Chapter 22: Formation Principles of the Skill Tree

What objections could Governor Duan possibly have?

At first, he had firmly rejected the idea of his son marrying a commoner. However, considering Crown Prince Jing's involvement and the sheer weight of Prince Jing's Residence behind it, his rejection quickly became an impossibility. Considering the golden rule that life was like a certain something—since he couldn't resist, he might as well enjoy it—Governor Duan silently accepted his reality.

"Crown Prince, please rest assured. I will hire a matchmaker tomorrow to personally visit Miss Liu's home and propose the marriage," Governor Duan said.

Since they had reached this point and the matter was settled, Governor Duan acted decisively. He didn't dawdle or hesitate, sparing everyone any unnecessary annoyance.

Su Han nodded and wasted no further breath on the matter.

Just then, the servant Governor Duan had dispatched to fetch a few senior staff members of the Governor's Residence returned with them in tow. The servants first bowed to the Governor, then lined up in a row before Su Han at Governor Duan's instruction.

"Don't be nervous," Su Han comforted them with a gentle smile, noticing their anxiety, though his words had no effect whatsoever. "This Crown Prince brought you here to ask a question. Before Miss Duan, who lived in this courtyard?"

The servants exchanged glances. The eldest among them replied, "To answer you, Young Master Heir, during the previous Governor's tenure, this courtyard was occupied by the Great-Aunt."

The Great-Aunt? Su Han was taken aback by the answer. What kind of title was that?

"Yes," the old servant said, a hint of reminiscence in his eyes. "The previous Governor and his son both called her Great-Aunt, but she looked no different from a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl.

"We servants privately guessed that the Great-Aunt must be an accomplished cultivator who had retained her youth. Regardless, she lived in this courtyard for five years without her appearance changing in the slightest.

"Then, one day, she suddenly disappeared. A few years later, the previous Governor was transferred to Taizhou. This humble servant knows nothing of what happened after that."

Su Han nodded and pointed at the apricot tree that had been reduced to charcoal by the fire. "Then... was this tree planted by her back then?"

The servant shook his head. "No. When this humble servant first entered the Governor's Residence, this tree was already here. It's impossible to verify who originally planted it. However, when I occasionally delivered things to this courtyard back then, I saw the Great-Aunt dancing in the clearing beside this apricot tree a few times."

"Dancing?" Su Han raised an eyebrow.

The servant wanted to nod but hesitated. "I can't say for sure. It just looked very beautiful. My eyes played tricks on me a few times, making it look as though several people were dancing at the same time."

Su Han understood. He felt he was on the verge of cracking the case.

"Look closely. Was it like this?" Su Han lightly tapped the ground with his toes. He darted four or five meters laterally like a phantom, his figure fluttering across the clearing in the courtyard. He danced gracefully like a butterfly weaving through flowers. Under the moonlight, it even seemed to the onlookers that several Su Hans were dancing simultaneously.

His posture was so light and agile that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the most beautiful dance in the world. Before the crowd could even register the passage of time, Su Han retracted the Moon Shadow Step and returned to his original spot like a ghost.

"Is it the same as what you saw before?" he asked.

The servant thought for a moment, hesitating between nodding and shaking his head. "Your dance looks very similar to the Great-Aunt's, Young Master Heir, but in some places, it seems a little different."

This answer gave Su Han the confirmation he needed.

Of course it was different. It was just like his three-star Alchemy; relying on inherited experience alone wouldn't allow him to concoct anything, but using the Skillification of Alchemy allowed him to easily produce twelve Full Pill Pattern Elixirs in a single furnace. The Skillification of the Moon Shadow Step was an optimized product of the Moon Shadow Step inheritance itself, so his Moon Shadow Step naturally differed from the original version.

From this, it appeared the Moon Shadow Step skill within the Skill Tree was related to the previous Governor's Great-Aunt. Pushing the deduction further led to the conclusion that the formation of this Skill Tree was also likely connected to her.

Therefore... his previous assumption might have been wrong.

Previously, Su Han thought the skills within a Skill Tree were related to the person who planted it. Now, it seemed the Skill Tree was influenced not by the planter, but by the person who frequently utilized a specific ability beside it.

Su Han deduced the truth behind the formation of a Skill Tree: it was highly probable that it started as an ordinary tree, but someone who had mastered a certain field to an extreme degree frequently practiced their craft beside it. Over time, the visual imprint of them performing the craft was captured by the tree, or perhaps the tree recorded the Dao Rhyme of that skill, transforming it into a Skill Tree. Meanwhile, his own body had undergone some sort of mutation, allowing him to extract and absorb a type of Dao Rhyme from a Skill Tree and convert it into his own skill.

This was likely the true reason why the Skill Trees appeared in his eyes.

Whether this was the exact truth or not, Su Han couldn't be absolutely certain just yet, but he felt his guess was highly likely to be correct. By burning a tree, he had not only obtained an ethereal skill like the Moon Shadow Step, but he had also likely touched upon the truth of how Skill Trees were formed. Su Han felt that he had gained a bountiful harvest from this trip.

Nodding in satisfaction at the servant, Su Han turned to look at Su Xiao'Er. Then, remembering that Su Xiao'Er, like himself, never brought money when leaving the house, Su Han shifted his gaze to Hua. His eyes quickly swept over Hua's towering peaks before he decisively looked toward Qin.

"Sister Qin, reward him."

Sister Qin understood. She pulled out a small coin purse from her person, drew out a silver note, and handed it to the servant.

The servant was overwhelmed with trepidation, but under Su Han's insistence, he accepted the reward with profound gratitude.

"Alright, we'll leave it at that for now. I hope Governor Duan doesn't forget the promise he made to this Crown Prince today."

Governor Duan kicked his son, and the two of them made repeated assurances to Su Han.

Su Han nodded and looked at his maid. "Hua."

Hua understood. She walked to Su Han's side, scooped him into her arms, and leaped lightly. They cleared the courtyard wall and landed on the street outside. When she released Su Han, a blush quietly crept onto Hua's face.

She hadn't thought much of it before, as Su Han was just an ordinary person in their eyes. As his maids, let alone carrying their Crown Prince over a wall, even if it were carrying their Crown Prince to bed, they wouldn't have the slightest thought of refusal as long as he gave the word.

But this time was different.

Thinking of the exquisite movement technique the Crown Prince had just displayed—even though Hua didn't know exactly how profound the Moon Shadow Step was—she knew that scaling a wall would be an absolute breeze for him.

Before the blush on Hua's face could fade, Su Xiao'Er and Qin also flew out of the Governor's Residence one after the other.

Having successfully harvested a new skill in a single afternoon, Su Han contentedly led his maids and servant back toward Prince Jing's Residence. Now that he had grasped the basic principles behind a Skill Tree's formation, finding more Skill Trees tomorrow should be much easier, shouldn't it?