Under everyone's watchful eyes, Jie Ning waved his hand and summoned the Acorn 'Seed' into his palm.
Watching Jie Ning's actions, Anmu forcibly suppressed the urge to stop him.
Jie Ning condensed a strand of Life God Power and injected it into the Acorn's Seed.
Watching Jie Ning's actions, Anmu had just wanted to remind him that his people had long tried channeling Battle Qi or magical power into the Sacred Tree's Seed, but it had all been futile...
Yet suddenly, after absorbing a strand of Jie Ning's divine power, the Acorn Seed began to radiate vitality. Its somewhat shriveled shell also trembled faintly.
Clearly, everyone present, including Anmu, could plainly see the changes in the Sacred Tree's Seed.
That power just now... In an instant, Anmu seemed to realize something.
"Greetings, God of Life." Anmu immediately dropped to one knee before Jie Ning in salute, his forehead covered in sweat.
Where is the God of Life...? Kaixi, who was still kneeling, was momentarily confused upon hearing Anmu's words. But after seeing that the one Anmu was greeting was Jie Ning, her beautiful eyes widened to their limit.
"Lord Jie Ning... is the God of Life..." Kaixi found it hard to believe.
It was not just her. The other Elves were also utterly shocked, but they trusted Anmu's judgment even more and decisively followed him in saluting Jie Ning.
For a moment, a whole group of Elves knelt neatly before Jie Ning.
After a hundred years, Jie Ning had long grown numb to such formalities. He calmly looked at the Elves. "All of you, get up."
"Thank you, Your Highness." Seeing that Jie Ning had not denied their form of address, Anmu became even more excited.
The Elves obediently stood up. Anmu cautiously asked, "Your Highness, can our Sacred Tree's Seed still sprout?"
Looking at the Elves before him, Jie Ning processed the information he had just obtained from this 'Seed.' He made some calculations inwardly, but his expression remained calm. "There is no rush. First, tell me what exactly this 'Seed' is."
Naturally, Anmu did not dare slight Jie Ning's question. He could only answer carefully, "Your Highness, it is a long story. Which aspect would Your Highness like to learn about first?"
Jie Ning casually pointed at the Acorn. "Start with its origins."
"Yes, Your Highness," Anmu replied respectfully.
"Does Your Highness know about the descent of the Overgods over a hundred thousand years ago?" Anmu asked Jie Ning.
"I know a little." Jie Ning nodded. "You mean this Seed is related to the Overgods?"
Jie Ning looked suspiciously at the old Elf across from him. Based on his assessment of the Acorn in his hand, this thing was nowhere near qualified to associate itself with an Overgod.
Sensing Jie Ning's doubt, Anmu hastily explained nervously, "No, no, Your Highness."
"It was merely that, over a hundred thousand years ago, our Progenitor lost his life after angering an Overgod. Our people's Sacred Tree was the Progenitor's companion divine tree."
Jie Ning became interested. "Tell me in detail."
"It is said that our Progenitor was a natural-born Elf, born from the world itself." Anmu organized his words.
Jie Ning understood. So the earliest Elves were Divine Beasts?
"The place where the Progenitor was born was atop our people's Sacred Tree."
"The Progenitor was a natural-born deity. Upon reaching adulthood, he naturally became a God-level powerhouse."
"Later, because human women most closely resembled the Progenitor in appearance, he chose some beautiful human women on the continent to reproduce with. In the end, our Elf Race came into being. That is the origin of our Elf Race." At this point, Anmu's tone became somewhat nervous, as though afraid of offending Jie Ning.
The Elves behind Anmu, including Kaixi, whom Arannis had just helped up, all wore incredulous expressions. They actually had human blood in them?
Jie Ning was not surprised in the slightest. After all, aside from certain special lifeforms, Panlong World had no concept of reproductive isolation for the strong.
Seeing no change in Jie Ning's expression, Anmu felt somewhat relieved and continued, "Under the Progenitor's protection, the Elves of that era could be called one of the most powerful races on Bana Continent."
"However, the Progenitor later perished after angering an Overgod, dealing the Elf Race a tremendous blow. At the same time, some old enemies launched their revenge against the Elf Race, causing us to decline rapidly."
Anmu deliberately omitted the conflicts caused by humanity's rise against the Elf Race.
As Jie Ning listened to the story, he felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. What is this, a severely watered-down version of the Four Divine Beasts' extermination incident?
Still, "What about your Sacred Tree?"
"From what you said, the Overgod did not harm your Sacred Tree." Jie Ning pointed out the flaw.
At Jie Ning's question, Anmu could not stop a bitter smile from appearing on his face. "Although the Overgod did not harm the Sacred Tree, the Progenitor and the Sacred Tree must have had a closer connection that we do not understand."
"The moment the Progenitor fell, the Sacred Tree seemed to suffer a tremendous injury as well."
"Before the Progenitor's death, the Sacred Tree itself could be considered a powerful Saint Realm expert. But after that, not only could it no longer communicate with us, its condition also worsened day by day."
"Then, one day afterward, the Sacred Tree completely withered into ashes, leaving behind only a Seed."
"Fortunately, that Seed later successfully sprouted again and grew into our second-generation Sacred Tree," Anmu said without daring to pause.
"However, the second-generation Sacred Tree was far less powerful than the First Generation Sacred Tree. After growing for several thousand years, it too turned into ashes, leaving only a Seed behind."
"And so, our Elf Race's Sacred Tree was passed down generation after generation. But starting several thousand years ago, the Seed left behind after that generation of Sacred Tree turned to ashes found it difficult to sprout naturally."
"Our Elf Race paid a certain price before we could make the Sacred Tree sprout and grow again."
"After several more generations, our Sacred Tree withered again three hundred years ago. This time, even our original method ceased to work."
After hearing Anmu's explanation, Jie Ning nodded slightly. "I understand the general situation. But I still have several questions."
"Please ask, Your Highness."
"First question: what use does your Sacred Tree have for you?" Jie Ning did not believe that if the Sacred Tree had no practical use for the Elves, they would keep paying such prices to revive it.
Anmu gritted his teeth, but still said, "It is said that because the divine blood of the Progenitor flows through our Elf Race, no matter what talent an Elf is born with, as long as they can awaken their bloodline, every Elf can possess decent Wind Attribute Talent."
"And our method of awakening it requires the Sacred Tree Blessing."
Upon hearing this, Arannis found it somewhat unbelievable. Could divine blood really be so miraculous? Then, as though she thought of something, she secretly glanced at Jie Ning's back.
Jie Ning could barely hold it together. This so-called Sacred Tree Blessing was just a 'copy' of the Four Divine Beasts' Ancestral Hall Baptism, wasn't it?
And it was still a severely watered-down version.
Anmu did not notice Jie Ning's abnormality and continued, "According to the records, the blessings of later Sacred Trees were far inferior to that of the First Generation Sacred Tree. Legend says that the First Generation Sacred Tree's awakening could even grant Elves certain unusual abilities."
Isn't this just a degraded version of an Innate Divine Ability? Jie Ning felt that he now understood everything.
"Without the blessing, many Elves born over the past three hundred years have been unable to grow stronger. Our birth rate is already far lower than that of the other races on the continent. If our strength also falls short..."
"On top of that, Elves have always been coveted by outsiders because of our appearance..." Anmu felt that the Elf Race's future without the Sacred Tree was utterly bleak.
Jie Ning nodded inwardly. "Then for my second question, what price did you pay in the past?"
Jie Ning had roughly guessed that the 'Seed' before him was, in essence, the Sacred Tree from over a hundred thousand years ago. Its injuries from that time had simply been too severe, forcing it to keep transforming into a 'Seed' in order to cling to life.
His preliminary judgment was that its injury lay in the Soul Aspect. He was truly curious how the Elf Race had helped this Sacred Tree delay the deterioration of its soul.
If it could serve as a reference, it might greatly aid his research into the Soul Aspect.
Unfortunately, Anmu's answer was not what he had hoped for.
Upon hearing Jie Ning's question, Anmu had already expected it. Yet the subject was clearly still heavy for him. A sorrowful expression appeared on his face as he said, "Perhaps because the connection between our Elf Race and the Sacred Tree is far closer than we imagined."
"Just as the Sacred Tree can help us awaken our talents, our souls can also help the Sacred Tree grow."
As Anmu spoke, the other Elves beside him also wore sorrowful expressions.
"During an accident several thousand years ago, we discovered that if an Elf died near the Sacred Tree's Seed, it would provide a little help toward the Seed's germination."
Having said this much, Anmu naturally made the Elf Race's method clear to Jie Ning.
"...As the Sacred Tree became increasingly difficult to sprout, at first, it was enough for us to wait for Elves who had reached the end of their natural lifespans to die and help it sprout. Later, we had to rely on the self-sacrifice of some clan members. By now, over these past few hundred years, quite a few Elves have lost their lives before the Sacred Tree's Seed..."
"We could only speculate that intermittent 'supplementation' could merely satisfy the Sacred Tree Seed's basic consumption. To make the Seed sprout, its needs had to be met all at once."
"We had originally planned to hold a ritual soon..." The purpose of the ritual went without saying.
As he spoke, Anmu looked lovingly at Kaixi. "This child somehow learned of Your Highness's existence, so she stole the Sacred Tree's Seed in the hope of receiving your help."
Jie Ning shook his head inwardly at the Elves' method. It seemed this Sacred Tree had survived until now only because of its own uniqueness.
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