After returning to the headquarters, Tang Wulin retired to his room right away, citing a need to rest.

He took a moment to collect his thoughts, then began to review the soul spirit battle that had just taken place. It had been a very long time since he had last used the Son of Nature soul skill, and this was because it was extremely taxing on him. However, when he used it today, things were different.

As the vast number of energy particles surged into his body from the outside world, his own body seemed to have reciprocated with these particles. It was like breathing, except energy was being inhaled and exhaled rather than air.

The expenditure required to unleash the Son of Nature soul skill on this occasion was far less than he had expected, but the result had been just as potent. He had been able to force back Zhang Geyang so easily at the end of the battle as his body had been filled to the brim by the energy accumulated by the Son of Nature soul skill. With his immensely powerful physical constitution, his body had an incredible capacity for soul power, and Zhang Geyang was far from his peak condition, having just had two of his soul spirits destroyed, thereby further closing the power gap between the two of them.

This had been an extremely thrilling and satisfying battle for Tang Wulin, and he had gained a much better understanding of his Son of Nature soul skill. Perhaps this was due to the blessings of the plane, or perhaps it was due to the awakening of the seed of nature. In any case, it was definitely a good thing.

Unfortunately, it would still be very difficult to use Son of Nature in an actual battle as it required too much time to accumulate the power required to unleash the soul skill.

After sitting in silence for a while, Tang Wulin finally called out for the Beautiful Silk Tulip in his heart.

Light flashed, and the Beautiful Silk Tulip appeared before him with a faint smile. "You must have a lot of questions, my Lord. Here's the simple answer: you are the Son of Nature, so no plant in this world can oppose you. The Infernal Lightning Vine was oblivious to this, so I asked you to release your Son of Nature aura to convince it."

Tang Wulin nodded in response. "I figured that out for myself; I'm just curious about how you convinced it to betray Zhang Geyang? For a soul spirit, the contract they enter with their Soul Master host is very important, and betrayal could result in dire consequences."

The Beautiful Silk Tulip nodded, and replied, "That is indeed true. Firstly, the Infernal Lightning Vine had absolute trust in you as you are the Son of Nature, the one chosen by the seed of life. This means you were chosen by nature and by all plants, so it has no reason to doubt you. As for why it made its decision so quickly, that's because it's bound by duty as a plant to protect you. Secondly, it's not happy with its former host."

"Oh? Does Zhang Geyang not treat it well? How could he not appreciate such a powerful soul spirit?"

The Beautiful Silk Tulip replied, "It's not that Zhang Geyang treated it badly; it's that he broke their agreement. The Infernal Lightning Vine is a creature that's fixated on only one thing in life, which is to constantly absorb lightning in order to make itself more powerful, and it'll do that until the day it literally explodes. They know that what they're doing will lead to their eventual demise, but that's a deep-rooted part of their being that they can't renounce. Back when the powerful beings of the Spirit Pagoda captured the Infernal Lightning Vine, Zhang Geyang had promised it that he'll help it to continue to cultivate and resolve the issue of its suicidal method of cultivation.

"He had told the Infernal Lightning Vine that with his help, it would be able to become the first-ever 100,000-year-old lightning attribute immortal plant. However, after it became his soul spirit, he had constantly made up all types of excuses to placate it. Further progression in the Infernal Lightning Vine's cultivation would benefit Zhang Geyang as well, so if I'm not mistaken, it's not that he didn't want to help the Infernal Lightning Vine progress; he simply never had a way to accomplish this in the first place.

"The Infernal Lightning Vine's energy is too violent, and it incurs an enormous amount of risk during its cultivation. As a Soul Master, who would be willing to help their soul spirit cultivate, knowing that doing so would very likely lead to self-detonation of the soul spirit at some point? As such, not only did Zhang Geyang not help it continue to cultivate, he used the power of the soul spirit contract against the Infernal Lightning Vine, rendering it unable to cultivate. As such, Zhang Geyang was able to ensure his own safety, but at the expense of the Infernal Lightning Vine.

"At the time, the Infernal Lightning Vine had already abandoned its physical body and become a soul spirit, so it would immediately perish if it were to leave Zhang Geyang. As such, it had constantly been waiting for an opportunity, and we provided this opportunity. As the Son of Nature, you'll definitely be able to accomplish what Zhang Geyang is unable to achieve. In order to ensure its safety during its cultivation, the Infernal Lightning Vine requires a vast amount of life force energy, and who could provide it with more life force energy than you?"

Tang Wulin nodded with a contemplative expression, and asked, "So you want it to become my last soul spirit?"

The Beautiful Silk Tulip nodded in response. "This is a brilliant opportunity. Do you know how difficult it is for an Infernal Lightning Vine to reach this stage of development? An Infernal Lightning Vine appeared in the Ice Fire Yin Yang Well in the past, but in order to ensure everyone's safety, we had no choice but to destroy it. It's destined to lead a life of loneliness and constant evolution through endless pain and hardships. What you witnessed today is only a fraction of the Infernal Lightning Vine's power; it doesn't dare to unleash its full power as it's afraid of self-detonation. If it can develop to become a 100,000-year-old immortal plant, then it'll be powerful enough to destroy a small city with a single all-out attack."

Tang Wulin drew a sharp breath upon hearing this. "Are you saying that the Infernal Lightning Vine has hidden abilities?"

"Indeed. It's said that prior to the disappearance of the Divine Realm, there was once a first-rank Lightning God. The Lightning God perished during a battle in the Divine Realm, and fell onto our Douluo Continent. It was only after this that the Infernal Lightning Vine came into existence, so in the plant world, we regard the Infernal Lightning Vine as a creature that possesses the bloodline of the Lightning God. It is the true number one destroyer of the plant world, and it's unable to become an immortal plant as once it reaches that point, there's a very good chance that it'll be able to awaken the bloodline of the Lightning God.

"The plane won't allow this to happen, so all Infernal Lightning Vines have constantly been repressed, making them unable to develop to over 50,000 years of age. Hence, I believe that if you can nurture it to become an immortal plant, it'll be sure to give you a brilliant surprise. You are blessed by the plane; you are the only one who can truly help it."

A hint of enlightenment appeared in Tang Wulin's eyes upon hearing this. "I see. How is its current condition? Even if its contract with Zhang Geyang was flawed, surely breaking it would've harmed it quite severely."

The Beautiful Silk Tulip nodded in response. "It was able to survive by drawing upon your power as the Son of Nature, but it'll need some time to recover. It'll be quite some time before you progress to rank 90 anyway; once you become a Titled Douluo, it should be ready to fuse with you. As for its progression, that's not something you have to worry about; plant system soul beasts like us will continue to evolve just by being by your side. Your friends are all almost at the Soul Douluo level, and all of my companions are very reluctant to part with you."

Tang Wulin chuckled, "They'll be nourished even if they become my friends' soul spirits! The seed of nature bestowed this Son of Nature status upon me, and we'll be reconstructing Shrek Academy at the site where the seed of life is currently growing. When that time comes, the core of all life on the entire continent will be there, and that'll be the perfect environment for all of you to grow and develop."

"We're all aware of this, and we'll be sure to help you achieve this goal. However, it's been quite a long time, and we still haven't discovered any life force energy that's particularly suitable for the seed of life to absorb. Without sufficient life force energy, its rate of growth will be severely compromised, so please do pay more attention to this."