Peeping at a Bath

Chu Zeming felt like his whole world had fallen apart.

Why were so many elves peeping on him just because he was taking a bath?

The old elf led a crowd of elves crouching by the shore, endlessly muttering, "Holy Maiden, please reconsider."

Chu Zeming was naked, so he hugged his chest and hid beneath the hot spring water, his expression dark with displeasure.

"Leave first."

"If the Holy Maiden refuses to accept the Holy Son's blessing, we won't leave!" the old elf cried in a trembling voice. "For the sake of the Elf Tree, we beg you, Holy Maiden."

"We beg you, Holy Maiden—" A group of elves knelt and pleaded in unison.

Chu Zeming glanced at Yue Lian, who stood openly in the Sacred Spring with his genitals on full display, then dragged him down into the water with a dark expression and warned in a low voice, "With so many elves here, you're still standing there completely naked. Do you not know what shame is?"

After saying that, Chu Zeming raised his head and said unpleasantly, "I agree. Stop guarding this place. I don't like people looking at me naked."

Only then did the old elf rise. His eyes flickered as he looked at Chu Zeming. "The Holy Maiden has the clan in her heart. What great fortune for Elfkind!"

The other elves also rose and shouted loudly, "What great fortune for Elfkind—"

Chu Zeming rubbed his forehead helplessly.

"...Enough. Hurry up and leave."

The elves answered obediently, then reluctantly pulled their gazes away from the two people in the Sacred Spring.

A moment later, they had all vanished without a trace.

Chu Zeming grabbed Yue Lian in the water and was about to throw him out of the Sacred Spring when his gaze suddenly stopped on a clump of bushes beside the spring—there was a pair of pointed ears there.

The aura around Chu Zeming gradually turned dangerous.

With a thought, that clump of bushes was instantly uprooted by fierce spiritual power and flung into the distance. At the same time, the elves hiding within were exposed... not one, but three elves had been hiding there to peep.

After being discovered, the three elves looked somewhat blank.

"Who gave us away?"

"Not me."

Chu Zeming took a deep breath and looked at every bush surrounding the Sacred Spring. The Luminous Glaze Sword swept through them like a gale scattering clouds. Within a few breaths, every shrub and patch of grass had been shaved clean, revealing seventy or eighty pointed-eared elves disguised as bushes and peeping.

Some squatted, some sat, some lay flat—every pose under the sun.

The veins on Chu Zeming's forehead bulged.

These fucking weren't elves. They were a pack of filthy old perverts...

"Ahaha... we're leaving now."

"We're really leaving. It wasn't interesting, not good-looking at all."

"Going home, going home."

Throwing away the branches in their hands, all the elves stood up and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Chu Zeming pressed a hand to his temple, feeling his emotions nearing the point of explosion.

After confirming that only he and Yue Lian were truly left, Chu Zeming yanked the water-playing Yue Lian out again. "Stop playing. When you said we should play it by ear, did you mean coming to Elfkind's Sacred Spring to fool around with men?"

Yue Lian froze slightly. After grasping what Chu Zeming meant by fooling around with men, he nodded. "Yeah."

Sure enough, Yue Lian received a thorough beating, splashing nonstop in the water.

Deep within the distant forest, over a hundred elves pricked up their pointed ears and listened carefully to the sounds from that direction.

Their hearing was excellent; it was a gift from the God of Nature.

Listening to the violent splashing from the Sacred Spring, every elf wore a knowing smile.

—The Holy Son was mighty. The battle was intense.

Five minutes later, Chu Zeming had grown tired from hitting him.

He hauled Yue Lian out of the bath.

The Sacred Spring fell silent.

The distant elves charged over one after another like madmen who had lost their minds. They wanted to be the first to see what the Holy Maiden, restored to an elf through the blessing, looked like.

Chu Zeming sensed the commotion and raised his brows at Yue Lian.

He signaled that if Yue Lian did not hurry up, they would be exposed soon.

Chu Zeming had no idea what method Yue Lian used to turn himself into an elf.

But he was the protagonist. He would surely have a way.

Yue Lian lowered the hand covering his face and said bashfully, "...Kiss me once, and I'll put elf ears on you."

Without question, it was another flashy maneuver that stole no chicken and lost a fistful of rice instead.

By the time all the elves arrived in great excitement, the Holy Maiden, who had originally looked human, had already changed. His flamboyant, stunning face had softened considerably. His black hair fell to his waist, and because of the intense exercise just now, both his cheeks and pointed ears were tinged pale pink, making people want to take a bite.

The adorable sight made the crowd of old perverts howl wildly.

Yue Lian coughed, then used his body, covered in bluish-purple marks left behind by "lovemaking," to block the perverts' view. "Want to go into a tree cage? Keep looking, keep looking—look again and I'll gouge out your eyes!"

The old elf was the first to react.

He withdrew his wandering gaze, heavily planted his staff on the ground, and declared, "Since your identities have been restored, it is time to go to the Elf Tree and begin the ceremony."

After speaking, the old elf made a gentlemanly gesture of invitation toward Chu Zeming and Yue Lian. "Honored Holy Son and Holy Maiden, please follow me."

Chu Zeming hurried after him.

Yue Lian quietly moved closer to Chu Zeming and whispered, "Senior Brother, they're watching. We need to hold hands."

Chu Zeming raised his brows and shot Yue Lian a warning look—don't force me to hit you in front of all these people.

Yet Chu Zeming was not imposing at all in his current appearance. That warning glance looked like the shy, angry coquettish glare of a lover, and little people began jumping and howling in Yue Lian's mind.

Yue Lian was instantly satisfied.

"It's fine if we don't hold hands."

Following behind the old elf, Chu Zeming arrived before a peculiar tree—a massive tree with a lush crown that blotted out the sky and sun. Its leaves were not green but transparent like glass, shining in a blaze of multicolored light beneath the sunlight.

This was the Elf Tree of Elfkind in the Divine Wood Realm.

But the tree had developed an abnormality. A large number of its leaves had withered and yellowed.

Chu Zeming was considering what the restoration ceremony would involve when a group of Elfkind maidens clad in red and green suddenly surrounded him and Yue Lian. They softly chanted ancient ballads, their steps light and swift.

After the spirit-dancing had gone on for the time it took to burn an incense stick, the elf maidens withdrew, drenched in sweat. The old elf stepped forward, solemnly knelt before Chu Zeming and Yue Lian, and said quietly, "We shall leave the rest to you two."

After saying that, the old elf rose and left with the elf maidens.

Beneath the enormous Elf Tree, only Yue Lian and Chu Zeming remained.

What they needed to do next was find out why the Elf Tree was sick and awaken the Spirit of the Divine Wood.

Chu Zeming looked at the wilted, yellowing giant tree, his expression turning grave. He stepped forward and carefully observed the enormous Divine Elf Tree from all sides. Yue Lian followed behind him and observed just as closely, except the object of his observation was not the tree... but the person.

With time pressing, Chu Zeming endured him for the moment.

There was no obvious problem with the leaves. Chu Zeming bent down and touched the soil around the Elf Tree. There was no abnormality. It felt moist, indicating that the Elf Tree's water source was plentiful as well.

After investigating around the Divine Elf Tree for a long while without finding any issue, Chu Zeming slowly raised his head with a frown. Then his gaze stopped at a spot on the massive trunk—there was a tiny, inconspicuous tree hollow there.

Chu Zeming flew to that spot and hovered close to inspect it. He saw little white creatures crawling in and out.

They were termites.

The Divine Elf Tree had fallen ill because it was infested with termites.

Chu Zeming's expression grew grave. He summoned the Luminous Glaze Sword and thrust it into the Divine Elf Tree's trunk through the tiny termite hole.

Having been attacked, the Elf Tree began to tremble painfully. Chu Zeming continued forcing the sword deeper into the trunk. Once it reached a certain depth, he gathered spiritual power and gouged open a massive gap in the trunk. The sight within made Chu Zeming suck in a sharp breath—

Countless termites had occupied the inside of the Elf Tree, surging and writhing densely. They had already eaten the Elf Tree almost hollow. Seventeen or eighteen thick, white termite queens, each as thick as an arm, were still endlessly laying eggs. If no one had discovered them, one day the Elf Tree would die, the Spirit of the Divine Wood would disappear, and the entire Divine Wood Realm would face its end.

Even though it had fallen asleep, the Elf Tree still retained some awareness. Its crown swayed faintly, as if crying in pain, yet for hundreds of years, no one had heard its cries for help.

Chu Zeming touched the Elf Tree's rough trunk and said softly, "Endure it."

Then he put away the Luminous Glaze Sword, gathered a ball of blazing fire in his hand, and burned the densely writhing termites.

Crackling sounds rang out, and a strange scent of cooked meat filled the air.

It took nearly half an hour of burning to destroy all the termites inside the Elf Tree's trunk.

Chu Zeming withdrew the flames from his hand and slowly returned to the ground.

By then, the area around the Elf Tree was already packed with elves.

They held bows, arrows, and weapons, as though they had sensed something unusual and come prepared for battle. When they saw Chu Zeming descend, the weapons in everyone's hands suddenly fell to the ground, and every elf knelt before him.

Behind the stunning elf wearing a flower crown and holding a sword stood the Elf Tree, recovering its vitality at a visible rate.

The old elf prostrated himself on the ground, tears flowing down his aged face. "Thank you for saving my Elfkind..."

Chu Zeming put away the Luminous Glaze Sword and said, "You're welcome. It was what the Holy Son and I should have done. Take good care of it from now on."

The old elf wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and slowly said, "There is no need to pretend. I had long known that you two were not of our kind. But Elfkind has clan rules: those who are not elves may not approach the Elf Tree. I had no choice... You two have rendered Elfkind a great service. Our clan is willing to grant each of you one wish. I heard the Holy Son say that you wished to reach the tenth level. Our clan can activate the secret formation and send you both up."

Chu Zeming suddenly understood.

So the true spirit of the Divine Wood Realm was not merely the Elf Tree, but the entirety of Elfkind as well... Yue Lian had known all this long ago?

This was something never mentioned at all in the original script. It should have been classified as secret lore. Even a powerhouse like He Wuwei, who had entered and exited the Divine Wood secret realm several times, should not have known.

The more Chu Zeming thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

He turned his head and looked suspiciously at Yue Lian, only to meet a pair of large eyes that had been secretly watching him. Then... Chu Zeming received a shy, love-filled glance.

The corner of Chu Zeming's mouth twitched, and he slowly looked away.

Forget it. He had thought nothing...

Having been thoroughly scorched by Yue Lian's antics, Chu Zeming closed his eyes and rested for a while before speaking again. "Then I'll trouble you, Elder Elf, to send us to the tenth level of the Divine Wood."

"It is only right. Why thank us? Also, Elfkind has always stayed out of worldly disputes and made no enemies. This... shall be returned to you two." As the old elf spoke, he waved his hand. Two elves emerged from behind the crowd, carrying a tree cage between them on poles.

—Inside the cage sat Fu Hongchen, looking utterly dead inside.