Tang San Is Already Dead

Standing by the pool and looking at the waterfall plunging straight down, Yao Yan found himself in a bit of a predicament.

"How am I supposed to get up there?"

He had neither Tang Hao's profound cultivation nor Tang San's ingenious tool, the Sky-Soaring Claw...

It seemed he could only use the stupid method—build a ladder.

He slowly approached the steep rock wall. Blue Silver Grass appeared in his hand, and his first Soul Ring suddenly lit up.

First Soul Skill: Blue Silver: Tree Realm Birth

[PS: It was not named World of Trees Arrival because the protagonist was not yet strong enough.]

Tiny fruits formed among the branches and leaves of the Blue Silver Grass, seemingly brimming with vitality. Before long, they burst open with a bang, and several thousand seeds scattered across the rock face under Yao Yan's control.

They sprouted and grew, transforming in the blink of an eye into countless tough vines three meters long and one meter wide.

Yao Yan focused his mind and controlled them. The Blue Silver Vines intertwined and coiled around one another like living snakes. Before long, a long ladder woven from plants hung down from above.

He climbed the ladder, and soon finally reached the cave.

Yao Yan tapped at various spots along the rock wall. When he heard something unusual from a moss-covered area, he pressed down hard.

A rock that had looked perfectly seamless sank inward, revealing an entrance.

Yao Yan slipped inside.

It was pitch-black within. He had no choice but to take out a fire starter from his basket, illuminating the surroundings as he proceeded cautiously.

The cave walls were uneven, unlike something naturally formed. They looked more like they had been carved by hand.

At the end was a stone chamber.

The room was completely empty, save for a single Blue Silver Grass with golden patterns growing quietly within.

Sensing someone approach, the Blue Silver Grass gently swayed its slender leaves.

Yao Yan crouched down, looking at it with a smile. "I know you still possess intelligence. There's no need to pretend."

A faint blue glow spread around the Blue Silver Grass, and a thread of spiritual energy cautiously probed toward him.

Yao Yan paid it no mind. He raised a hand and tapped its highest branch. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you."

Then he released his martial soul. "Look, we're actually kind of the same."

Sensing the aura of their shared origin, the Blue Silver Grass gradually relaxed. A vine gently wrapped around Yao Yan's arm, its leaves softly stroking him like hands.

Yao Yan was somewhat helpless. It was treating him like a child.

But as the Blue Silver Emperor, Ah Yin was indeed, in principle, the mother of every Blue Silver Grass.

"I'm a bandit. How could I be someone else's child?"

He gently pulled the vine off his arm and glanced around. "I came here for the Soul Bone."

The Blue Silver Grass suddenly stiffened, its aura completely withdrawn as it disguised itself as an ordinary plant.

Yao Yan chuckled and knocked on the surrounding stone walls. Every sound he made caused the Blue Silver Grass to tremble faintly.

"You want to leave the Soul Bone for Tang San or Tang Hao?" Yao Yan's tone remained calm. "To tell you the truth, your son Tang San has long since died. The one occupying his body now is another soul."

The Blue Silver Grass froze, then erupted with fierce spiritual fluctuations filled with doubt and resistance.

"You don't believe me?" Yao Yan raised a hand to block the spiritual fluctuations and continued, "According to Empire historical records, the Clear Sky Douluo and Martial Soul Hall Pope Qian Xunji fought for three days and three nights."

"Of Martial Soul Hall's two Title Douluos, one died and the other was gravely injured. Pope Qian Xunji returned and soon afterward died of his wounds."

"Do you think a newborn baby, enduring a Title Douluo's pressure in Tang Hao's arms for three days and three nights, could possibly have survived?"

The Blue Silver Grass's spiritual power slowly withdrew, as though it had fallen into thought.

Bang—

At that moment, Yao Yan pressed hard against a spot on the stone wall, and a rectangular lead box fell down in response.

The box was entirely black, roughly one foot wide and one and a half meters long. It was extremely heavy in his hands.

He set it on the ground. It was not locked, so he casually flipped it open.

A surging aura of life rushed toward him, instantly making the surrounding air seem to freeze.

The Soul Bone lying inside was a translucent blue-gold throughout, with flecks of golden light flowing within it. It contained unimaginable Life Energy.

Yao Yan gently picked up the Soul Bone, unable to suppress the excitement in his heart.

If he could absorb this Soul Bone, his martial soul would definitely evolve.

Even if it could not reach the level of the Blue Silver Emperor, it would surely be comparable to the Blue Silver King.

Yao Yan placed the Soul Bone into his basket. He needed to find a safe place to absorb it.

The energy contained within this Soul Bone was far too immense. In the original story, Tang San had needed three days and three nights to finish absorbing it. He would likely need even longer.

If Tang Hao suddenly returned while he was absorbing it, things would become troublesome.

Could it possibly have all been a misunderstanding?

Hoisting the basket onto his back, Yao Yan saw that the Blue Silver Grass was still standing there in a daze and spoke again. "Still haven't figured it out? Let me give you one more piece of information."

"Your son is now accompanied by a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that has taken human form. Do you think the sacrifice will happen again?"

"If Tang Hao truly cared, why didn't he stop it? What exactly is he plotting?"

The news caught the Blue Silver Grass completely off guard, and its aura became disordered.

Yao Yan's words were like blades as he continued to cut through the fog. "When Tang Hao brought you back to the sect, why didn't he wait until you had fully taken human form? Couldn't he even wait that long?"

"After your identity was exposed, why didn't he take you back to the Clear Sky Sect for protection? Why did he instead wander across the continent?"

The Blue Silver Grass seemed to finally understand. It shrank into a trembling clump, radiating intense sorrow.

Yao Yan was not deliberately sowing discord. It was simply that this string of "coincidences" was far too suspicious.

They could clearly have waited until Ah Yin had taken human form before entering the sect, yet Tang Hao had insisted on parading around with an untransformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

If he had truly cared about her safety, he could have returned to the sect and threatened death. Would his old man really have let Tang Hao kill himself?

If that failed, they could have gone to the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest. Da Ming and Er Ming would surely have taken them in for the sake of their kinship.

Or, at worst, they could have returned to the Blue Silver Forest.

There were seven or eight possible paths of retreat. Yao Yan now fully suspected that Tang Hao and Spirit Hall shared some unspeakable secret.

As the Blue Silver Emperor, her ultimate mystery was that no one could kill her—unless she sacrificed herself.

Feeling the sorrow permeating the surroundings, Yao Yan let out a soft sigh and stepped forward. "Since I have obtained your Soul Bone, I will take you somewhere suitable for growth."

This cave was dark all year round, without even a trace of sunlight. Did Tang Hao intend to let her wither away here?

He wove a flowerpot from Blue Silver Grass and gently dug out its roots by hand. The roots had already turned pale, clearly from being deprived of sunlight for too long.

If not for the Blue Silver Grass's tenacious vitality, any ordinary plant would have withered and died long ago.

Yao Yan transplanted it into the flowerpot, then went outside the cave and selected a Blue Silver Grass similar in quality to Ah Yin's, replanting it in the original spot.

Once everything had been settled, he swiftly took out paper and brush from his basket, wrote a message, and placed it inside the lead box that had originally held the Soul Bone.

Leaving the cave, he followed the ladder down and controlled the Blue Silver Vine to slowly close, restoring everything to its original state.

Next, it was time to find a secluded place to absorb this Soul Bone.