In the forest (2)

Xia Lian stepped forward but she immediately moved back as she felt a pain on her arms..

Xia Lian looked at her arm and she found a very thin cut on her arm. Xia Lian lifted her head and frowned as she found a faint tinge of red before her. Her frown slowly disappeared and her eyes are replaced with interest as she realized that the place is woven intricately by several threads.

Xia Lian raised her brows.. She did not know that silkworms also defend themselves. She thought for a while, but she did not remember which silkworms are so intelligent to defend themselves. ' May be I found something new..' Xia Lian's mood improved greatly on that thought.

Xia Lian unsheathed her dagger and slashed the network before her. But, the threads only extended like an elastic as they did not break. No matter how much force she applied, they did not break.

Xia Lian retrieved her dagger into the sheath dejectedly. She rubbed her chin and thought for a while. She then took out some herbs from her bag and mixed them. Xia Lian sprinkled the powder before her and waited for a while. Xia Lian found that the threads are slowly dissolving. So, Xia Lian added sagweed root powder to the mixture and sprinkled it again. This time the threads dissolved at lightning speed and Xia Lian slowly moved forward by sprinkling the powder along the way.

Xia Lian was just one feet away from those fat silkworms, but she did not dare to touch them directly. She took a twig and poked the silkworm..

poke.. poke.. no matter at which angle she poked, the worm did not move even an inch. Xia Lian remembered something and decided to try it out. Xia Lian took her wooden box and covered the bottom of the box with spirit mulberry powder, as silkworms are attracted to this powder. Xia Lian brought the box near to the first worm.

Then to her dismay, the worm started to move and it slowly crawled into the box intoxicated by the smell. Xia Lian moved the box slowly to the next one and all the ten worms made their way into the box easily..

Xia Lian covered the box and carefully placed it in another bag. Then she moved forward and found a group of her pigmented silkworms. She collected about twenty of them.

Xia Lian continued to move forward as she wanted to explore as much as she can. After moving forward for a while, she found that the previous damp atmosphere disappeared. Xia Lian walked for a while and found a waterfall.

Xia Lian washed her face and her hands and leaned against a rock. Xia Lian filled her gourd with fresh water and ate some oranges. Xia Lian rested for a while and looked at her sticky body.

It's been four days since her last bath.. So, she looked at her surroundings and after making sure that no one is present, Xia Lian stripped off her clothes and stood under the waterfall. The waterfall is falling from a moderate height, so it did not exert much force.

After relaxing herself for quite a while, Xia Lian came out of the water and dressed herself.

Xia Lian continued to walk and climbed a tree to rest for the day as the sky began to turn dark.

.........................

In the military camp,

The soldiers on the guard found a horse approaching and after seeing the badge, they opened the gates.

The horse galloped into the camp and stopped in front of a tent.

On seeing the horse, Min Zhuan came forward " Young master Moyin, where is our general?"

Jun Moyin dismounted from the horse gracefully and he looked at everyone with a serious look on his face " We did not travel together and general took the short-cut to the forest. Did you discover anything here?"

Min Zhuan shook his head and lowered his head out of shame. Jun Moyin nodded as he already expected this outcome. " From tomorrow, you will start searching under my command. Also, general entered the forest as he is sure that he will find something there. It's been four days since he entered the forest. So, we have to do our best here.."