"A race of wood spirits known for their alchemy...."
"Let me guess…" Su Xiaobai folded his arms. "...They exploded."
"Corrupted," Zhu Qing corrected. "A spiritual blight. Ninety percent of their land turned to poison. Clan wiped out. Now the remnants barely survive in the Misty Vale Basin—sheltered behind the barriers of the Cloudwood Forest."
Su Xiaobai squinted at the map. "Sounds charming. Definitely a vacation spot."
Zhu Qing ignored the sarcasm. "Right now, the Weeping Moon Festival is underway. The silver rains fall continuously for forty-nine days—the only time when the Cloudwood Forest opens its gates."
She leaned closer. "That's where the Dark Tab was last seen—with a surviving Yunmu clan member. And during the festival, the forest barriers shift. You can cross into the corrupted wildlands through the Vale's Mist Gate."
Su Xiaobai sighed. "So it's not a death mission. It's a romantic fog walk into a cursed swamp."
