Chapter 1086, The Mysterious Seal

Translator: Silavin

 

Upon hearing the words of the Elf Queen, the two brown-haired Deacons were as relieved. As prisoners, they were basically granted the chance to continue to live.

 

They promptly kowtowed several times before her, then, with expressions heavy with grief, helped the dead Felletin to his feet and escorted him away from that place.

 

Colluding with the Blood Beastmen Race, that single charge alone was enough to condemn them to death several times over, to say nothing of how they had nearly brought catastrophic ruin upon the entire Elf Race.

 

Perhaps the Elf Queen had spared them out of consideration for the countless millennia Felletin had devoted himself wholeheartedly to the Elf Race.

 

Or perhaps, there was something else the Elf Queen feared, some deeper calculation that made her unwilling to sustain any further losses among the Elf Race’s most elite combatants.

 

“Brother Yichen? Little Sister Ling, why are you here?”

 

Once the two brown-haired Elves had left, Avril’s startled cry rang out without warning. In the next instant, her silhouette drifted forward on a breath of delicate fragrance, and she came to a halt directly before Qin Yichen.

 

“Princess, it sure has been some time.” Qin Yichen gave a faint nod. His voice was carrying neither warmth nor displeasure.

 

The moment Avril registered his expression, the radiant enthusiasm that had been blazing across her face dimmed into something closer to bewilderment. The arms she had half-raised to embrace him fell to her sides.

 

Then, the colour of her face shifted, settling into undisguised guilt. Within those lively, expressive eyes of hers, a veil of mist began to gather and spread.

 

After Qin Yichen had been brought to the Elf Race, she had promised herself she would go to him. Yet the moment she returned, she had been confined.

 

Though Avril did not know how Qin Yichen had come to be standing here, she understood well enough that every step he had taken to reach this point must have cost him a lot.

 

“Avril, do you know him?”

 

The Elf Queen, who had been on the verge of intervening to prevent Avril from drawing too close to Qin Yichen, observed the scene with a slight furrow in her elegant brows.

 

“He is the Brother Yichen I told you about, the one who saved me in the forest…” Avril murmured softly, her voice threaded through with a trembling note of aggrieved sorrow.

 

“He is that person?” The Elf Queen’s expression shifted, a flash of something faintly awkward crossing her otherwise composed face.

 

The Elf Race had always been a people who repaid both kindness and enmity in equal measure. Yet after the incident in which Avril was attacked, her overwhelming fear for Avril’s safety had driven the Elf Queen to send her directly to the Tree of Life to undergo the coming-of-age ceremony.

 

As for the individual Avril had spoken of, the one who had risked his life to rescue her on more than one occasion, he had been deliberately set aside in that climate of heightened vigilance.

 

“Your Majesty, when will you honour the promise you’ve made?”

 

Qin Yichen showed no outward resentment. After all, given Avril’s status and standing, the fact that someone of her rank had been attacked within the Elf Forest was reason enough for the Elf Race to be on edge.

 

Qin Yichen had simply been somewhat put off earlier, having risked life and limb only to be stood up, and more critically, having nearly caused harm to Little Ling’er as a result of further delays.

 

Had he not been carrying Top Tier Divine Immortal’s Intoxication, he might well have been turned away before he even had the chance to catch his breath.

 

“Promise?” Avril looked between them, confused.

 

Had any other Elf witnessed this exchange, jaws would have dropped in disbelief. Even the most formidable beings of the top tier Races were known to yield respectfully before the Elf Queen.

 

To wear so openly an expression of distrust, to make no effort whatsoever to conceal it, was something that, in all likelihood, no one but Qin Yichen had ever done in her presence.

 

Perhaps moved by Avril’s evident guilt, Irene did not take offence. Instead, she answered in a measured, unhurried tone, “Sir Qin, you do not need to be anxious. This Queen does not go back on her word.”

 

“Your Majesty, I would prefer sooner rather than later.” Yet even in response to that, Qin Yichen’s manner suggested a trace of dissatisfaction remained.

 

At those words, the Elf Queen’s gaze shifted once more to Little Ling’er.

 

In the next moment, the Elf Queen’s pupils contracted sharply. Her figure flashed, and in an instant, she had crossed the distance and was crouching before the child. Her elegant brows were drawn together tightly.

 

One slender hand reached out and rested gently against Little Ling’er’s snow-white wrist.

 

“Ah…” At the Elf Queen’s touch, Little Ling’er let out a soft murmur, as though half-caught in a dream, and her small body swayed forward like something drawn by an invisible thread, coming to rest softly against the Elf Queen’s shoulder.

 

Seeing this, Qin Yichen’s brows knitted together, though he made no move to intervene.

 

After all, if the Elf Queen harboured any ill intent toward them, even if he unleashed every technique at his disposal, escape would be impossible.

 

Still, given that he currently held almost an immeasurable level of goodwill owed by the Elf Race, it was unlikely the Elf Queen would stoop to anything so dishonourable.

 

The Elf Queen held Little Ling’er’s wrist, and upon that transcendently beautiful face, an expression of sheer incredulity began to surface. It was so striking that an involuntary exclamation escaped her lips, “This is, the Power of Life?!”

 

Power of Life, the very Source of Life of all things.

 

This kind of power existed wherever there was vitality in the world, yet it was vanishingly rare for anyone to perceive its presence.

 

Within the Elf Race, only those supremely gifted, top experts could command this power.

 

Even among Royal Elves, after their coming-of-age ceremony, perhaps one in ten would emerge with the ability to wield the Power of Life, and that was already an exceptional number.

 

Each of those individuals who could control the Power of Life occupied a position of tremendous esteem within the Elf Race.

 

The expression on Irene’s face shifted, transitioning from astonishment to something far more grave. She had detected within this small Human girl the presence of the Power of Life, yet this power seemed to have been sealed inside her by some method, buried deep within her.

 

What she had perceived was no more than a faint thread of it seeping through some kind of seal.

 

And yet, even that infinitesimal thread far surpassed the power of many within the Elf Race. In fact, it would stand even above that of their Elders.

 

She did not know whether this trace of Power of Life had been sealed within Little Ling’er’s body through some special Technique employed by another Race, or whether it had seeped out from a seal that originated from within Little Ling’er herself.

 

If the former, then perhaps somewhere on the continent where the Myriad Races stood in rivalry, there truly existed such an entity.

 

But if it was the latter, then even the Elf Queen dared not let her thoughts venture any further down that path.

 

“I would ask Your Majesty to allow Ling’er to begin studying the Life Scripture as soon as possible.” Watching the shifting of the Elf Queen’s expression, Qin Yichen understood that this matter could not be concealed from her eyes. So, he openly spoke with gravity.

 

Others might not grasp the terrifying nature of the power sleeping within Little Ling’er’s body, but he understood it.

 

The mysterious shrine and the idol within that cave.

 

The coffin and the colossal beast within that Ancient Divine Temple.

 

The dreadful energy that had lain dormant for millions upon millions of years.

 

None of it was simple.

 

“Well, I fear that might be difficult…” Yet contrary to Qin Yichen’s expectations, the Elf Queen paused in brief contemplation, then spoke in a tone that was somewhat subdued. Her voice contained something resembling remorse.

 

“What!?” The words struck Qin Yichen like a jolt through his entire body. [Is she openly intending to go back on her word!?]