Xue Ling hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he chose to believe in the divine tree.
He threw Qian Ye back to Bi Huan.
The white elephant immediately extended his long nose and caught Bi Huan. He put him on his back.
Xue Ling and Xuan Wei returned to Huanhuan’s side and slowly looked at the divine tree. “Will we meet again?”
The divine tree placed a seed in Huanhuan’s palm and said, “Take it with you. We’ll definitely have a chance to meet again in the future.”
It was a dark brown seed the size of a thumb. There were fine black patterns on the surface.
Huanhuan tightened her grip on the seed. “I understand.”
“Leave.”
Bai Di ran forward with Huanhuan on his back. Xue Ling and Xuan Wei followed closely behind. The white elephant wanted to chase after them, but before he could take two steps, he was blocked by the wooden spikes shot by the divine tree.
The divine tree said, “The Divine Wood is no longer around. As his old friend, I’m going to clean up the mess for him today.”
The white elephant’s eyes had turned as red as blood. “Are you really going against our Divine Wood clan?!”
“Don’t you know your mistake? You’ve lost the protection of the Divine Wood. As traitors, if you can’t repent, there’s only destruction.”
At that moment, Xue Hui flew back.
In her arms was a skeleton that had rotted to the bone.
Xue Hui gently lowered the remains to the ground. Her eyes were red. She stared into the white elephant’s eyes and asked in a trembling voice, “I found the remains of the saintess in the underground chamber of the temple. Lord Bi Huan, if you had known this would happen, you probably would’ve burned her remains to ashes back then, huh?”
All the beasts looked shocked when they saw the remains.
They looked at the white elephant in disbelief, all waiting for him to give a reasonable answer.
Even Qian Ye couldn’t help but ask, “Did you really kill the saintess?”
The white elephant’s long nose hung on the ground. After a long silence, he suddenly chuckled and said in a mocking tone, “I really didn’t expect you to still be able to find the remains of the saintess after hundreds of years. It seems that I’m really unlucky.”
Xue Hui’s eyes widened. “You really killed the saintess? Why? Why did you do that?!”
“As the saintess, she couldn’t save Yu Ying. I could only watch as Yu Ying was tortured by her illness. What was the use of keeping such a useless saintess? I might as well kill her. At least her flesh and blood were useful and helped Yu Ying live for a while longer.”
Xue Hui was so angry that she couldn’t speak clearly. “Y-You really…”
Qian Ye asked, “In addition to the saintess, were you also responsible for the killed missing clansmen? Did you also kill the Divine Wood?”
Bi Huan did not want Yu Ying to be accused of murder after she died. He took all the blame. “Yes, I killed those clansmen and framed the Divine Wood. But I didn’t kill the Divine Wood. It was killed by all of you!”
“I’m the mastermind, while you’re accomplices. We’re all the murderers of the Divine Wood!”
“Enough!” Qian Ye interrupted. “Why did you do it? Didn’t you know that the Divine Wood was the guardian of our clan? By destroying it, you destroyed the future of our clan!”
“The Divine Wood was just an ordinary tree. It couldn’t save anyone. It wasn’t worthy of being called a guardian! You were all just deceived by it.”
Qian Ye looked at him expressionlessly. “Do you remember what kind of suffering the Divine Wood City suffered after the death of the Divine Wood? Those insects and the demon race’s army… They almost slaughtered the entire Divine Wood clan. That was the price we had to pay after losing the protection of the Divine Wood!”
Bi Huan stopped talking.
All the beasts looked at him coldly. Their image of the once tall and benevolent high priest had collapsed.
Qian Ye continued, “You don’t care about your own death or the safety of us beasts. Does that mean you don’t care about your life as well? If the Divine Wood City is destroyed, Ah Gui will be homeless and won’t be able to live a stable life!”
Bi Huan’s gaze finally changed.
Yes, he still had Ah Gui!
Before Yu Ying left, she had specially reminded him.
He had to protect him. He couldn’t let him get hurt.
The redness in Bi Huan’s eyes faded a little, and his gaze became clearer.
He looked around for Ah Gui.
Soon, he saw Ah Gui in the crowd.
Ah Gui looked at him expressionlessly, his eyes filled with hatred. “You killed the Divine Wood. You destroyed our home!”
Bi Huan lowered his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
The only person in the world he had let down was Ah Gui.
“I don’t want to hear you say you’re sorry! I don’t want to talk to you anymore! You big baddie!”
Ah Gui turned and ran.
Bi Huan watched him leave. After a long time, he looked away and said to Qian Ye, “I’m going to look for Huanhuan. Only she knows the whereabouts of the Divine Wood seed.”
With it, the Divine Wood City could return to its former glory and stability.
Only then could the Divine Wood clan be saved and reborn.
As for the Divine Wood’s anger, he would bear it.
Qian Ye seemed to understand what he meant. He turned away and said nothing more.
Bi Huan looked at the divine tree that towered into the clouds in front of him and said word by word, “Let me pass.”
The divine tree’s voice was deep. “Huanhuan doesn’t belong here, and the Divine Wood doesn’t want to come back here. I won’t let you disturb them again.”
“Since you insist on getting in my way, don’t blame me for being rude!”
The white elephant suddenly doubled in size!
Its huge body slammed into the divine tree!
The trunk of the divine tree shook from the impact, and countless leaves fell.
The divine tree wrapped its branches around the white elephant and tried to break free.
However, the white elephant wrapped its long nose around the tree trunk and pulled it up forcefully, as if it wanted to uproot the entire divine tree!
However, the roots of the divine tree were extremely strong. They were deeply rooted in the ground and covered the entire forest, including the Divine Wood City.
Unless he could cut off all its roots, it was impossible to pull the divine tree up.
The white elephant seemed to understand this as well. He turned to Qian Ye and shouted, “Go after Lin Huanhuan and snatch the Divine Wood seed back!”
Qian Ye didn’t move.
The white elephant roared, “Without the Divine Wood seed, you’ll never be able to return to your original appearance, and the Divine Wood clan won’t be able to reproduce. As a beast king, for the future of the Divine Wood City, you can’t retreat and give up!”
Qian Ye shuddered.
After the Divine Wood clan drank the holy water brewed with the Divine Wood, they obtained a longer lifespan than ordinary beasts and could maintain their youth. However, they also lost the ability to reproduce.
This might be the curse left by the Divine Wood.
If they wanted to break this curse, they had to let the Divine Wood return to the Divine Wood City.
Qian Ye clenched his fingers and finally made up his mind. “I’ll go find the Divine Wood.”
