Weeping Light Willow

The tablets were both a cruel reminder and somber remembrance of the hundreds of ancestors who had died under the Lei family name. They filled the Ancestral Temple from top to bottom in various shapes, colors, and sizes, testaments of their time and personal standing in the family, with the previous emperors' tablets always being the most luxurious in design and quality compared to the others added during their rule. Alone from this fact, one could tell the golden ages of the Qingshui Kingdom and also realize that it was currently at the very bottom of its ancient existence.

The almost unobtainable, rare metals of the first few generations had gradually made way for beautiful but, overall, mostly worthless rocks. The few exceptions were mostly of the aforementioned recent emperors as well as her late aunt and grandmother, who had both died over twenty years ago but still received memorial tablets forged from Wood Silver and Marble Damascus respectively, revealing a hopeful but brief upward trend not too long ago. 

That her father had arrogantly cast aside.

Still, regardless of her discontentment and disapproval of her father's methods, it was nothing she had any influence on, especially not as a daughter. So, Lei Mingxing shoved all the critique to the back of her mind and instead glanced at the several tablets made from precious metals and materials once more before moving on.

She didn't recognize most of them, she could only speculate from color, sheen and feel, when she had the chance to crawl by behind the tablets, what their properties were and whether they were related to any materials she knew.

For example, one memorial tablet from a great-great-great grandfather of hers, possessed a similar sheen to Deep Meadow Brass, which was in itself a naturally occurring alloy or 'fusion' of Crystal Iron and Canyon Silver (Jing Jiang had kept about a single bag of it in his storage room, but rarely used it because its single defining feature, aside from its exceptional rarity and price, was its electric conductivity), but when she finally touched it, pressing her hand flat against its surface, she got the feeling that the metal was much denser and durable than the steel back in Dark Spirit Town.

Another tablet had to have been made with something similar to platinum, resembling it in pretty much every way, except that Lei Mingxing could feel a huge mass of energy coursing within it, which responded to her touch almost instantly, heating up the area she made skin-contact with to her exact body temperature, giving her the impression that her arm was melting into the metal. In her mind, she felt even so connected with the tablet she had the illusion of feeling the air brush past her new 'limb'.

She withdrew her hand.

Despite how fascinating the sensation was, it still felt strange and somewhat nauseating, at least while directly looking at her clearly separate hand and tablet. Also, there was simply no time for her to dally around, admiring every single new material she came across, no matter how much she wanted to, she still had to face that bloodthirsty tree and climb up its trunk to jump over the palace wall. So she started ignoring most of the unusual tablets heavyheartedly, sneaking from tablet to tablet, until she reached the exit of the Memorial Hall and with a quick look around, hurried outside.

The ground of the garden in which the tree stood, was covered in a layer of glowing leaves and crystal roots, 'shaded' by the Weeping Light Willow, with not a single other plant in sight. It was almost like setting foot on the surface of the moon itself, innately divine and alien..., if Lei Mingxing hadn't been so freaked out by the tree. Refusing to let her mind wander too much, in fear of developing any second thoughts, Lei Mingxing simply didn't stop running after leaving the hall and sprinted toward the willow, the stray leaves and branches rustling beneath her boots, before jumping up with all her might and clinging to the huge, crystal-like trunk as best as she could. It didn't take long for her fingertips to turn white because of how hard she pressed them against the surface and yet..., it was just too smooth. Despite her determination to climb to the top as fast as possible, Lei Mingxing began to slowly slip down, her left cheek pressed against the transparent wood.

Her descent only halted the moment she sat on the cold earth, occasionally split open by exposed tree roots.

Realizing that this wasn't the way, Lei Mingxing quickly got up and stared at the massive tree in front of her in deep thought.

What now? Was there another way out of the palace, except for the main and back entrances?

But she knew that there was none unless she spontaneously grew wings.

So was there nothing else she could do? She had come all this way, there was no way she could just give up like that!

Thinking harder, Lei Mingxing once again pushed her doubts concerning the strange willow to the back of her mind, instead rubbing her hand against it to try and figure something out.

Maybe a different hand position? Would more skin contact help? But the surface was just too smooth and wide, at least 3m in diameter, there was no way she would be able to wrap her legs around it and shimmy her way up... Just as she finished the thought, Lei Mingxing felt a familiar nibbling on her palms. Immediately she ripped her hands away, but to her shock, this time, it was fairly difficult to separate them from the cool wood before her, especially when she tried to pull them both back at the same time.

When they were finally free, the force Lei Mingxing had used to pull made her stumble several steps back, causing her to trip over a root and fall on her butt. Despite this, her heart was racing with surprise and excitement, although there was also a hint of fear, as she stared unblinkingly at the tree before her.

The 'nibbling' had been much stronger than with the branch, more like a powerful adhesive, giving Lei Mingxing the impression that it wanted to swallow her whole... A shudder went down her aching spine and the willow became more and more eerie in her opinion. Still, an idea had begun to blossom in her mind.

Small theater:

Lei Mingxing: This memorial tablet is only made from pure white marble? How cheap! This ancestor must have been disliked and unloved!

The 'disliked and unloved' ancestor in question:... (′︿‵｡)