“Boo hoo hoo, what have you done with my Highness?—”
Watching Muxuan, who had changed her own appearance, Qiansitelin immediately put on a heartbroken expression, even squeezing a few tears from the corners of her eyes.
Muxuan was speechless at Qiansitelin’s over-the-top acting, then rolled her eyes at her.
“If you’re not coming, I’ll just go to the Elven Forest by myself.”
Hearing this, Qiansitelin immediately wiped off her frivolous playful expression and resumed a more serious demeanor.
“Alright, that was just a joke.”
“Your Highness, to reach the Elven Forest, we first have to cross the Kostershka Mountains, and the situation there has become much more complicated.”
“Zi Luo Mo’s death will surely cause the other force in the Kostershka Mountains that maintained balance with him to keep expanding.”
Qiansitelin paused, then took two steps closer to Muxuan, coming to her side.
“In short, if we want to cross the Kostershka Mountains, we might have to face not just goblins… it could be undead or dwarves…”
Muxuan lowered her head slightly under her hood, falling silent.
She understood all of this.
After Zi Luo Mo’s death, the appearance of Leopold was clearly not normal power… the entire Inteke Tribe might already be in trouble.
But after thinking for a moment, Muxuan thought of another place.
“Can’t we take the Kanoqiesi Forest?”
The Kostershka Mountains and the Kanoqiesi Forest are the two main areas separating the Church and the Elven Forest.
If the Kostershka Mountains are too dangerous and hard to cross, what about the Kanoqiesi Forest on the other side?
Moreover, last time they had severely damaged the core of the Kanoqiesi Forest; it couldn’t recover that quickly.
Plus, she and Qiansitelin had disguised themselves.
If the disguise didn’t work, they could still just run away; but if it did work, they could directly cross the Kanoqiesi Forest and reach the Elven Forest.
Either way, it was much safer than entering the Kostershka Mountains.
“The forest is a good idea.”
Qiansitelin had clearly thought of the same, and she agreed with Muxuan’s idea.
“It’s possible, Your Highness. The Kanoqiesi Forest doesn’t have as many sudden changes as the Kostershka Mountains… we can try the Kanoqiesi Forest.”
“Although there may not be anything in the Kostershka Mountains that can stop a Your Highness who has already reached the Moho Layer, we can’t afford to exhaust our power before even reaching the Elven Forest, can we?”
Having decided on the route, Muxuan and Qiansitelin wasted no more time.
Leaving the depths of the church, the cold, eerie Corruption Aura clinging to their bodies did not dissipate.
Muxuan maintained her elven form disguise.
Her dazzling silver hair was cleverly dyed a more ordinary dark chestnut under the hood, and her golden pupils were concealed into the common forest elf’s emerald green.
“Your Highness looks cute like this too~”
Qiansitelin teased in a low voice, her gaze sweeping over Muxuan’s elongated elven ears.
Muxuan gave Qiansitelin an exasperated look, subconsciously touching her disguised ears with her fingertips.
Then, the smile on Qiansitelin’s face faded a little, and her eyes turned serious.
“Stop joking. Focus. The Kanoqiesi Forest… after last time, I wonder what it’s become.”
“Don’t worry, Your Highness. The core was severely damaged; it won’t be able to recover its peak strength in the short term.”
“Our ‘Corruption’ aura is enough to confuse it. As long as we don’t actively reveal our Lightforce, we should be able to deceive it.”
Without alerting anyone, the two quietly left the Church residence.
The closer they got to the Kanoqiesi Forest, the heavier the rot and oppression in the air became, just like last time, except it lacked that deadly feeling of being watched by a venomous snake.
The trees were twisted and gnarled, their branches and leaves a sickly grayish-brown, occasionally dripping with foul-smelling mucus.
Qiansitelin walked cautiously half a step ahead and to the side of Muxuan.
In her hand, a short dagger of ancient design had appeared at some point.
Wisps of thin black aura coiled around the blade, perfectly blending with the Corruption Aura on their bodies.
Muxuan glanced at the short dagger in Qiansitelin’s hand with slight surprise.
She really hadn’t expected Qiansitelin to also collect some pollutants.
Although Muxuan was curious, she didn’t ask out loud.
In the Kanoqiesi Forest, she was afraid of attracting the forest’s attention by making noise.
The path ahead soon forked under twisted dead trees, both equally deep and gloomy, filled with the scent of decay.
Qiansitelin immediately stopped, pointed with her slender fingers to both sides, then looked at Muxuan with a slight frown, as if asking for directions.
But Muxuan stared at her quickly changing hand gestures, a look of confusion on her face.
‘What does it mean? Pointing left, then drawing a circle, then making a downward chopping motion…’
Muxuan couldn’t decipher Qiansitelin’s complex, improvised signals at all.
Qiansitelin clearly noticed Muxuan’s confusion, and a hint of helpless amusement flashed in her clear eyes.
In this corrupted forest that was extremely sensitive to Lightforce, any energy fluctuation could awaken the residual perception of the core.
Without any hesitation, Qiansitelin stepped closer.
Before Muxuan could react, she lowered her head slightly and gently pressed her smooth, cool forehead against Muxuan’s.
An extremely faint but precisely controlled thread of Lightforce instantly transmitted from the point of contact, turning into clear words that resounded directly in Muxuan’s mind.
“Your Highness, a fork. The left path descends, has deeper footsteps, but feels more damp and sinister.”
“The right path is relatively gentle, with sparser vegetation, but there are anomalous magical residues in the distance. Which way do you think is safer?”
The information transfer was clear and efficient.
However, beyond the mental communication, there was the extremely close physical contact.
Muxuan could feel the delicate smoothness of Qiansitelin’s forehead with exceptional clarity, and could even count her slightly fluttering eyelashes.
The familiar fragrance mixed with the forest’s rotting smell invaded her nostrils.
What was worse, to get close, Qiansitelin leaned forward slightly, and those two masses of ample flesh, whose astonishing size was impossible to hide even under the disguise, were almost touching Muxuan’s cheek through the thin fabric.
A wave of burning heat rushed to Muxuan’s cheeks and ears.
Her emerald green eyes dropped in panic, not daring to look at the smiling eyes so close, feeling as if her heart was about to jump out of her chest.
She knew full well that Qiansitelin was only transmitting information in the safest way, but this overly intimate posture and the “evil pressure” right before her made her mind go blank, nearly forgetting the route information she had just received.
“Y…Your Highness?”
Qiansitelin’s thought came again, tinged with amusement, clearly aware of Muxuan’s embarrassment.
Muxuan snapped back to reality, and embarrassment quickly overwhelmed her shyness.
Almost on instinct, she replied in her mind with a hint of indignation:
“Right! Take the right!”
At the same time, to cover her fluster, she quickly raised her arm and pointed to the right fork.
The movement was so large that she nearly knocked into the withered branches beside her.
The amusement in Qiansitelin’s eyes deepened.
She straightened up casually, her forehead leaving that smooth touch, as if nothing had just happened.
She looked at her Little Highness, then nodded, signaling Muxuan to follow, and took the lead onto the relatively gentle path on the right.
Muxuan took a deep breath, forced down the heat on her face, patted her burning cheeks, and then followed Qiansitelin’s footsteps.
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