The jungle was a labyrinth of tangled growth, but fortunately, Wen Xue could sense the location of the thing she sought.
Though their speed had improved somewhat, it was still worlds apart from when they possessed cultivation.
Distances that could have been crossed in the blink of an eye now seemed impossibly long.
"Junior Brother Chu Feng, don't you think this feeling is actually kind of nice?" Wen Xue asked as she grabbed Chu Feng's sleeve, sprinting through the jungle alongside him.
"What feeling?" Chu Feng asked, confused.
"The feeling of being weak after losing our cultivation. Doesn't it make you cherish your power all the more?" Wen Xue said.
"I've always cherished it," Chu Feng replied.
Hearing that, Wen Xue sighed. "Sigh, Junior Brother Chu Feng, you really are strange."
"How so?" Chu Feng asked.
"Sometimes when I talk to you, I think you're quite interesting. Other times, I just find you speechless," Wen Xue said.
"That's because I'm a very serious person. When I'm busy with things, I don't really like idle chatter," Chu Feng said.
"Fine, got it. I'll shut up," Wen Xue said.
Chu Feng chuckled.
Although he had known Wen Xue for quite some time, he had never truly understood her well.
This encounter had given him a deeper glimpse into who she was.
After all, within the young body of this junior dwelt a soul of considerable age and cunning.
Under such circumstances, her act of naivety would have been unconvincing, but Wen Xue's personality was genuinely endearing in its own way.
And so, Wen Xue dragged Chu Feng along as they raced through the jungle. After a full hour of running, the area ahead grew increasingly bright.
Suddenly, the canopy opened up.
Before them lay a lake hidden deep within the jungle.
And upon the lake floated a white lotus.
The lotus towered a thousand meters high, its entire form white, radiating a faint glow. It was as beautiful as a work of art.
It was clearly no ordinary thing.
But the lotus was actually translucent.
And so one could see that inside it was a worm roughly a meter in length.
Though called a worm, it was remarkably beautiful, and it lay in a dormant state.
"Junior Brother Chu Feng, that's it, that's it! That's what I want! Can you get it for me?" Wen Xue tugged on Chu Feng's sleeve and pointed toward the lotus.
She already had a youthful, delicate appearance, and combined with her coquettish manner, she looked like a little girl who had spotted something she adored.
But she was sharp. She could sense the danger lurking beneath the lotus's gorgeous exterior.
"Sister, do you want the worm, or the lotus?" Chu Feng asked.
"The lotus," Wen Xue said.
"Actually, what needs to be done in this world is to obtain a Gu worm. And the one inside the lotus is precisely a Gu worm — and of very high quality at that. Since Sister wants the lotus, let's take it. Once we're done, the lotus is yours and the Gu worm is mine," Chu Feng said.
"So Junior Brother Chu Feng, you really do have a way?" Wen Xue's eyes lit up.
"Of course. Just watch."
With that, Chu Feng set down the great tree he had been carrying.
The tree rapidly grew, extending its branches, which shot straight toward the lotus in an assault.
Hummm— However, the moment the thunderous branches drew close, the lotus's glow surged. The radiance surrounded only the lotus itself, yet it carried immense offensive power. The thunderous branches that entered the glow simply dissolved into wisps of dissipating energy.
But Chu Feng had anticipated this. Leveraging the thunderous branches' ability to regenerate endlessly, he launched attack after attack without cessation.
"Junior Brother Chu Feng, can you hold on?" Wen Xue asked worriedly, because using this technique took a toll on Chu Feng's own consciousness.
"Don't worry. I can handle it."
Chu Feng wore a confident smile.
Under the relentless barrage of thunderous branches, the light emanating from the lotus began to wane.
After two full hours, the glow vanished entirely.
Seeing this, Chu Feng recalled the thunderous branches, though in truth their assault had not truly ceased.
Chu Feng began channeling the great tree, releasing that peculiar power — a force that seemed to have a hypnotic effect on the lotus.
Under its influence, the towering lotus began to shrink.
Notably, as the lotus diminished, so too did the Gu worm inside it.
"Junior Brother Chu Feng, what are you doing now?" Wen Xue asked curiously.