readsfreenovel Chapter 203 The Enchanted Forest
Chapter 203 The Enchanted Forest
Tianji left quickly, and Ning Xiaoxi found an inn on the street near the city gate. As night fell, she leaned against the window and watched a group of knights dressed in black robes enter the city. Not long after, a dozen or so constables followed the garrison commander and left the city with the knights.
Ning Xiaoxi slept soundly. When the city gates opened at dawn, the garrison commander returned with his soldiers, but the knights were nowhere to be seen, nor were the constables.
Ning Xiaoxi paid the bill and left, heading towards the Enchanted Forest.
The Taihua Mountains are located fifty miles southwest of Songguo City. The peaks here are not high, but the forests are dense.
Following the map in her mind, Ning Xiaoxi landed in a valley outside the Taihua Mountains around noon.
It looks like an ordinary valley with a waterfall and a clear pool at the bottom. There is a meadow next to it, covered with small yellow and white flowers, and various trees and shrubs are layered around it.
"This doesn't look like a psychedelic forest at all." Ning Xiaoxi walked across the grass and came to the pool. She listened to the thunderous sound of the waterfall falling. The moist air smelled of grass, flowers, and earth.
Tuanzi jumped out and rolled around on the grass.
Ning Xiaoxi looked at its cheerful appearance and the bits of grass stuck to its body, "Hey, you have grass stuck to you."
Tuanzi collapsed, her chubby belly bulging. [This is a perk I only get because of you!]
"You can really feel it? It was already special that I could hold you before, and now you can even lie on the ground, that's amazing!" Ning Xiaoxi also sat on the grass, and she was very happy to see Tuanzi so happy.
[We'd been living in freezing weather before, so it's rare to find this place with birdsong and fragrant flowers, so of course we came out to enjoy it!]
Ning Xiaoxi's pent-up frustration from the day finally subsided, and she decided not to continue searching here.
The surrounding peaks are not high, and under the midday sun, the air is misty with moisture, and the green trees sway gently. In this hazy light and shadow, stars twinkle.
The sunlight shifted quickly, and the green shade covered the entire valley, making the stars appear even clearer in the shadows.
[Xiao Xi, it's a Star Silkworm, hurry, hurry, hurry!]
Ning Xiaoxi snapped out of her daze. "Star Silkworm? Where is it?"
Shh, be quiet, the silkworm is spinning silk!
Ning Xiaoxi shut her mouth. [Is she spinning silk now?]
The temperature in the valley is significantly higher than outside, so the star silkworms have started spinning silk earlier; that's star silk thread. Be sure to collect it.
A faint light slowly flowed from the monstrous scales, and its form began to fade, almost blending into the surrounding trees. Approaching the tiny specks of starlight, one found a mulberry grove that grew entirely towards the sun, stretching along the mountainside all the way to the summit.
The plump star silkworm is about the length of a thumb. Its silver skin reflects a faint light, and the silk threads it spins are delicate yet incredibly strong. They shimmer with tiny starlight, alternating between light and shadow, like the stars in the night sky.
The Spirit Crystal Heart transformed into a fork and gently attached it to one end of the Star Silkworm's thread. As the Star Silkworm spun its silk, the fork slowly rotated, the fork held its breath, afraid of startling the little creature. When the Star Silkworm first left its body, its surface was slightly sticky, but it dried in the wind. Wrapped around the Spirit Crystal Heart fork, it was smooth, supple, and shimmered with silver light.
Ning Xiaoxi didn't manage to pluck a single star silkworm. After estimating that she had collected enough for four necklaces, she put away her fork and shook it on the dressing table in the cave. A clump of star silk fell onto the dressing table.
Ning Xiaoxi put away the star silk threads and lay there quietly, watching as the star silkworms spun their silk, intertwined, and then completed their cocoons. After the cocoons were formed, the star silk threads seemed to disappear; they became pure white and crystalline, no longer shimmering with starlight, and the plump silkworms curled up inside could be seen in the translucent cocoons.
What comes out after the cocoon breaks open?
[Star Butterfly! It has only one day's lifespan, born at dusk and dying at dawn.]
In the not-so-tall mulberry grove, cocoons are formed one after another, hanging on the branches and swaying in the wind.
Can you imagine, as the moon rises, countless star butterflies emerge from their cocoons, fluttering their delicate wings and scattering stardust like rain, dancing gracefully through the valley? Thousands upon thousands of star butterflies dance with the rising moon. Then, at the first light of dawn, they vanish silently, without a trace!
They bloomed beautifully alone in the mountains, only to perish at their most radiant.
As Ning Xiaoxi's heart followed Tuanzi's narration, she imagined and described, and it seemed as if a shower of stars was falling in her mind, with moonlight spilling into the valley and taking away beautiful souls one by one.
The dream unfolded, beautiful and enchanting, with a delicate fragrance rising in the air. Tension began to ease, and the body softened. In Ning Xiaoxi's eyes, there was a hint of confusion, a touch of melancholy, longing, grievance, realization, and finally, relief!
【Xiao Xi!】
【Xiao Xi!】
Tuanzi's distant voice drew closer, and finally Ning Xiaoxi's eyes cleared, and she came to her senses. [What happened to me?]
[It is a dream woven into vines.]
Was that my dream? Ning Xiaoxi recalled the scene she had just witnessed, a look of disappointment on her face. It was just a dream after all.
Purple vines entwined around a platform, and it seemed that she had just been lying on this platform and had that dream!
When did these arrive?
[We've always been here!]
Why didn't you remind me?
"You were collecting star threads just now!" Tuanzi said, feeling wronged. "Besides, this Dream Weaving Vine only lets you sink into a dream, it won't make you addicted, it's just a dream!"
Ning Xiaoxi rolled her eyes. To others, it might just be a dream, but was she someone else?
The Spirit Crystal Heart Dagger slid down lightly, and a purple vine fell into her hand, so light it was almost weightless.
Ning Xiaoxi sat cross-legged by the pool, with the Night Demon's Eye Jade, Star Silk, and Dream Weaving Vine laid out before her. As a master craftswoman, she was an expert in crafting; she would use this necklace as a defensive weapon!
The Dream Weaving Vine serves as the frame, creating the most stable support platform. The Tuanjin knot forms the base, and scattered fluorite stones are inlaid around it to tightly wrap the Night Demon's Eye Jade as a weapon. Star Silk is tied into a Vajra knot as the chain, and finally, a tassel is left as a lining.
The moment the necklace took shape, a hazy purple light flashed by. Guided by the Star Silk, the spiritual energy activated the Dream Weaving Vine's bewitching effect, combined with the interference effect of the Netherworld Jade, and the concealment effect of the Netherworld Fluorite. After bypassing the entire main body, the spiritual energy flowed out from the Star Silk on the other side, finally merging at the entrance to form a closed loop.
It's done!
Ning Xiaoxi looked at the work in her hand with satisfaction. [It's done. Even with ordinary wear, it only displays my mid-level six or seven strength, but it can conceal my strength from higher-level detection. With a large influx of spiritual power, even higher-level beings can't detect my strength. If I were to infuse even more spiritual power, it could conceal my strength even above the higher level, right?]