Su Cheng walked deeper into the palace. The obsidian floor spread out continuously like an endless lake, plunging into thick shadows ahead.
Absolute silence still surrounded her, with only the faint, almost imperceptible sound of her footsteps echoing.
A few seconds later, she saw the man again.
He stood in the shadow of a stone pillar, his posture elegant yet casual. He slowly turned his head to look at her.
There was hardly any emotional fluctuation in those cold and quiet black eyes.
Su Cheng took a soft breath. "Anyway, I want to thank you first, Mister—how should I address you?"
She had already vaguely guessed some of the truth.
After all, not just anyone could easily suppress that curse. If it flared up, she would definitely be woken up by the pain; it wasn't something she could just sleep through.
So, the man must have done something.
But perhaps subconsciously wanting to have a more normal conversation rather than delivering a purely grateful speech, she asked for his name.
The black-haired man showed no sign of displeasure on his face. "...Elin."
"Well, thank you, Mr. Elin."
Su Cheng tried to make herself look a bit more relaxed, even though a myriad of questions had already welled up in her heart, and she couldn't wait to ask them one by one.
Elin shook his head slightly, as if to say it was nothing.
"So—"
Su Cheng pointed to the crystal cabinets behind her. Because of the sheer distance, the massive display cases now appeared tiny.
"What are those?"
She glanced back as she spoke.
Su Cheng knew the literal answer, but she wanted to know more than just that.
"Those," Elin said calmly, "are my defeated foes. Oh, except for the last one. That one is a bit special; I cannot claim to have defeated Him alone."
He spoke very frankly, but he didn't intend to provide any more information to explain exactly how it was special.
Su Cheng waited for a few seconds but didn't hear anything more. Unsure if she should press the matter, she asked, "...Did you have a grudge against Them? Or did you just want to prove yourself?"
"I used to be grateful to Them, because Their existence brought the power of magic to this world—"
Elin said slowly, "Later, I hated Them for the very same reason. But that was not why I clashed with Them; I simply did it to get what I wanted."
He fell silent again.
Su Cheng: "Such as becoming who you are now?"
Elin did not answer.
Su Cheng realized it would be hard to pry answers he didn't want to give. "Alright, so that's a 'yes,' right?"
He answered with a question of his own: "I thought you would want to know about Them."
"Oh, the only one I am interested in," Su Cheng recalled the familiar-looking dragon bones, "I will meet Him sooner or later, and I will figure it out myself. I don't want to get the answers from someone else's mouth."
Elin made no comment on this.
"However," Su Cheng couldn't help but ask again, "why did some ancient gods become false gods of the void, while others... are still gods, like the God of Desire?"
Elin glanced at her. "What do you think?"
Su Cheng had pondered this countless times. "I can think of many reasons. The most likely one is, well, He chose to become your ally, just as the God of Love chose to side with you-know-who."
Elin's lips curled up slightly, seemingly amused by her. "You need not fear mentioning his name, especially in front of me. His power cannot enter here."
"Don't say that," Su Cheng coughed dryly. "I don't even know what the God of Light is called."
Elin didn't seem to want to tell her either.
Or perhaps he just didn't want to say the name. It didn't look like it was out of fear, but rather out of disgust.
He pondered for a moment. "Regarding your previous question, it can indeed be understood that way."
Su Cheng tilted her head. "So there are actually other reasons? Like how you seem to favor those blessed by the ancient gods. Do you plan to choose some of them... to be elevated to deities in the future? The kind that will be loyal to you? Is there a connection here?"
"You have indeed discovered many clues," his gaze carried a hint of subtle approval. "Perhaps you can find the answers in your next journey."
Su Cheng: "?"
Su Cheng: "What do you mean?"
Elin sighed softly, his eyes—as black as the night sky and as cold as a glacier—fixed on her. "When I tell you the truth, this world will collapse—"
Su Cheng: "???"
"But I can see that you are about to get what you want. We will meet again in the more distant past—"
He said with a smile, "Although this is only my memory, having spent so much time with you, I can also realize that this is nothing but a trial."
A trial?
Collapse?
Su Cheng felt her left eye start to burn. The skin around the corner of her eye felt like it was on fire, and enchanting golden patterns seeped out from her flesh, flickering with a radiant glow.
...Fake.
A strong and clear realization suddenly surfaced in her mind.
She remembered.
The memories forcibly sealed away by some power, those vanished scenes and fragments, the out-of-control magic circle in the palace, the screaming mages.
The Trial of Divine Grace.
The world before her eyes suddenly froze, and then, like a shattered mirror, violently broke apart into millions of fragments.
Endless darkness swept over her.
Su Cheng: "!"
She took a deep breath and sat up from the ground.
The hot midsummer wind blew against her face, mixed with the fresh scent of vegetation, as petals brushed past her eyes.
This was a lush, verdant forest. Everywhere she looked, there were vast expanses of interwoven deep green, like emeralds tinted by the sunlight. Layer upon layer of branches and leaves wove together to form an impenetrable canopy.
She stood up and soon smelled the sweet and sour scent of berries. The grass beneath her feet was as soft as a velvet blanket, and dotted purplish-red wildflowers cascaded down the hillside.
This mountain forest was quite vast. The towering ancient trees were incredibly thick, requiring at least three people to embrace them. The moss and vines on the bark intertwined like silk ribbons.
Thanks to her vision that far exceeded that of an ordinary person, Su Cheng looked up and could see houses nestled high up in the tree canopy.
Silvery-green vines were woven into spiral staircases, connecting exquisite buildings one by one.
Transparent crystals were pieced together to form roofs and walls. Wind chime-like flowers hung beneath the eaves, and various potted magical plants were placed on the windowsills.
She saw some light and agile figures leaping on the stairs, bustling about between doors and windows. Those people all had long, pointed ears.
—High Nature Elves.
Considering the environment here, they should be Wood Elves, also known as Forest Elves.
The most obvious physical characteristic of this race was their ears, which were two or three times longer than those of humans, with extremely pointed tips.
Other races might also have pointed ears, but they were rarely this long.
In addition, the High Elves possessed a higher average level of attractiveness. Even an ordinary-looking elf would be considered a genuine beauty among humans.
Because of their long lifespans and superior innate constitutions, even relatively lazy elves would not find it difficult to achieve success in magic or battle aura.
Therefore, their average combat power was also high.
Su Cheng observed for a while longer, confirming that they were indeed elves and that this was no illusion.
She didn't deliberately hide her tracks, and the elves had excellent eyesight, so she was quickly discovered.
A few young-looking elves whistled to signal others to spread the word, then leaped down from the treetops with agile grace, approaching her with faces full of caution.
They frowned at her, their expressions repulsed and a bit confused.
It seemed they couldn't figure out how she could appear here.
"...Human?"
"No, this aura..."
"Some kind of half-blood..."
They conversed rapidly in Elvish.
"Hey, good day?"
The elves all looked over in unison.
Su Cheng already knew many Elvish words, but she rarely spoke the language, so her reading ability and spoken proficiency were worlds apart.
She used Elvish somewhat awkwardly, "Excuse me, I appeared here because of a magical accident. I was wondering what the current date and year is?"
"Liar!" an elf shrieked. "This is the Favell Fringe, which is already under the protection of the barrier. Even if you stumbled into the Shadow Forest by mistake, you shouldn't be in this place!"
At this moment, another elf leaped down from a tree, hurriedly held back his companions, and said in a low voice, "The barrier of the Holy Sanctum has been affected..."
They lowered their voices to talk, but Su Cheng could hear everything clearly.
The Shadow Forest was located on the southwestern border of the empire, with its other side bordering the northern part of the Principality of Anser. This place was a gathering ground for wood elves.
There were many tribes of wood elves scattered across the northern and southern continents, but the Shadow Forest definitely housed the largest population.
This was because their royal court, known in Elvish as the Faseria Sanctum, was located in the center of the forest, wrapped in numerous protective barriers.
There were also many confounding spells here that could thwart the prying eyes of various long-range magic.
They would also confuse outsiders who wandered in by mistake or trespassed intentionally, making them never able to find the true path into the royal court.
"What if she's an accomplice..."
"But they've already..."
The wood elves were still whispering among themselves, occasionally casting wary glances at her.
But Su Cheng desperately wanted to figure out the current time, so she simply vanished from her spot and teleported to the canopy.
Standing outside a small cabin with an open window, she saw some books arranged on a shelf inside.
Aside from magical tomes, there were some adventure and romance novels written by human authors intermixed; they were all full-length novels.
The elves here didn't stay indoors for decades on end; they also visited surrounding human villages and cities for fun, and there were several multi-racial towns around the forest.
Su Cheng caught a glimpse of a few familiar book titles, which were bestsellers from the past two years, and she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
She had finally returned.
Then what did the Dark God mean by the next leg of the journey?
Did He mean a reunion in the real world? Or something else?
Thinking back to their previous conversation, she couldn't help but feel a bit shocked. Even if it was just a memory, that guy could actually distinguish between reality and illusion?
How did He do it?
Or rather—
Did the real Him project His power into it?
"What's going on?!"
"A spatial mage—"
When Su Cheng returned to the grass, the elves looked at her as if facing a formidable enemy, and several of them drew their weapons.
They might not be able to defeat her, but their eyesight wasn't bad; they could distinguish between high-speed movement and teleportation magic.
Su Cheng said, "Everyone, if I wanted to leave, I would have left long ago. If I wanted to do something bad, I probably would have finished doing it by now. I'm still here because I want to ask a few questions."
The elves all looked terrible, but they also realized she was telling the truth, so they suppressed the interrogations that rushed to their lips and just watched her warily.
"First of all," Su Cheng still remembered some of the relevant plot, even though she only had a vague idea of the general events, "I have a wood elf companion."
She took out her mercenary diary.
"We belong to the same mercenary group. A few months ago, he came in to visit relatives and friends. He originally said he would go to the imperial capital with us, but it seemed he had some matters to deal with, so he sent a message telling us to go first."
She observed the elves' expressions. "Do you know of such a person?"
The elves looked at each other in dismay.
A race like theirs had long lifespans and wasn't very keen on reproduction. A five-hundred-year-old elf having three or four children was already considered a lot.
Many elves who couldn't find a beloved might simply choose not to have children.
Some elves, even if they found a mutually affectionate partner, still chose not to reproduce.
This resulted in elf settlements having a decent number of residents, but possibly no new members for many years, so everyone basically knew each other.
Even if they weren't close, they knew each other's names.
The elves stared at the mercenary diary in her hand and muttered a few words.
"You speak first," one person asked. "What is your elf companion's name?"
"Qingling. He belongs to the Silverleaf Clan."
The elves showed a look of sudden realization, and then began to speak rapidly in a flurry of chatter, even gesticulating wildly.
Su Cheng: "?"
Forced to face a high-speed listening test full of accents, Su Cheng felt a splitting headache for a moment, but finally managed to understand a few sentences.
The general idea was that the person was currently inside the royal court, but they didn't know what had happened because ordinary elves couldn't freely enter and exit the Holy Sanctum.
They spoke all at once, and inadvertently mentioned a word.
The pronunciation of that word was a bit awkward.
But it sounded incredibly familiar.
"Wait!" Su Cheng interrupted them. "Did you say Tree Blood Crystal? Is it this?"
The elves looked at her in astonishment, seemingly not expecting her focus to be on this.
One of them couldn't help but ask in surprise, "You know what that is?"
Su Cheng carefully observed their expressions.
That was definitely not a "you know our secret and that's dangerous, we are thinking about silencing you" expression.
It was purely surprise that she knew an obscure vocabulary word, a rare ore, and a realization that she was more knowledgeable than they had imagined.
Su Cheng said, "I read about it in a book. It seems to be an ancient mineral vein with many uses, but I thought it disappeared over a thousand years ago?"
An elf raised his chin. "That was in human territory. In our domain, under the radiance of the Holy Tree—"
His expression changed again at this point, seemingly remembering that something had gone wrong with the Holy Tree as well.
Su Cheng gradually became certain that they most likely didn't know the connection between that crystal and the Void False Gods.
It wasn't surprising, though.
These elves didn't look very mature. If they were teenagers, they probably weren't even five hundred years old, so it was normal for them not to know about things from a thousand or two thousand years ago.
Even if their elders knew, they might not be willing to tell them.
Su Cheng said, "Thank you, everyone!"
She remembered the direction they had gestured; that way was roughly the core area of the wood elf royal court.
Amidst the shouts and exclamations of a group of elves, Su Cheng teleported away directly.
Because this was a completely unfamiliar space with limited visibility, she released her mental energy and then performed short-distance teleports.
In the next second, she appeared on a tree canopy over a hundred meters away. Surrounded by vine-entwined pillars, two elven children sat at the doorway of a house, staring at her blankly.
Su Cheng activated her magic once again.
Every movement felt like passing through layered green curtains. The forest scenery constantly shifted within a halo of light, with countless vines, flowers, and fruits flashing by.
Then, she saw a palace towering among giant banyan trees. The roots of the trees coiled like dragons and serpents, and fresh green branches and leaves half-concealed the window lattices of the hall.
There was also a massive plaza paved with silver-green jade, surrounded by several rings of stone corridors where dark green vines meandered.
Right in the center of the plaza stood a beautiful green tree. It was not small, but it was not as magnificent as one might imagine; its trunk was only about the size of two people's embrace.
Su Cheng paused in surprise.
From a distance, the shape of this tree resembled a curled up, sleeping person.
The base of the trunk curved upward with a gentle arc, like a torso lying on its side with bent knees. The lush leaves of the canopy gathered into a half-arc, the main branch slightly tilted, and the spreading branches looked like drooping arms.
Those more slender branches and leaves were like fingers brushing the ground, gently rising and falling with the hot summer wind.
The bark was a rich, deep dark brown, seemingly flowing with luster in the morning sun, its surface covered with dense spiral patterns.
Fluorescence flowed within the patterns, glowing beneath the bark like blood vessels inside the trunk.
The side branches growing on both sides of the trunk were exceptionally neat. Each branch bore slender, heart-shaped leaves and some fresh, pale green flowers.
The roots of the tree plunged deep into the plaza, with most of them submerged under the stones, yet one could feel the flow of some kind of magic.
As Su Cheng watched, she could not help but draw closer.
"You!"
One after another, figures descended from the sky, completely surrounding her.
These elves were heavily armed and armored, exuding abundant battle aura. They appeared to be the guardians of this place, and at this moment, their faces were filled with shock and anger.
"Who are you?!"
"I," Su Cheng took out her mercenary diary, "I am here to find my teammate—"
She paused, suddenly noticing a diamond-shaped crystal behind the tree, embedded among the twisted, thick roots.
The crystal was about two meters tall, glowing with a hazy, soft platinum light all over, its surface densely covered with shimmering runes.
Inside that crystal slept a person.
Su Cheng drew in a sharp breath.
She had just seen many elves, all of whom were exceptionally beautiful.
She had also seen various deities, all possessing peerless, otherworldly appearances.
Yet, the one before her still left her breathless with amazement.
The elf sleeping in the crystal was leaning back peacefully. His dark brown curly hair fell behind his waist, with occasional strands floating along with the energy pulses.
His skin was a luminous white, like delicate jade soaked in moonlight. His facial features were deep yet elegant, and even with his eyes tightly closed, the gentle curve of his eye shape could be seen.
Even while sleeping so quietly, his face seemed to bear a soft, gentle smile.
He was wearing ordinary leather armor. The leather straps and metal buckles outlined his broad shoulders, long legs, and beautiful, lithe physique.
Su Cheng could not help but take a few more looks.
His aura was incredibly unique, like a gentle spring breeze or distant mountains shrouded in mist, making one's mood involuntarily brighten.
Soon, she realized that this crystal was somewhat bizarre. Its magic did not come from its structure itself; rather, it acted more like some kind of transmission device.
It was extracting the magic of the person inside and feeding it to this tree.
Su Cheng narrowed her eyes. "...And to rescue him while I am at it."
