Chapter 50 Wu Ji Tianmen Moon, Moon.
Adhering to the financial philosophy of "earning money in Puyang and spending it in Puyang," Feng Feng generously invited everyone to use the Chasing Wind Path to ascend Sanjiu Peak. This way, they wouldn't have to hike up and down the mountain, and they could still get back before dinner for a good night's sleep.
Tomorrow is the official start of the conference, and the Three Peaks are deserted and desolate. Apart from some patrolling cicada catchers, there is only Xia Zhu and her team of unconventional officials.
Although there is no explicit rule that the exchange of Divine Strategy Stones must take place on the day of the conference, it is still a ceremony after all. What an honor it is to invest all the Natural Aspect Stones that the family has obtained in a year into Wu Jitianmen in front of everyone.
Therefore, they came here early today to exchange their currency, feeling like they were doing it secretly and were embarrassed to do so.
Of course, Feng Feng explicitly denied this, saying she simply didn't want to be crammed together with other people tomorrow.
To Xia Zhu's surprise, the venue for the Nine Heavens Assembly on Sanjiu Peak was not decorated in a grand and imposing manner. Amidst the swirling smoke and clouds, there was only a very familiar towering tree.
It was towering in every sense of the word. In Xia Zhu's view, only a fraction of its majestic trunk, like a skyscraper, could be seen. Looking up, it stretched endlessly, disappearing into the sky. Frost and dew clung to its brow. In the biting wind, this great tree, so similar to the Jianmu tree of the Feng family, stood alone in the cold sky.
"This is the shell of the Jianmu tree," Fengmian kindly explained.
"Shell?" Xia Zhu finally understood that the sobbing in the wind came from an empty shell.
"The demon god Jianmu originally grew on Sun and Moon Mountain. Although it could not make people travel to the heavens, it had the ability to connect heaven and earth. Tens of millions of years ago, no one knows what happened that day. Even after shedding its thousand-year lifespan and its shell, Jianmu insisted on leaving this place and traveled eastward until it finally took root again in the territory of the Feng family."
"Who knows? Maybe Puyang broke its heart, or maybe it saw something in the sky." Feng Feng shrugged and took Xia Zhu's hand. "But I guess it's because the wind here is too strong and it's itchy. Jianmu just rubbed its shell and fell off! Why not take the opportunity to travel the world!"
The five people passed through the tree hole beneath the shell and entered the interior of the Jianmu tree.
This place is practically a grand theater with a log cabin theme.
The wooden spectator seating is arranged in tiers on three sides, stacked upwards and finally embedded in the tree wall. A high platform, resembling intertwined tree roots, rises in the center, and one can ascend the steps to reach a well placed on the platform.
A pipe hangs down from above the wellhead, its end unseen, like the veins of the Jianmu tree itself. It doesn't seem out of place but rather has a sense of unity, its destination unknown.
Eight armchairs were placed in the open space directly opposite the platform, arranged in a solemn semi-circle, silently facing the platform. Xia Zhu guessed that those must be the seats for the heads of the various clans.
Golden sunlight streamed through the high windows on all four sides; there was no other light source here. The warmth of the sunlight intensified the woody scent in the air—an ancient, warm aroma. One couldn't help but reach out and touch the tree-lined walls, searching for secrets left behind thousands of years ago in their layered textures.
Xia Zhu had the illusion of transforming into a little green fairy. The event being held here was not some grand gathering of the heavens, but the annual fairy conference, to summarize the amount of dew collected and nectar brewed. Her transparent fairy wings could easily transmit sunlight, and she flew freely in beams of golden light. When she shook off her fairy dust, it made a tinkling sound.
They climbed the steps to the high platform and formed a circle around the well.
It really is a well.
Xia Zhu thought she was just guessing based on the appearance, but she didn't expect that there was indeed clear green water flowing quietly in it, which was so clear that you could see the bottom. She even imagined that it would taste particularly sweet.
“This is Wu Ji Tianmen.” Feng Feng winked at Xia Zhu, the light reflecting on her chin. “When I was little, I also thought it was a door. You would open the door, throw the Tian Sheng Xiang Stone in, and the Shence would fly out from the door.”
"Alright, let's go one by one! I'll go first!"
The stage was too small to accommodate many people, so Xia Zhu simply went to the steps to wait, where she could see Feng Feng's movements.
The interior of Jianmu was quiet, except for the occasional whistling sound of the wind passing through the high windows, and the sound of the natural stone being thrown into the water became exceptionally clear.
The tinkling sound is like a mountain spring.
Feng Feng poured all the green and red stones from the cloth bag into the water. After a while, a whooshing sound came from inside the pipe above the well.
"Here it comes!" Feng Feng stretched out his hands and caught it at the pipe opening.
A dozen or so dark golden divine strategies blew out from the tree-vein-like pipes and piled up in Feng Feng's outstretched palm. She peeked inside.
"That's all!" Then he stepped aside to let Ji Wuchou go next.
Unlike Ji Wuchou, Ying Ya had not completely separated from his family, so someone else would exchange for the Ying family's divine strategies. He did not intend to exchange the one or two stones he had for divine strategies that were actually not very useful to him.
Since Ji Wuchou has decided to join them in entering the dream to exorcise the evil spirits, it means that she will have the right to exchange the stones. From now on, these stones will be hers, and she will no longer be an unknown official from the Puyang Ji family.
Finally, there's Xia Zhu, who only has one green stone and one red stone.
Everyone else retreated to the steps to organize the steaming hot divine strategy, and the area around the well became spacious, leaving her alone.
A beam of pale golden sunlight shone on the water's surface, the ripples clearly defining the crystalline, rhomboid edges. Sparkling particles danced in the air, and the well water, which could barely reflect Xia Zhu's figure, resembled a giant green gemstone, albeit a flowing one.
She took a stone out of her backpack and gently placed it into the water.
The naturally formed stones began to dissipate upon contact with the water's surface, emitting faint fragments of light, as if being dissolved by chemical reagents. Once both stones had completely disappeared into the water, she heard a sound similar to breath blowing near her ear.
"Whoosh—whoosh—"
A gust of wind, blowing from afar, was spraying out of the narrow nozzle of the pipe. It splashed onto the water's surface, creating ripples, and then bounced back onto Xia Zhu's face, blowing all her hair back.
She quickly cupped her hands and caught the pipe below.
Two divine strategies with dark gold edges fell into her palm.
Xia Zhu's pupils dilated slightly in the light.
She carefully picked up a small piece of paper with her fingertips. The paper should have contained a string of incomprehensible symbols, but the paper in front of her had a single Chinese character written on it.
"you."
The other one has the character "好" (good) on it.
"Hello."
The divine strategy, arriving from the distant heavens, represents the will of the gods, warmly and politely greeting Xia Zhu.
It seems that if she throws in a few more stones, the next Shence warrior will ask her, "Have you eaten?"
The wind was whistling in her ears inside the pipes, and the scent of sunshine and wood seemed much stronger. She glanced furtively at Feng Feng's location.
Should we tell everyone?
For a moment, her brain went blank and she stood there, cold sweat beading on her forehead. She felt like a villain who had infiltrated the main characters' group and almost exposed her identity at an unexpected moment. Fortunately, no one noticed her strange behavior at that moment.
The current situation is certainly extraordinary, even unprecedented. Perhaps telling Feng Feng and the others about this would cause them more trouble and problems because of "this." Perhaps "extraordinary" means abnormal, and they would distance themselves from her because of it. Xia Zhu couldn't make a reasonable prediction, after all, she had never considered this situation before.
As Xia Zhu looked up at the endless canopy of trees, she thought it was a bug in the Divine Strategy System, and that the higher-ups had given the wrong instructions. What made her special?
She crumpled the Shence into a ball and tried to stuff it into her pocket, but the sensation in her palm made her pause.
What if these two seemingly unrelated divine strategies are related to her own background? Should she abandon this lead and stop investigating?
With her mind a complete mess, she hadn't sorted out her thoughts before instinctively giving a stiff greeting to Feng Feng, who was walking towards her.
"Hi." She awkwardly raised her right hand.
"What's up? What's wrong, Azhu?" Feng Feng walked up to her. "Have you finished exchanging them?" She didn't care about the contents of the Divine Strategy. In her opinion, those symbols were always the same and would never be abnormal.
"I've finished exchanging them, do you want to take a look?" Xia Zhu was feeling guilty and would say silly things when she was nervous.
"Why would I look at that stuff! Those great scholars who study the Divine Language have been painstakingly researching it for hundreds of years and probably haven't even come up with a coherent explanation. Studying a bunch of incomprehensible books is less useful than looking at a cookbook. If you ask me, even if someone claims to have translated the Divine Language, it's all just made up. After all, there's no reference material to prove it!"
"Mmm-hmm." Xia Zhu nodded vigorously. "Maybe what they meant was just 'hello,' 'goodbye,' and 'have you eaten?'" Cold sweat broke out on her brow.
"Hello?" Feng Feng leaned closer to Xia Zhu, staring into her eyes, and burst out laughing after a moment. "Yes, hello! Zhu is right!"
Xia Zhu raised his hand to wipe his forehead and chuckled honestly twice.
The group (except for Xia Zhu) hiked down the mountain in a relaxed mood, treating it as a trip. The setting sun gradually disappeared behind the cliffs. They passed through the old inn and found that the prosperity of the place remained undiminished after a good night's sleep.
Feng Feng said he wanted to host a welcome party for Ji Wuchou, so they booked a private room instead of waiting in the lobby.
The private room was on the third floor, with a view of the Sanjiu Peak from the window. Its layout was indeed different from the other rooms. Feng Feng scoffed and cursed money as a corrupt and despicable passport that could be used anywhere.
The latticed window was pushed open, releasing a fragrant breeze and flickering candlelight.
Feng Feng generously wrote a long list of names on the menu, saying that one should not be stingy when treating good friends to a meal.
Ji Wuchou sat silently in the corner, her face slightly flushed. She seemed unaccustomed to the term "friend."
After a hearty meal, Feng Feng, with Ji Wuchou in his arms, launched into a long discussion about the corruption within the Divine Blood Clan, specifically mentioning the rigid and dogmatic teachings of the Puyang Ji Family. Ji Wuchou blushed from head to toe, her eyes darting around awkwardly, hoping someone would intervene and stop Feng Feng. However, Feng Mian was engrossed in studying the recipe for a steamed cake that was hot on the outside and cool on the inside, while Ying Ya gazed up at his idol with adoration, leaving no one available to offer assistance.
Xia Zhu shook her head. The indoor temperature was too comfortable, making her head feel drowsy. She decided to go out for some fresh air. After greeting everyone, she slowly went downstairs, passed through the barrier, and stepped out of the hotel. The cold wind made her body temperature drop sharply, and all her thoughts became clear and sharp.
Xia Zhu walked into the woods and smelled the bitter scent of the grass and trees at night. The moon hung in the sky, its light soft and gentle.
"Come out," she said softly.
She heard a faint rustling sound from the bushes behind her. She turned around and swung her small sword with her backhand. Unexpectedly, she bumped into a pair of gray eyes. For a few brief seconds, Xia Zhu, who had drunk some yellow wine, mistook it for the moon falling down.
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