Book 15: Chapter 29: Mutant
Book 15: Chapter 29: Mutant
“Green Field City’s roots?”
Lin Xi’s brows furrowed in confusion. Could it be that every single stalk of grass, every single tree in Green Field City, the Wasp Towers that stood here, the various types of trees and roots, those vine houses hanging from the trees, the sweet smelling and thick grass he stepped on right now, all of these were nothing more than various leaves of a large tree? This entire Green Field City was a large tree?
This elder who was called a wise one by Fiend Race saw the shock and bewilderment in Lin Xi’s eyes. He chuckled, not explaining anything, only continuing to bring Lin Xi towards the temple-like building.
This type of building had seventeen flights of steps in total. The steps were extremely soft, as if they really were stepping on true tree roots that were full of water content.
There was only a circular arched hall-like room inside, the arrangements extremely simple. There was a bed woven out of vines as well as dead wood of varying sizes that could be considered a table and chairs.
The simple walls were just like outside, all green colored, similarly full of brilliantly colored runes.
Apart from the curtains by the doorway, there weren’t any windows in this temple-like room, but it was still bright, as if the sunlight outside could seep through the building and enter inside.
The air inside was clearly much cleaner and rich than outside, to the extent where Lin Xi began to feel that there were two clearly different types of vital energy swirling through those brightly colored patterns.
One type was comparatively more intense, a type that was released by this building. The other wasn’t that clear, but it was the vital energy this building sucked in from the outside world through these runes.
Lin Xi thought of a certain possibility, his furrowed brows immediately relaxing.
“It seems like you already understand a bit.” The elder poured three cups of water, one each for Lin Xi, Nangong Weiyang and Chi Xiaoye. He saw Lin Xi’s loosened eyebrows, smiling in a wise and farsighted manner. The cups in his hands were also all hollowed out wooden roots, the water inside a light green color, releasing a clear and sweet aura. It was as if this was the juice extracted from some type of grass or leaf.
“You are quite intelligent. There are some reasonings that will be easier for you to understand.” Chi Pu looked at Lin Xi and said.
“This is the dew that gathers on Green Bamboo Flowers, it can eliminate fatigue and is beneficial for meditation, quite precious.” Chi Xiaoye quietly explained to Lin Xi and Nangong Weiyang, and then extremely respectfully expressed her gratitude to this elder.
Lin Xi also seriously expressed his thanks. He drank this cup of flower dew. It was extremely refreshing and sweet, as if it was sugar cane juice that had just been freshly extracted, and then had some osmanthus flowers added.
“These buildings can produce the nutrients needed for the other plants’ growth? When the Wasp Towers and other plants and fruits lose their nutrients, they will then wither to death, this city will wither away, no longer exist. That is why your respected self called this type of building the roots of the city?” He slowly drank the water while looking at the elder, probingly asking this.
The elder showed him a thumbs up, sighing in admiration. “I just knew you would’ve figured it out.”
“Your respected self should understand my intentions for coming, but you weren’t in a rush to talk about it, so I believe your respected self definitely has other intentions.” Lin Xi thought for a bit, and then raised his head to look at this elder’s eyes that were filled with experience and wisdom. “A wise one like your respected self likely wouldn’t speak any meaningless words. This type of temple-like structure isn’t hard to understand, but your respected self said outside that ‘even if a single one of these Sky Jade Wasps was released into Ancient Witch Forest, there is still a chance that this Sky Jade Wasp will appear before us again. It is just like the vital energy and runes of this world, these Fragrant Radish Tree Towers and Sky Jade Wasps, everything is actually connected. The things you’ve experienced are just like changing the trajectories of some things, and then these trajectories, perhaps after a long time, might return to you.’ I could not understand the meaning behind your respected self’s words.”
After a slight pause, Lin Xi lowered the already empty cup, and then said, “I only heard of the butterfly effect, which is a bit similar to what your respected self has spoken about, but it also doesn’t seem to be quite the same thing.”
Right at this time, the hanging vines by the entrance moved slightly. There were two Fiend Race elders who walked in.
These were two older women.
One of the older women held a brown vine staff, looking at it from the distance, it looked just like coral, but also had many branches, as well as many fine openings.
The other older women’s face and build looked no different from a normal older lady, also dressed in dark green robes. The only difference was that she didn’t hold anything in her hands, only having a washbowl-sized green snail following at her side.
This extremely slow green snail that looked extremely large clearly had the aura of a powerful fiend beast swirling around its body, making Lucky once again stick its head out of Lin Xi’s sleeves, curiously and vigilantly sizing it up.
Similarly, when Lucky appeared, this snail also stopped. That older woman also sized up Lucky for quite some time.
These two older women’s faces were similarly waxen yellow with a faint layer of green, looking extremely similar to the color of some type of tree bark.
“These are the two other wise ones in the clan, Chi Wan and Chi Gu. They do not know how to speak Yunqin language, but they should be able to understand it.” Chi Xiaoye showed these two elders greetings while explaining quietly to Lin Xi, “The way to control the giant lizards was precisely discovered by Wise One Chi Wan.”
While Lin Xi also showed these two newly arrived Fiend Race elder respectful greetings, moreover couldn’t help but look towards that Fiend Race older woman when he heard Chi Xiaoye’s words, the Fiend Race elder named Chi Pu already spoke again. “In your eyes, I can see the radiance of wisdom.” This elder looked at Lin Xi, a bit amazed and curious as he asked, “The butterfly effect you speak of, I have never heard of it before. What does it mean?”
“The fluttering of the butterflies here might produce a storm in place far, far away.” Lin Xi explained seriously. “The meaning is that a small matter that happens by your side might produce a series of changes, create a huge effect in a different place.”
The three Fiend Race wise ones exchanged a look, all of them clearly a bit shocked.
“This is indeed quite the profound reasoning.” Wise One Chi Pu stroked his beard. After thinking seriously for a moment, only then did he look at Lin Xi, slowly shaking his head and saying, “However, this isn’t quite like what I said. What I said, using words that are easier for your Yunqin people to understand, perhaps it is ‘karma’.”
“Karma?” Lin Xi and Nangong Weiyang’s brows furrowed. The two of them understood the meaning of this word, but they didn’t understand the meaning behind this elder speaking this word at this time.
“Everything has a cause and effect.”
This elder didn’t continue to talk in riddles either, using a serious and admiring expression as he looked at Lin Xi and Nangong Weiyang. “Why is it that even though there are so many people in Yunqin and other empires, after all these years, only you two were able to enter our home? Apart from Chi Xiaoye, there similarly exists other reasons.”
“Other reasons?” Lin Xi couldn’t help but exchange a look with Nangong Weiyang, becoming even more confused.
“Even though your sword is wrapped, I can feel a familiar aura.”
“We recognize the sword you carry.”
This elder’s wise and deep eyes landed on the cloth wrapped longsword on Lin Xi’s back. Then, his and the other two elders’ eyes then stopped on Nangong Weiyang, not moving for a long time. “Do you not feel that Green Field City is extremely familiar?” He looked at Nangong Weiyang and asked, “Or perhaps you feel like you’ve seen it before?”
When these words were spoken, Lin Xi and Chi Xiaoye’s breathing both immediately stopped.
“Your flying sword is related to her.”
The elder released a light sigh, “And she, is related to our Green Field City.”
Lin Xi took a deep breath. Right now, he was full of bewilderment. However, he looked at the elder, holding himself back, not uttering any sounds. It was because he felt like this was instead the time for Nangong Weiyang to ask questions.
Nangong Weiyang’s brows furrowed deeply. She looked at these three elders, but she also just waited, not saying anything.
“Seeing your expression, what I said should be correct. You should still have some vague memories, just that you don’t remember too clearly, only feeling a bit of familiarity. It is because back then, you had just been born, you were actually still too young, which is why you don’t have any clear memories.” The elder didn’t stop for long, looking at Nangong Weiyang and saying, “You were born in Green Field City. Your parents are both also our clansmen.”
Lin Xi and Chi Xiaoye were already a bit speechless.
Even though they always guessed that Nangong Weiyang’s birth had something to do with Green Field City, Lin Xi also making countless guesses along the way, he never expected that Nangong Weiyang’s birthplace would actually be explained through such a clear and direct manner.
“I am someone from Green Field City? My parents are also cultivators from Green Field City, just like you all?”
It was instead Nangong Weiyang herself who was the most calm, clearly seriously and calmly thinking. “I left Green Field City right after I was born? What kind of developments was this due to?”
“It is because our clansmen were scared of change, and also because of you yourself.” The elder looked deeply at Nangong Weiyang while saying this.
Nangong Weiyang gave him a look, her expression not changing as she asked, “What does that mean?”
“Since you all came here with Chi Xiaoye, then you should have already clearly seen that our clansmen all live a carefree and worriless life, isolated from the rest of the world.” The elder gave Nangong Weiyang a look, and then turned to look at Lin Xi. “This is how our clan has been generation after generation. Great Desolate Swamp and Ancient Witch Forest are our natural defensive barriers. We view ourselves just like the trees that grow here, harmonious with this place. We feel that this type of lifestyle is excellent, much better than that of the outside world. That is why all of our clansmen wish to earnestly maintain this type of lifestyle and cultivation method.”
“It was my parents’ and the people here whose thinking became different? They wanted to leave, or bring others in?” Nangong Weiyang asked.
“That is not all.” The elder looked at Nangong Weiyang, shaking his head. “It is because you were different from all of the clansmen from birth.”
“Everyone else here, including your parents, are all like Chi Xiaoye, having the aptitude to accelerate the growth of many plants. This means that all of our clansmen are cultivators who naturally have the skill to use many plants, they can even use many plants like soul weapons.”
“However, you were different. When you were born, your parents discovered that you didn’t have this type of aptitude. You couldn’t communicate with, nurture, or use plants. Also, if we were to use a way Yunqin’s people could understand, the speed in which you ignited a soul force seed, your cultivation speed was faster than any other cultivation geniuses in our clan. That is why in our clan, you are a never seen before mutant.”