Laughter echoes through the forest.

Chen Li, his best friend, stares at the source of such cruel laughter and looks dejected. He looks to Lee for help.

Help which Xiao Lee refuses to give.

“You brought it on yourself,” he says. “I warned you not to try. Wu Yuan is known for being an ice-cold beauty, even by the standards of the Frozen Lake Sect.”

“What made you think trying to court her was a good idea?” Bai Liu asks. “Not even the Young Master of the Great Peak Sect dares to approach her, and everyone knows he fancies her.”

Chen Li buries his face in his hands out of embarrassment.

‘As he should,’ Xiao Lee thinks.

Indeed, Bai Lui’s words are correct. Everyone knows trying to court Wu Yuan is a stupid idea.

Still, he would give his friend some hope, if only to balance Liu’s teasing.

”Do not worry, Brother Li,” he implores his friend. “We will show her what she has lost when we surpass her in cultivation!”

“Do you think that is possible, Brother Lee?” though he sounds sceptical, there is hope in his voice.

“Wu Yuan may be the prodigy of the entire Ice Lotus Empire, but are we not students of the Dragon Lord himself? Surely, we will surpass her together,” he boasts.

“You truly cannot see Mount Xuan, Brother Lee.” Liu says with a smile. “Not all of us have your heavenly talent. How can we compete with such a prodigy.”

“What kind of sworn brother will I be if I abandoned you. I promise you today, together we will become even higher than Mount Xuan! No ice beauty will reject us then!”

Chen Li cheered at his dramatics while Bai Liu simply laughed softly, shaking her head incredulously.

----------------------------------------

Xiao Lee smiled as he recalled the memory. Indeed, those were simpler times. When they had thought their bond eternal.

Still, that was in the past. He had no intention of repeating his previous mistakes if he could help it.

He decided to wear something different for a change. He searched for his storage for a moment before bringing out a set of black robes in the same style as the one he now wore. This one had red embroidery both on the centre and the edges of the dress that displayed patterns of dragons in flight.

It was a gift from his teacher, so he was partial to it. It was also worth more than many kingdoms on Xenus.

He put it on, then prepared to go downstairs to meet Lisa.

He met Lisa waiting for him, dresses in what assumed was a casual jeans and jacket combination.

He was really thankful for the orientation because he would have been completely clueless about Lasvanian fashion without it.

She raised an eyebrow at him when he got downstairs.

“Not bad,” she said. “Let's go and get this over with.”

He still wasn’t sure why she was even bothering when she very clearly did not want to go. Still, he wasn’t going to complain, especially when she was taking care of his transportation.

A portal bloomed forth in front of them, opening the path to their destination.

There were met with a busy street filled with people of all kinds. The blue light of the sun burned hot enough that he could even feel its heat, if only barely.

All around them was a sea of buildings stretching as far as he could see, though none seemed taller than a few stories, a sharp contrast to what little he’d seen of the capital.

He watched the diverse mix of people of different races, some familiar and some entirely new, and was fascinated by the sheer variety. Not even the Wu empire’s capital was this diverse.

Then again, the Wu emperor was notorious for his discrimination.

He was interrupted by two portals coming to life beside them. Bornie stepped out of the first one, dressed as casually as Lisa, with a jeans and t-shirt.

The two women who came through the second portal were people he didn’t recognise. One of them was a tall brunette in a black dress. He couldn’t detect what level she was at, something his research showed him was a built-in feature of absorbers.

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The other one was shorter and wore a more daring short dress with a plunging neckline and lack of sleeves that would have been scandalous for all but the most powerful of cultivators.

A memory of Liu experimenting with daring dresses popped up in his head. He banished it furiously, of course.

What caught his attention most, however, was her qi. He already knew from her pointed ears that she wasn’t human. Even her green skin was not surprising, given the diversity he had already seen.

Her qi, however, was another matter. It felt alien in a way that he couldn’t quite describe. Like some strange amalgamation of tree and woman.

Deciding there was no harm in trying, he mentally asked his neural processor what race she was and was unsurprised to find it was unfamiliar to him.

She was a tremann, which was a race with a special connection to plants. They were supposedly not native to this realm at all. Though he couldn’t find much information on where they came from.

“Hey Lisa, Lee,” Bornie greeted with a smile, then turned to the two women. “Hey Louisa, Did Jessie tell you what she actually has planned?”

The brunette, Louisa, shrugged.

“I’m in void as much as you are.”

“Bornie! Lisa!” the tremann, who was likely Jessica, exclaimed.

She hugged Bornie, who returned it with some enthusiasm. She went to do the same with Lisa, who very obviously did not appreciate it and simply stood stiffly, scowling at the shorter girl.

Her attention turned to Lee after disengaging from an irritated Lisa and narrowly missing a practical lesson on spatial compression.

“You’re the new Ascendant. Xiao Lee, right?” she asked. “I’m already a fan. Also, you look great in black.”

There was something alluring about her voice, and it took a significant portion of his willpower to keep his wits. He really didn’t enjoy being the weakest person in the group.

“Thank you,” was all he managed to say.

“Well, we better get going,” she continued brightly. “Jade made up some poor excuse to be away and July is watching a game.”

“Which is what I should be doing,” Louisa grumbled.

“Don’t worry,” Jessica encouraged. “Where we’re going to is just as fun.”

“Where are we going, Jessica?” Lisa asked, her tone serious.

“Fine. You guys are no fun.” she complained. “We’re going to a Grove, if you most know.”

“A True Grove?” Bornie perked up instantly.

“Yes, a True Grove. We have a small enclave in the city. The Grove isn’t far from here. I just sent you coordinates, Lisa. You can take us there. The Grove doesn't have a portal system for non tremann.

A portal formed in front of them at her words and they all stepped through. What greeted them was a truly massive forest that stretched as far as the eyes could see.

He could feel the strange qi that was around Jessica all around him. When the qi that entered his core from passively cycling, it was immediately clear that it was not meant to be cultivated by humans. He could still cultivate it, of course - there was little qi he could not cycle - but it would have been very inefficient.

“Welcome to the Grove of Eldratre,” Jessica pointed out. “It’s where I was born. There’s a big festival today and I thought it would be good to bring some friends.”

She started walking to one of the trees and the rest of them followed,

Xiao Lee felt the moment they crossed a barrier to enter to enter the Grove. It was a formation that seemed like it was powered by the trees around them.

“Hey,” he looked up to see Bornie staring at him. “What do you think?” she asked.

“I’m interested in seeing more of this Grove,” he said truthfully. “There are no tremann on Xenus.”

“Our species never made it to the lower realms,” Jessica cut in. “We should talk later, Lee. Us off-worlders must stick together.

“You don’t even have a living ancestor that has been outside this world, Jessie,” Bornie pointed out.

“Semantics, Bornie, semantics.”

“Thats not- let's just go and see your festival.”

They went deeper into the forest, passing increasingly gargantuan trees. The trees he saw rivalled the tallest trees he had ever seen on Xenus. And he could see much taller ones in the background.

The small dirt path they were walking on was the only road he could see and so far, there were no buildings of any kind.

He was about to ask about the buildings when he saw a hole open in the middle of a tree trunk to allow someone through.

Interesting, he thought.

“Could you take us to a tree house,” Bornie asked suddenly. “I’ve always wanted to see one.”

“Of course!” Jessica exclaimed. “Anything for you.”

He saw Lisa just roll her eyes at the tremann’s antics.

They continued to go forward until Jessica suddenly stopped.

“That’s where I grew up,” she said, pointing at the tree in front of them.

It was a very tall tree, its trunk shooting up for tens of metres, but it was not different from the trees besides it.

He wasn’t sure why he expected it to be different.

They walked away from the main road, on a short path that led to the tree,

The tree opened up Jessica put her hands on its trunk and the rest of them stepped inside after her.

What met them was a different world.

They stood at the entrance to a truly massive valley that was covered with plants of different kinds and sizes. He could see different kinds of animals, some familiar but most unknown to him, lounging or running around on the grass.

There were several sparkling pools scattered around the valley and even from where he was, the thick concentration of qi was evident.

One odd thing he noticed was that the sun was brighter than in the valley than outside. He was going to ask about it when he felt a massive presence focus its attention on their group.

He froze immediately. He couldn’t properly gauge the exact power level of whoever it was but there was a certain weight to it that reminded him of the High Minister. He was almost certain it was a High Cultivator.

“Bright day, Protector Eldratre,” Jessica greeted, her head bowed in respect.

He heard a gasp of surprise from Bornie.

He felt the presence retreat from his mind and focus on Jessica. It lingered for a few seconds before disappearing. Now that he focused, though, he could feel it around him, but it was vague and unfocused.

“Since when was the Eldratre a High Tree?” Louisa asked the moment they were left alone.

“They advanced last year. The world tree helped him shield his advancement from the world.”

Lisa stared at her with raised brows.

“What? It gives the Enclave a hidden card to play.”

“Jessica, the Eldratre’s advancement was predicted two years ago. Neither your mother nor the arch druid is stupid enough to think they can fool OMNI.”

Jessica scowled at that but didn’t reply.

“Why don’t you show us your home, Jessie?” Bornie asked, diffusing the tension.

“Yeah, let's go. We’ll have to meet my mother when we’re done.”

She stared at the space for a moment before a portal opened in front of them.

They stepped through it, and once again, Xiao Lee entered a different world.