Chapter 875 - 874: Old Tree, Oh Old Tree

Chapter 875: Chapter 874: Old Tree, Oh Old Tree

A mirror-like lake surrounded the foot of the enormous tree, with a magnificent waterfall cascading down from the Sky River at its edge. Broken pathways and massive stones crossed the lake, connecting the plains beyond with the small land beneath the giant tree—reflections of the vast, clear sky glittered on the lake’s surface.

The pure white Nine-tailed Silver Fox cautiously jumped over several large stones on the lake surface and arrived at the base of the giant tree. Then, Yu Sheng with Erin and Luna jumped off Hu Li’s back, while next to them, the Flying Carpet landed smoothly, and a nitrous-accelerated vehicle performed a beautiful drift before stopping sideways beside the roots.

Zheng Zhi jumped off the vehicle and waved to the toothless old driver, who happily vanished into thin air.

"Old Tree!" Erin held her stone ball, ran to a huge root protruding from the ground, and knocked on the root with her Omen Wandering Star like knocking on a door, "It’s me! Old Tree, are you awake?"

A faint breeze rustled the treetops, and a murmur, like a dream whisper, seemed to respond from above.

Then Zheng Zhi noticed that everyone’s eyes were on him.

He pointed at himself, "Me?"

"Duh, who else could it be?" Erin asserted, "You said you couldn’t contact him from afar over at the camp, but we’re right next to the roots now, so go ahead and greet him."

"Oh, oh..."

Zheng Zhi, utterly confused, approached the root Erin had knocked on, then looked bewilderedly at Yu Sheng: "But Brother Yu, I really don’t know how to operate this? That time it was purely a passive connection..."

Erin tilted her head nearby: "Why not try believing in the power of belief?"

"Don’t listen to her," Yu Sheng waved his hand, dismissing Erin’s idea and then suggested his own, "Try to recall the feeling back then, and... use your regular ’summoning’ method to summon that feeling again."

Yu Sheng paused a moment, then added, "Like how you usually summon your ancestors."

Zheng Zhi willingly complied: "Alright, let me try."

He then sat on the large tree root, closed his eyes seriously, and began to focus intensely.

He looked more like he was constipated.

"Uncle Yu, is this really reliable?" Lucrecia couldn’t help but speak up after watching for a while, "I’ve been meaning to ask, this guy..."

"This one has the innate Sacred Body for Angel Power Descent," Yu Sheng didn’t wait for her to finish and explained, "His compatibility with the Dark Angel is like a force of nature; usually, he can connect with all sorts of weird stuff despite all sorts of safety precautions, let alone when he actively tries—don’t worry, even if he can’t connect with the Tree Angel, he’ll definitely connect with something else, something will surely possess him."

Lucrecia suddenly became even more uneasy, and just as she was about to say something else, a slight rustling sound echoed softly into everyone’s ears.

Tiny branches and green leaves were sprouting from Zheng Zhi’s body, and the friction between the plant tissues made a rustling noise, while small, vine-like things grew from his legs, extending to the giant tree root protruding from the earth, gradually connecting and merging.

In the blink of an eye, Zheng Zhi turned into Zheng Zhi with lush greenery all over, even his face turned green.

Yu Sheng had every reason to believe that at this moment, his nephew really could perform photosynthesis...

Lucrecia looked shocked: "It actually works?!"

Then they heard the signature aged and slow voice of the Tree Angel come from the nephew’s mouth: "It really... works?"

Erin’s eyes immediately lit up, happily greeting: "Old Tree! You’re awake?"

"Oh, it’s an omen?" the Tree Angel said sluggishly, then followed by an ’Oh dear’ sound, "Oh dear... it’s exhausting me... I’ve been sleeping so long that my branches are going to wither..."

Erin couldn’t stand the slow speaking, immediately interrupting by jumping: "Alright, alright, stop whining, you look more vibrant than I do—how are you feeling? Fully awake yet? Do you remember what happened?"

Yu Sheng thought something was wrong, pondering that Erin’s rapid-fire questioning might overwhelm even regular people, let alone this sluggish tree, and sure enough, after Little Puppet finished speaking, the old tree fell silent—nearly ten seconds passed without any movement from Zheng Zhi, until a breeze blew over the treetop, and the old tree’s voice spoke again: "Oh, it’s an omen?"

He paused again: "...why is it still flat... so I wasn’t dreaming before?"

Erin: "..."

Little Puppet took a deep breath, then started jumping and cursing, unleashing a whirlwind of florid insults that Yu Sheng couldn’t stop...

But as it turned out, the feisty little person met her match this time—with every word in her vocabulary compressed into a few outbursts, the Tree Angel was utterly unresponsive; after a long while, only a few words slowly emerged from Zheng Zhi’s mouth:

"I didn’t catch that... slower... say it again."

Erin froze in place for a moment, then burst out crying loudly.

Yu Sheng had no choice but to stuff her into Hu Li’s tail for a bit of peace.

Then Yu Sheng clapped his hands and turned his head to look at Luna, who had been standing nearby without speaking: "You communicate with the Tree Angel."

Luna was taken aback: "Why me?"

Yu Sheng: "You two have a similar speaking speed..."

Although Luna’s face usually had limited expressions, at this moment it showed a slightly subtle expression. In the end, she nodded, stepped forward, and came to Zheng Zhi, who was acting as the speaker: "Hello, the current, situation is, like this..."

And so they began to communicate,

You really couldn’t deny that Luna’s speaking speed actually tuned in with the old tree, the two "people" added a comma every four or five words. The reaction speed of the other was about as slow as Erin solving four-digit arithmetic in her head—like kindred spirits meeting each other, and all conflict disappeared...

The only drawback was for those listening nearby. Yu Sheng stood in the open space and felt miserable after listening for just a few sentences. Usually, when talking alone with Luna, he didn’t notice anything, but with an even slower old tree in the mix, it was just unbearable...

It was as if someone had forced him to watch a ten-year-old game’s full plot sequence with the skipping button plucked off...

Luckily, he didn’t have to stay and listen. After confirming that Luna was communicating smoothly with the Tree Angel, he immediately relocated with Hu Li, finding a place where they couldn’t hear the conversation and watched from afar.

Erin emerged from the fox girl’s tail, looked from afar at Luna, and muttered: "Geez, these two are like installment payment plans even when they fart, they sure found their kindred spirits..."

Erin’s low-browed quirky descriptions were as precise and grating as ever, but now even Lucrecia was somewhat used to it, and no one paid attention to the little puppet’s mutterings.

Lucrecia pulled out her crystal ball, observing and calculating as she collected some unknown data. Yu Sheng looked into the distance as if appreciating the scenery, while Hu Li looked back towards the direction of the plains across the lake, with a thoughtful expression.

After a while, Hu Li tugged on Yu Sheng’s sleeve: "Savior, I want to go catch rabbits, would you like some?"

Yu Sheng didn’t hesitate: "Yes!"

Then the fox girl rolled on the spot, transforming into a small silver fox, and dashed in a flash of white light toward the plains on the opposite side of the lake.

Soon, at the foot of the giant tree, a blue fox fire bonfire was ablaze.

Several skewers of prepared wild beast meat were hanging on tree branches, sizzling as they roasted by the bonfire. Yu Sheng and Hu Li sat nearby, the oil from the meat dripping from their chins.

Erin poked at the fire with a small twig, muttering as she glanced at Yu Sheng: "Take it easy, you guys. This place is unfamiliar, it might be poisoned..."

Yu Sheng tore into the skewer Hu Li handed him with a grin: "Do any of us look afraid of food poisoning?"

Erin thought for a moment: "True..."

After a long while, Luna finally concluded the prolonged and installment-like dialogue on her side. She turned around and saw the firelight on the distant lakeshore, and with a flash, appeared by the bonfire.

"...What’s the situation here?" the Holy Lady puzzledly looked at the scene by the bonfire.

Erin continued to stick wildflowers she casually gathered from the side onto Yu Sheng while replying without looking up: "The green-haired rabbits on the plains are poisonous."

Luna turned her head to look at Hu Li beside her, still gnawing on a skewer: "Then why, is she alright?"

Erin: "Silly fox is highly skilled—she’s fine, Yu Sheng dropped dead immediately."

Luna nodded, then proficiently bow three times to Yu Sheng’s gradually dissipating corpse.

"I’ll wait here for the Lord," she said while sitting by the bonfire, "The old tree speaks slower than I do, it’s exhausting."

Erin pondered and then glanced toward the foot of the big tree: "Why hasn’t Cousin come over yet? Isn’t the exchange done?"

"He said he wants to practice photosynthesis for a while," Luna casually replied, "because his granny said, multiple skills never weigh you down."

Just after Luna finished speaking, Yu Sheng, who was completely dissipated, suddenly appeared back where he had been lying, jumping up like a carp: "...He can really do photosynthesis now?!"

"Oh my gosh! You scared me!" Erin almost fell into the bonfire, angrily poking Yu Sheng’s calf with a small twig, "Next time you fake your death on the spot, could you at least give us a heads up?!"

Yu Sheng casually rubbed the little puppet’s head to appease her a few words, then turned his focus to Luna: "How did the communication go? Tell me about the current situation."

Luna responded with a hum.

The surrounding scenery silently collapsed, an infinite Soul Wilderness descended out of nowhere, at the splendidly majestic↑↓←→highest point, the blond knight girl stood beside the Crystal Tree, nodding at Yu Sheng.

"The Tree Angel doesn’t know where other Time Shadows landed; it only caught the ’Dark Moon Royal Court’ landing on this Sky Island. The situation was just as you initially anticipated—it did mistake the Historical Fragments here for an injured Dark Angel and tried to assist since conventional ’healing’ methods didn’t work, it swallowed the Dark Moon Royal Court into its body trying to heal it, and everyone knows what happened afterward..."