The night sky became the forest's backdrop. Moonlight fell into the trees' embrace, and starlight dotted the gaps between their branches. There was no fragrance of grass or trees, yet everything was tranquil and peaceful.
Doctor Gao pushed aside curtain after curtain of dangling black hair. He could not quite tell whether the lights ahead were fireflies or eyes opening.
"I keep feeling like someone's watching me."
"Spying on a horse?"
After venturing several dozen meters deeper, Doctor Gao noticed that all the "trees" leaned in the same direction, as though something were drawing them toward it.
"Doctor, close your eyes and feel it with your heart." Old Ma crawled on all fours, his head emerging from the branches beside Doctor Gao. "I think I hear a call too."
Muttering like a mystic, Old Ma really did close his eyes. He clambered over tree after tree, passed through intertwined limbs and soft black hair, and pushed aside tightly packed heads, leading Doctor Gao to a small clearing.
Moonlight spilled down. A woman who defied description stood at the center of the forest, her deathly pale arms extended, her fingertips straining to grow. The patterns on her skin blended with the moonlight.
She seemed as though she would never age. Her beauty was beyond imagination, her heart connected to the roots of every tree, and her eyes reflected the entire river of stars. She was the most extraordinary tree in this forest.
There was no telling how many years she had existed, or when she had begun turning into a tree. She brimmed with vitality, forever beautiful, forever growing.
Old Ma bent his arms and prostrated himself on the ground. Doctor Gao dared not make any rash moves either. The moment he saw that exquisitely beautiful "tree," his heart felt as