The Future of the Bamboo

Bai Lan looked at her. "Hm?"

Ice Empress turned around, a trace of confusion in her eyes.

"Is this how humans punish people for making mistakes?"

Bai Lan thought for a moment and said,

"Not necessarily."

"Sometimes they get beaten, sometimes they're fined, and sometimes they're locked up."

"Kneeling here is more like... making a fool of yourself."

Ice Empress pondered this.

"That's much gentler than the Extreme North," she said. "There, offending the ruler means death."

Yinye laughed beside them.

"That's why humans can live together and build such big cities."

"There are lots of rules, but more people survive."

"If humans followed the rules of Soul Beasts, there wouldn't be so many of them now."

Ice Empress nodded and said nothing more.

She took one last look at the kneeling figure, then turned and walked back to the bed.

The three of them sat down again.

Their cultivation resumed.

An hour later.

Bai Lan opened his eyes again.

Today's cultivation session was over.

He rolled his shoulders and was about to get out of bed.

Suddenly, a thought stirred in his mind.

The Contract Book appeared in his palm on its own.

Its pages opened.

On the first page, a golden mark glowed quietly.

Tiangang Bamboo.

Thirty thousand years.

Bai Lan looked at the mark and suddenly drifted into a daze.

He remembered the first time he'd seen it.

Back then, it had only been a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo.

It had stood all alone at the edge of the Soul Beast Forest.

He'd only been six then, newly awakened to his Martial Soul and ignorant of everything.

He'd thought it looked pretty, so he'd contracted it.

Later—

Its first evolution had turned it into Iron Core Bamboo.

Its second evolution had turned it into Arrow Bamboo.

Its third evolution had turned it into Tiangang Bamboo.

Thirty thousand years.

It was the one that had been with him the longest.

But now, it was also the weakest and the youngest.

"What's wrong?" Yinye's voice sounded beside him.

Bai Lan came back to himself and looked at her.

"I was thinking about a few things."

Yinye walked over and sat down beside him.

"What were you thinking about?"

Bai Lan was silent for a moment.

Then he raised his hand and held the Contract Book out to her.

On the first page was Tiangang Bamboo's mark.

"This," he said.

Yinye looked at the mark, deep in thought.

"Are you worried about it, Master?"

Bai Lan shook his head.

"I'm not worried," he said. "I was wondering what would happen to it in the future."

Ice Empress came over too, standing on his other side.

She looked down at the golden mark, her brows drawing together slightly.

"Thirty thousand years," she said. "That is a little weak compared to us."

"Even if it evolves a fourth time, it'll only reach a hundred thousand years at most. That's still nowhere near us."

"Our fourth evolutions will reach at least five hundred thousand and eight hundred thousand years."

Yinye glared at her.

Ice Empress shrugged. "It's true. I'm just being honest. And once Snow Empress and I fuse, our age will break a million years, putting us among the divine beasts. Its role will be even smaller."

The one Yinye called "eight hundred thousand" was her.

Bai Lan smiled.

"She's not wrong," he said. "Thirty thousand years really is nothing compared to you two."

He gazed at the mark, his eyes growing distant.

"I was thinking..."

Yinye and Ice Empress both looked at him.

Bai Lan spoke slowly.

"Where could we find a bamboo of the same origin, or a Ferocious Beast with a wood attribute..."

"So it could fuse with it too."

"Like the two of you."

Yinye froze.

Ice Empress froze too.

Fusion with a being of the same origin.

They knew that concept all too well.

Yinxing and Youye had fused to become Yinye.

Four hundred thousand years.

Ice Empress and Snow Empress were about to fuse, reaching one million one hundred thousand years.

A Third-Class God.

That had been their estimate before. Surely it would be higher now.

After all, Snow Empress could also evolve four times!

What if—

Tiangang Bamboo could find another bamboo of the same origin and fuse with it too?

"Master," Yinye began, her voice complicated. "You mean..."

Bai Lan nodded.

"It's been with me the longest."

"It's been by my side from the very beginning."

"I don't want it to fall too far behind."

He looked at the golden mark, warmth in his eyes.

"It deserves to grow stronger."

Ice Empress fell silent.

She looked at Bai Lan and his earnest eyes.

Suddenly, she remembered the first time she had met him.

Back then, she'd thought he was just a weak, reckless human child.

But now—

She understood.

She saw how he treated his Contract Beasts.

Not as tools.

Not as fighting strength.

As companions.

As family.

"Master," she said.

Bai Lan looked at her.

Ice Empress said, "I've lived for seven hundred thousand years and seen countless humans."

"They've only ever treated Soul Beasts in one of two ways."

"Either they hunt them for their Soul Rings."

"Or they fear them and keep their distance."

She looked at Bai Lan, her gaze serious.

"You're the only one who's different."

Bai Lan was taken aback.

Yinye smiled beside him.

"That's why we're all willing to follow you, Master," she said. "It isn't because of the contract."

"It's because you deserve it."

Bai Lan was silent for a few seconds.

Then he smiled.

"All right, enough with the sentimentality." He stood up. "Help me figure out where we can find a wood-attribute Soul Beast of the same origin."

Yinye and Ice Empress exchanged a glance.

Then they both smiled.

"Of course."

The three of them sat around together.

Bai Lan took out a map and spread it across the bed.

"Bamboo of the same origin..." he murmured. "What powerful bamboo Soul Beasts are there on the Douluo Continent?"

Yinye thought for a moment.

"I've heard of one called Nine-Section Green Jade Bamboo."

"They say there's one in the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest that's reached a hundred thousand years."

Bai Lan's eyes lit up.

"A hundred thousand years?"

Yinye nodded.

"But it's only a rumor," she said. "No one's ever seen it with their own eyes."

Ice Empress suddenly spoke.

"There's another one."

Bai Lan looked at her.

Ice Empress said, "At the edge of the Extreme North, there's a kind of Ice Soul Profound Bamboo."

"It has an ice attribute, which is different from Tiangang Bamboo's, but they're of the same origin. They're both bamboo."

"It's around fifty thousand years old."

Bai Lan raised an eyebrow.

"Ice attribute?"

Ice Empress nodded.

"Tiangang Bamboo has metal and wood attributes," she said. "Metal gives rise to water, and water gives rise to ice. Fusing with an ice-attribute bamboo might have unexpected results."

Bai Lan pondered this.

"Anywhere else?"

Yinye thought for a moment, then suddenly said,

"Master, have you ever considered..."

She paused, her gaze turning distant.

"Going to a certain place?"

Bai Lan asked, "Where?"

Yinye slowly uttered three words.

"Soul Beast Forest."

Bai Lan froze for a moment.

"That wasn't..."

Yinye nodded.

"Yes," she said. "But have you forgotten, Master?"

"The place where you first saw the Tiangang Bamboo."

"It was there."

Bai Lan froze.

Of course he remembered.

It was when he had just awakened his Martial Soul.

He had been six.

He had walked alone into the Soul Beast Forest.

At its outermost edge, he had seen that Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo.

Back then, it had stood there all alone.

Now, it was a thirty-thousand-year-old Tiangang Bamboo.

But if they went back there...

"You mean..." he began.

Yinye nodded.

"That place might have something of the same origin."

"It might even have others of its kind, its descendants, its—"

She paused, then said softly,

"Family."

Bai Lan fell silent.

He looked at the golden mark on the Contract Book.

Family...

"Master," Ice Empress said.

Bai Lan looked at her.

Ice Empress said, "Wherever you want to go, we'll go with you."

Yinye nodded.

"Together."

Bai Lan looked at the two of them.

At the resolve in their eyes.

Suddenly, he smiled.

"Okay."

He stood and walked to the window.

He gazed outside.

That way lay the Soul Beast Forest.

"After a while," he said, "we'll go there."

Behind him, Yinye and Ice Empress nodded at the same time.

"Okay."

The sunlight outside the window was warm.

In the distance, the figure kneeling at the academy entrance still hadn't moved.

But Bai Lan no longer cared.

He gazed into the distance, anticipation in his eyes.

That was where his journey had begun.

And where the Tiangang Bamboo's journey had begun.

Perhaps—

It was also where its future lay.

The Contract Book lay quietly beside his pillow.

On the first page, the golden mark glimmered faintly.

As if responding.

As if looking forward to something.