Chapter 292

The Star Republic, Star Imaging Institute, Astrology Tower — Di Luoni stepped out, ruffling his messy hair, climbed into the carriage, and grumbled, "To the Mage Tower."

The carriage had no horse, no driver — yet the moment Di Luoni spoke, it moved smoothly forward. Anyone witnessing this would have to marvel: "New magic tech? Driverless?"

At the Mage Tower, Au Benli was already waiting. Seeing Di Luoni's disheveled hair step out, her face instantly hardened.

Seeing her expression, Di Luoni instantly reacted, pressing both hands to his head, hunching his neck, and retreating back into the carriage. Two minutes later he emerged again — his greasy, flaky, bird's-nest hair now clean, smooth, and flowing; his robe neatly pressed.

Too bad, the split ends and stains on the robe's hem betrayed this as mere surface polish.

Still, this level of effort was acceptable. Au Benli couldn't possibly demand he clean his underwear — no such rule existed.

She glared at him irritably and scolded, "All of you act like I'm asking you to die when I tell you to bathe and wash your hair. You don't sweep the floor or wash the dishes. If you hate washing, hire a servant — you're not short on money. Every day you look like refugees."

Di Luoni instantly felt like he was back in school, under the dominion of the headmaster — worse still, the headmaster who once terrified him was still the headmaster, still controlling him. What a nightmare.

To stop this ear-piercing nagging, Di Luoni quickly changed the subject: "Auntie Au Benli, you're getting more beautiful every day. Is Meishencheng's technology really that powerful? Can it cure baldness? I want to try it."

Using another topic to distract her usually worked — but mentioning Meishencheng? Au Benli always fell for it.

She shot him another irritated look, then followed his lead: "You've come to the right person. Meishencheng is the best at curing baldness — even better than skin rejuvenation. Go try it sometime. Your hair quality is terrible; you're embarrassing the Star Republic."

"Alright, alright, I'll go when I have time." Di Luoni sighed in relief — but the next moment, Au Benli swung back:

"I know you find me annoying, still meddling in your lives at your age — but you have to let me rest easy. All of you just hole up in the tower, either meditating, stargazing, or inventing — you can't even eat on time, let alone date, marry, or have children."

"I set up blind dates for you, and you all keep making excuses to skip. How are you ever going to marry and have kids? Do you want the Star Republic to go extinct? Without children, our ancestors' wisdom dies with us. You're all sinners."

Di Luoni wanted to cry. More terrifying than the headmaster was the Love God — constantly scheming to push you into marriage. Worse still, the headmaster and the Love God were the same person.

"But you're here, aren't you?" Di Luoni smiled awkwardly. Once, the Star Tower had lost its lineage — only Au Benli had revived it. Technically, every mage in the Star System was her student.

"Heh." Au Benli sneered. "So after I serve you, I'm supposed to serve your descendants too? You're awfully ungrateful."

"No no no, oh come on, Auntie Au Benli, I'll do whatever you say — anything at all! Just tell me what to do, I'll gather everyone right away and get it done." Di Luoni surrendered.

His usual distraction tactic had worked before — today it failed. Au Benli clearly had another agenda.

"It's not hard. I want to reopen the Hall of Spirits and move Red Star's statue to the square — add a row of benches with sunshades, so students can flirt and fall in love. Otherwise, they'll graduate all alone, just like you."

"No problem, no problem — I'll have the administration handle it right away. Moving the statue? Me and Xi Lu Di will take care of it. But will this even work? A row of benches will make them want to date?" Di Luoni doubted.

Au Benli smiled faintly. "You're not an expert in this. I'll bring in professionals. People from Meishencheng will come and do the work. If couples find happiness under the statue's gaze, Master Red Star would be pleased."

Di Luoni solemnly replied: "He will. Red Star shines."

After settling that, Au Benli finally stopped nagging him and said: "I asked a friend close to the elves — they told me the Tree of Life burned."

"What?! The Tree of Life burned? You didn't tell me sooner..." Di Luoni gasped.

Such a massive event — why hadn't Au Benli told him immediately? Instead, she'd spent half an hour nagging about dating and marriage. Was having children more important than the Tree of Life burning?

"It was saved. The elves are rebuilding after the disaster," Au Benli said calmly.

"Auntie Au Benli, don't scare me like that next time! If the elves are in trouble, this plane goes haywire — I won't have time to stargaze. Lately, the Dead Star's movements have been strange. I fear the End Times are coming."

The Dead Star Di Luoni mentioned wasn't Au Benli's title — it was one of the stars observed through astrology. Every titled figure in the Star Republic had a corresponding star in the sky.

Au Benli glanced at him. "Since astrology began, someone's always come to me every few years claiming the Dead Star is abnormal. Even if it is, you still have to go on blind dates."

"Yes yes, I'll listen to you." To avoid more nagging, Di Luoni quickly agreed.

Finally inside the Mage Tower, they reached the conference room and activated the teleportation comm-link, connecting to the Plane Security Meeting node.

The signal lights for Pope Gulianni, Archbishop Dai Sen, and the Dwarf War God were lit — they had already joined the call.

But Di Luoni was no longer anxious. Au Benli had given him the news — now that he knew what happened to the elves, he relaxed.

He never doubted her sources or accuracy. As a thousand-year-old lich, her intelligence network far surpassed his.

The three lights already lit — clearly as anxious as he'd been — now the Dwarf War God couldn't hold back: "Lord Di Luoni, what happened to the elves? Do you know? My Eye of the War God saw a massive fire in the elf forest, but I can't make out details. I tried contacting the elves — no one answered. It's driving me mad."

Di Luoni checked the signal lights. "Two more haven't joined. We wait until they're here to begin."

"Ugh, you humans are so annoying. Just say it now — they can repeat it later. I'm going crazy!"

Di Luoni said nothing. Gulianni and Dai Sen remained silent. The comm-link fell into eerie stillness — only the Dwarf War God's heavy footsteps echoed. He wore iron war boots — each step rang loud.

Slowly, the two lights representing An Dongni and Bu Lu Si finally lit up. The moment they did, An Dongni's voice rushed in: "Sorry sorry, late again — just went to check on the elves. Apologies, everyone, sorry for the wait."

An Dongni always knew how to speak. Even though he was from the same church, Di Luoni couldn't dislike him. He quickly replied: "No problem, I just got here too. You went to check on the elves? Share your info — let's cross-reference."

Bu Lu Si spoke slowly: "I've heard some things too. An Dongni, you go first."

"Alright. The Tree of Life burned."

"What?!"

"The Tree of Life burned? That fire was visible halfway across the forest — was that really the Tree of Life?"

"The elves are going mad."

Dai Sen, the Dwarf War God, and Gulianni all exclaimed in unison — the shock was too great to contain.

"But it was saved. The elves are rebuilding. The burned area covered roughly a hundred kilometers. Over ten thousand elves died."

Gulianni, Dai Sen, and the Dwarf War God rode a rollercoaster of emotion. Di Luoni and Bu Lu Si exchanged strange glances: His report matches mine almost exactly — could we have the same source?

"My information is about the same," Di Luoni said.

"Mine too," Bu Lu Si muttered.

All three sources confirmed the elves had suffered a major disaster — but it was resolved, no further danger. Everyone relaxed, ending the topic.

Di Luoni, chairing the meeting, said: "Alright, the elf issue is closed. Any new agenda items? If not, we're done."

"There is one," Gulianni's voice rose. "This agenda is jointly proposed by the Holy Church. It concerns the safety of the plane. Please consider carefully."

An Dongni's mind flashed a giant question mark: Jointly proposed by the Holy Church? I didn't know. Oh right — I'm not with the Holy Church anymore. I'm with the Sacred Church.

Gulianni continued: "The Land of Despair has fallen entirely to undead. West of the Central Mountains — once our human territory — lies a vast zone of weak plane barriers. A simple teleportation array there could link directly to the main plane."

"But no need to worry — teleportation arrays have limited capacity. The undead can't invade en masse this way. We must guard against them tearing open massive spatial rifts — if they do, it will be the end of the main plane."

"To open a spatial rift, they must pierce a weak point in the plane barrier. If the undead intend to enter the main plane this way, the most likely breach points are: the southernmost tip of the continent — Saint Peak Fortress; the offshore Dragon Island; the elf forest; the desert's Darkface City; the Fallen Dragon Lake; Black Iron Fortress; the Ice Mountains; ××; ×××; ××××, and others."

"Our Holy Church lacks the strength to defend all these points. We ask you all to organize forces and defend the weak spots within your own territories."

The comm-link fell silent. Then An Dongni spoke first: "Saint Peak Fortress will be defended by the Sacred Church."

Bu Lu Si followed: "Dragon Island will be defended by our dragonkind. There are even more weak points across the seas. If the undead dare breach here, it's suicide. We'll patrol all islands."

The Dwarf War God quickly replied: "Black Iron Fortress is ours. Not a single undead will leave the Black Iron Mountains alive."

No one in the meeting mocked — but Nai Ge Li Si, projected onto An Dongni, couldn't help muttering to Ang: "Can't leave alive — so dying's fine?"

Di Luoni spoke fourth: "The Ice Mountains will be defended by the Star Republic. As for the elf forest — heh. The Tree of Life wasn't burned. As long as the God of Life remains, no amount of undead will escape the forest."

Nai Ge Li Si and An Dongni fell silent. What if the God of Life left the forest?

After assigning duties, Gulianni continued: "That leaves only Meishencheng and Darkface City. Meishencheng is now occupied by a band of Abyss Wanderers, and Darkface City hides a horde of undead. If the Undead Empire chooses to break through here, they'll find allies. I propose forming a coalition to eliminate both the Abyss Wanderers of Meishencheng and the undead of Darkface City."

Nai Ge Li Si's heart sank: Damn it — the Holy Church still won't give up?

Di Luoni said: "Hmm. With the undead army of the Land of Despair as context, Meishencheng and Darkface City do need to be cleared..."

As he spoke, a muffled thud came from Di Luoni's end — as if someone had slapped his head. But everyone assumed they'd misheard. Who'd dare slap Di Luoni's head?

After a pause, Di Luoni's voice continued: "But the Abyss Wanderers and Darkface City have been quiet. No need to form a coalition — just assign watchers."

"No," Gulianni immediately objected. "How do you watch? Darkface City has countless exits. If a rift opens, we won't notice until hundreds of millions of undead pour out. Meishencheng seems linked to Darkface City — both must be eradicated."

The comm-link fell silent again. Such a decision couldn't be made by one person — everyone would need to consult their subordinates.

Minutes later, Di Luoni said: "Alright. Plane Security Resolution #××: Motion to form a coalition to eliminate the Abyss Wanderers of Meishencheng and the undead of Darkface City. Vote now. Elves are absent — we proceed. If votes are tied, we'll seek the elves' vote later."

Three minutes later, the vote was in: three in favor, three opposed.

In the Land of Despair, night fell. Harvey left the cave, angrily flicking the faithfire from his hand: "This thing is annoying. Do I really have to kill every believer to extinguish it?"

He curled his body, sending out horn-like soul waves that spread far and wide — the Land of Despair boiled once more.