Mí zhī sēn - The Mystery Forest as it was anointed by those who live in it or the Eternal Forest by those who lived outside it.

 

Few knew its actual size, and even fewer knew its actual form. 

 

Those that knew kept it a secret, and they kept it a secret for a reason.

 

No matter if you call it the Mystery Forest or Eternal Forest, one thing did not change. It is a forest that has no end as it is not a forest that grows in all directions but a straight line. 

 

Well, almost a straight line. There are curves and bends that the forest took in order to grow according to some unknown Law. 

 

Sometimes it bends around mountains. Occasionally, it swallows a mountain in its path. 

 

Accommodating its environment into its own and creating a climate that was similar but slightly different from before.

 

The same could be said, for any climate that had met its growth like flatlands, marshes, or deserts. 

 

Those that were swallowed changed slightly but remained the same. 

 

However, one of its greatest mysteries was that when the Mystery/Eternal Forest met the oceans and its salty waters, it did not stop or deviate from its determined path. No, it charged straight through the salty waters as its vegetation adapted to life in salty underwater life. 

 

The roots had adapted to filter the salt out of the oceans. From its trees, it produced a strange sap. The sap turned into bubbles of Air that would remain around the path the forest grew without dissipation.  

 

Those bubbles of Air created an environment that was beauty incarnate but strange and alien at the same time. So the Mystery/Eternal Forest grew, and eventually, its growth circled the Sphere on which it lived and met its origin, like a snake eating its own tail. 

 

When it had done that, its true mystery had shown itself. 

 

From every part of its Forest body, it emanated a strange unknown Spatial Law. 

 

From that moment onwards, The Mystery/Eternal Forest began to grow sideways without enveloping any more land from the rest of the Sphere. 

 

No, what it did, was separate the Sphere on which it grew into two sides. 

 

The West and The East.

 

It was dubbed so by the Immortals long before the Seed had been to grow into the Mystery/Eternal Forest.

 

Few knew why they had done it in the first place. Even fewer knew what existed before the Seed had been planted and finished its growing process.

 

Zou Chunhua, however, knew both answers. 

 

It was her predecessor that had ensured that the Seed had been planted properly. That it was taken care of properly, to allow it to grow into the splendor that it had today.

 

She had been a Dao Seeker when her Master received the order from the Immortals. Since then, she had observed its workings from every nook and cranny she could find. But no matter how she looked for those hidden nooks and crannies, she never did comprehend its entire workings.

 

What she had observed and contemplated had propelled her to the Dao Embodiment stage after her Master had ascended to the Immortal World and left the position open. 

 

A single thought would allow her to reach Immortality, yet she never took it. 

 

There were a few reasons. But not one of those was as critical to that decision as the man that she was currently looking at. 

 

Yu Qiquang, the Dao Embodiment Cultivator of the Jade Path, paid her a visit in her personal Plum Blossom Tree Grove at the top of Plum Blossom Mountain. 

 

One reason why Zou Chunhua liked this mountain was that it provided an excellent view of the enormous tree stuck beside the mountain, on which she lived. 

 

The tree itself wasn't anything rare, but every microclimate of the Mystery/Eternal Forest had a tree that identified the area to which it belonged. 

 

In this case, the enormous tree was a Plum Blossom Great Tree, and its presence and her lovely personal grove of Plum Blossom trees were the culprits for the name of her mountain. 

 

Sometimes Zou Chunhua wondered about the naming sense. But most of the time, she just ignored it as it did not matter in the grand scheme of Time. 

 

Yu Qiquang stared at the beautiful female wearing white/pinkish robes, with plum blossoms embroidered, upon them. 

 

Her black and neatly arranged hairstyle enveloped her lowly heart-shaped face that would stupify mortals by sheer sight. 

 

To him, it only showcased the beauty that she displayed and nothing more. 

 

Around the upper part of her robe, a slightly transparent white silky scarf floated around her neck and the back of her head. The scarf helped her manifest a saintly aura without her doing or projecting anything. 

 

He, on the other hand, opted for something more simple. A simple green robe with marks displaying his origin was enough, as he had no need to prove anything to anybody. 

 

He was already at the top of the world.

 

“Zou Chunhua, you look as beautiful as the days my eyes have rested on you for the first time.” 

 

“Yu Qiquang, your simple outlook still fails to hide your arrogance to your Seniors. Come, have a seat. It's been some time since we have had a talk.” She replied, slightly happy to have a guest.

 

Yu Qiquang nodded and walked to the wooden chair beside her. There was a small table between them on which a second teacup appeared, full of warm tea. From it floated a fragrance that tickled even his fancy. 

 

The fancy came not from the smell the tea emanated. Or the taste he had yet to taste, but could imagine in his mind. No, the true fancy came from the amount of Qi contained in the tea.

 

Not bothering with etiquette too much, as this was not the first time he had visited this Senior, he picked up the teacup and gave the tea a taste. 

 

The taste reminded him of plums blossoming in spring and early summer. 

 

“Excellent tea as always.” Yu Qiquant remarked. 

 

“Naturally. My standards never wane. So why did you visit me this time?”

 

Nodding, Yu Qiquang spoke. “It has come to my attention that the number of troublemakers has risen significantly in the last millennia, especially in the last few hundred years. That aside, a few hours ago, I found out that another one has emerged from my lineage.”

 

“You have my condolences.” Zou Chunhua commented with a smile on her face. 

 

Yu Qiquang knew she enjoyed seeing his troubled expression, but he continued his explanation without remark.

 

“I don't have anything personal against them, but this one has manifested something that bothers me.”

 

“Now I am curious. Did you not already appoint one as your successor? What is this about?”

 

“I did, and I will stick to the decision, but Yu Long Tian has left a seed in an unimportant piece of land. Now the seed has grown and produced something interesting, to say the least.” Yu Qiquang replied. “That is not the problem. Here let me show you.”

 

With that said, he waved his hand. A flowing image of what had transpired began to play from his perspective.

 

The memory he displayed to his Senior was so realistic that Zou Chunhua could use her Divine Sense to parse through everything that it contained, and what it held was indeed a curiosity. 

 

Still, when a particular moment arrived, she had no choice but to laugh out loud. 

 

“Hahaha.” When she laughed, she used her right hand, with the sleeve on it, to hide her smile, to not appear inelegant. “ I have not heard that word being used in so long. She is indeed a troublemaker. Still, since you're here, I doubt you smote her into ash.”

 

The still image had been stopped, because of her laugh, and now it continued its story. 

 

Right after, Zu Chunhua witnessed how the girl maneuvered around her colleague's intentions. 

 

Once again, the replay stopped as she gazed back at her colleague. “Oh, she played you quite well there. Either her Fate is rather strong, or she knows how to press the right buttons. Could be both if the presence of the Seeker is an indication.”

 

“Could be. I am more curious about the way she resisted the lightning. It took me a bit of parsing through everything to notice it, especially since it was at the beginning, where I paid the least attention.” Yu Qiquang said and rewound the replay. He pulled her attention to the right hand of the Jade Incarnation, of the girl that had cursed him like none ever dared before.

 

“Watch.” He said and began the replay again, only it took a few seconds for him to notice the seriousness emanating from his Senior in age, if not cultivation stage.

 

“Elemental Manifestation with Tribulation Lightning at the core?” Zou Chunhua said out loud in quiet disbelief. “How did it not go mad with the violent nature of the Tribulation Lightning? No, the better question is, how is it subservient to the girl in the first place? Is it because she was part of its birth? Or could it be the way it had been birthed, that makes it less violent? ”

 

“I have parsed through every moment and could not find the answer, nor have I heard, seen, or read about such a manifestation before. That is one of the reasons I have come to seek you.” Yu Qiquang explained.

 

Zou Chunhua shook her head in denial. “ Neither have I. I never would have imagined that I would see something new without leaving for the Immortal World. I reckon living as long as I have tends to bring forth new things occasionally. Either way, what is the other reason?”

 

“I will say after you have seen the rest.” 

 

Nodding to him, the replay continued. Once again, she witnessed the curse coming out of the girl's incarnation. 

 

The second time did not diminish its accomplishment. 

 

Normally, people perish if they do that, and the event in question is swept under the floor by the one doing the perishing.

 

The replay continued, and the girl vanished from the main event, but her little speech about Fate/Destiny/Karma hit the right spot in her mind. 

 

Zou Chunhua’s Dao was related to plants, but any bit of wisdom regarding those was nice to know, especially if she ascended to the Immortal World in the future.

 

After that came the main event, she surmised, as the man who summoned the Tribulation took the stage. 

 

His transformation and subsequent actions only displayed why it was summoned, in the first place.

 

The amount of power he displayed far outstripped his cultivation stage. 

 

Normally, that was a good thing for all newly developed Paths, but this one had to contain a secret. Otherwise, Yu Qiquang would not have been showing this to her. 

 

After all, despite being a few generations above him, in a sense, her Dao was not related to Jade. Anything that she spotted would have been noticed by him long ago.

 

When the recording stopped, she faced the man that visited her and asked the question.

 

“What is special about him?”

 

“I don't know if there was anything before the Tribulation manifested, but after his Path emerged, I noticed something.” Yu Qiquang answered. “ This is still a speculation, as his Path just manifested, but if I am not wrong, and I rarely am, then his Path is tied to Bloodlines.”

 

Zou Chunhua raised her left eyebrow. “All of them?”

 

“As I said, it is too early to tell. I have not heard of anybody possessing multiple Bloodlines unless Inheritances are involved, but even then, they will need to merge during Soul Transformation. So, my guess is that his Path will somehow gain attributes of the other Paths of Jade Dao.” Yu Qiquang reasoned from the little he sensed of the barely formed Path.

 

“Hmm, looks like internal squabbling is coming for you if he survives that long.” Zou Chunhua noted as her colleague dismissed the floating and flowing images. 

 

“ So, what is the real reason you need my advice?” She asked.

 

“Whatever that distant descendent is, it's clear that he was under influence of that troublemaking girl.” He said. “Whatever her origin, the Seeker has promised to give me a report when he is done observing her. My question is this. This girl is a real wildcard that came out of nowhere, and if I include the increasing number of troublemakers appearing, I fear that something big is about to happen. Something dark and destructive?”

 

“You can say it. There is no need to be obtrusive with your question.” Zou Chunhua advised.

 

“ You are the Senior among Equals. Therefore you have seen and experienced the most out of all of us. Is… another Demonic Incursion before us?” Yu Qiquang asked in a hesitant voice.

 

Zou Chunhua stayed quiet for a bit at the implied assumption. 

 

Yet, that was all Yu Qiquang needed. He sighed and looked at the enormous Plum Blossom tree casting a long shadow into the forest around it.

 

“If not for the Forest, this Sphere would be but ash, and Demons would be spawning from this world in their never-ending march for Conquest.” He left it on that note.

 

“I am afraid that your assumption is correct.” Zou Chunhua affirmed. “ I don't know the details. For that, you will need The Seeker and not The Gardner, that I am. Still, unlike last time we won't be weak from internal strife with the West, hence our chances are much better than last time as well.”

 

“ True, I remember how it was before the Forest split the world in two.“ Yu Qiquang recalled before outlying his experience. ”There was nothing but strife between our different cultures.” 

 

“Alright, I heard what I needed to hear. This Junior gives thanks to the Senior.” He said and grabbed the tea cup again, did the gratification ritual to show his appreciation, and drank every drop of the tea. 

 

Done with it he stood up from the wooden seat and made his way outside the Plum Blossom Grove by foot.

 

“ Yu Qiquang. You are the Jade Guardian for this Sphere. Prepare your people as best as possible, for you will be at the forefront of the incoming darkness.” Zou Chunhua declared in a grave tone.

 

“ I understand my Duty, just like you understand yours, Senior.” Yu Qiquang replied without turning around.

 

Only once he was outside the Plum Blossom Grove, did he look back for one last glance before vanishing from the place. 

 

The moment he did, Zou Chunhua’s attention shifted her to the enormous Plum Blossom tree.

 

“They play games with mortal lives and then ask me why I refuse to become an Immortal?” The Dao Embodiment Cultivators mouthed her frustration. 

 

“Why would I give up everything I built here just to become the new toy in their never-ending game? Still, I am curious about that young girl. Should I pay her a visit?”

 

“Why not?” Zou Chunhua said, and a Jade Tablet appeared before her. It floated in the air and faced the sky. 

 

With a thought sent to it, the formation ingrained in it glowed, and the image of a young woman appeared.

 

“Greetings, Revered Elder. It has been a long time since you have sought the Seekers Services. How may we help you?” The woman said.

 

“I need you to tell me where one of your Seekers is.” With a thought, an image of the Seeker she had seen in the memories of Yu Qiquang. 

 

“ One second, Revered Elder.” The woman said. Her eyes attained a distant gaze before clarity returned with an answer. 

 

“Yuan Ru, Dao Establishment Cultivator. Currently inactive. Reason - Undergoing Fated Journey to ascend to Dao Refinement. The last known location was a small Empire on the eastern side of the Eternal Forest called Azure Wind Empire.”

 

“Is there anything else we can help you with, Revered Elder?”

 

“No.” 

 

“Understood, thank you for Seeking our Services, Revered Elder.”

 

Zou Chunhua nodded, and the image vanished along with the Jade Tablet. 

 

“Well, time to plan a little trip.”