Chapter 45 The Two-Thousand-Year-Old Water Spinach Demon Lotus
"Soul bone?"
Tang Chuan concentrated intently in the water, the sleeve arrow he held with Blue Silver Grass aimed at the two people on the shore, ready to strike at any moment.
He was well aware of the rarity of soul bones.
Even a hundred-year-old soul bone is enough to drive a Spirit Master mad.
If the two discover me, a fight is inevitable. It's better to prepare in advance and strike first.
"They've all been sold."
The burly man spoke nonchalantly, but his voice was lowered.
"I still have the gold soul coins on me!"
"If word gets out, we won't be able to handle it..."
The thin man hurriedly tugged at the burly man's arm, his eyes scanning the surrounding bamboo grove and lotus pond.
The burly man pursed his lips, but still subconsciously lowered his voice. He sat down on a rock on the bank, patted the money pouch at his waist, and said with resentment, "I know!"
"But I just feel so frustrated!"
"Fire Fox cubs are so hard to catch! My brother and I almost perished in Sunset Forest, but the Heaven Dou Auction House offered us such a low price—not even a fraction of the value of a soul bone!"
"While it can't compare to a soul bone, it shouldn't be sold so cheaply!"
"Alright, that's enough!"
"It's better to have the money than to die before you can spend it."
"The Fiery Fox cubs are too hot to handle; it's good to get away from them as soon as possible."
"We're just Great Soul Masters. We're lucky if we can catch a hundred-year-old soul beast cub to exchange for money and support our families. Don't think about anything else."
The thin man took a dry biscuit out of his backpack, broke it in half, and handed it to his companion.
"Well!"
The burly man took a bite of the dry biscuit, chewing loudly: "But are you saying that we're destined to deal only with these hundred-year-old soul beasts for the rest of our lives?"
"Couldn't you have any luck, like finding a soul bone or something?"
"Even if we found it, it wouldn't be our turn!"
The gaunt man chuckled and pointed towards the depths of the Soul Hunter Forest: "Have you forgotten what happened last year?"
"A century-old soul bone was found in the eastern valley, and more than a dozen soul-hunting teams fought tooth and nail for it, but in the end, it was still taken by Spirit Hall's enforcement team."
"With our strength, going in would be suicide."
The two of them complained back and forth.
The conversation gradually shifted from soul bones to the recent situation in the Soul Hunter Forest, where there are many hundred-year-old soul beasts, which areas have high-level soul beasts that need to be avoided, and occasionally they complained about how high the empire's taxes were.
Tang Chuan, underwater, breathed a sigh of relief, his tense body relaxing.
It turns out they were just discussing the soul bone from the Heaven Dou Auction House, not that a soul bone had actually been found near this lotus pond.
When I heard the words "soul bone" just now, I thought there was a chance to snag a bargain.
In retrospect, I was being overly cautious.
Using the lotus leaves as cover, Tang Chuan retreated deeper into the lotus pond to avoid being discovered by the two.
The Blue Silver Grass on the fingertips was not idle. Taking advantage of the quiet underwater environment, it wrapped itself around a section of dark brown lotus root buried in the silt.
When I was collecting the lotus root just now, I felt that the soul power fluctuation of this lotus root was much stronger than that of other lotus roots.
[Ingredient: Black Jade Lotus Root]
[Origin: Lotus Pond, Hunter's Forest]
[Duration: 390 years]
[Characteristics: Tough roots, rich in water-attribute soul power, slightly bitter smell]
[Effects: Stewing this dish can clear blocked soul power from the body, and it has an auxiliary effect on the cultivation of water-type Spirit Masters. It is a high-quality medicinal food.]
"The lotus root, which is 300 years old, can be used to make medicinal cuisine, which is an unexpected bonus."
Tang Chuan secretly praised him and continued to explore underwater.
The silt in the depths of the lotus pond is even thicker, hiding many previously undiscovered aquatic ingredients. The Blue Silver Grass continuously devours lotus seeds, lotus stems, and aquatic fungi, and the progress bar of the "Ingredients Guide" slowly jumps.
The two people on the shore chatted for a while longer.
The burly man patted his backside and stood up: "Alright, stop dawdling here. Let's go check out the birch forest to the north. I heard there are quite a few century-old wolves there, and their pelts can fetch a good price."
"Let's go, and come back as soon as possible."
The thin man put away his provisions, and the two walked side by side into the depths of the forest, their footsteps gradually being drowned out by the rustling of the bamboo leaves in the wind.
Tang Chuan stayed underwater for a while longer, making sure the two were completely far away, before poking his head out from underwater.
He wiped the water droplets from his face.
I glanced at the sky; the midday sun shone through the gaps in the lotus leaves onto the water's surface. There was still plenty of time to explore.
"Let's go check out the Lotus Pond Center first."
"Perhaps there are even rarer aquatic spirit beasts and plants."
Tang Chuan took a deep breath, dived underwater again, and swam toward the center of the lotus pond. He parted the lotus leaves and flowers, and occasionally swallowed a few small fish he had never seen before with his Blue Silver Grass.
Suddenly!
Tang Chuan was startled and his heart skipped a beat.
"There's something there!"
He looked down into the water and saw thick, dark green roots emerging from the silt, coiling around his limbs like water snakes.
"An aquatic root-type soul beast?"
Tang Chuan dared not be careless. He circulated his soul power, and the deep purple soul ring under his feet lit up. He used the Blue Silver Grass to activate the sleeve arrow.
Puff puff puff!
Hundreds of arrows were fired simultaneously, shooting into the mud.
At the same time, Tang Chuan retreated, his soul power surging forth. As the grass threads intertwined in his palm, more than a dozen iron spears as thick as an arm condensed in the water and fiercely stabbed at the entangled roots.
The iron spear pierced the roots, making a dull sound.
Pale green sap gushed out from the wounds in the roots, carrying a faintly sweet and fishy smell. The soul beast felt the pain, and the binding force loosened slightly.
Tang Chuan seized the opportunity and unleashed his soul power.
Combining the essence of the Ghostly Shadow Step, his body twisted like a swimming fish, narrowly breaking free from the entanglement of the roots.
The underwater area was murky.
The mud was stirred up by the violently struggling roots of the soul beast, and more roots surged towards Tang Chuan from all directions like tentacles, trying to wrap him up and capture him again.
"We can't waste time fighting it underwater!"
Tang Chuan struggled to swim upwards, his Spirit Rings glowing brightly again. Blue Silver Grass quickly wove several small iron shields with spiked edges around his body, blocking the pursuing roots.
"Splash!"
Tang Chuan broke through the water and landed on the shore.
Staring intently at the churning water, the thousand-year soul ring beneath his feet shone brightly, and more Blue Silver Grass intertwined and shaped in front of him, coalescing into a vine rope fishing net with iron barbs.
"Get up here!"
Tang Chuan gave a low shout and used his arms to cast the vine rope fishing net towards the area where the soul beast had just been.
The rattan fishing net sank to the bottom of the water, and violent struggles and churning came from underwater, causing the surface of the entire lotus pond to churn endlessly.
Tang Chuan channeled his soul power into the Blue Silver Grass vines connecting the fishing net, tightened his core, and planted his feet firmly on the ground, fighting against the underwater soul beast and pulling himself toward the shore.
"Rise!"
He exerted his strength again, combining his soul power with his physical strength, and pulled backward sharply, sending water spraying into the sky as a colossal plant was forcibly dragged out.
Its main body resembles a dark green lotus seedpod, with a diameter of two meters, and its base is covered with countless thick roots that are dancing wildly.
Some of the roots still had iron spears and hidden arrows that Tang Chuan had previously thrown stuck in them, and pale green sap kept seeping from the wounds, emitting a fishy and sweet smell.
"Water Fly Demon Lotus!"
Tang Chuan immediately recognized the type of the soul beast based on its appearance. It was a rather troublesome aquatic plant-type soul beast that was good at entangling and paralyzing.
The diameter increases by 10 centimeters every hundred years, and the timeframe is approximately two thousand years.
[end of the chapter]