It had been so long since Sage had been out adventuring. He’d always been concerned about running for his life or trying to re-establish the Lang Clan that he hadn’t had much time to sate the wanderlust that he’d developed in his earlier years. That time he had been at the Holy Flame Sect was when he’d finally felt safe and secure enough to go on adventures, but that had unfortunately turned into another flight.

It was in those times that he’d run into a very rare and beautiful sight. A Demonic Plant. He’d run away with fright that time and returned later when he’d grown stronger. He’d stumbled upon the plant attempting to reproduce and tried to steal away the young plant, but unfortunately neither of them were successful. He’d failed at stealing a living seed, but the Demonic Plant’s real seed turned out to be a dud.

At this time, Sage had returned to that same site once again. He was looking down upon an ancient solarium-like building from above and it was utterly surrounded by thick green vines that all seemed to be of the same type. There was a noticeable difference in color and health for the vines that were inside the solarium and those that were outside of it. Those that spilled out into the outside looked to be in far worse shape, like they were deprived of something. Sage slowly descended next to the edge of the area that the vines covered and put the Red Comet away. Then he walked up to the vines and let them get a feel for his aura. While he never bothered to learn any aura enhancing techniques, the ‘Life Nebula’ cultivation technique that he gained from the Seed of Life always exuded a sort of crushing presence. He usually used a few tricks he gained from his mastery of the Cerulean Cloud, the Twin Ringed Serpent’s innate method to hide from Spirit Sense, in order to hide such an obvious aura, but at this time he let it free.

Upon sensing his presence, the vines didn’t move, but he could sense a slight twitch in the distance. They maintained their disguise as just another vine, even though Sage knew that these grounds were probably stained deep with blood. In fact, he was pretty sure that the vines actually extended at least four or times further than they seemed to. As soon as he made to leave, they would likely spring out of the ground to try and trap him. He knew they were merely waiting for the better ambush opportunity that would arise once he was wading into the large bushes in front of him, but he didn’t care. These vines outside were only the clone-like minions of the real plant.

Sage released Qi into the outside world, using it to resonate with the natural energies of the heavens and earth, rousing the laws into action. He sent the power of Corruption into the air and then down into the ground as he threw out a small bundle of Qi in the form of a seed. The seed fell onto the ground and thick roots sunk into the dirt and charged towards the roots of the vines. This was another adaptation of the wood techniques that Sage had known, based around fast growing parasitic roots that drew energy from others in order to fuel its rapid expansion. These dark roots were empowered by his Law of Corruption, sinking into the root systems of the existing vine bushes and extending filament like fibers, sapping the power from the vines and subverting them to their own use. Soon, the Parasitic Root technique had drilled into a dozen of the big vines and was using their stored energy to grow new roots that burrowed through the ground towards the other vines.

“You know these vines don’t have a chance to stop me. I am not here to destroy you. Clear the path, I have a deal to propose to you.”

Demonic Plants were never known for their intelligence. They were similar to Insects in that regard. Even so it was said that of the infinite possible paths of cultivation: they all led to the same place. With enough time and energy, even Plants could gain intelligence and a full consciousness. Sage didn’t expect this plant to be able to talk to him, but it was quite possible that it might understand him, or at least the restraint he was showing. The parasitic roots stopped their expansion after conquering all the vines in a straight line that led towards the entrance of the solarium. They also hadn’t completely drained the vines, merely stealing some of their energy to feed their expansion, so Sage hoped it could sense that these roots of his could easily drain the vines dry and clear the path for him. He was trying to give the plant a little face by asking it to clear the path for him instead of just forcing his way inside.

For a few long moments nothing happened, but then the vines reacted and started to pull back. Sage smiled and called back the parasitic roots, loosening their grip upon the vines, but not removing them completely. That said, once he passed through the outer layer of vines and stepped into the solarium entrance, he did not call out any more Parasitic Roots even though he was now surrounded by even thicker bushes and vines to either side. He walked confidently through the thick undergrowth and after a few moments he stepped out of the other side of the corridor and entered the huge greenhouse-like courtyard of the solarium.

At this time he realized something that he had overlooked the first time he was here. The building reminded him of a roman auditorium or coliseum, but it also had a large dome-like metal frame fitted with glass-like panes. At the time he’d completely overlooked such a thing as glass was so ubiquitous on Earth. Even if he’d been in this world for a few decades at that point, he still didn’t even think about such a detail. Now that he’d experienced thousands of years away from earth, and spent a good portion of time using Gemsteel to act as glass, he was suddenly very aware of how unusual this place was. People here used shutters or paper panes in their windows, colored glass was only really used for little trinkets and jewelry.

This was a site marked upon some ancient map I found at the Soul Taming Abode all those years ago, wasn’t it? Curious. Wasn’t there a few more places on that map I was too fearful to check out at the time?

Sage saved that thought for later and walked towards the center of the solarium and then turned towards the south, moving to where he’d last seen the central stalk of the Demonic Plant. Certainly, after so many years it could have moved, but Demonic Plants could be even longer lived than Demonic Beasts and he didn’t expect it to have changed much since then. The vines and bushes drew back to reveal an extraordinarily large chrysanthemum blossom. Its huge snowy white petals were somewhat tube-like and made him think of a far more artfully arranged sea anemone. That giant flower tilted towards him, which he took to be either a gesture of greeting or perhaps a show of its patience.

Unknowing of how intelligent this being was, he decided to show it respect. Sage gave the flower a bow and then saluted it. Then, he brought out some exceptionally powerful fertilizer from the Inner World. It moved directly from the Inner World to the ground in front of him, saving him from having to touch it with his hands. Then he stepped back and held out his hand to signal his gift.

“Thank you for meeting with me. This is a small token of my appreciation.”