Roots and fruits
As dawn broke, Ren Xiangxiang had unknowingly talked with Lei Gong all night, making Lei Gong feel happy and looking very much longing for it.
"...So, the outside world is vast, and there are many places to travel and enjoy the scenery, which is better than here?" Ren Xiangxiang said, yawning. She had finished eating the red palm fruit and was rubbing her sleepy eyes.
Lei Gong glanced at the bed behind him. He resembled a child, so the bed was small, but it should be just right for Ren Xiangxiang.
"Why don't you get some sleep first? I'll think about it."
"Hmm...okay..." Ren Xiangxiang yawned again, collapsed onto the bed, and murmured while wrapped in the blanket, "Then think it over carefully..."
Seeing that she fell asleep so easily, Lei Gong must have been really tired. He glanced at Mo You again, and the two of them left the house one after the other.
"I can give you the Snow Fire, but I need you to do something for me," Lei Gong said, gesturing for Mo You to follow.
Right behind the treehouse, there was a short tree that was so thick that it would take three people to hug it. The tree was covered with bright red anthurium fruits. Someone had dug out a circle around the base of the tree, revealing its thick root system. It was unknown how many hundreds of years it had lived.
Lei Gong pointed to the dug-out roots, then pulled out a shovel from somewhere and threw it to Mo You.
"This tree is almost sentient. I need its root fruit, which is about two sizes larger than the red palm fruit, but it is very fragile and cannot be dug out with demonic power. You can use this shovel to dig it out for me!"
Mo You took the shovel with some surprise. It wasn't that it was difficult; on the contrary, it was too easy. But Lei Gong thought that the other party was dissatisfied, so he frowned and said, "If you bargain again, I will regret it and kick you out of Xuewu Mountain."
"No, that's not what I meant. I meant you only want this?" Mo You quickly explained.
Upon hearing this, Lei Gong sneered, "You think it's easy? Then start digging. Give me what you want sooner, and I'll give you Xue Gong Huo sooner. Or do you want to dig here for a year or two? Anyway, I have no objection."
After saying that, without waiting for Mo You to speak again, he turned and left.
It started snowing heavily outside again, but when it fell on Xuewu Mountain, it turned into tiny snowflakes the size of rice grains, covering the ground with a thin layer.
"When did you ever show kindness?" Lei Gong had just arrived at the open space in front of the treehouse when Blood Soul's voice came from behind him.
A crimson spear landed in front of him, instantly transforming into the appearance of a red-haired youth.
"Do you think I have a kind heart?" Lei Gong retorted.
Blood Soul scoffed, "You have no heart at all."
"Heh..." Lei Gong chuckled, then Xue Hun thought for a moment, "Wait a minute! Why did you agree to give him the Snow Fire? Were you just teasing him?"
“If you’re really bored, go dig up some tree roots with him. Maybe you’ll be free once you find some root fruit,” Lei Gong said lazily, but to Xue Hun it was like a thunderclap. He immediately jumped in front of Lei Gong, excitedly asking, “Really? Really? Really? You really will set me free?”
Lei Gong glanced at him silently and nodded without a sound.
Blood Soul let out a cheer, picked up the shovel, and vanished in the blink of an eye.
...
“That place…” The Gu woman narrowed her eyes, looked around, and only the distant mountain peak seemed different. “Go and see for yourself.”
She swayed and flew directly towards the mountain peak.
From the biting cold of early morning to the bright sunshine of midday, the snow had stopped sometime earlier. Ren Xiangxiang, wrapped in an animal skin blanket, huddled together in the drafty, simple treehouse. She shivered and woke up with a start.
Hmm? Where's Mo You?
She looked around in confusion, not seeing Mo You, but smelling the aroma of meat coming from ahead.
Lei Gong's only food was the red palm fruit, but he knew that Ren Xiangxiang was not satisfied with just the red palm fruit.
He is a spirit allowed to emerge from this snow mountain. He doesn't know how long he has lived. He has lived here since he became conscious, but he can only live here.
When he first met Ren Xiangxiang, she talked about the outside world. That was the first time he had ever longed for the outside world, but this longing was very short-lived.
He originally thought he would stay here with Blood Soul forever. Oh, no, Blood Soul is different from him. Although Blood Soul has developed intelligence from his blood, it also has the opportunity to leave this place.
Only him...
Just as Lei Gong was lost in thought, a burnt smell hit his nostrils.
"oops!"
With a flick of his wrist, Lei Gong sent the half-raw, half-black pheasant tumbling into the fire, where it exploded into a shower of sparks.
"Well……"
Lei Gong looked at Ren Xiangxiang, who had appeared in front of him at some point. Their eyes met. Ren Xiangxiang wanted to pick up the burnt pheasant to see if she could salvage it, but Lei Gong suddenly kicked her.
"Stop picking them up, I'll go catch another one."
Before long, Ren Xiangxiang started grilling by herself.
"If you don't know how to roast, then wait for me to wake up and roast it yourself. It's a waste of a chicken."
Hearing a hint of complaint in her voice, Lei Gong pursed his lips and ignored her.
"Are you going to eat or not?" Ren Xiangxiang asked curiously. "Or... are you even able to eat? I've never seen you eat anything before. You don't even eat the dry food I brought. Even a demon needs to eat!"
“I’m not the same as the demon beside you,” Lei Gong said absentmindedly while poking at the fire.
Smelling the aroma of meat, Ren Xiangxiang suddenly remembered the purpose of her visit. "Right, where's Mo You? That Xue Gong Huo..."
What's your decision?
“I promised to give it to you,” Lei Gong answered readily, but his expression quickly changed, and he laughed, “However, he has to get what I want first.”
"What do you want?" Ren Xiangxiang felt like she had missed something.
Lei Gong pointed in a direction.
Behind the treehouse, Mo You dug from dawn until noon, but didn't find many tree roots at all.
Blood Soul was already paralyzed.
"Why is this soil so hard! How long will it take to dig this out?"
Seeing that Mo You was still digging hard, Xue Hun jumped up and started digging too.
"You say this fruit can grant you your freedom? What exactly is your relationship with Lei Gong? Master and servant?"
Since he had nothing else to do, Mo You chatted with Xue Hun casually.
When I first met this Blood Soul, I thought he was a grumpy ghost who was hard to get along with. But after getting to know him, I found that although he was a bit irritable, he was exceptionally easy to coax and could be fooled with just a few words.
So as we chatted, this topic came up.
Upon hearing this, Blood Soul's face twisted in a strange way, whether from anger or joy, and he replied awkwardly, "Who's his master or servant! I was sleeping peacefully down there when he interfered and gave me sentience, and even turned me into the shape of a spear. Look at him, he's only up to my waist, tiny as a beet, how could he possibly handle me? Humph!"
"So you're saying you can't leave? Is it because he gave you intelligence?" Mo You asked again.
As Blood Soul dug in the soil, he said, "Yes! Not only that, but we're practically a life-sharing community. He's born when I'm born, and he dies when I die. How could I possibly be willing to accept this? So hurry up and dig out the root fruit to give me my freedom! He can't leave this place, and I want to get out!"
Blood Soul grumbled for a long time, then vigorously swung his shovel and dug out another layer.
The frozen soil was so hard that you couldn't scoop up much soil with a shovel. Blood Soul then took it upon himself to bring a hoe, and with one shovel stroke he almost cut off a root. He was so frightened that he quickly stopped and checked the deadly root system.
"Blood Soul, do you know what this Snowfire looks like?" Mo You asked again.
Blood Soul gestured haphazardly as he replied, "It's the Earth Core Fire! Thunder God's fate... ah... something important in his destiny..."
After he finished speaking, he glanced guiltily in the direction of the treehouse, "Anyway, he already promised to give it to you, so don't worry, he'll keep his word."
After saying that, Xuehun stopped talking to Moyou and began to concentrate on digging up the tree roots.
Mo You seemed lost in thought until Ren Xiangxiang came to see him and brought him back to his senses.
Upon learning of Lei Gong's request, Ren Xiangxiang couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and was eager to join in. Xue Hun threw her a shovel and leaned against the side, looking like he was watching a show. As expected, Ren Xiangxiang was exhausted after just a few moves, especially in the area between her thumb and forefinger, which was numb and painful.
"You've been digging like this for half a day?" Ren Xiangxiang suddenly pried open Mo You's hand to check. The area between his thumb and forefinger was already red, and a layer of skin had been rubbed off.
Mo You chuckled, withdrew her hand, and gently pushed Ren Xiangxiang out of the shallow pit. "Wait a few more days, it will be fine soon."
"But--"
"But what?! You're a frail half-demon, you can't dig properly, and you'll only affect our progress." Blood Soul looked like he had a toothache.
The two ignored him for a long time before finally getting a chance to speak.
Ren Xiangxiang completely ignored him. After a pause, she picked up the shovel again and said, "Then I'll help too."
Seeing Ren Xiangxiang's stubbornness, Mo You didn't know what to say, but Xue Hun seemed furious and carried his shovel to the other side, out of sight, out of mind.
As dusk fell, a chilly wind blew, stirring up a thin layer of snow on the ground. A shallow stream meandered down the mountain, seemingly cleaving the mottled snow-capped peak in two from afar.
The Gu woman chased Xuewu Mountain from dawn till dusk, but the mountain still stood there far away, separated by a snow-capped mountain.
"Damn it, what's going on?"
The Gu woman was both angry and furious. She swept out a giant dandelion, but it only stirred up a layer of white snow. Snowflakes fluttered down as she stared intently at the strange mountain and continued to chase after it, refusing to believe it.
And so, Ren Xiangxiang, Mo You, and Xue Hun, who had a rather bad temper, dug up tree roots for five whole days. Except for Ren Xiangxiang, who needed to rest, Mo You and Xue Hun dug day and night.
Finally, on the sixth day, they sensed an unusual aura emanating from beneath the tree roots; to be precise, they felt a tremor.
Immediately afterwards, as soon as they got close to the anthurium tree, they could clearly feel that the tree was trembling.
"Is it... scared?" Ren Xiangxiang asked incredulously.
Blood Soul scoffed, "What's it afraid of? It hasn't even developed any intelligence yet, so how would it know fear? It's just instinct at best."
"So you're just scared." Ren Xiangxiang looked at the thick trunk and felt a pang of pity. "Sigh... I'm sorry, Anthurium tree, we had no other choice."
"Pfft, hahaha... What are you doing? Apologizing to a tree?" Blood Soul slammed down with another shovel, and the tree root seemed to shrink slightly, revealing a sliver of red light. "Hey, it's out here! Come help!"
There was only a narrow hole in the crisscrossing tree roots. Because they were afraid of damaging the root system and affecting the root fruit, Xuehun and Moyou did not dare to act rashly.
"How do I get it out? It's too deep! I can't reach it!" Blood Soul tried but couldn't reach it. "Or..."
He was itching to cut off the obstructing root system.
"What if the root fruit gets damaged?" Mo You reminded him, and Xue Hun gently lowered his raised hand.
"Or I can give it a try." Ren Xiangxiang pushed the two aside and jumped into the deep pit. Mo You grabbed at empty air. "Xiangxiang."
"I think I can crawl in."
"That's great—" Blood Soul exclaimed excitedly, but was suddenly pulled away by Mo You. "Wait a minute."
Mo You grabbed Ren Xiangxiang and said, "The situation inside is unknown. What if you're in danger if you go in like this?"
“What danger? This tree isn’t even sentient.” Blood Soul yelled, but Mo You ignored him. “Wait a minute, I’ll try again.”
"You try—"
Snap!
Suddenly, a shovel came crashing down on him. Blood Soul dodged, his face darkening instantly.
"I think everything should be fine." Ren Xiangxiang had already popped her head inside. She waved her hand to break free from Mo You. "I saw it. Don't worry, this is Lei Gong's territory. There should be no danger."
"..." Mo You's expression was solemn, and he looked extremely nervous.
Blood Soul scoffed and watched coldly with his arms crossed.
Inside the dark tree hollow, there was an unexpected warmth.
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