The cloud-floor was spongy and alive under their feet, a thick mat of moss and intertwined roots that pulsed with a slow, verdant energy.
The air grew heavy with the scent of damp earth and blooming night-flowers, even though the light filtering down from the impossible canopy high above was a perpetual, misty twilight.
Giant ferns unfurled like welcoming hands, and bioluminescent fungi glowed with soft blues and greens along the colossal tree trunks, casting long, dancing shadows.
"It's like walking inside a living lung," Yue Chan murmured, her fingers trailing over a curtain of shimmering moss.
"A lung that's watching us," Su Lan said, her voice low. Her eyes scanned the shifting green gloom. "The qi here… it's conscious. It's aware of our presence."
