Three days later, in a clearing on the Back Mountain behind Nuoding Academy.
A place where not even half a soul could usually be seen was now packed with people, their voices clamoring.
Even several clotheslines someone had put up had been temporarily taken down, freeing up a sizable patch of ground.
Students stood several rows deep around it, teachers sat at the front, and even some students' parents crowded the perimeter.
Li Hanqiu led Tang San and Xiao Wu into the center.
He was dressed smartly that day, his long blue-green robe fluttering in the breeze as he walked at an unhurried pace. Luo Sanpao followed at his feet, golden fur fluffy, looking full of spirit.
Tang San and Xiao Wu followed behind him, one on either side. Compared with the energetic Xiao Wu, Tang San looked considerably more delicate.
His little hand gripped Xiao Wu's skirt tightly as he trailed timidly behind.
Yu Xiaogang had blended into the crowd, his neck hunched and a sleazy smile hanging at the corner of his mouth.
He wanted to see just what flowery nonsense Li Hanqiu could come up with today.
Once Li Hanqiu stopped in the middle of the clearing, he clasped his hands behind his back and surveyed his surroundings.
"Everyone."
His voice was clear and steady, drowning out every other sound. The crowd instantly fell silent, leaving only Li Hanqiu's crisp words, calm and restrained:
"Recently, certain people with ulterior motives have been spreading rumors that my disciple practices an 'Evil Cultivation Technique.' Today, I intend to see justice done!"
With that, Li Hanqiu swept his gaze across the bustling crowd. Wherever his eyes passed, not a single person spoke up to challenge him.
After all, Li Hanqiu was a teacher at Nuoding Academy, and whether in age or cultivation, he was the most outstanding in this small academy.
No teacher was idle enough to pick a fight with Li Hanqiu, and the parents and students were naturally even less willing to stand against him.
They were not "Konoha villagers," after all, so the "will of the Overlord" naturally did not exist here either.
Meanwhile, at Li Hanqiu's signal, Tang San stepped forward. His little face was still somewhat pale, and his fingers nervously twisted the hem of his clothes.
Yet under Li Hanqiu's encouraging gaze, he still managed to straighten up steadily.
Tang San closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, then slowly opened them. He turned his palm upward, and Blue Silver Grass sprouted from it.
Compared with half a month earlier, the Blue Silver Grass had changed little in appearance, but its leaves were noticeably greener, and even their edges shimmered with a pale blue-green glow.
The instant they caught sight of the Blue Silver Grass, the surrounding crowd collectively retreated several steps, fear written on every face.
Everyone knew that the gossip about Tang San's Blue Silver Grass had recently spread like wildfire.
Supposedly, the stuff was so bizarre that even looking at it once would drain all the soul power from your body, leaving you dead as though you had exhausted your last drop of essence.
The moment the Blue Silver Grass appeared, even some of the teachers' expressions shifted slightly.
Only Yu Xiaogang stood straight, a flash of disdain crossing his face. These idiots. Every last one of them believed the bullshit I made up. They really are easy to fool.
"The vitality of Blue Silver Grass is nothing short of terrifying. You can find it in wild deserts and even in regions of extreme cold."
Li Hanqiu glanced at Yu Xiaogang before looking away, then continued in a ringing voice, "It can survive in the most barren soil because of its powerful vitality."
"The claim that it 'absorbs soul power' is pure slander. What you see is clearly its instinct to assimilate and transform life force."
Once Li Hanqiu finished, several meddlesome parents gritted their teeth and voiced their doubts with some trepidation:
"T-Teacher Li, I'm not questioning your standing."
A parent dressed as a blacksmith gathered his courage and raised an arm in the crowd.
"But it's only human nature. You're human too, so naturally you'll favor your own student. We really can't be convinced by your word alone. No one can guarantee that it isn't truly an 'Unorthodox Soul Skill.'"
Once one person spoke up, the other parents naturally chimed in. Though they refrained from saying anything harsh out of respect for Li Hanqiu, they clearly did not trust Tang San.
Li Hanqiu coughed, and the crowd instantly quieted again. He said evenly, "Since you don't believe me, this is the perfect opportunity to prove it with facts."
Then Li Hanqiu nodded to Tang San. "Begin, Little San."
Tang San murmured his assent, then activated his soul power. A bright Yellow Soul Ring slowly rose from beneath his feet.
"First Soul Skill, Life-Force Entanglement," Tang San announced in a clear, youthful voice.
The next moment, the Blue Silver Grass shot out with a swish and wrapped around a dead branch on the ground. The branch had long since dried and cracked in the sun, and had been dead for who knew how long.
Puzzled as to why Tang San would wrap his Blue Silver Grass around a dead branch, everyone held their breath and watched.
The leaves of the Blue Silver Grass pulsed gently, like the beating of a heart.
A moment later, the last few lingering wisps of pale blue-green light deep within the dead branch were drawn out bit by bit, flowing along the grass stems back into Tang San's palm.
The branch rotted away completely. At the slightest touch, it crumbled into dust.
The crowd sucked in a sharp breath. And he still fucking says this isn't an "Unorthodox Soul Skill"?!
If it could squeeze even a dead branch dry, wouldn't it drain even that part of you clean if it wrapped around a person?
Yu Xiaogang's grin nearly stretched to the back of his head. Li Hanqiu, oh, Li Hanqiu, you've really lost your mind.
Doesn't this only prove that the rumors about Tang San's "Evil Technique" are true?!
Faced with the crowd's silence and fear, Li Hanqiu remained composed, as though everything was firmly in his grasp.
"As you have seen, must absorbing soul power necessarily be harmful?"
Li Hanqiu spoke, turning to Tang San. "Little San, show them what comes next."
Tang San nodded, then turned and walked toward a drooping young flowering plant nearby.
He crouched down, and the Blue Silver Grass sprouted again, gently winding around the plant's roots and stem. The wisps of pale blue-green life force extracted from the dead branch slowly flowed along the grass leaves and into the young plant.
Within a few breaths, the plant's stem straightened, and its curled leaves slowly unfurled.
Finally, under everyone's gaze, it actually bloomed into a little yellow flower the size of a fingernail.
The entire gathering fell silent for a moment.
No one knew who drew a breath first, but then a hum of discussion burst forth like water through opened floodgates.
"It's alive..."
"That flower-I saw it this morning, and it was almost dead!"
"So it isn't a soul skill that harms people... it can give life force back!"
"How is this an Evil Cultivation Technique? This is clearly..."
The speaker could not find the words and merely stared blankly at the little yellow flower.
Li Hanqiu stood where he was, his gaze calm as he spoke in a ringing voice.
"The path of Blue Silver Grass is vitality and transformation. It takes from dead wood and returns to new shoots."
"Everyone, not only is Little San's ability no 'Evil Cultivation Technique,' it is a Medical Miracle Technique capable of 'raising the dead and restoring flesh to bare bones'!"
After Li Hanqiu finished, silence hung in the air for a moment. Then several people in the crowd raised their hands and called out in agreement:
"Well said! Teacher Li is right!"
"Exactly! This little lad isn't an evil Soul Master at all. On the contrary, he's a bodhisattva who can help cure everyone's illnesses!"
"That's right, that's right! Someone must be prejudiced against him. Clearly, someone with ulterior motives deliberately slandered him!"
As Li Hanqiu watched the parents and students change their faces faster than flipping pages in a book, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
To be honest, Tang San's soul skill really was frightening. Who wouldn't fear having their soul power absorbed and being squeezed dry in an instant?
And no such soul skill had ever existed before. Yu Xiaogang had seized on precisely that gap in knowledge to spread his slander far and wide.
Li Hanqiu could not deny that Tang San really could absorb soul power. Even if he explained from a professional perspective that "absorption" actually belonged to the same branch as "vitality," the parents were bound not to understand.
So he simply approached it from another angle, showing Tang San's capacity to "release": the Blue Silver Grass drew life force from external things, then sent gentle, abundant vitality back out into the world.
The principle had not changed at all; it was still inseparable from "absorption." But this way, Tang San's soul skill could benefit others, allowing everyone to accept it with an easy conscience.
Tang San withdrew his Blue Silver Grass, his little face slightly flushed. He raised his head and looked at his teacher with shining eyes.
Beside him, Xiao Wu clapped hard. "Good! That was wonderful! Let's see who still dares to spout nonsense now!"
In the crowd, Yu Xiaogang's face abruptly turned white.
He retreated half a step, trying to hide himself among the others.
"Yu Xiaogang."
Li Hanqiu suddenly turned, his gaze shooting toward him like an arrow.
"What are you hiding from?"
Before you continue