Chapter 012: The Sacred Ground for Sacrifices

“Lord Du Fan, congratulations.” Just as Du Fan expressed his gratitude to Saito and bowed deeply, Moses and the other seven elves who had just been baptized at the Spring of Life and become elders of the elf race stepped forward to offer their congratulations. Only Naixiu lagged behind the group; although she followed, she did not say anything to congratulate him.
“Thank you, thank you all. I also congratulate you,” Du Fan said with a devout smile. His holy appearance made Moses and the others sigh inwardly.
“Lord Du Fan, in our elf race’s long history, including you, only two elders from other races have ever appeared. You must cherish this title greatly,” Lan Ling said with her head bowed.
“Please rest assured, Elder Lan Ling. I, Du Fan, will surely live up to the title of an elf elder. But since you mentioned there is another elder from another race, I wonder who that person is?” Du Fan asked. He began to address Lan Ling as Elder Lan Ling.
“That person is from the demon race. However, during the war when the demons invaded our elf race, he sided with us and rendered great services, which earned him the title of elder. That was tens of thousands of years ago. Given how long ago that was, Elder Du Fan probably hasn’t heard about it,” Lan Ling replied, also addressing Du Fan as Elder.
“What kind of gem is this? A gem filled with such strong vitality—I’ve really never seen one before,” Du Fan said, smiling as he pointed to the pendant on his chest.
“That’s a Life Gem. It can only be produced in our sacred elf lands. Occasionally, such gems can be found on the ancient elf trees. It is believed to be the essence of those trees,” Moses explained.
“There must be quite a number of them on the ancient elf trees, right?” Hearing that such gems came from the ancient elf trees, Du Fan asked curiously.
“Elder Du Fan, have you never heard of the Life Gem?” Moses looked at him with a strange expression.
“No, but it must be something wonderful,” Du Fan said, smiling as he felt the vibrant comfort brought by the Life Gem.
“It’s not just wonderful. Even in our elf race, which is rich in resources, the Life Gem is considered a top-tier treasure. It not only improves one’s physical condition but also has the effect of expelling poisons and evil spirits. With a Life Gem on one’s body, one is practically immune to all poisons. But these functions are probably useless to us,” Moses said with a peculiar smile.

“Expel poisons and evil spirits? Immune to all poisons? What a wonderful thing.” Du Fan thought to himself. He liked using poisons and was highly sensitive to them—things that could catch people off guard! With this Life Gem, he could feel much more at ease regarding food in certain situations. “If the old emperor had had this gem back then, he might have lived another few decades at least,” Du Fan thought of the old emperor who had been poisoned by his own son.

“Poisons are usually extracted from plants or animals, while the Life Gem is the crystallized essence of our Ancient Spirit Tree. The essence formed from such immense vitality naturally can neutralize those toxins,” Moses said matter-of-factly.

“Then, with such a huge Ancient Spirit Tree, it must be able to produce a hundred or so gems each year, right?” Du Fan asked tentatively with a smile.

“A hundred or so?” Moses widened his eyes at Du Fan. “A hundred each year? We’d die laughing! As far as I know, in the past three hundred years, we’ve only found one Life Gem!”

“A rare treasure, indeed a rare treasure,” Du Fan nodded repeatedly. Initially, he had planned to find a way to give one of his trusted subordinates one of these gems so they could improve their health and ward off poisons whenever needed. But after hearing Moses say that only one gem had been found in three hundred years, he immediately abandoned that idea.

“People of our clan, the Life Goddess is waiting for our prayers! Her Majesty hopes to hear the voices of her people. Let’s go to the altar right now to worship her!” Cai Tu’s voice echoed once again in the vast hall.

Hearing Cai Tu’s voice, the nine newly appointed elf elders quickly stepped aside, waiting for further instructions. The elves fell silent upon hearing his voice, and then a dozen of them suddenly took to the air. Seeing them fly, Du Fan’s pupils contracted—those elves all carried strong magical auras, and by their presence, they were all mages above the sacred rank!

A dozen sacred-ranked mages! What kind of power was that? Du Fan was filled with awe. Even if all the sacred-ranked mages from the Gavin Empire and the Lanni Empire were combined, there might not be fifteen. Du Fan began calculating in his mind.

What Du Fan didn’t expect was that the elves lived in groups, with all elves residing within their tribal communities. As for these elite elves, if they wished, they could live inside the Ancient Spirit Tree. So it wasn’t unusual to see a dozen sacred-ranked mages appear at once. If you counted the human sacred-ranked mages who lived in seclusion or traveled around, their numbers would surely be no less than those of the elves.

A dozen or so elves flew above the elves, taking their positions, chanting spells nonstop. A blinding light flashed, and by the time Du Fan regained his vision, tens of thousands of elves had already moved to another place.
A massive teleportation! Tens of thousands of people were transported in one go. Du Fan immediately realized that those dozen or so holy-grade magicians had simultaneously used a space teleportation spell to move the elves from the Life Ancient Tree to the ground. The solid ground beneath their feet clearly indicated that the distance they would have taken days to cover to reach the Spring of Life had been covered in just an instant.
If this tactic were used in a military raid, what difficulty would it be to capture a fortress like Odin Castle? Du Fan suddenly thought excitedly.
“Elder Moses, this space magic is amazing! Transporting tens of thousands of people at once—what a remarkable feat!” Du Fan praised sincerely.
“Hehe, actually, it’s not that complicated. There were two invisible teleportation arrays in that place and this sacrificial ground. Those magicians simply used their magic power to activate the arrays,” Moses said with a smile.
“Hmm, well, it’s not bad,” Du Fan replied casually after hearing Moses’s explanation.
The sacrificial ground, as the name suggests, was where the elves worshipped the Nature Goddess. Du Fan stopped talking; the beautiful scenery before him completely captivated him. Compared to the mystery and solemnity of the sanctuaries he had seen, this elf sacrificial ground had a completely different style.
The elves’ sacrificial ground was located on a very flat lawn. The green grass was dotted with beautiful flowers, and scattered around were trees of species Du Fan had never seen, all lush and green. On the lawn, legendary divine beasts could be seen everywhere—pure unicorns, colorful paradise birds, and butterflies the size of a human palm fluttering about.
In front of the lawn was a small lake about a thousand square meters in size. Its surface was as calm as a mirror, as blue as a clear sky. In the middle of the lake stood a statue over ten meters tall.
The statue depicted an extremely beautiful woman, smiling peacefully, wearing a colorful wreath on her head and a light green robe.

It was unknown what material the statue was made of, but it exuded a strong sense of vitality, inspiring everything around it to become full of life. With a calm and serene smile, it instantly brought a sense of extreme relaxation to those who saw it, allowing them to fully immerse themselves in the natural atmosphere around.

What was even stranger was that it was impossible to tell the age of the woman in the statue—twenty, thirty, forty, or eighteen? The more one stared at it, the harder it was to discern.

When the elves around arrived at the sacrificial site, they immediately bowed their heads and began to chant softly in front of the statue.

Among tens of thousands of people, only Du Fan still kept his head up, observing the statue. Without a doubt, that statue of a woman over ten meters tall was the statue of the Nature Goddess.

“Not bad; she has a rather attractive appearance,” Du Fan thought, beginning to evaluate her. Although her beauty wasn’t compared to Chenchen’s, her natural and serene aura was rare. Judging by her status, she was no less powerful than Chenchen.

As Du Fan silently assessed the statue of the Nature Goddess, the corners of her mouth suddenly curved slightly upward, and her smile deepened!

Of course, such a subtle detail was only noticed by Du Fan. Those elves, who were extremely devout, wouldn’t dare to look at the statue of the Nature Goddess so presumptuously!

“She’s alive!” Du Fan was suddenly shocked! With just that slight curve, the statue immediately returned to its original state, but Du Fan’s heart was deeply shaken.

That sudden intensification of the smile was definitely not his imagination! Du Fan was certain of this. So, what was going on? Could it be that the statue was actually a real person?

Du Fan quickly dismissed this idea. If the statue were real, these elves would have discovered it long ago. Besides, would such a deity be so bored as to create a statue that would stand there for thousands or tens of thousands of years without moving at all?

At that moment, as the elves’ soft chanting accelerated, changes began to occur between heaven and earth at the sacrificial site.

Du Fan’s sensitive mental power immediately detected strange energy fluctuations—like countless ripples spreading out from the statue in the center of the lake. Those energy waves seemed to possess some strange magic. Any being that came into contact with them felt an extremely serene atmosphere, as if gentle hands were soothing their inner unease, even the slightest trace of it.