"Huh?"
Tang San froze for a moment, then his heart gave a violent thump. Without asking a thing, he obeyed his father and kowtowed three times to that stalk of Blue Silver Grass.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
At the sight, Tang Hao's expression softened, and he gently stroked the stalk of Blue Silver Grass.
He dearly wanted to tell his son about Ah Yin, even reveal his own identity and past, but he did not want Little San shouldering such a heavy burden too soon.
After a long while, Tang Hao looked up at Tang San and said in a complicated tone, "Little San, this is your mother's... grave grass."
Tang San: "???"
Clearly, Tang Hao still was not mentally prepared to tell his son the truth so early.
The day after Tang Hao returned, Su Mo ended his meditation to the crowing of roosters.
Tian Meng had taught him this meditation method.
It could both absorb soul power and strengthen spiritual power.
Although it could not compare with Tang San's Mysterious Heaven Skill and Purple Demon Eye, it was far better than the meditation methods commonly used across the continent.
Su Mo got out of bed, glanced back at Xiao Wu sleeping on the other side, and felt his mouth twitch.
He had originally told her to sleep on the floor.
He had not expected her to sneak into his bed in the middle of the night.
He had even thought Xiao Wu intended to stage an "I enjoy killing people in my sleep" routine, but Tian Meng had kept watch all night without anything happening.
Just then, Tian Meng's exasperated voice sounded in his mind.
"You brat, you meditated while making me keep watch. Don't you think that's going too far?"
"The capable shoulder more work." Su Mo felt no embarrassment whatsoever. After washing up, he began another day's training.
Soul power, spirit, and physique-he intended to grasp all three, and keep all three strong.
After finishing his training, he passed Tang San's house as usual.
There, he saw Tang Hao instructing Tang San in smithing.
Huh, Tang Hao's back?
Then did he sense the soul beast aura on Little Scumbag?
Hehehe!
I wonder what Tang Hao's face looked like then!
What a shame I didn't see it myself. I missed a great show.
Su Mo felt deeply regretful and was eager to increase the range of his Spiritual Detection.
"Hey, Uncle Hao, you're back." Su Mo approached with a smile to greet him.
Tang Hao glanced at Su Mo and ignored him. Seeing Tang San show signs of stopping, he barked, "Keep going!"
Delighted, Su Mo quietly activated his two-tomoe eyes to copy Tang San's movements.
Spiritual Simulation had been running the entire time.
At present, he appeared to be an ordinary rank-ten Soul Scholar. The auras of his soul rings, soul bones, and so on were all concealed, and he could even hide any abnormal soul power fluctuations at will.
Not even a Titled Douluo could see through it.
It was not that Spiritual Simulation was so ridiculously overpowered, but rather that, in this era before spiritual cultivation had become widespread, almost every soul master had fairly mediocre spiritual power.
Even though Spiritual Simulation was currently sealed down to the power of a hundred-year ability, his million-year spiritual origin still offered genuine, overwhelming superiority.
Hmm?
Out of the corner of his eye, Su Mo suddenly noticed a flowerpot on the windowsill to the left of the house.
There was nothing special about the pot.
The Blue Silver Grass planted in it looked perfectly ordinary too.
But under the gaze of his two-tomoe eyes, every fine golden vein on its leaves stood out in perfect detail.
Blue Silver... Emperor? Su Mo's pupils contracted slightly.
Yet his face maintained an expression of keen curiosity about smithing throughout.
"Huh? Could that be Tang San's mother?"
Through Su Mo's eyes, Tian Meng also saw the stalk of Blue Silver Grass on the windowsill.
Recalling Su Mo's earlier mention of the little frog stealing the bone, he guessed Tang Hao had decided that place was no longer safe and simply brought her home to raise.
Su Mo asked Tian Meng, "Even though Ah Yin sacrificed herself, she should still retain the Blue Silver Emperor's original bloodline, right?"
"That's right. Are you planning to absorb her ultimate wood attribute?"
Tian Meng thought of that glove martial soul that had forcibly sucked away his ultimate ice.
"Yeah."
"But in her current state, she probably can't produce a soul ring."
"I'm a good person. Fighting and killing aren't good. We should repay a peach with a plum."
At first, Tian Meng thought Su Mo was talking nonsense. How could he possibly be a good person?
Only afterward did he realize that the key lay in that final phrase.
"So you've done Tang San a favor?"
"Not yet, but I will soon."
Seeing Tang San finish his smithing, Su Mo deactivated his two-tomoe eyes, exchanged a few words with Tang Hao and his son, then left.
After Su Mo left, Tang San looked at Tang Hao in confusion. "Dad, Su Mo often comes to watch me forge. I suspect he's trying to steal the technique."
"Hmph, do you think just anyone can learn the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer?"
Tang Hao was utterly unconcerned. "And even if he learns it, so what? It's only a basic technique for exerting force, nothing precious. Besides, without a hammer martial soul, he won't be able to bring out much power."
"Just consider it doing him a favor. He has innate full soul power, after all. Becoming friends with him won't hurt you..."
He might even become a source of support for you in the future.
Tang Hao did not say that last part aloud.
Hearing this, Tang San nodded as though he had understood something.
Meanwhile, Su Mo was positively radiant as he walked home.
What a haul! What a haul!
I actually managed to shear some wool off that stingy bastard Tang San!
Just as Tang Hao had said, the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer was essentially a technique for exerting force, and precisely because of that, its soul power circulation was not complicated.
Otherwise, his copying eyes, currently only at the two-tomoe level, would never have been able to copy it.
Upon returning home, Su Mo found the rooms spotlessly clean. Several sets of clothes he had worn had also been washed and hung out to dry.
The sound of chopping on a cutting board came from the kitchen. Someone seemed to be cooking.
Su Mo headed into the kitchen and saw Xiao Wu cutting carrots.
Not one carrot, but a whole pile.
Seven or eight plates sat beside her, all filled with carrots prepared in various ways: carrot slices, carrot strips, carrot cubes, minced carrots, smashed carrots, carrot salad, carrot medley...
"What are you doing?" Su Mo asked, his face dark.
"Ah!"
Xiao Wu jumped in fright and nearly sliced her finger.
She hurriedly put down the knife, held her little hands behind her back, and lowered her head, saying timidly, "I wanted to cook you a meal."
Su Mo's face darkened further. "Your idea of cooking is an all-carrot banquet?"
"This is all I know how to make..."
"Where did the carrots come from?"
"I traded your rice for them with the neighbors..."
"Then why is everything raw?"
"I don't know how to light a fire..."
Su Mo: "..."
"Pfft, hahahaha..." Inside the Sea of Consciousness, the chibi Tian Meng was practically laughing himself senseless.
"Keep these carrots and eat them yourself. If you can't finish them, I'll be eating spicy rabbit head."
Leaving her with those words, Su Mo cleared the rabbit and her carrots out of the kitchen.
He decided to cook himself.
Light the fire, rinse the rice, cook it, shred potatoes, shred green peppers, then toss them into the wok and stir-fry-the life of an orphan was just that simple and rough.
It could hardly be called delicious, but it was barely enough to fill his stomach.
While cooking, with his mind half empty, Su Mo thought of a way to earn a great deal of gratitude in a short time.
And it would not even require him to give up anything.
That was-