Chapter 91 Guning Village

The crimson branches twisted and twisted like countless entangled snakes in a snake den, densely enveloping Guning Village. Even if one attempted to escape through the dense forest, they would be stopped by the sharp leaves that pierced through the trunks like thorns. Perhaps only those who practiced immortal cultivation could easily break through the Chuxia Tree and leave.

"Dong Zhu, what are you daydreaming about? Hurry up and collect the cold frost fruits at the roots of the tree. In half a pot of hourglass, they will wither!"

Dong Zhu hurriedly responded, cautiously approaching the Chuxia tree at the village's edge. She bent down and gently twisted the frosty blue fruit parasitic on its roots. The fruit fell away, its plump flesh tightly stretched. The cold air brushed against her hands, leaving a layer of white frost. She tossed the fruit into the straw basket without a care, then expertly plucked it with both hands.

But there was still a candle flickering in her heart, shaking and swaying. The flames and candlelight made her uneasy, so after she finished collecting, she couldn't help but look up at the sky, trying to see the meteor from forty years ago again.

Dong Zhu lived to be fifty, a figure that, in Guning Village, where the average lifespan was two hundred years, was considered an immature young woman. Her features, unchanged since she turned eighteen, were delicate and beautiful. Even in her pale straw-colored robe, the yellowish straw string tied around her waist, she looked slender and beautiful. Such a beauty, however, paid no attention to the pursuits of the men in the village, instead spending her free time gazing intently at the sky.

When she was ten years old, she woke from a nightmare and, accidentally glancing through the square window of her mud house, saw a shooting star streak across the eternally lifeless sky. It was so beautiful that it took her breath away. She followed the shooting star with her eyes until it disappeared southward. Only then could she finally breathe.

She touched the corners of her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. She immediately woke her parents and told them what had happened, but they dismissed it as a child's dream. Unwilling to accept this, she rushed to the village chief's house and knocked on the door. The old village chief kindly lit the lights and listened to her story.

"He must be an immortal cultivator."

The old village chief draped her clothes over her, held her on his lap, and began to tell her stories about the immortal cultivators and Guning Village. His voice was so gentle, and Dong Zhu lay in his arms, trying to keep her tired eyes open, listening to stories that seemed to be from a different world than hers.

Immortal cultivators, emperors, rebellions, and strange things. Too many complicated things filled her head, making her fall asleep with a heavy heart.

Immortal cultivators. The immortal cultivators who can easily fly across the dense forest say they want to protect the immortal cultivators in the mortal world, so why don’t they rescue them?

Dong Zhu wanted to ask them, wanted to see that light again, so she waited for forty years, growing from a child to a young woman, but still couldn't see it again. That light seemed like a dream to her.

"Let's go, hurry back to the altar, the Rainbow Bridge is about to descend." The man's voice came from far away, his tone filled with helplessness and longing. He tapped Dong Zhu's shoulder, "If you don't go back, the warriors will have to fight naked, silly sister."

Dong Xian quickly passed Dong Zhu and trotted towards the altar in the center of the village, full of anticipation. Dong Zhu shook off his thoughts and followed him.

The altar was already crowded with people, but the brave warriors were easily distinguishable from the ordinary villagers. Bare-chested, they knelt on the smooth stone platform as the old village chief smeared the blue liquid onto them, stroke by stroke. Their muscular physiques against the bright blue totem were eerie. Yet, no one seemed afraid; everyone gazed up at them with anticipation and awe.

The Dong siblings rushed to the altar, causing a small commotion. The commotion drew a man on the stage back. Seeing their nervous expressions, he offered a reassuring smile. Dong Zhu heard Dong Xian whisper, "Brother, please be safe," and silently prayed for him in his heart.

Dong Zhu handed the Frost Fruit to the young men and women who had been working at the altar. Their skin was a terrifyingly pale white, and a thin layer of frost formed wherever their fingers touched it. After receiving the Frost Fruit, they began to process it intensively, bringing basins of it to the altar.

As the last grain of sand fell from the hourglass, a rainbow bridge crossed the sky and connected to the altar in the distance. Dong Zhu watched Dong Qi's back disappear into the rainbow bridge sky, and suddenly his eyes widened.

"Is that a shooting star?"

Dong Qi walked across the Rainbow Bridge with the other warriors. If he said he wasn't nervous, he'd be lying. He'd just reached the required age for the Warriors selection this year and been chosen. In front of this group of experienced veterans, his mere century of experience was just that of a child.

As the Rainbow Bridge descended, the Rainbow Swamp gradually revealed itself before everyone. The vast swamp was so vast that the dense forest at its edge was invisible. Bubbles filled with poison continuously rose and exploded from the rotting surface, emanating a venomous mist that enveloped everyone. However, a closer look revealed that the mist was dispersed by the icy spikes emitted by the totem.

"The totem won't hold out for much longer. We must find a possible path out of the dense forest before the rainbow bridge disappears!" The team leader repeats this phrase every thirty days, speaking it with a numbing fluency. "Remember, the rainbow bridge only lulls the poisonous dragon into a deep sleep, so this is also the time when other monsters emerge to feed. Don't get too hung up on it; just stay close to the rainbow bridge and you'll be fine!"

They said they were looking for a way to leave the dense forest, but now two hundred years have passed and they still haven't found any place where villagers can set foot except the Rainbow Swamp. The old team members are a little dejected and just circle around the Rainbow Bridge. Only the new member Dong Qi is ambitious. He treks all the way to the edge of the dense forest and unknowingly becomes alone.

The dense forest was tightly closed, leaving not a single gap. Dong Qi was on guard against the monsters and was groping around carefully when he suddenly felt something was wrong.

Lying on the ground was the corpse of a demonic beast, known as the Mudfoot Toad. Because it looked indistinguishable from the surface of the swamp, often hiding in the shallows and devouring human legs, its image was depicted and passed down through generations. Once targeted by the Mudfoot Toad, there was no hope of escaping unscathed. Yet, such a powerful monster, its abdomen ripped open, died silently.

Just as he bent down curiously to check, he heard a familiar voice in the distance, but it was not the voice that his friends would make. It was a kind of fear that was extremely miserable but could not be expressed in words and could only be roared out with his voice.

He turned around and looked up to see the poisonous dragon rising from the swamp and roaring - there was no roar, it just looked like it was flying into the air, but in fact, it was just picked up by a mountain and water, and fell into the swamp like an ordinary dead fish.

The powerful poisonous dragon died just like that. Beneath it lay the shattered corpses of the warriors, and atop it stood a young girl in strange attire. She looked about eighteen years old, and perhaps from the fight with the dragon, the sleeves and hem of her clothing had been severed, revealing two pale arms through the bare gray cloth.

She glanced over, as if calculating something, but Dong Qi was no longer visible. He was running towards the bodies of his companions, weeping bitterly.

In despair, Dong Qi vaguely heard the girl's voice, "Where are you from?"

"Are you, are you the immortal cultivator who came to save us?" Dong Qi asked in a trance.

The girl's expression remained calm as she nodded: "I'm here to save you."

"So, take me to where you are."

Finally caught up! This is Sister Yi's 40 years of seclusion, and she's subtly skipped over the boring meditation time~