Chapter 50 Tang San Asks About Soul Beasts
"You've got good taste, kid!"
The bearded mercenary, tickled by the flattery, wiped his mouth and began to ramble on: "My brother and I just returned from the Soul Hunter Forest. Although we didn't encounter any thousand-year-old soul beasts, we saw quite a few hundred-year-old ones!"
"Hey!"
"Speaking of something really impressive, we ran into a nest of century-old Ironthorn Lynxes on the east side of the Soul Hunter Forest."
"That guy was as fast as a ghost, and his claws were harder than refined iron. If it weren't for our perfect teamwork, we would have been done for..."
The tall, thin man chimed in, "And that giant swamp toad too."
"Lying prone in the mud like a rock, it can stick out its tongue and pull a person right in—it's incredibly cunning!"
Tang San listened intently, his face showing amazement and admiration.
He quickly processed the information in his mind, and only after the two men had finished talking did he feign curiosity and ask, "You two gentlemen have such rich experiences!"
"These spirit beasts sound dangerous."
"However... I heard from my teachers at the academy that some plant-type soul beasts are not common, but their abilities are even more unpredictable."
"For example, can it transmit images and sound?"
"Have either of you encountered anything similar?"
"Plant-based?"
"To transmit images and sound?"
The bearded mercenary scratched his head, trying hard to recall: "Hmm... now that you mention it, it does seem like there really is!"
"I remember seeing a strange plant in the depression south of the Soul Hunter Forest two years ago."
"It seems to be called the Mirage Banana."
"It looks just like a regular banana tree, but its leaves can reflect shadows. When the wind blows, it reflects a distant scene. At the time, we thought we had encountered a ghost, and we almost started fighting among ourselves!"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
The tall, thin man, reminded of this, perked up: "I remember Old Hu chopped me on the shoulder with an axe back then, I still have a scar!"
As he spoke, he pulled open his collar to show Tang San the scar as evidence.
Tang San's eyes lit up, and he quickly pulled out his notebook and pen, the pen tip hovering as he asked, "Big brother, how old is that Mirage Banana Tree?"
"It's not a long time, maybe a hundred years or so."
The tall, thin mercenary chimed in, gesturing with his finger on the table: "But that thing is weird!"
"The mirages it creates can't tell you what's real. There are no spirit beasts in that place, but it makes you see them there. That's how Old Hu fell for it!"
Tang San paused for a moment.
He drew an X after the Mirage Banana in the notebook, noting that it was of low age and its effects were similar to illusions, which did not conform to the information transmission of Blue Silver Grass.
"This mirage banana plant is truly amazing!"
"If I encountered it without knowing it, I would definitely fall for its tricks!"
As he spoke, Tang San smiled and handed them a cup of iced tea: "I wonder if you two brothers have encountered any plants that can transmit messages during your soul hunting?"
"For example, by moving leaves or making sounds?"
"There really is!"
A mercenary with a goatee from the next table approached, clutching a wine bowl in his hand: "Young man, looking for this?"
"I encountered Mirror Bamboo a few years ago in the western part of the Soul Hunter Forest outside Tiandou City."
"A bamboo grove all looked exactly the same, with smooth, mirror-like joints. Walking into it was like entering a maze. Sounds could be hidden inside the bamboo joints; if you spoke into one joint, the sound would travel through another, and it could be heard within a hundred meters..."
"I almost couldn't get out of there back then!"
"Mirror Image Bamboo!"
Tang San quickly wrote down the name and asked, "How many years old is it?"
"More than three thousand years ago..."
With an uncertain estimate, the man with the goatee took a sip of wine and said, "I was just focused on running away and didn't pay attention to the age of the bamboo, but it was a bamboo forest, and there should be quite a few bamboos that are hundreds of years old."
"Thank you, grandpa!"
Tang San took a cup of iced tea from the wicker basket and handed it over, noting in his notebook: "[Bamboo forest west of the Soul Hunter Forest outside Tiandou City, Mirror Bamboo, aged from one hundred to three thousand years]."
"Young man, you're too kind!"
The man with the goatee took the iced tea, poured it into his own glass, and continued, "This thing can only transmit short messages; it won't transmit anything longer."
"Besides, those bamboos all grow together, so they're useless if you keep them far away."
"I see."
Tang San nodded, then crossed it out and added the note: "[Short transmission distance]."
Thinking to himself, it was more reliable than the Mirage Banana, but its coverage area was too narrow, so it was still unsuitable as the second soul ring for Blue Silver Grass.
Their conversation attracted the attention of an old mercenary with dark skin and a scarred face at the next table.
"What are mirages of banana trees and bamboo shadows compared to that?"
He leaned closer, holding his wine glass, and said in a hoarse voice, "If we're talking about traveling far, it has to be the hyacinth dandelion in the Death Desert!"
"Those seeds are so light they can float hundreds of miles with the wind!"
"Wherever a seed lands, it emits a sound, recording the echoes of its flight over the surrounding land. Desert caravans sometimes rely on it to deliver brief messages or locate oases!"
"Hyacinth dandelion?"
Tang San looked up and asked, "Are they common in the Death Desert?"
"Common!"
"That's all too common!"
The dark-skinned mercenary looked shaken: "Its seeds are everywhere in the Death Desert. The wind-borne dandelion spirit beasts, which are decades to tens of thousands of years old, are everywhere. They attack merchants with desert storms, causing a lot of trouble."
"Anyway, I'm not taking any more jobs in the Death Desert!"
Tang San noted down the dandelion in the wind, adding the note: "Death Desert, common but dangerous, worth trying, but far away."
He felt a little regretful.
Perhaps the Wind-Gathering Dandelion could grant me a soul skill for transmitting information, but the Death Desert is too far away, and I can't use it at this stage. I can only wait until I have a holiday to discuss it with my dad and brother.
Another fat mercenary came over, slammed his hand on the table, and said, "Speaking of the Death Desert, I'm also reminded of a kind of soul beast!"
"Have you ever heard of mind-reading sea buckthorn?"
"Living deep in the deadly desert, it's said to be able to read minds; it knows everything you're thinking, and it's incredibly troublesome!"
"Mind-reading sea buckthorn?"
The bearded mercenary chuckled and patted the fat mercenary on the shoulder: "Brother, have you been blown mad by the desert heat?"
"What kind of spirit beast can truly read minds!"
"I think you've been poisoned by the Bewitching Cactus and are hallucinating."
"Fart!"
The fat mercenary's face flushed red, and he stubbornly argued, "I'm perfectly sober!"
"I heard it from an old merchant who escaped from the depths of the desert!"
"A thousand-year-old mind-reading sea buckthorn, able to predict your next move in every fight and dodge your soul skill attacks in advance—what else could this be but mind-reading?!"
"What the fat man said is true!"
No sooner had the fat mercenary finished speaking than a weathered mercenary with a face etched with the marks of time approached, tapping his thick fingers on the table, his voice filled with lingering fear: "That thing is no pushover."
"It's deadly!"
[end of the chapter]