Chapter 236
After a moment of disorientation, the desolate and indescribably bleak realm of the divine once again appeared before Ye Bai.
“Ah!”
Back in the familiar divine realm, Ottofis let out a cry and began to trot around, exploring the surroundings.
“Wuming, can you tell what this place is?”
Ye Bai looked up and surveyed her surroundings. It was a barren expanse, the ground hard and deep brown. As she gazed into the distance, she could barely make out a few nameless wild grasses; there were no signs of plants or animals, let alone buildings or people.
Krakken had sent her back from the underworld, but there was no way for Ye Bai to return the same way she came. After all, her initial journey to the underworld had been a reverse summoning, triggered by the paper figure disrupting the summoning ritual of the underworld’s inhabitants.
At that time, Ye Bai had only confirmed that the place was safe before returning, so she still had no idea where she was.
Hearing Ye Bai's question, the paper figure replied, “There’s no information on this level, but our destination this time is the Emerald Forest, and there’s a simpler way to get there.”
“A simpler way? You mean the branch of the Tree of Life?” Ye Bai immediately understood, her gaze falling on the pendant hanging at her waist.
Not only was it a task item with excellent attributes, but it was also a branch of the sacred Tree of Life belonging to the elven race.
“Exactly,” the paper figure confirmed. “The Emerald Forest is a magical forest created by the life force of the Tree of Life. Through the connection between the key and the Tree itself, we can be guided to the Emerald Forest. Now, we just need to infuse your spiritual energy to activate the branch.”
Ye Bai nodded and took the pendant from her waist.
Infusing spiritual energy was essentially pouring in mental power.
In the next moment, the vibrant green branch in Ye Bai's hand glowed with a bright light.
At the same time, a map-like guide, reminiscent of those seen when opening trade routes, appeared in Ye Bai's consciousness.
However, when she saw the direction indicated by the guide, Ye Bai was taken aback.
“What’s wrong?” the paper figure asked, noticing her reaction.
Ye Bai spoke with a strange expression, “If the guide isn’t mistaken, then the place we’re currently at is the Emerald Forest.”
---
“If the guide isn’t mistaken, then the place we’re currently at is the Emerald Forest,” Ye Bai replied to the paper figure, her expression odd.
After activating the branch of the Tree of Life, a foggy map resembling one used for clearing land appeared in her mind. The red dot marked her position, while the green dot indicated the target location. At that moment, in Ye Bai's view, the green dot and the red dot overlapped.
In other words, Ye Bai was indeed in the Emerald Forest.
But… looking at the barren land around her, there was no sign of the lush, vibrant Emerald Forest filled with high elves. There was not a single trace that could be associated with a ‘forest.’
Moreover, this was the location where Krakken had teleported Ye Bai. Did she know this was the Emerald Forest? Did she choose this place because of the Tree of Life branch? Or was there some other reason?
As a former pet of the God King, Krakken, despite her immature mind, had been fixated on ‘eating fireballs,’ indicating that the God King had left behind many contingencies.
But if this was indeed the Emerald Forest, why did it look like this?
“Is it because of the war with the underworld?” Ye Bai turned to the paper figure.
She recalled that the other party had once obtained information about the Emerald Forest, which stated in a book that ‘the magma burned the emeralds, and the Emerald Forest lost its past tranquility.’
“According to that book, the war lasted a long time. In the end, the underworld retreated, the Emerald Forest closed, but the portals left by the war remain there forever, unable to be erased,” the paper figure paused before continuing, “But strangely, I haven’t detected any signs of an underworld portal here.”
“Exactly,” Ye Bai also found this odd.
It was strange that this barren land showed no obvious abnormalities. There was no forest, no signs of scorched earth from war, no underworld aura; it resembled most of the desolate and empty landscapes she had encountered in the divine realm—hollow and lonely.
The paper figure suggested, “Is it possible that the Emerald Forest moved after it closed? Moved here?”
“It’s not impossible…” Ye Bai pondered.
The paper figure was right; the Emerald Forest could move. To be precise, the entrance to the Emerald Forest could shift.
In the lore, the Emerald Forest was a magical forest originating from the Tree of Life, home to one of the top races in the divine realm, the high elves. It inherently possessed special spatial properties, allowing one to find its entrance from various depths of the forest. Even the internal map of the forest constantly changed at random.
If the elves activated the Tree of Life, they could alter the entrance's location. But then Ye Bai hesitated, “But in my memory… the Emerald Forest must be within a forest.”
In Ye Bai's understanding, the Emerald Forest could only manifest in a ‘forest’ terrain, a fundamental logic dictated by the underlying code.
Yet she wasn’t entirely sure her experience was correct, as this was a holographic version of the multiverse that could influence reality. She only understood the background settings, and the changes in this divine realm were automatically completed, so deviations were possible.
Upon hearing Ye Bai's words, the paper figure did not refute her but instead seemed to realize something: “I see, there must be secrets we don’t know about.”
Ye Bai was left speechless: “It’s also possible that my memory is wrong…”
At that moment, she wondered if her arrangement for the paper figure to teach the professionals in Bai Ye City had influenced it, making it start to agree with her.
However, recalling the details of her interactions with the paper figure, it seemed that it was the first one to say, ‘Lord Bai Ye is right’ to trick her into taking on tasks…
The paper figure didn’t deny Ye Bai’s thoughts and returned to the main topic: “Regardless of the reason, perhaps we should find a way to verify this first.”
“Exactly.” This suggestion brought Ye Bai back to her senses.
She decided to start with the simplest and most straightforward method to verify whether this was indeed the Emerald Forest indicated by the map—
Ye Bai looked up to find Ottofis, preparing to ride it to explore the nearby area while checking if the location of the Emerald Forest on the ‘map’ had changed.
But when she looked up, she found Ottofis standing a few hundred meters away, its head lowered, completely still, as if it were intently observing something.
Could it have made a new discovery?
Ye Bai’s eyes brightened at the sight. Ottofis always seemed ordinary but was actually quite extraordinary; perhaps it had already noticed something unusual.
She quickly walked toward Ottofis, but as she approached, despite being less than ten meters away, Ottofis remained motionless.
At any other time, Ottofis would have reacted to her presence.
At the same time, Ye Bai noticed that in front of Ottofis, there seemed to be a withered brown plant, which it appeared to be intently observing.
Seeing this, Ye Bai furrowed her brow, feeling a sense of caution toward that plant.
In the next moment, as she got closer, Ottofis came fully into view, causing her to freeze in surprise.
The gray donkey stood in front of the plant, its eyes vacant, emitting a faint… snoring sound.
If Ye Bai’s previous understanding of Ottofis was correct, it wasn’t observing the plant; it was… asleep.
So, Ye Bai used her insight to check the plant.
【Withered Unknown Plant】
Level: Poor
Status: Withered
Description: A common sight of withered plants.
“…”
Confirming that this plant was not some abnormal creature or poison, Ye Bai felt speechless; it seemed to be a big misunderstanding.
Perhaps because she had gotten too close, just as Ye Bai was about to speak, Ottofis’s snoring suddenly stopped, and its vacant eyes regained their spark.
“Whew… Ah!”
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