Grass Root Martial Soul

Ah Yin and Tang Hao were both wondering why Tian Hao was acting this way. Before they could figure it out, the youth's next words stunned them senseless.

"Could you cover your face and change into something more conservative and loose-fitting?"

This time, Tian Hao frowned. He felt that letting Ah Yin go out like this was not good—very much not good.

"Why?"

Blinking her bright eyes innocently, Ah Yin could not understand such a strange request. Was there something wrong with the dress she was wearing?

Tang Hao could not help looking at his girlfriend's outfit as well. It was beautiful. There was nothing wrong with it.

"You're fairly good-looking. The young men and uncles in the village have weak willpower and haven't seen much of the world. A woman like you appearing in the village would have a bad influence."

Tian Hao calmly explained his reasoning. He did not want a single woman to cause trouble in the village, making the male villagers act strangely or even stirring up family conflicts.

"..."

Ah Yin's flawless pretty face darkened. She somehow felt that there was something wrong with those words.

What did he mean, fairly good-looking?

What did he mean, a woman like me?

What did he mean, a bad influence?

Kid, did you want to find out how hard big sister's fists were?

Tang Hao was equally speechless. This youth's way of thinking was rather bizarre. No wonder he could write all that mad nonsense.

"Fine!"

Remembering her purpose, Ah Yin took a deep breath and could only accept it.

She then rummaged through her Storage Soul Tool and put on a thick, oversized outer garment. She also covered the lower half of her face with a silk scarf, leaving only a pair of autumn-water eyes exposed.

Yet after looking her over again, Tian Hao still found it unsatisfactory.

"Do you have a cloak? The kind with a hood that can cover the upper half of your face."

"Yes!"

Clenching her pearly teeth, Ah Yin could only search through her Storage Soul Tool again and put on a cloak.

With the cloak on, not only was her face invisible, it was impossible to tell whether she was male or female.

"Good enough now?"

Ah Yin asked irritably. She felt that this youth seemed rather unlikable.

"Can you cover up your scent too?"

Tian Hao looked her over once more, then sniffed the air. He felt that this fragrance was not very good either. The hot-blooded young men in the village probably would not be able to handle it.

"Yes!"

Beneath the cloak, Ah Yin's delicate hand clenched tightly. The veins on the back of her fair hand twitched faintly as she gritted her teeth and replied with a single word.

She then enveloped herself in Soul Power to keep her natural fragrance from spreading.

At the same time, she decided that this youth was not merely unlikable. He needed a lesson.

Was that any way to speak?

Those who knew would understand that it was her body fragrance. Those who did not might think she had body odor or athlete's foot.

"Follow me!"

After examining her again and seeing no obvious flaws, Tian Hao finally led the way toward his family courtyard.

"This was my parents' room when they were alive. The bedding in the cabinet has been stored for too long and is probably moldy and unusable, so you'll need to prepare your own. If you don't have any, I can ask around the village to see whose family has spare bedding.

"Oh, right. Are you two living together?"

Returning to his courtyard, Tian Hao opened his parents' room. He bowed to the memorial tablets of his father and mother on the table before taking them down to temporarily place in his own room. As he explained the arrangements to the two of them, he suddenly seemed to remember something and casually asked.

"Not... not yet!"

Ah Yin's face flushed at the mention of the matter. They had only just confirmed their relationship and had not developed that far yet.

Tang Hao opened his mouth, wanting to say that he had no problem with it, but in the end, he said nothing.

Ah, take it slow!

After all, haste made waste.

"Then you'll stay here. I'll clean up the Forge Room and make some wooden boards to build Sister Ah Yin a bed."

Tian Hao nodded in understanding and made the arrangements, indicating that Tang Hao would stay in this room.

This absurd arrangement left both Ah Yin and Tang Hao dumbfounded—completely dumbfounded.

"Did you get that backwards?"

Ah Yin felt that something was very wrong. Shouldn't she be staying in this room while Ah Hao, a grown man, went to sleep in the Forge Room?

When she had looked around the courtyard earlier, she had seen that one side of the Forge Room was completely open. It did not even have a door.

You wanted a beautiful woman like me to sleep there? Was that reasonable?

"Wasn't I clear?"

Tian Hao, carrying his parents' memorial tablets out of the room, turned back in surprise. What he had said was perfectly normal and correct. There should not have been any ambiguity that could cause a misunderstanding, right?

"I'll sleep in the Forge Room. I happen to like blacksmithing too."

Tang Hao's face twitched. This kid's thought process truly was bizarre.

"The wooden boards I have at home aren't very long, and they aren't very thick either. They can't support someone with your build. They'd be fine for her to lie on, though."

Tian Hao did not agree with that arrangement. He was not deliberately messing with him; the wooden boards at home were simply leftovers from when they had repaired the wooden walls.

They were of average thickness and not particularly numerous. At most, they could make a single-layer bed for one person. If a burly man like Tang Hao lay on them, they would probably collapse immediately.

"It's fine. I can sleep on the floor."

Tang Hao's face twitched again. For Ah Yin's sake, he could only endure it.

"That works too."

Since the person concerned had said so himself, Tian Hao naturally had no objections. It also saved him the trouble of making a wooden bed.

And so, Tian Hao returned to his room to set up his parents' memorial tablets, while Tang Hao and Ah Yin went to tidy up the Forge Room. The moment Tang Hao arrived, he felt an unusual sense of familiarity.

"This anvil has quite some age to it. Did it belong to your father?"

After examining it, Tang Hao guessed that the Forge Room had probably been built by the youth's father.

"It belonged to my mother. My mother's Martial Soul was an Iron Hammer, while my father's Martial Soul was Foxtail Grass."

Tian Hao, who had just stepped out of his room to help, casually answered. Tang Hao and Ah Yin were left speechless once again. It was difficult to imagine such a scene.

"You use this place often. Did you inherit your mother's Iron Hammer Martial Soul?"

Feeling a little awkward, Tang Hao changed the subject. His luck today seemed rather bad. He kept running into awkward situations.

Could this youth be his nemesis?

"No, I inherited my father's Foxtail Grass Martial Soul. It just underwent a somewhat malignant mutation."

Tian Hao's answer made Tang Hao even more awkward. Ah Yin, however, became interested. After all, her own Martial Soul was also from the Plant System, and it was even of emperor rank.

"My Martial Soul is incomplete. It's defective. It consists of only one root strand of Foxtail Grass."

Tian Hao did not hide it. He even manifested his Martial Soul.

A root strand floated above his palm. It was precisely one root strand from the Foxtail Grass Martial Soul.

In this real world, Plant System Martial Souls were not like those in the anime, displaying only stems and leaves. They also had roots. Tian Hao's Grass Root Martial Soul was a defective product. It had no stems or leaves, and even its roots consisted of only a single strand.

Because of that, his Innate Soul Power was only a pitiful level 0.0001.

"There's actually a Martial Soul like that?"

Tang Hao and Ah Yin were dumbfounded once again. They naturally knew about malignant Martial Soul mutations, but this was the first time they had seen one mutated to such an extent.

Did this thing really count as a Martial Soul?

Even malignant mutations had to have limits, didn't they?

"Sorry, we didn't know your Martial Soul was..."

Ah Yin apologized. She truly had not known that the youth's Martial Soul was like this.

Although she had seen in the letter that his Martial Soul was written as grass root, she had only assumed it was some special Martial Soul. Who could have expected it to be like this?

"It's fine. My Grass Root Martial Soul may be rather useless, but that doesn't mean it has no chance of changing. As long as I find a way to evolve it in the future, I should be able to complete it."

Tian Hao waved it off indifferently, full of confidence in the future.

He had long made many plans for his future. Before, he had merely been trying to find out whether he had a golden finger. If he did, then once he became strong enough, he would seize the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well for himself.

Writing to Bibi Dong had been his way of recognizing reality and finding someone powerful to rely on. Then, he could use Bibi Dong and Spirit Hall's strength to rob the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, find an immortal herb suitable for himself, and consume it to remedy the flaws in his Martial Soul.

Now that his golden finger had awakened, his future was even brighter. Naturally, he would not be dejected.

If he made good use of his golden finger, perhaps he could evolve his Grass Root Martial Soul into some kind of Nine-Leaf Sword Grass!

"Can a Martial Soul still evolve after awakening?"

A faint glimmer flashed in Ah Yin's autumn-water eyes as she took the opportunity to ask for guidance.

She had finished reading all the wildly imaginative conjectures recorded in that notebook. Some she could understand and agree with, but others left her confused and felt utterly unbelievable.

This was also a good opportunity to see whether this youth truly possessed that kind of talent.

(Tian Someone: Beautiful lady, please don't fall for me. I'm just a legend—unless you give this book some recommendation votes!)