Emotions were something that no cultivator wanted to touch, because if you had emotions, you would be bound by ties, and with ties, you would be in more danger when crossing the Tribulation. Therefore, many cultivators wanted to be as emotionless as possible.
Of course, not everyone could be emotionless. Cultivators were also humans. They couldn't be absolutely emotionless. Only stones and robots could be absolutely emotionless. All cultivators could do was to try their best not to be affected by emotions.
Little crane grass, on the other hand, was not a cultivator. The way of cultivation in the soul world was completely different from the outside world, so little crane grass truly had feelings for plants. Now that Zhao Hai had inherited this, he also had feelings for these plants.