Chapter 328: The Cold-Faced Leopard Cub and the Secret of the White Bone Forest

A jade green divine power beam carrying Chloe’s faint pink light shot straight from Finnick’s fingertip into the glabella of Madam Cynthia. At the same time, another small branch flew over and entered the forehead of the girl Ivy kneeling beside her.

Cynthia only felt an extremely gentle but overwhelmingly domineering warmth rush straight into her chest.

The grayish-black toxin that had rooted in her heart meridian for over twenty years, the thing that had caused her agonizing pain like thousands of ants gnawing at her bones and marrow every night—something no healer could cure—let out a small "sizzle" like snow meeting scorching sun upon touching Finnick’s origin divine power beam, and was then completely burned away in just one breath!

A thin wisp of black smoke escaped from the corner of Cynthia’s mouth and vanished into the air.

Immediately, the sprinkled white hairs at her temples reverted back to a glossy golden color, and her pale, withered skin became rosy and brimming with vitality. Meanwhile, the girl Ivy beside her felt the Wood-element magical energy source in her body surge up threefold. All the stunting aftereffects from the fire incident back then were completely eradicated!

Elric stood beside her, staring blankly as his beloved wife became a decade younger after just a point from that young man’s finger. He was so agitated that his whole body trembled violently. He hurriedly dropped to his knees and continuously kowtowed:

"Many thanks to Lord God of Life for saving my wife’s life! Elric will never forget this grace, even if my flesh is torn and my bones are crushed!"

However, as soon as Elric raised his head, his jaw dropped, and he stood frozen on the spot.

Because right after using up the remaining protected Divine Energy to cleanse the bloodlines for Cynthia and Ivy, the temporarily borrowed faith membrane on Finnick’s body was also depleted to the very last drop!

The suppressing rule of the Great World immediately crashed down.

Poof!

A green light beam flashed in the middle of the room. The tall, handsome young man with a cold, majestic aura who stood there a second ago suddenly vanished, leaving behind a baggy set of clothes collapsing onto the stone floor.

From within that pile of clothes, a tiny head covered in silky soft fuzz with beautiful leopard spots clumsily poked out!

It was a leopard cub only the size of a full-grown house cat, with four stubby legs, thick pink fleshy pads on its paws, and a long tail touching the ground swinging back and forth slightly to maintain balance. Wrapped around the cub’s right front ankle was a red vine as thin as a thread; it was Blood Wood Elf Chloe, who had also been forced to shrink along with her master.

Elric: "..."

Cynthia and Ivy: "..."

The atmosphere in the office room suddenly fell into an extremely bizarre silence.

Kaelen blinked, looking at the perfectly round fluffball sitting properly amidst the pile of clothes on the floor. It had been nearly twenty years since Finnick’s triplet brothers grew up on the Beastman Continent, and he hadn’t seen his sons’ childhood beast forms since then.

At this moment, seeing the adorable leopard cub looking like a small kitten trying to put on a serious, cold appearance, Kaelen’s heart immediately melted into a puddle of water.

He couldn’t hold back, strode over, bent down, and scooped the leopard cub up into his arms. His two hands skillfully kneaded its two round, fluffy ears:

"Oh my, the rules of this world are truly detestable, but sometimes they have quite adorable side effects!"

The leopard cub’s entire body immediately went stiff in his Papa’s arms.

If it were youngest son Sunlight or fifth son Ignis, they would definitely have nuzzled their heads into Kaelen’s chest acting spoiled, but this was Finnick, the one who always maintained the coldest and calmest little old man image among the seven brothers!

The leopard ears were rubbed to the point of drooping by Kaelen, and Finnick’s fuzz-covered cheeks burned hot. He tried to use his two stubby front legs to push away the hand currently kneading his Papa’s fleshy pads. Opening his small mouth holding several pure white baby fangs, he spoke in a serious, deep voice entirely out of tune with his current appearance:

"Papa... Please have some self-respect. My followers are present here."

Elric and his wife and the girl Ivy standing below, hearing the calm, majestic voice issuing from the tiny mouth of the leopard cub currently having its head and ears rubbed by the Holy Son, simultaneously widened their eyes. Their minds almost short-circuited.

Sane sat behind the desk watching that scene and burst out laughing aloud. His previous annoyance at seeing a tall son standing beside his wife vanished completely clean.

He reached out, grabbed the leopard cub by the scruff of its neck from Kaelen’s arms, placed it on the wooden tabletop in front of him, and smirked teasingly:

"This appearance of yours is much more pleasing to the eyes than earlier. So, how much power do you still have left?"

Finnick was furious that his biological father grabbed him by the scruff and placed him on the table, to the point his tail stood straight up. But because he currently couldn’t transform back into human form, he had to sit crossing his two front legs, trying to maintain the most dignified appearance possible of a True God in a leopard cub’s body:

"My origin Divine Energy is nine-tenths sealed. The remainder is only enough for me to defend myself at a level equivalent to a Saint stage of this world. To restore my human form and undo the seal, I mandatorily must clear the Life link and gather enough of my own faith on this continent."

Finishing speaking, the leopard cub turned its head. Its sharp, dark green eyes looked straight at Madam Cynthia sitting in the opposite chair:

"Continue speaking. What on earth happened to the Elf clan and the World Tree on this continent?"

Even though the supreme Creator before her had turned into a tiny leopard cub, the bloodline pressure from those dark green eyes still made Cynthia not dare to be half a bit disrespectful. She hurriedly took a deep breath and began recounting the tragedy that had been buried for a century:

"Three Supremes, the homeland of our Elf clan was originally located in the Eternal Forest, a vast primeval forest situated at the border region between the Northern mountain range and the Eastern coastline. At the center of the forest stood the World Tree helping maintain the life flow for the entire continent.

However, about a hundred years ago, the taproot of the World Tree was suddenly latched onto and drained of its life force by a giant grayish-black meat mass underground. It turned the entire lush green forest into a deadly swamp filled with highly toxic miasma that people nowadays call the White Bone Forest!"

The fleshy pads under Finnick’s small paws tightened on the wooden tabletop.

"When the entire clan members were weakening due to the backlash from the World Tree, the Church of Light colluded with the Merchant Council of the Seven Autonomous Cities on the East coast to besiege us!"

Cynthia’s tears flowed out again out of hatred:

"They spread rumors that the blood and hearts of pureblood Elf clan members could be refined into Immortality Potions, drinking it helps mortals extend their lifespans by hundreds of years. Thus, merchants and aristocrats across the continent frantically hunted my clan members! Currently, nearly two thousand clan members are still imprisoned by them in underground basements in Silverport, the capital of the Seven Autonomous Cities, like livestock to have their blood periodically drawn for auction!"

Crack!

The sturdy wooden tabletop under the leopard cub’s small paw immediately cracked a spiderweb-like patch.

Chloe’s fiery red vine on Finnick’s ankle stood erect, radiating a foul, bloody killing intent. The voice issuing from the leopard cub’s mouth was cold like ten-thousand-year ice and snow:

"Keeping my race in captivity like livestock to draw blood for auction... Very good. Papa, Daddy, I want to go to Silverport and the White Bone Forest right today!"

Kaelen reached his hand out stroking lightly along his son’s spine currently bristling with anger, his eyes had also completely turned cold:

"Of course we must go. Not only rescuing all your Elf clan members, but we must also pull completely clean that parasitic root den under the base of the World Tree in the White Bone Forest, forcing the Merchant Council in the Seven Autonomous Cities to pay a price a hundred times heavier for what they have done!"