Chapter 1098, Unicorn King

Translator: Silavin

 

*Hmmm…*

 

The four ancient Runes vanished into Little Ling’er’s Dantian in the span of a single breath, and as those four Runes disappeared, the air that had nearly solidified around them began to circulate once more, slow and cautious, as though testing whether it dared move at all.

 

Qin Yichen watched with concern, yet made no move to intervene.

 

He understood. The Pavilion King harboured no ill-intent. Had he wished harm upon Little Ling’er, he would never have granted her the opportunity to enter the Tree of Life and comprehend the Life Scripture.

 

Moments later, Little Ling’er, who had worn a faintly puzzled expression, went suddenly still. Her innocent little face froze, and behind those glass-like eyes, a distant, unfocused light flickered and danced.

 

*Whoosh!* Without warning, a pure column of green light erupted from the crown of her head and shot skyward. A pillar of living light cleaving straight through the Heavens.

 

“What is that!?”

 

Beneath that green column of light, the assembled Elf Elders and Deacons dropped to their knees almost as one, in the space of a single heartbeat.

 

Even the Royal Elves, Avril, the Elf Queen, and the Pavilion King himself, all felt it, a crushing, suffocating pressure bearing down from somewhere deep and primal.

 

It was a pressure that came from their Bloodline itself.

 

The Royal Elves were Heaven’s Chosen, born of the Tree of Life, the finest the land had to offer. Yet as Royal Elves, the moment they beheld that green column of light, a sensation of absolute deference welled up within them, unbidden and involuntary.

 

Just what kind of absurdity was this?

 

*Sss…*

 

Then, from high above, a series of strange, piercing cries rang out across the sky, one after another.

 

Immediately following, the sharp, urgent sound of wind being torn apart cascaded down from the Heavens.

 

*Whoosh! Whoosh!*

 

Amid a sea of stunned and disbelieving eyes, streaks of brilliant light came screaming in from every direction.

 

They were Unicorns, each one snow-white from head to tail, a pair of wings folded at their flanks.

 

“Those are Unicorns?!”

 

“Why have they come here?”

 

The sight of those Unicorns hurtling forward like living comets sent a jolt of alarm through the assembled Elves.

 

Some Elders noticed, with unease, that the very Unicorns with whom they had formed Contracts were among this group. Yet, no matter how urgently they reached out through their Contract, not a single response came back to them.

 

In no more than a few breaths, the Unicorns had gathered above this stretch of sky. They did not descend. Instead, they wheeled and circled in the air.

 

It was a vast silent formation suspended between the sky and the earth.

 

*Sss…*

 

Then, as the crowd stood frozen in bewilderment, a single cry rolled in from the distance, deep and resonant as spring thunder unfurling across the horizon.

 

Beneath that cry, the Unicorns, proud and aloof as they were, bowed their heads as one, as though paying homage to something greater.

 

*Whoosh!* Under a forest of wide and startled eyes, a crystalline radiance burst forth, moving at a speed that defied comprehension, as though it were tearing the very fabric of space apart, hurtling forward with terrifying purpose.

 

Then, that streak of light descended upon the column rising from Little Ling’er’s crown, and came to rest before her.

 

The radiance soon faded.

 

There, a Unicorn stood.

 

This Unicorn was smaller than the others. Its entire body was glowing with snow-white, crystalline light.

 

The small horn upon its brow was like a pillar of pure ice crystal, scattering brilliant radiance in all directions beneath the Sun.

 

Most striking of all were the pair of wings at its shoulders. Those wings shimmered with a cold, razor-edged light, as though the faintest motion of them could slice the air itself to ribbons without effort.

 

“The Unicorn King…”

 

The Elf Queen stared at that Unicorn, and even she could not keep her expression from shifting, a barely perceptible tremor running through her as the words escaped her lips in a low murmur.

 

Though the outside world believed that Unicorns and the Elf Race existed in a bond of mutual dependence, only the Elf Race truly knew the reality. Many of their Elders and Deacons had indeed formed Contracts with Unicorns, yet the two groups had never truly integrated their lives together.

 

More accurately, the Unicorns merely borrowed the Elf Race’s territory for the purpose of propagation. Between them, there was none of the intimate communion that rumours had described.

 

And the Unicorns who formed Contracts with the Elf Race were, as a general rule, never of especially high calibre.

 

For the more powerful a Unicorn, the greater its pride, and in the entire recorded history of the Elf Race, not a single Soul had ever tamed the legendary Unicorn King.

 

The Elf Race could only sigh quietly over it, and lament what could never be.

 

Unicorns were the darlings of the wind. In terms of speed, one would be hard-pressed to name a Race across the entire continent that could rival them. The speed possessed by this legendary Unicorn King, travelling ten million kilometres in the span of a single instant, was no exaggeration at all.

 

In ordinary times, whenever an Elf of high standing wished to approach a Unicorn and form a Contract, they first had to make use of the dedicated channel within the Elf palace that allowed communication with Unicorns, and only after receiving permission could they go before one.

 

Yet now, the entire sky was blanketed, as though all light had been swallowed whole, and no one present doubted for a moment that every last Unicorn in existence had appeared here today.

 

The Unicorns had always kept to their paradise. It was a world separate from theirs, and had never emerged of their own accord in all the countless tens of thousands of years of history.

 

So why then, was this day the exception?

 

That question left every Elf present in a state of profound bewilderment.

 

Even the Elf Queen and the Pavilion King wore expressions of grave uncertainty, neither knowing whether this turn of events was a good thing or a bad one.

 

“Wow, what a pretty little horsy!”

 

No one could say exactly when it happened, but Little Ling’er’s eyes had cleared. The moment she laid eyes on the Unicorn King standing not far from her, those innocent, guileless eyes lit up with a burst of sheer delight, and her hand reached out towards the Unicorn King without a moment’s hesitation.

 

“Careful!” The Elf Queen’s expression changed at once, and she called out urgently.

 

Beside her, the assembled Elves felt their pupils contract almost simultaneously, every one of them snapping to rigid attention.

 

As senior members of the Elf Race, they had each been fortunate enough to earn the chance to approach a Unicorn and attempt to form a Contract.

 

Towards these Unicorns, those creatures of insufferable pride, they held nothing but deep and well-earned wariness.

 

Beneath those seemingly gentle and harmless exteriors lay an arrogance without equal. Many among the Elf Race’s Deacons and above had suffered greatly at the hooves of these Unicorns.

 

More than a few of the older figures had tried to force themselves close to a Unicorn and been reduced to a scorched and blackened state by the lightning that erupted from their horn.

 

And those had merely been the normal Unicorns. What stood before Little Ling’er now was the Unicorn King itself.

 

Even among the Elf Race’s most senior members, they had only ever encountered this creature in the pages of ancient records. Today was the first time any of them had the privilege of seeing it with their own eyes.

 

As for the Unicorn King’s power, no one doubted it. Who would want to test what lay coiled within that crystalline frame, what devastating force might be unleashed at a moment’s notice? To provoke it would be to courting death! Even an Elder in the Saint Realm could not bear the full weight of its fury.

 

Qin Yichen’s brow furrowed. The reactions of the Elf Queen and those around her made it clear that this Unicorn was not to be trifled with.

 

Yet when his gaze moved to the Pavilion King, he found the old man deep in thought, brow tightly creased as though working through some private calculation, making no attempt to stop Little Ling’er.