Star Farming, the eldest lady relies on alchemy to counterattack

Chapter 223 Lightning Strikes Wood

They flew up the mountain ridge, reaching the mountaintop clouds, where the rock facets stretched into winding lines in the morning mist.

As countless rays of light pierced through the clouds, Ning Xuan saw a sea of ​​clouds below that seemed to be burning. The hills, high and low, were of various shapes, and the isolated, wind-eroded rock pillars cast long, thin shadows, standing there like a chessboard left behind by an ancient giant.

"Hold on tight." Di Youlin suddenly folded his wings and swooped down with her. Ning Xuan faced the wind and, in the moment of weightlessness, saw them rapidly approaching downwards. The sea of ​​clouds, mountains, trees, and grass, like pieces of a puzzle, gradually became clear in Ning Xuan's eyes as they came together from their scattered parts.

Ning Xuan hugged Di Youlin's neck tightly, her eyes filled with excitement. This feeling of soaring freely between heaven and earth was mesmerizing.

When they were less than 100 meters from the ground, Di Youlin suddenly spread his wings, stopping his descent and flying steadily at low altitude.

Lin Mo and the others' convoy had disappeared. Under Ning Xuan's command, Di Youlin landed on the top of a solitary peak. Next to him was a crooked pine tree growing in a crevice of the rock. The astringent scent of pine needles mixed with the morning moisture permeated his nostrils.

Ning Xuan stood on the mountaintop, looking down at the rushing river, the lush trees, and the birds and beasts flying among the forest. Di Youlin suddenly exclaimed, "This place is indeed very beautiful."

The celestial bodies in the Federation Galaxy are divided into different levels according to the abundance of resources and the density of energy, but even the central galaxy does not have such a beautiful view.

The mountains, rivers, and every tree here are all natural and pristine, unlike the Federation Galaxy, where most galaxies have been contaminated by the virus. The habitable cities here have transplanted trees and the environment has been modified using technology. Although you can't feel the difference when you're in the midst of it, once you witness the true grandeur of the world, you'll be able to feel the difference.

"Unfortunately, the virus is spreading, and alien beasts are running rampant. This beautiful planet will soon be unrecognizable," Di Youlin said regretfully.

"Actually, it wasn't the virus that turned the environment so unrecognizable. The reason the Federation's star system became like that was mainly due to the large-scale use of radioactive weapons." In order to better integrate into the Federation's social environment, Ning Xuan specifically learned about that period of history.

“You’re right.” Di Youlin was slightly taken aback, then nodded thoughtfully.

Is this also why the military does not allow stationed troops to use large-scale radioactive weapons?

Of course, there may be another reason, which is to better develop the advanced resources on this planet.

“This cliff pine is beautiful. Youlin, help me pull it out. I want to take it back and plant it in the villa’s yard.” Ning Xuan’s spatial ring contains soil that can maintain the vitality of plants, specially used for cultivating medicinal herbs and spiritual plants.

"Yes, Master." After receiving Ning Xuan's instructions, Di Youlin folded up his wings and went to do his work.

"Hiss..." Ning Xuan heard a sound. She turned her head slightly and saw a black and white patterned snake crawling up from a crevice in the rock on the other side, its head raised high, in an attacking posture.

Ning Xuan stretched out her hand, and a sharp vine flew out, pinning the snake to the spot. "Hiss..." The snake let out a mournful cry and quickly went still. It was pitiful that it had quietly crawled up, but before it could even launch an attack, it was dead. Its gall bladder was used in medicine, and its meat was made into soup.

Ning Xuan and Di Youlin broke away from the main force to fly, not just for fun. They had an important mission: to survey the ground, observe suitable routes, and find suitable bases to set up camp.

During the flight, Ning Xuan discovered two natural medicinal herb fields, a mushroom grove growing various kinds of fungi, and a tree hole in a towering tree. The tree was soaring into the clouds and had a diameter of ten meters. From the outside, the tree hole was just a tiny crack. Ning Xuan accidentally noticed that the crack was flashing. Out of curiosity, she went closer to observe and discovered that there was actually a space inside the tree. The entrance was very narrow, but after entering, there was a huge space inside.

Ning Xuan recorded these locations one by one, noting that the huge tree hole as one of the suitable bases for stationing.

The tree hollow was thirty or forty meters above the ground. This height prevented the possibility of attacks from strange beasts at night. Apart from the inconvenience of climbing up and down, it was a very suitable place to set up camp.

Ning Xuan then looked for several other campsites, but none of them suited her taste as well as the tree hole, so she made this place her first choice.

To better understand the situation in the tree hole, Ning Xuan and Yun Han landed on the big tree again. This time, Ning Xuan checked it very carefully, inside and out.

On the southwest side of the trunk of this towering ancient tree, there are three charred spiral lines leading directly to the entrance of the tree hole. Carbonized dragon scale-like crystals can be vaguely seen between the cracks in the bark—these are the "lightning patterns" left after being struck by lightning.

Squeezing through the narrow, sideways entrance, one enters a suddenly unfolding elliptical space, about four or five meters high and seven or eight meters in diameter, comparable to a small auditorium.

The tree cavity was formed by being ignited by lightning, which burned and hollowed out the trunk. What's amazing is that a translucent woody network grows in the heart of the tree. This wood secretes an amber-colored gel, which not only repairs the tree structure but also keeps the inner wall of the cavity exceptionally dry.

Ning Xuan embedded the glowing fluorite into the dry inner wall around her, and with a powerful flashlight in hand, she began to inspect the inside of the tree hole. In the center, she found a black, shiny piece of wood that was more than a meter thick. Ning Xuan stroked the wood and looked at the silver thread-like patterns on its surface. She was overjoyed. This was "lightning-struck wood" that had been tempered by lightning. This was a rare and precious thing.

Ning Xuan wanted to cut the lightning-struck wood off and take it with her, but during the cutting process, she discovered that there was a cavity below the oval-shaped space.

This tree hollow space has three levels, with the bottom level only about twenty meters above the ground.

Ning Xuan was increasingly satisfied with what she saw. She took the piece of lightning-struck wood, marked it, and then went with Di Youlin to meet up with Lin Mo and the others.

Ning Xuan marked Lin Mo, Yun Han, and Chen Nan, allowing her to sense their locations. Guided by Ning Xuan, Di Youlin flew at full speed, and they soon rejoined the main force.

Lin Mo and Yun Han encountered a pack of mutated wolves. The pack was huge, with over a hundred mutated wolves. Lin Mo summoned the Blue Flame White Tiger, and Chen Nan summoned his companion spirit, Xiao Jin, to join the battle. The corpses of the mutated wolves were everywhere.

The little fox watched from the sidelines, somewhat bored, with no intention of intervening.