Lin Mu went to the entrance of the cave and saw something that surprised him. The rock that he had placed before going to sleep, it had been moved. He had placed two rocks at the entrance, one big that covered half of it and one small that covered a quarter.

The small one was the one that had been moved. It was not set against the side of the wall and Lin Mu could see moss covering it.

"Hmm… it hasn't been moved in a long time." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

He saw the faint drag marks on the floor and found them to be peculiar.

"These marks… they can't be created in a single push. Someone moved this rock in the same manner multiple times for it to create marks like this." Lin Mu hypothesized.

But then when he considered the moss growing on it, he didn't know when it had occurred. Putting the thought at the back of his mind for now Lin Mu left the cave and looked outside for the first time.

  Everything seemed to be the same as before he slept, except some trees that seemed to have grown. There was also a rather unnerving silence in the area which was not how Lin Mu remembered the forest being.

"Did something happen? A strong beast's presence, perhaps?" Lin Mu wondered.

His spirit sense spread around but he still couldn't find anything of importance. The ground was still covered in a thin snow and Lin Mu could tell that it was summer time. 

'It should be the peak of summer, or the snow wouldn't be this thin.' Lin Mu thought and summoned the short sword before jumping on it and flying to the sky.

~Zoom~

He almost fell off the short sword due to the speed at which he flew. Lin Mu had not used it for a long time and now that his cultivation base had greatly increased his control over the short sword had gotten a bit worse.

'Need to get used to it again. The power output is much higher than before…' Lin Mu thought to himself.

Lin Mu's sharp eyes wandered around the northern forest, and his presence peaked. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, concentrating spirit Qi in him.

~huu~

"LITTLE SHRUBBY!" He shouted.

His voice that had been amplified by the spirit Qi echoed throughout the forest and in the mountains at the back. 

~chirp~chirp~chirp~

~growl~

~howl~

The beasts of the forest became shocked by his voice and the power contained within it, causing them to panic and run around. For a minute, only the sounds of the beasts escaping could be heard, but after that silence descended in the forest again.

Seeing that there was no result, Lin Mu was about to give up and manuals search for Little Shrubby but then he heard the sounds of footsteps coming from afar. 

~rustle~rustle~rustle~

The trees moved around as if someone was moving on their branches. Lin Mu couldn't exactly tell what it was due to the thick leaves and the snow that fell from the trees, but he guessed that it was something big.

~grr~

A low growl could be heard coming from a distance of two hundred meters away, which suddenly disappeared.

"Huh? Where did it go?" Lin Mu wondered.

He could swear that he felt some faint spirit Qi fluctuations from that area, but they had suddenly faded away without a trace. Lin Mu was about to go look when he felt something at his back papering abruptly.

"Who!" He said and turned around, his spirit sense catching the appearance of the beast.

The speed of the beast was very fast, even with Lin Mu being at the peak stage of the core devastation realm, he couldn't do much as the beast slammed into his chest.

~thud~

Both Lin Mu and the beast fell from the sky to the ground with a muffled thud. Lin Mu had fallen in a pile of snow that had accumulated beneath a tree and thus didn't feel any pain. Beside his body was tough enough to tank hits like these with ease.

~nya~nya~nya~

Lin Mu found the beast rubbing its head on his chest while growling affectionately. He couldn't recognize the beast at first glance but soon felt the connection within him strengthen.

"Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu muttered.

"MASTER!" It replied through the connection.

"It really is you!" Lin Mu said with shock.

"I was waiting for you but you never woke up…" The beast said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect it would take so long," Lin Mu replied with a sad expression.

The beast kept on rubbing its head over Lin Mu and he took a closer look at it. 

Little Shrubby was not small anymore and had grown ten times as big as before. Its brown fur had mostly darkened into a black color, and red markings had appeared all over its body. The markings formed a straight line over its spine, extending from its head, all the way to the tail. Then over its back the spread into multiple branches extending all the way to its belly. The red markings and the black fur interwove to form a 'M' shaped pattern over its forehead. 

The eyes of Little Shrubby were still the same grayish yellow from before, but now tear lines had appeared along with its eyes that extended down to its nose. These tear lines looked rather sharp and gave it a fierce look.

Sharp canines could be seen from the edges of its lips, the tips of which glinted against the sunlight.

'It's less of a house cat and more of a big predatory now, like a tiger or a leopard…' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu curiously checked its cultivation base and was shocked once again.

"The mid stage of the core condensation realm?" Lin Mu muttered in shock.

He was now wondering what exactly happened in these past two years and how did Little Shrubby grow so big.

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