SWNOVELXO Chapter 10: Roots Beneath the Marble
A rooster crowed somewhere beyond the manor wall, but Lin Fan was already awake, boots laced, mind humming. Day One of the three-day trial should have begun with bean shoots and compost, yet the anonymous warning "Seek the well of echoes"haunted every breath.
He slipped into the gardens before dawn meals sounded. Moonlight still silvered the flagstones, and the air carried that faint, medicinal incense Magistrate Cao seemed to pipe through every corridor. Spirit Sense widened like a net. Health Qi from camellias, strength Qi from the spirit-charged bean plot yet underneath, like mold hidden beneath polished floorboards, something sour pulsed in the ground itself.
Root rot beneath polished water. He followed the invisible current until it vanished beneath a marble terrace behind the main shrine. No servants lingered here; only twin stone lions and a chained bronze grate that hissed cool air. Lin knelt, pried at the grate locked. A single word carved into the frame caught his eye: "Echo."
Found you, well of echoes.
He would need a key or a crowbar preferably the key. For now, evidence lay elsewhere. The trial beds.
By breakfast the gardens buzzed. Magistrate Cao, son in jade fan, Steward Liu, Physician Mo, and a half-dozen estate scribes lined the path like judges at harvest fair. Lin bowed, brandished a basket of his blight-resistant rice seeds, and knelt by the sickly tomato bed Mo had ruined with salt brine overnight.
Verdant Pulse.
Emerald light threaded through soil; leaves lifted, salt crystals dissolved into faint vapor. Scribes gasped, their abacuses clicking as they tallied sprout height and stem thickness.
[Bed Vitality 100 % — Spirit Energy –10]
Lin repeated the process on squash, peppers, and tea saplings until beads of sweat dampened his collar. The system kept pace:
[Estate Trial Progress — Day 1: 4/10 plots restored]
Applause rippled. Benchmarks met. Yet the jade-fan son Cao Ren, Lin learned—looked oddly satisfied, as though a hidden wager moved in his favor.
Steward Liu offered a silk handkerchief. "Your stamina impresses, but true cultivation sets limits. Might you share the scripture behind your art?"
"Scripture is the soil," Lin answered, drying his brow. "Read it long enough, it recites itself."
Chuckles from scribes; a thin smile from Liu, but Ren's fan snapped shut and opened again metallic, almost eager.
...Mid-afternoon, Physician Mo requested Lin's aid checking on Lady Xu—the cough patient now dosed with Lung-Clearing essence. She greeted them sitting upright, skin rosier.
Mo's brow rose. "No night cough?"
"None." She inhaled deep to prove it.
[Side Quest: Heal Lady Xu — SUCCESS]
[Estate Credibility +10. Herbal Remedy upgraded --- Herbal Alchemy (Grade B)]
A wave of evergreen warmth ran up Lin's arms. New runes danced before his eyes:
[Herbal Alchemy: combine two Grade C or lower plants --- create bespoke tonic with 120 % efficacy, cooldown 6 hrs]
Better and necessary, he suspected.
Evening descended crimson. Lin slipped toward the marble terrace again, pretending to chase a stray chicken. No guards, but the grate's lock remained. Herbal Alchemy's cooldown was fresh, yet inspiration surfaced: spirit-enhanced rust.
He ground a Lung-Clearing petal with a leaf from the estate's iron-eating moss (he'd spotted it beside the koi pond). A droplet of the bright green mixture hissed on the lock; metal fizzed, flaked to powder.
He lifted the grate. Damp stairwell breath washed his face air tinged with decay and… something sweeter, darker. He descended.
Torches flickered to life as if awakened by his presence. A natural cavern widened into an archaic chamber of brick. At its heart sat a stone well, rim carved with the Cao clan crest. Yet inside, the water glowed violet, corrupted spirit energy pooling like bruise-colored milk. The sour pulse he'd sensed above roared in his ears now.
[Spirit Sense: Toxic miasma detected . Prolonged exposure weakens nearby crops, induces respiratory illness in humans]
Cao Ren's chest tightness. Lady Xu's blood-flecked phlegm. The entire household poisoned by its own ancestral spring. A secret rot indeed.
"So the prodigy finds the rot."
Lin spun. Ren stood on the stair, fan folded, eyes bright. Two guards blocked the exit above.
"Steward Liu guessed you'd sniff it out," Ren said. "We've tried sealing, filtering—nothing lasts. The well feeds every irrigation channel. Father clings to prestige; I see only ruin." He flicked the fan; a shard of jade light sliced open a torch bracket. "Fix it tonight, farmer, or your village coughs next."
Lin's pulse hammered. "Threaten me, not them."
"I threaten what motivates talent." Ren's smile was thin as rice paper. "Heal our water, and I'll usher your technique across the province. Fail, and Steward Liu fetches a different incentive your mother, perhaps."
Chains disguised as gifts. The earliest warning had been true.
System screens cascaded:
[Emergency Quest: Purify Echo Well]
[Time limit: 4 hrs]
[Failure: contamination spreads . Negative consequences to Green Willow Village]
[Reward: Grade B spirit tool OR breakthrough to Spirit Farmer Lv 3]
Four hours and no guarantee Verdant Pulse alone could cleanse a decades-old taint. He needed amplification. Quickly he reviewed Herbal Alchemy's internal compendium: Lung-Clearing Flower (purifies air and lung meridians) + Camellia Heartwood (neutralizes bitterness in tea). Combined? Possible solvent for spiritual toxins.
"I require supplies," he said aloud. "The flower essence you mocked, plus fresh camellia shavings, and your word the household stays uninvolved."
Ren considered, then gestured. One guard left. "Three hours, prodigy."
Torchlight trembled; damp stone sucked warmth from Lin's skin. He knelt, drew a circle of dry moss around the wellhead a natural filter matrix. Minutes later the guard returned with petals and wood. Lin crushed them, breathed Herbal Alchemy, and poured the shimmering jade-pink liquid into the violet water.
Nothing. The colors churned like oil and water, refusing to merge. Ren's foot tapped impatiently.
Lin steadied his mind. Soil, seed, sun—every growth needs agitation. Verdant Pulse thrummed through both palms into the stone rim. The well blazed, purple erupting into a column of steam that licked the cavern roof. He forced Spirit Energy out until vision blurred.
[Spirit Energy 8 % • Purification 64 %]
Too slow. He'd burn out before 100 %. Inspiration flashed: the spirit-tree sprout in his sleeve, still vibrant from yesterday's pulses. A cutting from the source of his System, what purer catalyst?
He planted it into the rim's cracked groove. Green flared brighter than sunrise. Roots shot downward, branches upward, forming a lattice of jade veins sucking poison like marrow. Water lightened from bruise to lilac, to clear quartz. A sweet, rain-after-drought scent flooded the chamber.
[Purification 100 % • Echo Well cleansed]
[Spirit Farmer Level-Up achieved → Lv 3]
[New Skill: Earth-Root Synapse (Grade B) — temporarily link personal qi to any living plant within 30 m]
Lin collapsed to one knee, spent yet alive. The spirit-tree sapling remained, glowing softly.
Ren stared, awe cracking his temper for the first time. "You… did it."
"Now release my village from threat," Lin rasped.
Ren flicked open the fan, hiding his eyes. "I honor deals. But Father must see this miracle himself." He gestured; the remaining guard hauled Lin to his feet. "Come. We present salvation to those who understand its price."
Up the stairs they climbed, night wind whistling promises of freedom…and invisible shackles. Servants lit lanterns across the courtyard as the party approached Magistrate Cao's private hall.
Doors swept open. Silks rustled, officials whispered. The magistrate rose, gaze scanning first the glowing sapling cradled in Lin's arms, then the exhaustion etched into Lin's face.
"Explain," he commanded.
Lin drew breath, but before words formed, Steward Liu stepped from the shadows, a crimson-ink contract in hand. "My Lord, the prodigy's miracle is ready for harvest. We need only his signature."
Ink glistened like blood beneath the lanterns. Lin's pulse hammered. Earth-Root Synapse tingled, connecting him to the sapling, to unseen grass beyond the walls reminding him he wasn't weaponless.
...will Lin sign away his gift, or turn the very soil of the magistrate's estate against its masters? The answer lies in Chapter 11. Let's all meet there. Like and comment.