Nearly a Thousand Years

Nezha tilted his head aside to evade, reaching out to grab her ankle.

This was exactly what Xiao Wu had been waiting for. In midair, she twisted at the waist, and the ankle caught in his grasp slipped free as though boneless. Using the momentum, she drove her left leg straight at Nezha's chest with a rabbit kick.

Nezha crossed his arms to block.

Bang.

The kick sent him back three steps, plowing two shallow furrows beneath his feet.

"You've improved quite a bit."

The corner of Nezha's mouth lifted. He suddenly pushed off the ground, launching himself like a cannonball. His right fist drew back, then smashed toward Xiao Wu with the pure strength tempered by the Nine-Turn Mysterious Technique.

Xiao Wu did not take it head-on. She knew just how terrifying Nezha's strength was. He could even withstand Er Ming's fists directly; for a Soul Elder like her to clash with him head-on would be asking for a beating.

Just as Nezha's fist was about to hit her, her body bent backward at an unbelievable angle. Like a willow branch bent by the wind, she flipped close to the ground and kicked upward at Nezha's chin.

Nezha slapped aside her toes with one hand and reached for her calf again with the other.

Xiao Wu activated Waist Bow again, flipping through the air as her other leg came crashing down toward Nezha's head.

Nezha raised an arm and caught the splitting kick head-on. His arm shook, and he flung Xiao Wu away.

Xiao Wu turned two somersaults in the air before landing steadily. She lightly tapped the ground twice with her toes and shook her numbed leg.

"Couldn't you go a little easier on me? I'm a Soul Elder, not thick-skinned Er Ming."

"I was already holding back. Besides, I didn't see you holding back when you kicked me."

Xiao Wu rolled her eyes and turned to walk toward Er Ming.

Sparring with Nezha was always like this. She could not hurt him no matter how hard she hit, while one blow from him left her aching forever. It was no fun.

Still, she knew that it was precisely because Nezha always suppressed her in their sparring matches that her close-combat skills had improved so quickly.

At Notting Academy, no one had been her match for a long time.

Seeing that the two had stopped, Er Ming let out a loud Awoo! He slapped his massive palm onto the ground, making the earth tremble three times.

That meant he wanted to play.

Xiao Wu's eyes lit up, and the frustration from sparring vanished at once. She took off running toward Er Ming.

With a leap, she landed on Er Ming's back and grabbed the fur at the back of his neck as she climbed upward.

"Let's go, let's go! To the lake!"

Er Ming rose to his feet and carried Xiao Wu toward the lakeside like a moving hill.

Riding on his neck, Xiao Wu gripped Er Ming's fur with one hand and waved at Da Ming with the other. "Da Ming, come too!"

Da Ming was coiled in a tree, a trace of helplessness flashing through his vertical pupils. Yet his tail had already released the trunk, and his enormous bull-headed, serpent-bodied form slithered down from the tree and followed them.

Nezha did not go with them. From afar, he watched Er Ming carry Xiao Wu as she frolicked by the lake.

Xiao Wu's laughter could be heard from far away. Er Ming howled as she tugged at him, yet he did not dodge, while Da Ming coiled nearby and slapped the lakewater with his tail again and again.

He smiled, then turned toward the treehouse.

The treehouse stood on the outskirts of the Lake of Life, and it took a while to get there.

Nezha passed through several stretches of dense forest before the familiar wooden house appeared before him. The vine-woven ladder was still the same, even hanging at exactly the same length.

But the first thing he noticed was not the treehouse.

It was the Blue Silver Grass growing in front of it.

When it had been planted six years ago, it had been nothing more than a wilted little sprout. Now, its pale-blue blades had grown to half a person's height, fine golden patterns flowing across their surfaces as they gave off a gentle glow beneath the shade of the trees.

Nezha walked over, crouched down, and reached out to touch a blade of grass. It trembled lightly, as if responding to his touch.

Its cultivation was nearing that of a thousand-year Soul Beast.

In just six short years, it had gone from an ordinary Blue Silver Grass to a Soul Beast approaching the thousand-year level. That rate was terrifying even across the entire Douluo Continent.

Plant-type Soul Beasts cultivated more slowly than any other kind of Soul Beast. Ordinary Blue Silver Grass could forget about becoming Soul Beasts; surviving a single year without being trampled to death was already considered lucky.

But Ah Yin was different.

The water of the Lake of Life was rich in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Every time Nezha and Er Ming watered it, they were feeding the Blue Silver Emperor the purest energy.

Over these six years, they had watered it with lakewater hundreds of times.

Beyond the watering, the more important reason was the Blue Silver Emperor's own aptitude.

Ah Yin was not ordinary Blue Silver Grass. She was the emperor of all Blue Silver Grass, the one and only Blue Silver Emperor on the entire Douluo Continent. Planted in a place as rich in spiritual energy as the Lake of Life, her cultivation speed naturally far surpassed that of ordinary plant-type Soul Beasts.

Moreover, ever since Ah Yin had taken root here, all the Blue Silver Grass near the Lake of Life had mutated.

What had once been sparse wild grass now grew taller than people, and nearly all of it possessed the cultivation of Soul Beasts.

Even more outrageous, this Blue Silver Grass would actively offer its own power to Ah Yin.

Each plant contributed a little. Add together all the Blue Silver Grass within hundreds of miles, and that energy became quite considerable.

With so many factors combined, it would have been hard for Ah Yin's cultivation speed not to soar.

Footsteps sounded from behind him.

Xiao Wu had finished playing and came bouncing back to the front of the treehouse.

She spotted Nezha crouching beside the Blue Silver Grass at once and squatted down to look as well.

The moment she did, she froze.

"Am I seeing this right?" Xiao Wu leaned closer, staring at the Blue Silver Emperor's leaves as her pink eyes blinked repeatedly. "Wasn't it only a hundred years before? How did it get so fast...?"

She straightened up, her expression changing from confusion to shock.

"I may be a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form, but I've never heard of a plant-type Soul Beast cultivating this quickly."

Nezha stood up, dusted the dirt from his knees, and tilted his face upward so smugly that his nostrils were nearly pointed at the sky.

"Of course. I told you long ago that it wasn't ordinary Blue Silver Grass. It's the emperor of Blue Silver Grass—the Blue Silver Emperor."

For once, Xiao Wu did not retort.

When Nezha had said this six years ago, she had not believed a single word. She had only thought he did not want to admit that he was raising a useless patch of grass.

But now, the facts were right in front of her.

To cultivate from ordinary Blue Silver Grass to a Soul Beast nearing the thousand-year level in six years—there absolutely could not be a second one like it among all the Blue Silver Grass in the Douluo Continent.

What else could it be, if not the emperor of Blue Silver Grass?

Nezha stroked his chin as he stared at Ah Yin, a question suddenly popping into his mind.

Now that her cultivation was nearing a thousand years, had Ah Yin regained her consciousness yet?

Plant-type Soul Beasts differed from animal-type Soul Beasts. Animal-type Soul Beasts were born with complete consciousness and souls, but plant-type Soul Beasts needed to cultivate for a certain number of years before developing intelligence.

Some developed intelligence after a hundred years, some required a thousand, and some did not awaken until ten thousand years.

Ah Yin had once been a Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor in human form. Her spiritual power far surpassed that of ordinary Soul Beasts.

Now that her cultivation had recovered to nearly a thousand years, she should have regained consciousness long ago.

But when Ah Yin had sacrificed herself, the seed she left behind had been her original body.

In other words, all the consciousness of that former Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor might still be sleeping, waiting for her cultivation to become sufficient before awakening.