Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
326: Treatment Complete
Shirley, possessing Loli, wasted no words.
She couldn’t even be bothered to glance at the Elven Empress.
Through Loli, she had a rough understanding of the internal strife among the elves and their current predicament.
She could only muse that the pitiable often had hateful traits.
As one of the three Elven Arch-gods, she was pained and yet, could not suppress her anger at the elves’ current state.
Moreover, being controlled by Loli, she was disheartened and had no intention of concerning herself with the elven race.
During this time, she had been alone in Loli’s soul, experiencing everything Loli went through. Every few days, she would endure double the torment at night, feeling Loli turning soft candies into hard candies, and then into milk candies. She felt her divine soul was on the verge of falling.
Shirley extended her hand and gently stroked the Life Tree Spirit. While she was dissatisfied with the elves, she had no such reservations about the Life Tree Spirit, a pure elf born of nature.
Seeing the Life Tree Spirit’s pitiful state, her heart ached.
When she was still an elf, the Life Tree already existed. Back then, the Life Tree Spirit would play by the Life Lake every day, and when elves walking by the lake approached, she would even impersonate a beautiful spring spirit to tease them.
“Who severed her?”
Shirley turned to ask the Elven Empress. Her cold gaze was like the biting north wind, fiercely scraping against the Elven Empress’s face, as if blaming the elves for failing to protect the Life Tree Spirit.
“By a Demigod level Black Dragon…” The Elven Empress flinched. She didn’t know why, but when facing Loli in this state, she always felt like she was facing an elder. She could only obediently answer Loli’s questions, completely losing the composure befitting an Elven Empress.
“That Black Dragon was named Níðhöggr. During the Second Cataclysm, while the elves’ high-tier forces were attacking the demons, he intruded into the Emerald Forest. He initially intended to steal the World Tree Heart, but was desperately obstructed by the Life Tree Spirit. Enraged, Níðhöggr bit off the Life Tree… Coincidentally, the Gold Dragon Angus was nearby at that time and drove away the already wounded Níðhöggr, thus preserving the World Tree Heart.”
“Níðhöggr’s fangs carried potent poison. We had no way to deal with a Demigod level poison. The gods were in slumber then, and our calls to the Elven Arch-god went unanswered. We could only prolong the Life Tree’s lifespan by excising the poisoned parts, eventually leaving her with just a stump.”
The Elven Empress’s voice grew softer and softer, her emerald green eyes filled with sadness and anger. Although she hadn’t experienced the Second Cataclysm, she had learned about that history from ancient texts.
The elves had no choice back then. Humans were driving them away, and demons had opened abyssal gates near the Emerald Forest.
Surrounded on all sides, they could only attend to what was in front of them and neglect what was behind.
Shirley pursed her lips and said no more.
The slumber of gods was hard to prevent. During the First Cataclysm, the divine bodies of almost all participating gods were contaminated.
To continue their lives, they had no choice but to choose special items capable of containing their divinity to house their divine souls and enter hibernation.
Then, using divine artifacts and followers to select vessels, they would awaken from these vessels when the Old Ones were about to return, to continue fighting them.
She gently held the Life Tree Spirit’s delicate body in her hands, her movements as careful as if she were holding a dry and fragile rose. At the same time, she began to mobilize the life energy within Loli.
This energy was slightly less than her own divine power, but with her divine soul, casting divine arts to perform preliminary treatment on the Life Tree Spirit was entirely sufficient.
She also agreed with Loli’s idea that the Life Tree Spirit should no longer stay in the Emerald Forest.
The current elven race had lost sufficient respect for ancient beings.
Keeping the Life Tree Spirit here would only serve her as a tool to produce life spring water.
But Shirley knew that the Life Tree Spirit was a sentient elf and deserved her own life.
Pure life energy began to converge towards the Life Tree Spirit.
The small figure showed no change, but the stump of the Life Tree emitted a faint, shimmering light. As if in spring, branches began to grow from the bare stump, and the once cracked trunk became much more supple.
The visible healing effects widened the Elven Empress’s eyes.
This treatment did not last long.
It stopped after about half a minute.
But the Life Tree’s stump already looked like a cluster of low shrubs, with fresh new leaves growing around it, emitting a natural fragrance.
The Life Tree Spirit still lay obediently in Shirley’s palm. She had not yet awakened and was still in a deep sleep, but the Elven Empress noticed that the Life Tree Spirit’s tightly furrowed brow had relaxed. The intense pain seemed to have disappeared under Loli’s treatment.
“This is the first stage of treatment,” Shirley said coldly, her voice crisp and carrying an icy chill that kept others at a distance. Afterward, she sank back into Loli’s soul, and control of the body returned to Loli.
“Is it over?” Loli blinked her large eyes and looked at the Life Tree Spirit in her hands, feeling that the aura around the Life Tree Spirit was no longer as weak.
Her soul strength was much weaker compared to Shirley’s. Therefore, when Shirley occupied her body, her consciousness was in a dazed state.
Unlike Shirley, whose consciousness remained clear even when not occupying a body.
After all, she was a god.
“It’s over. The first stage of treatment is complete,” Xi Wei reminded her from the side.
The little maid had now returned to her innocent and cute appearance.
Her gaze clearly showed it.
The little maid’s eyes always looked at him with gentleness and affection.
But Shirley’s gaze was different – it was filled with shame, anger, and even a hint of complexity.
“Your Majesty, the first stage of treatment is complete. We will take the Life Tree Spirit with us afterward. Do you have anything that can be used to hold her? We can’t just carry her like this forever, can we?”
Loli’s voice startled the Elven Empress, who was still staring in a daze at the regrowing Life Tree.
She came back to her senses and looked at Loli with a mixture of suspicion and uncertainty. She found that Loli had now returned to normal, her eyes gentle and clear, without any of that condescending aura.
“Um, just now, Your Majesty…?” she tentatively asked, her tone cautious.
“That’s a secret, I can’t tell you,” Loli shook her head. She would not tell the elven race about Shirley’s matters.
She didn’t want these treants to overthink things and cause any trouble.
If it caused trouble for her Master, she would be very sad.
