Chapter 7: The Forbidden Grove
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A Whisper in the Wind
The morning after the Ash-Spider Monk's defeat was unusually warm.
Sunlight kissed the leaves, and the spirit rice in Plot 1A shimmered with an ethereal hue. It should have felt peaceful — but something was off.
Birds sang, yes. The wind blew, yes.
But beneath that song, a whisper echoed through the land — one only Li Yuan could hear. A murmur buried in the roots, winding through the valley like an old secret stirring.
> "Come… back… to me…"
Li Yuan stood still in the middle of his field, hoe resting on his shoulder.
The whisper came again, this time tinged with sorrow.
> "You left us behind…"
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A Child Missing
Granny Xue burst into the field, her breath ragged.
> "Li Yuan! It's Qing'er. She's gone!"
> "Gone?" His expression hardened.
> "She went to pick wild lotus before dawn — near the south fence. She never returned."
Li Yuan's eyes narrowed.
The south fence bordered the ancient grove, a place sealed long ago by the village elders. No one was allowed near it — not because of wild beasts, but because of something older.
Something buried there by him.
He wiped his hands and picked up his hoe.
> "I know where she went."
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The Forbidden Grove
The path south twisted through overgrown shrubs and faded talismans strung across the trees. Wind howled through the gap in the trees as he stepped beyond the fence. Immediately, the air changed.
It was thicker — more alive. Every leaf shimmered with spiritual energy. The roots beneath the ground pulsed like veins. It was a place outside time.
A sealed realm.
> [System Notice: Sealed Land Entered – Barrier Created by Host in a Past Life Detected.]
[System Override Suggested: Breaking Seal Protocol...]
[Status: Accepted. Seal weakening...]
Li Yuan pressed forward, eyes scanning the lush, vibrant undergrowth.
The deeper he went, the less the forest resembled the world he knew. Flowers the size of plates blinked open when he walked past. Trees hummed like tuning forks. A gentle green glow lit the shadows.
> "This grove… it's not just sacred. It's sentient."
And then, he saw it.
A giant tree stood at the grove's heart — its bark the color of rich earth, its leaves shaped like prayer petals. At its roots lay a small red shoe — Qing'er's.
> "Qing'er!"
A pulse of energy hit him square in the chest, and his knees buckled.
A voice echoed through the trees — not from a mouth, but from the land itself.
> "You buried us here… Xiao Tianmie."
> "You left us to rot, forgotten, while you chose peace."
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Spirit of the Womb
From the trunk of the massive tree, a figure emerged.
Not walked — emerged. Her body was bark and silk, her hair a cascade of blooming vines, her eyes glowing amber pools of deep memory.
She was the Wood Spirit — and she was crying.
> "You made me… to heal the war. I became the Womb of Soil. But when you sealed your power, you sealed me too."
> "Qing'er disturbed the seal. So now, I remember. And I must test you."
She raised her hand.
The ground cracked open, revealing a cavernous root-chamber below. In its center was a cocoon of vines — pulsing, breathing — with Qing'er asleep inside.
> "She will not die," said the spirit.
"But she dreams your sins. Her soul is watching your war unfold."
> "Then let me take her place," Li Yuan said instantly.
The spirit paused. "Would you still suffer… even after forgetting why you bled?"
> "If it keeps her safe — yes."
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The Test of the Grove
> [System Quest Activated: Trial of the Soil Womb]
Description: Enter the spiritual memory field. Defeat the corrupted echoes of your past to prove you have changed.
Rewards: Relic Awakening – Womb of Soil | Soil Resonance Rank Up | Memory Fragment (3rd Layer)
Li Yuan stepped into the cocoon willingly.
The world shifted.
Suddenly, he stood once more in a memory — only this time, he was not the god. He was a witness. An innocent.
He watched as his past self, Xiao Tianmie, rained destruction down on a corrupted city. His hoe — then a divine weapon the size of a battle staff — split mountains and burned forests. Not out of evil… but in desperation.
He remembered the enemy now: the Great Withering — a curse that turned cultivators into living forests, hollowed by decay and planted with parasitic spirits.
His past self had made the Wood Spirit to counter it — to heal the infected. But when the cost of maintaining her drained his divine essence, he sealed her away.
> "I was afraid… of becoming the very thing I fought."
> "So I locked away the only thing that could help me heal."
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The Awakening
Li Yuan returned from the vision kneeling, eyes wet.
The Wood Spirit stepped forward. Her face was gentler now.
> "Then you have grown."
> [Trial Complete. Relic Awakened: Womb of Soil]
[Passive Effect: Any child or plant in a 50-meter radius of the host gains +20% vitality and spiritual protection.]
[Skill Gained: Verdant Cocoon – Heal or protect a target within 10m by forming a living seed shell around them.]
The cocoon split open, and Qing'er stirred, blinking awake.
> "Big brother Yuan?"
He smiled and lifted her gently into his arms.
> "Let's go home."
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Far North – The Cloaked Six
Back on the obsidian cliff, the cloaked figures observed through a floating mirror.
> "He has reclaimed another relic," the leader hissed.
"The Womb of Soil is his again."
The smallest of the six tilted its head.
> "Should we fear his power?"
The leader's voice was cold.
> "No. But we should fear… his conviction."