Cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill

The grass on the back hillside grew better than anywhere else.

Wang Xingyu and Tang San found a flat spot and sat down. The morning mist had just cleared, and dew still clung to the blades of grass. When they sat down, their pants got wet, and the damp felt chilly.

Wang Xingyu paid it no mind, and neither did Tang San.

The two summoned their respective Blue Silver Grass. The two plants swayed gently in the morning light, one sturdy with a faint golden sheen, the other thin and pale. Side by side, they looked like a tree and a sprout that had just poked its head out of the ground.

"Vitality." Wang Xingyu touched the blade of the thin grass with a finger. "Break one stalk and ten grow back. Step on it and it stands straight again the next day. It can even live in cracks between rocks. Of all the Martial Souls on the Douluo Continent, this one has the strongest vitality. Other people use it as a rope. They're squandering a gift from heaven."

Tang San looked down at his own Blue Silver Grass, deep in thought.

"I'm going to try something today." Wang Xingyu stood up and walked over to a patch of soft soil nearby.

Instead of keeping the Blue Silver Grass in his palm as usual, he crouched down and pressed his hand against the earth. Roots extended from his palm, burrowing into the soil rather than growing into the air.

Tang San came over and crouched beside him to watch.

The moment the roots burrowed into the soil, Wang Xingyu felt something he had never felt before.

It wasn't an increase in Soul Power. It was a connection, fine and faint, as if someone had drawn a thread between him and the hillside. He could feel the temperature of the soil and the roots of the wild Blue Silver Grass nearby spreading quietly through the earth. They didn't know him, but they were all Blue Silver Grass.

"Blue Silver Grass is a plant." Wang Xingyu closed his eyes, his voice soft. "Plants shouldn't circulate Soul Power the same way animals do. Animals rely on their meridians; plants rely on their roots. Plant the Martial Soul in the soil, let it take root, and let it connect with the Blue Silver Grass around it. Other people cultivate Soul Power alone, but a whole patch of Blue Silver Grass can cultivate together."

Tang San watched him. Wang Xingyu's hand rested motionless on the soil. Morning light fell on his shoulders and on the Blue Silver Grass that had burrowed into the earth. After a long while, Wang Xingyu opened his eyes.

"Did you feel it?" Tang San asked.

"I felt it." Wang Xingyu pulled his hand out of the soil, and the roots of the Blue Silver Grass brought out a small clump of dirt. He looked down at his hand. The Blue Silver Grass in his palm seemed a shade darker than before. The change was tiny, but he could feel it. "It likes the soil. It's more comfortable in the earth than in my hand."

Tang San said nothing. He summoned his own Blue Silver Grass and copied Wang Xingyu, pressing his hand against the soil. When the roots of his faintly golden Blue Silver Grass sank into the earth, Wang Xingyu saw his shoulders tremble slightly.

"Did you feel it?" Wang Xingyu asked.

Tang San didn't answer. His eyes were closed, and his brow was slightly furrowed, as though he were listening to a distant sound. After a while, he opened his eyes.

"They're talking."

Wang Xingyu was taken aback. "Who?"

"The Blue Silver Grass. The Blue Silver Grass around us." Tang San looked down at his hand pressed against the soil. "It's not talking. It's a kind of... knowing. They know I'm Blue Silver Grass. They don't know me, but they know me."

Wang Xingyu said nothing. He knew Tang San's Blue Silver Grass was no ordinary Blue Silver Grass. It had the Blue Silver Emperor Bloodline. What the wild Blue Silver Grass around them sensed was not an ordinary member of their kind, but their emperor.

Tang San pulled his hand out of the soil. The roots of his Blue Silver Grass were covered in dirt too, and its faint golden sheen shimmered in the sunlight.

"Did you come up with this cultivation method yourself?" Tang San asked.

"Mm." Wang Xingyu kept a straight face. He couldn't very well say that he had watched a bunch of analysis videos in his previous life, and that someone had said the right way for Blue Silver Grass to cultivate was to take root in the earth, connect with its own kind, and follow the life path.

At the time, he'd thought the person's analysis made perfect sense. Now that he'd tried it himself, he found that the person really was right.

Tang San looked at him in silence for a while. Then he did something Wang Xingyu hadn't expected. He sat up straight, withdrew his Blue Silver Grass, placed his hands on his knees, and looked at Wang Xingyu with utmost seriousness.

"Wang Xingyu."

"Mm."

"Did you mean what you said to my father yesterday?"

"Which part?"

"That you want to build an organization better than Spirit Hall. And that you'll help me destroy Spirit Hall." Tang San's voice was steady. "Were you serious?"

Wang Xingyu sat up straight too. "I was."

Tang San nodded. Then he said something that made Wang Xingyu's heart skip a beat.

"I'll teach you the Mysterious Heaven Skill."

Wang Xingyu froze. "What?"

"The Mysterious Heaven Skill. It's a cultivation method I've been practicing all along." Tang San's voice was calm. "I found it in a secret manual."

Of course Wang Xingyu knew what the Mysterious Heaven Skill was. It was one of the Tang Sect Secret Arts, the greatest trump card Tang San had brought with him when he transmigrated. In the original story, he had guarded it for half his life without even telling Tang Hao. Now he was going to teach it to him.

"Why?" Wang Xingyu asked. He knew the answer, but he wanted to hear Tang San say it.

"Because you taught me what you came up with," Tang San said. "You've told me a lot of things, not just cultivation methods and paths for growth, but also the grudges involving my parents."

"But... I haven't even verified the method yet. What if it's wrong?"

"You just verified it." Tang San looked him in the eye. "And like I said, it's not just that."

Wang Xingyu said nothing.

"Besides." Tang San paused. "If you're the only one, you can't build the organization you want. You need helpers. I need to get stronger, and so do you."

He looked at Wang Xingyu. "Like you said, two Blue Silver Grass users, one attacking and one healing. You heal me, so I have to heal you too."

Wang Xingyu suddenly laughed. "Little San, you're picking up bad habits. You learned the word 'heal' from me."

The corners of Tang San's mouth curved. "It's useful."

Morning light covered the entire hillside. Two six-year-olds sat facing each other, with two Blue Silver Grass plants freshly pulled from the soil between them. One was sturdy, the other thin, and both had dirt on their roots.

"I'll recite the Mysterious Heaven Skill's mnemonic for you first," Tang San began. It wasn't long, but it was hard to get his tongue around, full of terms like meridians and acupoints. Wang Xingyu had memorized more tongue-twisting literature while writing papers in his previous life, so he remembered the gist after hearing it once. Tang San recited it twice more.

"Got it?"

"Got it."

Tang San looked at him. "You learned it faster than I did."

"Of course." Wang Xingyu grinned. "I've read-" He swallowed the rest. He'd almost said, I've read the entire Douluo Continent. "I've read so many books at Spirit Hall. Memorizing things is a basic skill."

Tang San didn't press him. He began teaching Wang Xingyu the route for circulating Soul Power through his body with the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

Wang Xingyu closed his eyes and followed Tang San's instructions, slowly pushing his level-three Soul Power, so thin it seemed ready to snap, along his meridians.

It was slow, even slower than the Blue Silver Grass taking root. But he could feel that the Mysterious Heaven Skill's circulation route was different from the cultivation methods recorded in Spirit Hall's books. It was more precise and took less effort, as though it made the fullest possible use of every meridian.

He opened his eyes. "Whoever created this cultivation method was a genius."

Tang San's gaze flickered, but he didn't reply.

Wang Xingyu knew he was right. The Mysterious Heaven Skill was the painstaking work of generations of Tang Sect patriarchs, and Tang San had relied on it to reach the pinnacle of the Tang Sect in his previous life. Now he had taught it to an orphan from Holy Soul Village who had transmigrated less than two years ago.

"Tang San."

"Mm."

"I won't waste this cultivation method."

Tang San looked at him and nodded, his expression serious.

"Continue," Tang San said. "Get familiar with the first level's route today."

The two closed their eyes again. The hillside was quiet, with only the sound of wind brushing through the grass. The two Blue Silver Grass plants lay between them, dirt still clinging to their roots, swaying gently in the sunlight.

Wang Xingyu circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill, his Soul Power crawling through his meridians bit by bit. It was slow, but he was in no hurry. Slowness was the nature of Blue Silver Grass. It grew slowly, but it kept growing. Break one stalk and ten grew back. Step on it and it stood straight again the next day. It could even live in cracks between rocks.

His eyes were closed, and the corners of his mouth were raised.

He had transmigrated to the Douluo Continent with level-three Innate Soul Power, a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, no system, and no cheat. But he had a Blue Silver Grass plant that could take root, and he had Tang San to teach him the Mysterious Heaven Skill. He also had Blue Silver Grass covering the hills and fields, willing to connect with him.