A Woodland Spirit

Uchiha Zhuang carried her back to camp. She was soaked, so he took off her outer cloak and laid it by the campfire to dry, then settled her on the bedding. Sitting beside the fire and watching her sleep, he could hardly believe a woman this beautiful could be found deep in the mountains. She had delicate features, a lovely face, long dark-green hair reaching her waist, a voluptuous figure, and fair skin exposed beneath her mysterious woven garment. With a perfectly straight face, Uchiha Zhuang pulled a blanket over her. Though the forest was lush and green, it was already early winter, and the temperature dropped rapidly at night. Firewood crackled as the scarlet and golden flames flickered, their warmth illuminating Uchiha Zhuang's face, which was gradually losing its boyishness. Darkness merged all around them, interrupted now and then by strange hoots and croaks. The bright yellow campfire stood out against the forest, black with a blue tinge.

"Mm." A faint sound came from beside him. Uchiha Zhuang came to his senses and saw the woman's eyelids twitch a few times before her eyes slowly opened. She gazed at him, bewildered. After a long moment of eye contact, Uchiha Zhuang saw no impurity or malice in her clear eyes, and his natural perception detected no hostility from her either. "Can you understand what I'm saying?" He turned back to the fire and poked at it with a stick. The flames leaped higher for a moment. "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm," the woman replied. "What's your name?" "Mm, mm, mm." "Who are you?" "Mm, mm, mm." Their conversation had yielded none of the information he wanted, but at least he could tell that she couldn't speak. Uchiha Zhuang understood. He wondered if she was one of those children abandoned as a baby and raised by forest animals. After checking once more that she had no hidden weapons, he closed his eyes and began cultivating Natural Energy.

The Natural Energy gathering around Uchiha Zhuang flowed through him. The woman slowly moved closer and lay down beside him, apparently trying to absorb the Natural Energy too. Immersed in the flow of nature, Uchiha Zhuang could feel the pure energy beside him circulating slowly in rhythm with his own. A sudden inspiration struck him. He guided the energy toward the woman and silently asked, Who are you? What are you doing? To his surprise, the woman opened her eyes and looked around, then glanced at Uchiha Zhuang before making a series of "mm" sounds. But this time, wrapped in Natural Energy, Uchiha Zhuang could understand—or rather, sense—her clearly. Her language was strange, unlike the human consensus of pronouns, subject-verb-object structures, and auxiliary words. She expressed only the most important things in the simplest terms, and offered the safest greetings in elaborate ones. There were no words for "you," "me," or "him," only collective terms like "we" and "Creator." She used no connected sentences, only individual words. Uchiha Zhuang cultivated Natural Energy as he talked with her, finding the experience rather delightful.

After teasing the woman for a while, he learned that her name was "Persia," which translated as "a miracle of the Creator." According to her, she was a child born from the trees, nurtured by heaven and earth, the forest, time, and Natural Energy. She had awakened during the warm season some time ago and had wandered through the forest—the Creator—ever since. "A child born of heaven and earth. Perhaps this is what they mean by a forest spirit," Uchiha Zhuang said with a sigh. "We go to Creator. Go," Uchiha Zhuang said. Persia responded with an eager "Mm-hmm" and started to get up and run, but he quickly held her down. He wagged a finger, pointed at the sky, then lay down and closed his eyes. Persia was very clever, and followed suit, lying down and closing her eyes.

In the early-winter forest, mist drifted slowly through the pale yellow light. Uchiha Zhuang yawned and sprang up nimbly. After straightening his clothes, he packed away the bedding and blankets, which still held some warmth, then stirred up the smoldering fire. He warmed his hands over it, took out a pot, poured in the water from a bamboo tube, and set it to boil. Persia woke to the bubbling water, wrapped in her blanket as she stared blankly at the fire. He took the pot off the flames, held up a piece of bread frozen hard as a biscuit, toasted it, and handed it to Persia. She looked at the bread, took a small bite, then began eating in earnest. Uchiha Zhuang ate slowly, bite by bite. When the water had cooled, he handed it to Persia. She eyed the iron pot curiously and sniffed it. Uchiha Zhuang gestured for her to drink. Persia leaned over and took a tentative sip. A warm current flowed through her, leaving her whole body tingling with heat. (There was nothing like that first sip of hot water in winter.) Delighted, Persia hugged the pot and sipped again and again. Uchiha Zhuang had wanted some too, but all he could do was shake his head helplessly.

There was no need to fuss over breakfast in the wilderness. Once Uchiha Zhuang had packed away the small tent, Persia's blanket and bedding, and a few warning devices, the two of them set off briskly. Persia led the way. In the forest's tangled terrain, she was like a mermaid gliding through a green sea, darting up and down and vanishing in a flash. Uchiha Zhuang followed close behind, tracking her presence with his senses. The deeper they went, the more enclosed the forest became. It seemed to close around him like a green cage. As he hurried along, Uchiha Zhuang looked up at the towering canopies blocking out the sky, the tangled branches and vines, and the waist-high ferns that blocked his way. He felt as though he were being slowly hemmed in, and a suffocating sensation crept over him. He shook his head, forced himself to stay alert, sensed Persia's trail, and quickly caught up.

After walking for who knew how long, Uchiha Zhuang was already panting, but they still hadn't reached their destination. He sensed the area again. Huh? Persia's presence had vanished. There was no trace of her energy nearby, nor even any from larger animals. Everything was silent and lifeless. The pressure on Uchiha Zhuang mounted. In the oppressive, enclosed, unfamiliar surroundings, he felt as if something terrifying could appear at any moment, and the wait was agony. With no time to worry about Persia's sudden disappearance, he activated his Two-Tomoe Sharingan and summoned the Flowing Light Red Dragon Tachi. He ran up the nearest tree as fast as he could. When he reached the top, he looked out at a vast green sea, with the terrain rising higher in the distance. He was already halfway up the slope. Uchiha Zhuang sat cross-legged in the treetop and cultivated Natural Energy. Fortunately, he could still sense it, and soon recovered his strength.

Once his strength had returned, Uchiha Zhuang ate a little and leaped toward the distant mountain peak. Since he was already here, he might as well go all the way to the end and see what was there. Besides, Uchiha Zhuang no longer ran along the ground; instead, he leaped from branch to branch high above. The saying that a mountain looked close but took forever to reach was certainly true. The peak in the distance seemed near, but it was over a hundred kilometers away. Uchiha Zhuang had set off in the morning, and by the time he neared the mountain's base, the sun was already sinking. He emerged from the forest and made camp in a hollow among the rocks at the foot of the mountain.