Ah Yin remembered the oaths of eternal love Tang Hao had sworn while holding her after getting drunk. She remembered the way he looked at her, and the earnest expression on his face when he said, "Even if you're a Soul Beast, I still love you."
Ah Yin's leaves slowly drooped, limp and wilted like eggplants struck by frost.
[Later, Tang Xiao chose to step aside for Tang Hao and returned to the Clear Sky Sect alone. You and Tang Hao spent every day together, and your feelings for each other deepened.] [One night, you finally worked up the courage to tell Tang Hao your true identity: a Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Soul Beast who had taken human form.] [Tang Hao froze for a moment, then pulled you into a tight embrace.] ["I don't care." His voice was low and trembling. "Whatever you are, I love you."] [You buried yourself in his arms, your tears soaking his lapel.] [Tang Hao's gaze passed over your shoulder and settled on the darkness in the distance.] [The corners of his mouth lifted slightly. His lips moved silently.] [Love you—this Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.]
Ah Yin's entire body stiffened. Her three leaves stood straight up, like three nails hammered into a plank.
After a long while, her leaves slowly began to curl, forming three little fists clenched tight.
[At 22, you were attacked by Spirit Hall on the way back to the Clear Sky Sect with Tang Hao.] [After the enemies were repelled, Spirit Hall's Pope, Qian Xunji, issued an edict condemning the Clear Sky Sect. Tang Hao's father was so enraged that he spat blood and died, and Tang Xiao succeeded him as sect master.] [You married Tang Hao, and from then on, you hid from place to place, living a life of hardship and displacement.]
Ah Yin's leaves curled slightly, as if she were remembering those days.
Back then, she had thought Tang Hao had made an enemy of all Spirit Hall for her sake. She had thought he truly loved her.
Looking back now, he had only been protecting his future Soul Ring.
[At 31, you became pregnant. The day you gave birth was also the day you reached maturity after taking human form, and Tang Hao happened to reach the bottleneck at Level 90.] ["Once she's given birth and her vitality is severely depleted, that'll be the best time to make our move." Tang Hao kept his voice low.]
Ah Yin's entire body trembled.
[Your son, Tang San, was born. You had just given birth and were utterly drained, barely able to move a finger.] [Just then, Spirit Hall's Pope, Qian Xunji, surrounded your home with two Titled Douluo and a large number of Soul Masters.] [Tang Hao charged out with his hammer and stood in the doorway.] ["You think I'd hand over a Soul Ring I've spent all these years raising?" he roared, fighting three Titled Douluo at once.]
Ah Yin's leaves shot straight up. A Soul Ring I've spent all these years raising? Those were his exact words?!
[On that very day, to protect Tang Hao and your newborn son, Tang San, you sacrificed yourself, giving up your hundred thousand years of cultivation. You offered up your life and infused Tang Hao with a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.] [All that remained of you was a grass seed and the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone. With them, Tang Hao broke through to become a Titled Douluo, killed one Titled Douluo, and gravely wounded Qian Xunji.]
Ah Yin's leaves slowly drooped.
She remembered that moment: the agony as her Soul Power was stripped away, and the last thing she saw before her consciousness faded. Tang Hao stood in a pool of blood, holding their child. There was no grief on his face, only the triumphant delight of getting exactly what he wanted.
[Tang Hao threw his head back and laughed. "Hahahaha—just what I wanted!" He looked down at Tang San in his arms, then at the Blue Silver Emperor seed on the ground, smiling. "Ah Yin, I'll take good care of our child."] [Tang Hao planted the grass seed in a forest near Holy Soul Village. He settled there in seclusion, making a living as a blacksmith while raising Tang San.] [He often came to sit in the cave and talk to the little Blue Silver Grass.] ["Ah Yin, I hope you can grow a little faster." He stroked the leaves, his voice so tender it sounded as though he were coaxing a lover.] ["That way, Tang San can get his Soul Rings directly from you in the future."]
Ah Yin trembled from head to toe with rage.
Tang Hao! She had thought that at least he had carefully nurtured her again. Turns out that even this little grass she'd been for over a decade was just another Soul Ring he was raising.
[When Tang San was twenty, Tang Hao brought him to the cave and told him the truth about what had happened.] [When Tang San learned that you had merely lost your cultivation and needed to grow again, he knelt and kowtowed. "Mother, your son will make sure you recover."]
Ah Yin's leaves spread slightly.
She was deeply touched by Tang San's filial words.
[At twenty-one, Tang San transplanted you to the place where the cold and hot springs converged at the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well. Nourished day and night by the spiritual energy of heaven-and-earth treasures, your leaves grew from three to seven, then from seven to more than a dozen, and at last you slowly began to regain consciousness.]
Ah Yin felt her current body, frail and possessing only a little over a decade of cultivation.
It seemed that her rapid recovery later was thanks to her son, Tang San, taking her to that place.
[At twenty-five, with your spiritual energy nourishing him and his heaven-defying talent, Tang San reached Level 90.] [He stood beside the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well and looked down at you, your human form beginning to reappear as a faint shadow.] ["Offer yourself up, Mother." His voice was calm, as if he were stating the obvious.] [You froze. "Then you won't have a mother!"] [Tang San looked down at you, the corners of his mouth lifting in an expression exactly like Tang Hao's all those years ago.] ["You're nothing but the Soul Ring Father prepared for me."]
Ah Yin's entire body trembled.
"You motherless wretch!"
If she'd had hands, she would probably have smashed the stone in front of her.
[You refused to offer yourself up. But Tang Hao arrived. You were no match for the father and son working together.] [As your Soul Ring was stripped away, you watched the fresh red Soul Ring appear around Tang San and heard Tang Hao say from the side, "Son, well done."] ["I had a good teacher," Tang San replied with a smile.]
Ah Yin wilted in the crevice, her leaves spread flat, like someone lying starfish-style on a bed and staring expressionlessly at the ceiling.
After a long while, her leaves slowly curled up into three little fists.
Tang Hao. Tang San.
She mouthed their names one at a time in her mind, clenching a fist with each one.
Then she began shaking her leaves frantically, like someone stomping their feet in place.
No, she had to find a way!
Right now, she was just a little Blue Silver Grass with a little over a decade of cultivation. She couldn't even move, let alone run.
She stopped shaking her leaves and held them straight up.
This Simulator was her lucky break.
She had to make good use of it. There was no way she'd let those two ungrateful wretches get what they wanted again.
[Simulation ended. Calculating rewards—] [Reward One: One drop of Ripening Spirit Liquid! (Water a plant with it to make it mature rapidly!)] [Reward Two: Spirit Beast Sensing! (Sense the presence of all Spirit Beasts across a wide area based on your own age!)] [Reward Three: Nutrient Absorption! (When your Soul Power is depleted, sense the power of the earth and replenish your Soul Power from it!)]
Ah Yin froze for a moment.
Then her whole body burst with excitement.
Her leaves shook wildly, and her roots thrashed in the crevice, as if she were spinning and bouncing in place.
A heaven-sent opportunity! This was truly a heaven-sent opportunity!
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