"You saved me."
Li Meirong repeated herself, unable to believe her own words. It was probably completely unintentional on the plant's part, but it wasn't as though it understood her, anyway.
She had to plan her escape, should it try to attack her next. Unlike the Jiangshi Master who was caught unawares, not even able to even scream before he was swallowed whole, she could probably get away in time before the plant was ready to strike again.
The mental image of his bulging eyes and the smirk wiped off his face right before the Plant gobbled him up was more satisfying than Li Meirong would care to admit.
She scurried into the bushes and grabbed the signal stone with both her hands. She squeezed it between her fingers for reassurance, breathed in deeply and exhaled, feeling incredibly relieved. What a close call! She carefully placed it back inside her sleeve, this time in a more accessible location.
Meanwhile, the plant settled itself not far from her. It wiggled the wider, plumper lower part of its body back and forth, quite like a puppy overzealously wagging its tail.
The flesh underneath its open "mouth" had a pink tint to it which wasn't there before. Li Meirong caught herself thinking that it might possibly be blushing, and mentally smacked herself across the face for doing so.
"I think this place made me lose my mind..." She muttered and began retracing her steps back towards her companions. It would possibly take her a whole day but that was fine since apparently, she was walking animal repellent. Hopefully, now, she could relax.
During her walk, she hesitantly glanced back every ten to twenty feet at the unmoving Man-eating Plant. It didn't move whenever she looked back at it, but no matter how far she walked, the distance between them didn't seem to increase.
It's definitely following me! Li Meirong concluded, spooked.
If that plant attacked her, she was planning on bleeding her whole arm on the signal stone, if need be. She clutched the signal stone tightly in her sleeve for reassurance.
To test her theory, she turned around suddenly, fast enough to finally catch it hopping about behind her, much more slowly than it had before. Its unhurried pace made Li Meirong feel a bit more reassured. At the same time, the Carnivorous Plant was working on digesting the man inside its belly.
She wiped the sweat off her forehead and followed the tracks previously made by the plant along the jungle's uncharted path, during its frantic dash. The sight was gradually becoming familiar to her eyes.
Previously, the plant had carried her through it all, but now that she had to trudge through the deeper parts of this terrain, her shoes got caked in thick mud, and her legs soaked all the way up to her knees. This path was truly exhausting to venture through on foot, she had a newfound appreciation for how swiftly the plant had managed to get through it.
Following what seemed like an hour of walking, Li Meirong stopped to rest. Too wary of the plant to sit comfortably, she leaned against a wide tree for support, catching her breath.
She held a hand to her chest, panting, and turned around to inspect her "stalker" who, yet again hopped lazily along until it was perched at the same measure of distance away from her as before, waiting for her to keep going.
She didn't sense any hostility from it now. Actually… it felt as though the Plant was looking out for her.
"You're not thinking of eating me too, are you?" Li Meirong asked. Who knows? Maybe it speaks. Stranger things had already happened that day.
The plant did not respond but as if it understood her words, its body wobbled from side to side.
Hopefully, that meant no?
"You… then what do you want from me?" She couldn't help but question it. The Plant had been following her all this time, surely it craved something.
Even though she still hadn't moved from her spot, the plant began to creep even closer.
Hop.
Hop. Hop.
About three feet away, it stopped and sent out one of its long, thin vines, slowly slithering towards Li Meirong.
She stood upright, alarmed. The vine kept inching closer and closer to her but she stood her ground, fighting her fears, daring herself to see what it was planning.
At this point, she only hoped this gamble wouldn't cost her her life.
The vine stretched up to Li Meirong's forehead and fluttered one of its smaller leaves against her skin.
To her pleasant surprise, the touch felt in no way malicious.
In fact, it was a gentle and tingly sensation.
Following its touch upon her skin, Li Meirong received a sudden vision. She presumed it was an image which the plant had somehow managed to project directly into her mind.
She saw the plant in her mind's eye, only this time it was the size of a little hamster, placed on her palm. In the vision, she nipped her own finger with her teeth, dripping blood into the plant's small and eager mouth. It made a gurgling noise and its miniature leaves rustled happily.
Once the vision faded, Li Meirong's stared bewildered at the man-sized Plant. Its leaf gradually retracted from her forehead.
"You want me to feed you?" Li Meirong asked, surprised.
The plant bobbed its "head" forward, exaggeratingly.
"..."
'Why do I have to feed this plant my blood?!' She sighed, trying to make sense of this.
"What will I get out of doing this?"
In response, the plant placed its leaf on Li Meirong's forehead, again.
This time, a different vision appeared. In this new hallucination, the plant sliced a part of its flesh, causing green ooze to spill from itself. It sent a single leafy vine to cup the green ooze with an uncurled leaf and brought it towards Li Meirong's mouth. Her red lips parted as the leaf nudged itself against it, while the green essence was squeezed into her mouth and made her swallow the liquid. Then, the vision of herself feeding the plant her own blood repeated once more.
'A blood contract between a master and spirit.' A soft, gentle voice whispered in her mind. It was real, yet unreal.
Li Meirong's eyes fluttered as she snapped out of the vision.
"Can you resize yourself as you did in the vision?" She asked with a hint of skepticism.
The Plant suddenly glowed with a warm light, and in front of her very eyes, it shrunk!
It turned smaller and smaller until it was the size of a mouse. The plant jumped towards Li Meirong and she, in response, reached out and cupped it in her palms.
How convenient.. Li Meirong gleefully thought and smiled at the plant. At this size, it wasn't so scary.
The plant curiously stared at Li Meirong, curling its leaves while shaking bashfully.
Its eagerness for food reminded her of her pet cat from her previous life. It wasn't the plant's fault that it needed blood to remain alive. It wasn't that different from how people ate animals to survive, was it?
"If you do what I tell you, I'll let you follow me and I'll feed you too." She said, to which the mini-sized plant jumped up and down on her palm, excited.
Li Meirong continued with a warning, "But if you misbehave, I will cut all ties with you! Additionally, you must never harm the people I care about. In fact, don't harm anyone unless I ask you to, as you did with that crazed Jiangshi Master. Good job, by the way." It was important for her to make these points, but that didn't mean he didn't deserve a compliment for his efforts.
While speaking to the plant, she brushed her fingers across its "belly" part as though it was a puppy.
The top of the Plant's body immediately turned a deeper shade of red.
Li Meirong's eyes widened in astonishment. So it wasn't her imagination, it did blush!
Just as the vision showed, Li Meirong reenacted the process, nipping her finger and feeding the plant drops of her blood. It reciprocated by giving her its own green ooze.
When the exchange was finalized, Li Meirong said, "You should probably not show yourself to my companions when we meet again since you did almost eat them."
The plant bent down, slightly wilted and seemingly dejected.
'Sorry master. I won't eat your friends again.'
Li Meirong heard that same gentle voice again, but instead of hearing it through her ears, the sound waves transferred somehow directly into her brain.
So now I can hear you?! She thought incredulously.
'And now I can hear your thoughts too, master!' The plant enthusiastically replied.
Li Meirong wasn't as appalled by the telepathic communication as she expected herself to be. It wasn't so bad to communicate with it, like this.
The miniature plant went to hide within her dark tresses, clutching clumps of hair to keep from slipping away as she continued her journey back to where she left her friends, by the river bank.
'Since we are now companions', she thought, 'I need to address him by his name.'
"What is your name?" Li Meirong asked.
'...'
'Why do I need a name? I'm just a plant, master' The Plant replied, confused.
Li Meirong rolled her eyes. Sure, if that's just a plant, then she must be a goldfish!
"Fine, I'll call you Chou, because when you eat, you're kind of stinky." she announced.
'...' Chou didn't respond. He would probably have cried if he had eyes. As it was, his tears remained unshed.
'This master looks nice but she's actually mean!' The pitcher plant kept his thought to himself.
"Chou… what happened to that Demonic Cultivator? Did you really eat it?" Li Meirong couldn't help but ask. She didn't feel guilty about his demise. He wanted to do such horrid things to her! She was simply curious about what happened.
'It's in my belly right now, master. I think it's still alive, it didn't look very friendly to me. Do you want to keep him? He's not really that tasty, anyway...' Chou said, his youthful voice carried a tone of disgust.
Huh, so turns out the Jiangshi Master guy is still alive, and even more importantly, her new Man-eating Plant not only resizes itself at will, but it could also resize its 'food' as well!
Now, the Jiangshi Master was at the mercy of her contractual Plant Spirit!