Chapter 462: Divinity and Humanity

Selene watched Elwen's companion Alia lower her gaze, her eyes settling on the direction of her own shoes.

Lothlorien walked past them, giving a slight nod without so much as a greeting, continuing his conversation with the white-haired elder sage beside him.

"....Those half-elves funded by the Empire have been quite active in the south lately." The elder sage's voice was low and slow, carrying the leisurely ease typical of the elderly.

"They say they've been campaigning everywhere, telling anyone who'll listen that the Slime Empire is the true inheritor of elven orthodoxy. They've even submitted petitions denouncing the Ancient Tree Council to several cities, trying to gain status for half-elves."

Lothlorien's pace didn't falter, his tone cold: "Mm, no need to concern ourselves."

"This is elven business. Even if those human mages truly cared, they couldn't possibly interfere."

He tilted his head slightly, his peripheral gaze sweeping past the massive Silver-leaf Oak outside the window. "Besides, no one would believe the ravings of these half-elves anyway."

The elder sage nodded: "True enough. To be swayed by a bunch of half-elves into waving the banner of elven orthodoxy all over the place, those slimes really aren't too bright."

Their voices gradually faded around the corner of the corridor.

Selene's suspended heart slowly settled. She was about to continue toward the temple gates when, at that very moment, the figure ahead in the corridor suddenly stopped.

Lothlorien stood at the corridor's bend, back turned to them, speaking in a flat tone: "Alia, why has today's meal been changed?"

"R-Reporting to Lord Lothlorien." Alia's voice was tense. "Lady Eserin hasn't been eating much these past few days... I thought that since she spent so long in the human kingdom, perhaps... she might be more accustomed to human cuisine, so I had the kitchen change the menu."

She kept her head down, her voice growing quieter and quieter, as if afraid her explanation might brush against some forbidden taboo.

The figure at the corridor's bend fell silent for a moment.

"If she still won't eat when tomorrow's meal is delivered, pause deliveries for a few days. She'll eat when she's hungry."

Alia hesitated, seeming to want to say something, but in the end she only whispered: "Understood."

Lothlorien said nothing more. He resumed his steps, his figure turning past the corridor's end, disappearing from sight.

Selene slowly let out a breath and turned to look at Alia beside her. The elven priestess was also looking at her, confusion written across her face.

"Are you alright?" Selene asked in a lowered voice, concern coloring her tone.

Alia shook her head, her gaze still fixed on the direction where Lothlorien had vanished, speaking wistfully: "I'm fine... just a bit emotional."

She sighed. "Lord Lothlorien and Lady Eserin had such a good relationship when they were children."

"I still remember years ago, when Lord Lothlorien would personally take Eserin to the Silver-leaf Oak grove to teach her archery. Lady Eserin was so happy back then, trailing behind him all day long, calling out 'big brother, big brother...'"

"But now... how did it come to this?"

Selene thought to herself that she really couldn't see where the good relationship was.

"Let's go." Selene gently patted Alia's shoulder. "Let's deliver the meal first."

Alia nodded, adjusted her expression, and clutching the silver tray, carefully moved forward.

The great door silently swung inward.

The temple's interior wasn't particularly large, only slightly wider than an ordinary chapel.

The seven walls were completely covered by thick tree roots, with verdant vines climbing between them. Beneath the vines hung delicate white flowers, exuding a fresh, subtly sweet fragrance.

Faint rays of light filtered down through gaps overhead, casting the entire temple in a soft green glow.

And within this expanse of greenery, a figure lay quietly sleeping on a soft couch woven from vines.

It was an elven maiden.

She wore a simple robe, her breathing even and steady, as if lost in a long dream.

Alia noticed yesterday's meal still sitting untouched beside the couch. She sighed and carefully replaced the food with what she'd brought.

The faint clink of silverware caused the sleeping figure to stir.

"Alia, I've told you, I don't want to eat."

Alia was about to persuade her when Selene beside her stepped forward first.

"Lady Eserin, please do eat a little. You'll like this."

She discreetly signaled Alia with her eyes. Though confused, Alia stepped back.

Selene carried the meal tray into the verdant grove surrounded by vines and white flowers, bending slightly to gently place the tray on a low-hanging vine.

As if sensing the presence of food, the vines slowly unfurled, lifting the silver tray and presenting it before Eserin.

Eserin furrowed her brow slightly, looking down at the food on the tray. She was about to refuse when she suddenly froze.

On the tray was stuck a tiny clump of emerald green gel, no larger than a fingernail.

This is...

She betrayed no reaction, merely reaching out to gently touch the gel.

The moment it contacted her fingertip, it silently seeped into her skin.

Eserin withdrew her hand as if nothing had happened and pushed the tray away.

"I'm sorry, Seline, I'm really not hungry. Please take it back."

Selene didn't insist, merely nodding with a smile, retrieving the tray and turning back toward Alia.

Alia looked at the barely touched meal and sighed, but noticed nothing amiss.

Meanwhile, in secret, Selene's voice echoed through the Gel Network: "Lady Eserin, I am Selene of the Forest Sage Council. The Empire is already making arrangements for your rescue. Please don't worry."

Hearing this, Eserin shook her head. "No, Sage Selene, I cannot leave right now. This is my only chance to approach the Sacred Oak without arousing suspicion."

Selene was stunned: "So... you came back voluntarily?"

Eserin was silent for a moment, then spoke with apology in her voice: "I'm sorry for deceiving you. In truth, I deliberately returned to the Emerald Crown."

"Please convey my safety to Knight Arthur on my behalf. I deceived him, and that straightforward knight must still be blaming himself."

Selene simply said: "Lady Eserin, you don't need to deceive me."

"Approaching the Sacred Oak may be your goal, but the cost isn't something you can bear, is it?"

The voice on the other end fell silent.

Selene didn't press further. That brief silence was already enough to confirm her inner suspicions.

Her voice softened slightly: "Whatever you're thinking, once the Autumn Brewing Festival arrives, we will act. We'll prove the Ancient Tree Council's wrongs through our own actions."

"If the Empire needs a young maiden to sacrifice herself to achieve victory, then that kind of Empire is not one the Sage Council would support."

"I believe His Majesty will also make the right decision."

Eserin was rendered speechless.

After a moment, she finally spoke: "Please convey to His Majesty that I have a mission I must see through myself. It's simply to prevent the future from spiraling into an extreme end. This is something the elves must resolve on their own."

"We can't owe anyone else anything more."

Selene said softly: "This isn't just your affair alone. And I think His Majesty, along with your companions, won't accept that explanation."

Eserin didn't answer.

After a long while, as if she'd made up her mind, she quietly snapped off a slender twig from the vines hanging beside her.

She held the twig in her hand, letting the low-hanging vines gently stretch forth, presenting it before Selene.

"Give this to His Majesty. This is a branch from the Sacred Oak. As one of Nature's Blessed, he might be able to read the truth of the Sacred Oak."

Selene reached out and tucked the branch into her sleeve.

After waiting inside with Alia for a while, they ultimately didn't get to see Eserin touch her meal. Helplessly, they turned and left, walking back along the long corridor.

Selene exited the temple and, where Alia couldn't see, retrieved the branch from her sleeve and handed it to another disguised sage.

From there, the branch passed from hand to hand, through the root district's corridors, through the streets of Silverleaf City, across hills and forests, traveling for days.

Finally, it landed in a gel hand.

Chen Yu held the branch up before his eyes, examining it in the afternoon sunlight.

"So this is the Sacred Oak branch?"

He turned it over and over, finding that it looked no different from an ordinary oak branch.

Same brown bark with slightly rough texture, a few wrinkled young leaves at the tip. Nothing special about it at all.

If thrown into a forest, no one would spare it a second glance.

But when he extended his Divine Sense into it, beneath that ordinary exterior lay what seemed to be a vast, dizzying ocean quietly resting deep within the branch's core.

It was an existence filled with sacred aura, carrying the lingering resonance of the beginning of all things.

Only Nature's Blessed could discover the secret within?

Without question, he was Nature's Blessed.

Not to mention he already possessed the Forest Sage profession, he also had a Tree King Avatar.

If there was anyone on this land more qualified to be called Nature's Blessed, there probably weren't many.

It was just... why wasn't this thing reacting at all?

He stared at the branch for a long while. That hidden ocean was indeed vast, but also as still as a pool of dead water. No matter how he probed it with his Divine Sense, there was no response whatsoever.

Perhaps... he should try using that power?

He switched to the Tree King Avatar's power to contact the branch.

The branch suddenly burst forth with brilliant emerald light.

The light enveloped him, warm as lying on spring grass, basking in the sun for an entire afternoon.

He felt as if he were being embraced by nature itself. The ground beneath his feet, the sky above his head, the forests in the distance—everything became clear and grand, like a symphony played by countless lives surging into his perception.

His consciousness began to sink, like a slime about to plunge into the deep sea. The water there was warm and translucent, as if something was beckoning to him, inviting him to merge into it.

The green light grew brighter and brighter, the voices drawing closer and closer...

"What did you do?"

An ethereal voice suddenly rang out, piercing through the warm illusion.

Chen Yu abruptly shook himself free from the sinking sensation. The green light faded. He stood in place, his small eyes blinking, taking a few seconds to realize it was the Tree King Tuiris's consciousness that had inexplicably awakened.

"I only touched the Sacred Oak branch. What happened?"

Her tone was serious: "Elwen and I share the same origin, and now so do you. That's why you're easily infected by the Sacred Oak's divinity."

"If you don't want to end up like Elwen, it's best not to casually touch Sacred Oak relics."

"What would happen otherwise?" Chen Yu asked instinctively.

"You might be assimilated, lose your own will, and become part of the Sacred Oak."

Chen Yu's gel body gave a sudden leap: "Why didn't you say so earlier!"

Tuiris sighed: "I didn't expect... the Sacred Oak's divinity to have reached this level already."

"No wonder..."

"Perhaps the source of all the disasters you spoke of lies in the Sacred Oak's divinity. The purity of the Sacred Oak's divinity has been corrupted."

Chen Yu pondered this seriously: "So what exactly is divinity?"

Tuiris was silent for a moment, as if weighing how to explain ancient knowledge in the simplest terms.

"Hmm... you can think of it this way: all deities possess three natures—Sanctity, Divinity, and Image."

"Sanctity refers to the true self, which is humanity. It's the most free and authentic part of a deity."

"Divinity refers to the superego shaped by faith and self-construction. A deity is shaped by their own aspirations and the prayers of their believers, thereby becoming the defined aspect."

"And Image is the external form perceptible to mortals."

"Humanity is a deity's most free symbol, while divinity is the self-constraint born from Authority."

"Just as a deity of the natural pantheon wouldn't commit acts that destroy nature, that's the constraint divinity places on a deity's humanity."

Chen Yu vaguely understood: "So that means, since divinity is born from faith, faith itself can naturally influence divinity."

"But there should be some filtering mechanism... like bloodline?"

"If any elf can pray to the Sacred Oak, then half-elves naturally can too."

"The problem lies in the half-elves' bloodline not being pure. So what those Ancient Tree Council elves say about bloodline purity affecting the Sacred Tree is, in a sense, correct?"

Tuiris said: "Your guess is right, but that conclusion isn't entirely accurate."

"Theoretically, humanity is the most free. Humanity is constrained by divinity, but it can also find ways to turn around and exploit divinity."

"However, that isn't happening now."

"This can only mean that not only has the Sacred Oak's divinity developed problems, but even Elwen herself... has developed problems."

Chen Yu connected the dots: "So, the Ancient Tree Council's reason for imprisoning Eserin... is to solve the Sacred Oak's humanity problem?"

"Then why would Eserin voluntarily return?"

Tuiris thought for a moment, then arrived at a casual conclusion: "Maybe Viola has some plan."

Chen Yu asked skeptically: "How come you seem so unconcerned about all this?"

Tuiris let out a small yawn: "I've been tired for thousands of years, and in the end, I discovered one truth."

"What truth?"

"It's called 'they'll manage fine without me.' I've wandered the Astral Realm for so many years, thinking I was some indispensable figure."

"But I later realized that my thoughts and my will were actually restricting the minds of newborn elves. In the end, it's better to let them explore their own path for the future."

"Anyway, my path was a failure."

Chen Yu, on first hearing this, thought it sounded quite reasonable.

An ancient existence willing to let go of thousands of years of obsession and allow the new generation to grow on their own was, to some degree, a certain level of enlightenment.

But on second thought, something felt off.

Wasn't this just glorified slacking off?

Saying things like "my thoughts will restrict newborn elves," making it sound so noble—wasn't it essentially finding a high-sounding excuse to shrug off responsibility and go back to sleep?

Unbelievable. A great idler cut from the same cloth as Weiola.

Chen Yu silently noted a big black mark against this lazy tree.

Tuiris seemed completely unconcerned with how he judged her, yawning once more.

"I need to go back to sleep. Oh, and if you have no use for that Sacred Oak branch, give it to Viola. Perhaps it can help her recover some of her former power."

With that said, she sank back into slumber.

Chen Yu sighed inwardly.

This one was a lazy thief too—not only did she slack off herself, but she couldn't stand seeing others idle either.

Still, getting Viola busy was something he was one hundred percent in favor of.

That Dryad leader had been leisurely staying in her own domain since the Empire's establishment, living an idyllic life of planting flowers and tending grass, only occasionally coming out to handle matters.

Giving her something to do wasn't a bad idea.

He tucked away the Sacred Oak branch and was about to set off for the Dryad domain when Silver Sparrow's voice suddenly rang out.

"Master, we've received a secret letter."

Chen Yu's hopping motion halted: "Secret letter? Who sent it?"

"No signature, but the letter clearly states that elves will attack the Leaf of No Distinction during their speech in the south this afternoon."

This afternoon?

Wasn't that right now?