The Talking Grass

"Phew! She bit really hard. My tongue is still bleeding, ptoo." After spitting out a mouthful of bloody saliva, Ye Qiu glanced twice more in the direction Zhu Zhuqing had left before returning to the cave.

Looking at the empty space, Ye Qiu felt somewhat unaccustomed to it. People truly were meant to live in groups. When someone he had spent every day with left, it felt hollow.

He walked over to Zhu Zhuqing's bedding, intending to store it in the Divine Might Space.

But when Ye Qiu saw what she had left on the bed, he could not help raising a hand to cover his face, his mouth twitching. "Did she leave this for me on purpose?"

Lying on the bed were several pairs of black silk stockings. Ye Qiu wondered whether she had misunderstood something about him. He really had only wanted to cover his eyes!

With a helpless sigh, he activated Kamui and stored all of it away, out of sight and out of mind.

He sat cross-legged before the Blue Silver Emperor and gently stroked its leaves, feeling somewhat worried. "I wonder whether sending her to protect Xiao Wu was the right choice. Those two probably won't start fighting, right?"

He carefully considered his relationship with Zhu Zhuqing.

Did he not like her? That was definitely a lie! Who would not like pretty girls? Besides, he had seen her and touched her.

As for love? Kissing her had indeed felt rather nice. And there had been that time he helped apply medicine to her wounds.

The problem was, he already had...

"Damn it! What am I even thinking about?" Ye Qiu grabbed his hair.

He simply collapsed onto the ground, closed his eyes, and lay there. He needed some peace and quiet.

The Blue Silver Emperor's branches and leaves swept across Ye Qiu's face at just the right moment, gently stroking him again and again as though comforting him.

A faint green glow radiated from its trunk, and its life energy slowly flowed into Ye Qiu's forehead.

Ye Qiu's chaotic heart gradually calmed.

"I didn't expect the Blue Silver Emperor to have such a soothing effect! Having a patch of grass around isn't so bad after all!" After a long while, Ye Qiu stood up, looked at the Blue Silver Emperor, and sprinkled some water over it.

Ever since he had brought the Blue Silver Emperor out, it had grown remarkably well. It had originally only reached his knees, but now it was already up to his waist.

As though it understood his praise, the Blue Silver Emperor's long leaves swayed wildly, seeming extremely happy.

"Hehe." Ye Qiu gave it another couple of strokes. It felt quite nice.

Then an immature voice suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Hehe!"

"Who's talking?" Ye Qiu abruptly turned to look at the cave entrance. Only his own echo lingered in the cave, and there was no one at the entrance.

What has been going on lately? Why do I keep hearing girls laughing? Ye Qiu frowned. Never more than three times, yet he had heard it more than three times already!

"Big brother! H-here..."

I heard it again! Ye Qiu opened his Sharingan.

"Where are you?" Purple light flickered in his eyes as every Spirit Beast within a hundred-meter radius came under his search.

Ye Qiu's entire body stiffened! A chill suddenly rose along his neck, startling him into a cold sweat. Something had approached him without making a sound. It had to be an expert!

Ye Qiu did not dare move rashly.

"Big brother. H-here..." The crisp voice sounded in his mind again.

He slowly lowered his gaze and saw that the Blue Silver Emperor in the flowerpot had somehow stretched much longer. Its tip had curled around his neck. The coldness on Ye Qiu's neck came from the Blue Silver Emperor.

"Blue Silver Emperor!?" He stared at the beautiful grass in shock. He had just been frightened by a blade of grass?

"Big brother. S-smart."

Hearing its voice, several black lines appeared on Ye Qiu's forehead. He somehow felt that it was mocking him. Not only had he been so frightened just now that he had not dared move, but last night, he had even slapped himself twice because of its voice!

Thinking back on it now, after he had slapped himself twice, he seemed to have indeed heard some laughter.

The way Ye Qiu looked at the Blue Silver Emperor gradually became dangerous.

"Big brother. N-no hit."

Hearing its barely intelligible response, Ye Qiu could not bring himself to argue with it. Who would have thought that the auditory hallucinations he had imagined were actually coming from this pot of grass? "The Blue Silver Emperor can actually talk in its current state?"

Ye Qiu sat down again. Suddenly remembering that this was a seed left behind by Tang Hao's wife, Ah Yin, he asked, "Are you Ah Yin?"

"Yin Yin... sister, sister left."

Listening to its halting speech, Ye Qiu felt that it did not seem very smart yet.

He then looked at it strangely.

It actually called Ah Yin its sister?

"Ah Yin left? Does that mean she died?" Ye Qiu stroked his chin, carefully pondering the information provided by a blade of grass.

The Blue Silver Emperor beside him actually nodded in a humanlike manner.

"Do you know Tang Hao?" Ye Qiu became interested and continued communicating with it.

The Blue Silver Emperor, which had been swaying, stopped. Its tip tilted slightly backward as though it were thinking.

Then it shook from side to side twice, indicating that it did not know him and had never heard of him.

So Ye Qiu changed the way he asked. "That bastard who planted you in that pitch-black cave!"

The effect of changing his wording was immediate.

The moment Ye Qiu finished speaking, the Blue Silver Emperor began swaying violently, as though accusing Tang Hao of his cruel abuse of grass.

Ye Qiu had originally wanted to ask more questions, but after its wild shaking, it wilted. It became limp and droopy, unable to stand straight.

"..." Several black lines appeared on Ye Qiu's forehead. Was this grass's consciousness really so fragile?

He helplessly shook his head and added some more water for it.

After fooling around with it for a while, much of the melancholy in Ye Qiu's heart had faded.

"It's time to leave!"

Holding the flowerpot containing the Blue Silver Emperor, Ye Qiu summoned a vortex and vanished from the spot with it in his arms.

He had delayed on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest for over a month. It was time to continue toward Heaven Dou Imperial City.

Within the dense forest, Ye Qiu sat cross-legged atop a tiger. Tiger Cub carried him swiftly toward the outer edge of the Star Dou Great Forest.

A new black silk ribbon was tied over his eyes. Though he had not wanted to tear up the thing Zhu Zhuqing had left behind, he still needed something over his eyes. All he could say was that tearing it had been rather stress-relieving.

In his arms was a pot of Blue Silver Grass whose leaves bore golden patterns.

Now that Ye Qiu knew the Blue Silver Emperor had developed consciousness, it did not seem right to keep leaving it alone in the Divine Might Space.

He was idle while traveling anyway, so he brought it out to let it bask in the sun.

As for why it called him big brother, Ye Qiu had formed a guess.

He guessed that the main reason it called him big brother was likely the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone, which made it feel a closeness similar to what it felt toward Ah Yin.

Perhaps the Sharingan was another reason, though he could not be sure. After all, he had not actually tried using that improper ability to seduce any female Spirit Beasts. Those capable of taking human form were excluded, of course.

Since the ten-year Spirit Beast Iron Hoof Horse that had accompanied Ye Qiu for so long had been taken away by Zhu Zhuqing,

he had no choice but to recruit another one with the Sharingan's ability.

This was a Spirit Beast that had just reached a thousand years: an Emerald-Eyed Cloud-Winged Tiger.

It was only about three meters long, but the important thing was that it looked good. Its fur was soft, smooth, and glossy. Whenever they encountered a steep downhill slope or cliff, he could even experience the thrill of gliding.

"It should only take a few more days to reach a town at the edge, right?"

Smack! Ye Qiu grabbed Tiger Cub's tail, used it like a whip, and lashed Tiger Cub's backside.

Did that count as producing and selling his own goods, or growing it himself and receiving it himself?

"Roar~" After letting out a low roar, the majestic Emerald-Eyed Cloud-Winged Tiger immediately charged forward.