Looking at the beauty of nature in front of him, Mu Xin is dazzled, this is something he has never seen directly before and he loves it.
But suddenly in the distant sky, the cloud parts way as an eagle swoops down to the ground then flies away bringing with it a snake on its claw.
Mu Xin is stunned watching such a spectacle, not because the eagle hunts a snake, but because of the distance he sees it.
Normaly from where Mu Xin stand he could only see the eagle and snake as a dot, but just now he sees it clearly.
This made Mu Xin question his own eye, is he hallucinating or is it all real? If it's real just how big are those eaglesand the snake?
Then Mu Xin thinks back to everything since he woke up, the forest, the child's body, and now the unnaturally big animal.
(Am I in another world?)
A surreal feeling rises in Mu Xin's heart, while all kinds of question apper in Mu Xin's mind, but no matter how hard he think there's no one to answer them.
So Mu Xin took a deep breath and cleared his mind to focus on his current situation, his first priority is to get out of this forest, otherwise, he either dies of starvation or becomes food for beasts.
With the goal in mind, Mu Xin turned around and walked along the river, the occasional sound of a beast from a distance was making Mu Xin tense but fortunately, nothing happened.
After walking for an hour, Mu Xin is faced with a steep and rocky mountainside, the rocks are full of moss and vine with the peak are coverd by thick mist, Mu Xin starts to walk around the rocky mountain as he hopes for a shelter as the day is coming to an end in a few hours.
Soon enough, Mu Xin stumbled upon a well-hidden small cave that had been covered by thick vine, after walk past the thick vines with some effort, he found that the cave despite being small it actually went deeper than he thought.
Out of pure curiosity, Mu Xin walked deeper into the cave, after walking for a minute, Mu Xin noticed the crystal embedded in the wall which provided a faint light to see ahead.
The further Mu Xin walk the more he noticed that he was walking downward, deeper into the ground, after what seemed like an hour of tiring walk, he heard a sound of flowing water and what seemed like the end of the cave.
Mu Xin curiousity grow deeper and with a hint of excitement, he rushed to the end of the cave finding himself in a massive cavern with a towering tree in the center.
The tree was unlike anything Mu Xin knew, its height reached the ceiling of the cavern with its branch are spread out far enough to cover half of the cavern, but the most mysterious part was that the tree was glowing with a strong light mix of gold and purple.
Mu Xin is awestruck by what he sees, the surroundings of the tree are a small stream of water, he walks toward the tree, and then he notices the hanging fruit on it.
The fruit was perfectly round with translucent skin and covered by nine golden rings which gave off an enticing smell.
As Mu Xin arrives right before the tree, he notices that the bark is covered by a thin golden line like a vein which is pulsing with light.
"Who are you?"
An ethereal voice suddenly echoed all around the cavern making Mu Xin frantically look around searching for the person who just spoken, but no matter where he looked, he did not see anyone.
Mu Xin feels chill all around his body, he starts running toward the cave he just walked in, but the root of the tree moves on its own to cover it making Mu Xin unable to escape.
Unknown to Mu Xin, part of the root already wraps around his leg. By the time he notices, he can no longer run, the roots quickly wrap around his body and slowly bring him back to the tree.
Bound by the root facing the tree, Mu Xin's back is drenched by cold sweat. Then a translucent figure is forming before his eye before slowly turning tangible.
It was a woman with tight-fitting light green robes which show her alluring figure, her beautiful face was gentle and warm like nature with smooth black hair that reached her waist.
She looks at Mu Xin gently as she draws closer, while Mu Xin looks at her nervously. It does not matter how beautiful she is when his life is basically in her hands, but she has certainly given Mu Xin an answer to his question, that this is a different world from his world.
"What is your name?"
She asks softly trying to reassure Mu Xin that she means no harm to him.
(Well if she wants to harm me or even kill me it would be easy.)
After he realizes that resistance is futile, he calms down and follows along.
"My name is Mu Xin."
The way she looks at Mu Xin is as if looking at something precious.
"Why did you end up here? I'm sure this is not a place for a young boy like you."
The root slowly releases Mu Xin letting him sit on the root as the women sit in front of him.
Feeling liberated by the constraint, but he is still slightly nervous facing an unknown existence.
"I got lost in the forest and accidentally wandered here, i really have no intention to disturb you so if you just open the entrance for me, I'll be leaving immediately."
The women look at Mu Xin with playfulness dancing in her eyes.
"I can do that but I need you to agree to my condition first."
Feeling surprised secretly, but without any choice, Mu Xin can only agree.
"Can I know what that condition is?"
The women smile brighten as she says.
"I need you to bring me with you to the outside world."