Chapter III

After spending a good part of the night struggling between sleeping and keeping watch, Jean-Luc had finally fallen asleep. Despite the coolness of the night and his tattered clothes, he had slept like a log, only to wake up abruptly quite late in the morning. The sun was shining on his forehead. He was lying in the crevices of the giant fig tree he had encountered earlier. How had he ended up there? He had no idea. This memory loss was surely due to fatigue.

Jean-Luc yawned deeply, then did some stretches to relieve his muscles from the discomfort they had endured. Not wasting any time, he headed towards the river where he had woken up, to drink some water and wash himself.

The walk to the river was fairly short, as the fig tree was not too far away. Stripping off his clothes, Jean-Luc plunged into the water, vigorously rubbing his body with some leaves he had gathered during his walk. Even though they were not soapy, at least their roughness helped to rid him of some dirt. Suddenly, he felt like rubbing his teeth with some leaves but immediately thought better of it. He didn't know if they contained toxins or not. Although the feeling of his mouth being unwashed for days bothered him, he wasn't yet in a critical period requiring drastic measures.

After finishing his ablutions, he washed his clothes and laid them out to dry on the riverbank.

While his clothes dried, he took out the remainder of yesterday's rabbit, which was carefully wrapped in leaves. Not wanting to inadvertently get sick, he lit a fire to cook the rabbit again. Anyway, it was already unappetizing. If it turned rubbery, so be it, he thought.

An hour later.

It had been almost an hour since he had been walking along the river. Still no human presence in sight. The forest, despite its strangeness, was eerily silent, giving it a truly intimidating aspect. Thank goodness, he had found a fruit tree whose fruits were edible, according to the memories of the former occupant of his body. So, he had no intention of hunting today.

Three hours later.

Jean-Luc was starting to get impatient. He had been walking for hours and the landscape hadn't changed a bit. It was depressing: trees as far as the eye could see, an endless river, a silence more than oppressive. No wonder it was called the Silent Giant. According to legend, even the leaves rustled in silence.

Two hours later.

Wen Chei was tired. He had been walking for nearly six hours at a fairly brisk pace. The night was already falling and he felt like he hadn't moved. The fruits he had picked were all consumed. Anyway, he wasn't really hungry, he was more frustrated than anything else. Without wasting time, he began looking for a place to sleep. Luckily, he stumbled upon another giant fig tree. Slipping into one of its crevices, Jean-Luc quickly fell asleep with firm conviction to do better tomorrow.

The next day.

The wake-up call was less brutal. After his morning stretches to loosen up, he immediately set off again. Unlike the previous day, he didn't plan on walking continuously. He didn't have any food anyway. He planned to take a break around ten o'clock to find something to eat.

Today's landscape wasn't as gloomy; he had seen new trees, and strange small animals scampering about. It seemed he had despaired too quickly yesterday.

Around noon.

"This meat is more tender than that hostile rabbit. The aroma of the fruit I squeezed on it enhanced the flavor. If only I had some salt, it would have been perfect," chuckled Jean-Luc as he joyfully bit into the meat.

At dusk.

With a full belly and in good spirits, Chen had walked all afternoon. At one point, he had to veer away from the river because of a waterfall. The path he had taken was through a rather dense jungle, where light filtered in only sparingly. Honestly, this place gave him butterflies in his stomach; he felt constantly watched.

Luckily, as the last rays of sunlight faded into night, he spotted a cluster of cottages in a clearing in the distance. There was even smoke wafting from them, proof of human presence. While he had intended to reach the village by tonight, Jean-Luc felt fatigue descend upon him like a mountain. His feet were sore, his back hurt.

"No need to push," he told himself. Finding a place to sleep was quite short. Coincidence or a gift from the heavens, he found another giant fig tree, this one even had thick moss covering its entire base. It was soft to the touch and extremely comfortable.

"I'm lucky," he thought. He hadn't encountered dangerous beasts until now, nor had he poisoned himself out of ignorance. His misadventure would soon end. The second he laid his head on the moss carpet, he fell into a deep sleep.

The day after.

"What the hell!" Wen shouted at the top of his lungs.

"It's impossible! This can't happen to me!" he continued, tears streaming down his cheeks as he walked backward on his hands. When he woke up this morning, he started walking towards the village. Given the distance, he had estimated his walking time at around thirty minutes. But those minutes turned into hours, much to his horror. The village so close seemed to become unreachable. Despite the hunger, he continued, frustration and despair overriding reason. In any case, he had not spotted any living being. It was when night came that he finally arrived at the village.

What he found made his blood run cold. A colossal fig tree, absurdly colossal! It was a sinister brown, its branches were like tentacles, twisting, coiling between them. On its trunk were carved figures, which if you looked closely, were houses. As much as he wanted to look away from the scene, he was as if hypnotized. He had a sort of tunnel vision.

To add gloom to the scene, a slit opened horizontally on the trunk of the tree, and a row of teeth as long as an arm, white as death, appeared there. When a forked tongue came out of this infernal mouth, drooling with excitement, Jean-Luc began to scream, laugh and cry. "It's just crazy!" he lamented. "Why me !"

When the monster's tongue wrapped around him, his cries took on a different tone, he felt as if thorns were wrapping around his flesh. The saliva from the tree was like boiling water, it hurt him. Extremely bad!

"Help! Help !" cried Jean-Luc as the pain became unbearable. To make matters worse, the tree was screaming madly, and its swallowing was downright disgusting as it swallowed Jean-Luc piece by piece, a vicious smile on the trunk.

Some here's earlier

in the Mute Giant Forest, Han and Ang had been on a mission to search for rare medicinal herbs. This forest, although silent and mysterious, was full of plants with exceptional healing properties. Han, an experienced herbalist, knew every nook and cranny of this place, but he was always careful. The forest had a dangerous reputation, and even the most seasoned herbalists could lose their lives there.

"Ang, remember, we're looking for the moon lotus," Han said, inspecting a plant. "This herb only grows in areas where the moon's light hits the ground directly. We must be vigilant, as nocturnal creatures lurk."

They moved cautiously, avoiding dense areas and making sure not to disturb the fragile ecosystem. Han suddenly stopped and bent down to examine a delicate flower with silver petals. "There you have it, the moon lotus," he whispered with a smile. "We found one."

While they were harvesting the precious flowers, they noticed fresh human footprints. Han frowned. "Someone else is here," he said. "And he doesn't seem to be an herbalist."

Following the tracks, they came across clues of Jean-Luc's presence: rubbed leaves, remains of food, and finally, footprints leading to a river. Han and Ang exchanged a look. "We need to find him before he encounters danger," Han said. "The Mute Giant Forest is not a place for the unwary."

As they followed the tracks, the daylight began to fade. They pressed on, knowing that the night brought new threats. The forest, with its intimidating silence, was becoming more and more oppressive.

A few hours later, as night fell, they heard heartbreaking screams, but inaudible to mortals. Rushing towards the source of the noise, they saw a body embedded in a cursed fig tree, it was as if he was part of it. Without wasting a second, Han prepared to use his fighting technique, knowing that every moment counted.

"Senior Brother Han, do you think we should leave him there?" Ang asked perplexed.

"We're not barbarians, you know," Han replied, one eyebrow raised.

"Please forgive this young disciple for this stupid question," Ang replied, bowing his back.

"Let's leave that aside. The important thing is to save this man so that he can enlighten us on his stupidity," Han replied, in a weary tone.

They took a little distance from the tree. Han got into a fighting stance, one arm back, one in front, and his torso tilted forward. He planned to use a technique to cut down this tree in one fell swoop.

"Quadruple rose technique. First movement; the tiger of the south," he whispered.

In the blink of an eye, Han was in front of the tree. His hands moved in a blur, sweeping away everything in his path in a great gust. Less than a second later, Han stopped, the technique complete.

At first glance, nothing seemed to happen, but suddenly the tree let out a shrill cry, echoing for miles around. It was falling apart, finely cut as if it were the work of a jeweler.

"Amazing," Ang said, stars in his eyes. The precision of this technique and its fineness of cutting were something else.

"I know," Han replied, not at all perturbed. "If you continue to cultivate diligently, you should be able to perform it soon."

Despite the tree's dangerousness and resistance, Han used relatively little power in performing the technique. His experience and mastery of qi had a lot to do with it.

"Count me in, Elder Brother," Ang replied, delighted at the compliment.

Approaching the dead demonic tree, Han pulled out Jean-Luc's comatose body. The latter was nothing but skin and bones. If he hadn't felt a distress call from a human with his perception, he would certainly have died before the end of the day. Without any ounce of gentleness, he put Jean-Luc's body on his shoulder, while beckoning his companion to follow him.

Quick as lightning, the two figures disappeared from the forest. Leaving behind weeds that gorged themselves on the body of the evil tree at lightning speed.