233: Chapter 233 Characters, Feathers, Enemies

After some discussion, the three of them finally had some reasonable guesses about the function of the purple, excellent-quality 'soul-returning grass' that Hu Gualing had painstakingly climbed over ten meters up a large tree to pick.

However, they still weren't entirely clear on its specific effects.

It seemed they would have to leave it with Tang Yao for now and wait until the Sharp-toothed Piglet's Resurrection in 24 hours to see if it was interested in this little plant.

Tang Yao took the 'soul-returning grass' from Hu Gualing's hand, carefully pinching it between two fingers to examine it closely.

She felt that the vibrant, emerald-green plant contained such a rich vitality that it seemed ready to drip out.

The untrimmed plant exuded a natural, unadorned freshness, making Tang Yao feel relaxed and happy just by taking a gentle breath of the air around it.

Various thoughts in her mind became agile, as if she had entered a brainstorming session where her imagination ran wild.

Moreover, while her thinking became active, the nerves in her mind did not tighten; instead, she felt no sense of fatigue or exhaustion, only a sense of peace and tranquility.

Tang Yao savored this wonderful feeling, though she couldn't tell if it was truly the magical effect inadvertently revealed by the 'soul-returning grass' or just her own psychological effect.

However, when she saw the mysterious, glowing purple light emanating from the 'soul-returning grass' in her hand, she felt deep down that this 'soul-returning grass' might not be as simple as it appeared on the surface, and she carefully tucked it away into her backpack.

With this, the two blue and two purple loot items were all collected by Hu Gualing, Tang Yao, and Xiao Niao and distributed into their respective backpacks.

After Hu Gualing retrieved the arrows and the 'soul-returning grass' and climbed down from the Millennium Tree Demon, the long-dead Millennium Tree Demon, like a corpse that had lost its final breath of warmth, completely lost all vitality.

Leaves fell continuously from the branches of the Millennium Tree Demon with a rustling sound, and before long, they had formed a thick layer on the yellow soil around the base of the tree's roots.

Moreover, these leaves, which were originally dark green, seemed like fading paint once they detached from the trunk.

At a speed visible to the naked eye, the green color faded from the leaves, and they quickly turned a withered, yellowish color.

Because the Millennium Tree Demon was over ten meters high, the leaves falling from the very top were still green when they first detached from the branches.

However, during the descent, the green color gradually vanished as if dissipating into smoke.

By the time they landed on the ground from a height of over ten meters, they had completely turned into withered yellow leaves.

About ten minutes later, the once incredibly lush Millennium Tree Demon was left with only a bare trunk, and this trunk was incredibly dry, devoid of any vitality.

A sudden gust of wind blew, and the entire massive trunk of the Millennium Tree Demon seemed to weather away, turning into blue smoke and vanishing into the air, with the withered yellow leaves on the ground also disappearing one by one.

In the blink of an eye, the massive Millennium Tree Demon vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed in this world.

Looking at the 'compartment' in front of them—which just over ten minutes ago had been so crowded by a massive Millennium Tree Demon that there wasn't a single gap left—now empty, Hu Gualing, Tang Yao, and Xiao Niao couldn't help but feel a surge of emotions.

Astonishment, amazement, melancholy... various feelings intertwined in their hearts, and for a moment, they were silent.

Hu Gualing was the first to break out of this artistic atmosphere.

He walked into the now-empty compartment and peered into the corners.

Apart from the dirt walls and the ground, he saw nothing else.

It seemed that the two blue and two purple items—four pieces of loot in total—were all that could be collected.

"It's getting late. Let's double-check if we missed anything else. If not, we're heading back!"

Realizing that the Millennium Tree Demon had left them no more surprises, Hu Gualing walked out of the compartment, surveying the surrounding environment as he spoke to Tang Yao and Xiao Niao.

Hearing Hu Gualing say this, Tang Yao and Xiao Niao nodded and scanned the 'Dungeon' to see if there were any other areas they hadn't explored.

But in reality, this square 'Dungeon' was easy to see in its entirety.

Only the main hall in the center and the corner against the wall at the very back of the Dungeon might have contained monsters or special scenes that the three of them could have missed due to wall obstructions and angles.

However, the Mutated White Wild Boar in the center of the hall and the Millennium Tree Demon in the corner had already been discovered and defeated by Hu Gualing, Tang Yao, and Xiao Niao.

Now, scanning the entire Dungeon, there were no other places where anomalies could possibly exist that they hadn't already discovered.

The three of them scanned the area, confirming that there were no unexplored scenes left in this Dungeon, and then headed back toward the entrance with their full haul.

While passing through the hall on the way, seeing that somewhat eerie large black stone, Hu Gualing, still unwilling to give up, kicked it.

Aside from a cold and hard sensation on his exposed toes not fully covered by his straw sandals, the large black stone didn't react in the slightest.

It seemed it really was just a fixed decorative object, so Hu Gualing didn't pay it any more mind, and the three of them retraced their steps.

It wasn't until they reached the dirt wall standing across the path near the entrance that Hu Gualing couldn't help but turn his head to look at the two very strange characters carved into it.

The strokes of these two characters were crooked; they were neither Chinese nor English.

If one were to call them hieroglyphs, it was impossible to tell what they were supposed to represent, so none of the three people present could recognize them.

However, Hu Gualing stared at the two characters for a while and said with great seriousness, "I guess these two words probably mean 'Dungeon', so we need to pay attention. If we see similar characters in the future, it probably means we've encountered other Dungeons, and we definitely shouldn't miss them."

Xiao Niao and Tang Yao didn't recognize these two characters at all and naturally had no way of knowing their meaning.

So, upon hearing Hu Gualing say this, they felt he made a fair point.

They both stared at the two strange characters for a while, secretly memorizing their approximate shapes, and then crossed over the dirt wall toward the entrance.

"Huh, why is there a feather here?"

Just as they were about to leave, Xiao Niao, relying on his keen observation skills, discovered a feather as long as a palm by the wall.

He bent down to pick it up, only to find that even when holding it in his hand, he couldn't see its attributes.

'It seems... this is probably just a valueless decorative item?'

Hu Gualing and Tang Yao looked over too.

"That's a long feather."

"What is this? It doesn't look like pig hair, right?"

Hearing this, Hu Gualing couldn't help but glance at Tang Yao, feeling worried about her lack of common sense.

Xiao Niao pinched the feather and explained, "It looks like a bird feather, but this bird must be quite large, hence the long feather."

"However, judging by the quality of this feather, this large bird—whose exact species I don't know—probably isn't in very good health, as the feather is dry and split, and the down on it is very sparse."

As Xiao Niao spoke, he shook his head, seemingly worried about the bird's health condition.

As for how he knew these things, it was because he had learned the life skill of Leatherworking from Head Manager Xie Dongdong, so he had a rough understanding of knowledge related to fur and feathers.

Furthermore, since he practiced archery often, all the fletching on the arrows in his backpack was made of duck feathers, which he frequently held in his hands.

By analogy, he could naturally distinguish bird feathers quite easily.

Tang Yao nodded in realization after hearing Xiao Niao's explanation.

But then she frowned slightly, a puzzled expression appearing on her face.

"But why would there be a bird feather here? It couldn't be that birds are flying into the cave, could it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Xiao Niao and Hu Gualing also wore expressions of confusion.

That's right, why would there be a bird feather here?

Even if there were avian creatures in this cave, they should be beasts like bats, half-bird and half-beast, not a feather that clearly belonged to a bird!

Moreover, they had explored every single place in this Dungeon; they hadn't seen a single ordinary animal or minor monster, and the only two bosses had already been killed by them.

The appearance of this feather here was indeed somewhat suspicious.

A look of confusion appeared in Xiao Niao's eyes.

After looking at the feather in his hand, he looked up toward the ceiling.

"Do you think... this feather could have fallen from up there?" Xiao Niao pointed to the pitch-black space above their heads and asked.

Hu Gualing and Tang Yao looked up, following the direction Xiao Niao was pointing.

They saw nothing but pitch-black darkness above, without a single ray of light.

They didn't know if the Dungeon ceiling was naturally that black, or if there was no ceiling at all, and the pitch-black darkness they saw was actually a night sky without a glimmer of light.

However, precisely because they couldn't see what was in the darkness, it was reasonable to assume that whatever existed inside—for example, a large bird that was in poor health but could fly very high—was possible.

"Hmm, it's possible."

"It seems this Dungeon isn't simple at all."

The three of them looked at each other and nodded in deep agreement.

But regardless of what was in that darkness, or what else existed besides the bird that dropped this feather, it wasn't something they could investigate now, and thinking about it more was useless.

"Let's go, let's go."

Feeling that he didn't have much game time left for the day, Xiao Niao casually threw down the useless feather and beckoned Hu Gualing and Tang Yao to head toward the Dungeon entrance.

However, after leaving, a feeling suddenly arose in his heart.

He vaguely felt that the feather just now seemed a little familiar—had he seen it somewhere before? ...

After leaving the Dungeon, Hu Gualing, Tang Yao, and Xiao Niao reappeared in the narrow corridor outside the cave.

Whether it was psychological or simply because the environmental atmosphere on both sides was vastly different, they felt the air had become much fresher after coming out.

Although it was just separated by a cave, it felt as if they had crossed between two worlds.

Regardless, this thrilling but safe Dungeon journey had been very rewarding for all three of them.

In fact, it wasn't just the three of them; even Tang Yao's pet piglet, although currently in a dead state, had actually gained significant benefits from this Dungeon.

Although they were a bit tired, any random blue item dropped inside the Dungeon was something they might not even see after grinding monsters all day in the outside map.

Therefore, the three of them, having gained so much, walked one after another through the narrow corridor, chatting and laughing in a great mood.

However, when they reached the entrance of the corridor, Hu Gualing, who was walking in front, suddenly chuckled.

"Look, this group of wild boars is still guarding outside! They are really holding a grudge!" Hu Gualing stopped and pointed outside the corridor.

Tang Yao and Xiao Niao also looked outside the corridor and truly discovered that on the mountain road not far from the corridor they were in, five wild boars were gathered around a large stone.

They were resting while keeping their heads pointed toward the corridor they were in.

Who else could it be but that Irritable Red Wild Boar and its four lackeys?

"It's been so long, and they're still guarding here!" Tang Yao said, feeling both surprised and amused.

They had entered that cave a long time ago, and the location and posture of these five wild boars were still much the same as before they entered the cave.

It seemed that after forcing them into the corridor, they had been guarding outside the whole time, looking like they wouldn't stop until they caught them.

"It really is them." Xiao Niao also shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

The three of them were a little surprised by the Irritable Red Wild Boar's grudge, but there wasn't a hint of fear or worry in the party; instead, the atmosphere was cheerful and relaxed.

Although this was partly because all three of them had significantly improved their strength after this Dungeon, it also had to be said that after witnessing the strength of the two real bosses inside the Dungeon, their mental fortitude had improved quite a bit.

The current setup—at most an elite monster with four ordinary monsters as subordinates—really wasn't taken seriously by the three of them.

"You guys go ahead; I'll stay here and heal you. I'll come out after you've dealt with them."

Xiao Niao consciously stood against the wall at the very back, letting Tang Yao and Hu Gualing go out of the corridor first to confront the five wild boars head-on.

Although his strength had improved significantly, he hadn't forgotten his role as a healing support.

He preferred not to take risks if he didn't have to; hiding in this corridor and safely providing healing to Hu Gualing and Tang Yao was just fine.