Chapter 456: Divine Hair Descends

"I… I swear to your tail… such a serious piece of news, couldn't you have told me first?!" Nagelis was furious, wanting to pounce and give it a good whack with its tail, but remembering it couldn't win, it forcibly held back.

This damn tree was always slow about everything—only matters concerning the sapling could stir its enthusiasm.

The old tree spoke slowly: "Serious? Everything breaks eventually. That's just part of nature."

It made perfect sense—the Starburst Array was merely a man-made artifact; of course it had a lifespan. Unless it could self-repair, like the World Transit Station in the Abyss of Rest.

But even the World Transit Station's self-repair had conditions—it required abundant death energy; otherwise, like the sealed cave in Demon Valley's teleportation array, once broken, it could never be restored.

The Starburst Array didn't even know if it had self-repair capabilities. If it did, were there corresponding conditions? If not, wasn't damage perfectly normal?

It's been standing for over a thousand years—if buried in soil, it'd already be an antique.

The old tree could be slow even about its own near-extinction—so what's so serious about a broken Starburst Array?

"But the Starburst Array is in the sky—if it breaks, won't it fall down?" Nagelis asked.

The old tree paused, then scratched its head awkwardly: "I don't understand such complex creations. Probably not for now."

Asking a naturally grown tree to comprehend something as complex as the Starburst Array was indeed difficult—especially since it was already an old tree…

Nagelis glanced worriedly at the sky—the Starburst Array still hung in its original position; this damage probably wouldn't be complete anytime soon.

Suppressing its worry, Nagelis asked: "Any other news? Did the plants above mention anything else?"

The old tree spoke slowly: "They said a lot. The environment up there is too closed, too monotonous, lacking diversity. Nothing new has joined in a long time, and everyone's starting to degenerate. They're thrilled I've arrived and hope I grow quickly—so I can exchange pollen with them."

As they talked, Ange kept planting nonstop, soon covering the relatively flat half of the pond. The growth of the soilless rice boosted the World Tree's growth, and soon the World Tree took root beside the pond.

Ange raised his hand and tapped the old tree on his shoulder: "Tree-man Gorr, hollow bark, absorb water."

The old tree tilted its head, confused.

Just as Nagelis was about to translate, the sapling on the other shoulder waved its true leaves and sent a message to the old tree: Huh—grow—huh—grow—

"Oh oh oh, I get it now." The old tree nodded in sudden understanding.

When War Tree Gorr first arrived in Meishencheng, he nearly got sunburned to death—until the sapling modified his form, creating hollow channels inside the bark to draw cool air from the roots up to the crown, carrying away heat.

Ange's imagination ran wild—if hollow bark could absorb air, surely it could absorb water too. Could it be done? Please—could the Sapling improve Tree-man Gorr's form, yet the God of Life not improve the World Tree's form?

The World Tree's outer bark rapidly thickened.

As it grew, the old tree suddenly said: "You want to pump water up from here and send it to the desert? Should we plug the hole at the bottom of the pond?"

Ange nodded.

More large-scale planting followed. The World Tree's growth required life energy from other plants; only when other plants grew could it grow—and its growth, in turn, improved the environment for crops, benefiting both itself and others, mutually sustaining.

Soon, Ange noticed the pond's water level rising.

This pond lay deep in a valley, formed by a massive waterfall. Its shape was funnel-like—every meter the water level rose, the pond's surface area expanded by another ring.

As the pond's surface expanded, more land became plantable, providing greater life energy. Soon, the World Tree stretched out like vines past the valley mouth, spreading like a banyan forest, continuously pumping water upward and letting it flow down into the desert below.

Even if someone came to this forest, they'd have no idea where the water came from—they'd likely assume it was some mountain spring.

When it reached the valley mouth, the World Tree stopped growing—further growth might overwhelm the mountain's structural limits.

After plugging the underground river at the pond's bottom, the water level rose, and the surrounding mountains began bearing heavy pressure.

The World Tree's roots plunged into every crack and crevice in the rocks, sealing them while binding everything into a single whole, preventing the mountain from collapsing.

But mountains had their limits—continued growth would exceed what they could bear.

Still, it didn't need to grow thicker—it could grow longer. With endless life energy, the World Tree was the most adaptable plant; it would spread itself out, wrapping the entire mountain in green.

Since the World Tree had grown from the deep pond, as the water level rose, most of it would eventually be submerged. Unless the pond was drained, no one would ever notice the colossal tree hidden beneath.

A single World Tree accomplished this massive ecological transformation—adding a river to the desert, radically altering the environment.

"Wah? Zilipalaa!" The new river immediately attracted a group of cave-dwellers. They rushed out from various caves in the Northwind Mountains, carrying crude stone axes and hammers, arriving at the river's first bend.

First, they worshipped there, erecting a totem pole. Some cave-dwellers stayed; others ran back.

Soon, more cave-dwellers arrived, brought by those who'd returned. Before long, a cave-dweller tribe appeared at the first river bend.

They felled trees to encircle the bend, hunted small animals, gathered fruits and seeds. They ate the fruits and casually scattered the seeds around their tribe.

Given time, this area would become a thriving hub of life, with animals and plants flourishing endlessly.

"You're giving them fruit? Aren't those fruits you forced to ripen?" Nagelis couldn't help complaining, seeing the ripe fruit on the small trunk.

"Yes. Want some?" As the old tree spoke, a fruit also appeared on a nearby tree.

Nagelis cautiously sniffed, then licked it—sweet. It had been tricked by the old tree before, so it checked thoroughly before finally eating it—and spent the whole night with diarrhea.

The old tree's explanation: its stomach was different from the cave-dwellers'—too delicate. Nagelis, furious, chased it around, spitting dragon breath.

The cave-dwellers leaving their safe caves attracted predators—a group of unknown bear-goblins crept up silently and broke through the tribe's defenses under cover of night.

Just as the bear-goblins prepared to drag the cave-dwellers off for roasting, Ange and a few others emerged, beat them up, then traded some food for the cave-dwellers.

They returned the cave-dwellers to their river bend tribe and helped reinforce the defenses, building a six-meter-high wall.

The cave-dwellers resumed living there.

"Damn it, those little people almost got wiped out," Nagelis said, still shaken.

These were just minor detours on the path of reclamation. As the river extended, the southern desert's environment improved dramatically—wherever plants spread, the World Tree's awareness extended.

With more plants, the land's water retention increased, and the desert rapidly turned green.

When Anthony arrived with his men, he saw endless grasslands and neatly divided farmland.

"This… I… damn it—" Anthony didn't know what to say, involuntarily swearing—it was the only way to express his feelings.

He wondered if Ange really planned to grow thirty billion jin of grain and replace the entire Northwind Desert.

This period was a calm phase across the entire plane—the Mage Alliance and the Undead Empire entered a strategic stalemate. Anyone who disrupted order faced double punishment: you hit them, and I'd hit them too—otherwise, it wouldn't be fair.

So not only was there no war—even bandit gangs kept their heads down.

Merchants traveling the roads marveled: this was an unprecedentedly safe time. No bandits, no need to travel in groups, no need to hire mercenaries—huge cost savings.

Landlords and nobles also saw the notices posted at the House of the Departed, deeply shocked, and began refusing to collect deposits, fearing the prophecy might come true.

A few die-hard loyalists to one side still accepted deposits before expanding production—but they discovered that both the Mage Alliance and the Undead Empire had simultaneously canceled the policy of encouraging grain production with advance payments.

Because the two sides themselves feared the prophecy most—if things continued, either grain prices would crash and hurt farmers, or harvests would fall, starving masses.

At the House of the Departed, the Cloaked Ones couldn't delete any of the silver-coin notices, no matter what methods they used—unless they shut down the House entirely.

But the Cloaked Ones clearly lacked the authority. Did the Necromancer Council have it? No one knew. The notices simply remained posted.

After finding Ange, Anthony first reported recent developments, then said: "My lord, we've fully gained Mo Nika's trust. She reported our situation to the Mage Alliance's high command, and they now believe our identity. From now on, we are the legitimate Church of Light on the surface."

"What? Legitimate?" Nagelis was stunned. Already legitimate?

"Yes, we're legitimate. The old Church of Light—without a Pope, without the Supreme Holy Spirit, without a god, only a single Archbishop Truk—has been diplomatically downgraded. Now the Mage Alliance recognizes only me—the Pope—Saint Anthony."

"..." Nagelis didn't know what to say. Anthony had already pulled this off once in the main plane—he was very practiced.

Back then, he'd successfully made the elves and dwarves recognize only his Eastern Diocese, then even won support from the Western Diocese, effectively hollowing out the Papacy.

But back then, he had the entire Eastern Diocese's resources and manpower to mobilize, plus Ange's backing—it wasn't miraculous. But now, what did he have?

Just a mouth, half-god power, two Supreme Holy Spirits showing their faces—and he'd done it.

But from the Mage Alliance's perspective, who controlled the surface Church of Light didn't matter.

Anthony had more power—so they naturally recognized the stronger side. After all, here there were two Supreme Holy Spirits and a Pope; the other side had only an Archbishop.

Archbishop Truk probably never dreamed that someone would steal his legitimacy without even meeting him.

"But the Mage Alliance did make one request," Anthony said. "One of their big figures needs treatment for hair loss. They want it done under absolute safety, and they require full inspection and verification of the entire treatment process."

That was reasonable. You couldn't just say you could cure baldness and expect them to hand over a big figure's head. Safety verification was essential.

Originally, Aubenli had been treated because her students gave consistently positive feedback, she'd secretly visited incognito, and Ange and Nagelis had earned her trust.

Otherwise, given her Death Star status, any treatment method would have required repeated verification before being used on her.

But Nagelis's first reaction was: "So they'll inspect the sapling? No way."

Anthony also said: "Yes, I think so too. If it gets damaged, it'll be trouble. And if our Church of Light pulls out a Tree of Life, what does that imply? That the God of Light can't cure baldness, but the God of Life can?"

"That's just like their God of Truth. They'll definitely connect the dots—wondering if we're stealing the Light Faith, just like them."

Nagelis sneered: "Do we even need to connect the dots? We are."

"No no no, we're not. We're followers of the Scale God, one of the legitimate Light Gods. Nagel, even though we're close, don't say nonsense—or I'll sue you for defamation." Anthony spoke sternly.

Nagelis sneered. He knew arguing with Anthony was pointless—so he stopped.

"So we now need a method within the legitimate scope of the Light Gods that can make hair grow. Do you have one, my lord? If not, I'll refuse them."

Ange nodded, then ran off. Soon, he returned with a cave-dweller and a bear-goblin.

He plucked a tuft of hair from the bear-goblin's scalp, making it bald, then let it go. The bear-goblin shamefully covered its forehead and ran off, cursing.

Ange patted the cave-dweller's head. The bear-goblin had been plucked bald—but the cave-dweller was naturally bald, with only a thin ring of hair at the back of its head and a completely shiny forehead.

The cave-dweller grinned foolishly, even knelt and bowed to Ange—this two-legged god who saved their tribe had patted its head. How joyful.

Ange first shoved the bear-goblin's hair into his divine realm, closed it, then retrieved it after a while.

"You're… deactivating it?" Anything placed in the divine realm lost vitality—even seeds. That's why Ange never put living things inside anymore; seeds were stored separately in storage bags.

Ange nodded, pulled out a concentrated insect-ash solution, dipped one end of the hair into it, then pressed the soaked end onto the cave-dweller's forehead.

"Why? First deactivate, then restore vitality with insect ash? Isn't that redundant?" Nagelis asked, confused.

The old tree, however, found it logical, speaking slowly: "Different tree species can't be grafted together—they reject each other."

Ange nodded.

A Purify Face spell was cast—the hair firmly rooted on the cave-dweller's forehead. The cave-dweller returned to the tribe with a thick head of bear-goblin hair, shocking every single companion.

They all gathered around the bear-haired cave-dweller, dancing a primitive dance, and proclaimed it their chief.

The bear-goblins, upon accidentally discovering this cave-dweller's bear hair, instinctively assumed it carried bear-goblin blood—after all, bear-goblins often interbred across species.

Thus, the bear-goblins and this cave-dweller tribe coexisted peacefully ever since. When the bear-haired cave-dweller grew old, he proudly told his descendants about it, calling it—Divine Hair Descended.

This treatment method, using only insect ash and Purify Face, quickly passed the Mage Alliance's safety verification. Divine Hair Descended onto the bald goblin mage's scalp.

The goblin mage was delighted with his carefully chosen green hair, shaking Anthony's hand: "Hello, hello, delighted to meet you, His Holiness Saint Anthony. I'm Kabreila, one of the Twelve Councilors of the Mage Alliance."