Chapter 1097, Ancient Runes

Translator: Silavin

 

Beneath the convergence of Qin Yichen’s gaze and those of the Elf Race, a silhouette emerged slowly from the Tree of Life.

 

From within that slender figure, not the faintest whisper of Yuan Energy fluctuation emanated outward. She stood there like the most unremarkable, most ordinary person imaginable.

 

Yet within that very ordinariness dwelt something that brought a sense of ease and comfort to the spirit. It was a quality that reached into the observer without effort or announcement.

 

The light receded gradually, and with it, the features of that silhouette became distinct, resolving themselves one by one into the collective field of vision.

 

When those features came clear, a visible change swept across the assembled Elf faces. Figure after figure stood rooted to the spot, as rigid and motionless as wooden pillars driven into the earth. Every trace of the jubilant anticipation that had lit their expressions moments before was extinguished in an instant.

 

The one who had shattered this astonishing record was not Princess Avril, as every one of them had assumed it would be. It was Little Ling’er.

 

“How can it be her?”

 

“How could she possibly have comprehended the Life Scripture? And in so short a time, no less!”

 

The faces of the Elf Elders and Deacons hardened with heavy severity. No matter how they strained their minds against this question, not one of them could arrive at any explanation for what had occurred.

 

The Life Scripture could only be comprehended by Royal Elves, and they had to be exceptional to even comprehend it.

 

Moreover, the time required to comprehend it bore a direct and profound relationship to the purity of the Royal Bloodline in question.

 

The stronger the Bloodline, the greater the affinity with the Life Scripture, and therefore the shorter the time required to achieve comprehension.

 

Yet, in all the recorded history of the Elf Race, not a single entry documented anyone having comprehended it in the brief span of seventeen days.

 

Not even the most monstrous genius in Elf Race history had managed that feat. That individual had still required a full twenty-five days.

 

And yet this Foreigner, how had she achieved this?

 

“Can the constitution of the Human Race truly have reached such a terrifying level? To comprehend even our Race’s Life Scripture within such a short span of time…” At that moment, the face of Elf Queen Irene had grown unreadable in the gravity of this news.

 

She did not even have the space to consider how to preserve the Life Scripture from circulating beyond their boundaries. The sheer reality of what she had just witnessed had completely seized hold of her.

 

When she herself had sought to comprehend the Life Scripture, the previous generation’s Elf Queen, the Pavilion King, had even placed the Life Scepter in her hands, an act taken to ensure absolute certainty and to accelerate the pace of her comprehension.

 

Even with that, she had still required a full and unbroken month before she achieved it.

 

Furthermore, the disturbance her comprehension had generated at the time was nowhere near the magnitude of what they had just borne witness to.

 

At the very front of the assembled crowd, the Pavilion King studied the slowly descending silhouette with an expression of measured contemplation. Whatever was turning in the depths of his mind, he gave nothing away to those who watched him.

 

After a moment, beneath the weight of many strange and searching gazes, Little Ling’er at last descended to the base of the Tree of Life.

 

“Daddy…”

 

As though intimidated by those many odd stares pressing in from all sides, Little Ling’er seemed to waver for a breath, then threw herself directly into Qin Yichen’s embrace.

 

“Ling’er.” Qin Yichen gathered Little Ling’er close, ruffling the top of her small head with an indulgent hand, while at the same time quietly probing the state of things within her.

 

What he discovered stopped him cold. Little Ling’er’s body seemed to be enveloped within some strange force, and his Spiritual Energy could not penetrate her by even the breadth of a hair.

 

Yet, although the precise state of things within her remained hidden from him, the evident absence of that expression of suppressed discomfort she had worn before was enough to ease some of the tension he had been carrying.

 

He let out a slow breath of relief.

 

He did not care how much time Little Ling’er had learnt, nor care for how much the Life Scripture had strengthened her. As her Father, all he had ever wanted was for Little Ling’er to be healthy and well.

 

Watching that Father and Daughter hold one another close, the brows of the assembled Elves drew together almost as one, their expressions laced with complexity they could not quite resolve.

 

They did not know how Little Ling’er had done it. Yet, this Foreigner had not only comprehended the Life Scripture but had done so with a result that shattered the Elf Race’s historical record.

 

The weight of that fact settled across every one of them with undeniable force.

 

“Young Friend, might I be permitted to examine your Daughter?”

 

Just as Qin Yichen was drawing Little Ling’er close and preparing to ask her how she felt, the Pavilion King’s voice sounded quietly in his ear.

 

“Of course, Senior.” Qin Yichen glanced toward the Pavilion King. Towards this old man, his heart held nothing but sincere gratitude.

 

He had no knowledge of this old man’s true identity, yet without the old man’s timely intervention, Little Ling’er would never have had the chance to attempt the Life Scripture at all.

 

“Go on. Everything is fine.” Qin Yichen murmured the words softly and set Little Ling’er gently down from his arms.

 

“Little one, do not be afraid. Come here to me.” The Pavilion King gave Qin Yichen a small nod, then turned to Little Ling’er and called to her in a voice of gentle warmth.

 

“En…” Little Ling’er bit lightly at her lower lip. Her expression still carried a trace of hesitation, but she stepped forward all the same.

 

“Do not be afraid. I will not harm you.” The Pavilion King offered her a gentle smile as she came close, and something about his presence, some quality of warmth and calm that she could not quite name, caused the last of Little Ling’er’s wariness to dissolve.

 

She allowed him to take hold of her wrist without protest.

 

As the Pavilion King’s fingers closed around Little Ling’er’s wrist, a trace of pale green light flowed from his palm and entered her.

 

“Oh?” A moment later, the Pavilion King let out a soft sound of surprise, and the expression on his face shifted in an instant.

 

“Senior?” That change in the Pavilion King’s bearing sent a sharp clench of unease through Qin Yichen’s chest.

 

But the Pavilion King offered no response.

 

His expression shifted slowly into something grave. His other hand emerged from within his robe sleeve with deliberate care, and in the open space before him, it began to move in a measured, almost ritualistic pattern.

 

As that aged hand traced its careful movements through the air, ancient Runes, one after another, began to condense and take form in the space before him.

 

*Hmm…*

 

The moment those Runes materialised in the air, every trace of energy in this pocket of the world seemed to stutter and arrest, as though something had seized it by the throat.

 

“Those Runes, what are they?”

 

Looking upon those ancient, profoundly enigmatic Runes, the faces of the assembled Elves showed a uniform puzzlement.

 

These Runes lay entirely beyond the reach of their combined experience. Not one of them had encountered anything like them before. And yet as their eyes rested upon these Runes, each of them felt a faint and inexplicable sense of familiarity stir within their hearts.

 

There was a whisper of recognition, even a compulsion toward something that could only be described as reverence.

 

Of all those present, only the Elf Queen’s face was free of that bewilderment.

 

“Those are…”

 

Even so, at the moment the Elf Queen’s eyes fell upon those Runes, her expression underwent a sudden and unmistakable shift.

 

After a long time, the Pavilion King’s hand came to a gradual halt.

 

Qin Yichen noted that the Pavilion King’s aura, just in that brief span of time, had dimmed by a perceptible degree, as though the effort had drawn something from him.

 

When the motion ceased, four profound and ancient Runes hung suspended in the air before the Pavilion King, drifting there without sound or weight.

 

This entire corner of the world grew quiet around them, as though the very presence of those few Runes had stilled everything within their reach.

 

“Rise…”

 

Then the Pavilion King’s expression sharpened. He spoke a series of words in a language ancient and difficult to understand.

 

Their meaning would fail in any method for easy translation, and the incantation ended with a single, sharply pronounced syllable.

 

As his palm made one final, precise movement, those several ancient Runes dissolved into a cluster of fine, thread-like beams of light and disappeared into Little Ling’er’s Dantian.