Shirong did not leave right away of course. There were still a few minor tasks he needed to finish up before leaving. But they were short enough that they could be finished in the rest of the day. He would be leaving in the morning first thing tomorrow.
After he was done with everything, the night had already arrived and he was at the Lu Clan Mansion. The clan head had organized a farewell banquet for him and had also asked the other clan's higher ups to join.
Shirong was fine with it and just went along. It was a good opportunity to expand his circle anyway and he was fine with adding a few more allies. Though there were a few people that chose not to attend the banquet.
These were the same people that had been targeted by clan Head Lu and killed By Lin Wu. They already had some unsavory relations with the Lu Clan and after the deaths, they were in no mood for a banquet.
In fact, they had left rather quickly after Shirong had finished his breakthrough, and they had returned to Deer Wood City. The ones that were remaining were all those that were very enthusiastic to further their connection with the young heir of the Ji clan.
They all had heard of the Ji clan and knew of its influence and knew very well to not waste this opportunity. They even brought congratulatory gifts for Shirong because of his breakthrough, and praised him to no end.
"Hehe, I'll go and enjoy some food on my own too…" Lin Wu said before leaving the ring in the middle of the banquet.
With the safety net of the teleportation formation, Lin Wu was free to do quite a few things. Besides, with the improvement in the backdrop function, Lin Wu could now leave the ring and Shirong would still feel like he was inside there.
Even if he checked with his spirit sense, he would see that the spear was still there. For this, all Lin Wu had to do was to leave a decoy, which was nothing but a small piece of his crystals. The system installed an illusory function which made it seem like Lin Wu was still in the ring.
And if Shirong ever tried to summon him, the teleportation formation would directly activate and put him in his hand, making it seem like he was being withdrawn from the spatial storage ring.
It was a rather convenient method and since his main body could supply the spirit Qi for it to function, he didn't mind the costs either. Though this safety net wouldn't last for long.
Lin Wu knew that as soon as Shirong went a certain distance beyond the Deer Wood city, the reach of the teleportation formation would not be enough and it would be unavailable. If he wanted to overcome this, he would need to increase the power supply of the tomb.
'I'll think of that later, for now I'll just get some delicious food!' Lin Wu thought to himself and sneaked into the same dining hall where the other clansmen of the Lu clan ate.
He followed the same method of hiding and stealing food and only stopped when he felt content.
"Hmm… I should ask the servants for fruits and stuff, I guess. Wait! Maybe I can even get them to cook for me!" Lin Wu just realized.
He returned back to Shirong's and entered the spatial storage ring.
"Though, if I want them to cook for me, they'll need to have eaten good food, too. And they will need to learn how to cook. Maybe I can get some books on cooking and then transfer it to a jade slip for them to read from." Lin Wu pondered.
Lin Wu thought of all the resources that could be obtained from the forest and the good food that could be made from it. Just thinking about it made him drool. While Lin Wu was fine with eating raw meat and stuff, he still liked the taste of cooked food.
Till now he had been tasting food by partially changing the internal parts of his mouth into his organic form, as his crystal form didn't really have a sense of taste. It was now that he suddenly realized something.
"Hang On! I've never seen what my organic form looks like after I broke through to the Nascent Soul realm!" Lin Wu exclaimed to himself.
Feeling a burning curiosity, Lin Wu's mind returned to his main body and he immediately triggered the cellular crystallization innate skill, reverting his body to the organic form. After he was fully transformed, he took a look in the system data to see his form.
"GODDAMN! I'M EVEN WORSE NOW!" Lin Wu shouted, feeling a bit scared of himself.
There were sharp teeth coming out of his 'lips' and there were two additional appendages to the sides of his mouth. These had smaller teeth and were able to freely move to pick up things by gripping them.
His eyes had moved to the side of his head and were still the same, while the rest of his body was thick and bulky. The chitin like layer on his body had gotten more thick and the segments looked more linear now.
The inside of his mouth still had the sharp spine like teeth that were arranged in tens of rows. He opened his mouth wide and could swear if he lined up his body he would be able to see the other end of his digestive tract.
Another thing that he noticed was two red ears that had popped up at the top oh his head. Which now that he looked at them closely, seemed familiar to something from his past life.
"Wait, a minute! Why does it seem like I'm wearing those fake animal ear headbands that the cosplayers wore in my past life?" Lin Wu exclaimed.
He felt them and could control them, to move around and twitch.
"Am I a cosplayer worm now?"