The night of Moon Lake was always peaceful and beautiful, the silver moonlight sprinkled on the surface of the lake, which was like a mirror, reflecting a bit of starlight. The Moon Dew Flower in the night was gently swaying in the breeze, its petals emitting a faint ice-blue glow, as if it was a sea of misty stars. However, behind this serenity, Leo and Luna gradually discovered the secrets hidden here.
Ever since they came to Moon Lake Village, the warmth and tranquility of this village had given the duo a hint of long-lost comfort. The warmth and songs of the villagers also made them temporarily forget the hardship of the journey and their inner troubles. Especially at night, the villagers would collectively kneel by the lakeshore and whisper those silver-bell-like songs, which resonated with the gentle trembling of the Moon Dew Flower, filling the air with a faint icy blue dust.
However, these seemingly beautiful sights gradually aroused Luna's alarm as time passed. As a mechanical genius, her eyes could detect tiny abnormal components in the air through special scanning techniques. During one of her scans, her mechanical eyes discovered that the dust floating in the air actually contained trace amounts of 'Memory Extraction Particles'. These particles were almost identical to the core substance of the Emerald City's giant tree purification device. Her heartbeat couldn't help but speed up as she whispered to Leo, "The composition of this dust is similar to the Giant Tree Purification Device. This means that there might be some kind of connection between ... this village and Emerald City."
Leo sniffed, and the doubts in his heart rose. He looked down at the void ring on his hand. The surface of the ring flickered with a faint blue light, as if responding to Luna's words. The ring suddenly absorbed the dust floating in the air, and then a blurry image emerged from within it: a robed human assembled with a silver pentagram was walking on the ridge of a snowy peak, with a pale snowy field behind him. The image was as blurry as a nightmare, yet it seemed unusually clear.
Leo's heart skipped a beat. He reached out and squeezed the Void Ring tightly, his eyes burning as he looked at Luna, "This ring resonates after absorbing the energy of the Moon Dew Flower, perhaps there is some kind of unknown connection between this village and the Emerald City."
However, in this calm lake, Leo did not have the time to delve into more. His eyes fell on the moon dew flowers that were gradually wilting next to him. The petals of each flower began to become dry and lose their original luster. Luna's mechanical eye analyzed the environment around the lake once again, scanning that some sort of reaction had occurred between the roots of the moon dew flowers and the lake water. Her voice was low, "The energy absorbed by the Void Ring seems to be affecting the vitality of these flowers. These flowers are starting to wither because the Moon Dew Flower and the Giant Tree Purification Device have some sort of similar energy mechanism, and their energy sources are interconnected."
Along with the Void Ring constantly drawing on the life force of the Moon Dew Flowers, the Moon Dew Flowers were also wilting.
That day the village chief found Leo and Luna, the village chief said worriedly from the sidelines, "We've noticed that the wilting of the moon dew flowers is getting worse and worse. We thought there was something wrong with the lake water, but our village people don't usually know anything about that, so maybe you guys can help us find out why."
Leo and Luna looked at each other and finally decided to head to the source of the Moon Dew Lake to see what was going on. The two followed the village chief to the lake, which was still crystal clear, but underneath the calm surface, there was an untold secret hidden.
Luna carefully scanned the bottom of the lake with her mechanical eye, and suddenly, her eyes lit up slightly as she spotted an anomaly: "There's a layer of black flotsam attached to the bottom of the lake here." She reached out and gestured for Leo to look, pointing towards the bottom of the lake. Leo also lowered his head and looked at the layer of black substance that seemed unrecognizable with the naked eye. They couldn't help but feel suspicious.
Without hesitation, the two of them dived into the lake water and quickly swam to the bottom of the lake with the direction provided by Luna's mechanical eye. As they went deeper into the bottom of the lake, the scene in front of them gradually became clearer: hundreds of large roots wriggled in the lake water, devouring the murky liquid in the water and pumping it deeper.
"These roots ... "Leo frowned, "This is the root system of the Emerald City's giant tree!"
"This can't be ..." Luna was deeply shocked, "The root systems of the Emerald City Giant Tree, why are they here?"
The two continued to follow the direction of the root system, and eventually, they found a waterlogged bronze altar in the depths of the lake bottom. In the center of the altar stood a faceless statue of a god, and strange energy emanated from the statue's chest, which had a beating white energy heart embedded in it. And shockingly, the heart was entwined with a giant moon dew bud, the roots of each bud unexpectedly piercing deeply into the heart's surroundings.
The ancient inscription on the altar read, "The Moon Dew Flower draws out defilement, transmits moonlight energy, and purifies everything." These words were similar to what Leo and Luna had seen at the roots of the Emerald City's giant tree, yet completely different.
Numerous questions rose in Leo's mind, "This altar is even here? Why are these Moon Dew Flowers associated with the roots of the Giant Tree? And why is the water of the Moon Dew Lake able to purify filth?"
He approached the idol and felt the faint vibrations coming from his heart, the pulsation of life and the convergence of energy caused a pang of unease in his heart. He whispered, "I learned earlier in the ancient books that these Moon Dew Flowers turned out to be parasites on the roots of the Emerald City Giant Tree, but why are there no Moon Dew Flowers on the roots of the Emerald City Giant Tree."
Luna analyzed, "The Void Ring absorbed the energy of the Moon Dew Flowers and caused the flowers to wither. The energy heart is not functioning enough to effectively purify the dirty energy, causing that energy to be discharged directly into the lake, causing even more serious pollution."
Leo took a deep breath and had a clear idea in his mind, "The secrets here are far more complicated than we imagined. We must get to the bottom of this altar in order to find the root of the problem."
The two decided to continue their in-depth investigation in an attempt to unravel the mystery behind the Crescent Lake, while also realizing that this mysterious lake seemed to have an unbreakable link with the Emerald City's past. And the secrets hidden by this altar might change the direction of their entire adventure.