Nine-Leaf Sword Grass
Braving the cold wind, traversing through the ancient, towering forest, Ling Yi's gaze was not constantly fixed on Little Black.
Ninety-nine percent of its power was sealed by the "God-Sealing Formation God-Sealing Dharma Seal Formation." Even though it was a "Dark Demon Evil God Tiger" with multiple attributes and heaven-defying combat power, it could only obediently act as a Little Black under Ling Yi's nose.
Logically speaking, when Soul Beast is captured by humans, it usually chooses to self-destruct so that the humans gain no benefit.
However, as a Soul Beast with intelligence no less than that of humans, the "Dark Demon Evil God Tiger" never entertained the thought of self-destruction.
Of course, if self-destruction could take Ling Yi down with it, then "Dark Demon Evil God Tiger"... wouldn't self-destruct either. Unless Ling Yi is truly prepared to kill it.
Sufficient wisdom made "Dark Demon Evil God Tiger" understand one thing very clearly: only by living can there be hope.
Isn't it good to be alive?
Not to mention, as a baby that is about to turn three thousand years old, yet already possessing sixty thousand years of cultivation, the "Dark Demon Evil God Tiger" is confident that its lifespan is definitely longer than that of a mere human!
As long as it is not killed, it can live on until it outlives Ling Yi, and then it can regain its freedom!
As Little Black sprinted away, it ignored the rapidly receding mountain scenery around it, its scarlet eyes fixed on the clear sky in the distance, where fluffy white clouds drifted freely.
Noticing the unrestrained and arrogant aura gradually emerging from Little Black, Ling Yi finally turned his gaze over.
"Hmm, this stance... the eighth move of the Tiger Demon Bone-Refining Fist, Tiger Demon Leaps Across the Ravine, seems to need some adjustments..."
And so, time passed as Little Black Hei led the way, Ling Yi, along with Treading Snow, Ah Huang, Meow Meow, observed and learned.
From Lingyun City, a lawless area in the center of the two great empires of the Douluo Continent, to the Water Wood Duchy in the northeast corner of the Heaven Dou Empire, the distance by official road is a full ten thousand miles. Even traveling in a straight line over mountains and valleys, the distance is not much shorter.
Fortunately, this is the Douluo Continent, a land of extraordinary power. Although there are no high-speed trains or airplanes like in my previous life, with the speed of Ling Yi's Treading Snow, traveling ten thousand miles a day is nothing special.
From sunrise to sunset, the man and his four beasts traversed half a continent, arriving in the territory of the [Water Wood Duchy] at the moment the rosy clouds turned gray, and then returned to the Ling Family's old residence before the bright moon hung in the sky.
Since the cold wave swept south before the Lunar New Year, the climate in the northern part of the continent has been much colder than in previous years. Even though it is now the beginning of spring, the [Water Wood Duchy] is still freezing cold.
Pushing open the door, Ling Yi was greeted by a familiar scene: the house and courtyard were just as unremarkable as they had been thirty years ago.
The courtyard was covered in snow, which shimmered under the bright moonlight, dispelling the darkness within. By the light of the moon and the cold gleam reflected from the snow, one could see that a path had been cleared through the middle of the courtyard, leading to the various rooms, and there were also signs of sweeping on the eaves and windowsills.
Just a few days ago, a heavy snow covered the entire [Water Wood Duchy]. It was clear that even though the Ling Family's old house was uninhabited, the villagers of New Mountain Sea Village spontaneously came here to clean it up.
Unlike dust, which doesn't have much of an impact even if not cleaned for ten days or half a month, snow and ice can easily crush this ordinary courtyard house if it accumulates too much.
Arriving at this place where they had played for many years, Ah Huang and Meow Meow were quite excited. They wandered around the yard, leaving a series of plum blossom-like footprints on the snow-white ground.
Treading Snow didn't have many feelings. After being selected by Ling Yi from thousands of military horses, it spent most of its time traveling with Ling Yi. Even when it returned midway, the Mountain Sea Estate had already been built. This old Ling Family family residence did not leave any mark on its memory.
Ling Yi patted Treading Snow on the head, signaling it to keep an eye on Little Black, who was squatting by the door. He glanced at Ah Huang and Meow Meow, who were still reminiscing about their carefree days, shook his head with a smile, and walked towards the main room alone.
When passing by his bedroom, Ling Yi took a special look inside and found that it was no different from when he left. His gaze swept over the eight wooden carvings on the headboard and he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
It seems she didn't realize, nor did she know, that this opportunity would ultimately fall to one of the lucky ones—
As thoughts raced through his mind, Ling Yi entered the main room and went straight to the corner of the wall that was separated from his bedroom by only one wall.
The dim light couldn't hide Ling Yi's eyes. He looked down at the floor tiles, and the next second, a slight smile appeared on his lips.
Although every brick was intact and the ground looked normal, Ling Yi still easily noticed something different.
These differences don't come from appearance, but from aura.
Every brick and tile here was made by Ling Yi himself. Whether it was the ratio of clay to water or the small amount of special materials added, Ling Yi could easily detect the changes.
When Ling Yi made security measures for his room, he never relied on methods like putting a hair behind the door bolt or sprinkling dust-like powder on the ground. Instead, he made the entire courtyard and house as familiar and unique as his own hands and feet.
Now that the fingerprints have changed slightly, they were naturally noticed by the sharp-eyed Ling Yi at a glance.
Shaking his head, Ling Yi waved his hand, sending out a strong gust of wind that lifted the floor tiles in the corner one by one, revealing the soil underneath. Underneath the three-foot-thick layer of soil was a seemingly ordinary stone slab.
A green vine sprouted from the palm of his right hand, reaching for the pale blue metal ring at the edge of the stone slab. With a pull, he lifted the square stone slab, revealing a cave beneath it that emitted a faint, shimmering blue light.
As the stone slab was pulled open, a pungent, metallic smell wafted up from the cave, which Ling Yi dispelled with a wave of his hand.
Without waiting any longer, Ling Yi jumped down into the hole, and the view in front of him instantly changed from the dimness of the main room to brightness.
It was supposed to be pitch black underground, but it was brighter than the moonlit courtyard outside.
As Ling Yi arrived, every single Blue Silver Grass emitting light in this underground space began to sway in unison, even without any wind.
Ling Yi looked around, his gaze sweeping across the eight corner pillars in the underground space, and he paid particular attention to a small indentation on the top of each pillar.
If a careful observer notices at this moment, they will find that the size of these small indentations corresponds exactly to the eight small wooden carvings above Ling Yi's bed.
Shaking his head, Ling Yi strode towards the center of the underground space.
This was once the "Weapon Graveyard" located beneath the Mountain Sea Estate warehouse, where hundreds of thousands of weapons were piled up. Among them were fine weapons discarded by Soul Master, as well as broken weapons collected from the battlefield, each of which had been stained with the blood of enemies.
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As Ling Yi approached, the divine weapons in the central mound of the "Weapon Graveyard," like the "Blue Silver Grass" all around, began to buzz excitedly, with the purple-black battle halberd making the most intense noise.
Unfortunately, the buzzing of these divine weapons did not elicit a response from Ling Yi, the scumbag master. With a heart as cold as iron, he merely glanced over them before focusing his attention on the 'grave mound' more than ten meters away from the military training ground.
Surprisingly, no Blue Silver Grass grew around the 'grave mound' filled with the remains of various weapons.
It should be noted that almost every grave mound in this "Weapon Graveyard" is surrounded by mutated "Blue Silver Grass" that emits a ghostly blue glow, except for this one, which has nothing within a radius of about a meter.
Standing in front of this peculiar "grave mound," Ling Yi bent down and picked up a brownish-iron seed buried in gray dust and gravel.
Holding the seed close to his eyes, a rare ripple appeared in Ling Yi's eyes. Especially after sensing the faint yet incredibly tenacious life force contained within it, a smile that could make a hundred flowers bloom blossomed on his lips.
"Iron Birch Blue Silver Grass" is one of the earliest century-old "Blue Silver Grass" cultivated by Ling Yi.
Compared to A Lan and A Luo, who have already become Ling Yi's first and Second Soul Ring, Ahua, which Ling Yi calls A Hua, was nurtured all the way to a cultivation level of 999 years. Later, after Ling Yi's Martial Soul advanced to the "Noble Rank" and "King Rank, it was strengthened by Ling Yi through a formal investiture ceremony, breaking through to the thousand-year level of cultivation in one fell swoop.
However, as a very ordinary "Blue Silver Grass", even though it was selected by Ling Yi from hundreds of thousands of seeds as the best quality, and even though it mutated under Ling Yi's cultivation, when its cultivation reached 9,999 years, an insurmountable chasm stood in its way.
The threshold of the ten-thousand-year level involves many factors, and it is no longer something that Ling Yi can successfully advance to if he wants to.
Looking at the several "Blue Silver King" cultivated by Ling Yi, A Lan is the most original "Blue Silver Grass" in terms of attributes, and it is also the one most affected by Ling Yi's Martial Soul bloodline. Under the dedicated cultivation of Ling Yi and Ah Yin, the two Blue Silver Emperor, it barely broke through to the ten-thousand-year King Rank.
As for "Crimson Flame Blue Silver King" and "Frost Blue Silver King", they were more fortunate to absorb the extreme ice and fire attribute energy within the "Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well", which enabled them to break through their own barriers and successfully break through to the ten-thousand-year King Rank. Their advancement speed after reaching the King Rank also far exceeded that of A Lan, the "Blue Silver King".
Aptitude and destiny are sometimes just that illogical.
Often, what you struggle to obtain may be easily acquired by others through eating, drinking, and having fun.
Just like A Hua and A Luo, even if Ling Yi pulls Ah Yin in and pours vital energy into their mouths, they still can't break through.
A Luo has given up on breaking through on her own. As a creature whose wisdom is no less than that of ordinary Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, she plans to choose a talented junior from the Ling Family and sacrifice herself to become that junior's companion Soul Ring, so that she can grow up with that junior in the future.
The nature of "Maiden Luo Grass" is to attach and parasitize, so A Luo's choice did not surprise Ling Yi much.
Similarly, A Hua's choice fully embodies the characteristics of the "Iron Birch Tree".
When the Blue Silver Territory was relocated, A Hua volunteered to stay at the Ling Family's "Weapon Graveyard" to hone himself with the iron-blooded military spirit and sharp, metallic aura there, hoping to seize a possible opportunity for promotion.
If you fail, you will be reborn!
Looking at the seed before him, Ling Yi seemed to see A Hua, who had been trapped in his cultivation for nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years, finally choosing to sublimate to the extreme. At the moment when his cultivation forcibly broke through to ten thousand years, he condensed all his cultivation into a Soul Ring and handed it to Tang Yuehua to absorb. He himself was left with only his original essence, which turned into a seed, waiting for Rebirth.
At that moment, A Hua's thoughts must have been a mixture of disappointment and hope.
The breakthrough was successful; it successfully elevated its cultivation level to ten thousand years.
The advancement failed. Although its cultivation level broke through to ten thousand years, its essence did not successfully evolve into the "King Rank" and it was still half-stepping on the thousand-year "Noble Rank".
If I had to find a term to comfort myself with, then "half-step King Rank" would be a rough way to describe A Hua at that moment.
Unfortunately, reality is not a novel. Success is success, and failure is failure. Just like in Ling Yi's previous life in sports, a difference of one millisecond can mean the difference between champion and runner-up.
In a sense, everyone except the champions shares a common label: losers!
Fortunately, having followed Ling Yi for so many years, A Hua is quite competent at protecting himself, regardless of other factors.
All the "Gengxin Blue Silver Grass" within the "Weapon Graveyard" contributed their own strength to A Hua, pulling her back from the brink of depletion and successfully nurturing the Weiyi seed in this world.
Ling Yi turned and approached the Tomb of the Army, and amidst the humming of divine weapons such as the War Spear, the Fangtian Halberd, and the Eight-sided Heavy Sword, he planted A Hua's seed in the very center of the Tomb of the Army.
The right hand radiates a vibrant green light, revealing boundless Life. Influenced by this, the seeds buried in the shallow soil sprout rapidly, pushing aside the thin layer of soil covering them.
Similarly, tiny roots also extend into the ground and in all directions. The sharp energy of Geng and Xin in the ground is like a raging fire that extinguishes life to these roots, attacking them frantically at all times.
Fortunately, with the Life energy released by Ling Yi, he was able to withstand wave after wave of attacks from the sharp Geng and Xin energies, and was gradually adapting to them.
After an unknown amount of time, when the fierce energy of Geng and Xin underground was no longer so violent, or rather, when it was no longer so unbearable for these newly grown roots, Ling Yi gradually reduced the Life energy he was releasing.
From his spiritual perspective, Ling Yi could see that the root system, which had adapted to the sharp energy of Geng and Xin, was now even able to absorb this energy little by little as nourishment for its own growth.
His gaze fell upon the plant, now about a foot tall. This newly sprouted "Iron Birch Blue Silver Grass," its overall color silvery-gray, its appearance only about 60% similar to "Blue Silver Grass," and its three leaves shaped like short daggers, was declared by Ling Yi like an emperor with supreme authority, "From this day forward, you are ' Three-Leaf Sword Grass,' Noble Rank.' When you absorb the sharp energy of ' Weapon Graveyard ' and achieve six leaves, that will be the time for you to step into the ' King Rank!"
As for whether he could become a "Nine-Leaf Sword Grass" comparable to the Blue Silver Emperor, Ling Yi didn't mention it, leaving it to A Hua's own future fortune.
Ling Yi had no intention of transplanting A Hua to the "Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well" or the "Blue Silver Valley". Compared to these places, the environment here at the "Weapon Graveyard" was more suitable for A Hua's growth.