Mountain Sprite

Uchiha Zhuang carried her back to the camp. She was soaked through, so Uchiha Zhuang removed her outer cloak to dry by the campfire and laid her down on a mattress. Watching her sleep beside the fire, it was hard to imagine such a beautiful woman existing in the depths of these wild mountains. She had a refined face, delicate features, ink-green hair reaching her waist, an impressively majestic figure, and skin as tender as snow, revealed where the unknown woven fabric did not cover her. With a righteous expression, Uchiha Zhuang picked up a blanket to cover her. Although the forest was a lush green, it was already early winter, and the temperature dropped rapidly at night. The firewood crackled and popped, the crimson and orange flames swaying unsteadily, casting a warm glow on Uchiha Zhuang's face, which was gradually shedding its youthful softness. The surrounding darkness merged into a single void, from which strange hooting and croaking sounds emerged from time to time. The bright yellow campfire was strikingly conspicuous in the deep, ink-blue forest.

"Mm," a faint sound came from beside him. Uchiha Zhuang snapped back to his senses, noticing the woman's eyelids fluttering before her eyes slowly opened, looking at him with confusion. After a long moment of eye contact, Uchiha Zhuang saw no filth or impurity in her clear, bottomless eyes, and his natural perception detected no malice from her. "Can you understand me?" Uchiha Zhuang turned back to look at the fire, poking it with a stick, causing the flames to flare up. "Mm-na, mm-na," the woman made such sounds. "What is your name?" "Mm-mm-mm." "Who are you?" "Mm-mm-mm." The conversation failed to yield the information he wanted, confirming only that she could not speak. Uchiha Zhuang understood, guessing she might be a child abandoned in infancy and raised by forest animals. After confirming once more that she was not hiding any weapons, Uchiha Zhuang closed his eyes and began to cultivate natural energy.

As the increasingly dense natural energy flowed through Uchiha Zhuang, the woman slowly approached and lay down beside him, seemingly following his lead in absorbing the energy. Immersed in the flow of nature, Uchiha Zhuang could feel the pure energy around him slowly circulating in rhythm with his own breath. A flash of inspiration struck him; Uchiha Zhuang controlled the energy to flow toward the woman, silently reciting questions like "Who are you?" and "What are you doing?" Unexpectedly, the woman opened her eyes to look around, then at Uchiha Zhuang, and began to make "mm-mm" sounds. But this time, enveloped by the natural energy, Uchiha Zhuang could hear—or rather, perceive—it clearly. Her phrasing was strange, lacking the human consensus of subject-verb-object structures or auxiliary words; instead, she used extreme brevity for important matters and complex, flowery language for simple greetings. Furthermore, there were no pronouns like "you," "me," or "him," only collective concepts like "we" and "the Creator," and no connected sentences, only individual words. Uchiha Zhuang found it quite a unique experience to communicate with her while cultivating natural energy.

After continuing to tease the woman, he learned that she was "Persia," which translated to "Miracle of the Creator." According to her, she was a child conceived within the trees, a child born from the nourishment of the heavens, the earth, the forest, time, and natural energy. She had awakened during the warm season some time ago and had been wandering through the forest (the Creator) ever since. "A child born of heaven and earth—perhaps that is what a forest spirit is," Uchiha Zhuang sighed. "We, go to the Creator, walk," Uchiha Zhuang said. Persia made "mm-mm" sounds and prepared to run off, but Uchiha Zhuang pressed her down, shook his finger, pointed to the sky, and then lay down and closed his eyes. Persia, being extremely clever, followed suit and lay down, closing her eyes as well.

The early winter forest was filled with slowly drifting mist under a pale yellow light. Uchiha Zhuang yawned, rose nimbly, tidied his clothes, packed away the still-warm mattress and blanket, stoked the fire, warmed his hands, and took out a pot to boil water from a bamboo tube. Persia woke up to the sound of the bubbling water, sitting wrapped in her blanket and staring blankly at the fire. He removed the pot, toasted a piece of bread that had frozen into a biscuit, and handed it to Persia. She looked at the bread, took a small bite, and then began to eat heartily. Uchiha Zhuang ate his own portion bite by bite, and once the water had cooled, he handed it to Persia. She looked at the iron pot with curiosity and sniffed it. Uchiha Zhuang gestured by tilting his head back, and Persia brought her mouth to the rim and took a gentle sip. A warm current flowed from her head to her toes, leaving her body tingling and cozy (the first sip of hot water in winter is truly enchanting). Delighted, Persia hugged the pot and took sip after sip. Uchiha Zhuang, who had wanted some himself, could only shake his head helplessly.

There was no need for formalities when eating breakfast in the wild. Once Uchiha Zhuang had packed up the small tent, Persia's blanket and mattress, and the various perimeter alarms, the two set off briskly. Persia led the way; in the complex environment of the forest, she was like a mermaid swimming through a green ocean, darting up and down and flashing out of sight in an instant. Uchiha Zhuang followed closely behind, sensing her aura. As they ventured deeper, the forest became increasingly claustrophobic, the surroundings closing in like a green cage. As he hurried along, Uchiha Zhuang looked at the canopy that blotted out the sky, the intricate, tangled vines and branches, and the lush, waist-high ferns that blocked his path. He felt as if he were being slowly hemmed in, a sense of suffocation rising! He shook his head, forced himself to stay alert, sensed Persia's trail, and followed quickly.

He did not know how long they had been walking; Uchiha Zhuang had started to pant, yet they had not reached their destination. He sensed again—what!? Persia's aura had vanished. There was no energy reaction from Persia in the vicinity, not even from any larger animals; it was deathly silent. Uchiha Zhuang's mental pressure surged. In this extremely oppressive, claustrophobic, and unfamiliar environment, it felt as if something terrifying could appear at any moment, and the waiting was agonizing. With no mind to worry about the suddenly vanished Persia, Uchiha Zhuang activated his two-tomoe Sharingan, summoned the Flowing Light Red Dragon Tachi, and began to sprint up a large tree nearby. Once he reached the top, he looked around to see a vast ocean of green. The terrain ahead was rising, and he realized he was already on a mountainside. Uchiha Zhuang sat cross-legged at the treetop to cultivate natural energy; fortunately, he could still sense it, and he used the natural energy to recover his stamina.

With his stamina fully restored, Uchiha Zhuang ate some food and leaped toward the distant peaks. Since he had already come this far, he would go to the end and see what was there. Furthermore, Uchiha Zhuang no longer ran on the ground, instead leaping forward along the high tree trunks. It was truly said that "a horse can run itself to death looking at a mountain"—the peaks looked close, but they were at least a hundred kilometers away. By the time Uchiha Zhuang, who had set out in the morning, approached the foot of the mountain, the sun was already slowly sinking. Uchiha Zhuang exited the forest and set up camp in a rocky hollow at the base of the mountain to spend the night.