Chapter 119: Chapter 118: The Offered Compensation, the Utterly Shocked Elf Elder Amos

Behind Elf Elder Amos, a small number of Elves from smaller Elf Tribes followed.

These Elves had brought gifts along their journey to offer as an apology.

Elf Elder Amos stood up, took the items, and walked over to Zhang Yi.

A nearby Elf Guard stepped forward to block Elf Elder Amos, preventing him from getting any closer.

Elf Elder Amos showed no anger. Instead, he smiled and said,

"Respected Elf High Priest, this is our offering of apology!"

"Please allow me to introduce the three items I hold!"

Zhang Yi nodded and looked at the items in Elf Elder Amos’s hands: a Stone Cup, a piece of silver-colored Metal, and a Plant Seedling.

"This is the Elf Holy Grail, distributed to every tribe by the Moon Elves from the Main City.

"And this is a Stone of Faith, condensed through the Elf Holy Grail!"

"The Elf Holy Grail can give physical form to our faith in any Elf Divine Being!"

"Moreover, when one prays to the Holy Grail, the resulting Stone of Faith is only useful to the specific Divine Being one holds in their heart.

"For any other Divine Being, absorbing a Stone of Faith intended for another is nothing but poison!"

"Oh!"

Zhang Yi hadn’t expected that the very first item presented by this Elf Elder from a small tribe would be so interesting.

Zhang Yi accepted the Elf Holy Grail and Stone of Faith from Elf Elder Amos.

The Elf Holy Grail looked quite plain, seemingly made of stone.

The Stone of Faith he spoke of was also just a common white stone.

It looked small and unremarkable.

But when Zhang Yi focused his Spiritual Power to perceive it in detail,

he could indeed sense that this Stone of Faith stored a combined faith in both the Elf God and the Moon God.

After a moment of thought, Zhang Yi understood the purpose of the Elf Holy Grail given out by the Moon Elves.

"This Stone of Faith and Elf Holy Grail... do you know of any other uses besides the one you mentioned?"

Zhang Yi asked.

"I do not know."

Elf Elder Amos was honest. Since he didn’t know, he didn’t venture a guess.

In truth, Zhang Yi knew exactly what it was for simply by recalling his lessons from school.

It was simple. Based on the information Elf Elder Amos had provided,

Zhang Yi determined that

this Elf Holy Grail was likely a splintered part of some Divine Artifact.

Its one and only function was to give faith a physical form.

The difference was that this materialized faith could be partitioned, allowing the negative aspects to be cut away.

It was like cutting the spoiled part off a piece of food, leaving the good part to be eaten.

Although this process would create some waste, it was far better than absorbing faith tainted with negative emotions.

All native Divine Beings shared a common desire:

to get rid of the negative emotions within faith.

A Clan can provide faith to a Divine Being, increasing its power.

However, the thoughts mixed within that faith also affect the Divine Being.

When all the members of a Clan believe that the Divine Being they worship is not skilled in combat,

then it becomes impossible for that Divine Being to form a Divine Position related to combat.

Furthermore, if the faith contains too many negative emotions, the Divine Being who absorbs it must endure the interference of these emotions on their sanity.

When the negative emotions surpass what the Divine Being can suppress,

these emotions will cause problems for the Divine Being.

Many Divine Beings choose to resolve this by entering a deep slumber.

But this method only delays the problem; it doesn’t solve it.

Thus, many Divine Beings have pinned their hopes on Divine Artifacts!

During the Blue Star Federation’s external campaigns in the Second Era, the most common Divine Artifacts they confiscated

were those created by various native Divine Beings in an attempt to remove the negative emotions from faith.

However, Divine Beings like Zhang Yi, who came from the Blue Star Federation, had no need to worry about the problem of toxic faith.

The reason was simple.

The Blue Star Federation had already solved this problem completely.

Within every Divine Being’s Divine Realm,

all negative emotions—and even positive ones—are absorbed by the interconnected Ten Thousand Realms Divine Net.

It leaves behind only pure faith, devoid of any thought.

As for how the Blue Star Federation solved the problem of toxic faith—

the issue of faith containing both negative and positive emotions affecting the Divine Being it is directed at—

that was a top-level secret of the Blue Star Federation.

Zhang Yi had no way of knowing it at his current level.

However, as Zhang Yi looked at the Elf Elder before him,

he knew this Elf Elder certainly had no idea what other uses this Stone of Faith might have after being condensed by the Holy Grail,

other than being offered as a sacrifice to the god one worships.

Then Zhang Yi saw Elf Elder Amos

surreptitiously glancing around,

Zhang Yi considered this for a moment and suddenly realized what Elf Elder Amos was up to.

’Elf Elder Amos took out the Stone of Faith and explained it as another attempt to probe us.’

’He’s testing whether we have any connection to the Moon Elves from the Main City.’

’If we were really from the Main City, working under the Moon Elves, then we would definitely know about this item.’

’But if we truly are followers of the great Elf God,’

’Elves who previously refused to associate with the Moon Elves,’

’then we couldn’t possibly recognize it!’

’Because this item was just distributed by the Moon Elves from the Main City a month ago!’

So, while Elf Elder Amos was presenting the Stone of Faith and explaining its function,

he was secretly observing the other Elves to see their reactions.

And now, the expressions of the other Elves had given him a reassuring answer.

Zhang Yi saw through his little scheme and knew that Amos had already gotten the answer he was looking for.

But Zhang Yi didn’t call him out on it.

There was no benefit in exposing him.

On the contrary, this result would actually improve their future cooperation.

Otherwise, no matter how many times Zhang Yi tried to tell him

that they were not the Moon Elves’ army from the Main City,

these Elves would only remain suspicious.

People are always more convinced by conclusions they reach on their own.

Seeing that Elf Elder Amos was about to introduce the remaining two items, 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Zhang Yi examined them closely, then waved his hand to stop him.

Elf Elder Amos was perplexed, not understanding what was happening.

"These last two items... one is Mithril, and the other is a grapevine, correct?"

Zhang Yi stated with certainty.

"What we’re offering is indeed Mithril!"

"But... a grapevine?"

"Are you referring to this plant?"

Elf Elder Amos looked puzzled, pointing a finger at the plant he had presented.

Seeing his expression, Zhang Yi realized they might call it by a different name.

So, Zhang Yi pointed at the plant and said,

"This plant is a vine. When it matures, it will bear red, slightly sweet fruit that can be eaten or used to make wine."

"Is that correct?"

Zhang Yi’s words utterly shocked Elf Elder Amos.

’This is a specialty of our Elf Tribe, something no other tribe has!’

’Even its cultivation is something I personally arranged for my people to oversee with the utmost care.’

’It’s impossible for any other Elf to know about it.’

’So how could this Elf, whom I’ve only just met, possibly know?’

Unable to comprehend it, Elf Elder Amos could only attribute this knowledge to the Divine Power of the great Elf God.

"Yes, respected Elf High Priest, you are correct!"

Zhang Yi nodded.

’I’ve given Elf Elder Amos enough shocks since we met.’

’Now, while he’s still in a daze, it’s time to get to the point!’

"Our Elf brethren who have come from afar are our guests!"

"And since you are guests, you cannot remain outside the city walls. Please, come in and have a look!"

Gourd Canyon contained an outer and an inner city.

The outer city was situated in the upper opening of the canyon,

and the inner city was in the lower one.

Zhang Yi had only been in this Small Magic Plane for a week.

The outer city was more developed,

while the inner city had seen almost no construction.

So, Elf Elder Amos from the small Elf Tribe, along with the dozen or so Elf Mages and Elf Warriors behind him,

followed Zhang Yi toward the outer city.

As they passed through the steel-like walls—over ten meters high and five or six meters thick—

they were filled with shock!

The younger Elf Warriors and Elf Mages couldn’t help but whisper among themselves.

"How in the world did they build a wall this tall?"

"These walls look even sturdier than the stone walls of the Elf Main City!"

"I don’t know!"

"But listen... when you knock on it, it doesn’t make a sound. It seems even more solid than the walls of our Elf Main City!"

As they walked on and passed through the semicircular archway at the wall’s entrance,

the quietly whispering Elves saw something new that stunned them.

The entire outer city had been planned by Zhang Yi according to the architectural principles he learned in the Main World.

The Elven society of this world was still in a feudal age.

So when they saw, for the first time, houses and roads planned with such aesthetic beauty,

they were shocked once again.

In this Small Magic Plane, from the Elves’ perspective,

whether it was the Sea Clan in the oceans or the Beastman Clan on the land, all were barbaric and crude. Only they, the Elves, were the noblest of all.

But now, that sense of nobility was shattered.

Even though they didn’t understand the reasons behind such urban planning,

the neat, flat roads flanked by tall trees...

...this design still conveyed a beauty they could understand and appreciate.

"What are those? Such tall trees!"

"I’ve never seen trees like this before!"

In Elf Elder Amos’s eyes, after entering the city,

the roads and urban planning were beautiful, yes,

but the tall trees lining the roads drew even more of his attention.

These trees were nearly all over ten meters tall!

He had never seen this species of tree before.

Furthermore, he didn’t understand why someone would transplant such tall trees to grow inside the city.

If it was simply for the love of plants, why not choose shorter ones?

Even the trees in the Elf Main City weren’t this tall!

’The time and energy required would be immense!’

Elf Elder Amos was already learning to consider things from Zhang Yi’s perspective.

But Zhang Yi looked over and knew they had misunderstood.

’Those aren’t ordinary trees.’

’They are branches of the Celestial Rong Ancient Tree, split off after it entered its adolescent stage.’

’I communicated with them using my Divine Exclusive Talent, Resonance of All Things, and then used Faith Points to enlighten them into Celestial Rong Ancient Tree-men!’

The land outside the city had been completely cleared,

making it difficult for the Celestial Rong Ancient Tree-men to hide. So, Zhang Yi had moved them back inside the city.

Zhang Yi simply clapped his hands, but in truth, he acted with a mere thought.

Before Elf Elder Amos’s eyes,

the tall trees he couldn’t understand the purpose of suddenly stood up and waved their branches!

When all twenty-plus Celestial Rong Ancient Tree-men along the road stood up, waving their branches,

the spectacular sight sent an entirely new message to Elf Elder Amos.

"You actually have living Tree-men here!"