So we've been walking for a while now, and I honestly don't see anything related to a grotto at all. I've talked to Xie Wen about it and all she said is that we'll find it if we look hard enough. Obviously, I don't really believe her but since I don't wanna antagonize her, I just kept quiet and waited for her to give up.

We are currently walking out of the cobblestone path and into the grassy forest, the warmth that we get from the path is now gone and my feet are starting to feel uncomfortable. "Guess you can never know you lost something until you actually lost it huh?" I say more to myself than anyone else. I kept looking back to the cobblestone road, it was calling to me to come back and my feet agree, "Why can't we just continue walking down the cobblestone road?"

"Because, Yu Song, we are now heading west to find the Grotto." Replies Xie Wen calmly. The fox by her feet (the little traitor) looked bored as she followed after Xie Wen's footsteps, the girl's long strides seemingly not a bother for the animal to follow after. "And right now, we have found the open area that should lead us to the Grotto."

What Xie Wen is talking about is an area of the forest that lacks trees. There is still some, but the density of their numbers had considerably gone down and there's now plenty of space in between each of them. And the space is pretty clear too, it lacks bushes and everything. It makes me wonder if there's actually a settlement nearby, "Where are the plants?" I asked.

"Cleared by the villagers nearby," Oh, guess there are villagers out here then. "And yes, Yu Song, they're near enough that we can probably visit them if we choose to live in the Grotto."

Hey, I didn't even think about it but if Xie Wen's gonna give me permission to go visit a village of normal humans then why not? Well, if they're actually normal humans that is, "Are the villagers cultivators?" Pretty sure that everyone in this world can cultivate, including the plants but I'm still curious because not everyone can be successful and I want to know if the people there are powerful.

"Sort of." Is her reply, "Supposedly, they serve as an outpost for the nearby city and because of that, the village has an array formation around it to protect them from any deadly attacks," she walked faster and stopped by a tree, this one had a carving on it, words written in Chinese inside a heart, "We should be close, I think."

I still have no idea what we're supposed to be close to.

I took long steps forward and caught Foxy by the armpit, then I lifted her up and hoisted her to my chest, where she'll stay for the foreseeable future. I gave her scritches by the ear and the little gal leaned in, rubbing her head against my chest while releasing soft whines. My hand went down her hand and I scratched her back, I smiled when she started to enjoy it after a moment of stiffening up, "Foxy can probably help us find the Grotto," I said, "Won't you girl? Yesh you will, Yesh you will-"

"If she can, then she would've done it." Xie Wen lifted a stray branch as she passed a tree while I walked around it, Fox in my hands and all. "Places like the Grotto are irresistible for Spirit Beasts like her."

"Is that why that beetle is hiding in that cave?" She nodded but kept her eyes forward, "Then what if there's already a forest beast inside of it?"

"We kill it." Xie Wen said casually, "Anything that lives there and thrives is gonna be weak enough that even I can kill it."

Right, I forgot that she's now in the upper stages of Qi Gathering. I put Foxy down and she ran forward while yodeling, circling Xie Wen and then going over to a tree before running back to my legs and doing another spin, she started drawing triangles, I noticed and a part of me wanted to say that she's trying to give us a hint but I thought better of it and turned to Xie Wen, "So I guess I can take it out easily?"

She nodded, "Pretty much."

Okay, so we don't have to worry about anything killing us inside of that place, good. And since I there aren't any problems, I decided to leave the scouting and searching to Xie Wen while I look around the place to search for... fruits, I guess?

Come to think of it, I never really bothered to look at the forest around us even after spending an entire day around it haven't I? It's only now that I noticed that the trees around us were outright gigantic- They're taller and thicker than the ones I'm familiar with, with trunks large enough to make them fit perfectly in a place like the Amazon Forest. Leaves that I think are as large as my head hangs on branches with sizes that would normally belong to small trees.

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To say that the forest is large is definitely an understatement.

And come to think of it, there are fruits up there in the crowns aren't there? I squinted my eyes and stared at a yellow thing hanging on a branch, it was circular with bumps on its surface, Figs, I think? There are a lot of those up there and more can be found on the other trees, they looked delicious, too. "Hey Xie Wen, are those fruits poisonous?"

Her eyes followed where I was pointing, "No. You can eat them. Why? Are you hungry?"

"Not really, but do you want one?" I've never gotten hungry ever since waking up from that dream and I assume based on Xie Wen's words that it's because I now have a Spirit Sea. "Xie Wen?"

"Okay." She stopped walking and so did Foxy, the latter even eyed me expectantly. "Do you know how to climb trees Yu Song?"

"Uh, yeah." I say as I readied my sword, I've done rock climbing before and stabbing a pickaxe on hard granite shouldn't be that different from using a sword to climb a tree. I looked at Xie Wen, "Can I borrow your sword?"

"Here," I took it with a grin.

With my right hand, I plunged the weapon into the base of the tree and pushed it deep before doing the same with the other one. I pulled it out and yep, feels pretty soft. It's also easy enough that I can pull something like this off- I pulled myself up and pulled out a sword, then I stepped it higher and repeated the process. Just like that, I'm climbing.

"Huh," I knew it! Xie Wen is speechless with what I'm doing! And with my cultivation, I didn't even feel tired! Scaling trees has never been this easy. "Guess you do know how to do it."

"I used to climb mountains too," Well, I only did two times and I had a guide with me during both but that didn't need to be said when I'm trying to show off. "This is surprisingly easier."

"Isn't climbing mountains easy though?" Xie Wen asked and the Fox whined in agreement, "Usually all you need to do is find a slope and you can steadily go up through it no?"

"I'm not talking about hiking!" I plunged a sword again and climbed, looking down, I saw that Xie Wen's starting to look smaller and after measuring them, the Fox beside her is now the size of my pinkie while Xie Wen is as tall as my ring finger, "I'm talking about climbing cliffs."

"And why would you do something like that?" She asked with a tone that hinted she was thinking I'm stupid, "I see no reason when you can just find a slope. Or stable ground."

"Hey, sometimes you can't." That, or finding one is gonna be so time consuming that it's not worth it to spend an entire day searching for it. And things get even worse if you end up at a place where you can't light fires or place tents, then you'll have to sleep in an open air mattress, and trust me, those get cold. "And even when there's one, it's the thrill of climbing that's important."

"Is what you're doing thrilling?" I heard her distant voice say and I nodded, hoping that she can still see it. "Really now?" Why am I still getting hints of her sarcasm even from this distance?

"You know, you should realize that you can have fun from time to time!" I yelled, "You should be more casual! Like last night! You were fun and I liked the way you acted then!"

"Heh," she scoffed. "But let's say that I am gonna be that way, who's gonna put your craziness in place? The Fox?"

I smiled, "She can try!"

I heard her sigh, "Well, whatever, Yu Song, I don't think what you're doing is appropriate still. Go up and grab that fruit before getting back down, I wanna continue searching for the Grotto."

"What?! You jealous of Foxy or something?!" I heard the animal in question release a laughter like sound, "Don't be such a spoilsport!"

"Whatever. She's as insane as you anyways. So if I do feel that way, then I know that I'm safe."

"Exactly!" I agreed, I'm closer to the top now, just a few more stabs. "You shouldn't worry about that sort of thing!"

Xie Wen went silent so I went ahead and got to the closest branch as fast as I could so that I can get this entire thing over with. I buried my fingers into the branch's bark and climbed on top of it, it was big enough to fit me and three other people with space to spare, meanwhile, the fruits, I come to realize, are much larger than they look. Which shouldn't be that surprising since it should scale with the tree. 'The question is, though, is this thing full of flesh or is it just your typical wild fruit that's full of seed?'

Will the lack of selective breeding bite me? I honestly didn't know but I'm feeling pretty excited at the thought of seeing Xie Wen's face when she sees that the fruit is full of seeds.

I walked over and plucked one before looking down and I whistled in amazement at the view, "Wow." Everything looked small from up here and I feel as if I'm closer to the forest than I usually am. Save for the canopies, everything is visible, including the cobblestone road we'd been walking on earlier. I followed it with my eyes and in the far distance I can see the Sect that we left, smoke rises from where I think the center of the Sect is, I couldn't tell because the once towering Pagodas there have now fallen.

I went down the tree sadder than I scaled it but hey, we now have fruit!