The others followed suit, each taking out their own tokens.
As soon as the tokens were revealed, a subtle change occurred.
HUMMM
A faint wave of energy spread outward from them, almost imperceptible, yet undeniably present. It moved through the forest like a whisper, flowing along the roots and branches, carried by the very life of the trees.
Then...
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Even the wind seed to halt.
Not a single leaf moved.
Not a single sound remained.
ng Bai held his breath unconsciously, feeling as though the entire forest was watching them.
Seconds passed.
Then-
A response.
SHUA
From deep within the forest, a second wave of energy erged. It was far stronger, far more ancient, and carried an undeniable authority. It surged forward, eting the energy from their tokens.
The mont the two forces touched, the tokens in their hands began to glow.
Acknowledgnt.
Permission.
And then... The forest changed.
What followed was sothing none of them, except perhaps Lin Mu, had ever witnessed before.
The trees began to move.
Not violently, but gracefully.
Tremble
They shifted aside, their roots sliding through the earth as if it were water. The ground itself adjusted, rising and falling as hills reshaped and mountains subtly sank. The terrain rearranged itself in perfect harmony, guided by an unseen will.
A path erged.
Wide.
Clear.
And ancient.
It felt as though it had always been there.
ng Bai's mouth fell open.
"This... this is..." he struggled to find words.
His formation knowledge was vast for his level, but what he was witnessing now was beyond anything he had studied.
"This isn't just one array..." he said slowly. "It's... multiple arrays layered together. Illusion arrays, barrier arrays, confounding arrays and more... all integrated into one system..."
"And not constructed," Daoist Chu added quietly, his eyes gleaming with understanding. "Grown."
ng Bai nodded rapidly.
"Yes... grown..."
Xueyan smiled slightly, clearly pleased at their reactions.
"This is why no one can enter the Mother Forest without permission," he said. "Even if soone were to stumble upon it, they would never find the true path." Lin Mu observed the shifting terrain for a mont longer before speaking. "Even I would require at least a month or two to break through this without a token," he said.
That statent alone was enough to send a chill through ng Bai.
'If even Master...'
They truly understood now.
This place was not ant to be entered casually.
With the path revealed, Shrubby resud his movent, though this ti they
did not take to the sky.
Xueyan quickly explained why.
"If we fly," he said, "we'll exceed the permitted boundaries of the array. It will detect us as intruders and redirect us back out... or worse, trap us."
Lin Mu nodded in agreent.
"Then we proceed on foot," he said.
Though in Shrubby's case, "on foot" was still incredibly fast.
The great beast surged forward once more, his powerful legs carrying them across the newly revealed path. Even without flying, his speed was unmatched, and the journey continued swiftly.
Three more days passed.
And finally...
They arrived.
The Mother Forest.
The mont they crossed deeper into its domain, the atmosphere changed completely.
Life.
That was the only word that could describe it.
The air itself felt dense with vitality. Every breath carried an energy that
nourished both body and spirit. The trees were taller, their trunks thicker, their
leaves more vibrant than anything they had seen before. Even the ground seed alive, pulsing faintly with natural energy.
Lin Mu's eyes softened slightly.
"This place... The amount of Nature energy here is imnse.
He had only felt sothing similar once before.
The sanctuary of the Lotus Spirit at the Green Lotus Temple.
But even that...
Felt slightly lesser in comparison.
Others could not perceive it as clearly as he did, but they still felt its effects.
ng Bai took a deep breath, his expression relaxing involuntarily.
"It feels... amazing..." he said.
Daoist Chu nodded, his usual composed deanor showing a rare hint of
contentnt.
Even Cattaleya stretched slightly, as if her body was responding positively to
the environnt.
But among all of them...
Elyon was the most affected.
He stood still for a mont, his golden amber eyes scanning the surroundings
as a strange emotion surfaced within him.
"... This feels like ho..." he said quietly.
It was not sothing he could explain. But it resonated deeply within him.
ng Bai, curious as ever, looked at Xueyan.
"So... where exactly are we going?" he asked. "The Mother Forest is huge,
right?"
Xueyan nodded.
"Yes," he said. "The entire forest is ho to the foxkin. But there are specific
settlents within it."
He raised a finger as he explained.
"Each major tribe has its own region. The White Fox Clan, the Fla Fur Fox
Clan, the Frost Fox Clan... all of them have designated areas."
Lin Mu glanced at him.
"The Frost Fox Clan as well?" he asked.
Xueyan nodded again.
"They do," he confird. "Though only a small number of them stay here. Most
of their population remains on the Eastern Prism Sky Continent. The ones here
are mainly for diplomatic and cultural ties."
ng Bai nodded thoughtfully.
"That makes sense..."
Xueyan then pointed forward, deeper into the forest.
"But where we're going..." he said, his tone gaining a hint of reverence, "...is not
just any settlent."
He paused for a mont before finishing.
"It is the Heart of the Mother Forest."
The words lingered in the air.
And sohow...
Everyone could feel it.
That whatever lay ahead...
Was sothing far greater than anything they had encountered so far.
And sure enough, the journey through the inner path of the Mother Forest was unlike anything they had experienced before.
At first, it seed like a simple continuation of the trail that had opened for
them earlier, but as they progressed deeper, it beca increasingly clear that the path itself was alive in a way that defied conventional understanding. The ground beneath Shrubby's feet subtly shifted, roots withdrawing or extending just enough to maintain a smooth passage, while the trees adjusted their spacing ever so slightly, ensuring the group was never obstructed.
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