Purple Bamboo Acknowledges Its Master

"Alright." The master rose to his feet, brushed the medicinal dregs from his hands, and looked up at the sky. "There's still some time before dawn. Let's rest and recover our strength first. Once it's light, we'll return to the academy immediately."

The dense forest returned to silence.

Beside the still-burning campfire, the master leaned against a large tree with his eyes closed, resting.

Tang San sat cross-legged, circulating the Mysterious Heaven Skill to slowly replenish his depleted inner strength.

Xiao Wu sat beside Tang San with her knees hugged to her chest, her braid hanging over her shoulder. She had already begun to snore softly.

The firelight played across the faces of the three, flickering between light and shadow.

High above them, dozens of zhang in the air, a figure in a blue robe stood silently. His robes fluttered gently in the night breeze without making a sound.

Tang Ling stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at the three figures below with a faint smile on his lips.

He had watched everything from beginning to end.

The Datura Snake's frenzied pursuit, Tang San's outburst, Xiao Wu's lightning-fast palm strike.

He had thought that Xiao San, at that age, would suffer quite a bit against a four-hundred-year Datura Snake. Yet with Xiao Wu's intervention, he had obtained the soul ring with ease.

What he had not expected was for that four-hundred-year Datura Snake to evolve into a thousand-year one.

Truly worthy of being a darling of the heavens.

Tang Ling withdrew his gaze and took out the Innate Purple Bamboo from his robes. Its entire body was violet-gold, surrounded by a faint auspicious radiance.

Under the moonlight, starlike specks of light flowed faintly between the bamboo's joints. With every flicker, it exhaled and absorbed incomparably dense spiritual energy. This was only its juvenile form. If allowed to grow, even those old fellows in the Immortal Realm would likely be unable to sit still.

Tang Ling put the purple bamboo back into his storage space, a nearly imperceptible hint of satisfaction flashing through his eyes. "This trip wasn't a loss."

His figure slowly faded from the air, leaving behind only a faint blue afterimage that scattered in the night wind. In the forest below, beside the campfire, everything remained as it was.

The small courtyard in Holy Soul Village.

The morning light had just begun to break through. The tea set left out from the night before still sat on the stone table in the courtyard, while the few stalks of Blue Silver Grass Ah Yin had planted swayed in the breeze by the wall. Everything was as usual, as though he had never left.

Tang Ling sat down in the wicker chair, his divine sense sweeping across all of Holy Soul Village. Tang Hao was swinging his hammer in the blacksmith shop, sparks flying everywhere. Old Jack squatted beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance, smoking his pipe as he chatted with several old men about this year's harvest. Everything was well.

At that moment, a crisp notification sounded in his mind.

[Ding—Main Quest: Harvest ten-year Lone Bamboo, completed. Reward One: one bottle of Willow Nectar from Guanyin Bodhisattva. Would the host like to claim it?]

"Claim it."

A gentle white light gathered in Tang Ling's palm.

It was a Jade Purity Vase of mutton-fat white jade, no more than five inches tall. Its body was slender and smooth, its neck as delicate as a swan's, and a blooming lotus pattern was engraved upon its base. A willow branch was inserted diagonally into its mouth. The branch was emerald green throughout, with several crystal-clear drops of dew clinging to its leaves, refracting faint seven-colored light in the morning sun.

The moment Tang Ling gripped the Jade Purity Vase, warm yet vast vitality surged into him through his palm.

That vitality was not domineering, yet it was so boundless that it made one's heart tremble, as though he held the strength of an entire spring in his hand.

Every drop of dew on the branch emitted a faint glow. Just by holding it, Tang Ling could feel his lifespan increasing at an almost imperceptible rate.

"So this is Willow Nectar?" He pulled out the willow branch, and an incomparably crisp, refreshing fragrance of plants rushed toward him.

The liquid in the vase was pale gold, clear and radiant. When lightly shaken, specks of starlight seemed to drift within it. After merely taking a breath of its scent, he felt the circulation of spiritual power within him speed up by thirty percent, while an indescribable comfort rose from the depths of his soul.

It revived the dead, regrew flesh on bare bones, awakened immortal roots, and reversed cause and effect. This Willow Nectar truly lived up to its reputation.

Tang Ling carefully put away the Jade Purity Vase, and another notification sounded in his mind.

[Reward Two: Cultivation breakthrough by one minor realm. Would the host like to claim it?]

"Claim it."

The instant the words left his mouth, an indescribably vast force erupted from the depths of Tang Ling's body.

That force was fiercer than any of his previous breakthroughs, yet it was not violent. Instead, it carried a gentle, nourishing quality, permeating every inch of his meridians, every bone, and every drop of blood like spring rain nourishing all things.

The bottleneck of the mid-stage Void Refinement realm was as thin as a sheet of paper before this force, breaking with the slightest push.

Tang Ling's aura began to rise. Mid-stage Void Refinement, peak mid-stage Void Refinement... The momentum did not slow in the slightest. Instead, it grew faster and fiercer until it crashed through that threshold—the late-stage Void Refinement realm!

The spiritual energy above the courtyard spun wildly, forming a huge vortex visible to the naked eye. The vortex covered the skies over all of Holy Soul Village, yet due to the formation Tang Ling had set up beforehand, none of the phenomenon leaked outside.

The villagers only felt that today's wind seemed especially refreshing, and their whole bodies felt at ease with every breath. They had no idea it was the nourishment of spiritual energy spilling over from the breakthrough of a Void Refinement mighty cultivator.

A moment later, the spiritual energy vortex slowly dispersed.

Tang Ling opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of turbid air.

The transition from Soul Transformation to Void Refinement was a leap across a major realm. Going from early-stage Void Refinement to mid-stage Void Refinement was an accumulation of power, while the step from mid-stage to late-stage Void Refinement was a qualitative transformation.

He clenched his fist, feeling the spiritual power surging and roaring through his body, and a faint smile of satisfaction appeared on his lips.

"As expected, nothing is more reassuring than greater strength."

Even after breaking through, however, he did not consider himself invincible in this world.

He still knew nothing about the state of this world's Divine Realm or the true strength of those gods looking down upon the continent.

But now was not the time to think about such things.

Tang Ling gathered his thoughts and took the violet-gold Innate Purple Bamboo from his storage space.

Ever since leaving the Soul Hunting Forest, the purple bamboo had remained quietly inside his storage space. But the moment it saw daylight, it immediately began struggling violently.

Deep purple patterns appeared across the bamboo's body, each one flashing frantically. Its leaves shook violently, producing hurried rustling sounds, like a sparrow caught in someone's grasp desperately flapping its wings.

Tang Ling glared at it, then tossed it onto the open ground beside the Blue Silver Grass.

"Plant it here."

He raised a hand and pressed down lightly. The soil automatically turned over, forming a small pit three chi wide.

The pit walls were smooth and even, and its depth was just right to accommodate the Purple Bamboo's roots. With a casual wave, he set up a Spirit-Gathering Array, slowly drawing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from hundreds of li around and gathering it at the bottom of the pit.

Then, he placed the Purple Bamboo into the pit.

The instant the Purple Bamboo entered the soil, its body shuddered violently.

It seemed to instinctively want to escape, even pulling part of its roots out of the dirt. But the next moment, the spiritual energy drawn in by the Spirit-Gathering Array surged in from every direction, wrapping around its roots.

This was the purest spiritual energy in all of Douluo Continent. Though it was far less abundant than the immortal realm's, to a juvenile spiritual root that had endured who knew how many hard years in the Soul Hunting Forest, it was like timely rain after a long drought.

The Purple Bamboo froze.

After hesitating for a moment, its roots slowly and tentatively burrowed back into the soil. The force of its struggle gradually faded, replaced by a cautious absorption, as though it were savoring a long-forgotten sip of fine wine.

Tang Ling watched the scene and shook his head slightly. He took out the Jade Purity Vase, removed its stopper, and gently drew out the willow branch.

The dew on the branch glimmered crystal-clear beneath the morning light, every drop seeming to contain the vitality of an entire spring. Tang Ling aimed the branch at the Purple Bamboo and gave it a light shake.

A drop of Willow Nectar fell from the branch and landed precisely on the Purple Bamboo's roots.

In an instant, the Purple Bamboo shuddered all over.

A gentle jade-green radiance surged up from its roots, flowing all the way up its body and dancing between its joints. The light was warm and fluid as water, yet contained an unimaginably vast vitality.

Beneath the radiance, the Purple Bamboo's aura began changing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The dark purple patterns on its body seemed to come alive. Beginning from the roots, they wound upward around its joints in ring after ring. Every pattern emitted an ancient and noble aura, utterly different from the Soul Power of Douluo Continent—pure, lofty, and naturally formed.

Its leaves were changing as well. The leaves, originally two fingers wide, slowly unfurled and grew nearly twice as broad. Fine golden patterns emerged between their veins, like runes traced in the finest gold dust, gleaming brilliantly in the morning sun.

Its stalk shot upward joint by joint, growing from seven or eight meters to fifteen or sixteen before finally stopping.

Every section of bamboo was a full circle thicker than before, and the proportions between its joints became increasingly harmonious and beautiful, like a carefully sculpted work of art.

The Purple Bamboo's cultivation aura rose continuously, finally settling firmly at ten thousand years. At the same time, that drop of Willow Nectar was completely absorbed by the Purple Bamboo.

Tang Ling looked at the spiritual root that had evolved from a juvenile Innate Purple Bamboo into a ten-thousand-year Purple Bamboo and nodded in satisfaction.

The Innate Purple Bamboo gently brushed against Tang Ling's robes, its movement cautious and full of attachment and gratitude.

Standing before the bamboo, Tang Ling calmed his mind and slowly released a wisp of the Dao resonance from his own origin. There was no deliberate contract inscription, no blood essence offered in sacrifice. He merely stood there, treating it as an equal living being and displaying his aura before the Purple Bamboo without reservation.

The Purple Bamboo paused slightly at first, then its body suddenly began to tremble. This was no ordinary submission, but a deeper resonance. The purple-gold light on its body began to resonate with Tang Ling's aura. The motes of light between its joints no longer flowed chaotically, but flickered according to a certain rhythm, gradually synchronizing with his breathing.

When an Innate spiritual root acknowledged a master, it was never a matter of one side suppressing the other, but of their origins being compatible.

The Purple Bamboo chose Tang Ling, and Tang Ling accepted the Purple Bamboo. This bond left no written record and took no visible form, yet it was firmer than any contract in the world.

Tang Ling sensed a faint connection appear within his heart. It was the Purple Bamboo's consciousness, like a newly sprouted tender shoot, timidly touching the edge of his divine sense.

"So be it. Since you have acknowledged me as your master, I'll grant you another stroke of fortune." Tang Ling drew out the willow branch once more. This time, he poured all the Willow Nectar in the vase over the Purple Bamboo's roots.

The Purple Bamboo's body began trembling violently. The pale golden nectar seeped into the soil along its roots, then was absorbed by the Purple Bamboo with ravenous hunger. The purple-gold radiance on its body grew ever brighter, spilling from between its joints and shrouding the entire small courtyard in a dreamlike purple glow.

Its cultivation aura rose again. Fifteen thousand years. Twenty thousand years. Fifty thousand years. One hundred thousand years.

In the end, it settled steadily at one hundred thousand years. The Purple Bamboo also returned to its original size, appearing no different from before based on its aura alone. But upon closer inspection, the purple-gold patterns on its joints were deeper and more restrained, while the golden runes on every bamboo leaf had become more intricate and exquisite.

It no longer shone as brilliantly as before. Instead, it drew all its splendor inward, returning to a state of natural simplicity.

"Not bad." Tang Ling nodded in satisfaction. He looked down at the Jade Purity Vase in his hand. All the nectar inside had been poured over the Purple Bamboo's roots. The bottle's mutton-fat white jade body shone with a warm luster in the morning light, its lotus pattern faintly visible at the bottom.

A new drop of pale golden liquid was slowly condensing at the bottom of the vase.

Tang Ling's movements stopped.

The Jade Purity Vase had clearly been emptied, yet it could generate new Willow Nectar on its own? The new drop formed very slowly, so slowly that it was nearly impossible to detect with the naked eye. But Tang Ling's divine sense, at the late stage of Void Refinement, was extraordinarily sharp. He could clearly sense that a new drop of nectar had indeed appeared in the vase, and it was continuing to grow at an extremely slow rate.

At this rate, it would probably condense one drop a day.

A vase capable of generating Willow Nectar on its own. Tang Ling drew a deep breath and carefully put away the Jade Purity Vase.

Wasn't this a replica of the Jade Purity Vase said to be held by Guanyin Bodhisattva?

Although it generated Willow Nectar far more slowly than the true Jade Purity Vase, the mere fact that it could "generate it on its own" already surpassed the vast majority of magical treasures in the world.

He turned around and sat down again on the stone bench beneath the Purple Bamboo.

The morning light was perfect. Behind him, the Purple Bamboo swayed gently, its leaves rustling as if humming an ancient tune no one had ever heard. The spiritual energy spilling from between its joints enveloped the entire courtyard in a fresh and tranquil atmosphere. Even the few clumps of Blue Silver Grass planted by Ah Yin in the corner seemed more spirited, with several sparkling drops of dew gathered on their leaves.

[Ding—]

The system notification sounded once more.

[Detected that the host has successfully enlightened the Innate Purple Bamboo and gained the acknowledgment of a ten-thousand-year Innate Purple Bamboo. Follow-up mission triggered.]

[Follow-up mission issued: Inform Tang San of the Innate Purple Bamboo's existence. Once Tang San learns the truth and experiences negative emotions such as "regret," "annoyance," and "unwillingness," rewards may be obtained.]

[Mission reward: Determined by the degree of emotional torment inflicted upon Tang San. Basic reward: cultivation increases by one minor realm. If the degree of emotional torment reaches S-rank or above, an additional special reward will be obtained.]

Tang Ling raised an eyebrow slightly. Tell Tang San about the Innate Purple Bamboo's existence? Leaning back against the chair, a meaningful smile curled across his lips.

Elsewhere.

On the official road leading to Notting City, a carriage was moving slowly along.

It was Master's group returning from the Soul Hunting Forest.

Tang San sat cross-legged in the rear compartment, his eyes slightly closed as he circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill to consolidate the cultivation he had just broken through to.

His aura was countless times stronger than before they had set out. A faint layer of purple light flowed around his body—it was the overflow of Soul Power brought by the thousand-year soul ring, not yet fully reined in.

But what drew the most attention was the smile on his face, one he simply could not suppress.

From the time he finished absorbing the soul ring last night until now, the corners of his mouth had not dropped once.

Xiao Wu sat across from him, resting her cheek in her hand as she watched him grin like a weasel that had stolen a chicken. Finally, she could not help rolling her eyes.

"Alright, alright, so what if it's a thousand-year soul ring?" Xiao Wu curled her lips. "I've watched you grin the entire way. Aren't your cheeks cramping?"

The smile on Tang San's face stiffened for a moment, then—the corners of his mouth rose again.

"I'm happy." He opened his eyes. Rarely, he did not retort, his tone full of unconcealed pride. "A thousand-year first soul ring—this is the first of its kind on the continent."

Xiao Wu rolled her eyes even harder, turned her face toward the window, and ignored him.

Tang San did not mind. He closed his eyes again and continued consolidating his cultivation. But his thoughts were no longer focused on circulating his power.

The bottleneck of the Mysterious Heaven Skill had already loosened. Absorbing the thousand-year soul ring this time had not only caused his Soul Power to surge, but also raised the Mysterious Heaven Skill's internal energy along with it. A fine crack had appeared in the bottleneck that had troubled him for so long.

At this rate, it would not be long before his Mysterious Heaven Skill broke through to the second stage. When that happened, his strength would undergo another tremendous leap.

What concerned him even more was the system. The soul ring had evolved directly from a hundred-year ring to a thousand-year ring. More than anyone else, this made Tang San realize that the mysterious system in his mind possessed power far beyond what he had imagined.

To make an already-attached soul ring advance on the spot—such a heaven-defying, fate-changing method was likely beyond even a Titled Douluo.

The carriage continued onward.

Master leaned against the front of the carriage with his eyes closed, resting. Every so often, he lifted the curtain to glance at the road markers outside, then told the coachman which direction to take.

Suddenly, as though she had remembered something, Xiao Wu turned back from the window and said, "Teacher, there's no rush to get back to the academy anyway. I want to stop by home and see my mother."

Master opened his eyes and nodded. "That works. Xiao San, do you want to go back and have a look too?"