Hunting Sea Soul Beasts (5)
What kind of plant is this?
Tang San was surprised to find that the plant's leaves were actually light blue, similar to those of the Blue Silver Grass.
Zhou Qing carefully examined the curled part of the plant stem and found that it had a structure similar to the veins of Blue Silver Grass. He tentatively asked Ariel, "Could it be a tree formed by Blue Silver Grass curling together?"
"How could it be Blue Silver Grass? Grass is grass, and tree is tree, they are completely different!" Xiao Wu absolutely did not believe that it was Blue Silver Grass, but rather an unknown tree species with blue leaves.
But Ariel was surprised by Zhou Qing's keen insight and nodded, "That's right, that's Blue Silver Grass."
Xiao Wu's eyes widened. "How could it be Blue Silver Grass?"
"Yeah, it should be the Blue Silver Tree, right?" Romantina retorted.
"It's not wrong to call it Blue Silver Tree, but in essence, it's still grass."
Ariel seemed to sigh, her deep blue eyes filled with an inexplicable light. "When the seeds of Blue Silver Grass fall onto the Sea Heart Stone, they begin to take root and sprout, growing rapidly. However, without soil and with the surrounding seawater full of salt, the Blue Silver Grass growing on the Sea Heart Stone has to change its form. In fact, the leaves of many Blue Silver Grass Entangling, and their roots are also entangled together."
"In this way, after no less than three years, the original leaves turned into black, tree-like stems that could withstand the pounding of the seawater, while new oval-shaped blue leaves grew at the top... But if you look more closely, you will find that those leaves have no petioles and extend directly from the black branches."
"So, this Blue Silver Tree only looks like a tree in appearance, but it is actually Blue Silver Grass. The black stems and branches are just a result of the changes made to resist the erosion of seawater."
Tang San couldn't help but feel a deep respect and said, "Blue Silver Grass, though weak, is also tenacious!"
In this sea area, every reef containing Sea Heart Stone is more or less covered with Blue Silver Tree.
Other plants, only some blue, moss-like seaweed and algae, clung to the edge of the reef.
Why don't other plants work?
Zhou Qing speculated that this might be because the Blue Silver Grass has a short growth cycle, allowing it to complete iterative evolution in a relatively short time and thus quickly adapt to the current environment.
Other plants, especially trees, could not evolve into forms that adapted to the Reef Sea Area environment in a short period of time, and therefore could not survive.
Seeing that Zhou Qing, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Romantina were all curious, Ariel steered the large ship to a reef near a Blue Silver Tree so that they could see it up close.
"This Blue Silver Tree must be twenty meters tall by now!" Romantina exclaimed in surprise. "Blue Silver Grass can grow this tall?"
"It might be the effect of the Life Energy within that Sea Heart Stone... Miss Ariel, is this Blue Silver Tree Plant Soul Beast?" Zhou Qing suddenly asked.
"Some people have thought of this before, but no one knew about it."
"Why?"
Tang San was puzzled. To determine whether the Blue Silver Tree was Plant Soul Beast, he cut it down and saw if Soul Ring would sprout. Wouldn't that make it obvious?
"You can give it a try." Ariel didn't answer, but simply beckoned to the sailor beside her, signaling him to hand Tang San the scimitar at his waist.
Tang San, having taken the curved sword, realized that Alice wanted him to cut down the Blue Silver Tree, so he reached out and grabbed a handful of black branches extending from the Blue Silver Tree and chopped them down forcefully.
Bite!
The blade was bounced off, and a notch even appeared on the edge.
Looking again at the black, curled branches of the Blue Silver Tree, they were completely unharmed, without even a trace.
"It's so hard!" Tang San exclaimed incredulously. He then tried to cut off the pale blue leaf part, but it was exceptionally easy. He didn't even need a knife; with a little force, he grabbed a handful of pale blue leaves.
"Now you know, right?"
Ariel smiled slightly, "This Blue Silver Grass is delicate, but when it curls up together, it becomes incredibly tough, and ordinary metal weapons cannot harm it in the slightest."
"It's not that humans definitely can't cut it down, but this is, after all, Reef Sea Area, a territory where Sea Soul Beast gather. Staying here for too long would be too dangerous. No Soul Master would waste time hunting Soul Beast just to cut down Blue Silver Tree. Moreover, most of the humans in Vast Sea City have Sea Soul Beast or aquatic Soul Beast as their Martial Soul. They wouldn't bother to cut down a Blue Silver Tree that they don't even know if it's Plant Soul Beast."
In short, no one in Vast Sea City had a need for Plant Soul Beast, and hunting Soul Beast in the sea was too dangerous to stay in for long, so no one bothered to investigate whether the Blue Silver Tree was Plant Soul Beast.
Zhou Qing, however, seemed to understand why the Blue Silver Emperor possessed Assault System Soul Skill like the Blue Silver Tyrant Spear.
Look!
To survive, common Blue Silver Grass curl and twist together, which makes their leaves turn black and hard. Ignoring the branches and leaves on the Blue Silver Tree, just looking at the black stems, they look like spearheads that are not quite straight, crafted by a mediocre craftsman.
The Blue Silver Emperor is able to evolve the Blue Silver Tyrant Spear skill because it can form a shape similar to a drill or spearhead by curling and spiraling its blades.
This characteristic is not only possessed by Blue Silver Emperor, but also by the most common Blue Silver Grass.
The Blue Silver Tree, which grow on Sea Heart Stone and have to intertwine and entwine to resist the erosion of seawater, forming a symbiotic organism, are the best proof of this.
At most, the Blue Silver Emperor has reached the level of Hundred-Thousand-Year and can control itself. However, once these ordinary Blue Silver Grass gather together and form Blue Silver Tree, they probably can no longer be separated at the physical level.
According to the original novel, each Blue Silver Grass possesses its own soul. Which Blue Silver Grass dominates this Blue Silver Tree? Or, when they come together, do all the Blue Silver Grass collectively dominate, forming a completely new aggregate of souls?
For some reason, Zhou Qing developed a strong interest in the specifics of the Blue Silver Tree.
After all, this form is somewhat similar to a collective consciousness... If this Blue Silver Tree has Spiritual Attribute, then it is also suitable for Romantina.
But it's highly unlikely.
"That's true, but surely some powerful Soul Master have cut down the Blue Silver Tree before?" Xiao Wu asked.
"Indeed, a highly skilled Soul Master has cut down the Blue Silver Tree." Ariel agreed.
"Since it's been cut down, it should be easy to tell whether it's Plant Soul Beast or not, right? You can tell by looking at the Soul Ring."
If it has Soul Ring, it is Plant Soul Beast.
Without Soul Ring, it is not Plant Soul Beast.
Why is the answer uncertain?
"How should I put it? After cutting down the Blue Silver Tree, I could sense the cultivation fluctuations within it, but no Soul Ring appeared."
Ariel shook her head and said, "So, no one is sure whether the Blue Silver Tree is Soul Beast or not, because it has fluctuations in cultivation but no Soul Ring appearing, which is really too strange."
"It is said that more than two hundred years ago, the Spirit Hall intended to explore the essence of the Blue Silver Tree. However, it seems that the Spirit Hall sent two thousand Soul Master to Sea God Island, the holy land of almost all Sea Soul Master, in an attempt to recruit the Soul Master there. The result was unsatisfactory. In the end, less than a hundred Soul Master returned empty-handed, and even two Titled Douluo were lost."
"Since then, the Spirit Hall has given up exploring the Great Sea, and the Plant Soul Beast that inhabit Great Sea..."