Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 605 - 385 Ghost Willow

Chapter 605: Chapter 385 Ghost Willow

Leaving the waterfall pool from before, Xu Yuan walked alone in a forest shrouded in mist and eerily filled with ghostly energy.

Looking at the forests glowing with a demonic red light all around him, Xu Yuan inexplicably thought of the time in his past life when he accompanied a girlfriend to a large haunted house during his college years.

Because his girlfriend was timid, he had taken her there, and everything afterwards followed naturally.

Thinking of this, Xu Yuan glanced back at the direction he had come from and gently shook his head.

It was a pity that the women in this world were each braver than the last.

He still quite hoped that the Washboard Saintess would throw herself into his arms and weep.

With a chuckle, Xu Yuan extinguished that unrealistic thought.

In past-life horror novels, it was the most terrifying when you had no ability to resist. Now that they were capable of twisting off the heads of Yin Ghosts, naturally they would not feel fear.

As his mind wandered through these random thoughts, Xu Yuan suddenly realized he had unconsciously walked under a towering willow tree, and instinctively looked up. A flash of blood passed through the dark ink pupils in his narrow eyes.

The ancient willow soared into the sky, at a rough glance its diameter exceeded five zhang, and it was sixty or seventy zhang tall, at least an entire generation taller than the surrounding canopy.

Through the hazy mist, countless corpses were hanging from its branches.

Both human and beast were present, among them some were still alive, probably being kept as reserve food.

Thousand-Thorn Ghost Willow,

It was known to enchant the minds of people unconsciously, causing them to walk under it without realizing, where they would be trapped by thorny willow branches and ultimately have their essence blood drained to death.

These thoughts crossed Xu Yuan’s mind.

Abruptly, silence in the forest was broken without any warning,

as countless roots and vines broke through the earth around him and shot towards him!

Xu Yuan, upon seeing this spectacle, did not panic but lightly lifted his finger. The majestic Origin Qi within his meridians began circulating at high speed.

A slight breeze began to swirl at his feet, and in less than a moment, the breeze turned into a fierce blood-colored protective wind circling around him!

This was a small trick Xu Yuan had mastered during these seven years.

A defensive spellcraft created by combining Jing He’s Pure Yang Art with the Blood Essence Meteoring Art.

It consumed very little, yet its defensive capability was extremely strong, especially against physical attacks like the one he faced.

"Swish, swish, swish!"

The tough willow branches turned to dust the moment they touched the protective wind.

In this world, being big did not necessarily mean being strong.

Amidst those palm-thick vines, Xu Yuan walked unhurriedly towards the base of the willow tree.

The reason why he had traveled so far was to find suitable materials to build a shelter, and this ghost willow obviously fit the bill.

Approaching it, only a dozen breaths of time had passed, and half of the ghost willow’s expansive canopy had disappeared.

But what puzzled Xu Yuan was that the ghost willow kept using its own vines to attack the bloody protective wind surrounding him.

Did it sense his intent to cut it down and use it to build shelter?

At that thought, a flicker of doubt involuntarily crossed Xu Yuan’s eyes.

He remembered Tianyan mentioning,

that Thousand-Thorn Ghost Willow was a type of charming tree spirit with a certain intelligence, and it would not attack those it perceived to be a threat.

After all,

animals that cannot win can flee, but as a member of the tree family, a ghost willow can’t just crawl out of the ground, right?

And just moments before, it had dared to entice him to come near while he was distracted...

Why?

While pondering this, Xu Yuan took out a Three-foot Green Blade from the Sumeru Ring and carelessly swung it towards the tree....

...

...

...

"Thud!"

The trunk of the willow tree, exceeding several zhang in diameter, fell to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust.

By the time Xu Yuan returned to the lake, carrying the massive tree, Tianyan was idly dangling her delicate and fair feet in the water, creating ripples.

Hearing the noise behind her, Tianyan concealed the joy in her eyes, glanced back, and asked casually while scanning the wood,

"Is this Thousand-Thorn Ghost Willow?"

"Hmm."

Xu Yuan nodded, while using Sword Qi to process the gigantic tree that could serve as a keel for an ocean-faring ship, "This thing contains ghost energy, it’s quite good at masking one’s presence."

Tianyan hummed lightly, "Building a wooden house, is it really necessary? To go so far, aren’t you afraid something might happen?"

"Ho...? Are you worried about me?"

"If you die, won’t I end up dead too?"

"Hehe, it’s all the same, you’re just worried about me."

"Your skin is really thick."

Tianyan got up and walked over with her bare feet, standing beside him, "Hey, need a hand?"

Xu Yuan, who was by then shaping the ghost willow trunk into a flat rectangle with Sword Qi, hesitated for a moment upon hearing Tianyan’s words.

Building a wooden hut, or rather a shelter, Xu Yuan did indeed have some knowledge of it.

In his previous life during college wilderness adventures, he learned from those wilderness survival masters, and besides that, it was from a certain blocky video game.

Although he couldn’t remember much to this day, what he did recall was sufficient.

After all, there was no such thing as Origin Qi in his previous life.

If the house simply couldn’t be made, he could also use formidable strength to directly shape the ghost willow into the form he wanted.

As he thought about it, Xu Yuan manipulated with Origin Qi while softly narrating the recent encounter.

Tianyan crossed her arms over her flat chest, watching his movements and listening intently, then slightly furrowed her brows:

"Are you saying that the ghost willow wanted to absorb your essence and blood regardless of life and death?"

Xu Yuan didn’t expect Tianyan to say that:

"Um.... I suppose so."

Tianyan gave Xu Yuan an up-and-down glance before whispering softly:

"Maybe it’s because of your Pure Yang constitution."

"Pure Yang constitution?"

Xu Yuan appeared surprised and chuckled hesitantly, "It’s not because my constitution has an excessive amount of Yang energy, attracting Yin ghosts, right? Speaking of which... we’ve indeed encountered a fair number of spectral beings these past two weeks."

Although the Pure Yang constitution wasn’t as good as his own Innate Taoist Body, it was actually quite useful.

Fire-based spellcraft, enacted with a Pure Yang constitution, could wield a might nearly several times that of an ordinary person.

Tianyan shook her head and said in a low voice:

"Perhaps so, I’m not sure. Anyway, you should minimize going outside from now on, leave everything to me."

Hearing this, Xu Yuan paused, then smiled and looked back at the girl who was levitating in mid-air at his eye level:

"Aren’t you being a bit overprotective here?"

Tianyan’s lips also curled up, and she lifted her chin slightly:

"Who asked me to be the sister? We had an agreement that I’d protect my little brother~"

Saying that, she patted Xu Yuan gently on the head.

Xu Yuan said nothing,

first glanced at her flat chest,

and then,

"Pfft."

"What are you laughing at?" Tianyan clenched her fist.

Xu Yuan blinked and sighed, "It’s nothing, just thinking my future children might go hungry."

Tianyan was startled, her brows lightly furrowed:

"I’m asking you what you were laughing at just now, and your comment is... you mean... you..."

Her words halted mid-sentence as her crisp, pleasant voice suddenly stuttered, and then she swung her hand in a slap toward Xu Yuan:

"You libertine, you might as well drop dead!"

The slap was as quick as lightning, accompanied by a thunderous whoosh.

Smack.

Xu Yuan swiftly caught Tianyan’s slap in the palm of his hand.

Although he indeed couldn’t beat her, he was currently utilizing his cultivation technique, while she was not.

He could still block such an attack.

Caressing her fingertips lightly with his own, Xu Yuan’s eyes brimmed with mirth:

"Tianyan, what concern is it of yours if my children go hungry?"

Tianyan’s fair cheeks flushed a deep red as she partly opened her moist lips:

"You... I... You just now... weren’t you... "

She tried to speak but found she didn’t know what to say, her breathing becoming erratic as her chest heaved, choked with a mix of shame and rage.

Yet Xu Yuan had no intention of letting Tianyan off the hook, tilting his head as he mimicked her stammering tone:

"I.. you... what happened just now?"

"......"

As a touch of flustered panic involuntarily spread through her heart at the taunting laughter in his eyes.

After a few moments of eye contact, Tianyan bit her lower lip hard and tried to pull her hand away, preparing to turn and leave in a huff.

Unexpectedly, Xu Yuan pulled her back.

In terms of physical condition and reserve of Origin Qi, he was slightly stronger than her having inherited Jing He’s cultivation.

"Alright, alright."

Xu Yuan dropped the teasing, chuckling softly, "No more jokes."

Tianyan kept a cold expression, not looking at him.

Xu Yuan leaned in close to her face and asked in a low voice:

"You always say you’re the sister, just how old are you actually this year?"