Frozen Forest

For three days straight, the two of them swayed and ambled along before finally reaching their destination.

"Achoo!"

Pulling her little leather jacket tighter around herself, the little one shivered and let out a huge sneeze.

This was the Frozen Forest, a place where a peculiar species of Abyss Tree gathered. Er Dongsheng had stumbled upon this strange little forest by accident during one of his explorations.

The Frozen Forest covered roughly three or four kilometers in every direction. Taking the cave where Er Dongsheng and the others lived as the center, this forest lay to the northwest, over a hundred li away. It was not particularly far, but with the dense, weed-choked forest ahead of them—and a little loli holding him back—a journey that should have taken just over a day had somehow stretched into four or five!

Abyssal Creatures might have long lives, but surely they were not meant to waste them like this?

"Let's just treat it as a picnic!" Er Dongsheng grumbled inwardly as he draped another hide over the little Succubus.

Frozen Forest, as its name implied, was a forest that had nearly been frozen solid. Especially now, just after the Abyssal Rain Season had ended, it truly lived up to its name.

At this moment, countless icicles hung from frost-white trees, while vast patches of ice chips carpeted the ground. Ice crystals reflected the dim light of the Abyss, making this small stretch of forest suddenly seem much brighter.

The reason this place differed so drastically from the rest of the forest lay in these special Abyss Trees.

The leaves of these Abyss Trees secreted a peculiar liquid from their surfaces. Once released, this liquid continuously absorbed the temperature around it, causing the surrounding air to cool rapidly. Even after the leaves had been plucked, they continued releasing the liquid until all the moisture within them had dried up!

One or two leaves could only affect a tiny area, but once these trees grew in large numbers and secreted enough liquid, their heat-absorbing ability became fully apparent, clearly influencing the temperature around them.

As for why such strange trees existed, that was beyond Er Dongsheng's knowledge.

In cold conditions, a single one of these unusual leaves could be used continuously for a year or even half a year!

Back then, Er Dongsheng had suddenly gotten the idea of using these leaves as the cooling source for a storage room. They were natural, high-quality freezing materials—durable, long-lasting, completely natural, and non-toxic! As for how he knew they were non-toxic, it was because he had found an animal to taste one. Although that Tutu Beast had nearly frozen its tongue off, its body showed no signs of poisoning whatsoever!

After silently mourning that Tutu Beast for a few seconds, Er Dongsheng had immediately decided to build a frozen storage room of his own. With it, he would no longer have to force himself to roast that awful beast meat whenever he had too much prey! That was how the frozen storage room in Er Dongsheng's cave had come to be.

After entering the forest, the deeper they went, the lower the temperature became, and the more ice chips covered the ground. Er Dongsheng had never gone all the way in. Even now, he could still sense a deadly threat emanating from the heart of this eerie Frozen Forest.

Curiosity killed the cat. Er Dongsheng was curious too, but his strength was still far too lacking. It was not yet time to explore a place that dangerous! He had not lived enough yet! He did not want to die just like that.

Stopping at the very edge of the forest, Er Dongsheng gazed at this peculiar woodland with some emotion. How long had it been? More than a year, probably. The last time he had come here had been during the dry season, when even the ice crystals around the outskirts had melted. He had no idea whether there had been any deeper inside. He had not dared enter back then, and even now he still did not dare step inside, so there was no way of knowing.

"Crunch, crunch!"

Turning to look at the little girl who was still eating small ice cubes, Er Dongsheng frowned!

It was the little one's first time seeing ice, and she had been endlessly curious about it. His frozen storage room had only contained meat; he had not stored any water in it. So it could be said that this was the little Succubus's first time seeing transparent, sparkling ice cubes!

"Girl, eat less of that. If you eat too much, be careful your stomach might hurt!" He had no choice but to warn her again. This was already the third time he had reminded the little one.

"Crunch, crunch!"

"Mm! Lulu knows!" As she spoke, she took another huge bite of ice chips. It was her first time eating this stuff, and it seemed she had truly fallen in love with it!

Er Dongsheng shook his head helplessly. On second thought, he decided to let it go. The stomachs of Abyssal Creatures were not so fragile. Since the little one liked eating it, he would let her eat!

"You wait here. I'm going up the tree to pick leaves. Don't run around! Understand?"

"Mm-hmm! Crunch, crunch! Lulu knows!"

Er Dongsheng circled the enormous Frozen Abyss Tree beside him, found a relatively sturdy branch, stamped his foot, and instantly leaped up into the tree. A burst of icy coldness immediately seeped through the scales beneath his feet! He had not expected even the trunk to be so cold!

It was practically a gigantic ice factory!

He took out the curved blade that was nearly broken and began looking for a suitable target.

There was skill involved in picking leaves. Leaves with overly thick stems were no good—they were too much trouble for too little gain. Even after wasting half the day, he might not manage to cut one down. Though the branches and leaves of Abyss Trees did not possess the absurd defensive strength of their trunks, they were still extremely difficult to deal with!

Leaves that were too small would not do either. If the leaves were too small, most of their energy would be devoted to growth, and they would secrete relatively little liquid.

"Mm, this kind of leaf is perfect!" Er Dongsheng raised his blade toward a leaf of moderate size, roughly as large as a human head, and began chopping at it with repeated bangs!

He worked at it for nearly half the day. By the time Lulu had almost run out of patience, Er Dongsheng finally jumped down from the tree!

He set down the basket stuffed full of leaves and stretched lazily!

"Let's go. Big brother will take you to try the local specialty!"

"Mm?"

"Come on, little glutton!"

"Mm-hmm!!!"