Seed of Dao

Portable space

When Ye Chen woke up, he realized he was no longer in his room.

Looking around, he found that he was in a strange space he had never seen before. This space was very small, only about ten square meters, surrounded by dull gray walls that looked like frozen mist.

Looking down, he also found that his body wasn't a physical body, but a soul body. How he knew he wasn't a flesh body was because Ye Chen had seen someone's soul come out of their body before.

But Ye Chen's condition this time was different, he wasn't floating or transparent like souls in general. His body looked real and complete, although slightly blurred and see-through if observed carefully.

"Did my soul enter the seed?" Ye Chen began to guess and suddenly became vigilant.

If remembered again, it seemed back then the old man's soul was forcibly sucked into the seed on his necklace. Ye Chen didn't know how he was doing now, but seeing the state of this empty space...

Carefully, Ye Chen began to walk in the narrow space, trying to figure out what kind of strange place this was.

It didn't take long before his gaze was fixed on the only thing in this empty space, a small plant growing right in the middle of the room.

The plant was very tiny, only about five centimeters tall. Its thin stem was dark black. At the top of the stem, there were two oval-shaped leaves that were also green.

Although very small and simple, the plant emitted an aura that was... terrifying.

The more Ye Chen stared at the small plant, the stronger the uncomfortable feeling that emerged in his soul. As if there was a hidden danger lurking behind the plant's tiny appearance.

When Ye Chen tried to step closer, an extremely strong crisis feeling suddenly attacked his soul!

His blurred soul body trembled violently, as if screaming a warning that he was approaching something very dangerous, something that could annihilate his soul in an instant.

Ye Chen hurriedly stopped, his face pale. Cold sweat, although he was in soul form, began to appear.

"This..." Ye Chen stared at the small plant with a mixture of fear and wariness.

He retreated several steps, and the crisis feeling slowly subsided. But his heart was still beating fast.

Standing at a distance, Ye Chen looked at the small plant with a complicated gaze.

Actually the plant just stayed there, its two black leaves didn't move at all. No wind, no sound. Only suffocating silence. But somehow, the more Ye Chen looked at it, the more he felt that the small plant was... alive. Not just in a biological sense, but alive in a far deeper and more mysterious way.

As if the plant had consciousness.

As if the plant... was watching him.

Ye Chen swallowed with difficulty.

"That old man's soul..." he muttered softly, his voice slightly trembling. "Was he... devoured by this plant?"

The more he thought, the more reasonable that guess seemed.

Back then, the old man's soul was forcibly sucked into the seed. And now, inside this seed, there was only a small plant emitting a dangerous aura.

No old man's soul.

No remnants of other souls.

Just this small plant.

"Maybe..." Ye Chen mumbled in an almost inaudible voice, "the old man's soul became... nutrients for this plant?"

That thought made his hair stand on end.

If that was true, then the small plant in front of him was something very terrifying, something that could devour cultivator souls to grow.

But on the other hand...

Ye Chen observed the plant more carefully. Although emitting a dangerous aura, the plant was still very small. Five centimeters tall with only two leaves.

If the old man's soul, which was a high-level cultivator's soul, was truly devoured by this plant...

"Is this plant... just starting to grow?" Ye Chen whispered to himself.

Perhaps, before the old man's soul entered, this plant hadn't even grown at all. Just a dead seed hidden inside the necklace.

But after the old man's soul was sucked in and devoured. The seed began to evolve. Began to grow and finally lived.

That thought made Ye Chen shiver and fascinated at the same time.

What kind of plant was this?

Why could it devour souls?

And most importantly... why was this plant now inside his own soul?

Ye Chen tried to spread his spiritual consciousness throughout the room, and found that this space was very small, only ten square meters, no more. The gray walls around it felt solid but also blurry, as if made of something that wasn't physical matter.

And in the middle of the space, there was only the small plant with two black leaves.

Nothing else.

Ye Chen tried various ways to get out, spreading consciousness to look for a door, trying to force his soul out, even trying to communicate with the space.

But nothing worked.

He was trapped.

"How do I get out?" Ye Chen began to panic.

His gaze returned to the small plant, the only thing in this space.

"Do I... have to approach it again?" he muttered doubtfully.

But the memory of the crisis feeling earlier was still fresh in his mind. If he got too close, his soul might...

Ye Chen shook his head quickly. Too dangerous.

But then, he realized something.

The crisis feeling appeared when he approached the plant. But... would the plant really attack him?

Or was the crisis feeling just... a warning?

Carefully, Ye Chen tried to step closer again. One step. Two steps.

The crisis feeling returned, but this time, Ye Chen didn't retreat. He continued stepping very slowly, observing every reaction from his soul body.

Three steps. Four steps.

The crisis feeling grew stronger, but strangely, there was no attack. The small plant just stayed there, its two leaves didn't move at all.

Finally, Ye Chen stopped right in front of the plant, only one meter away. The crisis feeling in his soul was already very strong, almost unbearable. His soul body trembled violently, as if screaming for him to move away immediately.

But Ye Chen held on.

With trembling hands, he slowly reached out his hand toward one of the black leaves.

The closer his hand got, the stronger the crisis feeling. But the plant still didn't move.

Finally, his soul finger touched the smooth surface of the black leaf—

WHOOSH!

Suddenly, the world around him spun, and Ye Chen's consciousness was forcibly pulled out of that space!

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in his room. His physical body was lying on the bed, drenched in cold sweat and panting.

"Hah... hah... hah..." Ye Chen held his rapidly beating chest.

He quickly checked his body, and found everything was normal. No wounds, no problems. But when he spread his spiritual consciousness into his own body, he found something that made his heart almost stop.

At his forehead, right between both his eyebrows, there was a small space that was quietly floating and embedded deep in his head.