Flowers, Come!

"Ruthless! Does this little girl really think of me as her big brother?"

Lu Chuan stared at the whip descending from above,

and seriously suspected Tang Wuyue wanted him dead!

If he took a blow charged with that much force,

even with his strength,

his head would probably be cracked open, spilling its red innards!

With no other choice,

he obediently let the vine net capture him.

Although he was caught,

the danger was definitely much lower than getting his head cracked open.

However,

Tang Wuyue had gone all out this time.

The moment Lu Chuan was caught,

the Blue Silver Grass inside the cage began writhing wildly,

and thick toxins spread continuously,

trying to numb Lu Chuan's senses and movements.

For a moment,

Lu Chuan felt as if he were inside a stomach woven from Blue Silver Grass,

about to be digested at any moment,

and turned into fertilizer!

"Good thing it's me. If someone else had come in here, they'd probably have ended up as fertilizer."

"Still, if I were a real enemy, I wouldn't have given the little girl time to finish building this cage."

Lu Chuan examined the toxins on the vines.

They had the effect of numbing nerves and Soul Power,

much like the Man Faced Demon Spider's venom.

After figuring out what the toxins did,

Lu Chuan decided he'd suffered enough.

His Bloodline Power surged,

and the moment the toxins on the Blue Silver Grass vines touched his skin,

the immense Bloodline Power within him instantly neutralized them,

without even raising a ripple.

It was just that

Tang Wuyue hadn't seen any of it.

After finally trapping Lu Chuan,

she'd gotten her chance to turn the tables,

so of course she wanted to show off.

Even though, by now,

she was already panting,

and could barely stand up straight.

"Well, if it isn't Big Brother Lu Chuan?"

"Oh, why are you hanging up there?"

"Hehehe, now you know how impressive I am, right?"

The little girl leaned against the vines,

her chin tipped up as she grinned foolishly,

her tail practically sticking up to the sky.

Seeing his little sister like that,

Lu Chuan played along, praising and applauding her.

"Not bad, very impressive. This move already has the makings of a proper control-type Soul Master."

But the very next moment,

he began breaking free!

He slowly raised his right hand,

his five fingers loosely curled,

with no fancy techniques,

only overwhelming strength!

Golden Bloodline Power began gathering in his palm,

and in the blink of an eye,

it transformed into a blazing ball of light.

The light shone like a dazzling sun,

so bright that Tang Wuyue couldn't keep her eyes open.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

Lu Chuan's lips curled up slightly.

"Nothing much. Just a little trick to make sure you never forget this: every cage has its limits!"

Before the words had even faded,

Lu Chuan clenched his hand.

Flowers, come!

"Whenever longing flies across the night sky and twines around my fingertips, lingering there,

it's beautiful, like a dream,

then you turn and walk away,

and I'm swallowed by the sea of people, drowning in loneliness that won't dry..."

A background track suddenly rang out from who knew where,

and Tang Wuyue felt as if her brother before her had become someone else.

He was radiant,

blindingly dazzling,

and ridiculously handsome!

Next,

all she heard was a thunderous BOOM!

Golden waves of energy surged into the sky,

and the entire cage woven from Blue Silver Grass was instantly blasted to pieces!

Fragments of Blue Silver Grass flew everywhere,

like a rain of blue!

"Ah!"

The shockwave sent Tang Wuyue stumbling backward,

and she landed flat on her bottom.

She stared blankly at the fragments filling the air,

then looked at Lu Chuan, who hadn't suffered a scratch,

and burst into tears.

"Wuu... Brother, you're picking on me! You're being so mean!"

Lu Chuan let the golden light fade from his palm.

Seeing how upset his little sister was, he hurried over,

looking completely innocent.

"Okay, okay, don't cry. How was I picking on you?"

Tang Wuyue looked up, her eyes red and brimming with tears as she protested,

"You could've broken my move the whole time, but you pretended you couldn't and toyed with me! How is that not picking on me?"

"Of course it's not picking on you!

Think about it carefully. Was I pretending I couldn't break free?

Was it comfortable being hung in the air by the vine net?

Was it fun having your nerve-numbing poison get me?

Neither, right?

If I'd wanted to toy with you, would I have put myself through all that?"

Lu Chuan crouched down and patiently explained it to Tang Wuyue.

"Yeah, I guess. Then why did you do it, Brother?"

Tang Wuyue sniffled and asked in confusion.

Lu Chuan gently tapped Tang Wuyue's little head.

"Silly girl,

I wanted to see the limits of what you could do!

Do you know how strong that move is?

The only problem is that the gap between our Soul Power is too big."

"If your Soul Power reached the second or third ring,

I'd have needed at least twenty percent of my strength to break free from that move just now."

"Twenty percent? What about now?"

Tang Wuyue blinked.

"Now?" Lu Chuan smiled. "Not even five percent."

Hearing that,

Tang Wuyue immediately deflated like a punctured ball,

her head drooping.

"Then I'll never be able to beat you..."

"Who says that?"

Lu Chuan stood up and helped the little girl off the ground.

"You've only just obtained your First Soul Ring. You've got a long road ahead.

Once you reach the third or fourth ring, you might even force me to use a Soul Skill."

"Really?" Tang Wuyue's eyes lit up again.

"Of course."

Lu Chuan brushed the dust off her clothes.

"But before then, you need to build a solid foundation.

And try to develop the use of the Water Element on the surface of your Blue Silver Grass for your First Soul Skill.

The Water Element nurturing your Blue Silver Grass must have a lot to do with how tough and thick it is.

Developing the Water Element won't just make your Blue Silver Grass stronger. In the future, it'll also be a great help when you face fire-element Soul Masters.

You should know, in tens of thousands of years, there's only ever been one plant-type Soul Master immune to fire: Tang San!

If you become the second, your name will be remembered for all time!"

"Remembered for all time? Wouldn't that bring glory to our ancestors!"

Tang Wuyue's breath caught, and the little face that had just been tearful instantly brightened up again!

Seeing this, Lu Chuan continued:

"Exactly! So you've got to keep working hard!"

"Your performance today was excellent. Your tactics were clear, and you knew how to use the terrain and the aura of shadow to launch a surprise attack. Keep that up!"

"Besides that, keep working hard and raise your Soul Power!"

"Got it, Brother! I'll keep working hard!"

Tang Wuyue clenched her tiny pink fists, looking as if she could already see herself bringing glory to her ancestors.

Looking at the little girl's expression, Lu Chuan felt he'd encouraged her enough, and finally stopped, still reluctant to leave it at that.

"Come on, let's go back and rest. We have to get up early to cultivate tomorrow."

With that, he turned and headed into the house.

On the way back,

he felt like he could become an educator.

Little did he know,

Tang Wuyue had seen right through all that pep talk

and empty promises!

"Stupid big brother... always knows how to sweet-talk me!"

The summer weather was stifling,

so it was cooler indoors.

She had just finished a battle,

and Tang Wuyue wanted nothing more than to take a hot shower.

However,

the moment she stepped inside,

she froze in place.

In the living room,

her usually gentle father was red-faced for the first time, furiously scolding her older brother.

Her brother, who was usually so unruffled and seemed to have everything planned down to the last detail,

was now repeatedly admitting he was wrong.

Her beautiful mother wasn't trying to break up the fight, either. She stood by the doorway, grinning as she watched the show.

"Mom, what's going on?"

Tang Wuyue quietly edged over to Lang Yue and asked in a low voice.

Seeing her daughter, Lang Yue covered her mouth and whispered, "Your dad was just scared out of his wits watching you fight!"