Chapter 1100, The Forgotten Race

Translator: Silavin

 

Night Elves, a name that had become synonymous with a single word: formidable.

 

According to what had been passed down, this Race had come into being during the Primordial Era, and in those ancient days, they had stood at the side of the undisputed masters of the continent, the True Dragons.

 

Yet in the end, for reasons that history had never made clear, when the True Dragons vanished, the Night Elves vanished with them, leaving not a whisper behind.

 

As the ages wore on and time continued its patient erosion, this Race, which had once stood at the very pinnacle of the world of Myriad Races, faded gradually from living memory, until at last it disappeared entirely from the collective consciousness of every Race under the sky.

 

Only those few Races whose foundations ran deep enough still preserved any ancient record of them at all.

 

The Elf Race, born into the world alongside the Tree of Life, had not come into existence until after the Night Elves had already passed into silence, and a gap of no small length separated the two. Yet within the ancient records of the Elf Race, the Night Elves had been documented with extraordinary thoroughness and detail.

 

More than that, in the hearts of more than a few Elves, they privately regarded themselves as inheritors of the Night Elves.

 

Though naturally, that was something that could only ever exist within the private hearts of the Elves.

 

The circumstances of the Elf Race were already precarious at the best of times, their territory coveted by countless other Races. Should such news ever escape into the wider world, it might well bring the calamity of total annihilation down upon them.

 

After all, no one knew how the Night Elves had truly come to disappear from this continent, nor whether powerful enemies still lay in wait for any who bore their connection.

 

And now, beneath the Pavilion King’s murmured words, a memory that should by rights have been consigned to oblivion began to take shape, slowly and irresistibly, in the minds of the Elves gathered here.

 

It settled over them like a stone.

 

The fact that Night Elves had once walked beside the True Dragon clan spoke volumes of their power. The Elf Race of today was by no means weak, yet measured against the Night Elves, the distance between them was vast.

 

“Night Elves?”

 

When these two words slipped from someone’s lips in a stunned, involuntary outburst, Qin Yichen’s brow drew tightly together.

 

Little Ling’er was the child he and Lu Linghan had brought into the world. She was Human, beyond any doubt.

 

Yet the circumstances that had drawn him and Lu Linghan together in the first place had always been riddled with questions he had never been able to answer. The Divine Temple, the large coffin, the patterns and figures carved into every surface, all of it slowly rose to the surface of his memory now.

 

[Could that place have been a ruin left behind by the Night Elves?] Qin Yichen’s eyes contracted sharply, and within him, a wave of genuine shock broke.

 

When he considered Little Ling’er’s situation, he found he could not fully deny this possibility.

 

He had always assumed that Little Ling’er’s ability to commune with all living things was simply a product of her unique Physique. Only now did he understand that among the Myriad Races of old, the Night Elves had possessed this very same ability.

 

More alarming still was the mysterious energy within Little Ling’er’s body, which bore every sign of being connected to the vast and inexplicable power that had abruptly vanished from within that ancient ruin.

 

[Could Little Ling’er truly be what the Pavilion King is saying, a Night Elf in some form?]

 

“No wonder she was able to comprehend the Life Scripture in such a short time…” The Elf Queen’s expression shifted, a light of realisation crossing her face.

 

According to what had been handed down, the reason the Night Elves had been so incomparably mighty in their day was inextricably linked to the Cultivation Technique they had practised.

 

And for what they had cultivated, it was the Life Scripture!

 

If Little Ling’er truly was a Night Elf, then that speed was something that could, after all, be explained.

 

After a good long while, the cries from the sky above announced the Unicorn King’s return, descending upon a gust of wind to land lightly on the ground.

 

“Xiao Mei, you are so good…” Little Ling’er sat upon the Unicorn King’s back, one hand moving slowly through its mane, a satisfied smile on her face.

 

Every mouth present gave an involuntary twitch at the sight of the Unicorn King.

 

This Kind’s expression was carrying all the unmistakable weight of someone deeply, helplessly aggrieved, yet still offering no sign of resistance.

 

“Unicorns, are the mounts of the Night Elves… so it truly is as the records say.” Even the Pavilion King, watching this scene unfold, could not keep a trace of pure, unguarded envy from passing through his aged eyes.

 

“Hm? Pavilion Grandpa, would you like a turn too?”

 

Little Ling’er happened to look up just as her gaze met the Pavilion King’s. She still held a genuine gratitude toward him, for without his words, whether she would have been permitted to enter and comprehend the Life Scripture at all remained an open question.

 

And so, she opened her mouth and extended the invitation.

 

At Little Ling’er’s offer, even the Pavilion Elder felt a small, involuntary tremor move through him.

 

Even as a former Elf King, a figure of the highest standing, he had in his day formed a Contract with only an ordinary Unicorn. The Unicorn King? He had only caught a glimpse of it precisely once, and only that one time.

 

To ride the Unicorn King… in the deepest recesses of every Elf’s heart, was there not some part of that dream?

 

Yet, just as the Pavilion King felt the first stirring of temptation, the Unicorn King’s gaze drifted to the corner of one eye and swept over him. It was slow and cool. However, the resistance within those eyes was clear, piercing even.

 

“*Ahem* Well, perhaps we shall leave that for another time.”

 

The Pavilion King let out a dry cough and declined Little Ling’er’s offer with what grace he could manage.

 

The Unicorn King recognised Little Ling’er, and perhaps for her it would not resist. But from the look it had just given him, the Pavilion King understood perfectly: if he so much as attempted to climb onto its back, the creature would refuse him without a moment’s hesitation. His cultivation was such that actual injury was unlikely, but to be made a spectacle of in front of so many of his own people was not something he had any appetite for.

 

“Ling’er…” Qin Yichen, his thoughts already weighed down with more than he could easily carry, raised his hand and called out.

 

“Daddy!” Little Ling’er’s face broke into a radiant smile. She leapt from the Unicorn King’s back and flew toward Qin Yichen with her arms outstretched.

 

“Are you okay?” Qin Yichen looked her over carefully from head to toe, and only when he had confirmed that she bore not a single mark of injury did the tension finally ease from his chest.

 

The Unicorn King’s speed earlier had been such that even a Martial Ancestor would likely have struggled to endure it. He could only assume that the Unicorn King had shielded Little Ling’er, protecting her from the harm that such velocity would otherwise have caused.

 

And from the look of it, the Unicorn King had not even come close to reaching its limits.

 

Around them, the Elves had fallen into complete silence, gazing at Little Ling’er with faces full of a shock they could not quite contain.

 

As for the question of her having comprehended the Life Scripture, not one of them showed any remaining inclination to pursue the matter.

 

“Young Friend Qin, your Daughter is extraordinary gifted. I wonder whether this Young riend might be willing to part with her for a time, and allow her to cultivate among our people for a period?” After a long moment, when Qin Yichen had at last set Little Ling’er down, the Pavilion King finally spoke.

 

“No… I do not want to be separated from Daddy!” Before Qin Yichen could even draw breath to reply, Little Ling’er quickly and resolutely refused.

 

Since being taken away by the Lunar Palace, she and Qin Yichen had already spent years apart. This reunion between Father and Daughter had come after such a long wait, and she had no intention whatsoever of being separated from him again.

 

At Little Ling’er’s words, a trace of resignation crossed the Pavilion King’s face.

 

Under ordinary circumstances, even the most powerful Races outside these lands would have treated a request from him with the utmost gravity and deference.

 

An offer such as this was the very thing that countless young talents across the world of Myriad Races spent their nights dreaming of.

 

Yet to Little Ling’er, it seemed to carry not the faintest trace of appeal. In those innocent eyes of hers, one could even detect a slight sharpening of wariness. It was as though she had marked him down as someone plotting to separate her from her Father.

 

The Pavilion King offered a quiet, resigned smile and chose not to press further. Instead, he turned his gaze toward Qin Yichen.

 

And at that request, Qin Yichen’s own brow drew together into a tight and troubled frown.