The beautiful mage was kidnapped by the contracted beast again

There is no point in lying or forging anything in front of Sang Mo.

The old tree spirit has lived for too long and can easily see whether a person is sincere in what he says.

Jiang Liujing had no intention of hiding anything and told him directly about his journey across the pool.

After hearing this, Sang Mo fell into a long silence.

"You came here in search of the source of life, but you stumbled upon that pool of water...? It's an illusion, so perhaps everything you see now isn't real."

He looked at Jiang Liujing steadily, "What you see of me now may just be an illusion, or a remnant of the past."

He calmly accepted the reality that he was an illusion and did not feel devastated by it.

True or false, it doesn't matter to him.

Jiang Liujing sat down cross-legged beside him and asked, "Grandpa Sang, have you seen the source of life?"

He immediately realized with regret that Sang Mo in front of him didn't know him yet, and it seemed a bit offensive for him to call him like that.

However, Sang Mo, who had previously coldly denied it, did not say much for some reason, as if he had tacitly accepted the title.

He nodded and said, "I've seen it. It's always been in this mountain range. Over the past ten thousand years, it has transcended mere inanimate objects and developed intelligence. Humans can't find it simply because it doesn't want to be found."

"It's alive. All the waters of the Hidden Dragon Mountains are under its control. It knows exactly which body of water you're near, so no matter how much you search, it's useless unless it's willing to show itself."

Sang Mo smiled at this and said, "But this is difficult to do. You should be able to feel that most mythical beasts reject humans, right? The Source of Life is even worse. It not only rejects humans, but also mythical beasts. Among the known races, only the elves have the opportunity to see it."

"However," Sang Mo suddenly looked at him with a somewhat inquiring expression, "you may also be an exception."

When Sang Mo listened to Jiang Liujing's narration of his experience, he realized that the illusion in the water was most likely a protective measure set up by the source of life.

Jiang Liujing's coming here might be an accident, or it might be intentional by the source of life.

"If you absolutely want to find it, then seek out the Mother Tree of the Elves. It's said that the source of life originally grew from the Mother Tree's fruit. The incarnation of the God of Magic plucked it, refined it, and then cast it into the waters to purify the most severely polluted water at the time. If it's the Mother Tree calling, perhaps it will respond."

Elves.

Jiang Liujing's eyes trembled, and he remembered the token that Wulier gave him. He quickly took out the golden leaf from the space props and handed it to Sang Mo.

Sang Mo took one look and said with certainty, "Yes, this is the leaf of the elves' mother tree."

He looked at Jiang Liujing in surprise, "The elves' tokens are very difficult to obtain. They have been hunted by humans for many years. Could it be that they and humans will coexist peacefully in the future?"

Jiang Liujing shook his head.

Peace? There is no peaceful coexistence at all.

As long as one party's desires remain, the other party will always be in danger. The elves are too few in number and are completely incomparable to humans.

When Sang Mo learned that this was a token of trust given to him by an elf girl after he saved her, a look of understanding flashed across his face: "She trusts you very much."

Since the most difficult key to enter the elves' tribe had been obtained, Sang Mo simply told Jiang Liujing the location of the elves' tribe in the mountains.

This race has been hiding for many years, and only people like Sang Mo can clearly see their location.

"Speaking of which, how are you going to leave here?" Sang Mo suddenly asked.

In their previous conversation, they had confirmed that they had been separated by a full thirty years. Even Sang Mo couldn't offer Jiang Liujing a way to leave.

He is a creature living in the "box" of this time node and cannot break through the limitations of time and space.

Jiang Liujing was the one who jumped in from another "box". If there wasn't a strong enough force to pull him out, he might have been trapped here forever.

For a moment, Sang Mo thought that this didn't seem so bad.

In the future, he will have a little grandson whom he dotes on very much. He will watch him grow up little by little, enjoy all the happiness of raising a child, and finally have a little friend who also loves him very much.

But Sang Mo knew that this love was not directed at him at this moment, but at himself thirty years later.

Sang Mo is still alone now. Rooted in the Hidden Dragon Mountains, he looks up and sees the wind and rain that have passed through millennia, the sun, moon, and stars all repetitively and boringly rotating.

Day by day, month by month, year by year.

Life lengthens in silence.

Jiang Liujing was not nervous about this: "I have a contract partner, and he will summon me back."

Sang Mo understood immediately: "You signed a symbiotic contract with him?"

Some disagreed, saying, "A contract like this shouldn't be signed lightly. Once you sign it, you're bound to the other party for life. Some people may seem okay now, but they'll turn bad over time. Once you sign a contract, you can't escape."

Jiang Liujing reminded him awkwardly: "Grandpa Sang, Chi is my partner, don't talk so weird."

It sounds like they're forming a covenant with a human couple?

Chi is his good brother, his most loyal comrade-in-arms——

But when this inherent idea that had dominated his cognition for many years emerged in his mind, Jiang Liujing suddenly thought of that night when Chi Peng's hot and heavy breath touched the back of his neck.

His body trembled slightly.

It was as if the fuse had been lit, and those details that had been deliberately ignored at the time popped up one after another.

The naked heart pressed against his back had an even more rapid and agitated heartbeat than his own. The two hearts were like two vibrating drums, echoing each other's rhythm through the thin skin on his back.

Chi hugged his arms tightly, with such force that he almost pressed him into his body.

Jiang Liujing could even sense Chi's mood at the time. He was afraid that he would run away. He was so scared that he even wanted to devour him, turn him into food and merge into his flesh and blood, so that they would never be separated again.

And there was that thing that was inexplicably pressing against me at that time.

It was so hard that it poked him, making him panic and stiff. He didn't dare to guess what it was, let alone think about why it got up.

Jiang Liujing's originally firm belief suddenly became chaotic. His steady breathing became rapid. He shook his head quickly to get rid of those incomprehensible things and forced himself to calm down.

Sang Mo looked at his ever-changing expression, sometimes calm, sometimes flustered, sometimes collapsed, and sometimes entangled, and raised his eyebrows.

"Why? What did you think of?"

Jiang Liujing quickly said: "Nothing!"

He told Chi on the opposite side that he would summon him back in a while. In the remaining few minutes, Jiang Liujing said goodbye to Sang Mo seriously.

"Goodbye, Grandpa Sang. I will come to see you again after I get the source of life."

The green-haired young man smiled faintly at him and said, "Go meet the real Sang Mo. He must miss you too."

A teleportation formation appeared out of thin air. Jiang Liujing waved to him reluctantly, and his figure dissipated like foam and disappeared into the air.

The forest returned to its original deserted silence.

Sang Mo raised his head, closed his eyes, and counted in his mind. There were still fourteen years.

We will meet again in fourteen years.

The boring time in the past suddenly seemed to become exciting because of a foreseeable future.