Ash was halfway through inventing a new method for "Soup Infused Meditation" — essentially sitting cross-legged in a warm broth bath while inhaling garlic steam — when the ghost rabbit pawed at the courtyard door.
It wasn't another disciple this time.
It was a letter.
Folded nine times, sealed with dried lotus paste, and radiating faint herbal qi.
He picked it up. The calligraphy was smooth, ancient, and slightly chaotic.
"To the one who brews soup like a storm brews fate —Come.The garden with teeth remembers your scent."– Elder Mo Yun, Sect Retired
Ash frowned. "This feels like an invitation and a threat."
The ghost rabbit sneezed. Ash took that as agreement.
The Elder Who Wasn't
Elder Mo Yun was technically retired — a master of botanical cultivation and experimental body strengthening techniques who had once grafted a spirit vine to his own shoulder "to learn from it emotionally."
He lived beyond the east cliffs, where sect buildings thinned into overgrown terraces and spiritual fauna roamed freely.
Ash made the journey alone, armed only with a satchel of warm dumplings and a sharp ladle.
The path bent unnaturally, spiraling through a fog of flavor and pollen.
Then, abruptly, the fog parted.
The Garden with Teeth
It wasn't a metaphor.
Elder Mo Yun's garden actually had teeth.
Or at least the plants did.
A chili bush that hissed if you walked too fast.
A cucumber vine that attempted polite strangulation.
A pumpkin with eyes.
Ash stood quietly at the gate.
"You must be the boy with the thinking soup."
The elder appeared from behind a drooping tree of cinnamon incense blossoms. His robes were layered, mossy, and slightly damp. He wore a living scarf — it pulsed faintly with a heartbeat.
"Your system," he said, smiling through a gray beard, "is of interest to the orchard."
Ash blinked. "...The what?"
Secrets Under Soil
Elder Mo Yun gestured him inside. The plants parted like an old habit.
"You think you're the first to cultivate through cooking? Hardly. But your method—spontaneous, adaptive, spiritually nutritional—that is new."
He knelt beside a patch of twisted bamboo. Ash watched as the stalks bent toward the elder like affectionate cats.
"There's a type of cultivation," Mo Yun whispered, "where plants are not just medicine… they are pathways. You don't take their essence. You listen to it."
He plucked a strange, translucent root from the soil and handed it to Ash.
It pulsed.
[System Trigger: Root of Transference]– A living plant containing skill residue– Possible Effect: Consuming may allow temporary or incomplete replication of a stored skill– Warning: Side effects may include leafy breath or sudden empathy
Ash blinked. "You can… grow skills?"
Elder Mo Yun laughed softly. "Some skills are born from experience. Some from knowledge. And a rare few… from the ground."
The Trial of Taste
The elder led him to a table.
On it: six strange fruits, each glowing faintly.
"Every one of these carries a legacy. I've bred them over decades to store the echoes of spiritual abilities."
Ash hesitated.
"I want you to taste them," Mo Yun said. "Not all. Just one. And tell me what you feel. The system may interpret something even I can't."
Ash picked a dark purple fruit, shaped like a spiral.
He took a bite.
Immediately, the world slowed.
Sound blurred.
Color thinned, then reassembled itself through scent.
He saw a field. A memory of someone dancing. Spices in the air. A blade in motion. Joyful combat. Flavorful battle.
[Skill Fragment Detected: "Scented Step"]– Type: Movement/Concealment– Effect: Movement shrouded in trace aromas; footsteps mask qi presence– Duration: 1 hour– Craftable? [Yes] – Requires understanding + stabilization
Ash exhaled.
"Beautiful," he said. "It tasted… like leaving without being missed."
Elder Mo Yun smiled wider. "Good. Very good."
System Notification
[Skill Blueprint Unlocked: "Scented Step"]– You may now attempt to recreate this skill using available knowledge, herbs, and cooking techniques– Optional Route: Skill Extraction via "Flavor Memory Reduction"
Combine cooking with memory-based Qi threading to isolate and remake skill
[Note] – Your system is beginning to harmonize with external cultivation residues– Passive Gained: "Spiritual Palate"
You can now taste fragments of skills in spiritual plants and trace ingredients
Before He Left
As Ash prepared to return, Elder Mo Yun placed a seed in his hand.
"I cannot train you," the elder said, "but I can plant something near you. This seed will grow into a tree that reacts to your system. Feed it with used skill traces and broth steam. One day, it may surprise you."
Ash tucked the seed away carefully.
The elder's garden rustled softly behind him.
That night, back in Green Reed Garden, Ash stared at the pot and his panel.
[Skill Panel – Open]– "Broth Barrier"– "Flavor Lock"– "Memory Marinade"– (Fragment) "Scented Step"– Passive: "Spiritual Palate"
[Optional: Begin Skill Refinement – Scented Step?]
He didn't click anything yet.
Instead, he sat down, made ginger tea, and hummed an old tune that sounded like walking away.
Tomorrow, he'd refine it.
Tonight, he just let the taste linger.
End of Chapter 11