Blood Coagulation Grass

On an evening in the third week of classes, Ye Lingling waited for Nan Feng in the dormitory corridor.

Nan Feng returned from the underground training room and saw her as soon as he pushed open his dormitory door.

She wore a plain white dress and had light amber eyes. She leaned against the corridor's earthen wall, holding a bundle wrapped in cloth. When she saw Nan Feng approaching, she straightened up.

Nan Feng noticed her fingers tighten on the bundle.

"Nan Feng."

"Ye Lingling." Nan Feng stopped.

"I'd like to ask you a favor." Ye Lingling spoke softly, every word clear. "I'm going outside the city tomorrow to gather a medicinal herb called Blood Coagulation Grass. The academy infirmary is almost out, and the teacher told me to gather it myself. But I don't dare go alone. Soul Beasts roam the woods outside the city."

Nan Feng leaned against the doorframe.

"Why ask me?"

"Because your Martial Soul has a suppression ability." Ye Lingling looked at him without beating around the bush. "Healing Soul Masters with the Nine Heart Begonia are very weak in a direct fight. If we run into a Soul Beast, all we can do is run. I need someone who can control the battlefield. Xiao Wu told me about your Tower Suppression, and about your Soul Hunting trip."

Nan Feng fell silent for a beat.

Xiao Wu had mentioned Ye Lingling to him, though she hadn't said much. He had pieced together a few fragments from their casual conversations: the previous heir of the Ye family had died, Ye Lingling had inherited the Martial Soul, and the academy had taken her in as a transfer student. She spoke very little.

"Where are you going? How long will it take?"

"East Mountain Forest, outside the city. There's a place where Blood Coagulation Grass grows near a stream valley halfway up the mountain. The round trip should take about half a day."

Ye Lingling unfolded a corner of the cloth bundle, revealing a hand-drawn map. The ink was fresh.

"I already went to scout the route last week and found the Blood Coagulation Grass. I didn't dare get too close that time."

Nan Feng went over it in his head. East Mountain Forest was an hour's walk beyond the city's east gate. There was a stream valley halfway up the mountain, and most of the Soul Beasts there were Hundred-Year Soul Beasts. He had no classes tomorrow. Xiao Wu and Tang San were going shopping in the city and wouldn't be at the academy.

"All right. When?"

"Tomorrow morning. We'll leave at first light."

Early the next morning, just as dawn broke, Nan Feng met Ye Lingling at the back gate.

She had changed into dark teal clothes, with a skirt that was a little shorter, revealing a pair of well-worn cloth shoes. A herb basket hung from her shoulder, containing a small shovel and several pieces of cotton cloth. Nan Feng brought a short staff and an iron hammer.

The two left through the city's east gate, followed the main road for half an hour, then turned onto a mountain path. Morning mist filled the air. The path grew narrower as they went, until they could no longer see even a footprint.

Ye Lingling led the way at an unhurried pace. Her sense of direction was extremely precise, and she occasionally stopped to check the map. Nan Feng followed a few steps behind, his Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light half activated.

"You walk very steadily," Ye Lingling remarked without turning her head.

"I'm used to it."

"Do you often leave the city?"

"Yeah. I have to leave the city to hunt Soul Beasts, and I need to find somewhere deserted to train, too."

Ye Lingling asked no more.

After an hour's walk, the woods gave way to a pine forest. They continued uphill for a while until the slope leveled out, and a stream valley appeared across their path, its water seeping out between the rocks.

Ye Lingling crouched and parted a clump of weeds, revealing a rock face on the other side of the valley. A cluster of dark red plants grew in a crevice at its base, with serrated leaves and dense clusters of tiny red berries at the tips.

"Blood Coagulation Grass," Ye Lingling said in a low voice. "Right below the rock face. But be careful crossing the stream. Something's hiding in the pile of loose stones on the other side."

Nan Feng looked where she pointed. The stream valley was seven or eight steps wide, and the water wasn't swift, but the stones beneath it were covered in slippery moss.

The pile of loose stones opposite was a good hiding place for a Soul Beast. The creature liked to lie on rocks and bask in the sun, its gray-brown back armor blending in with the stones.

Nan Feng crouched to tighten his shoelaces, then drew his short staff and dipped it in the stream. The staff was made of hardwood. After soaking up water, it was twenty percent heavier, giving it more force against a hard shell.

"I'll go across first. Wait here," Nan Feng said.

Ye Lingling didn't argue. She retreated behind a pine tree at the edge of the valley.

Nan Feng stepped across the stream on the stones. The moss beneath the water made him slip twice, and the second time he nearly fell to his knees in the stream. He steadied himself and took his stand on the opposite bank, sweeping his Treasure-Appraising Spirit Light over the pile of stones.

A dark red point of light moved slowly deep within the pile. It wasn't large, but its fluctuations were denser than those of a Hundred-Year Soul Beast.

Rather than gather the herb immediately, Nan Feng took two steps toward the pile and kicked a loose stone. The sound of it tumbling down rang out with particular clarity in the valley. The dark red point of light stopped abruptly, then rapidly approached.

An Ironback Lizard burst from between the rocks. It was about two feet long from head to tail, with gray-brown, horny scales covering its body, thick, short limbs, and a row of barbs on its tail. It charged swiftly, reaching him in just two breaths.

Nan Feng didn't retreat. As the Ironback Lizard rushed close, he activated Tower Suppression. A cyan halo spread from beneath his feet, covering five steps. The instant the Ironback Lizard entered it, its limbs sank and its speed dropped by thirty percent.

Nan Feng turned sideways to evade its head-on lunge and bite, then swung his short staff horizontally into its back armor. A dull thud sounded, and the web between his thumb and forefinger went numb. The scales were harder than iron. The staff left only a shallow white mark.

Hard shell. Nan Feng stepped back twice to open some distance. The Ironback Lizard turned around, its four short legs moving rapidly over the loose stones as it pounced again.

This time, Nan Feng didn't strike its back armor head-on. When the Ironback Lizard was halfway through its leap, he activated Tower Suppression a second time. The halo contracted, concentrating its suppressive force on the creature.

Its pounce faltered in midair for less than a breath.

Nan Feng ducked and swung his short staff in from the side, striking the unarmored junction between the Ironback Lizard's lower jaw and neck.

Only a layer of soft skin covered that spot. The head of the staff sank in, and Nan Feng heard the sharp crack of bones shifting out of place.

The Ironback Lizard fell heavily onto the loose stones, twitched a few times, and lay still.

Nan Feng crouched and turned it over. After confirming it was dead, he stood and rinsed the blood off his short staff in the stream.

Across the valley, Ye Lingling had stood there watching without a sound. She hadn't moved from beginning to end, like a tree by the stream.

When Nan Feng crossed back, she glanced at him, her gaze moving from the short staff to his face, but said nothing.

She carried the herb basket across the stream, stepping on the stones, then crouched beside the Blood Coagulation Grass to dig up its roots. Working carefully, she loosened the soil with the small shovel, removed the whole plant with its roots intact, and wrapped it in damp cloth before putting it in the basket. The Ironback Lizard's corpse lay nearby, but she didn't pause as she passed it.

After gathering the Blood Coagulation Grass, the two retraced their route. The mountain forest was quiet in the autumn afternoon. After they had walked a while, Ye Lingling spoke.

"When you fought that Ironback Lizard just now, you used seventy percent of your strength."

Nan Feng walked beside her. "Yeah."

"You held thirty percent back." Ye Lingling tilted her head and glanced at him. Her gaze was different from usual, more intent, as though she were checking something. "Who were you holding that thirty percent back for?"

"Everyone."

Ye Lingling was silent for a while. "Including me?"

Nan Feng thought for a moment. "One step at a time."

The corners of Ye Lingling's mouth curved up slightly, the faintest trace of a smile that vanished in a flash. She asked no more and walked on, her herb basket swaying.

They walked side by side for another stretch. As they neared the city gate, Ye Lingling slowed.

"Nan Feng."

"Yeah?"

"Your soul is very powerful. Much stronger than your Soul Power." She turned her head to look at him. Her light amber eyes were especially clear in the afternoon light. "That power is unlike anything I've ever seen in this world. It's deep and old, as though it were older than this continent."

Nan Feng didn't deny it. He had experienced Ye Lingling's powers of perception firsthand. There was no point in denying it.

"I won't tell anyone," Ye Lingling said. "But I have a request."

"Go ahead."

"From now on, when you leave the city, take me along once in a while, if it's convenient." She shifted the herb basket to her other hand. Her gaze rested on the road ahead. "Although my healing Martial Soul can't fight, it can perceive many things. If there's danger, I can warn you in advance. And you expend Soul Power in battle. With me there, you can last longer."

Nan Feng looked at her. Ye Lingling's expression was serious; she wasn't merely being polite. She had been observing him since the first day she met him. After two months of observation and an assessment, she had made a proposal.

"All right," Nan Feng said.

Ye Lingling nodded. She didn't smile, but the chill in her eyes had warmed a little.

The two passed through the gate into Nuoding City. Dusk was spreading, and the shops were lighting their lamps.

Ye Lingling parted ways with Nan Feng at a fork in the road and headed for the girls' dormitory. Nan Feng watched her disappear into the distance, then turned and returned to his dormitory.

That night, Nan Feng sat on the stone platform in the underground training room, cultivating the Circulation Acceleration Method, when Old Huai poked his head out of the crack.

"That Nine Heart Begonia girl kept using her perception to scan you while you were outside the city today. She scanned you at least five times, holding back each time. She didn't dare probe too deeply."

"I know."

"But the more she scans you, the more familiar she'll become with what's inside your soul. Once she's familiar enough with it, she'll be able to sense the fluctuations deep in your soul even without actively trying to touch it. The Nine Heart Begonia's perception is an instinct etched into the Martial Soul. Even she can't control it."

Nan Feng accelerated the flow of Soul Power through his meridians. The Power of Mountain Suppression covered the meridians throughout his body, washing through them in alternating waves of searing heat and gentle warmth.

He was silent for a while.

"She won't go around talking."

Old Huai withdrew into the crack, his voice drifting out lazily. "You certainly trust her."

Nan Feng didn't reply. He closed his eyes and focused his awareness on his dantian, accelerating the flow of his Soul Power.

One circuit, two circuits, three circuits.

The deep yellow, purple-tinged glow of the Soul Ring in his palm pulsed in the darkness, rising and falling in response to the cyan light in the crack at the base of the tower.

His Soul Power was at level sixteen, four levels short of twenty. Ye Lingling had saved him a measure of effort today, and he made a note of it.

Taking her along when he left the city in the future would offer her protection and make things more convenient for him.

Each got what they needed. One step at a time.