Time Passes

Levant Year 44 saw major events. Prime Minister Light's 18-year reign ended when he voluntarily submitted requests not to seek re-election, which were rejected twice before being accepted by Rus Wang after a third request. Following the election of top officials by the Council of Sages, Terence, who had achieved notable results in encouraging immigration and establishing several new provinces on the Central Plateau and west coast of the Folded Ear Continent, became the new Prime Minister.

Every elf on the Council of Sages, as beings most trusted by Rus Wang, naturally knew of humans and much information that could not yet be disclosed to ordinary elves. Under Terence's plan, the kingdom as a whole paused expansion, prioritizing the cultivation of newly acquired lands, increasing the population, and improving road construction between city-states and towns within each province.

Now, within the Elf Kingdom, every family had several children. The eldest son could inherit the family estate, daughters would marry out, and the other sons had to find their own paths. Terence understood this, so upon taking office, he issued a policy: anyone who settled and cultivated land in the newly expanded provinces would be provided with farming tools, seeds, oxen, and heavy plows by the government, with officials guiding them. They would be exempt from land tax for two years, receive a subsidy of 1,000 copper coins, and a series of punitive measures for violators were established around this policy.

Terence didn't need to worry about violators slipping through the cracks. With Lady Xingyue and Lady Youlan secretly monitoring, not a single elf who took the money and ran under this policy lived to enjoy it for long.

The Elf Kingdom entered an era of internal consolidation, temporarily halting external expansion.

As for Rus Wang, his five offspring had also reached forty years of age—time for them to become independent. After all, including the mother of his children, who was raising their second litter of two cubs, Xingyue and the others had also given birth to their first offspring under Rus Wang's efforts.

Last year, after Rus Wang had taken his offspring on a tour of the southern Folded Ear Continent, he gathered his five cubs again in the forest of the core area for a conversation before their independence.

"In three days, your mother will drive you out of the Nanshan Rainforest Core Circle. As your father, I can't argue with your mother, and the territories in the Nanshan Rainforest Core Circle all have owners now. If you want territory in the Core Circle in the future, you'll have to seize it by strength. But you're always welcome in the Elf Kingdom. If you want elven delicacies or anything, just ask me for money."

Rus Wang intended to ask his three sons and two daughters about their future plans—whether to compete for territory in the Nanshan Rainforest or venture out to the southern Folded Ear Continent. The former had the essence of heaven and earth concentrated across the entire Folded Ear Continent. The latter, though the heaven and earth essence in the core areas of the Southern Forest and Southern Coniferous Forest was only at the lowest level of the Nanshan Rainforest Mixed Circle, was still occupied only by thousand-year soul beasts who had fled there and a few ten-thousand-year soul beasts. Any ten-thousand-year soul beast fleeing to the Folded Ear Continent seeking to break through the hundred-thousand-year threshold would come to the Nanshan Rainforest to fight for territory in the Mixed Circle.

The territories of thousand-year and ten-thousand-year soul beasts in the Nanshan Rainforest Mixed Circle had been divided after their father's military suppression over twenty years ago, but they were all excessively large, far beyond the normal patrol range of these soul beasts. Many territories appeared to have owners, but if the owner couldn't fly, patrolling them in a few months was impossible, so many areas had been abandoned by the soul beasts and remained unclaimed.

"The five of us already have a shared territory in the area bordering the Outer Circle and Mixed Circle of the Nanshan Rainforest, Father."

The five siblings carried Rus Wang's bloodline. They had been intelligent since childhood, no different from elves or humans, unlike ordinary thousand-year and ten-thousand-year soul beasts that only acted on survival instincts. They sat down together to discuss and chose a border zone between the Outer Circle and Mixed Circle, planning to wait until they all reached ten thousand years of age.

"Is that so? The border zone between the Outer Circle and Mixed Circle is mostly hundred-year soul beasts, with thousand-year ones being rare. That's fine. When you reach the ten-thousand-year cultivation threshold, you can try probing the Mixed Circle's situation."

Rus Wang nodded, rose from the ground, and provided all the help he could for his first litter of children. As for whether Barus and the others would later challenge him and other hundred-thousand-year ferocious beasts to seize territory in the Core Circle, he would gladly accept that too.

"Take this map of the Folded Ear Continent if you want it. Remember to carve it into stone. Paper gets damp, and the ink will fall off."

"Can we still meet in the Elf Kingdom, Dad?"

Iyuda called out after her departing father.

"Of course, Iyuda. There, there's only Rus, Thalassa, and his children."

Rus Wang paused to answer his second daughter's question but chose not to turn back. He didn't want to show his current expression to his children.

That afternoon, the five children spread their wings and flew completely out of the Nanshan Rainforest Core Circle, heading to their territory at the border of the Outer Circle and Mixed Circle to begin their independent lives.

"The children are gone?"

Rus Wang's massive body sat atop a mountain peak. Behind him, Thalassa's figure approached from behind.

"They're gone. All five left together."

Thalassa leaned against Rus Wang, gazing at the same sky in the direction their offspring had flown, and spoke.

"Sometimes, their intelligence forming too early is a mixed blessing. We've started thinking like humans and elves, experiencing emotions like joy, anger, grief, and sorrow. This prevents us from being like those hundred-year and thousand-year soul beasts in the forest now, who drive their offspring away after they mature due to the difficulty of hunting prey, mating instincts, and territorial awareness."

"But circumstances force our descendants to awaken their intelligence earlier, like humans and elves. Compared to now, when we can still grieve over our children's maturity and drive them away, the earlier their intelligence awakens, the more it benefits them. Learning to think, cooperate, and perceive danger—otherwise, the soul beast race will only slowly sink into the earth."

Rus Wang lowered his head. On this rocky mountain, though he couldn't overlook the entire Nanshan Rainforest, he could still see all the lesser peaks at a glance.

"Thalassa, I'd rather our children awaken their intelligence early than see them hunted like prey by humans when they set foot on this new continent."

"When the older generation of elves begins to pass away and they start using the improved Mental Contract method pioneered by Barus to deepen the bond between soul beasts and elves, we need to integrate all absorbable forces on this continent before humans discover it, creating a soul beast reserve coexisting with elves."

His dragon claws dug deep into the soil, scooping up a handful of earth in his palm.

"What if the Star Dou Forest notices us here?"

Under Rus Wang's teachings, Thalassa had developed her own understanding of the planet's situation. Learning that the Silver Dragon King was both the leader of the Dragon Race and the common lord of soul beasts was a first for her—she had no concept of this before.

"I'll still show some face to the common lord of soul beasts, but if it's them, let them come! Those old bastards who never cared about the survival of us younger ones. If they want to use the name of their predecessors and the common lord's subordinates to directly seize the forest beneath our feet, they'll have to step over my corpse first."

For the first time, true ruthlessness appeared in Rus Wang's eyes—the Rus Wang who was the King of the Nanshan Rainforest, the Guardian Spirit of the Elves, and the nominal ruler of the Elf Kingdom.

Slowly, the Elf Kingdom entered a cycle: twelve years of land expansion, twelve years of infrastructure construction.

More new technologies and knowledge, as time progressed, entered the lives and studies of the elves.

The original capital, home to tens of thousands, gradually became a metropolis of hundreds of thousands. All foundations were rebuilt and expanded again and again. The city-state's borders reached the towns, villages were surrounded by towns, and gradually, the original farmland became residential areas.

New provinces, cities, counties, and villages were planned by officials. The originally mixed roles of officials became increasingly specialized and focused, used to manage the growing elven population.

The violent apparatus—the military—also expanded further, slowly beginning to secretly select loyal officers for Soul Master training. The originally elected magistrates became more professional, turning into golden rice bowls that required passing exams for admission.

In Levant Year 109, the Elf Kingdom's first Prime Minister, Evans, was assassinated. After resigning as Prime Minister, he continued to serve as the Chief Justice during the kingdom's expansion and governance. He fought his entire life for the fairness of civil service selection and preventing class solidification, surviving dozens of assassination and poisoning attempts by various families.

The Grey Feather Division, under Xingyue and Youlan's jurisdiction, had been protecting Evans's life all these years. Only because Evans refused to cultivate and break through levels did the Grey Feather Division exterminate the families behind those assassination and poisoning attempts. But despite all precautions, there were always oversights. Although every member of the family that killed Evans was buried with him as retribution, the loss of a sage capable of governing millions could not be offset by the entire family of a civil official.

Rus Wang personally carried his coffin with his dragon body, signaling to the elves the status of the first Prime Minister, Evans, in his heart.

On one day in Year 134, the kingdom's second Prime Minister, Light, passed away peacefully in his home garden.

In Year 195, Ravenna experienced a revolt by officers who had received Soul Master training, attempting to seize Rus Wang's throne by force. Before the Soul Master-trained Grey Feather Division could suppress it, the soul beasts bound by Mental Contracts with the officers voluntarily terminated the contracts, cutting off the Spirit Ring Sharing to prevent further destruction. But the transcendent power of Soul Masters appeared in public and spread nationwide through unscrupulous newspaper propaganda.

In Year 196, the current Prime Minister proved incompetent in governance. Soul Master cultivation levels and Meditation Techniques were leaked and published by newspapers. All classes of elves frantically pursued cultivation, raising their Soul Master levels, causing officials to lose control, and the entire kingdom fell into a great chaos of rule by the strong. Rus Wang ordered his resignation. Osuen became Prime Minister, and Soul Saint-level Tewitz served as Military Marshal, coordinating with the Grey Feather Division to suppress Soul Master uprisings across the land. Osuen enacted the Newspaper Law and declared nationwide martial law. Tewitz led the army into Ravenna, restored order in the capital, and after recovering a ring of provinces around Ravenna, reported and halted, with Rus Wang's permission.

During this time, Tewitz reformed the military, trained discipline, and equipped the army with gunpowder weapons and Soul Tools. He publicly introduced the Mental Contract, training military personnel to connect with soul beasts.

The following year, Tewitz led the army on campaign, recovering fallen provinces that had fallen under violent Soul Master rule. Elves who could no longer endure the violent rule of the strong welcomed them wholeheartedly. Within a year, elves who had harbored beautiful fantasies about Soul Master rule and rule by the strong due to reckless newspaper propaganda, after experiencing real lessons, returned to the kingdom's rule one after another.

The army bloodily purged the elven Soul Masters who had incited the revolt. The hundred-thousand-year soul beasts of the Nanshan Rainforest emerged in full force, encircling and annihilating them on both physical and spiritual levels, completely eliminating the elven Soul Masters who had triggered the nationwide rebellion.

In Year 198, on Temple Mountain, Rus Wang and the hundred-thousand-year soul beasts of the Nanshan Rainforest took human form and held a grand assembly with high-ranking elven officials centered on the identity of elven Soul Masters. Soul Power awakening, preschool education, and academy education were prioritized. Rus Wang's many offspring, unlike ordinary hundred-year and thousand-year soul beasts, were precociously intelligent and good at communication, recognized by elves as the most ideal Mental Contract partners. Rus Wang was advised to have more children.

Year 209: Barus, the eldest son of Blade Ruse King, took the lead in forming a Mental Contract with Elena. From this point on, over the next millennium, many of Blade Ruse King's descendants chose to contract with elves, deepening the bond between soul beasts and elves.

Year 208: Osuen and Tewitz stepped down from their positions as Prime Minister and Marshal of the Army. The nation's production levels returned to those of Year 194. Radio stations and soul-guided broadcast stations entered public life.

Year 213: Tewitz passed away of old age.

Year 214: Elena became the first Title Douluo among the elves. Barus, now with a ten-thousand-year lifespan, fully finalized all functions of the Mental Contract. While sharing soul beast abilities with elves, it could also partially enhance the soul beast's age. Every time an elf advanced a level, the soul beast's cultivation would also increase slightly. When both parties agreed to dissolve the contract, this small increase would not be lost.

Year 217: Osuen and Liana passed away of old age.

Year 226: As the elves' expansion officially covered the entire northern part of the Folded Ear Continent, Blade Ruse King completed a system achievement and evolved. That day, thunder rolled across the sky. After enduring the baptism of the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation, Blade Ruse King emerged from the tribulation lightning without a single wound.

Originally at an age of just over two hundred thousand years, Blade Ruse King now possessed a cultivation base of over six hundred thousand years. His strength could rightfully be called the king of soul beasts on the Folded Ear Continent.

Year 240: Blade Ruse King released steam engine technology. The Elf Kingdom officially transitioned from the manual era to the steam age. As the roar of steam trains spread, the central government's control over the regions strengthened.

Year 250.

After evolving into the Blade Ruse King form, he had no intention of idly waiting out the remaining 1,749 years until the protective barrier disappeared before making contact with the outside world. Now, with a formidable cultivation base of over six hundred thousand years, it was time to go and save those soul beasts on other continents that could still be saved.