Thinking of this part, Xiao Yan couldn't help but clench his fists, but quickly shook his head.
"Forget it. What's the point of dwelling on how strong the enemy is? I need to take action and cultivate harder!"
Xiao Yan stood up and walked toward the little home he had built on the hillside.
A few meters away sat a well, beside which was a wooden bucket balanced on two stones, with a wooden box, a rattan basket, and a stone-lined firepit nearby.
This was where he usually took his medicine baths and roasted rabbits.
Xiao Yan crouched down and opened the wooden box, which was divided into several compartments. Only a few contained medicinal herbs that gave off a strong, pungent herbal aroma.
"Not much left. Not even enough for one medicine bath... I need to gather more herbs."
He glanced at the sun, then slung the rattan basket over his back and dashed down the slope, heading toward the other side of the hill.
The newly modified Xuantian Body Refining Technique, when paired with a medicinal bath, could greatly enhance both the speed and effectiveness of cultivation.
The dense forest outside the village was rich in herbs, many with years of age, making it an ideal place for gathering.
After two or three hours, Xiao Yan took off the rattan basket, looked inside, and sighed helplessly:
"Looks like I've been overharvesting these past few years. I spent all this time and only found a few herbs."
"It's already late. I'll go deeper into the forest tomorrow after my morning training." With that thought, he turned and headed home.
The next morning, after finishing his daily Purple Extreme Demon Eye training, Xiao Yan grabbed the rattan basket again and rushed into the forest.
Once outside Sacred Soul Village, he gathered his breath and increased his speed, activating the Ghost Shadow Mist Track. His figure became almost ghost-like, moving faster than a galloping horse.
The Ghost Shadow Mist Track wasn't like the Six Vein Divine Sword, which nearly drained him in one use. It consumed inner power slowly and paired well with the Xuantian Technique's endless internal circulation.
Sacred Soul Village lay near the border between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire, with some distance from the Star Dou Forest.
Focused on gathering herbs, Xiao Yan unknowingly entered deep into the Star Dou Forest.
After five straight hours of running, Xiao Yan finally stopped. Squatting down, he looked at a small blue flower growing on the ground and smiled faintly. Activating his Xuantian Body Refining Technique, his hand turned as hard as a shovel and easily dug up the herb.
He shook off the dirt and tossed the herb into the rattan basket.
"Guess I'll stop here. Gather herbs for another hour or two then head back. I left a pot of rice cooking—should be enough for that old dog Tang Hao to eat at noon."
Sitting on the grass, he pulled out a Beggar's Chicken he'd roasted during his morning training.
Smashing open the mud crust with a punch, Xiao Yan peeled away the lotus leaves, casually tore off a drumstick, and chomped down.
The area was full of Blue Silver Grass, peaceful and serene—an ideal place to rest.
"Didn't expect the forest outside the village to be so vast... where the hell does it end?" Xiao Yan activated his Purple Extreme Demon Eye and looked around, but still saw no end in sight.
"Still, it's not a bad place. Once I kill that old dog Tang Hao, this might make a great secluded training spot..."
Suddenly, without any warning, a voice echoed in Xiao Yan's mind:
"King, my great King, is it really you? You've finally come to me—thank the heavens!"
Xiao Yan's brows furrowed. He quickly stood and scanned the area with vigilance.
The voice came again, even more urgent and filled with longing:
"King, please come to me—will you?"
Hearing it a second time, Xiao Yan's heart skipped a beat."Well, shit—this place is haunted!"
"No Soul Masters around to fight, guess exorcising a ghost sounds kinda fun too." Xiao Yan chuckled, using his spiritual sense to locate the voice. He activated Ghost Shadow Mist Track, body tense and alert, rushing ahead.
The vegetation here was ancient—towering trees everywhere, likely standing for centuries.
After another fifteen minutes of sprinting, the voice grew clearer in his mind:
"King, I am here."
Passing between two ancient trees each thick enough to require several people to encircle, Xiao Yan looked ahead into the distance and locked his eyes onto a strange plant nearly a kilometer away. The mysterious voice—it was coming from that plant.
A cluster of intertwined vines reached nearly ten meters high, all condensed into a unique plant.It was a clear blue, with a shimmering, crystalline texture.Around it, Blue Silver Grass flourished like never before.
Each vine was as thick as a human waist, over a foot in diameter.
They swayed gently, and at the center—where the vines were knotted together—was what looked eerily like a human face. That face… was smiling.
This vine gave off an overwhelming pressure, the aura of power was unmistakable.
Standing about a hundred meters away, Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes.
"So it's not a ghost—just a vine that turned into a spirit."
"King, I am no mere spirit. I am a soul beast, one that has cultivated for eighty-five thousand years. To reach your bloodline level, I would need at least fifteen thousand more years." The vine's face opened its mouth—it could speak!
Seeing that it didn't seem hostile and was rambling about bloodlines, Xiao Yan frowned.He was clearly human—what did this have to do with a soul beast?
Xiao Yan asked, "Are you sure you've got the right guy? I'm human."
"No," the Blue Silver King replied anxiously."Great King, I could never mistake you. The aura on you—it's the aura of the Blue Silver Empress. That's unmistakable.
If you were just one of those regular humans with a Blue Silver Grass spirit, how could you possibly possess such strength? You carry the royal bloodline of the Blue Silver Clan, Great King!"
Xiao Yan thought to himself,"I've been cultivating internal techniques since I was a kid—rain or shine, no days off. What the hell does that have to do with bloodlines?And this 'Empress' thing… sounds like a chick. Don't tell me I'm related to a female vine?"
He'd seen plenty of fox spirits, snake spirits, clam spirits, carp spirits, peony spirits on TV before—but this was the first time he'd heard of a grass spirit.
Still, the vine seemed sincere—and really, what would it gain by lying?Could it be... I really am the child of a grass spirit?
But if I'm the son of a grass spirit, how the hell did I end up in the hands of that old mutt Tang Hao?
His mind spun with two possible plot twists:
First: Maybe Tang Hao and the grass spirit had a fling, but this world forbids man-plant love. The grass spirit probably died… or got sealed away.
Second: He was born of the grass spirit, but Tang Hao the exorcist snatched him up. Couldn't defeat the grass spirit, so he kept the kid as a tool instead.
(End of Chapter)