Either Eternal Life Together, or Shatter to Pieces

The next morning, late morning.

The sky was high and the clouds were pale, and the autumn breeze refreshed the spirit.

Zhao Linchuan and Xiao Wu shouldered hoes and shovels, walking one after the other into the mountains outside Holy Soul Village.

The mountain paths were rugged, dead leaves covered the ground, and stepping on them made a rustling sound.

The two stopped in front of a waterfall.

Xiao Wu wiped the sweat from her forehead, planted her hoe into the ground, and complained:

"Didn't you say you were going to take me to the academy to study?"

"How did we end up in these desolate mountains?"

"Climbing mountains and crossing rivers, I'm exhausted."

"This is where you don't understand, right?" Zhao Linchuan's expression remained as usual, but his gaze stayed fixed on that waterfall. "This is the first lesson of your life—practice."

"Practice?" Xiao Wu tilted her head, her face full of incomprehension.

Zhao Linchuan did not explain further; he pointed a finger at the water curtain and spoke:

"You wait here for a moment. After I open the mechanism in a bit, follow me."

"Mechanism? What mechanism? A chicken's comb?" Xiao Wu blinked her eyes, even more confused.

"You'll know in a moment."

Zhao Linchuan rolled up his trouser legs, took off his cloth shoes, and left them on the bank. Barefoot, he carefully walked toward the waterfall along the slippery rock wall.

The rocks were covered in moss, and the bone-chilling pool water submerged his ankles. With one hand supporting himself against the rock wall and the other pushing aside the water curtain, he slowly squeezed inside.

Behind the waterfall was a narrow stone platform, the flowing water forming a translucent curtain behind him that fractured the outside sunlight into fine, dappled spots of light.

Zhao Linchuan reached out and slowly groped along the rock wall behind the water curtain, his fingertips brushing against the rough stone, probing bit by bit.

Suddenly, his fingertips touched a rather protruding rock—

"Found it!"

Overjoyed, Zhao Linchuan hurriedly pressed down with force.

Rumble—!

A muffled, giant roar came from deep within the rock wall. Behind the waterfall, a massive boulder slowly slid to one side, revealing the deep entrance of a cave.

The water curtain of the waterfall happened to conceal the cave entrance. Viewed from the outside, the water screen remained just as before, making it impossible to spot any clues.

Zhao Linchuan turned to look at Xiao Wu, waving excitedly as he called out: "Come over quickly!"

"What on earth are you up to!"

Xiao Wu couldn't figure out what Zhao Linchuan was trying to do, but she still obediently rolled up her trouser legs, stepped barefoot into the chilling pool water, and carefully walked over along the rock wall.

After a long while.

Inside the cave, it was dark, cold, and damp.

A moldy smell mixed with earth and water vapor rushed over their faces.

Zhao Linchuan groped a fire-starter from his bosom, popped off the cover, and blew on it. A cluster of orange-red flames lit up, banishing a small patch of darkness.

Using the dim firelight, the two groped their way inward along the cave.

Suddenly, an invisible barrier of Soul Power appeared before the two of them, like a transparent wall emitting a faint sense of oppression.

Behind the barrier, a stalk of Blue Silver Grass bearing golden silk patterns was growing quietly there.

Clang—!

Zhao Linchuan struck the ground beside his feet with a shovel, producing a crisp sound.

He turned to look at Xiao Wu and spoke: "Don't just stand there, get to work."

"Let's dig a tunnel, bypass that Soul Power barrier, and go in to harvest that stalk of Blue Silver Grass."

"Ah?" Xiao Wu was somewhat surprised, her eyes widening. "You went to all that trouble, crossing mountains and ridges, just for this stalk of Blue Silver Grass?"

"Just for a grass like this?"

"She is no ordinary Blue Silver Grass." Zhao Linchuan had already bent down, grasping the shovel tightly with both hands as he began to busy himself.

"She is the Blue Silver Emperor who sacrificed herself for 'love'."

"What?"

Xiao Wu wore a look of utter shock, almost losing her grip on the hoe in her hand.

"The Blue Silver Emperor?"

"How could the Blue Silver Emperor grow in such a sunless place?"

"Isn't she..."

"Stop chattering, get to work." Zhao Linchuan's hands did not stop moving.

"Oh."

Xiao Wu acknowledged the instruction, asking no further questions.

She rolled up her sleeves, picked up the hoe, stood beside him, and began to help out strike by strike.

For a time, the sounds of clanging echoed and reverberated within the cave.

The sparks from the shovel colliding with gravel flashed in the darkness, mingling with the breathing of the two people and the rustling sound of turning earth, echoing through the deep cave.

About an hour later, the two finally dug through the rock layer.

A low, narrow tunnel wound around from underneath the Soul Power barrier.

Zhao Linchuan lay flat on the ground, writhing his body like a snake as he drilled through the tunnel.

Xiao Wu followed closely behind, her dress stained with dirt and gravel.

"Great!"

Zhao Linchuan scrambled up from the ground, too busy to brush the dirt off his body as he rushed toward that stalk of Blue Silver Grass in two steps and three.

He squatted down, fixing a burning gaze upon the fluorescent plant, his breathing growing hurried.

"This grass is mine!"

With that, he turned to glance at Xiao Wu, his eyes rolling as he softened his tone a fraction.

"Xiao Wu, go outside and guard the cave entrance for me. Don't let anyone in."

"I'm going to absorb her Soul Ring."

Xiao Wu hesitated for a moment, looking at the Blue Silver Grass and then at Zhao Linchuan.

"When I finish absorbing it, I'll take you to a nearby city for a carrot feast." Zhao Linchuan added another sentence.

"You said it yourself, remember!"

Xiao Wu originally wanted to say a few other things, but the moment she heard the four words "carrot feast", she instantly swallowed all those words back down.

"You must keep your word, don't go back on it!"

Saying this, she cheerfully turned around, skipping and hopping toward the outside of the cave, her scorpion braid swinging back and forth behind her.

The sound of footsteps gradually faded away, and the cave returned to silence.

Only water droplets seeped down from the ceiling of the cave, dripping onto the rock and making a crisp "drip-drop" sound.

Zhao Linchuan took a deep breath, turned around, and groped along the nearby ground.

He squatted down, his hands searching through the soil until his fingertips suddenly brushed against something hard.

"Found it?"

Joy surged in his heart, and he hurriedly used his hands to push away the loose dirt covering it.

Soon, a lead box about half a zhang long was dug out from the dirt.

Zhao Linchuan looked at the lead box at his feet, his hands trembling slightly as he said excitedly:

"A dream start..."

"I'll absorb the Soul Ring first. Once I have Ah Yin's Soul Ring, absorbing her Spirit Bone should be much simpler afterward."

Zhao Linchuan turned, walked up to Ah Yin, and raised the shovel in his hand.

He looked at the stalk of Blue Silver Grass and said in a low voice:

"Ah Yin, oh Ah Yin, if I can become a god, I will grant you eternal life."

"If I am a mere flash in the pan... then let us shatter to pieces together."

As his voice fell, he used fierce strength, slamming a shovel viciously toward Ah Yin's roots.

"Crack—!"

A crisp fracturing sound exploded within the cave.

Ah Yin's body trembled violently, all her leaves contracting in an instant before expanding fiercely outward.

Immediately following, a yellow Soul Ring slowly drifted up from her body.

Zhao Linchuan discarded the shovel, sat cross-legged, extended his right hand, and slowly guided that Soul Ring toward himself.

Meanwhile.

Inside Notting Academy, at Yu Xiaogang's place.

Tang-San, who had just uttered the words "You already have the way of courting death" in his heart, suddenly felt a tightness in his chest.

A piercing pain surged from the bottom of his heart without warning, as if an invisible hand had grabbed his heart fiercely and twisted hard.

Tang-San's complexion instantly turned pale, and his waist bent sharply as his right hand clutched tightly at the collar over his heart.

For some reason, he suddenly felt as though some very important relative of his had left him.

"Fa... Father."

"Did... did something happen to you?"

"Classmate, are you alright?" Yu Xiaogang walked over with a furrowed brow, extending a hand as if to support him. "Do you need me to help you find a healing Soul Master?"

Tang-San shook his head, slowly straightening his body.

"I... I'm fine..."

Yu Xiaogang looked at him, fell silent for a moment, and slowly spoke: "Your Martial Soul—only I can teach you..."

--

Everyone, I say:

Harem, no less than seven female leads. Hermits, please stop here.