Park Su withdrew the mutated pothos back into his body, paying no further attention to the man lying in a pool of blood. He knew Meng Hu was still breathing, not yet dead, but if he continued to bleed out like this, it would surely attract zombies. If Meng Hu remained lying there when the zombies arrived, it would be his own death wish. Fortunately, this was the suburbs, where zombies were fewer and many had already been killed. Otherwise, in the city, Meng Hu would have been torn to pieces by now.
The fact that no one from his group stayed to wait for him spoke volumes about how little he was liked. His fate was in his own hands; whether he lived or died depended entirely on him. If he could stand up and leave before the zombies came, he might still save himself; otherwise, he was just waiting to die. Park Su had no intention of interfering further, as even if he helped, Meng Hu might not be grateful but instead harbor resentment.
Park Su didn't see himself as a saint, saving his own enemy. As for the zombies Meng Hu might attract, Park Su didn't feel he lacked the ability to deal with them, and he thought if zombies did come, it could be an opportunity to test the pothos's other abilities.
Without paying more attention to Meng Hu, Park Su closed the window. Sure enough, not long after, he heard the sounds of zombies outside. He turned to settle Xu Nuo in bed, then went to the yard to draw well water to help cool him down. When the zombies were drawn by the scent of blood and surrounded his house, Park Su released the pothos again, letting it do as it pleased.
The pothos, having been held back twice before, now had a chance to let loose and didn't hold back at all. Before Park Su could even finish washing the towel, it returned to his dantian, looking quite satisfied.
Seeing this, Park Su asked, "You finished them off that quickly?"
The pothos replied with pride, "If you hadn't put so many restrictions on me, I could have done it even faster."
Park Su raised his eyebrows but didn't bother responding. He had other questions on his mind that he planned to ask later. Right now, he was more concerned about Xu Nuo's clothes. He knew that helping him cool down would help reduce the fever, but considering he was attracted to men and Xu Nuo's type was one he found appealing, he felt awkward about undressing him despite his claim of not wanting to pursue romance.
Just as he was hesitating, Xu Nuo seemed to groan uncomfortably. Park Su sighed and whispered, "This isn't me taking advantage of you; it's for your own good." Only then did he reach out to remove Xu Nuo's clothes.
Usually, dressing and undressing was a quick task for him, but helping Xu Nuo was making him fumble. Each touch of Xu Nuo's skin felt like it was burning his fingers. When Xu Nuo's broad chest was exposed, Park Su couldn't help but exclaim, "Didn't expect you to have such a good body, with pecs and abs. Really envy-inducing."
After saying this, looking at Xu Nuo's handsome, flushed face, Park Su's heart rate increased. He quickly averted his gaze, hastily scrubbing the towel while thinking to himself, "I definitely don't have feelings for him; I'm just tempted by his good looks." He then haphazardly wiped Xu Nuo's body.
The more he wiped, the more embarrassed he felt, so he quickly finished the job, pulled the blanket over Xu Nuo, and left with the basin.
In the kitchen, he prepared something to eat for himself, addressing his own physiological needs. As for Xu Nuo, Park Su figured he wouldn't wake up today, so he'd prepare something for him tomorrow.
With his room now occupied, and having nothing else to do, Park Su began to delve into further understanding the pothos. "You just said I have restrictions on you? What kind of restrictions?"
The pothos, having just gained a basic understanding of human nature, didn't have the complexities of human thought. It had been with Park Su since its mutation, and after their fight, it found itself inside his dantian. Realizing it couldn't leave, it had adopted a philosophy of 'since I'm here, I might as well stay.'
However, as a sentient plant, it was still curious about the outside world. Despite the comforting atmosphere in Park Su's dantian, staying there was rather dull. Now, hearing Park Su initiate conversation, it had no reason to hold back.
"I can't go anywhere else except your dantian, I have to follow you. And I've noticed, I can only absorb wood energy from your dantian now, meaning, I can only cultivate when you do."
Park Su was somewhat taken aback by this information and immediately began circulating his wood energy, absorbing the wood energy from the air. While this cultivation speed was far slower than obtaining crystal cores from zombies in the future, it was still better than nothing.
After circulating his wood energy through his body twice, he felt refreshed and clear-headed, and he noticed that the amount of wood energy he absorbed was significantly more than when he did this in his past life.
This puzzled him. Was it because his ability had reached the second stage? But even when he reached the fourth stage in his last life, he had never absorbed energy this quickly or in such quantities. It was as if there were two wood ability users simultaneously absorbing the surrounding energy.
He also remembered that in his past life, when he absorbed wood energy from the air, he had to sift through the chaotic mix of energies, which slowed the process considerably. Now, however, there was no need for such filtering; from the moment he began the first cycle, by the time he reached the second, he felt as though he was surrounded by pure wood energy.
Circulating his wood energy twice felt like absorbing the energy from a first-stage zombie crystal core. This change filled him with joy; after all, zombie crystals became increasingly precious once their utility in cultivation was discovered, especially high-level ones, which were also used as an energy source in the later stages of the apocalypse.
As a support-type ability user like him, obtaining enough crystals for advancement was usually difficult, and upgrading through hunting zombies was even harder, especially as the apocalypse dragged on and zombie levels increased. Thus, he often had to rely on self-cultivation. If he had cultivated at this speed and purity in his past life, he might have even reached the sixth stage, allowing him to at least have the power to fight back against zombies instead of dying helplessly.
Remembering the gruesome way he died in his past life made every muscle in his body ache. He thought of the man who had pushed him into the zombie horde, and how in this life, he had distanced himself from him early on and didn't go to save him when the apocalypse began. He wondered if Sun Muyang could still be as lucky to survive this time.
Although Park Su had no desire to see Sun Muyang now, he didn't wish for him to die either. He wanted to confront him one day to ask why he was so hated that Sun Muyang would want to kill him. The mere thought of Sun Muyang darkened his expression. However, a child's voice quickly snapped him out of his thoughts. "Why did you stop cultivating? I've only absorbed a little energy. You're not diligent enough!"
The pothos hadn't expected the wood energy it absorbed from Park Su's dantian during cultivation to be so pure and delicious, not inferior to the energy it had absorbed near the energy stone before. Having not felt such energy for a day, it was now eagerly absorbing as much as it could. To its dismay, Park Su stopped before it could have its fill, and it couldn't help but urge him to continue.
Park Su, coming back to his senses, couldn't help but find the pothos's nagging somewhat amusing. He had unwittingly gained a cultivation buddy. However, he wasn't foolish; he realized that the unusual changes in his cultivation might have something to do with the pothos.
After some thought, he asked the pothos to refrain from absorbing energy while he circulated his wood energy twice more. Sure enough, he found that without the pothos's absorption, both the speed and the purity of the energy he absorbed weren't as good as when they cultivated together.
Moreover, this time, he could clearly feel that the energy entered his dantian directly instead of going into his meridians like in his past life, which confused him. What was happening here? The pothos, unable to partake in the feast, shook its leaves in protest. Park Su couldn't help but chuckle at its appearance. Deciding that cultivation was cultivation regardless, he said, "Let's cultivate together!" With that, he resumed circulating his wood energy, and the pothos, now permitted, eagerly joined in, quickly enveloping Park Su in a sea of wood energy.