Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong gazed at the gigantic, mesmerizing green gemstone, its multiple facets refracting different lusters in different directions, radiating a dreamy hue. He wasn’t sure if it counted as aquamarine, but it was definitely not emerald. Such a gemstone would be invaluable in another world—yet here, it was worth nothing, as the Forest was full of such peridots.

A hand lifted the gemstone, replaced by a pair of beautiful eyes looking at him.

”You should rest a bit more, our Lord Captain.”

Hilveld set the gemstone down—the gemstone reflected his shadow, his face full of fatigue—which was unsurprising, as only five hours had passed since the battle, during which he only had a short rest.

The Guardian had previously repelled the Crystal army using the power of the Heart of Chongshan, yet the Invoker still engaged in extraordinary combat until the three Disorderly Inspectors finally slowly vanished into the Valley, marking the real end of the combat.

The disorderly henchmen left a chaotic mess on the battlefield, countless corpses piled up along the riverbank, and the Invoker still had to clean them up, count heads, and distribute the spoils of war.

”Any new news from outside?” he asked.

”The Heart of Tree has awakened.”

”I already knew that, Hilveld.”

Before the Crystal launched its attack, the Heart of Tree should have already awakened. The first extinguishing of the Heart of Chongshan should have meant the Crystal suppressed its strength.

Afterward, people from the Twilight Guild stole the Heart of Chongshan, causing the Tree People side to fall completely behind, although it’s still unclear if the people of Twilight were bewitched by the Crystal. But it did seem too coincidental for the Crystal’s massive attack to coincide with the Twilight Guild’s actions.

Fang Hong did not intend to conceal anything for those people, and the conduct of the Twilight members had already spread from the Holy White Stone Guild’s group. For now, the Twilight Guild has temporarily become the place’s outcast, since many might have died due to their actions.

Whether the Twilight Guild can eventually align with the other guilds depends on their diplomatic skills. The people from Holy White Stone are also waiting for news from their guild to make the final ’judgment’ on their decision.

But he roughly understood why the Crystal was probing time and again—it didn’t test Moenyalit’s Strength, as the two Guardians were aware of each other’s strength. Rather, what the former truly dreaded was the power of the Heart of Chongshan.

However, the Heart of Tree cannot indefinitely draw on the Heart of Chongshan’s strength, or the resulting consequence would approximately be no different from the Twilight’s theft of the Heart of Chongshan; hence, Moenyalit needed to borrow the Strength of the Invoker.

Yet, that was likely the Crystal’s last recent attack; before resolving the Heart of Chongshan issue, she wouldn’t easily probe again, wasting her subordinate’s strength.

And now that the Crystal has quieted down, the reinforcements from various guilds are expected to arrive soon, and over the next few days, Fang Hong has already started thinking about their departure—they came here to collect Earth Origin Crystal, a goal they have long exceeded.

Especially after this great battle, there will be a large batch of Earth Origin Crystal sent over as offset for shares of the spoils of war, now he’s more thinking about how to take them away rather than how to collect Earth Origin Crystal.

This isn’t a problem a few people can solve.

As for the other task, helping the Tree People investigate those with the Dark Aura, it just depended on whether there was still time.

He rubbed his brow, while Hilveld looked at him with a smile:

”There’s one more piece of news.”

”What?”

”It plans to meet you.”

”It?”

”The Heart of Tree, Lord Moenyalit.”

Fang Hong stopped, looking towards the other.

...

The Tree People set the place for exchanging rewards in a spacious, ancient woodland.

However, it was quite peaceful now—only a few people were in the clearing, as most people were still at the Thorn Frontline side, where countless corpses were difficult to tally quickly.

The first ones here were the loners who were antisocial and not good at interacting with people. Hence, they stood far apart, each occupying a corner, almost without interacting—only occasionally casting a glance at Mei, likely recognizing the Papalar Female Knight.

But Fang Hong anticipated it would soon become lively here, bustling with people, at which point countless individuals would swarm over to exchange tree leaves with the Tree People.

From behind came creaking sounds, prompting Fang Hong to turn back, seeing the Tree People Elder slowly emerging from the woods, coming before them. The gray-skinned one was staring at them with a blank gaze, trembling with long tree tendrils, speaking in a low tone:

”Lord Moenyalit will soon fall back into slumber, but before that, it wishes to meet you all.”

Fang Hong lightly nodded, this was precisely why they came here.

After the Ancient Treant spoke, it slowly turned around:

”Please follow me, Holy Chosen ones.”

The commotion here seemed to attract other people’s attention, some recognized the Tree People Elder, casting a curious glance towards Fang Hong’s group. If there were tourists, someone might have started filming by now, but the loners weren’t too concerned with others’ affairs, only glancing once before cautiously retrieving their gaze.