Sama trembled with rage, extending a branch to point at Yan Mo as it chanted curses, “~Cunning human, despicable human.~”
Perhaps the treemen didn’t have many curse words, as Sama kept singing these two lines over and over again.
Yan Mo treated it as background noise while he worked. He had already dug a small hole with his scalpel, exposing the roots of the plant below.
What was this?! It was as if a current of electricity suddenly passed through his brain, connecting all the things he had previously ignored.
Yan Mo suddenly looked up at Sama not far away, or more accurately, at the white fluffs on its crown.
Sama thought he was about to speak and closed its mouth in anticipation.
Unexpectedly, Yan Mo lowered his head again. He stared at the leaves on the ground for a long time, then cut off a small piece, put it in his mouth, and gently chewed it to taste. After sampling, he looked back at the treeman and smiled.
He recognized what kind of plant it was; it was just that it hadn’t grown much and looked more like a weed.
To confirm it, he placed his right hand on the leaves.
The guide’s entry on this plant wasn’t overly elaborate: offering a brief introduction for +3 scum points and a detailed description for +8. He chose the second option. Since he was eighty percent certain he knew what this plant was, the summary alone wouldn’t suffice. If it was indeed the plant he suspected, he’d need more detailed information on its cultivation methods and the like.
As it turned out, he hadn’t misidentified it.
Simply put, this plant was commonly known as land cotton, also called fine-fiber cotton. It was an annual herbaceous plant that produced natural textile fibers, and its bolls, seeds, roots, and root bark could all be used for medicinal purposes.
The detailed description lived up to its name—there was so much content that he couldn’t finish it in one go. The section on cultivation alone was densely packed, spanning nearly two thousand words. It covered the soil composition and climate conditions suitable for this land cotton, as well as planting times and methods for different locations, and even included pest and disease control measures.
Yan Mo didn’t finish reading it. After all, the detailed guide wasn’t going anywhere. If he wanted to read it later, he could always pull it up again. He had discovered this after fiddling with it a few times: any plants or minerals he recognized himself or that the guide had identified were listed on the second and third pages of the guide.
Cotton! Cotton!
Yan Mo was about to burst into song!
At that moment, the Tree of Life and the seed of the Immortal Tree were completely out of his mind. Just discovering cotton made this journey into the Black Forest worth it, no matter the cost!
Coarse linen was fine, but how could it compare to the softness, comfort, and warmth of cotton? Fur was fine, but how could it compare to cotton, which yielded a harvest simply by planting it? Moreover, it could be replaced frequently, was resistant to moths and rot, and was much easier to propagate.
In his past life’s country, cotton had been in use for a thousand years, but its true utilization and widespread adoption had only taken hold in the last five or six hundred years.
People of Jiuyuan, worship me! Because of me, you can enjoy the warmth of cotton tens of thousands of years earlier than you could have imagined!
Yan Mo laughed with a toothy grin, his hand stroking the plant with extraordinary tenderness. Then, with a flash of his scalpel, he dug and dug—taking as much as he possibly could!
“~Human!~” After waiting for ages and seeing no reaction from Yan Mo, Sama grew impatient. It feared this human might actually be crazy enough to bury himself here—who knew how the seed of the Immortal Tree would affect him?
“~You must leave!~” Sama swung its long branch.
Instantly, Yan Mo felt the sensation of being struck by an electric current once again.
The Netherflower!
Yan Mo realized instantly that Sama was using the Netherflower on him again. But this time… his body seemed to have adapted. After a moment of paralysis, his whole body felt like it had been pricked by needles, like the tingling sensation of his legs and hands regaining blood flow. It was quite uncomfortable, but after the discomfort passed, the Netherflower had no further effect on him.
As soon as Yan Mo regained the use of his limbs, he silently used a scalpel to dig up six land cotton seedlings and carefully placed them in his herb pouch.
Sama saw him digging up plants, but didn’t stop him. As for those wild grasses, Sama simply thought the fluffy seeds that burst out when they ripened were beautiful—different from other flowers—so it had planted a few near its dwelling to adorn its crown.
Other than that, Sama saw no use for this plant, so it paid no mind when Yan Mo dug them up.
Sama was anxious about something else: the Netherflower had no effect on this human at all. The human merely paused for a moment before regaining his ability to move.
“~What will it take for you to leave?~” Sama sighed helplessly, forced to ask.
It had considered having the Maple Clan throw this human out of the Black Forest, but it feared the human might find his way back on his own. Even more, it dreaded that the Maple Clan would be drained of their life force the moment they touched him, due to the Immortal Tree seed within his body.
Earlier, the seed had remained dormant—it must have been waiting to find Sama! Now that it knew where it was rooted, a battle for territory between two Everlasting beings was imminent, and Sama had absolutely no confidence it could outmaneuver the seed of the Immortal Tree.
Yan Mo stood up. Discovering the cotton had put him in a very good mood, and he couldn’t help but smile as he looked at Sama. “~First, please release my clan members~”
“~Alright~” Sama retreated from where it stood, connecting back into the great tree.
Yan Mo expected Sama to convey a message through song, but he heard no melody. While waiting, he turned his gaze to the plants lining both sides of the stream.
That patch must be azaleas; that one was bellflowers or campanulas. But what was that over there?
Yan Mo scanned the area and recognized quite a few, but nearly half of them, he either couldn’t identify or simply didn’t recognize at all.
While Yan Mo was surveying Sama’s garden, an unexpected turn of events occurred at the Child’s Pit that took the Maple Clan by surprise.
Naza was handling the situation when Sama arrived, emerging from beneath the ground.
Only it could extract the Maple Clan seeds buried within those human bodies without harming these descendants of the Maple Clan.
As soon as the Maple Clan members saw the slender treeman, they sang in unison, “~Sama~”
“~What is happening here?~” Sama sensed that something was amiss.
Naza stepped forward to report. “~A human has escaped~”
“~From the Child’s Pit? Was a seed implanted in him?~” Sama began to feel that today was the most inauspicious day for the Maple Clan.
“~Yes, and we even used the Netherflower on him~” Naza’s voice was also filled with disbelief.
“~Who is he? When did he arrive here?~” Sama scanned the area around the Child’s Pit, checking each spot one by one.
“~Sama, he is the ability warrior who arrived today with that human of the Everlasting Clan’s bloodline. He is a Level 4 warrior capable of manipulating soil~”
Yuan Zhan was struggling underground, growling like a wild beast.
The seed buried in his chest was not yet completely dead; it was fighting him for control of his body.
Yuan Zhan thrust his fingers into his chest, trying to dig out the seed, but he could only muster little strength. The effects of the Netherflower still held him in their grip. He hadn’t fully shaken them off.
“Mo…!”
All of this was connected to Mo. His escape was only possible because of the pouch of medicine Mo had given him.
Even after that seed was implanted in him, even if his entire body was paralyzed, he had no intention of simply waiting to die.
I am the bloodline of the Earth God! I am a divine warrior who can control the soil!
Every living thing that grows from the earth must be under my control!
The thought was arrogant, but that was exactly how Yuan Zhan—who tended to be single-minded in certain respects—thought.
Being unable to subdue flying creatures had already frustrated him greatly. Now, even the trees growing in the soil were beginning to view him as prey, which filled Yuan Zhan with immense rage.
His priest was so powerful—how could he be so weak?
Yuan Zhan refused to accept his fate; he was even less willing to just sit around and wait to die. He was determined to rescue his priest—and while he was at it, find out who the father of the child in his belly really was.
If it wasn’t his, so be it. He’d raise the child anyway. As long as he had a bite to eat, he wouldn’t let Mo’s child go hungry. None of the children his mother had given birth to before were his father’s either; there were plenty of men in the tribe who raised children that weren’t their own. But Mo’s future children could only be his—and he could only bear them for him!
As for how Mo, a man, could possibly conceive a child, Yuan Zhan found it not the least bit strange. His priest—let alone bearing a child—could even have a drop of his blood fall to the ground and turn it into a child; that wasn’t impossible!
Yuan Zhan, brimming with confidence in both himself and the knowledge imparted by his priest, began to struggle against the Netherflower that had taken control of his body.
Mo had once said that his ability to control the soil did not come solely from his body, but was also connected to his spirit hidden within his third eye.
Previously, he had to have a part of his body in contact with the earth to control the soil, but Mo had told him that if he harnessed his spiritual power properly, he could manipulate the soil even while separated from the earth.
In his current state, though his limbs were immobilized, his mind was clear, and his body was in direct contact with the earth.
He could control the soil—he simply had to!
Yuan Zhan began practicing the basic cultivation technique Yan Mo had taught him before. By now, he had mastered it to the point where he could perform it anytime, anywhere—even while sleeping, he could breathe according to its rhythm.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but his third eye began to grow hot, and that sensation of impending advancement grew ever more distinct.
Yuan Zhan had a faint premonition. If he could escape while in this state, he might just break through the Level 4 barrier and enter Level 5—a realm no one had ever reached before!
I am the bloodline of the Earth God; I come from the earth; I am the soil, and the soil is me…
Some say that faith was also a kind of power.
And Yuan Zhan, who had boundless confidence and trust in his own bloodline and abilities, was clearly able to harness that power to its fullest extent.
“Pa!” Yuan Zhan thought he heard something breaking, like the sound of a small fish bladder being squeezed.
Yuan Zhan looked at his own body. He saw himself lying in the pit, saw a small lump the size of a thumb protruding slightly from his chest, and saw…
The enemy!
He found a layer of gray, mist-like substance mingling with his flesh and blood, and a black seed on his chest that had already sprouted tiny roots.
He must eliminate the gray mist and kill that seed!
But how could he remove that gray mist?
Yuan Zhan’s gaze slowly drifted downward. He spotted the small pouch with the medicine powder lying at the bottom of the pit, right beside his thigh.
Mo had said that this powder could cure paralysis and unconsciousness. So, if he could find a way to draw it into his body, might it help him expel that gray mist?
Yuan Zhan stared at the ground beneath the pouch, commanding it with all his focus: Rise up, bring the powder to my mouth.
The soil beneath the pouch trembled slightly, then, as if lifted by an invisible force, began to rise inch by inch.
Yuan Zhan opened his mouth—thankfully, he could still do so.
He tore off the outer layer of animal hide with his teeth and tongue and spat it out. The remaining powder, wrapped in grass leaves, he chewed and swallowed it raw along with the leaves.
Bitter! It was truly, incredibly bitter!
But he didn’t care.
The powder didn’t take effect immediately after he swallowed it, but Yuan Zhan saw the gray mist mingled with his flesh and blood begin to tremble and recede.
Seizing this opportunity, Yuan Zhan focused all his mental energy on controlling his body to sink into the soil.
And that was how Naza, unable to shake his unease, came to investigate—only to discover that the Level 4 warrior prey had indeed escaped.
Yuan Zhan struggled underground as the gray mist gradually dissipated. His biggest problem now was the seed that had sprouted from his chest, sending out a multitude of roots.
Those roots were wrapping themselves around his heart, while Yuan Zhan tried to turn his chest and heart into soil.
Once he had trapped the seed, cutting off its nutrients so it could no longer grow, he would go find his priest.
Mo, hold on. Don’t be afraid. Don’t run around. I’ll be there to save you soon!
“Aaaah—!” Yuan Zhan let out an anguished roar from beneath the ground.
His head ached terribly, especially between his eyebrows—it felt as if a fire was burning there, scorching his soul!
His body seemed to have been shattered by a huge stone hammer, and the pain of being crushed into pieces swept through his entire body in an instant.
“Mo—!”
Yan Mo, who had been digging herbs, suddenly stopped. Just now, had he heard Yuan Zhan calling out to him for help?
“Hah!” Yan Mo scoffed. Hearing his son’s voice in his head begging for help was one thing, but now even Yuan Zhan’s voice was popping up?
Would that guy call out to him for help? Forget it.
Yan Mo calculated the time. If the Maple Clan really intended to let Yuan Zhan and the others go, so little time had passed. Given Yuan Zhan’s abilities as a Level 4 warrior, he shouldn’t have died that quickly.
The sound of rustling reached his ears. Naza, accompanied by over twenty treemen, brought the surviving humans over.
Sama also reappeared on the giant rock in the water pool.
Yan Mo stood up and looked at the warriors brought before him.
Everyone looked like they’d lost a lot of weight; Bing had lost the most.
“~These are the latest batch of humans captured. See if your people are among them~” Sama said.
Yan Mo counted them—exactly twenty-eight. Looking at the tattoos on their faces, they were indeed the missing warriors from the Yuanji Tribe.
“~They look terrible…~” Yan Mo grabbed Bing’s wrist to take his pulse. Poor Bing—his pulse was so weak it was barely detectable.
Sama said nothing. Naza and the treemen were all watching Yan Mo. They seemed puzzled by his casual attitude toward Sama, as well as Sama’s indulgence towards him.
“~They were all outstanding warriors of our tribe, but in this state, not only can they no longer serve as warriors, they’ll only become a burden to us~” Yan Mo put on a sorrowful expression that seemed to say, ‘You’ll have to figure this out yourselves.’
Sama still said nothing.
Naza really wanted to say that the fact they were still alive was good enough, but Sama raised a hand to stop it from speaking.
After his moment of sorrow, Yan Mo began sighing again, “~This Bing is still the warrior that the old priest loves the most. As the future tribal leader, he has become like this. Even if I bring him back, the old priest will not let me go. So I might as well stay here and not go back~”
Hearing this, Sama could no longer hold back, “~Human, it’s not that they can’t recover~”
“~Merciful Sama, I knew you’d have a way~”
Sama’s branches trembled. It looked as if it desperately wanted to lash out at Yan Mo, but it forced itself to hold back. “~Naza, go to the altar and fetch the Dead Seed~”
Naza was taken aback. “~Sama!?~”
“~Go~”
