Xiao Wu came over, her big eyes fixed on the wilted Blue Silver Grass. By instinct, as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, she felt an inexplicable sense of closeness to this plant.
"Boss, is this the reason you came here? This grass looks really strange, though. Its leaves even have gold edges."
She crouched down and reached out to poke it with one finger.
Feeling the unfamiliar presence, Ah Yin instinctively curled up her golden-edged leaves, trying to hide herself.
"This grass smells delicious. I wonder how it'd taste stir-fried. Should we pull it up and take it back for a snack?" Xiao Wu swallowed.
At her words, Ah Yin was so frightened that she went limp on the spot. All her leaves clung tightly to the soil as she chose to play dead.
"Huh? This grass seems to be conscious." Xiao Wu's eyes widened.
Su Chen put away the Soul Tool and walked over. He smacked her paw aside with a sharp slap. "All you ever think about is eating! Is there anything in that head of yours besides food?"
He reached behind himself, pulled out a carrot, and shoved it into her arms. "Go nibble on your carrot over there. Don't get in the way while I handle business."
Xiao Wu pursed her lips, found a rock to sit on, and started chomping on the carrot.
Why was he so mean?
She'd only been saying it. She wasn't a rabbit anymore, and she didn't eat grass.
Still, it really did smell delicious.
Su Chen circled the mound twice, stroking his chin as he appraised it. "This grass is all crooked and half-dead. It definitely hasn't had any farmyard fertilizer."
He was a seasoned agricultural expert, after all.
"Farming is all about three parts planting and seven parts fertilizer. This grass is clearly malnourished. It needs a big dose of manure."
Xiao Wu looked up, confusion written all over her face. "Manure? This bare mountain cave doesn't have any. Where would you get it?"
"Far away, yet right before your eyes."
A wicked smile tugged at Su Chen's lips.
He put both hands on his waistband, his tone full of compassion.
"Today, I'll take pity on her and personally give her a helping of fresh, all-natural, pollution-free fertilizer!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he swiftly pulled open his belt, preparing to tug down his pants.
He crouched halfway and stuck out his butt, aiming it squarely at the Blue Silver Emperor on the mound!
Ah Yin might be a blade of grass now, but she was still conscious.
When she felt the human child aiming his rear at her, she felt as if her whole being had gone wrong.
What was this brat doing?!
Was he going to take a dump on her?!
No! Don't come any closer! Back! Back! Back!
Ah Yin panicked.
The few grass leaves that had been weak and limp suddenly burst with an unprecedented will to survive. They waved frantically upward, desperately pushing at Su Chen's descending butt.
Of course, he wasn't really going to take a dump.
Su Chen was just a mischievous joker, not some perverted exhibitionist.
Feeling a faint push against his butt, he leaped backward with it and quickly pulled up his pants.
Then he pointed at the Blue Silver Emperor on the ground and cursed, "How dare you! In broad daylight, you try to molest me!"
Xiao Wu, still chewing on her carrot, was completely dumbfounded. Her little mouth hung open, and her brain had ground to a halt.
She couldn't keep up with her boss's train of thought at all.
Su Chen planted his hands on his hips and lodged his accusation with righteous indignation. "You shameless Blue Silver Emperor! You took advantage of my kindness while I was fertilizing you, then grabbed my butt! What crime is this?"
Ah Yin froze completely in place. Her leaves were suspended in midair, unable to move up or down.
If she could grow a mouth right now, she would absolutely spit in Su Chen's face.
She'd seen shameless people before, but never anyone this shameless!
She had never met anyone with such a thick skin.
He was the one who came over and took off his pants. She'd only pushed him to protect herself, so how had that turned into her molesting him?!
And grabbing his butt?
She was a blade of grass! How could she grab anything with her head?!
The next second, her extreme embarrassment and anger turned to bone-chilling dread.
Had that human child just called her the "Blue Silver Emperor"?!
Did he know her true identity?
How was that possible?!
Brother Hao had hidden her here. Apart from him, no one in the whole world knew this secret.
Where had a child who looked only a few years old learned her identity?
[ Ding! The Blue Silver Emperor's spirit has been severely polluted. Abstract Value acquired: 2,000 points. ]
Hearing the announcement in his mind, Su Chen's eyes lit up like two giant light bulbs.
"Boss, you said this grass is the Blue Silver Emperor?"
Xiao Wu was full of shock and disbelief as she hurried over.
As a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Charm Rabbit, she naturally knew about the Blue Silver Forest, where a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the Blue Silver Emperor, lived.
But this sickly grass growing here was that very Blue Silver Emperor?
It wasn't even a hundred years old now, was it?
Su Chen nodded. "The real deal. She just regressed after sacrificing herself once."
"Sacrifice."
Xiao Wu's little face paled. To a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, those two words were as good as a death sentence.
Su Chen drew out his words. "Do you remember how I told you before that a Titled Douluo had been keeping an eye on you?"
"The Titled Douluo whose manhood you crippled?"
"That's the one. The ninth Soul Ring on him was generously donated by the Blue Silver Emperor lying here."
At those words, Ah Yin's leaves suddenly shook violently.
What had she just heard?
Brother Hao had had his manhood crippled by this little brat who hadn't even grown his first whiskers?
Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
Su Chen crouched down, taking the opportunity to poke the Blue Silver Emperor's leaves. "That old codger Tang Hao tricked her into giving him her body and her Soul Ring. Once he'd used her, he stuffed her seed into this dark, sunless cave."
"That rat really is a piece of work."
Hearing this, Xiao Wu looked at the Blue Silver Emperor with immediate sympathy.
"She's so pitiful."
"Pitiful? She brought it all on herself. It serves her right for being blind."
Ah Yin waved her leaves in protest. What did he mean, she'd brought it on herself?
She had just rushed headlong into love!
Xiao Wu's curiosity had been thoroughly piqued. "Boss, what happened? Tell me!"
Su Chen gave her a look that said, "You're doing great."
She really knew how to play along.
He conjured a little folding stool out of thin air and sat down in front of the Blue Silver Emperor.
"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll tell you the juicy story of how, six years ago, a naive little blade of grass was swindled out of her money, virtue, and Soul Ring by a scumbag human."
For the next half hour, Su Chen used a dramatic, rising and falling voice to recount the Spirit Hall's pursuit all those years ago, embellishing it into a full-blown conspiracy theory.
After all, plenty of netizens in his previous life had come up with all sorts of conspiracy theories.
The logic was airtight and held up to scrutiny.
Su Chen didn't care whether it was true. What he wanted was to plant a seed of doubt in Ah Yin's heart.
"Waaah, Tang Hao really is awful."
By the time Xiao Wu finished hearing the story, tears were streaming down her face.
Ah Yin's leaves shot upright and shook wildly!
It was false! All of it was false! Brother Hao would never scheme against her like that!
Brother Hao wasn't that kind of person!
Su Chen seemed to see what she was thinking.
"Ah Yin, don't rush to clear his name. I'll just ask you a few questions."
He raised one finger.
"First, you told Tang Hao about your identity a long time ago. A transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast is at her most unstable during pregnancy. As a descendant of the Clear Sky Sect, shouldn't Tang Hao have known to take you back to the Clear Sky Sect and protect you properly? Instead, he dragged you all over the continent, even taking you right under the Spirit Hall's nose."
"Besides, the day you sacrificed yourself was exactly the day you gave birth to Tang San. And wouldn't you know it, Tang Hao had just broken through to level ninety and was in need of a Soul Ring."
He raised a second finger.
"Second, don't tell me you never told him about the Blue Silver Forest. After you sacrificed yourself, all he had to do was take your seed back to the Blue Silver Forest, and with the Blue Silver King nourishing you, you could soon return to a hundred thousand years."
"Even if he didn't take you back to the Blue Silver Forest, planting you somewhere with plenty of sunlight would've been better than this place."
"But he just had to plant you in this lousy cave with no sunlight. Did he want you to die sooner, or what?"
Those words came crashing down.
The Blue Silver Emperor was struck as if by lightning.
Her upright leaves could no longer hold themselves up. They flopped onto the soil, lifeless.
She had no answer.
She had thought about these details back then. She had just forced herself not to look too closely.
Now, an outsider had torn the wound open without mercy.
Brother Hao, could you really be that kind of person?