Chapter 1378

"Alright." Miss Qianhui agreed readily.

Without the seventh-rank elven elder, these little elven girls were nothing in her eyes. Perhaps among them there were sixth-rank beings, but below seventh rank all were ants — this was no idle saying.

Even if they were sixth-rank, so what?

She, Gong Qianhui, had not~never crossed ranks in a fight before.

Inside the blacksmith's shop.

Valkyrie Ailin followed Lin Cheng into the room, an inexplicable tension on her face, shrinking her neck.

Because she had never seen Lin Cheng wear such a solemn expression, as if the next second Linchengjiu Society would scold her.

Lin Cheng simply stared straight at Valkyrie Ailin.

The more directly he looked, the less Valkyrie Ailin dared to meet Lin Cheng's eyes.

"Lin Cheng, I…"

Valkyrie Ailin mustered her courage to speak, but the moment she opened her mouth she found the words at her throat suddenly could not come out.

She had thought up dozens of reasons and excuses, yet not a single one was usable.

Would any of these really work?

At that moment, a single sentence suddenly rang out in her heart, and instantly all her reasons and excuses condensed into one line.

"I was wrong." Valkyrie Ailin lowered her head and apologized sincerely.

It was she who had drawn the other elves, who had not only attacked Lin Cheng but also attempted to threaten them.

"I don't blame you, the times have changed, Ailin." Lin Cheng consolingly patted Valkyrie Ailin's head — perhaps Valkyrie Ailin herself had never imagined that the elves' relationship with him would become like this.

Although to a large extent it was his fault, he would not admit it.

This world was ultimately the survival of the fittest; if he didn't even have room to resist, then probably by now it would no longer be merely a falling-out — he would likely have become a corpse in some remote corner.

And it wasn't even certain when it would be discovered.

"Once they no longer needed to believe in the Divine Tree, a thousand years later in the present, they may not need to either."

"The mission you once bore is perhaps, for the elves of today… superfluous." If the elves were truly united, why would they need to believe in the Divine Tree to maintain themselves?

The Divine Tree's abilities, though extraordinary, were still mostly just a strange tree that could not speak and had no wisdom.

Its spiritual meaning outweighed its material meaning — perhaps that was true for the elves of the past, but now its material meaning must outweigh its spiritual meaning.

Once belief in the Divine Tree returned, wouldn't that mean every elven tribe had to return to nature? As chieftain, how would one face the elven clansfolk?

And returning would mean that the open or hidden conflicts and friction between the various elven tribes were directly magnified — before they could still turn a blind eye to one another, but now that was no longer possible.

So for the chieftains of certain elven tribes whose friction with each other was considerable, even amounting to hatred, maintaining the status quo was the best option.

Belief in the Divine Tree was not as urgent as Valkyrie Ailin thought, nor did it have to return to the elven race.

"Really?"

Hearing these words, Valkyrie Ailin's eyes reddened, and she could not help but ask Lin Cheng.