Chapter 461: Fairies of the Forest?!

Hei Yue was not careful enough, feeling something wrap around his leg and pulling back. The Mistral Fox started to whimper and yelp as he tried to shake his leg free. But the vine just tightened its grip on the poor fox.

"Don't worry!"

It looked at Ming Yue with scared eyes as she activated her armor. 

She sprinted back with her dagger, cutting the vine off and grabbing the little fox. Wrapping her arm around him, she brought him away and sped off as the vines slithered even faster. It followed them, wrapping around the trees and passing through the cracks. 

Everyone continued to run, slowly merging into a single group. 

"We can't escape it!" Xuan Yin shouted, "What should we do?!"

She readied another arrow, shooting at the vines in vain. Both of them wracked their minds as they tried to escape the vine's grasp. The Treant continued stomping the ground, causing even more vines to erupt from below. 

They watched behind them, finding the vines coming closer. 

And suddenly, an emerald light flashed out, causing a shockwave that forced the vines back. They couldn't believe their eyes as thousands of vines fell to the ground, lifeless and unmoving.

"They're- they're the fairies from before!" Both of them couldn't help but exclaim in shock. 

Floating between the sides were the fairies, facing the Viridescent Treant who saw it unfold. Their small cute and chubby bodies came together like a wall, exuding a powerful aura as it kept the vines at bay, protecting Ming Yue and the others.

Its eyes sharpened, bending down and roaring at them before sending out another wave of vines. This one was larger than the previous, capable of engulfing cities. Perhaps this was the full extent of the Viridescent Treant's power. 

Each fairy released another flash of light, blinding everything in the entire forest. Everyone covered their eyes, waiting for the light to pass. And when it did, things changed. 

As Ming Yue opened her eyes, she was met with a landscape different from where she once was. Unlike the colorful vibrancy of the Primeval Forest, she was suddenly in a green forest. From the leaves to the grass, everything was in shades of green.

She looked around, finding Xuan Yin and everyone else by her side. They had opened their eyes as well, met with the same sight as her. 

"Where are we? Where's the Viridescent Treant? What happened?"

Xuan Yin looked around as she walked forward, studying her surroundings.

"This isn't... this isn't the forest at all. Where is this?" she asked. 

And then, something fluttered before her before the others fluttered about, looking at her and Ming Yue. Some even circled around Hei Yue, Xiao Yin, and Liao Mao curiously. 

"You are all the fairies, right? Why did you help us?" Xuan Yin asked. 

They looked at her before looking at each other, flying off into the deeper regions. The group all shared a glance before following the fairies, strolling through the luscious forest. All the while, their eyes wandered around, gazing at their surroundings. 

It was peaceful and quiet. 

And for Ming Yue, her eyes were especially quick, darting around, spotting medicinal plants every now and then. Her eyes would linger but she held back. It would be rude to take from the ones who saved them.

But she had her own ideas as to where she could be.

"This could be a secret realm of some sort, their home, in fact", she thought, "But why help us?"

This Ming Yue was unsure about, she couldn't even make any guesses as to the reason. Following the fairies, they traversed deeper and deeper as their surroundings slowly shifted. Trees were replaced by tall bamboo stalks before finally, this thin path opened up into a large clearing. 

At the center of it was a massive tree that stood taller than anything else. It was even larger than the Viridescent Treant, dwarfing it even. The fairies then flew off, entering the little nooks and crannies of the tree. 

Ming Yue and the others stopped in front of the tree, admiring its grandness until a voice echoed out. 

"Visitors? I was not expecting to see visitors, especially not ones so young. I wonder why the little ones decided to bring you here." 

It was ancient and dignified. At the same time, it was soft and caring. It was both the voice of a spirit who has lived for endless eternities and a grandmother who cares for her grandchildren. 

Everyone looked at the tree with surprise but they didn't draw their weapons. The air suddenly hummed for a moment as the fairies began to speak with this tree spirit. What came out of their mouths was gibberish coupled with soft, squeaky voices. 

"I see. Mhm, okay. Interesting, how interesting to hear. Thank you for telling me."

The voices stopped and the tree shuddered for a moment. The branches began to grow and descend down onto the ground. Dozens of them wrapped around each other, melding into a figure. 

Standing tall, it was the figure of a woman, not quite young but also not old. If she were human, she'd be somewhere around her sixties. In fact, she looked human from her tanned skin and silhouette. But like the fairies, small branches grew out of her limbs and her hair was that of braided vines. She was dressed simply in green and brown robes. She wore no shoes, walking up to them barefoot. 

And her expression was unlike anything else, calm, wise, gentle. Her eyes showed the depth of knowledge that came from her age. Her smile was not exceedingly big, not joyful but of graceful elegance. 

"To think you would take peaches from that little tree, I should commend you for it. He's been obsessed with that peach tree for so long, even going as far as to keep anything else away from it. He even drove off these little ones, attacking them as well. I'm sure with this, that tree will think twice about getting on our bad side. That is one reason why they helped you but there is also a second reason."

The spirit walked towards Ming Yue and Xuan Yin examining them both. The both of them dared not to move, feeling a gaze that seemed to see through their bodies. It wasn't unpleasant but strange to say the least. And then the spirit stopped in front of Ming Yue, looking at her even closely. 

"Where did you find a ring like that?" 

She then pointed at her hand, looking down at the Eternal Heart Ring. Its simple design of darkened wood enunciated the specks of emerald light, glowing like little green stars. 

"I had it made", Ming Yue answered, "Is there something wrong with it?"

The spirit shook her head with a chuckle. 

"No, there isn't anything wrong with it. In fact, it is quite the opposite, it's an extraordinary ring, so full of life that it attracted all of my little ones. In any case, I'm sure that they would like to have a handful of it."

"A handful?" 

The spirit nodded. 

"Yes, they collect life energy in order to help that grow."

The spirit turned back and pointed at the massive tree, letting them have a full look.

This time, Xuan Yin spoke up. 

"But who are you all? Fairies? Spirits? Demons?" she asked, "And why are you collecting all of this energy?"

The spirit looked at her as if a light had flashed in her kind. 

"Ah, I'm sure that this must be very jarring for all of you." 

She stepped back, reducing herself into a pile of branches. The massive tree rustled and wisps of green light emerged from the entire trunk as every one of these fairies made themselves known. There were over a hundred of them, coming out of the tree's pockets. 

And then the spirit spoke. 

"We are the Nuwa Clan, tasked with bringing life back to the world."