Chapter 135: Soul Returning Yang
On the periphery of the Silent Forest, the trees grow a little low due to wind and water erosion. There are not many dead branches and leaves scattered around these trees. In addition, it is now in the season of reproduction, and the trees are not willing to be lonely, which is in line with the old saying, dead trees in spring, so that the trees suitable for firewood are becoming more and more rare.
At the end of the edge of the forest, Zheng Qing finally picked up the first piece of wood suitable for firewood.
It was a dead branch that had fallen from a rejuvenating poplar, and a few fancy 'caterpillars' were wriggling on the dead branch. Zheng Qing pinched the roots of the dead branches and shook the crawling 'caterpillars' to the ground, and the caterpillars fell to the ground and turned over, and disappeared between the gaps in the dead branches and leaves in a blink of an eye.
These caterpillars are actually the seeds of the Rejuvenating Poplar.
The Rejuvenating Poplar is a magical magical plant.
Its plants are dioecious, the female plant is no different from the average tree, with high crowns and white branches, leaves like fine daggers, aerial roots deep into the soil, and the bark is covered with moss and large and small black bumps, and occasionally there are one or two dark tree holes, as if a woodpecker has just arrived. From a distance, it is not much different from ordinary green trees.
The male strains of the rejuvenating poplar live on the bottom of the shallow sea not far from here. Unlike the female plant morphological shape, the female plant of the rejuvenating poplar is an activated plant whose morphology is closer to that of a sea anemone.
Every year in early spring, when the female plants that have been dormant for a winter reveal their first buds, the male plants that are crawling on the bottom of the shallow sea will receive this signal of reproduction through mysterious channels, and begin to row their short and complicated tentacles, pushing along the waves and trade winds, leaving the shallow sea floor, crossing the reef, climbing over the tidal flats, and coming to the feet of the female plants, and taking down their short and tender rhizomes.
The arduous journey, the drastic changes in the living environment, and the covetous glances along the way have caused these male plants to suffer heavy losses, and often only one of the ten male plants can successfully survive at the feet of the female plant.
In mid-spring, the flowers of the female plant begin to bloom.
At this time, the males who had succeeded in taking root began to slowly lift their hardened antennae, and climbed up the trunk of the female plant until the branches and flowers were close to the left, and the tips of the antennae cracked in the wind, spewing wisps of white wool like green smoke.
These light flocs swirl and swirl between the canopies of the female trees, like a swarm of bees returning from their nests, and finally gently attach themselves to the blooming stamens and disappear.
The flowers of the female plant always have to absorb a lot of light flocculent to be satisfied.
When they are satisfied, they curl up their petals and shrink them into small blue balls. These small balls gradually harden and tighten under the blowing of the sea breeze and the moisture of the spring rain, and finally slowly seep into the branches of the female plant, turning into unsightly nodules.
These nodules are pregnant with the descendants of the Rejuvenating Poplar.
After a long gestation, the descendants of these nodules will wake up after a spring rain the following spring, burrow through the thin shells, roll off their mother's body, swallow the branches and leaves that may contain the remains of their father, and then drag their furry bodies into the distance, looking for a ground where they can put down roots.
For wizards, the Revenant Poplar is a very versatile magical economic plant.
Its bark can be made into rune paper, and smaller branches can be cut into talismans, and the effect is not inferior to that of peach and locust wood. Its heart can be used to refine magic weapons and burn magic disks, and its leaves and 'caterpillar' tree species can be used to raise spirit animals. As far as Zheng Qing knows, these 'caterpillars' are used in the recipes of the school's pet farm.
In addition, its aerial roots are ground into powder, and it is also a very commonly used neutralizer in standard tranquilizers. Its offspring can be used as a temporary 'sacrifice' in many magical rituals.
Because of its versatility, the plant is widely planted on the periphery of the Silent Forest.
But for Zheng Qing, at the moment, these rejuvenating Yangs in front of him have only one function, and that is to provide fuel for the picnic campfire.
The silent forest was eerily quiet, except for the rustle of branches and leaves, the sporadic chirping of birds, and the distant sound of running water that seemed to be on the horizon.
Zheng Qing bent down, picked up the seventh firewood, and then when he straightened up, the corner of his eyes swept a touch of white. He looked at it, and it was a half-picked mushroom, and perhaps the picker thought that the remaining mushroom was a little small, and did not take it completely, so there was a little remnant left.
Zheng Qing's eyes lit up.
He had been collecting firewood with a gypsy witch who was picking mushrooms, but the witch disappeared into the woods in a blink of an eye. It's just that although there is such a trace, if you don't use magic, it is still very difficult to find a figure in the depths of this dense forest.
Zheng Qing hesitated for a few seconds, then reached into the gray cloth bag with his fingers and felt a transformation potion.
If you become a cat, you can definitely find her by smelling the smell. But thinking of the old student's warning before, Zheng Qing was a little uneasy - for wizards, such taboos have always been more to be believed.
From the depths of the woods came the hoarse, unpleasant croaking of crows.
Zheng Qing's heart was crossed, and he threw the firewood in his arms on the ground, took out the deformation potion, and poured it directly.
He was more interested in Yelena's whereabouts than he was at ease. And his instinct told him that if he didn't go to her now, he would regret it.
A high concentration of standard-dose shapeshifting potion was drunk into the mouth, and there was a strong burning sensation. There was no one left and right and above his head, Zheng Qingqiang endured the discomfort of his body, packed his clothes properly, stuffed them into a gray cloth bag, and then pasted a few talismans on his body to ward off evil spirits and keep warm, and hid in the depths of the grass.
In an instant, a black cat with a gray cloth bag around its neck came out of the bushes, ran to the remaining mushroom, sniffed it, and disappeared into the depths of the bushes along the distant breath.
While running, the black cat wondered in his heart.
He had just caught a real smell of Yelena by the mushrooms, as always, the rich aroma. But in addition to that, there is a faint aroma, a little familiar, but I can't remember anything.
Didn't you see her go into the forest with the others? The black cat ran briskly, shaking his ears and secretly wondering in his heart who the owner of the other breath was.
Compared to humans, felines are like fish in water in the woods, and there are few shackles when running.
Soon, the black cat was embellished with Elena's figure. Elena had stopped, standing among the trees, carrying a small bamboo basket with handfuls of wild vegetables and some white mushrooms scattered around her arm.
The black cat looked left and right, followed the mottled bark of a rejuvenating poplar, jumped up to the canopy, and then hid between a small branch and young leaves, and quietly began to watch.
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