Chapter 506

"Wow, below us is the Sacred Flame Forest! Princess Chenxi, didn't you invite us to cultivate it together? Why have you already finished cultivating it all?"

On a flying ship, an elf let out a cry of astonishment.

Around her, other elves likewise burst into exclamations of shock.

This was already the fourth group of elves they had brought to the Sacred Flame Forest.

Recently, the City of Miracles had dispatched another large flying ship, allowing this fleet to carry forty thousand elves at once.

If they squeezed tightly, it could hold fifty thousand elves.

That meant one trip could evacuate an entire elf tribe.

After all, most elf tribes numbered only twenty to thirty thousand; larger ones reached thirty to forty thousand, and tribes exceeding forty thousand were rare.

"Yes, with the Sacred Flame granted by my deity, our cultivation speed became extremely rapid, so we finished in just about four months."

Princess Chenxi said.

The elves on the flying ship stared down at the Sacred Flame Forest, their faces filled with stunned disbelief.

The speed of cultivation here was simply too fast.

They had expected to spend decades, even centuries, clearing the Dark Forest—yet upon arriving here, they found the entire task already completed!

This stark contrast delivered an intense shock, leaving each elf feeling as if they were dreaming.

They flocked to the edges of the flying ship, their gazes sweeping back and forth across the Sacred Flame Forest.

This forest was far better, far larger, and far safer than the one they had originally inhabited.

The flying ship carried them onward, flying toward the heart of the Sacred Flame Forest, where the yet-unofficial capital of the Sacred Flame Empire stood.

"Princess Chenxi, has the World Tree been planted?"

The chieftain of this elf tribe asked again.

Princess Chenxi nodded. "It has been planted."

"Oh, then I can only add the seed later—I heard that when the Loki Elf Empire planted their World Tree, under the gods' blessings, it grew to over a million feet tall in a single day. How tall has ours grown?"

The elf chieftain was curious.

Princess Chenxi did not answer directly: "You'll see soon enough."

Soon after her words faded, a colossal, towering tree appeared in the distance.

The tree was so immense that even from afar, its towering form was clearly visible.

The elves on the flying ship all turned to look.

"Princess Chenxi, is this the World Tree? It seems awfully tall."

The elf chieftain said.

From this distance, its height could not yet be estimated.

Only when they drew closer did the elf chieftain freeze in utter shock.

It was simply too tall!

A World Tree nearly three hundred meters high looked terrifyingly immense!

Most crucially, this World Tree had been planted only recently!

World Trees grow slowly; after reaching a hundred meters, they might grow one or two meters per year at best.

This meant the tree had reached this height not through natural growth, but through divine blessing.

But among thirty thousand elves, how many gods were there? Or did one tribe possess an exceptionally powerful deity?

The elf chieftain could not help but recall Princess Chenxi's mention of the "Lord of Flame"!

The Lord of Flame's aid had allowed the Sacred Flame Forest to be cultivated in mere months—hundreds of times faster than the Loki Forest.

And the World Tree was far taller than the one planted in the Loki Forest!

The Lord of Flame's power must be beyond imagination!

Even after disembarking from the flying ship, the members of this elf tribe still felt as if they were dreaming.

"Lidiya, I leave them to you—guide them around, then lead them to choose their forest dwellings."

After escorting the elf tribe down, Princess Chenxi told the wind elf Lidiya.

Elves are naturally free-spirited; even if they worship a deity with unwavering faith, they rarely, like humans, have a Holy Maiden.

Among so many elf tribes, none had a Holy Maiden.

This was not because their current faith lacked sincerity, but because it was simply not an elf custom—elves had no such tradition.

Princess Chenxi herself had once been a Night Elf, trapped in despair; to break the curse and demonstrate sincerity, she had offered herself to the Lord of Flame and become His Holy Maiden.

And this was the single best decision of her life!

This time, after the events in the Purple Gold Empire, Lidiya and thousands of wind elves came to the Sacred Flame Forest and witnessed this near-divine cultivation speed, gaining a profound understanding of the Lord of Flame's power.

Lidiya was a deeply grateful person.

So she immediately decided: she too would become the Holy Maiden of the Lord of Flame!

This was naturally permitted—no rule stated a tribe could have only one Holy Maiden—but certain conditions had to be met first.

And Lidiya had fully met those conditions.

"Follow me—I'll show you around and tell you the story of the Sacred Flame Forest."

Lidiya warmly led the new elf tribe through the capital, where numerous green elves and winged elves emerged to welcome them and recount the tale of the Sacred Flame Forest's cultivation.

Including the Sacred Flame granted by the Lord of Flame, the attacks of the skeleton monsters, and the divine blessing bestowed upon the World Tree.

The newly arrived elves listened, mouths agape in awe.

This newly arrived elf tribe instantly formed a profound impression of the Lord of Flame.

Watching their reactions, Lidiya smiled.

When she first arrived at the Sacred Flame Forest, her own reaction had been nearly identical.

Nothing but astonishment.

After astonishment, still astonishment.

There was no help for it—everything looked too unreal.

But this was even better.

After becoming the Holy Maiden of the Lord of Flame, Lydia also hoped more elf sisters would believe in the Lord of Flame, so she spared no effort in praising Him, improving these elves' impression of the Lord of Flame.

These later-joined elf tribes likely had their own gods, but Lydia believed that, under gradual influence, they would ultimately believe in the Great Lord of Flame!

Thus, Princess Chenxi continuously brought in elf tribes.

Roughly every week and a half, she could bring in one or two elf tribes.

These elf tribes generally lived in forests at the edges of human kingdoms; these forests weren't necessarily good, but their one advantage was their remoteness—they wouldn't be discovered by humans.

Some elves were also at war with nearby human kingdoms; though they numbered only tens of thousands, they still held their ground against the human kingdom's attacks.

All these elves were taken in by Princess Chenxi.

The number of elves in the Holy Flame Forest grew, and grew.

More than a month later, the number of elves in the Holy Flame Forest surpassed five hundred thousand, and continued rising.

After living in the Holy Flame Forest for a while, these new arrivals all came to love it.

And due to the spread of the Lord of Flame's story, coupled with the profound awe they felt, some elves had already begun offering their faith to the Lord of Flame!