Lenient Pine's eyes lit up with interest as he peered at the two figures on the other side of the cliff. He could just barely make out their sounds of fear and panic.

After a while, the young girl hopped onto the back of the wolf, holding tightly onto the clothes and luggage as they rode off. The wolf, carrying the girl, swiftly fled the village.

With a flick of his wand, he conjured a spell that caused a vine on the far side of the cliff to grow wildly, reaching out towards Lenient Pine with a pouch of money dangling from its tip for him to grab.

“That’s a lot of money… A prince indeed.” Lenient Pine chuckled softly, the sound low and thoughtful, as he plucked the vine's offering with a flick of his wrist and check its content.

“We have no use for money from mere mortals,” said Serene Mountain, adjusting his glasses beside Lenient, asked, "Now that you've achieved your goal, what's next?"

“That’s true.” Lenient murmured, casually flinging the money pouch over the cliff. His expression remained inscrutable, a faint smile playing on his lips.

Serene subtly furrowed his brows.

"Senior Mountain, why seek the opinion of someone with a lower Initiative level?"

Lenient Pine turns towards Serene Mountain, maintaining his warm smile despite his inscrutable statement.

This pine tree is insane, Serene thought to himself, not understanding why Master Patio had requested them to work together.

Serene Mountain's brow furrowed deeper, his patience wearing thin. "I seek your opinion because Master Patio deemed it necessary for us to collaborate, despite your... eccentricities."

Lenient Pine's smile widened, with eyes as tranquil as a still lake.

Sitting on the branch, he swayed his legs in a gentle motion, his left lower leg already sawed off. "Ah, but eccentricity is the spice of cultivation life, wouldn't you agree? Now, as for what's next..."

He paused, his gaze drifting to the horizon where the wolf and girl had disappeared. "I believe we should follow our young friends. They're bound to lead us to something interesting."

Serene sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let’s go." He also shared the same thought, but he had been patiently waiting for Lenient to finish his peculiarities before reaching a consensus.

How can a human work together with a living tree? Every time he pondered this strange concept, he experienced a range of complicated feelings.

Sitting on the ethereal wooden canoe, Lenient was trying to carve the piece of wood in his hand—it was his freshly cut right lower leg.

“Ouch. Carving is too hard. Even though it is my own leg.” Lenient grumbled, but

there was a playful undertone in his words.

“I’ll do it later.” Serene said calmly as he used his natural aura to steer the canoe.

He just gave a simple response to Lenient.

The ethereal wooden canoe glided over the narrow river of mist, suspended between sharp cliffs that disappeared into the clouds below. Small wisps of Stasis energy curled and drifted around Serene Mountain’s steady hands as he manipulated the flow of the vessel. Each motion was precise, calculated, and above all, silent—traits he had perfected over countless years of cultivation.

Meanwhile, Lenient Pine discarded the doll that was only halfway finished and scanned the area with a quick glance.

"Serene," Lenient said with a dreamy tone, slouching against the edge of the canoe with his cutted legs. "Do you ever wonder if your glasses are holding you back from enlightenment? I’ve read about cultivators transcending such mortal constructs."

Serene Mountain's glasses glinted in the dim twilight like twin moons rising behind stormclouds. His jaw visibly tightened, though he refused to rise to the bait. "My glasses serve a practical purpose," he simply answered, “to see things clearly.”

Lenient hummed, clearly undeterred by Serene’s clipped answer. He tapped his half-carved wooden leg against the edge of the canoe in a rhythmic beat, the faint thump blending with the whispering mist around them. "Practical purpose? Hmm, I suppose they *do* make you look rather... dignified." His lips curled into a mischievous smile. "But perhaps you'd find enlightenment faster if you threw them into the abyss. Instead of seeing things that are real, why not try to see something illusionary?"

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Serene didn’t want to pay attention to these nonsenses, but he just listened quietly. His fingers tightened ever so slightly on the strands of Stasis energy guiding the canoe.

Serene Mountain's eyes narrowed behind his spectacles. "Enlightenment comes from within, not from discarding useful tools," he said, his voice as cool and steady as the mist surrounding them. "Perhaps you should focus more on your own cultivation rather than offering unsolicited advice."

“Oh, dear Senior Mountain, I’ve found my ‘enlightenment’.You see, I didn’t wear any glasses, I saw it, no, I smelled it, no, I touched it, like touching two drops of water in the sea…”

Despite his anger, Serene makes an effort to control himself and speak in a calm manner: "Kindly close the..."

“No. Serene, ” Lenient solemnly tapped the edge of the canoe twice with his severed leg, “we have arrived at the station.”

As Serene came to a stop, he gazed ahead and saw a hidden cave entrance nestled among the rocks and trees.

Lenient seems to know the wolf and person were here, but how? Serene had already controlled the canoe to descend before he even had this thought. He was always quicker at executing commands than forming thoughts in his mind.

The canoe glided to a halt next to the overhanging branches of a tree. This location was a bit of distance from the entrance of the cave, and the dense trees in between offered excellent camouflage for their presence.

A branch from this pine tree suddenly came to life, stretching out to hook onto Lenient’s clothes, hoisting him up from the canoe and placing him gently onto the branch. Now with both of his lower legs gone, he was still leisurely swinging his legs.

Serene joined Lenient on the branch, compressing the canoe and stowing it away in a bag. He then took the partially carved lower leg from Lenient's hands and made further alterations to it.

A new puppet was created. With closed eyes and intense focus, Serene transformed the Stasis Element in his hand into intangible threads that controlled the movements of the newly created puppet.

———

Spark, in his wolf form, curled up and drifted into slumber. Flint, who had no need for rest, sat by the entrance of the cave with her legs pulled close to her chest,

watching alertly for any movement outside.

A young man approached the mouth of the cave. His footsteps were muffled by the snow, but the rustle of his clothes and the occasional snap of a twig under his feet could be heard.

Flint's head snapped up as she heard footsteps approaching the cave. She quickly stood and positioned her body in front of the entrance, ready to defend herself and the wolf behind her. She doubted her ability to fight with the person who was about to arrive.

The young man, entirely absorbed in his own world, lifted a strand of his sage-colored hair with his left hand, the muted green tresses sliding like silk between his fingers.

With casual grace, his right hand drifted to his temple, where his fingers traced along the hairline before tugging gently at a small braid. This braid, which had been resting against the cascade of his longer hair, served to keep the stray strands around his face in check.

“You’ve turned the puppet into me! Serene, you must really love me!” Lenient’s low voice filled with surprise as he felt the puppet’s hairstyle through the spiritual link with the puppet. Lenient was perched on a branch a good distance away from the cave entrance with Serene.

Shut up. Without opening his mouth, Serene transmitted the sentence directly into Lenient's mind. Serene’s eyes remained closed, giving no indication of his thoughts or emotions.

Without closing his mouth, Lenient's face broke into a smile as he spoke to Serene, "Don't be too serious. I was just thinking, with my dashing good looks, what if that young girl develops a crush on me?"

The puppet resembles you, but it is not an exact replica of you. There was a sudden shift in Serene's typically serene expression. His eyebrows drew together slightly, creating small ripples on his usually still face like those on the surface of a lake.

“Oh dear, what a shame, the girl fell in love with the puppet, only to realize she had loved the wrong person… oh, the wrong tree…” Lenient let out a dramatic sigh, his regretful tone infused with a playful hint.

Flint's voice echoed in Lenient's mind through the puppet's ears. "Who are you? And what do you want to do?"

Lenient's eyebrows lifted slightly. "We're looking for a prince." The puppet and Lenient spoke the identical words together in perfect unison.

Flint's eyes narrowed, her body tensing at the stranger's words. "A prince?" she echoed, her voice laced with suspicion. "I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place. There are no princes here, only a tired traveler and her big dog."

The sage-haired young man tilted his head, a playful smile dancing on his lips. “Hmm, it's quite intriguing that the dog is snoozing while the person stands guard for it?”

Flint's eyes flashed with a mix of caution and defiance. "My dog, my rules," she replied tersely. "Now, I suggest you move along. There's nothing for you here."

As her body and mind tensed, she felt a surge of unnamed energy flowing through her fingertips. The young man's eyes flickered, as if he too could sense the faint white glow emanating from her fingertips.

Lenient's eyes widened as he recognized the power before him. Yet, for some reason, his memory failed to recall what it was exactly. A slight headache began to form in his head.

He harnessed this unknown power to find Flint and Spark, even though he couldn't fully understand it himself. But every time he felt the energy flow, a sense of recognition would stir in his chest.

It was as if he had encountered this force before, during his time as a pine tree. As he took on a human form, his memories from his life as a pine tree began to fade away one by one.

The young man's teasing tone disappeared as he asked, “Are you a immortal cultivator?” His voice was now cautious and alert.

Flint paused, unsure of what to say. She had a vague understanding that an ‘immortal cultivator’ was someone who practiced cultivation harnessing natural aura, as Spark had mentioned.

“…Yes. ” Flint replied, trying to hide her own panic. She sensed that this person had a fear of immortal cultivators, and she thought that perhaps this lie could be used to her advantage in intimidating him.

The young man's eyes widened slightly, a flicker of intrigue passing across his face. "An immortal cultivator, you say? How fascinating." He took a step closer, his movements fluid and graceful. "And yet, you guard a sleeping dog in a cave. Curious, don't you think?"

Flint's fingers twitched, the faint glow intensifying. "My business is my own," she said, her voice low and steady. "I've answered your question. Now, could you leave now?"

The young man's eyes gleamed with amusement. "Leave? But we've only just met, and you've piqued my curiosity."

He moved closer, his sage-colored hair swaying softly with each step. "The night seems to stretch on forever. Why don't we pass the time by sharing our own stories?"

Could you do something useful? Serene's lips were sealed, but the voice inside Lenient's head exuded anger and annoyance.

Flint's tone was resolute as she spoke in a low voice, "I have no stories to offer. You may depart from this place now."

She raised her hand to halt the young man before he could respond, her fingertips still emanating a bright white glow. She couldn't explain why she possessed this intangible power or how it worked, but she sensed that the man should be cautious of it.

Flint's fingers were directed towards the young man. She felt as if she had done nothing, yet an incredible scene unfolded before her very eyes.

“Ahh!” With a scream of pain, the young man crumbled into a pile of dust and wood chips. It was reminiscent of the puppet boy who had stolen their money earlier.