Chi Jun moved his paws and ran in the direction of the ginkgo tree. The autumn sunshine fell on the little lion"s fur and turned the tip of the gra.s.s yellow. He looked like a little lion following behind a big lion on the gra.s.sland to practice catching prey.
The closer he got to the tree, the more excited Chi Jun became. In the last seven years, he didn"t know how many times he had seen this tree and touched it. He knew every branch and piece of bark of this tree. Chi Jun was more and more certain that this tree was Gu Yanzheng and it wasn"t easy for him to take small steps.
At least, until he was blocked by the palace wall. The material of this palace wall was different from the building that held him. It was made of a strong concrete mixed with a high-density alloy. It seemed to be a few years old and couldn"t be pierced with his paws.
Chi Jun turned his head and looked around. There was no danger in his sight and he was ready to climb the wall. The moment his claws touched the wall, a sense of crisis suddenly emerged. The vigilance developed over the past seven years made Chi Jun roll to the ground. His metal power was thrown behind him and caught the giant mechanical beast. The weapon carried by the mechanical beast already had energy stored and the faint blue light seemed to penetrate.
Fortunately, the main body of the mechanical beast was metal or Chi Jun would probably smell death again. The metal ability penetrated the mechanical beast and Chi Jun once again discovered the lines he had seen before. He immediately broke the lines. The mechanical beast collapsed like flowing water, turning into a high-density alloy card that fell to the ground.
Chi Jun rose from the ground and grabbed the two cards. He showed a bit of interest in the strange metal structure before heading to climb the wall. The other side of the wall contained his ginkgo tree! Nothing was more important than finding his family"s tree.
At the same time, the guards at the imperial palace"s security department suddenly discovered that the palace"s defense system, which hadn"t been activated for many years, actually flashed red. The guard on duty was in a trance for a moment before sounding the alarm in panic.
For a time, all the mechanical beasts of the imperial palace were activated and entered an alert state.
Meanwhile, Chi Jun had used the sharp thorns formed by the alloy cards wrapped under his paws to climb the wall before any of the mechanical beasts emerged. Regardless of the chaos in the imperial palace, the little lion moved carefully using the metal claws to cross the steep rocks and ran towards the towering wall on the other side.
He finally ran to the wall on the other side and looked up. Chi Jun tentatively called out to the hundred year old ginkgo tree. "Awu?"
The hundred year old ginkgo tree stood by the wall without reacting. Chi Jun moved his tail somewhat uneasily. Gu Yanzheng was a wood based genius but he wasn"t a real tree. Chi Jun climbed up and roared. It was reasonable to say that Gu Yanzheng shouldn"t have ignored him.
Chi Jun raised his spirit and gazed at the wall in front of him. This wall was much more peaceful than the previous palace walls and didn"t contain any strange mechanical beasts. Chi Jun stared at it with big eyes.
The hundred year ginkgo tree in front of him looked exactly the same as Gu Yanzheng"s tree form. It was the same body, same branches and same fan-shaped leaves that would turn golden in autumn. Yet Gu Yanzheng didn"t react when he saw Chi Jun.
Chi Jun walked over and raised his lion"s paws to touch the tree trunk. He realized that his claws were covered with alloy nails and shook it. He exposed the pad of his paws, pressed it against the ginkgo tree and patted it twice. "Gu Yanzheng?"
The ginkgo tree didn"t respond. Chi Jun stood up and removed the high-density allows on his other paw. He also pressed it against the ginkgo tree and leaned on it. He rubbed his head against the tree and called out again, "Yanzhengzheng?"
In the past, when he became a lion and acted like this, the ginkgo tree would respond by shaking the branches. Then the tree would transform into a human, hug his head, pat his fur and pinch his big paws and… give him roast meat, fish and noodles.
Now he was all over the tree but the ginkgo tree didn"t respond to him. Chi Jun stared at the ginkgo leaves falling to the ground, opened his mouth to expose his teeth and didn"t say anything. His forehead just rubbed against the tree.
Did he make this guy angry? Was he being blamed?
At that time, Gu Yanzheng had powerful wood and healing abilities but he was injured by the zombie emperor and couldn"t maintain his tree form, causing his attack power to decline sharply. He really couldn"t think of another way other than self-exploding.
However, even if he was angry, he would be scolding Chi Jun. Once changed into a human, he would do all types of unspeakable things or give Chi Jun a response. Based on the two people"s understanding, including the last seven years, Gu Yanzheng would never completely ignore him like this.
Chi Jun held the tree with his claws retracted and was like a lion cake on the ginkgo tree. He sincerely admitted his mistake. If he could change to a person then he probably had more ways to provoke a reaction from this tree.
After hugging for a while, Chi Jun felt his stomach bulging slightly. He raised his head and patted the tree. “Wait a minute, I have to deal with my physiological problem."
Chi Jun turned and ran not far away. he turned to look at the tall ginkgo tree before hiding behind a stone and solving his physiological problem on the spot. He was a bit shy… fortunately, there was lion hair on his face.
As he turned back, Chi Jun suddenly raised his head and walked eagerly towards the ginkgo tree. Lions marked their territory like this. He had just marked this hundred year ginkgo tree! So shy!
Back under the tree, Chi Jun once again used a series of tree-specific lion skills. He rubbed his ears, licked his belly, bit his tail and smashed against the ground. He turned upside down and tossed out various methods until the exhausted little lion decided that he wasn"t incapable. The tree was really unmoved! Chi Jun turned and lay on his back, revealing the soft belly covered with fur as he stared up at the golden yellow tree.
Then his mind shifted to another angle.
…Was there something wrong with Gu Yanzheng"s body? After thinking this, the lion on the ground flipped over and looked up at the ginkgo tree. The cub circled the tree several times and carefully observed it.
The tree was beautiful, smooth and tall with lush branches. The golden fan-shaped leaves had a brilliant colour and although the leaves fell from time to time, they were natural deciduous leaves that fit with the climate.
In general, it was growing healthily. Once the leaves fell, it looked just gold and had the temperament of a money tree!
Chi Jun almost fainted and staggered, thick paws holding his head as he leaned against the tree. Perhaps like him, Gu Yanzheng also faced the problem of temporarily being unable to transform into a human? The little lion slowly let out a breath and thought about what he should do with this tree…
At the same time, a few galaxies away, an imperial major general trying to establish diplomatic relations with the beastmen of the Scarlet Star Field suddenly stopped talking to several staff members and his usually expressionless face stiffened for a moment as he looked down at his military boots.
If he wasn"t mistaken, there seemed to be something under his tree doing many things? It felt like a strange liquid penetrated the soil where his roots were located… It was just that the senses of his companion body weren"t too sensitive and didn"t feel very real. Of course, it didn"t reach the level to activate the self-defense of his companion ginkgo tree. This had never happened since leaving the ginkgo tree in the backyard.
"Sir?" The chief of staff questioned. Why did the major general stop in the middle of his words and say nothing?
The major general shifted his gaze away from his feet and continued to focus on how to establish diplomatic relations with the beastmen empire. Nothing was more important than what he was going now.
For many years, he had searched the entire empire and hadn"t found anyone capable of transforming into a beast. He was just losing hope when unexpectedly, the empire"s s.p.a.ce exploration mission discovered several civilizations outside the empire"s star fields.
Major General Yan was alert to one of the civilizations from the long overview. The beastmen empire of civilized creatures could all transform. This included lions! It was simply a powerful tonic that saved Major General Yan"s almost dead heart.
Then Major General Yan took the initiative to travel to this distant star field in an attempt to establish diplomatic relations with the beastmen empire. The purpose of the empire was to understand the beastmen civilization in depth, a.s.sess their level of civilization and the danger factor for the empire.
Major General Yan"s purpose was to see if there was a violent lion, his partner who could transform into a lion shape. No matter how long it took or how difficult it was, he must bring the person out!
At this time, the little lion under the ginkgo tree rolled over and used his paws to grab a golden ginkgo leaf falling on his head…
TL: Updates will probably be once every week/two weeks until NOLMBW finishes and it becomes a main project.