As the morning Mist-Hidden Forest, the Youth Guardian Camp, guided by the Forest Dwellers ' "Mist Whisper Guides," stepped into the misty paths. A Mu's New Sprout Sword, its scabbard imbued with Ice-Fire Entwining Pattern by the Snow Spirit Qilin with a " Spirit Mist Resonance Talisman "—it glows a pale green when encountering mist, both isolating it from the forest's damp chill and aiding in sensing the Evil Energy fluctuations within the mist. In A Ya's bag, besides the usual purifying plant seeds, there were now " Mist-Cleansing Grass " seeds cultivated by Liya specifically for the Misty Forest environment—the leaves of this grass absorb mist and convert it into Purification Power, its roots penetrate deep into the soil at the source of the mist to absorb evil mist particles, and it secretes mucus to reinforce the soil and prevent erosion. On A Shi's patrol log, two new columns, "Mist Transparency" and " Mist-Dwelling Flower Blooming Rate," were added. A grayish-brown petal of a Mist-Dwelling Flower was tucked into the corner—an "anomaly marker" sent by the Forest Dwellers after Loran's prior communication.
"Follow the call of the Mistwhisper Bird, and you'll find the treehouses of the Forest Dwellers!" Loran walked at the front of the group, his fingertips glowing with a faint green light—the " Spirit Mist Protective Membrane " bestowed upon him by the Snow Spirit Qilin, allowing him to penetrate the dense fog and sense the location of the mist source. The golden figure of the Icefield Wolf was particularly conspicuous in the fog, leaping lightly across the path covered with decaying leaves. Whenever it approached an area with a high concentration of evil mist, it would stop and sniff the mist in the air. The morning scenery of the forest was exceptionally serene: the mist, like flowing green gauze, entwined the ancient trees. The " Mist-Dwelling Flower " (vines with translucent petals that glowed with a faint green light) on the tree trunks should have been unfurling with the morning mist, but the deeper they went into the forest, the dimmer the light of the Mist-Dwelling Flower became. In some areas near the source of the mist, the petals even turned grayish-brown. Even the " Mistwhisper Bird " (birds with misty white feathers and whispering calls) that should have been flitting through the forest were nowhere to be seen. Only the rustling of the wind through the leaves sounded somewhat desolate.
Upon arriving at the Forest Dwellers, several Forest Dwellers dressed in bark-woven garments stood before their dwellings, holding withered Mist-Dwelling Flower, their faces filled with sorrow. Seeing the boys, a forest dwelling girl with braided hair and a headband made of Mist-Dwelling Flower quickly approached, her voice as soft as mist. "Lord Loran, you've finally arrived! For the past two weeks, the ' Spirit Mist Spring ' in the center of the forest has become increasingly murky, the spirit mist even has a bitter taste, the Mist-Dwelling Flower are almost withered, and the Mistwhisper Bird have hidden deep within the ancient trees—the chieftain says that evil mist has entangled the Spirit Mist Spring, sucking away the life force of the forest."
A Mu followed the girl to an ancient tree entwined with withered vines, his fingertips lightly touching the lingering spiritual mist—a chill even colder than the dampness of the wetlands emanated from his fingertips. It was a " Mist-Turbid Evil Trace " formed by the combination of Evil Energy and spiritual mist, spreading along the mist towards the Spirit Mist Spring. " Evil Energy has dissolved into the spiritual mist!" A Mu looked up at Loran, his tone certain. "I learned this before in Starfall Canyon. Evil Energy diffuses along with the environmental energy. Here, the Evil Energy is intertwined with the spiritual mist. We need to use ' Forest Speech Technique,' a spell that resonates with the forest, to 'filter' the Evil Energy out of the spiritual mist."
The forest girl nodded, pointing to the " Ancient Spirit Tree " in the center of the forest. " The Spirit Mist Spring is right under the Ancient Spirit Tree. It's the heart of our forest. The Mist-Dwelling Flower and Mistwhisper Bird rely on the spirit mist to survive, and that's where the Evil Energy starts to spread. We've tried using ' Forest Speech Technique ' to appease the ancient tree, but the Evil Energy is too stubborn. We can only barely stop it from drifting towards the edge of the forest; we can't purify the Spirit Mist Spring."
Loran gazed towards the Ancient Spirit Tree —that thousand-year-old tree, which should have been lush and verdant, with spirit mist slowly overflowing from the spring at its base, now had drooping branches and leaves, the spirit mist around the spring tinged with a pale gray, and even the Mist-Dwelling Flower on the trunk had only a few petals left, shimmering faintly. " A Mu, try Ice-Fire Harmonization with the Forest Speech Technique!" His fingertips glowed with a pale green light as he lightly touched the trunk of the ancient tree. "First, use the power of fire to gently dispel the dense fog, preventing the evil mist from gathering within it; then use the power of ice mist to condense the evil mist particles, preventing them from spreading with the spirit mist; at the same time, use the Forest Speech Technique to resonate with the ancient tree, guiding the purified spirit mist to nourish the plants—remember, the power of ice and fire must be gentle, like the flowing spirit mist, so as not to disturb the Mistwhisper Bird hiding in the ancient tree."
A Mu took a deep breath, placed the New Sprout Sword upright on the stone pier beside the ancient tree, and following the incantation taught by Loran, first condensed a wisp of extremely faint flame power at his fingertips—the flame did not directly burn the mist, but instead condensed into a transparent warm film within the spiritual mist. The dense mist slowly dispersed upon encountering the warm film, revealing the grayish Spirit Mist Spring below; then, he combined the power of the icy mist with the spiritual mist, condensing it into fine green and white light particles, and gently sprinkled them towards the spring. At the same time, he imitated the tone of the forest dwelling girl, softly reciting the incantation "Forest Language"—soon, he could vaguely "sense" the ancient tree's "response," which was the ancient tree conveying its fatigue from being disturbed by Evil Energy.
The green and white light particles spread along the spiritual mist. When they encountered the gray mist formed by Evil Energy, they turned into small cocoons of mist, gradually enveloping the gray mist. The warm flame membrane continued to release warmth, allowing the cocoons of mist containing Evil Energy to slowly fall onto the " Mist-Cleansing Grass " that A Shi had laid out in advance. The moment the cocoons of mist touched the grass mat, they turned into a light black liquid and were completely absorbed by the grass mat.
" A Ya! Time to plant the Mist-Cleansing Grass!" A Mu called out to those behind him. A Ya immediately grabbed the Mist-Cleansing Grass and followed the forest girl into the decaying leaf area beside the Spirit Mist Spring. The girl skillfully used a wooden shovel to dig shallow pits in the decaying leaf soil and sprinkled some ground "ancient tree decaying leaves" into them. "The chieftain said that ancient tree decaying leaves can help the Mist-Cleansing Grass take root faster and can also lock in the Evil Energy together with the grass's roots, preventing it from seeping back into the Spirit Mist Spring." A Ya then followed the " Forest Symbiosis Method " taught by Liya, sprinkling the Mist-Cleansing Grass on the decaying leaves and watering them with diluted Soul-Purifying Water ( Loran had already mixed it with the Spirit Mist to create "Spirit Mist Purification Liquid")—as soon as the seeds touched the water, tiny green shoots sprouted, and the roots quickly penetrated the decaying leaf soil. When the leaves unfolded, they even shone with a pale green light similar to the Spirit Mist, and the black threads in the Spirit Mist seemed to be attracted by a magnet, slowly gathering towards the grass leaves.