"Xiao San, something happened on the back mountain. Someone said that patch of Blue Silver Grass was bleeding at night."
Tang San had just finished cultivating when he heard this. He pressed the letter in his hand against his knee, crumpling 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 expression taut, mud still clinging to the bottom of his cane.
"Auntie Zhang from the east side of the village went to the back mountain to look for a 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 still looked unwell 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Ji Yuan hid in the hidden layer beneath his shoe sole, his dark-red roots already withdrawn into the deepest recesses.
Bleeding?
That patch of Blue Silver Grass had long been tainted by his residual aura. Tonight, he had also sent a mass of impure poison into it. The grass blades could not endure it, so they seeped dark-red fluid.
This was not a bad thing.
The foundation was coming alive.
It was just that the villagers had seen it, and trouble had followed.
Old Jack anxiously turned at the doorway. "I'll take you there. Everyone in the village is afraid. 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 pretending to be mysterious."
Tang San picked up his outer robe. Just as 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 steadied 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 of them reached the back mountain, the villagers had already gathered below the slope, but no one dared 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 said softly, "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.
He had sent the accumulated mass of impure poison from Notting City underground, splitting it into thin streams and feeding it back into the surrounding grass roots.
Dark-red fluid seeped from the edges of the grass blades. It did look like blood, but it was merely waste fluid flushed out by the poison.
Tang San crouched down and pinched a blade of grass between his fingers.
Tiny dark-red serrations lined the edge of the blade, and it felt tougher than ordinary Blue Silver Grass.
His heart stirred. "This patch of grass has become stronger."
Old Jack hurriedly asked, "Xiao San, it really isn't something strange?"
Tang San looked at the villagers. "It isn't blood. It's grass sap. The soil on the back mountain may have changed, letting the Blue Silver Grass absorb new nutrients."
Auntie Zhang did not believe him. "How can grass sap be red?"
Xiao Wu crouched down and flicked the grass blade 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, where a faint red mark had appeared.
Ji Yuan immediately drew away the poison from that blade of grass.
Xiao Wu shook her hand. "A little grass dared to prick me?"
Tang San pulled her hand over and examined it seriously. "It only broke the skin."
Xiao Wu pulled her hand back. "I'm not some porcelain doll."
Yet as she drew closer, Ji Yuan lightly extended an underground root to rest against the edge of her shoe, where it had landed in the grass.
The source aura of a hundred-thousand-year Soft Bone Rabbit leaked from the gap, 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 releasing it.
Xiao Wu rubbed her temples and muttered, "Why did I suddenly get sleepy?"
Tang San immediately asked, "Did the grass scratch poison you just now?"
Xiao Wu glared at him. "You're the one who got poisoned. I'm just tired from the walk."
Old Jack called from below the slope, "Xiao San, is there any danger or not?"
Tang San stood up. "Don't let anyone from the village come up the mountain tonight. I'll stay and keep watch."
Old Jack anxiously said, "You're just a child. You want to stay 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 and call to the villagers, "Go home, all of you. Don't spread nonsense and scare the children."
Once the villagers dispersed, the back mountain fell quiet.
Tang San sat in the middle of the grassy slope and raised a hand to release his Blue Silver Grass.
The moment his Blue Silver Grass touched the ground, the surrounding blades gently tilted toward his palm.
Tang San said softly, "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 be close to you?"
Tang San frowned. "But it wasn't like this before."
Ji Yuan hid beneath the shoe sole and coldly gathered in his roots.
Of course it had not been like this before.
Before, this hillside had only been an ordinary patch of grass. Now it had been infused with his poison, remnants of inner power, Blood Ginseng medicinal strength, and a mouthful of source aura Xiao Wu had leaked earlier.
This Blue Silver Grass was being transformed into his external root system.
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.
Ji Yuan took the opportunity to send a small stream of gentle energy into his meridians.
Warmth spread through Tang San's body, and the fatigue on his face faded somewhat.
He opened his eyes in surprise. "Cultivating here feels more comfortable than 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 days of vacation, I want to come check on it every day."
Ji Yuan withdrew the tip of his vine in satisfaction.
Very good.
Tang San would come to regard this place as a treasure ground on his own.
And he could turn this back mountain into a dormant base.
Late into the night, Tang San told Xiao Wu to return to the blacksmith shop and rest first.
Xiao Wu refused, and in the end fell asleep leaning against a tree root.
Ji Yuan waited until she was deeply asleep. A thin root split from the soil, circled 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 fine dark-red serrations quietly grew.
They were not strong, but they could give warning.
As long as an outsider stepped into this patch of grass, the roots would transmit the vibrations to the dormant spores.
After Tang San finished cultivating, he noticed Xiao Wu sleeping crookedly and took off his outer robe to drape it over her.
Xiao Wu opened her eyes groggily. "Is it dawn?"
"Not yet."
"Then don't run around."
"Mm."
Ji Yuan had no interest in such warmth.
He sent the last mass of poison beneath the roots of the old tree at the top of the slope. That place would become the core of this illusion formation.
Only one trigger was missing.
Tang San's emotions were the best trigger.
When Tang San carried Xiao Wu down the mountain, Ji Yuan sent an extremely faint wave of hallucination along 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 sea of tides. At the end of the grass sea stood the shadow of a massive black ape, and behind it rose a giant tree so tall that its top could not be seen.
The ape shadow lowered its head to look at him, and a muffled roar came from its chest.
Tang San wanted to retreat, but the Blue Silver Grass beneath his feet coiled around his ankles.
He raised his left hand, and just as black light emerged, countless vine shadows suddenly descended from the giant tree in the dream.
Tang San sat upright 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 now?"
Tang San took several breaths and said softly, "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 movement stopped.
Old Jack's voice suddenly came from outside the door, unable to hide his excitement. "Xiao San, everyone in the village says you, a soul master, subdued the grass on the back mountain. Come out. Grandpa has something to tell you."
Ji Yuan tightened his roots beneath the shoe sole.
Just as Tang San was about to get out of bed, Tang Hao's letter slipped from his clothes on its own. At some point, a dark-red grass mark had appeared on the back.
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