When Lux and Guinaifen returned home, the sun was already setting.
As soon as Guinaifen walked in, she flopped onto the sofa, sprawled out, and muttered, “I’m exhausted, I’m exhausted.”
Lux wasn’t quite as dramatic, but she also sat down against the sofa and pulled her tail onto her lap to rub it—running the whole way had made the tip of her tail a bit sore.
The two didn’t speak, just slumped there, listening to the occasional sound of patrols outside the window and the sporadic noises in the distance.
The sky gradually darkened.
The door lock clicked.
Guinaifen sprang up from the sofa, and Lux’s ears perked up too.
Sushang pushed the door open and entered; there wasn’t a clean spot on her entire body.
Her uniform was covered in splotches of grime, impossible to tell if it was mud or blood.
Her hair was a mess, and the scratch on her face was still there, though it had stopped bleeding.
She looked like she had crawled out of a dumpster.
“I’m back…” her voice was weak.
Guinaifen rushed over and circled her twice.
“Are you hurt anywhere?
Is anything hurting?
Let me see—”
She started to reach out to touch her, but Sushang quickly dodged to the side.
“Guinaifen, what are you doing!
I’m really fine!”
“No way, I have to check!” Guinaifen was relentless, reaching out to tug at her clothes.
“I said I’m fine, so I’m fine!” Sushang’s face flushed red instantly, dodging and blocking with her hands, “You know what the Xianzhou natives’ self-healing ability is like!”
Guinaifen chased her around a couple of times, but in the end, she didn’t succeed and had to pull her hand back, looking dejected.
“Fine, fine, go take a shower and change your clothes first, we’ll talk when you come out.”
Sushang acted as if she’d been granted amnesty and quickly slipped into the bathroom.
Lux had been watching the show from the sofa the whole time, the corners of her mouth curled up, her tail swaying behind her.
Once the sound of water started in the bathroom, she spoke slowly: “Guinaifen, you were acting like an old mother just now.”
“I’m just concerned about Sushang.” Guinaifen rolled her eyes at her, sat down next to her, and casually pinched the tip of her tail.
Lux’s tail shrank back abruptly, and her ears stood on end.
“Why are you pinching my tail?!”
“It feels nice.” Guinaifen chuckled.
“Pervert!”
When Sushang came out of the shower, she had changed into clean casual clothes, her hair was still wet, and she looked much more refreshed.
Guinaifen immediately crowded over and circled her twice again, this time really checking her over.
“Is the wound on your face healed?” Guinaifen stared at her cheek; the scratch was just a faint red mark now.
“I told you I was fine.” Sushang rubbed her face, “Xianzhou natives heal quickly, this kind of small injury is fine after a sleep.”
Lux leaned over to take a look and couldn’t help but exclaim: “Good grief, what kind of monster constitution do you Xianzhou natives have.”
“Jealous, aren’t you?” Sushang lifted her chin triumphantly.
“Who’s jealous…” Lux turned her head away, but her tail swayed involuntarily.
Guinaifen snickered to the side.
The next few days were a bit calmer.
The Ambrosial Arbor still stood in the center of the Luofu, emitting a faint golden light, but it was no longer growing wildly.
Order was restored to the streets, shops reopened, pedestrians came and went, and it looked no different from before.
But that giant tree piercing through heaven and earth was constantly reminding everyone—the peace was only temporary.
Sushang left early and returned late every day; when she came back, she was no longer covered in blood, and she was dirty less often. Get faster updates on g.com.
Sometimes she returned early enough to catch dinner made by Lux.
“Why are you so early today?” Lux came out of the kitchen carrying a pot, which contained freshly cooked beef stew.
Ever since Lux discovered that the food made with the Farmer’s Delight mod was quick and delicious, she had taken over all three meals a day for the three of them.
“Nothing major today, just patrols.” Sushang changed her shoes and leaned over to sniff, “Smells so good—”
“Go wash your hands.”
“Oh.”
Guinaifen came out of the room holding her jade abacus, muttering: “It’s over, it’s over, I haven’t streamed for a few days, and I’ve lost a huge chunk of followers…”
“You still have followers to lose?” Sushang poked her head out from the bathroom.
“Sushang!”
Lux watched the two bicker, the corners of her mouth curling up involuntarily.
Life seemed to have returned to how it was before.
But every time she went out to buy groceries, she could see the Ambrosial Arbor the moment she looked up.
That tree was like a golden thorn, stuck in the very center of the Luofu, and also stuck in everyone’s hearts.
Lux walked on the street, her ears twitching from time to time, catching snippets of conversation from passersby.
“Have you heard?
Something happened over in Starskiff Haven again…”
“The Ambrosial Arbor hasn’t been very stable lately; it seems the General has made arrangements…”
“The Disciples of Sanctus Medicus are stirring up trouble again…”
Lux tightened her collar and quickened her pace.
A sense of urgency rose like the tide, inch by inch.
That day in Starskiff Haven, her iron sword couldn’t penetrate the defenses of those monsters at all.
If the Cloud Knights hadn’t been there to help, she might not have been able to do anything about this group of monsters at all.
The iron sword wasn’t enough.
She needed something stronger.
netherite gear—the strongest gear in the vanilla game.
And potions; these things could all be obtained in the nether.
The nether, she had to go.
That afternoon, the sunlight was lovely.
Lux wandered around Aurum Alley and found a suitable alleyway.
The alley wasn’t deep, and at the end was a stone wall; usually, no one passed by there.
She looked left and right—nobody there.
Then she took stone bricks out of her inventory, stacked them up one by one, and sealed herself at the end of the alley.
Looking from the outside, that stone wall was the end; there was no way to tell that a fox was hiding behind the wall.
“Hehe, clever as me.”
Lux patted the dust off her hands and nodded with satisfaction.
Her tail swayed triumphantly behind her.
She first dug 10 blocks into the ground, forming a small 5×2 pit.
Then she took out a lava bucket.
Bucket after bucket of lava was poured down, filling the bottom of the pit with a “gurgle, gurgle” sound; the orange-red light reflected on her face, feeling warm.
She took another bucket of water out of her inventory—this bucket of water was one she had collected from the faucet at home earlier, kept in her inventory for backup.
Then she poured the water into the pit; with a “hiss,” white smoke rose where the lava and water met, and a block of obsidian formed.
“Diamond pickaxe… The source of this chapter is g.com.
diamond pickaxe…”
She pulled a diamond pickaxe out of her inventory—crafted using the diamonds she bought earlier and some sticks.
The pickaxe head glowed with a faint blue light, the diamond particles sparkling in the sunlight.
“Let’s get to work.”
Lux swung the diamond pickaxe, mining the obsidian one hit at a time.
The mining time for obsidian was much longer than for regular stone; each block took a while to mine, which made Lux start to miss Vein Miner.
“One block, two blocks, three blocks…”
By the time she mined the tenth block, her arm was already a bit sore.
She shook her hand, loosened up her shoulders, and kept mining.
Ten blocks of obsidian, complete.
Lux took a deep breath and began building the portal.
She placed the obsidian blocks on the ground one by one, building a 4×5 frame—four blocks wide, five blocks high, with two blocks each on the bottom and top rows, and three blocks on each side.
Lux stepped back twice, looking at the pitch-black door frame in front of her, her tail curling up involuntarily.
“Next…”
She took out a flint and steel, crouched down, and aimed at the inside of the bottom obsidian block, clicking it to light the fire.
The moment the flame sprang up—
“Whoosh—”
A purple vortex surged out from inside the portal, like a vertical purple lake, its surface rippling and emitting an eerie light.
The center of the vortex was a bottomless purple, with constantly flowing purple-black mist at the edges.
An ominous aura spilled out from the portal, chilly and carrying a hint of sulfur.
Lux’s ears flattened, then twitched.
“Good grief, are portals in reality this eerie…”
She took the jade abacus out of her inventory, opened Guinaifen’s chat box, and typed a line:
“I’m going on a long trip, I’ll be back in a few days, don’t worry.”
After thinking about it, she added another line: “Tell Sushang for me too.”
The message was sent, and Guinaifen replied instantly:
“???
Where are you going?”
Lux didn’t reply.
She put away the jade abacus and stood in front of the portal; the purple light shone on her face, stretching her shadow long.
Her tail swayed behind her, and then swayed again.
“Lux, you can do this.”
She took a deep breath.
“It’s just the nether, I’ve been there eight hundred times in the game, nothing to be afraid of.”
Lux swallowed hard.
“Forget it, whatever, take a gamble, and an Apostle becomes netherite.”
Lux gripped the iron sword in her hand tightly and stepped forward— walked into the purple vortex.
A buzzing sound rang out.
Achievement Unlocked [ A Courageous Descent!