To Raise a Soul 52.2

After leaving the hospital, Yin Yan brought Yu Zhen to a nearby place for lunch. Then they drove to the place near the plant nursery where the wild herbs grew. 

It had only been one night since Yu Zhen had suppressed the evil energy, but it had already regained its previous intensity. Frowning, Yu Zhen moved to throw another seed into the area. However, Yin Yan wrapped him with spiritual energy and forbade him from approaching the field of herbs.

Feeling stifled, Yu Zhen asked, “Why?” I want to fight side by side with you, not hide behind you and reap the rewards that I didn’t sow.

“Your constitution makes you more vulnerable to the influence of evil energy.” Seeing Yu Zhen’s frown, Yin Yan added, “Or would you like to do it like yesterday? I can use my spiritual energy to remove any trace of evil energy.”

Yesterday… Remembering the night of unrestrained desires, he stopped struggling. Face red, he replied, “Then hurry along. I-I’ll wait for you here.”

“You’re not waiting for me.” Yin Yan didn’t let up. He pinched Yu Zhen’s earlobes, and beside his ears, he said, “You’re protecting me from being disturbed by others.”

Bam! 

Yu Zhen threw his arms around the tree beside him and pressed his face against its bark. I’ve decided. I won’t acknowledge Yin Yan this afternoon. Since yesterday, he’s been acting weird. I-I can’t stand it anymore.

Once he was sure that Yu Zhen wouldn’t try to sneak away from that spot, Yin Yan stood up straight. He looked at Yu Zhen’s reddened ears for a few seconds. Unable to resist the urge, he touched it. Then he called Xu Wu out and walked a little further down the mountainside. 

Although it was a sunny afternoon, there was no sunshine at the foot of the mountain. Instead, it was cold and gloomy.

Yin Yan stood in the center of the field of wild herbs. Using his spiritual senses, he surveyed the field of herbs. Then with gentle movements of his fingers, he produced a pitch-black longsword. He leisurely walked to the area where the herbs grew most abundantly, then thrust the sword into the ground.

The surrounding air fluctuated as if something had been pinned down by the longsword. There was a howl as the thing struggled desperately.

Yu Zhen felt the undulating sensation and froze. Hurriedly, he turned around and looked down the mountainside.

Yin Yan pulled out the sword and a cringe-inducing crack was heard as the plant matter snapped. Along with the squelches of shifting mud, he pulled out something long and tan in color. It looked like part of a plant’s root system, but it writhed and struggled like a living creature as it remained skewered on the sword. 

“What’s this?” Yu Zhen’s eyes widened in horror. He had a horrible feeling that the roots under his feet might also come alive and start moving.

“An earth root,” Yin Yan replied. Spiritual energy emerged from his hand and the struggling, long item turned rigid. Very quickly, it turned into a genuine-looking piece of tree root.

An earth root. The fledgling form of a mountain god. It’s something nurtured rather than something naturally occurring. After one hundred years, it becomes a root. After a thousand years, it breaks through the ground. After it helps ten thousand people crossover, it becomes a god and protects ordinary people. 

Yu Zhen’s knowledge of earth roots popped into his mind. Confused, he asked, “B-but doesn’t this mountain already have a mountain god? Why would another earth root appear? And why would it have evil energy?”

Not every mountain has a mountain god. In the area around B City, it doesn’t matter how big or small a mountain is, it will be under the care of that old mountain god we’ve met. Meaning it’s impossible for there to be a second mountain god. 

Even if something did appear by chance, it can only become a mountain spirit, which is one rank lower than the mountain god and is still cared for by the god.

But a mountain god is born from blessings. How can it be involved with something with evil energy?

Yin Yan eyed the earth root on his sword. With the wave of a hand, his spiritual energy flickered. The surrounding evil energy dissipated instantly, and the earth root turned into a dead piece of wood before it finally turned into powder and fell to the ground.

“This earth root was artificially developed. At most, it has existed for a hundred years.”

He put away his sword, walked back to Yu Zhen’s side, and continued, “Deep beneath the bottom of this slope, there’s an old tomb. An evil cultivator made use of the negative energy from the tomb and transformed it into evil energy to produce the earth root. It would be used to interfere with the mountain god and indirectly affect the local feng shui. B City is located on one of Hua Country’s dragon’s veins. A change to its feng shui should not be taken lightly. For the evil cultivator to think up something like this, at the very least, they can be considered somewhat skilled.“ 

Yu Zhen recalled the first time he was on the mountain which the mountain god resided on. While he’d been giving chase to the spirit hare, he had met roaming souls who had been around for decades and seemed unable to enter the reincarnation cycle. His mood dropped and he asked, “Can this earth root do a lot of harm?”

Yin Yan shook his head and comforted him. “No. It no longer contains any power. It can’t even conceal the evil energy. The person who arranged for this is most likely dead.”

Yu Zhen breathed out a sigh of relief. “With no earth root, the evil energy and the tomb…”

“The earth root was produced by an evil cultivator who used the negative energy from the tomb and turned it into evil energy. Now that the earth root has been removed, as long as the plants which have been affected by the earth root are removed and the tomb is sealed to stop negative energy from leaking out, evil energy will stop appearing here. The tomb shouldn’t be rashly tampered with. It can easily cause karmic retribution. But we can lend a small bit of help in this situation. The owner of this tomb has been taken advantage of by the evil cultivator for a hundred years. Although their own future won’t be affected, misfortune will hound their descendants. Do you remember how to perform the ritual to help souls find peace?”

With the explanation, Yu Zhen relaxed and nodded seriously. “I remember.”

Yin Yan touched a hand to Yu Zhen’s face, then stepped aside, leaving the way down the slope open. 

Performing the ritual was very easy. Yu Zhen carried a lot of merits within him so even though it was his first time performing the ritual, he completed it quickly. Using Yu Zhen’s seeds, Yin Yan then created an array that stopped negative energy from escaping the tomb. They worked together to pull out all the affected herbs and, to cover up their work, they then scattered normal grass and herb seeds and encouraged those to grow by using merits. With those actions, they completely resolved the problem.

With the issue dealt with, they returned to the plant nursery. Yu Zhen opened the door using keys passed to him by the previous owner. He found the spot where Fang Yun had buried the roots of the wild herb and dug them out. Those were burned away using Yin Yan’s true fire.

After solving his worries, Yu Zhen finally relaxed. After eating and bathing at home, Yu Zhen secretly thought about “repaying” Yin Yan. However, the second that he lay down on the bed, he fell asleep like a good child that obediently respected bedtime.

When Yin Yan came out of the bathroom, he withdrew the spiritual energy around Yu Zhen back into his fingertips. Then, he walked to the side of the bed and watched Yu Zhen’s sleeping face for a long while. Finally, he bent down and flicked Yu Zhen’s forehead.

“What a bad child, to harbor such unruly thoughts.”

After a few nights of Yu Zhen falling asleep in that manner, he began to suspect that he had been bewitched. 

When Yu Zhen woke up in the morning, he received a sample of the packaging that Qiu Feiqian had someone deliver.

The sample was beautiful. Very satisfied with it, Yu Zhen decided on it as the final design without additional changes. With that, the perfume line finally entered the stage of preparing for manufacturing. 

At the same time, the previous owners of the plant nursery had also decided on a date for their return to their hometown. When Monday arrived, they handed all of the keys to the plant nursery to Yu Zhen and they stepped onto the train, homeward bound.

To thank Yu Zhen for helping them when they needed it most, they left everything within the property to Yu Zhen, which included some expensive equipment. They also thoughtfully cleaned the whole place.

Yu Zhen held the keys in his hand as he stood in the plant nursery which now belonged to him. He thought about his recent habit of falling asleep within seconds these past few days. To confirm his suspicion, he used the excuse of tidying up the plant nursery to stay there for a few nights.

Then, for those next few nights, he found he no longer fell asleep as soon as he climbed into bed. However, Yin Yan had used Reduction to One Inch to spend some time with him. In the end, he would fall asleep before Yin Yan had finished brushing his teeth and washing his face.

I just can’t stay awake to see Yin Yan get into bed and get cozy with him! 

Yu Zhen was very dejected. Depressed, even. He wanted to bite Yin Yan.

Does he not like touching me that much? He’d even make me fall asleep on purpose. We were quite passionate that night… Am I not attractive enough?

Yu Zhen looked down at himself. Broad shoulders. A narrow waist. Long legs. Aside from not being very muscular, or not having very fair skin, I’m quite alright.

In the last six months, I’ve grown quite a lot. Although I’m not at the height that Yin Yan had mentioned, I’m almost there. And I’m not ugly either.

He bowed his head and dug at some soil with a trowel. After digging for a short while, he pulled up the collar of his t-shirt and peered downwards.

It can’t be because I don’t have pecs? Or abs? Or mermaid lines? Is it not pleasing to touch me? Or am I so skinny that it’s uncomfortable to hold me?

After poking at his flat stomach and touching his collar bones, he slumped his shoulders. 

My skin is soft and springy. It’s very nice to touch, ah. But why doesn’t Yin Yan touch it? Would he prefer if it were rougher?

He stood up and, together with the puppets brought out by Xu Wu, transplanted some roses from the dimensional pot into the plant nursery. Then he wandered to a different area and enlisted Xu Wu’s help to shift over the pots of his recent experiments with various flowers. As he worked, his brows remained tightly furrowed.

Maybe I should get more sun? Maybe Yin Yan likes someone who is more masculine?

Wait a minute. Could Yin Yan prefer a delicate and slender figure?

Flustered, he touched his bonier parts. At that point, his eyebrows were practically knotted together. 

I’m done for. I’ve already grown taller. I can’t go back to being more delicate.

“Meow ~”

Xu Wu suddenly ran over with a pouch in its mouth. It nimbly wove between the newly planted rose bushes and then climbed up Yu Zhen’s trousers. Finally, it tossed the pouch into Yu Zhen’s hand and meowed at him.  

“What’s this?”

Yu Zhen’s mind returned to reality and he patted Xu Wu’s little head. As he asked the question, he opened up the pouch.

When the bag was opened, a few strange looking flowers were revealed. 

“Meow ~”

Xu Wu motioned towards the direction of the mountain god.

“It’s from the mountain god?”

Xu Wu nodded and rubbed its head against him.

Yu Zhen smiled and concluded that it was a gift from the mountain god for their help with destroying that earth root. He accepted the gift with a beaming smile. Looking at Xu Wu’s cute appearance, an idea flashed into Yu Zhen’s mind. He took hold of Xu Wu, brought it before his face, and exclaimed, “Xu Wu! You are Yin Yan’s boundary spirit. You definitely know the kind of man that Yin Yan likes! How about giving me a few hints? I’ll reward you with anchovies and lotus seeds!”

Blankly, it let out a bewildered “meow???”

Who does Master like? Wouldn’t that be the little master in front of me? He’s liked you for s-s-s-so many years.