Purple Raven Grass

The forest was utterly silent, even the earlier birdsong had vanished.

The only sound in the entire space was the crunch, crunch of footsteps crushing dry leaves.

The crisp noise drifted through the empty woods, echoing back and forth...

She didn't know how far she'd walked, but along the way she'd gnawed on another piece of bread, and even Xiao Xi had downed ten jin of White Wolf King Meat.

Suddenly, Ji Xinghe stopped.

Xiao Xi shook its vines in confusion.

But Ji Xinghe stared in delight at the purple herb growing by the roadside.

She hurried over, crouched down, and while keeping a wary eye on her surroundings, pulled out a pickaxe to dig.

The herb's roots and stems were gray, with only three purple leaves.

Carefully, she unearthed the whole plant along with the gray-brown soil.

The moment the herb was out, the system's mechanical voice rang out: [Player has found Purple Raven Grass, exploration +10%]

Ji Xinghe's face lit up, but she immediately scanned the area again.

Seeing no monsters appear, she relaxed her shoulders slightly and pulled up the herb's details panel.

"Purple Raven Grass (Herb): Non-toxic. One of the secondary ingredients for crafting Deformation Treatment Potion."

"Effect: Eating a Purple Raven leaf raw restores 10% Deformation value."

"Note: A rare herb on the Nine Yuan Continent. Due to its special growing conditions, it is relatively scarce."

"It really is Purple Raven Grass." With that, she quickly stowed the herb in her backpack.

Ji Xinghe had dug up Purple Raven Grass in her past life too. Back then, her legs were crippled, and she'd accidentally torn off a piece of the leaf.

She hadn't thought much of it, but a minute later, the Purple Raven leaf turned gray, and its effects vanished completely.

That was when she learned that after picking a Purple Raven leaf, it had to be used within a minute, or it would become a useless scrap.

Purple Raven Grass was already rare, and she'd wasted a leaf after finally getting one—back then, she was so furious she'd pounded her own paralyzed legs.

Maybe sensing the tangled emotions inside Ji Xinghe, Xiao Xi hooked its vine around her pinky.

"Master... be happy, okay."

"Xiao Xi, here!"

Ji Xinghe snapped back to reality, glanced at the vine by her hand, and smiled with warmth in her eyes: "Alright, let's keep going and find those fragrant fruits."

"The scent... close." Xiao Xi muttered, then firmly clung to Ji Xinghe's shoulder.

A quarter of an hour later, Ji Xinghe found another three-leaf Purple Raven Grass by the roadside.

After stowing it in her backpack, she looked up at the towering tree ahead that seemed to pierce the sky.

The vines on her shoulder danced wildly, Xiao Xi looking thrilled: "Master, that's it... Fragrant Fruit."

The path was smooth all the way, not a single monster in sight. Ji Xinghe stood not far from the big tree, watching her surroundings warily.

Too quiet. It made her suspect whether those Deformed Monsters were hiding under this tree again...

But the area around the tree wasn't shrouded in gray mist. The mist circled five meters beyond the tree's perimeter, almost as if it was avoiding the tree itself.

Seeing Ji Xinghe not moving, Xiao Xi's vines gradually calmed down.

After waiting two minutes, the surroundings remained as quiet as ever.

Ji Xinghe's eyes shifted, then fixed on the big tree across from her.

The whole tree was lush green—a perfectly normal tree, but in a gray-mist environment, staying green made it seem anything but normal.

Ji Xinghe's gaze lingered on the dense green branches, unaware that the patterns on the trunk were subtly shifting.

Her fingers tightened around the Star Feather Repeating Crossbow in her hand.

Then, her eyes locked onto the leaves, and she let out a soft laugh.

Looking at Xiao Xi's two tender leaves swaying in the wind, then at the green leaves on the tree that were frozen solid and didn't budge.

She said nothing, figuring the tree in front of her was probably a spirit.

Knowing what it was made things easier—after all, the unknown was the scariest.

Ji Xinghe had never dealt with spirits in her past life, but she'd heard from players who had that spirits were generally mild-tempered. As long as you didn't harm them, they usually ignored you.

The next second, she spoke to Xiao Xi: "Xiao Xi, can you grab that trunk?"

The trunk was too high; she couldn't jump up.

Xiao Xi's vines nodded: "I can."

With that, its vines reached for the tree's branches. Ji Xinghe didn't stop it.

Once it had a firm grip on the trunk, Ji Xinghe grabbed the vine: "Pull me up."

The moment she finished speaking, her whole body rose steadily until she was standing firmly on a branch.

After several more attempts, Ji Xinghe finally saw the fragrant fruit Xiao Xi had mentioned.

She sniffed the air, and the tip of her nose caught a scent as sweet and refreshing as mountain spring water.

In this oppressive environment, Ji Xinghe couldn't help but take a couple more breaths.

She looked up and saw that at the very top of the big tree, there were only two pale blue crystal-like fruits, one large and one small.

They looked more like decorations than something edible.

But seeing how much Xiao Xi craved them, they had to be something good.

Ji Xinghe raised her head and reached her hand toward the larger crystal fruit.

The fruit was bouncy and springy.

Boer...

Without any resistance, she plucked it with ease.

As soon as she picked the fruit, the system's mechanical voice rang out:

[Player has found the Water Spirit Fruit. Exploration progress +10%.]

Ji Xinghe froze. Water Spirit Fruit?

She hadn't expected this fruit to add so much to the exploration progress. She quickly stashed it into her backpack.