Ghost Vine Enters the City, Catch the Seller First

"Where had it chased them to?"

Yu Xiaogang was the first to leave the assembly hall.

"The academy's east gate."

The patrol teacher caught his breath.

"The city guards have already surrounded the area and are preparing to use fire. But that Ghost Vine has been tangled around a cargo carriage the entire time. There are too many people nearby, so no one dares to make the first move."

"It hasn't attacked any passersby?"

"Not yet."

Yu Xiaogang paused.

That answer was important.

If the Ghost Vine had truly gone mad and chased them all the way from outside the city to the academy, it could not possibly have fixated on just one carriage.

"Let's go take a look first."

Xu Zhou put away the Black Ancient Book and followed the others.

The reception teacher hurriedly stopped him.

"What are you going for?"

"To keep records."

"There's a Four-Hundred-Year Soul Beast outside, not papers in the assembly hall. You don't even have Soul Power. You'll only cause trouble if you go."

The Black Ancient Book trembled lightly.

[The other party believes the host cannot participate in handling the Ghost Vine incident.]

[Judgment incorrect.]

[Cognitive Bias collected.]

A stream of Soul Power entered his body.

Xu Zhou did not argue.

"I'll stand farther away."

"That won't do either."

"Let him follow me."

Yu Xiaogang turned back and said.

Luo Sanpao had already spread his wings and flown into the air, heading for the academy's east gate in advance.

Only then did the reception teacher step aside.

He might not trust Xu Zhou, but he could not distrust a Soul Elder in his thirties.

At the very least, Yu Xiaogang was no longer that level-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster who could only fart three times.

By the time they reached the east gate, it was already packed with people.

A cargo carriage had overturned by the roadside, its wheels still slowly spinning.

A mass of dark purple vines crawled over the carriage. Their thorns pierced the wooden boards, nearly wrapping the entire vehicle into a ball of vines.

The horse that had pulled the carriage had long since broken free of its reins and was trembling in the distance.

Strangely, although quite a few people stood nearby, the Ghost Vine did not attack them.

Several vines merely slithered along the ground.

Only when someone approached the carriage did they swiftly raise their thorns.

"This is the Ghost Vine that proactively attacked Soul Masters twenty-one times?"

Xiao Wu stared at it for a moment.

"Why isn't it attacking you?"

The city guards looked somewhat embarrassed.

"Maybe it's waiting for an opportunity."

"It waited all the way here?"

"Soul Beasts are rather patient."

That explanation was not entirely wrong.

But it still sounded rather forced.

"Use fire!"

Someone in the crowd shouted.

"Ghost Vines fear fire. All twenty-one records say so. As long as we light some torches, it'll retreat on its own."

Several city guards had already brought over firewood.

Hearing that, Xu Zhou immediately opened the attack records he had just collected.

Twenty-one passages of text appeared across the pages of the Black Ancient Book at once.

Several lines had become especially blurry.

[Proofreading has detected obvious contradictions.]

[The seventh, twelfth, and sixteenth attack records occurred during torrential rain.]

[All three records describe the injured parties using ordinary torches to drive away the Ghost Vine.]

Xu Zhou looked at the firewood in the city guards' hands.

"Don't light it yet."

"Why?"

"There's something wrong with those records."

One city guard frowned.

"Who are you?"

"The recorder from the hearing just now."

"Then stick to recording."

The man clearly did not take Xu Zhou seriously.

Xu Zhou did not get angry. He merely handed those three records to Yu Xiaogang.

Yu Xiaogang skimmed through them quickly, and his expression soon turned grave.

"Ordinary torches without protection can hardly keep burning in torrential rain."

"And Ghost Vines fearing fire only means flames can hurt them. It does not mean they will definitely flee once a fire is lit."

He looked toward the vines coiled around the carriage.

"This is inside the city. If the flames provoke it, it may attack everyone around it."

The city guards immediately stopped with their torches.

They could ignore Xu Zhou.

But they had to listen to a Soul Elder.

"Then what do we do?"

"First, find out why it's chasing this carriage."

Xu Zhou walked to within a dozen or so steps of the carriage.

Several vines immediately rose.

But they did not lash out at Xu Zhou. They merely blocked the front of the carriage, clearly unwilling to let him get any closer.

"Is there anyone inside the carriage?"

No one answered.

"The driver ran away."

The patrol teacher pointed into the distance.

"The Ghost Vine suddenly caught up from outside the city. He probably feared being killed, so he jumped from the carriage and fled."

"What was it carrying?"

"An empty carriage."

Xu Zhou turned to look at him.

"If it was empty, why is there a purchase order?"

Everyone froze.

Xu Zhou was holding the document that had been tucked among the attack records.

Its contents were written clearly.

Juvenile Ghost Vine, four hundred years old, captured. Price: fifty Gold Soul Coins.

Transportation fees calculated separately.

Since it had already transported a Ghost Vine, the carriage could not possibly have been truly clean.

"Search beneath the carriage."

Xu Zhou said.

"The Ghost Vine is there. How are we supposed to search it?" a city guard asked.

Tang San stepped forward.

"I'll try."

He raised his right hand. Blue Silver Grass grew from his palm and slowly approached the carriage along the ground.

The Ghost Vine immediately reacted.

More than a dozen vines rose at once, their thorns aimed at the Blue Silver Grass, yet they did not attack immediately.

Tang San did not move any closer. He merely controlled the Blue Silver Grass to wind beneath the carriage.

They were both plants.

Though they could not speak to each other, the Ghost Vine clearly could tell that the Blue Silver Grass was not hostile.

A moment later, Tang San's wrist flicked slightly.

A strand of Blue Silver Grass pulled a gray cloth sack out from under the carriage.

The instant the sack hit the ground, every Ghost Vine moved.

A mass of vines abandoned the carriage and lunged straight at the sack.

"Watch out!"

The city guards all retreated.

Tang San swiftly withdrew his Blue Silver Grass as well.

But Xiao Wu had clearly seen what was inside the sack.

They were several sections of purple roots that had not yet dried out.

Each one looked as though it had been forcibly cut off, with green sap still clinging to the severed ends.

"They used the Ghost Vine's own roots to lure it?"

The smile vanished from Xiao Wu's face.

"More precisely, they used the scent of these roots to conceal their capture tools."

Yu Xiaogang crouched at a distance to observe for a moment, then quickly reached a conclusion.

"The Ghost Vine may not have been chasing the carriage. More likely, it was chasing its severed roots."

That judgment was far more reasonable than the Ghost Vine suddenly going mad.

"But why was it still wrapped around the carriage?" Wang Sheng asked.

"Because there's still something in the carriage."

Xu Zhou looked at the carriage.

After the Ghost Vine lunged at the sack, several of its thickest vines still remained on the carriage.

If it only wanted to retrieve its roots, it should have left by now.

But it had not.

"Didn't you say there was no one inside?"

"There's no one in the carriage compartment, but that doesn't mean there's no one beneath it."

Tang San walked to the side and kicked a wooden board beside the wheel.

Bang!

The wooden board caved inward.

There was actually a hollow space beneath it.

"Help!"

A man's voice came from the hidden compartment.

"I was just passing through!"

"I don't know anything!"

Xu Zhou found the voice somewhat familiar.

Xiao Wu had already recognized him.

"You were the one who delivered the attack records earlier, weren't you?"

The hidden compartment immediately fell silent.

Several city guards stepped forward and dismantled the wooden boards. Soon, they dragged out a man covered in mud.

It was the very man who had claimed at the hearing that the Ghost Vine had proactively attacked twenty-one times.

The moment he was pulled out, every vine wrapped around the carriage turned toward him.

"Don't let it kill me!"

The man struggled desperately.

"I was protecting the Soul Beast!"

Xiao Wu looked at the severed roots inside the sack.

"You protected it very thoroughly."

"I didn't cut these!"

"Then why were you hiding in the cart transporting Ghost Vine?"

"I get carsick. Lying underneath was more comfortable."

The surroundings fell silent for a moment.

Even the Ghost Vine stopped for half a beat.

That excuse could no longer be described as merely far-fetched.

Normal people who got carsick wanted to get out of the vehicle.

When he got carsick, he crawled under it.

He showed some respect for the wheels, but not much for his own life.

"Take him away first."

Yu Xiaogang had Luo Sanpao land beside the man.

Luo Sanpao's nose twitched, and he immediately began barking at the man's sleeve.

The same scent as the severed roots lingered there.

There was already enough evidence.

After the city guards escorted the man away, Xu Zhou placed the cloth sack containing the roots on a wooden board and had someone slowly push it toward the outskirts.

The Ghost Vine followed as expected.

It did not attack anyone.

It even retracted its thorns when it passed Tang San, avoiding any injury to his Blue Silver Grass.

The looks everyone gave Xu Zhou gradually changed.

"How did he know there was something under the cart?"

"Can a book Martial Soul command Soul Beasts too?"

"No wonder Yu Xiaogang treated him like a research subject."

"This must be spiritual communication, right?"

The Black Ancient Book trembled again.

[Many people believed that the host could communicate with plant-type Soul Beasts.]

[Judgment incorrect.]

[Cognitive Bias collected.]

Soul Power continuously flowed into his body.

Yet Xu Zhou was not happy.

This misunderstanding could not be allowed to spread any further.

Otherwise, before long, all of Notting City would think he could command Soul Beasts. When he really encountered an unreasonable Soul Beast, everyone else would run faster than anyone, leaving only him standing at the front to communicate with it.

That would not be gaining Soul Power.

That would be getting a funeral in advance.

"I can't command the Ghost Vine."

Xu Zhou spoke up to clarify.

"It's only chasing its own roots."

Everyone nodded one after another.

"Got it, he can't admit it publicly."

"Special abilities need to be kept secret."

"No wonder he said he had no Soul Power."

Xu Zhou fell silent.

Sometimes, explanations truly were useless.

Wang Sheng, meanwhile, found a ledger beneath the dismantled cart.

"There's something else here!"

Xu Zhou took the ledger, and the Black Ancient Book immediately highlighted several inconsistencies.

The Ghost Vine listed earlier had already been delivered.

There were two more Soul Beasts listed afterward.

One had a red stamp beside it indicating the transaction had been canceled.

The other was marked as already delivered.

Four-hundred-and-twelve-year Ironthorn Vine.

Temporary storage location: Nuoding Academy herb garden.

There was only one line of notes.

Starved for two days. It would entangle anything at the sight of blood.

A scream suddenly rang out in the distance.

Immediately afterward, the alarm bells from the direction of the herb garden began to ring.