Immortal Druid

To call it bizarre would have been an understatement. Acquiring the ruins of a magical flying city was already absurd enough to make most cultivators question reality. Somehow becoming acknowledged by an entirely different forest and crowned its master almost instantly was another matter entirely. Yet neither of those things managed to disturb my peace nearly as much as the dryad currently attempting to pamper me like an overprotected child.

We sat beneath a large pavilion. Sunlight filtered through the leaves overhead, scattering emerald patterns across the table between us. Every inch of the table had been occupied by fruits of every imaginable color. Crimson peaches steamed with spiritual mist, translucent pears glimmered like crystal, and grapes larger than my thumb rested neatly upon golden platters.

To my right sat Mab.

The dryad leaned closer with a smile soft enough to rot a man’s spine.

“Open your mouth,” she said sweetly while holding a grape before my lips. “Ah~”

“I can feed myself,” I replied politely.

“I know.”

“Then why are you feeding me?”

“Because I want to.”

Her answer came so naturally that I failed to formulate a response for several seconds. Mab merely smiled wider, her long green hair swaying gently as spiritual butterflies fluttered around her shoulders.

“You have worked very hard,” she continued. “A good child deserves rewards.”

“I am not a child.”

“You are to me.”

“That feels slightly insulting.”

“That means you are adorable.”

I rubbed my forehead.

Across from us, Zhen Ai was currently fighting for her life against Tao Wolong and several aggressively juicy fruits. The little brat had somehow crushed three peaches in both hands and smeared their juices across his cheeks like war paint.

“Tao Wolong!” Zhen Ai exclaimed. “Eat properly! You are spilling everywhere!”

“Sorry, Mother…” Tao Wolong muttered while trying to scoop fruit pulp back onto the plate with both hands.

“That is the tablecloth.”

“Oh.”

A moment later, he accidentally knocked over a bowl.

Zhen Ai closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her nose while visibly suppressing murderous intent.

Tao Wolong and I exchanged glances.

In that brief moment, understanding formed between us as naturally as breathing.

Off to the side, Jia Ping looked as though she had ascended into enlightenment.

“This is incredible!” she shouted while running between several small formation flags she stabbed into the earth. “Absolutely incredible! Do you understand what this means?!”

“No,” I answered honestly.

“I don’t either!” she cried excitedly. “That’s what makes it incredible!”

The poor lass had completely lost her mind.

Her robes fluttered wildly as she rushed from one flag to another, constantly adjusting her glasses while scribbling notes upon dozens of jade slips floating around her body. Every few moments, she would suddenly laugh to herself before muttering theories under her breath.

“Secret realms are pocket dimensions separated from the primary world structure,” Jia Ping rambled. “Their laws are independent yet connected through anchors and spatial folds. But this? This isn’t collapse! It isn’t destruction! The Emerald Verdant Forest actually reintegrated itself into another domain completely! The dimensional boundaries dissolved naturally! I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

She paused briefly before looking at me with bloodshot eyes filled with terrifying scholarly passion.

“Do you realize how valuable this data is?! If we can understand the process behind this phenomenon, we may uncover methods to create stable secret realms artificially or even unravel hostile ones without forceful destruction!”

“I feel like you haven’t blinked in several hours.”

“I haven’t!”

“That explains a lot.”

She laughed again before sprinting away to inspect another formation flag.

Secret realms were essentially independent pocket dimensions, or at least that was the simplest explanation. By “undoing,” Jia Ping referred to the Emerald Verdant Forest ceasing to exist as an isolated realm and merging itself completely into my Hermit Sage Forest. Rather than occupying separate dimensional spaces, the two forests had become one unified existence.

Frankly, I still did not understand how I managed to accomplish that.

I glanced toward Roo.

The kangaroo remained sprawled beneath a nearby tree, sleeping so peacefully that not even Jia Ping’s manic laughter disturbed him. One paw twitched occasionally while he snored.

I was starting to envy that kangaroo.

“Say ah,” Mab said gently.

I looked toward the grape before finally surrendering.

I opened my mouth and allowed her to feed me.

Honestly, where was the harm? Mab was almost certainly at the Immortal Realm. If possible, I preferred not antagonizing beings capable of flattening mountains with a sneeze. Being fed grapes hardly cost me anything aside from perhaps a portion of my dignity.

Mab’s eyes curved happily.

“Good boy.”

“There it is again.”

“What?”

“That thing you keep saying.”

She tilted her head innocently.

“I only speak truth.”

“Say ah,” she said again while offering another grape.

I accepted my fate.

Around the pavilion, the gathered animals watched us openly with sparkling eyes.

“So cute…”

“Our master looks so happy…”

“I have never seen Master smile this much before.”

A monkey sitting atop the pavilion railing suddenly scratched his chin thoughtfully.

“Should we still call her Master now?”

Several beasts froze.

“That is true…”

“The forest has a new master now…”

“Then what do we call the former master?”

The monkey gasped dramatically.

“A crisis!”

Immediately, dozens of animals began arguing amongst themselves.

“We can just call her Mab.”

“That sounds disrespectful!”

“Then Lady Mab?”

“Ooooh…”

“No, no, it needs more grandeur!”

“How about Her Majesty, Mab?”

Several animals collectively oohed and aahed in admiration.

“That sounds elegant…”

“Very noble…”

A squirrel puffed out its chest.

“What about the Master’s Wife?”

Silence descended instantly.

I nearly choked on the grape.

Several beasts tilted their heads thoughtfully.

“Hm…”

“That does sound important…”

“But lacks impact.”

“True. It needs more majesty.”

“Empress Mab?”

“Ohhhhh!”

I internally sighed in overwhelming relief.

I almost got married off right there.

Mab, meanwhile, appeared entirely too pleased by the discussion.

The pavilion itself had become crowded with animals from the former Emerald Verdant Forest. Deer rested peacefully beside wolves. Birds perched along the pavilion beams while monkeys hung upside down from branches overhead. None of them appeared hostile. If anything, they looked oddly excited whenever they glanced toward me.

Since they were technically my people now, I figured I should at least understand how they lived.

I cleared my throat lightly.

“So,” I began, looking around the pavilion, “what is life normally like here? Do all of you live together like this?”

A large brown bear raised one paw politely.

“We cultivate.”

“That part was expected.”

“We hunt sometimes,” a wolf added.

“We sing!” chirped a blue bird.

“We hold seasonal festivals!” shouted a horned rabbit excitedly.

The monkey from earlier nodded solemnly.

“We also gossip.”

“That explains quite a lot.”

“Our former— ah, Lady Mab cared for everyone,” said a deer softly. “No beast starved. No creature fought without reason. Even weaker animals could cultivate safely. Of course, they have to awaken the spark first, or you become food.”

“We protected the forest together,” another beast added proudly.

“And now,” the squirrel announced dramatically while pointing at me, “you are our new master!”

Every pair of eyes turned toward me simultaneously.

I suddenly felt an enormous amount of pressure.

Meanwhile, Mab gently placed another grape near my mouth.

“Ah~”

I stared at her for several long seconds before opening my mouth once more in defeat.

“Try this one,” said Mab gently, while pressing a sliced peach toward my lips. “It is sweet.”

“I’m beginning to think you simply enjoy this.”

“I do.”

“That was honest.”

“I am always honest with you.”

The dryad smiled serenely while I accepted another piece of fruit with the exhausted resignation of a man who understood resistance was futile.

Below the pavilion, the animals continued nervously on a new argument.

“How about the new master? What do we call him?”

“We cannot just call Master by name…”

“That feels improper…”

“But what if he dislikes formal titles?”

“He is the master of two forests!”

“His name must carry gravitas!”

“Exactly!”

I nearly snorted.

“Just call me Wo Li,” I said. “That’s more than enough.”

The beasts collectively recoiled as though I had uttered blasphemy.

“Impossible!”

“Absolutely not!”

“How can we address such a great existence so casually?”

A rabbit stood atop the table dramatically.

“The master’s name must shake the heavens!”

“That feels unnecessary,” I muttered.

Tao Wolong suddenly raised one sticky hand.

“Why not Sage Wo Li?” he suggested. “That’s what everybody outside the forest calls him anyway.”

The pavilion became silent. Several beasts blinked thoughtfully, and then the entire crowd erupted.

“Sage Wo Li…”

“That sounds dignified!”

“Wise yet approachable!”

“A perfect balance!”

“No, wait,” shouted the monkey from earlier. “We can improve it!”

He pointed toward me grandly.

“Sage of the Six Paths!”

A wolf immediately objected.

“That is too simple!”

“How about His Supreme Majesty, Overlord of Nature?!”

“King of Fae!”

“Master of the Endless Verdant Realm!”

“He Who Commands All Beasts!”

“Supreme Sage of Forests and Rivers!”

The titles continued escalating with horrifying speed.

Each new suggestion somehow became more bloated than the last. Several animals began combining previous titles together into monstrosities that sounded like something an emperor suffering from delusions would invent after drinking too much wine.

I held my forehead in pain.

Just call me Wo Li, damn it.

Realizing there was absolutely no stopping them, I decided compromise was my only path toward survival.

“How about Hermit Sage?” I suggested quickly before someone added ‘Conqueror of the Nine Heavens’ to the list. “That sounds perfectly fine.”

The beasts paused.

“Hermit Sage…”

“That is elegant…”

“It matches the forest…”

I immediately seized the opportunity before things spiraled again.

“Exactly,” I said. “The Hermit Sage Forest already exists, so Hermit Sage sounds natural.”

I then turned toward Mab.

“Speaking of which, was it really necessary to abandon the name Emerald Verdant Forest? Honestly, it sounded much cooler.”

Mab immediately wrapped both hands around my arm and leaned against me affectionately.

“That was merely a borrowed name,” she said softly. “This forest belongs to us now. I would rather you give our home a true name.”

Our home.

I pretended not to notice several animals swooning nearby.

Before I could respond, a familiar voice echoed from above.

“Congratulations on your wedding, Sage.”

I looked upward just in time to see Old Crow descend onto one of the pavilion beams. More crows circled high overhead like a dark storm cloud before several began landing nearby.

I stared at him blankly.

“Where did you hear that from?”

“News travels fast,” Old Crow answered calmly.

Instantly, the animals below exploded into outrage.

“The feather thieves!”

“They are the new beasts!”

“They kept trying to invade our territory!”

“They stole our spirit berries!”

“That was one time!” a crow cawed defensively.

“A thousand berries is not one time!”

More crows landed throughout the pavilion while cackling amongst themselves.

“Call us seniors properly!”

“We followed Sage first!”

“That makes us elder retainers!”

“You ground-walkers should show respect!”

The monkey nearly foamed at the mouth.

“You overgrown chickens!”

“At least we can fly!”

“AT LEAST WE BATHE!”

“WE ALSO BATHE!”

I sighed deeply.

“Old Crow,” I said tiredly, “could you please stop them?”

Old Crow closed his eyes in visible disappointment.

“Enough.”

The entire murder immediately became silent. Several crows awkwardly shuffled away while pretending they had done nothing wrong.

Old Crow then looked toward me again.

“My apologies, Sage. Word has been spreading rather rapidly about your marriage.”

I slowly turned toward Mab.

The dryad blinked innocently while still holding my arm.

Old Crow continued speaking.

“Apparently, some youngling claimed he witnessed the two of you embracing lovingly beneath a sacred tree while discussing your future together—”

The old crow suddenly paused, and then his feathers puffed outward violently.

“Hey!” he screeched while turning toward the other crows. “Who spread that misinformation?! Which idiot was it!? Speak up!”

Several younger crows immediately pointed at one another.

“It was him!”

“No, it was her!”

“You said they already had three children!”

“That was speculation!”

The entire pavilion descended into chaos again.

I decided preserving my sanity mattered more than correcting rumors at this point.

“Was there a reason you were looking for me?” I asked Old Crow.

The elderly bird settled down slightly.

“The cultivators from Leafhome are rather worried,” he explained. “Lifting an entire landmass into the sky tends to leave people somewhat rattled.”

Ah.

Right.

I may have accidentally created a floating island. That was probably important.

“Tell them to wait a little longer,” I said. “I want to finish things here first.”

Old Crow nodded.

“I shall inform them.”

I turned toward Mab.

“Would you mind helping introduce everyone to me properly? If they are part of the forest now, I would like to know more about them.”

Mab’s expression brightened instantly.

“Of course.”

She stood gracefully before the gathered beasts, her presence immediately silencing the area.

“Leaders of the three tribes,” she declared warmly, “step forward.”

Movement stirred among the crowd.

First came a familiar elderly monkey carrying a wooden staff taller than himself. His fur had gone silver with age, but his sharp eyes still gleamed with frightening intelligence.

Next approached an enormous water buffalo whose muscles looked sturdy enough to uproot ancient trees. Spiritual mist flowed quietly from his nostrils with every breath.

Then came the third representative.

I stared at the bird for several long seconds.

“…Is that an emu?”

The tall bird blinked proudly.

“That is correct,” the emu answered in an unusually feminine voice. “Supreme War Emu Commander Mumu reporting for duty.”

I suddenly understood absolutely nothing about this forest anymore. I tolerated the kangaroo long enough, but now I got an emu on my hands. What’s next? A penguin? A giraffe? A dodo bird or something?