way in hell that he would ever accept a cup of tea from anyone ever again. He'd learned his lesson already. "No, thank you, Zhong Da. This here is Hu Jun and Hu Shui—"

"Zhong? You're a Zhong?" Jun said.

"Yes. I am. You must be the oft remarked Hu Jun. Your ancestor speaks of you much. All good things if you were concerned about that stuff. And you must be the little princess of the group, Hu Shui."

Jun tilted her head confused. She gave Yin Hu a look but otherwise stayed silent as Yin Hu and Zhong Da started a conversation about their plans and when they wanted to move. Finally agreeing on three days from then for them to pack up and leave this area. It was not wise to stay any longer supposedly.

Though Yin Hu doubted it. They hadn't seen a monster or Spiritual Beast much less had to fight one.

"C-Can I have a cookie?" Shui said. Ignoring Zhong Da when he tried to make small conversation with her. Completely focused on the sugary treats that she could have been consuming if only she had asked earlier.

"Of course." Zhong Da said with a massive smile as he handed her three biscuits.

Shui did not hesitate to chomp into—

She instantly spat out the cookie in her mouth. Letting out disgusted sounds and trying to prevent herself from gagging. "What was that? It tasted so nasty! Why do you eat something so terrible?"

Bastards tried to trick me! I knew I wasn't the only person to hate anything made by cultivators in this world. Their trash bakers! Trash! They have to be doing it on purpose! There is no other good explanation… but if its so bad, why the hell were they munching on it like it was something special.

"Jun! Try it!"

"What?" Jun said as she backed away from Shui. "No! Get that horrible stuff away from me! I'm not going to suffer like you did."

Shui ran after the older girl. Trying to get her to take a bit of what Yin Hu expected to be literal mud and the filthiest sludge anyone could potentially attempt to eat. "C'mon, Jun! It's not that bad. You can trust me. I'd never lie to you like that ever in a hundred thousand years."

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