Asa awoke to find himself floating in water, with a strange and gentle sensation brushing against his body. His muscles and skin were regenerating at an incredible rate, like the rapid growth of mushrooms after a spring rain. This feeling of renewal and vitality finally settled on his face. Slowly, Asa became aware of light again, and saw a sea of green all around him. The green receded, and he saw the light once more, but this time it was no longer the intense blaze that had scorched everything. The sun hung in the sky as usual, casting down warm and harmless rays.

  Asa sat up from the water, finding himself still in the Sun Well. Rua was removing the World Tree leaf from his body. His entire body was enveloped in a layer of green light, and waves of harmonious and vibrant energy surrounded him, resonating with the fluctuations of the Sun Well. The skin and muscles that should have been burned away like parched rice were now perfectly intact on his body, as if nothing had happened at all.

  He looked around and found that, just like the last time Vidnina used the Dark Dragon's spell, the area around the Sun Well was now a complete wasteland with nothing left. The only difference was that last time you could still see the dense ancient trees outside the empty space, but this time you could see all the way to the edge of the forest, and the entire Whispering Woods seemed to have become a tattered and worn-out cloth, with only a few scattered clusters of the thickest ancient trees remaining.

  "What about the other spirits?" Asa asked Luya.

  "He's dead." Luoya was covered in dust from head to toe, looking utterly disheveled.

  "Are they all dead?"

  "They're all dead, not a single one left. Even the corpses were blown to ashes by the shockwave of that explosion, who knows where they've been blown to. The Whispering Woods... are gone." Luya gazed around at the desolate expanse of scorched earth, her eyes filled with hollow sorrow, as if even grief had lost its strength.

  "Since it's already come to this, don't be too sad." Asa sighed. Although he himself thought that those stupid spirits had brought it upon themselves.

  "There's nothing to be sad about. I actually felt this outcome when they rejected my proposal. If faith becomes a shackle, destruction is only a matter of time." Rua's eyes still held only sadness, but no sorrow. The sadness had dispelled all other emotions, and she discovered a hidden strength deep within her. She asked Asa in a low voice, "Will you help me with something?"

  "What?"

  "I want to take the World Tree's leaf to Turalyon Forest, and before the withered tree guardian regrows, I need to find a place to protect it. And I also want to go report what happened here to them. But I don't know the way, last time I used a teleportation scroll to come back. Can you take me there?"

  "Alright...," Arsa hesitated for a moment, Rodhart's side was also important. But a completely inexperienced spirit woman carrying the World Tree leaf that all dead soul mages dreamed of, running wildly around the world, was undoubtedly a more dangerous thing. "Okay. Although I don't know where it is either, someone knows, I'll take you to Euphor first and let Sedros City Lord take you there." If Sedros still had the magic academy's transmission scroll, then rushing over with all one's might would also make it in time to return to the royal capital.

  Luya nodded and waved at him: "You go out, I want to use the well water to sprinkle on the ground around, so that the trees will slowly regenerate."

  Asa had just stepped out of the sun well and immediately discovered a very serious problem. He subconsciously jumped to the edge of the well and squatted behind the rocks. "Do you know where there are clothes and pants here?"

  Luya held a leaf of the World Tree and scooped out water from the well, saying faintly: "There should be some on those corpses outside."

  In Aili Town, local officials almost gathered all the people who could write in the whole town to compile an article praising and mourning the imperial envoy.

  The imperial envoy has not returned to this day. According to the accounts of the soldiers who escaped and the followers of the Natural God, the forest around it seemed to have become a hell where demons and monsters roamed and devoured humans. Later, there were inexplicable celestial phenomena, a massive fire that reached the sky, and then an enormous explosion that almost shattered the entire Eli... These scenes, like the end of the world, made it clear that the imperial envoy was in grave danger. As a local official who failed to protect him, he could not escape responsibility, and losing his position would be a minor matter - if things went badly, he might even lose his head. Therefore, the local official had to use all his strength to create a report that would explain the situation at the time, how dangerous it was, and how powerless ordinary people were. The imperial envoy faced tens of thousands of violent mobs with calmness and composure, commanding them with courage, facing those monsters that emerged from hell with bravery, protecting innocent civilians while single-handedly fighting against those evil monsters, and finally making a heroic sacrifice in a desperate situation. This report should have had a great effect, as many people shed tears of emotion when it was read to the public.

  But just then, the Imperial Envoy who should have been gallantly sacrificing himself long ago suddenly appeared, and he was disheveled and accompanied by a beautiful woman.

  The brief awkwardness was immediately swept away by joy, as long as the imperial envoy is safe and sound, who would still care what he went to do?

  The imperial envoy hastily handed over the affairs of the aftermath, even throwing away the command of the troops like trash to the local officials. He only took two fast horses and some travel items and set off with that strange woman. As for where he was going or what he was doing, he didn't say, and he also instructed the local officials not to reveal anything about him to anyone. However, later on, there were always people asking the local officials about this matter. The bitter melon expressed understanding of the imperial envoy's strange behavior as if speaking to an old friend: "After experiencing so many big things, it is necessary to relax and relieve pressure." And that kind of relaxation naturally did not want others to disturb. The listeners also recalled the beauty of that strange woman and nodded in agreement with envy.

  On the evening of their departure, a group of people arrived at the Whispering Woods which had become a wasteland. They lit torches and spent half the night carefully searching every inch of the still smoldering desolate land. It wasn't until dawn broke that they left the scorched earth.

  Outside the forest, there were still a lot of human corpses and wreckage. These things would probably keep the local officials in Aili busy for quite some time.

  These people look like mercenaries. The unrest in Eli recently has increased the number of people who make a living this way. But even for those who have seen bloody battles, being surrounded by this sea of corpses now only makes them feel chilled to the bone.

  However, two figures stood quietly on the corpse. One had a slightly stooping and bleak demeanor typical of an older person, while the other was a middle-aged man with a refined and elegant bearing, standing on a corpse that only had half its body left, yet his posture seemed as if he were in a grand and majestic hall surrounded by clouds and mist.

  The faces of the two were not relaxed at all, but it was not because of the endless corpses under their feet, but because they were looking at the group of people who were approaching. They had been waiting here for these searchers for a whole night.

  The group of people walked up to the two men, one of whom appeared to be a leader and was holding a fairly large package. He stepped forward and handed it to the two men, saying: "Gentlemen, this is everything that looked unusual that we found inside."

  The middle-aged man took over the package and opened it, inside was filled with some strange small things, most of which were single horns of wild beasts. He carefully searched through them and asked: "Have you looked for that well in the middle?"

  The leader replied: "As you said, we have searched carefully. But there is no corpse inside, nothing at all."

  The middle-aged man frowned and asked again: "Have you seen a green leaf?"

  "Of course not." The leader replied, silently cursing his bad luck. In a place that had been burned to the ground like this, it was impossible for even tree roots to remain, let alone leaves.

  "Huh?" The middle-aged man furrowed his brow and picked out a handle-like object from those things.

  The leader explained: "According to our team's magician, this should be a high-level magic scroll left behind."

  "I know." The middle-aged man sighed. On both ends of the thing, two small skulls were engraved, emitting a faint glow.

  The old man leaned over to take a look, revealing a cold smile, and said: "This unexpected discovery confirms our inference. The evidence is conclusive. Let's go back."

  "Gentlemen, and half of the reward as well." The leader said coldly, his hand on the hilt of his sword. "And leave everything in there behind. Since you let us come to this godforsaken place and find these things, I won't kill you."

  The unicorn's horn is an extremely rare magical item, and a pile this size could be exchanged for ten times its weight in gold coins. The mercenaries risk their lives to get these things.

  "That's right. Give them what they deserve." The old man said to the middle-aged man.

  The middle-aged man looked at the group of burly men in front of him with a cold eye, and began to mutter some words that no one could understand.

  "He's a wizard, let's take him down, kill them." The leader of the mercenaries shouted loudly, raised his long sword and stepped forward. All the mercenaries drew their weapons and rushed forward. At such a close distance, this wizard still dared to chant slowly, what a good opportunity.

  The old man looked at his companion with a hint of surprise, but completely ignored the group of fierce mercenaries in front of him. Without even looking at them, he simply raised his hand and shouted loudly.

  The mercenaries in front of the two suddenly stopped. Each person's legs were desperately treading, but they couldn't move forward, because they were all floating in mid-air. They could only dance and shout at a low altitude, waiting with bated breath for the middle-aged magician to finish his spell.

  A strange sound, and the dozen or so people in mid-air instantly lost their human shape. Blood, flesh, and internal organs gushed out of their mouths, eyes, and from under their clothes and armor. But just a few blinks later, only a dozen or so skeletons dressed in blood-soaked clothes remained in mid-air.

  A surge of blood and flesh was drawn to the middle-aged man's face by a force, condensing into a large ball that rotated rapidly while shrinking, finally becoming a small crystal-like object that flew into his hand.

  "Killing a chicken with an ox knife. But at your age, you can already use this technique, it's impressive." The old man nodded in approval, but his face still had a hint of cold smile. "I know you're very angry. But there's no need to waste it on these useless people. You'll probably have something to do when you get back." He seemed to be sighing with nostalgia. "It's been a long time since we've had a meeting..."

  The middle-aged man didn't say a word, his face cold as he took out a teleportation scroll from his bosom. The old man also took one out and after a flash of blue light, both of them disappeared.

  The skeleton in the air finally fell down, making a harsh clattering sound. Then this place became a dead wasteland once again.