Tang San Returns Home, The Back Mountain Repays

"Little San, something happened on the back mountain. People said that patch of Blue Silver Grass was bleeding at night."

Tang San had just finished his cultivation when he heard this. He pressed the letter in his hand against his knee, creasing one corner.

Xiao Wu jumped up first, pulled open the door, and asked, "What do you mean, the grass was bleeding? Who saw it?"

Old Jack stood outside, his face tense, mud still clinging to the bottom of his cane.

"Auntie Zhang from the east side of the village went to the back mountain looking for her lost chicken. She said she saw red liquid on the grass blades and ran back in fright."

Tang San tucked the letter into his clothes and rose. "Grandpa Jack, I'll go take a look."

Xiao Wu reached out to stop him. "You didn't look well just now. Don't push yourself."

Tang San shook his head. "The back mountain is where I used to cultivate. Something wouldn't happen there for no reason."

Ji Yuan hid within the compartment in the sole of his shoe, his dark red roots already withdrawn to the deepest recesses.

Bleeding?

That patch of Blue Silver Grass had already been tainted by traces of his lingering aura. Tonight, he had sent another mass of impure toxic power into it. The grass blades could not withstand it, so dark red sap had seeped out.

This was not a bad thing.

Its foundation was coming alive.

But now that the villagers had seen it, trouble had arrived.

Old Jack turned anxiously at the doorway. "I'll take you there. Everyone in the village is scared. They say that place is unclean."

Xiao Wu snorted. "What could be unclean about a patch of grass? I'd like to see who's playing at being mysterious."

Tang San picked up his outer robe. The moment he took a step, his chest went hollow again.

Ji Yuan withdrew quickly, leaving him with only the fatigue of a long journey.

Tang San braced himself against the doorframe, and Xiao Wu immediately looked over. "And you still say you're fine?"

"I'm fine. Let's go."

By the time the three arrived at the back mountain, the villagers had already gathered below the slope, but none of them dared to go up.

Auntie Zhang clutched a bamboo basket and pointed at the grassy slope, her lips still trembling. "I didn't see wrong. There really was red liquid on those grass blades. Under the moonlight, it was terrifying."

A young villager whispered, "Could a soul beast have come through?"

Old Jack struck the ground with his cane. "Nonsense. Where would Holy Soul Village get a soul beast?"

Tang San said nothing more and walked past the crowd toward the grassy slope.

Xiao Wu followed at his side, deliberately stomping loudly. "Move aside, move aside. Don't block the way."

Ji Yuan's consciousness extended through the sole of the shoe and into the earth.

The familiar scent of soil rushed toward him—barren, damp, carrying the faintest call of life from the Blue Silver Grass roots.

The grass was crying for help, and welcoming him as well.

He sent the mass of impure poison accumulated in Notting City underground, splitting it into thin streams and feeding it back into the surrounding grass roots.

Dark red liquid seeped from the edges of the blades. It did look like blood, but it was merely waste flushed out by the toxic power.

Tang San crouched and pinched a blade of grass between his fingers.

Fine dark red serrations lined its edge, and it felt tougher than ordinary Blue Silver Grass.

Something stirred in his heart. "This patch of grass has grown stronger."

Hearing this, Old Jack hurriedly asked, "Little San, it really isn't something strange?"

Tang San looked at the villagers. "It isn't blood. It's grass sap. Maybe the soil on the back mountain changed, and the Blue Silver Grass absorbed new nutrients."

Auntie Zhang did not believe him. "What kind of grass sap is red?"

Xiao Wu crouched down and brushed aside a few grass blades with her fingertips. "It really isn't blood. There's no bloody smell."

After saying that, she suddenly wrinkled her nose. "But this grass pricks."

Tang San looked at her fingertip. A faint red mark had appeared.

Ji Yuan immediately drew away the toxicity from that blade of grass.

Xiao Wu shook her hand. "Even a little blade of grass dares to prick me?"

Tang San pulled her hand over and examined it carefully. "It only scratched the skin."

Xiao Wu pulled her hand back. "I'm not some porcelain doll."

Yet as she drew near, Ji Yuan gently rested an underground root against the edge of her shoe, which had landed amid the grass.

The origin aura of a hundred-thousand-year Soft Bone Rabbit leaked out through the gaps, so pure that greed surged within him.

Not too much.

Tang San was beside her, Old Jack was below the slope, and the villagers were watching.

Ji Yuan took only one mouthful of the leaking aura before immediately letting go.

Xiao Wu rubbed her temples and muttered, "Why am I suddenly so sleepy?"

Tang San immediately asked, "Did you get poisoned when the grass cut you just now?"

Xiao Wu glared at him. "You're the one who got poisoned. I'm just tired from traveling."

Old Jack shouted from below the slope, "Little San, is there really danger?"

Tang San stood up. "Don't let anyone from the village come up the mountain tonight. I'll stay and take a look."

Old Jack said anxiously, "You're just a child. You're staying here alone?"

Xiao Wu put her hands on her hips. "I'm here too."

Old Jack looked at the two of them. He wanted to persuade them, but could not, so he could only turn back and call to the villagers, "Go home, all of you. Don't spread this around and scare the children."

After the villagers dispersed, the back mountain fell quiet.

Tang San sat in the middle of the grassy slope and raised his hand to release Blue Silver Grass.

The moment his Blue Silver Grass touched the ground, the surrounding blades of grass gently tilted toward his palm.

Tang San murmured, "Strange. They seem to be reacting to my martial soul."

Xiao Wu sat beside him, plucked a blade of grass, and examined it. "Aren't you a Blue Silver Grass soul master? Isn't it normal for them to feel close to you?"

Tang San frowned. "But it was never like this before."

Ji Yuan hid within the sole of a shoe and coldly drew in his roots.

Of course it had not been like this before.

This slope had once been nothing more than ordinary grassland. Now, it contained his poison, remnants of inner power, the medicinal potency of blood ginseng, and a trace of Xiao Wu's origin essence that she had leaked earlier.

He was transforming these Blue Silver Grasses into external roots.

Tang San's martial soul was merely concealing it for him.

Tang San closed his eyes and circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill, trying to sense the changes in the grassland.

Taking advantage of the moment, Ji Yuan sent a small stream of gentle energy into his meridians.

Warmth spread through Tang San's body, and some of the weariness faded from his face.

He opened his eyes in surprise. "Cultivating here feels more comfortable than it does at home."

Xiao Wu tilted her head. "Then will you come here every day from now on?"

Tang San looked at the lights below the slope and said softly, "During these few days of vacation, I want to come check on this place every day."

Ji Yuan withdrew the tip of his vine with satisfaction.

Very good.

Tang San would personally come to regard this place as a treasured land.

And he could turn this back mountain into a dormant base.

Later that night, Tang San told Xiao Wu to return to the blacksmith shop and rest first.

Xiao Wu refused, and in the end, she fell asleep leaning against the tree roots.

Once he was sure she was deeply asleep, Ji Yuan split off a thin strand of roots from the soil. It wound around Tang San's feet and burrowed into the deepest part of the Blue Silver Grass patch.

The poison was dispersed.

The impurities were absorbed.

Along the edges of the Blue Silver Grass leaves on the back mountain, rings of dark-red serrated teeth quietly grew.

They were not strong, but they could serve as a warning.

As long as an outsider stepped into this patch of grass, the root system would transmit the vibrations to the dormant spores.

When Tang San finished cultivating, he found Xiao Wu sleeping at an awkward angle, so he took off his outer robe and draped it over her.

Xiao Wu drowsily opened her eyes. "Is it dawn already?"

"Not yet."

"Then don't run around."

"Mm."

Ji Yuan had no interest in such warmth.

He sent the last clump of poison power beneath the roots of the old tree at the top of the slope. That place would become the core of this illusion array.

All it lacked was a fuse.

The emotions within Tang San's body were the best fuse.

When Tang San carried Xiao Wu down the mountain, Ji Yuan sent an extremely faint hallucinatory ripple upward through his heart meridian.

That night, Tang San did not sleep peacefully.

He dreamed that the Blue Silver Grass on the back mountain had grown into a dark-red tidal sea. At the end of that sea of grass stood the shadow of a massive black ape, and behind it stood a giant tree so tall its crown could not be seen.

The ape shadow lowered its head to look at him, and a muffled roar came from its chest.

Tang San tried to retreat, but the Blue Silver Grass beneath his feet wrapped around his ankles.

He stretched out his left hand. Just as black light began to rise, the giant tree from his dream suddenly lowered countless vine shadows.

Tang San sat up in bed, his forehead drenched in cold sweat.

Xiao Wu was startled awake by him. Rubbing her eyes, she asked, "Tang San, what's wrong with you this time?"

Tang San took a few breaths and said quietly, "I dreamed of a very powerful soul beast."

Xiao Wu's hand had still been rubbing her eyes, but when she heard the words "soul beast," her movements stopped.

Old Jack's voice suddenly came from outside the door, unable to hide his excitement. "Little San, everyone in the village says the grass on the back mountain was subdued by you, a soul master. Come out—Grandpa has something to tell you."

Ji Yuan tightened his roots inside the sole of the shoe.

Just as Tang San was about to get out of bed, Tang Hao's letter slipped out of his clothes on its own. At some point, a dark red grass mark had appeared on the back.