The morning sunlight shone through the trees and illuminated Mu Zhou's face, giving his fair skin a radiant glow. His long eyelashes trembled slightly before his black and slightly hazy eyes opened.

"Ha~~~~~"

He propped himself up on one arm and sat up, yawning loudly.

He tidied up his tattered cloak, which had been baptized by the morning dew, and slowly stood up. His slightly skinny figure had a streamlined beauty to it as a few weeds and fallen leaves swirled and floated downward. His purple-black hair hung casually behind him, swaying gently with his body's movements.

Although Mu Zhou no longer felt tired, he still had the habit of resting after sunset, and he could always sleep comfortably and relaxingly.

He slowly identified the direction and moved forward.

How did he tell the direction, you ask?

Mu Zhou walked to a 'copper pillar tree' on his path.

...This was the name he gave to this strange tree.

He observed it for a while, then swung his sword at it with a casual chop.

【Boom！！！！！！】It fell to the ground in response.

He walked to the treetop, bent down slightly, and measured the position of the newly-felled tree and the row of copper pillar trees behind it to see if there was any deviation in their positions. He had almost formed a habit of chopping down any copper pillar tree in his path.

Afterward, he nodded in satisfaction, for Mu Zhou deliberately used the same force and angle to chop these copper pillar trees. Without external factors affecting them, the trees lined up in a straight line that stretched far behind him.

This was a clever trick he had come up with a while ago. Unable to determine the direction? Unsure if he was going in circles? Why not make a landmark then?

Putting aside whether going in this direction was correct, logically speaking, walking in one direction would eventually lead to an exit, right?

"I'm so freaking smart!" This voice sounded crisp and neutral.

Mu Zhou was taken aback, even though he hadn't spoken in this lonely forest for some time, he didn't remember his voice sounding like this...

"Sigh..."

He had no energy to complain about his strange changes.

He grabbed his hair and carefully placed the large sword on his shoulder. Although the material of the sword didn't seem very good, it could still barely continue to work due to Mu Zhou's proper use.

Just as he was looking for the next copper pillar tree to serve as a landmark, his body stiffened. His peripheral vision caught a tiny discord in the deep shadows of the forest.

"Gray...!"

Excluding his own clothes, in the unknown length of time, the landscapes in his sight had only consisted of the colors 'brown' and 'green'. But just now, he captured a 'gray'.

It was this inconspicuous gray that caused his heart to tremble violently.

【Whoosh！！】

Without time to think, his body's actions were faster than his thoughts.

He couldn't let this gray disappear from his sight.

Acting on instinct, he moved at full speed, almost uprooting the copper pillar trees on either side of him with the force of his steps and the wind he generated.

In an instant, he reached the 'gray'.

It was a withered, grayish-white tree stump.

Not a copper pillar tree stump, but a normal tree stump from his memory, without a smooth skin or metallic sheen.

No, actually, this wasn't the main point.

Mu Zhou could barely control the smile spreading across his face.

The sight before him revealed a dividing line, like a hairline. Behind him stood the towering, densely packed copper pillar trees, while in front of him lay uneven ground, unknown shrubs, and sparsely distributed plants that looked like pine trees with yellow leaves.

His extraordinary hearing could even pick up the sound of something crawling in the distance.

The tip of his nose could also smell something that was neither earth nor plant.

In the distant sky, he could even see the hazy smoke that signified the presence of living creatures.

Mu Zhou slowly walked up to the withered gray tree stump.

Suddenly, he fell on his knees, wrapping his arms around the stump, pressing his cheek against it and rubbing it forcefully, the layers of decayed gray dust brushing off...

"Oh my God!!! I've finally made it out! It's been torturing me to death!!!""Damn the calm, damn the tranquility!"

Even if it was Guan Yunchang having his bone scraped for treatment back in the day, all the while seriously playing chess, could he really not feel any pain at all? Maybe he was hiding in his bed at night and howling in pain.

Throughout the long years, Mu Zhou had been alone in that extremely lonely environment, and although there was no danger at all, it was utterly boring every day!!

Thanks to his inexplicably strong mind, he did not break down and go insane. However, this kind of experience was not easy to bear, and the fact that he was not crying out loud now was already very considerate...

"I swear, I will never set foot in that ghostly place again! Not even one step!"

This thought filled his heart.

But Mu Zhou did not know what kind of expression he had right now...

The delicate chin carved like a knife, the cherry-pink thin lips pouting upwards.

The slightly sniffling small and delicate nose, the smooth and delicate milky white face stained with a bit of dust.

Two elegant and slender eyebrows furrowed together.

And in those dark and beautiful eyes, it was as if they were filled with mist, seemingly containing endless grievances and bitterness that could hardly be controlled from pouring out...

From every aspect, it was a perfect image of an irresistibly cute girl...