"Let's dissolve the battle formation. Sister Yu said it was safe up on the Xuanhuang Wood. There's no danger."
After putting away the Spirit Vision Instrument, Xiao Xiao did not return to the battle formation. Instead, he waved to signal that his teammates could relax, though he looked rather drained and listless.
"Did the bugs eat the thought you sent up there?"
Fatty Xin had been on the turtle's back and was the first to jump down. He leaned toward the Doctor curiously, looked him up and down, and pulled a small bottle from inside his robes. "I've got an Energy Potion here. Want one..."
"Thanks, but no." Xiao Xiao twitched the corners of his mouth. "I'm perfectly fine... the bugs didn't eat it."
The Fat Wizard promptly put his Magic Potion away.
The other three also dissolved the battle formation. The pale green Mana Cocoon dispersed, filling their surroundings with lively motes of magic power. "Since everything's fine... what did they say up there?"
Zhang Jixin urged him impatiently, pointing at the thick, blackened dead branch nearby. "What did she give us? A new spell? Or are there suitable talismans or magic tools hidden somewhere in the office?"
At the sight of the dead branch he was pointing at,
Xiao Xiao's expression, which had only just brightened a little, fell again.
"None of those," he answered dryly. "We've already burned it."
"Huh?"
Everyone turned to look at him at once.
Xiao Xiao took off his glasses.
He sighed.
"That's right. We've already burned it."
He took out a piece of soft cloth and carefully wiped his lenses, explaining listlessly, "That black-and-white world, the Death Domain, was the outward manifestation of this 'Dead Branch'... after the Death Law took hold in the Xuanhuang Wood, it naturally extended a corresponding 'domain'...