At the outer periter of the Elven Forest, where it bordered the grasslands.
Several hundred mages simultaneously propped up spell formations, summoning endless fire rain above the forest. The spectacle carried the might to burn mountains and boil seas—so vast that even Aydin City, thousands of li away, could see it directly.
“All this, just for a single priest—was it really worth turning hostile toward the elven race?”
“This is a matter of our grasslands. It has nothing to do with you. You capture your Holy Sword bearer, I capture our priest. That’s fair.”
“I’ve heard that through the generations, the Great High Priests of the grasslands all possessed divine arts of future divination—able to guide the grasslands toward fortune and avert calamity. Still, you should count yourselves lucky that the Human Alliance is currently pinned down by monsters in the northern frontier. Otherwise, setting forests ablaze like this—those Heroes would surely take the field in person.”
“You’re lucky as well. Those light-worshipping madn from the Church and the Arbitration Agency didn’t co.”
Beside him, the First Prince gazed at the smoke-filled sky and sighed deeply. Then, with a trace of intoxication, he said,
“Long, long ago, the Elven Forest wasn’t called this. It was called Dragonland.”
“In the age when true dragons road the world, the masters of this land were neither humans nor monsters, but those great dragons—thousands, tens of thousands of ters in length. Legend says that when they took flight, they blotted out the sun and clouds; when they roared, mountains shattered; a single breath could carry them straight into the nine heavens.”
“Nothing but oversized worms with brute bodies,” the masked man shook his head. “Most ancient dragons have long since lost their reason, fallen into monsters, or turned into bones buried in mountain ravines. Of the entire dragon race, fewer than one in ten remains. Those that exist now are mostly mongrel dragons—can’t even fly over mountains. Not worth ntioning.”
“Indeed...” The First Prince lowered his gaze and said no more.
“Hm?”
Suddenly, the masked man let out a soft sound of surprise and took a jade slip from his robes. The instant it appeared in his hand, it shattered.
He looked at the fragnts and sighed,
“...My disciple is dead. And the spirit-descent mark I left on him didn’t even have ti to trigger.”
“The Holy Sword bearer did it?” The First Prince raised an eyebrow, guessing the truth at once.
“Who else could it be?” The masked man tossed away the shards and stared at the smoke-choked forest. “Over the years, she’s killed quite a few of our people. Even those with seats ranked higher than mine have died at her hands... a grave threat.”
A man’s reputation was like a tree’s shadow. Though the First Prince despised his own father, anyone his father took seriously could not be simple. Otherwise, he would never have risked inviting wolves into the house by calling in a heretical organization for help.
Strategically despise the enemy; tactically respect the enemy.
Relying on himself alone, he might not even pass the Holy Sword bearer—let alone deal with the elves behind her and the priest hiding even deeper. No matter what, the Grand Divination Art in the priest’s hands had to be obtained.
Enough dwelling. The real business ca first.
The First Prince composed himself and asked again,
“You keep saying you can deal with the Holy Sword bearer, but even people ranked above you have fallen. Where does your confidence co from?”
“I know trump cards aren’t sothing easily revealed, but since we’re on the sa boat now, I’d still like to see so sincerity.”
The masked man nodded. “That’s only right. Though this Holy Sword wielder is not as formidable as the previous savior who answered destiny’s call, she’s still not to be underestimated.”
“But no one in this world lacks weaknesses. Defeating her is not impossible.”
As he finished speaking, the masked man reached into the void and produced a scroll. Within it was painted a vivid miniature world—water flowed, people moved, birds flew the skies, beasts road the land, and sun and moon revolved in natural cycles.
“This artifact is called the Makha Upper River Scroll. It was created by a forr ninth-rank powerhouse of our sect who sought another path—attempting to imitate the palm-held divine kingdom of the astral gods. By creating a small world and housing it within himself, he tried to forcibly raise his level and break into godhood.”
“Unfortunately, that senior failed his breakthrough and perished, body and soul. Our leader retrieved his Dao fruit and refined it into this scroll.”
“You only need to hold back the others. Once I draw her into this scroll, we win.”
With that, the masked man pushed his hands forward, sending the scroll back into the void.
The First Prince fell silent for a long ti.
The strength ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ and foundations of this heretical organization were even greater than he had imagined. Perhaps... what he had brought in this ti was not a sick wolf, but a crouching tiger.
They could subdue a starving wolf—but could they handle a tiger?
They could not.
After only a mont, he laughed boldly at the masked man and assured him that he would definitely hold off the others.
“Each takes what they need. Happy cooperation!”
The masked man smiled as well. “The timing is about right. I’ll go ahead and make preparations, so there won’t be any accidents that drag this battle out.”
“Happy cooperation,” the First Prince nodded at once.
The next instant, the masked man’s form twisted, wrapped by an invisible force, and was pulled into the void, vanishing without a trace.
......
Deep within the Elven Forest.
The elven sentries on watch also spotted the rolling smoke in the distance and the blazing fire rain that seed ready to scorch the sky.
“Abnormal situation! Sound the horns! Sound the horns!”
Toot—
The dull horn blast drifted across the Elven Royal Court, casting a layer of gloom over the magnificent city that had been imrsed in the joyous atmosphere of the Star Dew Festival.
On the training grounds, Jasmine wiped the sweat from her face. Clutching her staff with both hands, she panted lightly while lifting her gaze to the sky.
A fiery red bird dragged a beautiful tail of flas as it streaked over the royal court, beating its wings and heading toward the Elven Forest.
“Jasmine-sis, don’t lose focus—we haven’t finished today’s training yet!”
From the far end of the field, Elliti called out in reminder.
“Okay.” Jasmine ca back to herself and nodded.
The fiery red bird—transford from Phoenix—flew toward the burning forest ahead while rolling her eyes, searching the woods below for signs of Vieya and the others.
Phoenix was in a very bad mood.
She felt that she’d been especially unlucky lately.
First, her own cabbage had been carried off by soone else’s cabbage. And now so blind idiots had co to her doorstep to burn her trees.
Ah Le’s body was getting worse by the day, yet her search for immortal elixirs across the world and the overseas immortal islands had yielded no results. And now her daughter was running off with soone else...
“Damn it, didn’t Aislin and Vieya take missions on this side? Why haven’t I seen them?”
The fiery bird flapped her wings, staring at the fiercely burning forest ahead. A bad premonition crossed her mind.
“Don’t tell they rushed out and clashed with the arsonists? Crap—Ah Le even told just now to keep an eye on Aislin and not let her act impulsively...”
Forget it. Put out the fire first.
Phoenix turned into a streak of light and charged straight into the fire rain. In the blink of an eye, she opened her beak and drained every fire-elent particle from the forest, swallowing them whole.
With its magical support gone, the spell formations collapsed instantly. At the sa ti, the raging forest fires went out as if their accelerant had been stripped away—though the charred trunks and scorched earth were beyond her power to restore.
At the outer periter of the Elven Forest, the mages—now unable to use magic—stared at one another in shock.
“Damn it, this isn’t who we were looking for... What’s the origin of that bird? Shoot it down!” the First Prince roared in fury. He turned to ask, only to realize that the masked man had already disappeared ahead of ti.
“Fuck!”
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