Calculation
At a clearing in the dense jungle, a natural hot spring was bubbling.
The spring water was so clear that one could see down to the bottom. There was a layer of white sand on the bottom of the pool. Near the mouth of the spring[1], a black flagstone had been set at the side of the pool. The spring water was constantly gushing out of the pool, flowing through few traces on the stone surface and seeping into the ground.
Ji Wu was comfortably sitting in the warm water, eyes closed and with a smile on his face. His skin occasionally emitted a faint, fiery light.
Jiang Yao, held a three-meter-long, red serpent, and circled around the pool while whispering a strange, ancient spell. Her voice gradually grew louder. Suddenly, she sliced the serpent’s neck with a black jade knife in her hand. Hot blood poured onto the stone and formed a dozen strange spell symbols[2] on the stone surface.
Seven big and muscular women were standing around the pool, throwing medicinal packages made of all kinds of herbs into the water. In addition to the medicinal packages, they sometimes threw in odd things, such as a arm-long beast fangs, poison sacks from unknown creatures, and a variety of insects bodies or carapaces[3] into the pool.
Following Jiang Yao’s voice, the clear spring water gradually changed colour, turning into a pool of blood-red, thick liquid. Wisps of red smoke drilled into Ji Wu’s skin. Ji Wu then began to twitch his body. His tranquil expression also became twisted.
A few miles away, Ji Hao stood on a treetop, and smiled as he watched Jiang Yao and Ji Wu.
The stoneman was sauntering under the tree. He felt annoyed that his body was too heavy for him to climb up trees. Yet he was very curious about what they were seeing from up there. The only thing he could do was frequently look up at Ji Hao and hope that he would speak a few words.
Next to Stone, there was an old tree. This tree had human-limb-like branches and a mouth-like, large tree hole, with which it sipped fruit wine from a vat that it had wrapped with its branches.
Whenever Stone walked near the old tree, the tree would lash his butt with branches. However, Stone could not sense any pain with its body made up of stones.
Sitting next to Ji Hao on the treetop was a breathtakingly beautiful girl. Leaves and vines decorated her body and made her look like a woodland fairy. She held a longbow with a charming smile on her delicate face. Her facial expression kept changing at every moment. Sometimes she frowned and pondered seriously, and in the next moment she would suddenly raise her eyebrows and giggle.
The girl was riding a leopard, which had fire-red fur with silver spots on it. This thirty-feet-long leopard was standing on a kid-fist-thick branch, but the branch didn’t even sway a bit. The beast seemed as light as a phantom and as graceful as a prince.
The stone man was a ‘Stonemlin’. The ‘Stonemlin’ once was an ancient stone down in the valley. Somehow, the stone had learned to absorb the life force energy from nature. Year by year, it started to grow a human-like spirit and eventually learned how to turn itself into a human shape.
The old tree was a ‘Treeman’. Slightly different from Stone, this old tree was born from seeds and had grown into a mundane tree. However, this ordinary yet special tree was born with a strong spiritual power. One day it had unexpectedly awakened into sentience. Since then, it had always known how to enhance itself with the natural life force energy. After years of practicing, the old tree became a mobile Treeman with human-like limbs.
The girl named Heng Luo at Ji Hao’s side, was a little girl and a deity from the nature. She was a ‘Nymph’, which was a magical creature. Hong Luo was born by the gathering of natural life force energy and spiritual power, with the talent to control beasts, identify all kinds of plants, and communicate with all living creatures. She was the guard of the jungle; the vitality of the jungle and that of her were tightly connected to each other.
Ji Hao had never liked to hang around with kids in the village. Ever since he had learned to walk, he had spent nearly all his time in this jungle. These years, Stone, the Treeman, Heng luo, and few other special creatures were his true friends.
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