Heading to Heaven Dou City

A year passed. Yang Fan spent every day in meditation, nurturing his bond with A Yin while recovering his spiritual power, repeating the cycle over and over.

The afternoon sun filtered through the dilapidated doors and windows, casting mottled light onto the bluestone bed deep within the room.

Yang Fan sat cross-legged, slowly withdrawing his energy and exhaling a breath of turbid air.

Beside him, a stalk of Blue Silver Grass, entirely azure with faint golden veins tracing the edges of its leaves, swayed gently in the breeze.

"Yang Fan, your soul power fluctuations today seem even stronger than yesterday."

A soft, gentle voice resonated directly within Yang Fan's heart.

The leaves of the Blue Silver Grass unfurled slightly, as if trying to draw closer to him, the tip of a leaf brushing gently against the hem of Yang Fan's robe.

Yang Fan opened his eyes, a gentle smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he reached out to stroke the cool leaf. "A Yin, your perception is as sharp as ever. I've finally broken through the 18-level bottleneck, but taking the next step will certainly require more accumulation."

"Level 18..." A trace of imperceptible disappointment colored A Yin's voice, and her leaves drooped slightly. "Once you break through to become a Great Soul Master, will you have to go hunt soul beasts to obtain your second soul ring?"

Yang Fan felt the cautious concern in her tone, and his heart stirred.

Having known each other for over a year, A Yin's reliance and trust in him had long since transcended the boundaries of ordinary friendship.

"Silly A Yin." Yang Fan's fingers gently traced the delicate golden veins on her leaf.

A Yin's leaf instinctively recoiled, but immediately sensing the warmth from his palm, she quickly settled down.

A Yin's voice grew firmer as she struggled to wrap more of her leaves around Yang Fan's wrist, as if confirming his existence.

"Yang Fan, I sometimes envy humans. I envy how you can reach in just a few years what takes us soul beasts thousands of years of bitter cultivation to achieve. I envy that you don't have to worry about the threat of heavenly tribulations."

Yang Fan looked down at the gentle azure on his wrist, a warm current surging through his heart.

He knew what A Yin was worried about. The path of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast choosing to reincarnate was far too arduous; she feared whether she, having sacrificed herself once, could truly withstand the heavenly tribulation to take human form again, and whether she could stand by the side of the one who saved her in that human guise.

"A Yin, form has never been a distance." Yang Fan turned his hand to gently hold the strands of Blue Silver Grass, his tone earnest. "When I grow stronger, I will take you to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. There, plant-type soul beasts can achieve ten or even a hundred years of cultivation in just one year."

The leaves of the Blue Silver Grass were instantly tinged with a faint crimson. Although a plant could not show a blush, Yang Fan could clearly feel the shy and joyful life force she radiated through the Heart of Eros.

"Smooth talker..." A Yin muttered softly, her voice as sweet as cotton candy. "Then... then when you cultivate, can I stay closer to you?"

Before Yang Fan could answer, the Blue Silver Grass quietly crept up his arm, finally pressing gently against his chest as if whispering a silent attachment.

A Yin had come to realize that those memories were merely remnants of her past life.

Neither the Titled Douluo nor the Tang Sect disciples from another world were people she could afford to encounter now; otherwise, they would surely lock her back in that dark, sunless cage to exploit her Blue Silver Grass bloodline for imperial power.

A continent could only have one ruler, and she was currently nothing but a pitiful, humble, and helpless blade of grass. If not for the boy by her side, she didn't know how much longer she would have been kept in the dark.

However, she could only think of him as a "boy" in secret, because Yang Fan stubbornly insisted that with his twenty-something years from his past life plus his eleven years in this one, he was already a mature man.

Every time she saw Yang Fan's stubborn, precocious act, A Yin couldn't help but smile.

Yang Fan naturally didn't know that A Yin, who was snuggling against him, was teasing him internally; he only knew it was time to leave.

Beyond companionship, affection required stimulation, and now that his accumulation was sufficient, it was time to take the next step.

He could feel that the activation of the Heart of Eros was not far off.

He hoped to activate the Heart of Eros before reaching level 20, so he could go to the era of Douluo III to learn soul spirit technology. As long as his spiritual power was sufficient to match the rich diversity of soul beasts in the Douluo I era, he might obtain an opportunity no less significant than the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.

As for forging battle armor and the like, that could wait; he had his own prioritized plan.

Moreover, with soul spirit technology, there would be much more room to maneuver, whether in this era or the era of the Peerless Tang Sect.

Yet, suddenly leaving the small village where he had spent eleven years, Yang Fan felt a pang of reluctance.

Old Li, Er Ya, Gou Dan... and that big yellow dog that loved to bark. If he left now, he feared that by the time he returned, everything would have changed.

Ordinary people and soul masters, humans and soul beasts, the Empire and Spirit Hall.

Leaving now, he didn't know what kind of influence he, this butterfly, would bring to the Douluo Continent, nor did he know if he could obtain a truly complete Heart of Eros to serve as the foundation for becoming a god.

He also didn't know if the gods high above had noticed him, this anomaly.

Too many unknowns left his heart in turmoil.

A Yin seemed to sense something, her tender leaves gently stroking Yang Fan's hand like a lover's touch.

Yang Fan felt too embarrassed to bid farewell to the villagers in person, so he simply left behind the gold coins he had saved up during this time, along with a letter.

A month later, holding a pot of Blue Silver Grass, a young man wearing a monocle arrived in Heaven Dou City, dusty and travel-worn.

The clean, tidy streets bustling with people filled Yang Fan with a sense of wonder.

In his past life, he was a shut-in who loved reading novels, and in this life, he had been secretly developing in a remote village for eleven years; he hadn't experienced such liveliness in a long time.

He couldn't help but think of the days he spent celebrating the Spring Festival with his family in his past life.

It was a pity that he could hardly return. In the original work, Tang San spent thirty or forty thousand years walking the Douluo system to its end, yet he never seemed to find the way back to his sect.

With only level 18 soul power now, it was better not to think too much.

Although it was strange for him to be carrying a pot of Blue Silver Grass, no one paid him any mind.

This was Yang Fan's development of his first soul skill; now, even without using the skill, he could cast a glamour just by summoning his martial soul.

To passersby, he was just an ordinary, unremarkable traveler, and they couldn't even see the Blue Silver Grass in his arms.

Without this ability, he would not have swaggered out with A Yin so openly.

Everything was within his plans.

As one of the rare hundred-thousand-year plant-type soul beasts on the Douluo Continent, A Yin possessed top-tier understanding of both soul beasts and medicinal herbs.

Over the past year, he had already learned a great deal of knowledge from A Yin that was inaccessible to ordinary people, which was precisely why he chose Heaven Dou City as the first stop of his journey.

The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was the most accessible treasure land for him at this stage; with this knowledge, finding an opportunity to complete the Heart of Eros would also be a breakthrough for achieving time travel.

Furthermore, the cost-effectiveness of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well might be even higher than so-called true love.

Currently, one portion of true love could only allow him to travel to a future timeline for half a year. If the Heart of Eros were to recover somewhat, would this duration be extended?

Moreover, the immortal herbs at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well could also allow him to become a genius with innate full soul power.

In the original work, Zhu Zhuqing, whose talent was merely average, was able to inherit the God of Speed position in the future after consuming an immortal herb; what was he, Yang Fan, lacking?

When it came to hard work and calculation, he had walked from an innate soul power of 0.5 to where he was today by treading on thin ice, having braved the gates of hell time and time again.