Chapter 490: Grabbing the Little Tail of the Behind‑the‑Scenes Mastermind

Honestly, if this so‑called Holy Tree Restoration Organization truly aims solely to revive the glory of the Holy Tree Kingdom and to benefit the elves.

Then traveling the whole world in hardship just to seek and aid the old comrade, the elven sage Hai Si Wei, would at least not oppose them.

Even occasional encounters, giving a senior's guidance or a helping hand, are no problem—after all, the principle itself is meant to be broken.

But as everyone knows, a person who keeps failing easily goes to extremes, and a group of extremes together easily becomes delusional.

So when Hai Si Wei, finally finished her worldwide arduous cultivation, returned to Deep Forest and attended their meeting as a non‑staff observer, she was frightened and turned pale after hearing fewer than three sentences.

"Save the world?"

She tugged at her own ear and grabbed Su Laya beside her.

"Su Ni, I recall that the last time I attended a meeting, wasn't your slogan 'Revive the Holy Tree, Return to the Old Capital'?"

Su Ni is Su Laya's nickname; despite their current fiery exchange being as decisive as a Western cowboy duel, back then she was a core inner‑circle member in Hai Si Wei's friend network, essentially a close confidante.

Yet when this genius priestess, once famed as a lady and even having formed a classical orchestra with Hai Si Wei, turned back, her eyes burned with unparalleled zeal.

"Hai Ya, that was our slogan eighty years ago; it changed long ago! Now our slogan is 'The Holy Tree Reigns, All Under Heaven at Peace'!"

Then she began lamenting how innocent and suffering the elven race was, how clearly a natural disaster caused the trouble, yet the mob overthrew the kingdom, forcing them to hide underground.

"Wuwu, look at those despicable human kings—how dare they steal our lands and culture? It's obviously all their fault!"

Hai Si Wei (covering her nose): "Is this a bit…?"

In fact, during the final days of the Holy Tree, when human nobles first raised the rebel banner, even up to the moment the iron hooves of Deep Forest entered the Great Camphor Forest, she still believed that line of reasoning.

After all, it's just passing the buck…

Taking responsibility is a virtue because it seeks profit and avoids harm; being a sleek non‑stick pan is the instinct of an enlightened being.

Yet without investigation there is no right to speak; those centuries of travel were both arduous cultivation and testimony, and after traversing almost every inch of the Sun‑Moon‑Star world, the former elven sage changed her mind.

Precisely because of that, she shifted from a pretended non‑supporter who was actually a supporter, to someone who genuinely opposes, even "rebellious" against the Holy Tree Restoration.

After all, the elves have caused enough pathetic messes; since the new protagonists have pushed them off the world stage, they should stop snide heckling and quickly find a coffin lid to cover themselves!

But these restorationists are different; they always believe they are absolutely righteous, only because…

Anyway, it's all because others' fault that they fell to this state!

So when the Holy Tree returns, the Great Camphor is at peace! When the Holy Tree returns, the blue sky returns!

We are the absolute righteous army, having drawn enough lessons from the kingdom's downfall, and will never fail again!

Yet if they truly are benevolent masters, they should be welcomed everywhere by locals offering simple meals and wine, then sweep forward like a breaking bamboo, easily crushing those damned human rebels, right?

However, the reality is nonsense; bro is still dreaming, even claiming that seeing hordes of point‑eared troops causing PTSD in locals, and those locals not filing complaints to the lord, is already a good thing.

"Damn it, the point‑ear thieves are back!"

So the restorationists wondered, "We clearly have all the conditions for a royal victory—why am I repeatedly defeated while they stand firm and even improve?"

A normal person should already be self‑reflecting, but as mentioned before, the overconfident elves went to extremes and foolishly shut the doors to brainwash each other.

And the resonant result is—me! Not! Wrong!

Friends supporting me shows I am right.

Enemies opposing me shows I am right.

Friends opposing me shows they have become enemies.

Enemies supporting me shows they have become friends.

So the one at fault isn't me, it's this world, it's this world's hypocrisy!

Now, the Holy Tree Restoration Organization, which originally only clashed with Deep Forest and the Radiant nobles, sees the number of enemies explode.

When, eighty years later, the unsuspecting Hai Si Wei attends a meeting, they are already at odds with the entire world.

Moreover, according to the little boss, in the past five hundred years at least three saviors have clashed with them, and each time the side with the right argument was theirs.

"Ah, this."

Hence, having just completed the Dragon Field enlightenment and attained great insight into all things, Hai Si Wei certainly cannot accept such a bizarre line of reasoning.

My god, why make it so bitter and vengeful? Can everyone calm down? I feel like you're sprinting in the opposite direction of victory!

Yet even though she used a highly emotionally intelligent approach, gently advising this former friend as a companion, she still provoked fierce resistance.

"Hai Si Wei! What do you mean? Did you also betray the Holy Tree?"

Now, if her sage status hadn't been inseparable from the small circle, Hai Si Wei would have nearly been sentenced to death by the church and become an enemy of the whole world.

This is also one reason she resolutely chose to hide her name, cut ties with the past, and settle in the distant Sunlight City.

—Too delusional; to protect our intellect, we'd better get away fast!

Facts prove her choice was right; a hundred years after their last parting, Su Laya, once only a little madman, has become a full‑blown lunatic.

Using mimicry magic to become a black, fat, ugly, shabby old lady and leaping around in front of a crowd like a monkey act—can a normal person do that?

However, after removing the "mask" and returning to her normal form, Su Laya still couldn't be that crazy.

So although she looked quite regretful, she still agreed to compromise, found a big stone and sat down.

"If we can't get in touch, then we can't—Lord of Living Beings… I've never heard of it; it must be a useless lamp."

Yet she relaxed her body but not her tongue, still lingering on the previous matter.

"But, Buluowa, I don't care whether you still care about the Holy Tree Kingdom's fate, but I must obtain that Purple Lightning God's divine rank!"

That's also why she risked coming to Meteor God Peak—to create our own if we can't find a deity‑level being to lean on!

"Divine rank?"

Lao Nv Shi glanced at Ji Ming upon hearing that.

"Did you obtain it?"

Ji Ming shook his head.

"He didn't; you may go."

"You!"

Su Raya was furious, and the two white fangs sprang up from the ground at once.

"Heather, it's hard enough to see you even once—are you going to treat me like this!?"

Buluowa still wouldn't give an inch.

"You bullied my student and I haven't settled the score with you yet; how dare you discuss this with me?"

Sigh, I really have no idea what's up with this group of old ladies, the white‑faced point‑eared ones and the black‑faced point‑eared ones.

Including the Archbishop Succubus and that one in the palace, why are they all so angry and yellow‑urined, igniting at the slightest spark?

So Ji Ming couldn't stand it any longer, hurriedly stepped forward to break it up, and then started weaving a story with Su Raya.

"Auntie, I really didn't obtain that divine rank, because the Purple Lightning God never died; He cunningly escaped."

"Escaped?"

"You are at least a friend of my teacher, so you're half a senior; I have no need to deceive you here, Auntie."

Needless to say, Ji Ming's move really wasn't a lie, because the God of Purple Lightning truly didn't die—he is exactly that!

"Heaven! The Holy Tree Restoration seems hopeless!"

But now Su Raya couldn't even deceive herself, and could only sit down in disappointment.

But the older one gets nostalgic; Buluowa said she wanted to cut it off, yet she still felt reluctant, so she walked over and pulled her up.

"Go, don't embarrass yourself in front of the juniors. How's everyone lately?"

How's it going? Just the same.

We all act like unstoppable cockroaches in the Deep Forest household, causing trouble for every Deep Forest lord we meet; when exhausted we gather and curse the Deep Forest people as worthless, ungrateful, daring to insult the king's master!

Of course, no matter how resilient cockroaches are, that's a species‑level resilience; individually they still strictly follow the law that "a person killed will die," so over the past century several names familiar to Buluowa have vanished forever.

"Alas."

Thinking that her own name would soon be added to the end of that list made Lao Nv Shi even more emotional.

Ha, this life really is…

She could no longer bring herself to hurl harsh words at the old friend before her, so she simply sat down and exchanged with her the recent events.

But what could a roving cockroach and a sloth that refuses to go anywhere possibly talk about? As they chatted, the conversation naturally turned to Ji Ming.

"Oh, so the Holy Light Divine Selection is really your student, and he's from Sunlight City, I still..."

Lao Nv Shi naturally understood what her muttering meant and immediately spoke to extinguish that thought.

"I have no need to lie to you about this! Moreover, his reputation in Qixia City is quite good; he has many friends, so not only within the church—I've heard even the king looks favorably upon him. Perhaps someday he'll marry a princess like Changge Marquis, or even become the Pope himself."

Buluowa meant that Ji Ming's backside is over at Hui Guang, so if you count Hui Guang as one of your enemies, don't treat "enemy" as an ally.

However, she clearly overestimated Su Raya's intellect, because Su's attention was entirely on the final word "Pope."

"Ah, the Pope, the Pope is great—if we could have a Pope here, we could gain the support of a True God…"

Unable to do otherwise, Lao Nv Shi lowered her voice.

Enough! Sula Ya, he is a round-eared! Moreover, I haven't taught him too much, just a little spear technique, he has no obligation to participate in your operation, I don't allow!

"... didn't teach him much, just a little gunmanship; he has no obligation to join your operation, I won't allow it!"

Seeing Buluowa angry, Su Raya quickly restrained her expression.

"Well… I never said what he should do… I'm also his aunt, right? It just means he'll be more active in the future."

But from this hesitant wording, it seems she's not yet resigned.

Meanwhile, as they chatted, Ji Ming was already deep in thought.

He couldn't help it; the ancient underground faction's shift in original intent drove his mind insane, and those tags piled together gave him PTSD.

Could it possibly be related to that group of Dark Flame Remnants? No way, they appear way too often.

So even though Lao Nv Shi wanted to cut him out of the point‑eared ones' private feud, he still chose to step closer.

"Auntie Su Raya, I just heard that you mainly operate in the Deep Forest Kingdom, right?"

It can only be said that the "Auntie" was correctly addressed; she sounded just like an older village woman who comes to rural weddings to join the fun. When someone spoke to Su Raya, she immediately entered an excited chat mode, launching into a long string of high‑brow talk.

"Yes! Oh, you have no idea—we're in that pure‑white leader's squad…"

Ji Ming: sweating soybeans.

Buluowa: sweating soybeans.

"Uh uh."

After a brief two‑sentence exchange, Ji Ming quickly guided the topic toward the Holy Tree Restoration Organization itself.

Objectively speaking, this is an organization that sounds somewhat laughable and pitiful today, and to the innocent Deep Forest villagers it could even be considered detestable.

Yet to rise from the kingdom's downfall and the building's collapse, successfully founding a secret society with lasting cohesion that persists to this day, one could not be an ordinary person.

In fact, the organization was originally founded by the head of the Rose clan, Ya Si Lan·Ke Luo Si Bi·Ke Lei Qi·Qiang Wei, who served as the military chief among the Nine Surnames; calling him the Holy Tree Grand Marshal of Soldiers and Horses would not be an overstatement.

Moreover, Uncle Ya was back then dubbed the "elf who looks the least like an elf"; not only was he unable to paint, carve, or any other artistic craft, he couldn't even play a proper instrument, spending his days single‑mindedly focused on martial training.

Unfortunately, the old saying still applies: when an avalanche comes, every snowflake charges bravely into the world; a lone heaven‑sent hunk cannot prevent a building from toppling—you need a whole hunk troupe.

Therefore his efforts did not rescue the storm‑buffeted elven realm; he could only watch helplessly as the Holy Tree Kingdom was utterly defeated, and then quietly established a restoration organization that kept shining.

Yet the Holy Tree Restoration's transformation from a relatively righteous, benevolent group into a faction eager to disrupt peace, only a step away from notorious infamy, was also due to him.

Hearing this, Ji Ming instantly thought of the Sacred Nine Surnames, Little Lion, the line of Sun Kings, and even the Deep Forest royal family's maddening internal competition…