Chapter 291

From today on, Shazhou gained a new Tree Tender, toddling about on two short little legs, circling the soilless rice and seaweed with serene contentment.

"Huh? Where did this tree person come from?" Lu Se strolled over, curiously asking, then turned and greeted: "Hello, I'm Lu Se, what's your name? Do you know the tree person Gol?"

"Hello… Lu Se." The Tree Tender spoke slowly: "Call me… Old Tree. You mentioned Gol—is that a war tree person? If so, I know him—chatty Gol…"

"Old Tree? What a strange name. Gol must be really famous—any tree person knows him. By the way, what kind of tree person are you? Can you grow as big as Gol?" Lu Se asked curiously.

As he spoke, he pulled a box out of his spatial artifact. The box was sealed; when he opened the lid, a chill mist rose. On the lid, a miniature ice-sealing array spun, keeping the interior perpetually cold.

The Tree Tender watched the box curiously, then extended a branch to touch it.

Lu Se explained: "Ice-sealing box, clever, right? The miniature ice-sealing array was carved for me by Lord Ang. It only needs a tiny bit of magic crystal to maintain low temperature—put drinks inside and they stay chilled forever. On a hot day, pull one out and drink—icy, refreshing, awesome. What do you want? We've juice, water, and beet juice."

The Tree Tender looked bewildered.

"Oh, this is how humans make friends. When we first meet, we shake hands, salute, share a drink—that's how we become acquainted. What do tree people do when you first meet?" Lu Se asked curiously.

The Tree Tender pondered blankly. It wasn't a true Tree Tender and had never befriended other tree people. After careful thought, it said: "When tree people first meet, we exchange pollen."

"Puh—" Lu Se spat out the juice he'd just sipped, then raised his thumb: "Tree people are awesome."

Plant pollen is genetic material. Exchanging it upon meeting didn't align with human moral norms.

Under persistent insistence, the Tree Tender finally chose juice—but held it without drinking, instead examining it curiously.

Lu Se didn't mind. He'd encountered too many non-humans to be surprised. Different species had different behavioral patterns; what one species saw as kindness, another might see as offense.

But any sentient being could sense genuine goodwill. Lu Se only needed to express goodwill. If he accidentally offended, he'd just say so—and take care next life.

The Tree Tender extended a branch into the juice, stirred it a few times, then offered it to Lu Se: "Not tasty. Try this."

Lu Se froze. This? Wasn't this the juice he'd given it? Had stirring changed it? Wait—your branch hasn't been washed…

He took a small sip. His eyes instantly widened, his face flushed crimson, as if he'd swallowed a shot of strong liquor.

He held back, held back, then finally exhaled deeply, staring in shock at the Tree Tender: "Such immense vitality! My god, I feel like I'm about to explode—refreshed, clear-headed, utterly invigorated! What did you put in it?"

"Life essence." The Tree Tender replied.

"Whoa! That's incredible! If you opened a juice shop, you'd be packed. By the way, do you like fishing?"

"Fishing? Why fish?"

"It's fun! Otherwise it's so boring. Don't you fish normally? What do you do for fun?" Lu Se said, pulling out two reclining chairs, setting up a sunshade, and handing the Tree Tender a fishing rod.

The Tree Tender held the rod, watching Lu Se's movements with curiosity.

Seeing it couldn't even cast, Lu Se immediately patted his chest: "Let's have a contest. Loser buys dinner. You're a tree person—do you like fertilizer? Lord Ang has this super-nutritious fertilizer—I'll treat you to a drink if I lose."

The Tree Tender immediately understood what fertilizer meant. It nodded, didn't use the rod, but extended a branch into the water.

In the clear, shallow channel, fish soon swam over and bit the branch.

The Tree Tender reeled them in, gestured, and a water sphere rose, enclosing the small fish, then settled at its feet.

The branch dipped again—and within seconds, another fish bit.

Almost every dip caught a fish. Soon, a pile of water spheres sat at its feet, each containing live fish.

Lu Se stared in awe: "What bait are you using? That's incredible! Can I borrow some?"

After half a day, Lu Se had grown close to the Tree Tender, leaving Negril utterly stunned.

"Ku Ba Da! They actually got along? I'm impressed—Lu Se's social skills are amazing. Everyone he meets, from sea people to minotaurs, knows him. When he finds out the Tree Tender's true identity, I hope he doesn't piss himself."

No response came. Negril turned and saw Ang's arm reaching into the Palace of Rest, pulling things out.

"What are you doing?" Reaching into the Palace of Rest to plant things was routine—but pulling things out?

He looked at what Ang pulled out: two carriages, several magic tents, some swords, armor, and other gear.

Ang muttered: "Sort. Discard."

"These things are getting thrown away?" Negril glanced at the items. The two carriages had been taken from the leaders of the dragon-slaying desert bandits.

He'd forgotten their names, but remembered they'd turned on each other in infighting and killed themselves—Ang had simply claimed the two magic carriages and several magic tents.

Back then, Negril had been shocked—nobles and mages lived too luxuriously. Carriages and tents were this opulent?

But now, these luxuries seemed trivial. Ang had too many good things. Take weapons and armor: even just those Holy Armor eggs were far superior to most forged gear.

Ang had given a few sets to Anthony, who treasured them, constantly showing them off to convince his men to fight for him.

As for the luxurious carriages—mere luxuries—Ang had never used them once. Now he was pulling them out, clearly planning to discard them.

That was such a waste! Negril quickly called out to Lu Se: "Lu Se, Lu Se! I'll give you two luxury carriages. If some blind girl takes a fancy to you, invite her inside for a ride."

Lu Se turned and gave it a glare: "Thanks, but keep them. Next time you have a luxury airship, give me that—otherwise I don't even know where to drive them."

Giving carriages in the Shallow Sea Dimension? How would you drive them—into the water?

In the end, the two carriages had their wheels removed and were placed beside the teleportation array as luxury lodgings.

Ang dumped out all the items he no longer needed, clearing space for his latest acquisitions.

This trip to the main dimension yielded immense gains for Ang. The greatest gain: the stolen hundreds of thousands of believers.

The Undead God's own believers numbered only a few hundred thousand—now he'd more than doubled that. Ang's daily harvest of soul flames had tripled.

The main reason: the new believers, living in disaster conditions, had unusually active faith.

Then came the forest expedition: not only had he lured away the God of Life, but the sheer quantity of insect corpses made the trip worth it. It was precisely because of the massive volume of insect remains that Ang had decided to sort the Palace of Rest.

Insect ash was an excellent fertilizer. Ang had previously run controlled experiments, breeding a batch of insects—but their ash output was never enough.

The main problem: the material consumed to raise them exceeded the increased crop yield they provided as fertilizer.

For example: feeding ten tons of material to insects produced ash that boosted crop yield from ten tons to eighteen tons—net gain of only eight tons. It was a loss.

Though he could feed them worthless materials like straw, bones, or hair, the total mass still decreased. Ang couldn't achieve self-sufficiency.

With these two large-scale replenishments, Ang could now sustain himself much longer.

While busy, Ang suddenly received a call from Anthony:

"My Lord, Di Lunyi has urgently convened a Dimensional Security Meeting—likely to inquire about the elves. What happened with the elves? They've sealed off the forest and cut all communication. My aerial reconnaissance units observed a massive torch burning in the elf forest, turning half the sky red. What happened? What stance should I take at the meeting?"

Ang tilted his head: "The Tree of Life burned."

"Puh… What? The Tree of Life burned? Really burned?" Anthony couldn't believe it.

Given his understanding of Ang, even he couldn't help repeating the question—his shock was unimaginable. He didn't doubt Ang's words; he simply couldn't believe the event.

"Yes. Burned." Ang said.

"And then? What's the elves' current situation? Won't they go mad? Who burned the Tree of Life? Have they found the culprit? Are they preparing a holy war?" Anthony fired off a string of questions, each hitting the mark.

If the elves went mad and sought vengeance for the Tree of Life, the entire dimension would plunge into war—he had to prepare immediately.

Anthony instantly imagined several response strategies.

Either organize humans to fight the elves and eliminate the mad ones, or find the culprit and redirect the elves' rage onto a small group of villains—kill them to appease the elves.

Or…

But before he finished imagining, Ang's next sentence nearly made him spit blood: "I revived it. The elves are planting trees."

"Puh… You mean you brought the Tree of Life back to life?" Anthony asked. "What do you mean, 'the elves are planting trees'?"

Ang nodded: "Planting the burned tree."

"And then? What's the current state of the Tree of Life? How are the elves feeling?" Anthony asked.

Ang scratched his head: "The God of Life left. The Tree of Life became the World Tree."

Anthony didn't understand. He forced a smile: "My Lord, where's Lord Negril? Could you pull me in to chat with him?"

Anthony, whose comprehension, imagination, and insight were legendary, was thoroughly confused by Ang.

After entering the mental space and communicating, Anthony was stunned again: "What!? You lured away the God of Life? My god, the elves will go mad!"

Negril sighed: "Not yet. After their last incident, Old Tree got angry, expelled them, and hasn't spoken to them since. Now they can't tell the difference between the Tree of Life and the World Tree—they still think Old Tree is mad at them. But someday they'll realize the truth. Then they might come looking for us."

Anthony understood. He summarized: "So the elves lost their god, but don't know it. The Tree of Life burned, and what's alive now is only the World Tree—not the God of Life. Is that right?"

"Yes."

"Good. I know what to do." Anthony said.

Negril sighed: "Don't blab and tell them we lured away Old Tree."

Anthony declared solemnly: "Lord Negril, that's unfair. The God of Life has arms and legs—how is that 'luring'? It just happened to pass by and stayed as a guest."

Negril's eyes lit up: "Yes, yes! A guest! A guest! We treated it very warmly. If the elves come looking, they'll have to pay us for hospitality."

Negril, quick-witted as ever, and Anthony exchanged glances and simultaneously broke into knowing smiles.

Anthony departed immediately—he had to hurry to the Dimensional Security Meeting.

As Negril stepped out, it immediately saw a yellow figure hurtling toward it, its massive head ramming Negril in circles.

"Stop! Stop! Nai Aili, be careful—you'll break me apart!" Negril cried out.

Nai Aili glared with dragon eyes: "Do you find my size unacceptable?"

"No no! I mean, be gentle—I'll break a bone!" Negril quickly explained and changed the subject: "Did you come looking for me?"

"Oh right! Brucek used bloodline calling to ask if you know what happened in the elf forest—he says they're holding a Dimensional Security Meeting." Nai Aili remembered her purpose.

Negril thought a moment: "Tell him the elves' Tree of Life burned, but was revived. The elves are busy with post-disaster reconstruction."

Negril didn't tell Brucek the full details—not because it didn't trust its nephew, but because the dragons were isolated overseas, and elf affairs barely affected them. Knowing too much was worse than knowing too little.

"Got it. Give me a rub." Nai Aili shoved her head into Negril again, knocking it over several times, then trotted off to contact Brucek via bloodline resonance.

Negril had just scrambled to its feet when Ang handed it a magic communicator. Negril tapped it open and heard the voice of Death Star Opunli:

"Lord Ang, I remember you had good relations with the elves. Do you know what happened in the elf forest? Lord Di Lu Ni is convening a meeting, but we don't even know what occurred. If you have information, please share it with us."

Negril felt a strange sensation: seven members of the Dimensional Security Meeting, and three had already come to ask them about the elves. Was this even their meeting?

"No way—we've got to listen in. Ang, project us onto Anthony. Join the Dimensional Security Meeting with him."