Soul Saint's Diary (Part Two)

Putting down Rice Village Diary, Zhou Qing picked up the second diary: Cultivation Diary.

March 6, Douluo Calendar 1900

It had been several years since I last wrote a diary, but Mother once said that keeping a diary was meant to preserve the traces of one's existence in this world, so I should still write one entry every year.

The contents of this diary, and the descriptions between its lines, were far more composed than before.

Zhou Qing and Tang San continued reading.

This year, I broke through to Soul Elder. Mother passed away from illness... Before she closed her eyes, she told me a story:

Beyond the seas to the southwest of Douluo Continent, there was another continent. It, too, had all kinds of Soul Beast habitats, as well as many nations standing side by side like those on Douluo Continent.

She had come from that continent.

Sun Moon Continent.

I asked Mother, "Why did you leave your hometown and come to Douluo Continent?"

Mother said, "I accidentally entered a peculiar lake. It was surrounded by mountains, and its water was crystal clear. At the core was a circular expanse of golden water that radiated golden light, as warm as the sun. Around it was another ring of silvery, moon-shaped water. The two nestled close against each other..."

"This is—"

Tang San's pupils suddenly constricted.

Valley of Asking Love!

According to the Tang Sect's records, there were three great treasure basins in the world: the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, the Valley of Asking Love, and Dragon Valley. Of them, the Valley of Asking Love was the foremost.

Legend had it that a female immortal from the Immortal Realm fell in love with a mortal man, but the Heavenly Emperor discovered them and dispatched Divine Soldiers and Heavenly Generals to capture her and bring her back to the Heavenly Court.

The female immortal begged bitterly, even willing to relinquish her identity as an immortal and become a mortal so she could remain with her beloved.

Moved by her devotion, the Heavenly Emperor decided to give her a chance: he would test the mortal's sincerity. Unfortunately, the man failed the test. He was beguiled by another immortal maiden sent down by the Heavenly Emperor and joyfully wed her.

Heartbroken beyond measure, the female immortal perished outright. She fell into the mortal world and became a lake: heaven and earth inverted, the sun and moon becoming its waters.

Who would have thought!

On Douluo Continent... no! On another continent, the Valley of Asking Love—the greatest of the three treasure basins—actually existed!

This was truly a heaven-sent opportunity!

Zhou Qing turned to the next page:

"...I was pregnant with you when I entered that place. Then I was enveloped in a transparent bubble of gold and silver, brought to a platform, and heard an ethereal female voice. It sounded lovely, like a goddess in the heavens."

"She asked me whether I had a lover."

"I answered no, because your father and I had been introduced by our families. Love or anything like that—I didn't understand it at all."

"Then she asked what I loved. At that time, the village where I lived had been wiped out by bandits. If there was anything I loved, it was only you, still inside my belly."

"After that, she asked whether I would be willing to die for you... I thought there was something wrong with the person speaking. I was only six months pregnant with you then. If I died, wouldn't you die too? So I cursed her out."

"Then, for no reason at all, I was lashed twice. It hurt terribly. There were no wounds on my body, but the intense pain still made it hard for me to breathe. The person behind that voice seemed to panic as well and healed me. That was when I knew she had to be an incredibly powerful Soul Master..."

"Next, she gave me two more trials. The first was an adventure trial—she made me kiss my own belly for one minute. I was afraid of that Soul Master's strength, so I could only do as she said. But as you know, I was six months pregnant. Even bending over was difficult. I nearly died..."

"The second trial was a trial of true heart. I don't know whether it was an illusion, but I felt as if I had returned to the past and met Brother A Niu from the village. Only then did I realize that I had never been able to forget the boy I had admired as a child... In that dream, Brother A Niu and I grew up together and eventually got married. We were very happy. It was only when I became pregnant that I remembered I was dreaming... In the end, I gave up everything in that dream and returned to reality. I chose you, because I knew that a dream could only ever be a dream, while you were truly alive in my belly."

"Finally, that goddess gave me two things, saying they were rewards..."

"One was called the 'Seed of Nature.' The Life Aura it gave off could ensure that you were born safely. The other was a Light Goddess Butterfly Bug Egg."

Zhou Qing remembered that the Seed of Nature seemed to be the seed of the Golden Ancient Tree.

Now!

Zhou Qing was certain that the Soul Saint who had emerged from Holy Soul Village, with Innate Soul Power at level six, was absolutely connected to the nourishment provided by that Seed of Nature.

Why hadn't it been Innate Full Soul Power?

Zhou Qing guessed that it was because the Soul Saint's mother had merely worn the seed on her person and did not know how to use it properly. Even so, the seed had still caused this Soul Saint's Martial Soul to instinctively evolve in the direction of the Seed of Nature.

And the future Golden Ancient Tree might have been that little sapling which had already sprouted atop the Spirit Rhyme Turtle!

If that was the case, then it all made sense.

The Golden Ancient Tree was not, as readers in his previous life had speculated, brought down from the God Realm by Tang San, nor had it been transplanted from the Star Dou Great Forest. It originated from his original starting point: Holy Soul Village.

At least, that was the case for the Douluo Continent he was in.

As for why Ah Yin could merge with the future Golden Ancient Tree, she must have needed to come into contact with it from its juvenile form onward, using her own aura to permeate it, so that their future fusion could be perfect.

This matter might have begun when Tang Hao and Ah Yin secluded themselves on Douluo Continent instead of ascending to the God Realm!

The mature Golden Ancient Tree was known as the Plane Core of Douluo Continent: the Core of Life.

How could such an existence lack consciousness of its own?

Tang San, who had only just become a god, surely had no way to contend against the Plane Consciousness of all Douluo Continent. He could only employ subtle methods—while nurturing the Golden Ancient Tree, he continuously allowed Ah Yin's aura to permeate it, preparing for Ah Yin to eventually take over the nest.

It could be said that once this was accomplished, Douluo Continent—and even all of Douluo Star—would become Tang San's private garden.

And as for the energy needed for the Golden Ancient Tree's growth—

Not only was Ah Yin the Blue Silver Emperor, exceptionally skilled at cultivating plants, but Tang San had also become a god. Wouldn't accelerating the Golden Ancient Tree's growth be effortless?

If he kept thinking along these lines...

Hiss~

Come to think of it!

Zhou Qing felt that if he put himself in Tang San's shoes, he probably wouldn't have been able to resist such temptation either...

But there were still choices to be made! And I couldn't lose sight of my true nature! Absolutely not!

Zhou Qing took a deep breath and unconsciously looked up at Tang San, only to find that he showed little interest in the Seed of Nature or the Light Goddess Butterfly...

The Valley of Asking Love in Tang San's memories differed slightly in certain details from its description in the original work...

After all, he was a Transmigrator from a martial arts world. Describing the "God of Love" felt stylistically out of place; it would be better to describe her as a female Immortal.

This would also avoid conspiracy theories like "Tang San's transmigration was orchestrated by the Asura God." Otherwise, this book would have to head in the direction of conspiracy theories, and I personally found that utterly uninteresting.

With this change, it became easier to understand: history had its similarities. Even across different worlds, as long as human nature did not differ too greatly, similar events would always occur.