I Was Born Towards the Light!

The scene to the southeast of the forest shifted abruptly.

As the three delved deeper, the surrounding trees gradually vanished, replaced by open meadows and sparse, tall trees.

The rotting swamp smell in the air was gone, replaced by a rich...

Scent of sunflower seeds?

Sunlight poured down unhindered, warming their bodies pleasantly.

"Beep—"

Su Yun pressed his earpiece, his footsteps halting before a gently sloping hillock.

"We're here."

Su Yun pushed up his sunglasses, a smirk curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Lucky us, the whole family's home."

Tang San and Yu Xiaogang followed his gaze.

The next second, both their expressions froze.

What met their eyes was a golden ocean.

Hundreds of massive sunflowers stood in neat rows, their heads all turned toward the sun.

A breeze swept through, and the golden waves of petals rolled, breathtakingly beautiful.

And at the very center of this sea of flowers grew a king that stood head and shoulders above the rest.

It was three meters tall. Its stem wasn't the vibrant green of ordinary plants, but a metallic, reddish-gold.

Its enormous flower head was the size of a millstone, surrounded by a faint ring of golden flames, like a small sun rising from the earth.

"Ha?"

Yu Xiaogang was stunned for a full three seconds, then let out a scoff.

"Su Yun... you dragged us two kilometers just to show us this... crop?"

Grandmaster strode forward, pointing at the sea of flowers, looking like a doctoral advisor laughing in exasperation at a student's thesis.

"This is the evolved form of the Iron Stem Sunflower, scientifically called the Golden Sun Crown Sunflower!"

"Aside from its vitality and hardness comparable to iron, this spirit beast's biggest feature is—its seeds taste pretty good!"

Grandmaster turned, spreading his hands, looking at Tang San with pained disappointment.

"Did Su Yun bring you here for a spring picnic? If you absorb this, what can your Blue Silver Grass do besides becoming as stiff as iron wire? Hand out sunflower seeds to enemies?"

"This is a purely ornamental plant! No poison! No control! Even its entanglement ability has degraded because the stem is too rigid!"

"This completely contradicts our path of control and enhanced attack! This is a dead end that turns a waste martial soul into scrap metal!"

Faced with Grandmaster's triple barrage, Su Yun didn't get angry.

He just walked to the edge of the flower sea, casually plucked a handful of seeds.

"Grandmaster, aren't you being a bit of a matchmaker here?"

"What matchmaker?" Yu Xiaogang fumed, his beard bristling.

"You insist on Little San's Blue Silver Grass marrying a venomous snake, just because the snake's family is rich and can fight. You don't care if it suits Little San's martial soul constitution. Even if they end up fighting every day, you'd still think it's for a lively household."

Su Yun pointed at the majestic Golden Sun Crown Sunflower in the center of the flower sea.

"But me, as the matchmaker, I only look for a good match."

"This sunflower queen and Little San's Blue Silver Grass are a match made in heaven."

"Nonsense! Utterly ridiculous!"

Yu Xiaogang was so angry his sleeves flapped, spittle flying.

"Martial soul cultivation is about defying fate! What does liking have to do with it?"

"Little San!" Grandmaster, done wasting words on the madman Su Yun, directly ordered Tang San, "Don't look! We're leaving! Head northwest for the Datura Snake! Don't be fooled by this flashy waste flower!"

But Tang San didn't move.

He stood there, his gaze locked onto the Golden Sun Crown Sunflower radiating a scorching aura.

Reason told him Grandmaster was right.

As a disciple of the Tang Sect, poison was the way.

A sunflower?

That sounded like it had nothing to do with killing techniques.

But...

The Mysterious Heaven Skill inside Tang San was now racing like it had been injected with adrenaline.

"You can try touching it."

Su Yun's voice came at just the right moment, laced with temptation.

"Use your Martial Soul to say hello. It's not like touching it will get you pregnant."

Tang San hesitated for a moment, then still raised his right hand.

Blue light surged in his palm, and a strand of Blue Silver Grass slowly extended, cautiously reaching out to gently brush against an ordinary sunflower on the periphery.

Hum!

The instant they made contact, Tang San's pupils sharply contracted.

In that moment, Tang San felt as if he had turned into a shriveled sponge, abruptly tossed into a warm ocean of sunlight.

The pure light element flowing from that sunflower streamed unimpeded through the Blue Silver Grass into his body.

The originally cold, dim Blue Silver Grass actually straightened its stalk in that instant!

A faint trace of noble gold began to glimmer in the veins of the grass blades!

This feeling...

It was like someone who had been starving for a long time finally getting a bite of hot food...

Is my Martial Soul cheering?

Is it craving that power?

"Did you feel it?"

Su Yun pushed up his sunglasses, the playful curve of his mouth gradually widening.

He walked over to Tang San's side, his voice suddenly turning deep.

"Xiao San, that warmth in that instant... did you hear it?"

Tang San was taken aback and asked instinctively:

"Hear what?"

Su Yun slowly raised his head, tilting it at a forty-five-degree angle to gaze at the blazing sun in the sky.

"I heard... the call of light."

"The... call of light?"

Tang San was completely baffled; this touched on a blind spot in his knowledge.

"That's right."

Su Yun withdrew his gaze and pointed at the Golden Sun Crown Sunflower, which seemed to be burning like a flame.

"Grandmaster wants you to choose the Datura Snake. What is a snake? It's a creature that hides in dark corners. Its power comes from poison, from corrosion, from darkness."

"If you choose it, you might get a sharp, poisoned dagger, but you'll spend your whole life skulking in the shadows."

Su Yun spun around abruptly and grabbed Tang San's shoulders with both hands.

"But, Xiao San! Look at this flower! It doesn't need poison, it doesn't need thorns. It just needs to stand there, facing the light, and it can have an inexhaustible source of power!"

Su Yun took a deep breath, struck a pose as if holding a divine light staff, and lowered his voice.

"Tell me, Xiao San! Do you want to keep being a hidden weapon soul master who relies on external tools and limited energy..."

"Or do you want to become a... Giant of Light who can protect everything, as long as there is light?!"

Boom!

These words, though filled with strange terms Tang San didn't understand, carried a grand conception that struck like a divine thunderbolt, cleaving open Tang San's crown chakra.

Giant of Light...

Protect everything...

I don't know what kind of giant Brother Su is talking about, but I've seen the truth!

Tang San's breathing grew rapid.

Yes, poison will always run out, and hidden weapons will always miss their mark.

Human strength has its limits.

But light...

As long as light exists, can my Martial Soul draw power endlessly?

Is that true unending vitality?

That is...

What a grand, what a radiant realm!

Compared to playing with poison in the gutter, this is the true path of the strong!

Tang San took a deep breath, and the Mysterious Heaven Skill within him began to circulate faster on its own from the excitement.

He slowly withdrew his hand from the sunflower and turned around.

His gaze first lingered for a moment on Yu Xiaogang's furious face, then shifted away resolutely.

Finally, his eyes fixed on Su Yun, or rather, on the brilliant sunlight behind Su Yun.

"You..."

Yu Xiaogang looked at Tang San's eyes, which seemed to burn with flames, and his heart lurched, a wave of immense panic surging through him.

Tang San slowly raised his head, staring straight at the towering Sunflower King, a gleam in his eyes that could only be called faith:

"Though the poison attribute is tempting—a perfect killing art, the safest path—"

"But Brother Su is right... rather than skulk in the darkness, it's better to embrace the light."

Tang San clenched his fist; his voice, though young, rang out with conviction:

"I too long to become light, to soar higher as light!... I want to believe in light!"

"Mad! All of you are mad!"

Yu Xiaogang trembled with rage, nearly fainting from a choked breath.

He pointed at Tang San, his finger shaking:

"What light or no light! He's brainwashed you! That's just a crop that grows sunflower seeds! You're gambling with your own future! You'll regret this—you will regret it!"

"Full of spirit! Just as I expected from the one I chose."

Su Yun turned around, pulled a handful of sunflower seeds from his pocket, and cracked one open with a crisp crunch, speaking indistinctly:

"I can't turn back now, so go ahead—transform! Da Gu... ah, no, Xiao San."

"Become light!"

"Become light, huh..."

In his past life as an outer sect disciple of the Tang Sect, he had walked in darkness for twenty years like a rat, trembling with caution, never seeing the light.

But in this life, guided by Su Yun, he had finally grasped this most dazzling ray of sun.

A surge of unprecedented ambition and pride exploded in his chest.

To hell with forbearance! To hell with keeping a low profile! To hell with walking in the night!

I'm going to become light!

Boom!

Tang San took a sudden step forward, the ground beneath his feet instantly cracking, dust flying.

That boy who once only hid in the shadows to shoot Sleeve Arrows, with a mind deep and scheming, straightened his spine for the first time!

He lifted his head, facing the blazing sun in the sky, and let out the most unrestrained, wildest roar he had made since coming to this world:

"I'm going to—"

"Be born toward the light!!!"