"Ah-leh, ah-leh, ah-leh~ Ah-leh, ah-leh, ah-leh~ Leh~ leh!"
"I was a Little Mountain Pig cast into exile. Though I could not eat fine grain, having you was enough to satisfy me!"
"But the mountains and forests of the Western Wilderness were too vast, too helpless. Even after becoming a Patrolling Demon Soldier, I still could not protect my little deer!"
"Oh, my little deer, oh, my little deer!"
"The mist deep in the forest, the deer deep in the mist—I could not tell whether it was mist, or my little deer."
"Oh, my little deer, oh, my little deer..."
Wang Wu and Old Ox stood to one side, watching Little Mountain Pig sing a sorrowful mountain song to a cheerful tune. Its little tail swished as its enormous snout rhythmically rooted around the Tree Heart.
Though they knew it was indeed the most reliable one, it always gave them the feeling that it was utterly unreliable.
No one else possessed such a talent.
"Ah-leh, found it! It's right here!"
Little Mountain Pig performed an exaggerated backflip, then pointed one hoof at a section of Tree Heart that looked no different from the rest.
Truly, the enormous space they currently occupied was actually a hollowed-out Tree Heart. There was not a trace of soil or rock to be seen around them—only hard tree walls and root tunnels.
Most of those root tunnels had either been destroyed and blocked off, or lay beneath the shroud of that still-operating formation.
So, to be honest, Wang Wu and Old Ox really had no idea where to begin digging.
"All right, you don't need to wait here. Big Brother, remember to give me two Spirit Fruits every day to replenish my strength. Third Brother, keep tempering the Mysterious Iron and make haste. Sharpening your