Thinking of this, Xiao Yan couldn't help but clench his fists but quickly shook his head.
"Forget it, what's the use of just thinking about how strong the enemy is? I need to take action myself and focus on my training!"
Xiao Yan got up and walked toward the little house he had set up on the hillside.
A few meters away, there was a well, and next to the well was a wooden bucket placed on two stones. On either side of the bucket, there were a wooden box, a vine basket, and a stone circle used to form a fire pit.
On usual days, this was where he took medicinal baths and roasted rabbits.
Xiao Yan squatted down and opened the wooden box, which had several compartments. A few of these compartments held medicinal herbs that emitted a strong fragrance.
"The medicinal herbs are running low, not enough for even one medicinal bath. I need to gather more herbs."
Xiao Yan looked up at the sun, picked up the vine basket, and hurried down the hillside toward the other side of the mountain.
The newly modified Xuántiān Liàntǐ Gōng (Mysterious Heaven Body Refining Skill), combined with medicinal herbs for medicinal baths, could accelerate the cultivation of the Xuántiān Liàntǐ Gōng and improve its training effect.
The dense forest outside the village was filled with medicinal herbs, and many of them were quite aged, making it a perfect place to gather herbs.
Two to three hours later, Xiao Yan took down the vine basket and sighed helplessly, "Seems like I've over-harvested these past few years. After searching for so long, I only found a few herbs."
"It's already late. I'll train tomorrow morning and then go deeper to gather more."Xiao Yan thought to himself, turned around, and headed home.
The next morning, after finishing his daily Zǐ Jí Mó Tóng (Purple Extreme Demon Eye) cultivation, Xiao Yan got up, picked up the vine basket, and ran toward the dense forest again.
After leaving the village boundaries, Xiao Yan gathered his energy to accelerate, stepping into Guǐ Yǐng Mí Zōng Bù (Ghost Shadow Stealth Step), his figure instantly becoming like a ghost, moving one or two times faster than a galloping horse.
The Guǐ Yǐng Mí Zōng Bù was a footwork technique that consumed very little energy, unlike the Liù Mài Shén Jiàn (Six Vein Divine Sword), which drained one's energy after every use. The minimal energy consumption was perfect for the Xuántiān Gōng, a Taoist cultivation method that had endless vitality.
Shènghún Cūn (Holy Soul Village) was located at the boundary between the Tiāndòu Dìguó (Heaven Dou Empire) and Xīngluó Dìguó (Star Luo Empire), and it was a long distance from the Xīngdòu Dà Sēn Lín (Star Dou Great Forest).
Xiao Yan, eager to gather good medicinal herbs, unknowingly entered the Xīngdòu Dà Sēn Lín (Star Dou Great Forest).
After running for five hours, Xiao Yan felt it was about time. He stopped, squatted down, and looked at a small blue flower growing on the ground. With a slight smile, he activated his Xuántiān Liàntǐ Gōng, and his palm immediately hardened like a shovel, easily digging up the flower.
Xiao Yan shook off the dirt and placed the medicinal herb into his vine basket.
"This should be enough for now. I'll gather for another hour or so and then head home. I made some rice earlier, enough for Tang Hao the old dog to eat for lunch."
Xiao Yan sat on the grass, took out the Jiǎo Huā Jī (Beggar's Chicken) that he had roasted while training that morning.
He smashed open the muddy shell with a punch, peeled away the lotus leaf, and casually grabbed a chicken leg, taking a large bite.
The area around him was full of Blue Silver Grass, and the environment was serene, making it an excellent resting spot.
"I didn't expect the forest outside the village to stretch on endlessly. I wonder where it ends?"Xiao Yan activated his Zǐ Jí Mó Tóng, looking around, but still couldn't see an end.
"But this environment is really nice. If I get rid of Tang Hao the old dog, living here and cultivating would be great..."
Suddenly, a voice appeared in Xiao Yan's mind without warning, "My King, the great King, is it really you? You've finally come here. Thank you, heavens!"
Xiao Yan frowned, quickly stood up, and looked around warily.
Then the voice sounded again, even more urgent, full of intense desire: "King, please come to me, would you?"
Hearing it for the second time, Xiao Yan was suddenly startled, "What the hell, is there a ghost here?"
"A soul master is no match for me, but dealing with a ghost might be fun."Xiao Yan smiled, using his spiritual power to sense the ethereal voice, and stepped into Guǐ Yǐng Mí Zōng Bù, fully on guard and running toward the source of the voice.
The plants here seemed old, having undergone a long period of growth, with towering ancient trees everywhere.
After running for another fifteen minutes, the voice in Xiao Yan's mind became clearer: "King, I am here."
Passing between two ancient trees that would require several people to hug, Xiao Yan looked ahead and saw a plant about a kilometer away. He clearly felt that the mysterious voice was coming from this plant.
A long vine climbed up and twisted into the air about ten meters high. It looked like a special plant formed by countless intertwined vines.
The entire plant was a clear blue, and its surface sparkled with a unique sheen.
Around it, Blue Silver Grass grew particularly thick.
Each vine had a diameter roughly the size of a human waist, and its thickness exceeded a foot.
At this moment, the plant gently swayed, and in the center of the vines, at the knot, there was a mark resembling a human face. The face seemed to be smiling.
This vine gave Xiao Yan a very strong impression, and an intense aura was being released without holding back.
Standing about a hundred meters away, Xiao Yan stared at the vine face and said, "So it's not a ghost, but the vine has turned into a spirit."
"My King, I am not a spirit. I am a soul beast, a soul beast that has cultivated for eighty-five thousand years. To reach a bloodline level like yours, I still need to cultivate for another fifteen thousand years." The vine didn't attack Xiao Yan but instead spoke through the human-like mouth at the knot in the vine.
Seeing that the vine didn't seem to mean any harm, and it mentioned the bloodline cultivation level, Xiao Yan was puzzled. He was clearly human, so why was there talk of a soul beast?
Xiao Yan asked, "Are you sure you've got the right person? I'm human."
"No." The Blue Silver King responded urgently, **"Great King, I could never be wrong. The aura on you is that of the Blue Silver Empress, it can't be mistaken.
If you only had the regular Blue Silver Grass martial soul, how could you possess such great power? What you have is the bloodline of the Blue Silver Royal Family! Great King."**
Xiao Yan thought to himself, "I cultivate internal energy. I've been practicing it since I was young, and I don't fear the cold or heat. I haven't missed a day of training, so the connection to this bloodline can't be that strong. Besides, the Empress, that sounds like a woman. Could it be that I'm some sort of distant relative of the female vine?"
He had seen many spirit creatures like fox spirits, snake spirits, clam spirits, carp spirits, and peony spirits on TV, but this was the first time he had heard of a vine spirit.
This vine seemed sincere, and it didn't appear to have any reason to deceive him. Could he really be the son of a vine spirit?
"If I'm the son of a vine spirit, how did I end up in Tang Hao's hands?"
Thinking about it, Xiao Yan came up with two possible scenarios:
He might be the son of Tang Hao and a vine spirit, but this world didn't allow human-plant unions, so the vine spirit was either dead or sealed.
He was indeed the son of the vine spirit but had been captured by Tang Hao, a soul master who hunted spirits. Since he couldn't defeat the vine spirit, he kept Xiao Yan as a protective shield.
(End of Chapter)