Lin opened his eyes and kept staring at the ceiling in silence, his thoughts were all-over the place and he couldn't erase the feeling of uncertainty from his chest.
*Creak...*
The dusty hinges on the door groaned when the green-haired woman pushed it slowly to take a quick and slightly timid look inside the room, it seems like seeing the young man naked once is more than enough for this wood-elf!
Odla entered the room, "You're awake. Good! Put on some of your best clothes. Quickly."
"Why?" Lin looked towards her, wondering what kind of special occasion would that be for this serious lady to specifically ask him to dress-up all of a sudden.
Especially now when he doesn't even know what happened to his soul-world after that weird yin-yang platform took-over his inner-sight, not to mention the realistic vision that followed its appearance and the message that Ashura left before the whole experience came to an end!
Odla frowned once she heard this little brat questioning her, "Less nonsense!" Afterwards she glared at him and continued to say : "The holy-envoy is expecting you, every member of the high-council is waiting." While dragging the boy by the arm, she let go of him once his feet touched the ground.
The great-sage frowned once he heard what she said and began to strip while thinking aloud, "Did something happen?"
"Tsk." The green-haired woman looked away while rolling her eyes, 'Little pervert. I'm still standing in the room! But... I was the one who told him to do it quickly.'
"I'm sure that it's very important since the elders from the council were gathered, surely the envoy would explain everything that you need to know when she sees you." The beauty blushed slightly when she thought about how she's still in the room with this young man while he's changing his clothes, this whole experience is audacious by any means.
Yet here she's, annoyed by every second of it all. 'Thankfully Orime and Mela are waiting outside in the garden, Otherwise these two will make me the butt of all jokes for centuries to come.'
Lin nodded, 'I guess there's no other choice but to investigate everything that happened to me along the way there, I owe that senior for helping me separate my sin-siblings... she also paid a hefty price when she healed my wounds.'
"Alright then, let's go see what's this all about." The boy left the room ahead of Odla and she admired his looks from behind, the wood-elf admired his steady personality and found it quite calming.
Odla was obviously startled by how quick she's been lulled-into a gentle mood once she was influenced by the great-sage's soothing-aura!
"Hmmm..." Mela squinted her eyes slightly once she saw Lin exit the house.
Compared to last time she saw the boy, nothing changed on the exterior but, somehow... her heart skipped a beat when their eyes met.
*Whistle...*
Orime smirked after making that sound and took the great-sage under her arm, "Not bad, not bad at all."
"En." The red-haired man nodded seriously once he heard this while scrutinizing every detail with his sharp eyes.
*Snort...*
The young-prince rolled his eyes, 'Great! Now Ode is also a victim of that human-disease.'
"We better hurry." Sensing a potential waste of time once she noticed the expression on the raven-haired beauty, Odla snatched Lin's hand and dragged him towards the stairs.
Hearing the decisive tone of voice and seeing urgency from her sister, the pregnant-elf shrugged her shoulders and threw herself into the chest of her man and followed behind in silence, 'Tsk. So serious like always! Sigh... I worry if she'll ever have a man to care for her with that attitude of hers.'
"Can you please stop glaring at my back." Lin suddenly said these words, then he twisted his head to look behind the couple before continuing to say : "Even if you glare with a hundred-times more intensity... it isn't like you're going to make holes through me or anything."
"You think? You seem to forget about my sun-bow, once I use it... I'm more than capable of making you full of those." Milo was feeling smug after he retorted.
"Once this is over... I'll make you eat those words." The boy was shocked at himself, because normally he wouldn't be dragged by such childish attempts.
"You're welcome anytime, don't regret it later." The answer was practically spontaneous from the youngest elf in this group.
Afterwards Lin lowered his head and kept to himself in silence, which was misinterpreted as being angry by the three women and the two men.
Of course the great-sage didn't care about this misunderstanding and didn't clear it, but he noticed how Odla, Mela, and Orime were worried for him.
Meanwhile Ode was slightly disappointed and shook his head after thinking how it's expected from someone this young to fall in these mind games with such ease.
Actually the boy was busy enough with much important matters during their walk, like for instance... trying to use his inner-vision to see the condition of his body, dantian-space, and soul-world before their group reach the holy-envoy.
However, the frown on his forehead widened until his eyebrows were practically fused together!
'You've got to be kidding me, you've got to be shitting me! Where did it all go?' The great-sage began to panic and cold sweat trickled down his spine!
*****
Within the ring of origin.
Kai was reclining on his chair and smiling while admiring the expression Lin is making.
Next to him was an old man sitting on a stone.
Between them is the board with black and white stones, had Lin been there to see it? Then... the boy would've immediately recognized it as the same one he played with that elder once.
*Snap..."
The raccoon snapped his finger and another board of black and white stones appeared next to the one played with the old man.
On their own, each board doesn't make any sense... even to a great mind like Lin's.
However, once the two boards were joined together... an image appeared!
"With this the boy completed the fifth requirement. If we add him inheriting Ashura's legacy, plus his success in establishing a dao-approved foundation? Then... that's seven requirements." The old man looked towards Kai, wanting to hear what he have to say.
"I'll admit that he's the first to accomplish this many, but don't forget that there's only one chance for us to succeed." Fiend-Blood gave ancestor Mu a side-glance, "Unless I'm a hundred-percent certain that he's the one, I'll throw my lot on the boy... or anyone else for that matter."
"I understand that there's so much at stake here." The elder nodded.
"I don't think you really do, but I understand... since you two weren't there." A dangerous glint appeared within his eyes and the raccoon was clearly struggling to control his emotions since he's gnashing his teeth so hard, "The boy has to form the seed and successfully plant it within his foundation, you're free to celebrate it all when it sprouts." Afterwards Kai closed his eyes and the hunch-backed elder silently watched Lin without engaging his companion in any further since Fiend-Blood is clearly in a bad mood.
'I can feel it in my gut, he's the one.' Ancestor Mu was anticipating the events to come in the future.
*****
"At last you're here, what took you so long?" The pixie fluttered around Lin and asked while crossing her arms.
"I came here once I woke up, I didn't even get a chance to eat breakfast before I leave." Lin answered while looking at Fiend-Root who stood on the bridge of his nose.
"Humph."
Looking behind the small winged fairy, the boy noticed an old-looking elf give him a condescending look for no reason!
'This old bastard clearly does have some nonsense to say to me, but... I'm having nothing of that racial-discrimination bullshit. Not now, not ever!'
"Just help me with this and I promise you... you would never regret it!" The pixie smiled like a fox, "Plus... assisting me with this one is certain to help you see beyond the dao-gauze of your foundation." Yet she made sure that only the great-sage could hear what she said at the end.
"You know why the formation disappeared from my body and my organs lost the protection of my weapon-intent?" Seeing Fiend-Root nodding confidently, Lin regained his spirit and asked : "Then tell me! Please. Why did my blood and every cell in my body revert back to their original color? I'm unable to access my dantian-space and soul-world, I'm uncertain if I'm just confused right now or... did I really lose one of my soul-bodies?"
"As much as I'd like to answer these questions one by one over a nice cup of tea, unfortunately... we don't have much time." The pixie looked up towards the sun to check its position on the sky then pointed towards the area behind the gathering of elven elders, "Follow me."
Fiend-Root flew into the deepest parts of the sacred-area, the elven-king and elven-queen were the first to follow her and the members of the high-council followed the couple.
The boy was surprised when Odla, Mela, Orime, Ode, and Milo stood there and watched him follow the entourage of elven elders on his own.
He waved his hand in a gesture of silent-goodbye to the ladies and turned around, soon he disappeared between the thick foliage of the sacred-area.
The sight of these monstrously-huge and enormous trees still made him feel awe at how small and tiny him and everything besides these trees and this forest could be!
However, the group soon arrived at a clearing between the trees.
First thing the great-sage noticed was how the surrounding trees formed a perfectly circular-barrier around this clearing, second thing was hard to miss because besides grass which blanketed the ground... there's only two things.
One is a small pond, the other is some kind of sprout.
Within the small pond was a few white-lotus emperors and a tiny decoration in the middle to form a fountain, the boy immediately felt undisguised familiarity from the white-rocks. 'The monolith at the gate-trial was made from the same material as these white-stones!'
The great-sage couldn't discern what type of species does that plant belong exactly but, judging by the way these elders are being so devoutly-pious and respectful towards it... it's simply an irreplaceable symbol of the entire elven-race.
"Spread around and get ready after being in position." Fiend-Root was more than excited judging by the expression on her face and the speed which her wings fluttered.
"Yes."
Every man and woman of these elves immediately acknowledged respectfully before hurrying to do as they were commanded.
"Huh!" Lin focused at a certain direction where an old elf disappeared right in front of his eyes once she moved towards the pond!
The boy squinted and focused his attention completely at that point of disappearance until he felt like his eyes are about to pop-out from his eye-sockets to no avail, then moved closer until he stood a single step shy from the area where that woman disappeared.
The pixie watched him with amusement in her eyes, she likes this curious attitude from the boy because it's genuine, innocent, and suits his age.
Unlike when he's being all mature, mysterious, and on-guard.
One after another these old elves disappeared whenever they moved closer to the area where the pond and the sprout, the great-sage drew an imaginary circle and stood at the border... hesitating about making the decision.
"Humph. This is my territory, yet you're still worried... I'm having trouble trying to understand why you're being so timid all of a sudden." Fiend-Root landed on his shoulder and pointed forward, " Go ahead and take a look."
Hearing these words from the small humanoid who's clearly trying to encourage him, Lin took a step forward and clearly sensed the difference once his body crossed the invisible-layer which had the soft and bouncy texture of jelly.
"I-is that the same pond and the same sprout from before?" The boy gawked after laying eyes at the vastly-different scene in front of them.
Looking behind him, he saw the surrounding circle of the gigantic trees where every tree is in the position and is still of the exact same size.
Looking in front of him, the pond and the sprout are still at the exact same distance from him... but the same can't be said about their size though.
The great-sage was fascinated by the unexpected discovery and began to walk forward, with each step he took... he kept having the misconception of him shrinking in size!
After a hundred more steps, Lin couldn't see the other shore of this body of water.
Simply because at the far end of his sight, there's a white mountain that's shrouded in thick clouds at the waist after piercing the sky itself.
Said white mountain is in the middle of that sea which begins after the belt of white and orderly groomed cubic mountains that extend seemingly to no end both left and right.
Hadn't he already seen the pond and the sprout before entering this magical place, the boy would certainly deny the possibility of them being one and the same.
As for the sprout itself? Well... the clouds in the sky above his head cover almost everything.
But, the sprout definitely overshadows the height of the white mountain.
"Heh. Don't look so discouraged, I need you to climb the top of that mountain and retrieve a drop of millennial-essence first." Fiend-Root then pointed towards the top of the sprout, "Once you pour it at center of all my roots, you're going to help me germinate my first seed."
'Seed this, seed that.' The great-sage grumbled inwardly while heading towards the stairs leading towards the summit of the white-walls which were nothing but knee-high before, yet now they're the height of tall mountains.
