Morning,
Sea God Pavilion.
Outside Lu Ran's room, a small platform had been built by the window. Blue Silver Grass grew in lush, flourishing patches, its thick leaves holding a richer vitality than ordinary Blue Silver Grass,
Long vines drooped over the edge of the platform,
swaying gently in the breeze.
Lu Ran reached out and brushed a leaf. It felt cool to the touch. He plucked one and rubbed it between his fingers, then took out his notebook and made a note beneath the words "Day Twenty,"
The previous page held the record for Day Nineteen,
filled from top to bottom with tiny writing,
reflecting a careful, meticulous attitude.
His pen moved lightly,
and once he had finished recording,
Lu Ran's thoughts stirred, and the scenery around him changed in an instant. Blue Silver Grass still covered the ground before him, but across an area several times larger,
its growth and condition were somewhat inferior to the plants in Sea God Pavilion,
though it was still healthy and thriving.
Lu Ran rubbed another leaf between his fingers, examined it, and recorded his observations in the notebook.
When he finished and closed the notebook,
its cover was clean and neat, bearing the title: Blue Silver Grass Planting Notes.
Both patches of Blue Silver Grass had been planted by Lu Ran himself,
for two reasons:
First, everyone knew that the growth rate of both Plant-type Soul Beasts and animal-type Soul Beasts depended on their environment, especially the concentration of Soul Power.
The same Blue Silver Grass would grow completely differently beside Lake of Life than deep in the desert,
and after ten years, one might have become a Hundred-Year Soul Beast, while the other was still only ten years old—or even younger.
As the times had changed, old theories had gradually been proven wrong, such as the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul... and the belief that Soul Beasts gained one year of cultivation for every year they lived.
In an exceptionally favorable environment,
a Soul Beast could gain ten years of cultivation in a single year. It could even devour its own kind and Soul Masters, gaining ten years of cultivation in a single day.
Lu Ran wanted to observe
the specific effects of different Soul Power concentrations on Blue Silver Grass growth,
and how much the growth rate would differ between environments such as Sea God Pavilion and the Small World, where Soul Power concentrations varied several times over.
For this reason,
the Blue Silver Grass on both sides came from the same batch, and even the soil was taken from the Small World,
to ensure that no other variables interfered.
The second reason was to prepare for his next step.
Lu Ran put away his notebook and turned his gaze to the right,
where a Green Wood Vine was growing.
Its leaves were emerald green,
and vines thicker than his arm wound around two towering trees. Large white flowers bloomed along them, their faint fragrance drifting through the air.
He had transplanted it from the Star Dou Great Forest a month ago.
The Green Wood Vine was known for its rich vitality and hardiness. Even if you simply cut off a section of vine and planted it in the soil, it would take root,
but it grew slowly.
As it happened, Blue Silver Grass grew quickly.
A year passed in the blink of an eye,
and Lu Ran's days were always full.
He cultivated, ate in the Inner Academy, visited the Outer Academy and Inner Academy libraries, made records, helped Ma Xiaotao vent her excess fire, spent time with Zhang Lexuan, and occasionally visited Ling Luochеn...
During that time, he also planned the planting areas in his Small World, which had expanded several times over.
He divided it into a fruit-tree zone, a medicinal-herb zone, a Blue Silver Grass zone... and a future livestock zone.
He also replanted more than twenty kinds of fruit-tree Soul Beasts, arranging them much more neatly.
He had risen from level twenty-five to level thirty,
and it was time to obtain his third Soul Ring.
Sea God Pavilion,
A faint scent of ink drifted through the room.
Lu Ran sat amid a sea of books, leafing through a blue-covered book with enormous pages, its spine as thick as a fist. The pages rustled softly,
Each page was about five inches wide and seven inches long,
enormous,
and the yellowed pages gave it an ancient appearance.
Looking at the Blue Silver Grass illustrated inside,
he couldn't help but marvel. Soul Power really was a wonderful thing.
It could do more than promote growth;
it also made reading much easier.
In the past, reading all the books in this room would have taken at least a year or two. But with his mental power boosting him,
Lu Ran could read two lines at a glance without missing a single word,
and even after piling the books up, he still remembered where each one belonged...
After turning the final page,
he closed the book and let out a long breath.
The once-elegant, yellowed cover bore the title Blue Silver Grass Illustrated Guide. In the lower-left corner, a tiny line of gold lettering read—
Tang Sect.
Lu Ran placed Blue Silver Grass Illustrated Guide on top of a stack of books,
while atop the remaining stacks were:
A Survey of the Plants on the Outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest
Unique Blue Silver Grass
Blue Silver Grass (Tang Sect)
Secret History of Blue Silver Grass (Tang Sect)
Blue Silver Grass Notes (Tang Sect)
Blue Silver Grass Ascending to Godhood (Tang Sect)
Tang Sect wasn't a person's name. It was the name of a sect,
the sect founded by Tang San.
Nearly all books published by the Tang Sect only listed the Tang Sect as their author. Outsiders rarely knew who had actually written them.
It was only natural that Lu Ran had collected so many books about Blue Silver Grass: he was researching it.
As for why he was reading all these books from the Tang Sect,
the answer was simple:
Authority!
After Tang San ascended to godhood with Blue Silver Grass ten thousand years ago, shocking the continent, the Tang Sect established a rule: the sect master's Martial Soul had to be Blue Silver Grass.
First, they worshipped it;
second, there was a precedent, so they hoped to imitate its growth and nurture another god.
The Tang Sect had faithfully followed this sect rule ever since,
which was why it was now on the verge of folding.
They didn't know
that Tang San had become a god because he possessed the bloodline of the top-tier, hundred-thousand-year Plant-type Soul Beast, the Blue Silver Emperor, as well as the heaven-defying Mysterious Heaven Skill.
His Martial Soul was the Blue Silver Emperor,
not Blue Silver Grass.
But all the Tang Sect's descendants could find were ordinary Blue Silver Grass.
Anyone born with even one rank of Innate Soul Power was a once-in-a-hundred-thousand-years genius,
and even pouring every resource into their cultivation produced dismal results.
But the Tang Sect's later generations knew none of this,
and remained obsessed with finding and cultivating Blue Silver Grass Martial Souls.
They also wondered why their revered founding sect master had been so extraordinarily gifted despite having the same Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul,
while his descendants were not.
Naturally,
the entire sect began researching this weak Plant-type Soul Beast, which was so common that even pigs wouldn't eat it.
Over the course of ten thousand years,
countless books had been written,
and the Tang Sect's research into Blue Silver Grass was unparalleled across the continent,
detailed to the extreme,
but most of it was just praise for Blue Silver Grass, every line extolling how excellent and unique it was...
Their goal was to prove why Blue Silver Grass was powerful, not to investigate whether it was powerful at all—
Of course Blue Silver Grass was powerful.
There was no need to prove it.
If it weren't, how could their ancestor Tang San have become a god?
This way of thinking
had left the Tang Sect unable to figure it out after ten thousand years of research.
Now, the sect was on the verge of disappearing,
with only a blade of grass and a dragon left,
and it was one step away from its deathbed.
What no one had expected was that the last sect master actually possessed the Blue Silver Emperor Bloodline.
"..."
Lu Ran propped his chin on his hand and glanced at the piles of books.
Most of them had yellowed,
and without their special material and careful storage,
they would have rotted away long ago,
leaving him unable to read them.
The Tang Sect's legacy had certainly fallen into his lap.
As he was thinking,
a knock suddenly sounded at the door. Lu Ran looked up,
and saw Yan Shaozhe standing outside.
He rose and walked over. "Dean Yan."
Yan Shaozhe entered, surveyed the sea of books covering the floor and walls, then glanced at the Blue Silver Grass planted outside the window, its vines already hanging dozens of meters down to the ground.
He worried inwardly:
Was Xiao Ran interested in Blue Silver Grass?
Was he thinking of making a contract with Blue Silver Grass?
It was a scam! Don't believe it!!
"Xiao Ran, some students at the academy have recently broken through. One of them even has seven ranks of Innate Soul Power. Since you've also just broken through, if you agree, I'll personally lead the group,"
"What do you think?"
His tone didn't change, but in his heart he was already cursing the Tang Sect.
Lu Ran thought it over and nodded. "Let's do as you suggest, Dean Yan."
Seeing this,
Yan Shaozhe breathed a sigh of relief. Since they could still communicate normally, the condition wasn't too serious.
He would find a chance to talk to him first.
If that didn't work, he'd ask Mu En to step in.
He could already imagine Mu En's reaction—
He'd nearly led a peerless genius, the academy's hope, astray.
Mu En would probably think Xian Lin'er was better suited for the job...
Yan Shaozhe silently wept inside.
He'd been perfectly fine—
how had he suddenly become like this?
Never mind. The academy's hope couldn't be allowed to go to ruin on his watch...
Before you continue