"Found it…"

"Found it…"

"Found it…"

Shen Cong parsed the pagoda tree's Activity wave through Cicada Language and grasped the rough sense of the emotional fluctuation within — it seemed to be seeking something. But the stretch of wave that followed, whatever emotion it expressed, he couldn't make out.

Which meant he had no idea what the pagoda tree was looking for.

As for asking — that was out of the question entirely. The pagoda tree was like something wholly submerged in its own world, giving Cicada Language not the faintest response. It stood in the dawn light, letting the newborn sun spill across its branches — reflecting back a brilliant, glittering metallic sheen — and quietly radiated its Activity wave of unknown meaning.

Perhaps half an hour passed.

At last, the pagoda tree that had gone on and on with "found it…" radiated a different Activity wave: "Found it."

Then it pulled up its ground-planted branches and pressed on to the northwest.

"What in the world did the pagoda tree find?"

The Pagoda Tree Cicada-Language was making slow going — two vocabulary items acquired in total — but Shen Cong's interest in the pagoda tree's purpose burned high.

"The pagoda tree is looking for something. The Snail Traveler is surely looking for something too. There must be an object in this region drawing them. I need to stay tight on their trail and find it. If even a Beyond-Four-Star jin tree and a peerless jin beast snail are being drawn to it, there's a great secret here — a great prize."

Knowing the pagoda tree's heading, Shen Cong felt steadier. Taking advantage of the rising sun, he mounted the Four-Legged Dragon and returned to the Great Vajra.

The Great Vajra sat quiet in the valley still. Not far off, a gigantic snail was leisurely eating jin trees — jin trees being, to it, mere seedling greens. One small curl of that fine-toothed tongue sheared off a whole jin tree and drew it into the mouth to be chewed. Another curl, and even the roots came out of the ground.