ok the thing they are surprised about is tyat he let the acorn grow but no one is surprised about how he turned cells of a plant into the cells of a human
Tao (new martial artist girl) appears to be based on Chinese culture rather than Japanese, due to the style of her dress as well as her name (meaning "peach" in Chinese). This is the first time I have seen other Asian cultures represented in >fantasy< manga, curious to see where the author takes this.