The traveler’s departure caused all of the caravan members to fall into despair.

At that precise moment, however, a clear whistle suddenly rang out off in the distance.

A group of soldiers had arrived on the scene. They waved their sabers in the air as they charged into the swarm of dwarves and pygmies, easily hacking them to pieces. Cold light glinted on their metal weapons, which unleashed streak after streak of concentrated blade Qi. It was obvious that each and every of these soldiers was an elite.

But the fact that so many elite warriors had appeared all at once, and that there was not a single weak one, was both surprising and exciting.

The soldiers immediately whipped up a whirlwind of blood.

They slaughtered the creatures mercilessly, annihilating droves with every swing of their blades.

In the blink of an eye, every single one of the dwarves and pygmies had been killed.

Victory had come so suddenly that the merchant caravan didn’t even have time to fully process to what had just happened.

“Many thanks for your assistance!” Filo shouted gratefully.

“Don’t get too excited. Our aid does not come without its cost,” one of the soldiers calmly replied.

A female soldier emerged from their ranks in a heroic fashion, her golden blonde hair rippling in the wind.

She glanced at Filo before loudly asking, “Are you alright?”

Filo gulped. “We’re al...... alright.”

“You guys, go and help them out,” the female soldier said with a quick wave of her hand. A group of soldiers immediately stepped forward to carry out her command by hoisting the overturned carts out of the mud.

“We can’t thank you enough,” the merchants said with gratitude.

This group of soldiers was a group of righteous soldiers.

Not only had the soldiers exterminated the creatures about to claim their lives, but they had also helped them clean up and given them food to eat and water to drink — the battle had taken quite a physical toll on the caravan members.

Compared to the lone traveler that they had encountered earlier, this group of soldiers were virtually saints.

Right, where had that person gone?

Filo remembered the traveler. He turned around to search for him, only to find that the traveler had already disappeared.

Within Halcyon Earth Forest.

This place was located in the southern stretches of Kun’s territory, and it primarily belonged to the Sun Astrals.

The Sun Astrals actually were an offshoot race of the Dark Astrals.

After Kun’s territory was separated from the Origin Realm, a group of Dark Astrals had found themselves stranded on this side of the Barrier. The sudden change in environment had forced them to adapt extremely quickly in order to survive.

In the current age, these Sun Astrals looked extremely different from the Dark Astrals. They were far more slender, pale, and refined-looking.

Yes, even their refined demeanor was a result of evolution.

The Sun Astrals were actually descendents of the Love Goddess, Amelie. This Love Goddess had extremely high standards and expectations when it came to appearances, and those who were ugly would not receive her favor. As such, over the course of tens of thousands of years, the Sun Astrals naturally evolved to possess the beauty that their Love Goddess desired. In fact, their artistic talents had increased as well, and even the way they spoke had naturally become much more elegant.

Of course, this greatly decreased their combat prowess, but in their world, all that mattered was the gods’ approval.

Su Chen stared into Halcyon Earth Forest from outside.

The current Su Chen’s body had matured greatly compared to when he had been the seven-year-old Frost.

Once his bloodline awakened, he had become the real Su Chen, making him completely distinct from Frost.

Funnily enough, his main goal for most of his life had been to develop a bloodlineless cultivation path. Now, however, his clone’s most crucial advantage was precisely his main body’s bloodline.

Any powerful individual could produce their own bloodline. Su Chen, who had once attempted to abandon them, was now the very source of the bloodline that his projection had used to catapult its strength upwards.

This was quite ironic.

But no matter how ironic it came about, all that Su Chen currently cared about was getting stronger, especially when considering the opponents he was facing.

By awakening his bloodline, Su Chen’s strength would greatly increase. Of course, this projection was still far from being as strong as the main body.

But at the very least, he could use many techniques that he couldn’t in the past.

Su Chen’s second goal was inside this forest, whose guardian was the Love Goddess that the Sun Astrals worshipped.

The Love Goddess was hale and hearty, unlike the God of Winter, who had been nothing more than a half-broken heart.

Even though the Love Goddess’s combat power was the weakest of the gods, her attractiveness meant that she had quite a few lovers. As such, the Love Goddess had never personally taken to the battlefield whenever the gods fought against each other. Instead, she had relied on the protection of her lovers to easily pass through such trials. This was how she had managed to survive to the current age.

Of course, even the weakest deity was far beyond Frost’s capacity to deal with.

If Su Chen wanted to achieve his goals, then he needed to plan and execute a carefully crafted strategy.

The seed had already been planted. Now that it was beginning to bud, his foremost priority was coming up with a way to speed up its growth.

Su Chen muttered to himself and spread his hands, almost as if he was uttering some kind of prayer or chant.

On a level imperceptible to the human eye, countless microscopic organisms flew forth from his hand and settled in the forest as their new home.

Very quickly, the microscopic organisms began to fill the entire forest.

They reproduced and grew at an astonishing rate.

Just like they had done in the Lonely Forest.

Yes, this was the truth behind Su Chen’s curse.

It was actually caused by a unique organism, which Su Chen had obtained from the Three Rivers Jungle and modified, that possessed an extremely powerful corrosive ability. Even a single one would reproduce quickly enough to fill an entire area in no time at all.

A little like me, Su Chen thought to himself.

When he had first arrived at Kun’s territory, Su Chen had only been a small, insignificant seedling. Now, however, this small seedling had grown into a sturdy sapling that was growing by the day. Even though he was still a ways away from reaching his goal, a slow but steady advance would eventually lead him to success, would it not?

The newly released organisms began to spread throughout the forest.

After taking care of this matter, Su Chen turned around and left.

Soon, these microscopic organisms would take over the entire forest, and the Sun Astrals’ way of life would be threatened.

Of course, the threat that this forest infestation posed to them might not be that great after considering the fact they still had the protection of their beloved Goddess.

But trouble was still trouble. Even a deity would have a hard time resolving this issue.

“Father, don’t you think that my bow looks pretty?”

Little Ivy ran towards her father’s bosom and raised the small bow in her hand as if she were holding onto a precious treasure.

Klipp took the small bow and said, “The engravings here are still a bit crude. You should have used three strokes to carve out this flower, but you only used two.”

“I just wanted my bow to be a little sturdier,” Little Ivy muttered with a pout.

“Don’t worry about that, sweetie,” Klipp said as he comforted his daughter. “Only beauty and aesthetics matter to us. We must have faith in our Goddess’s directions and maintain our heritage and history. Follow your heart and pursue the path of the fine arts. There is no need to consider utility, which is a heresy for us artists. Does that make sense?”

“Yes, I understand,” Little Ivy replied as she nodded. “I will go and make it a little more beautiful. What do you think of carving an extra line, representing a stream? That way, it’ll carry the essence of flowing water whenever I use it. That would be extremely pleasing to look at.”

“Sounds great!” Klipp chuckled. “That’s a good idea. Give it a try. I’m sure that the Goddess will appreciate your creation.”

“En!” Little Ivy nodded sincerely, turned around, and then ran outside.

“She will become a fine artist,” Klipp said to his wife.

“Don’t you think that your current pursuit of the arts is a little overzealous? I would still prefer for Ivy to join the Sun Astral Guards in the future,” his wife replied.

“What would be the point of that?” Klipp became clearly unhappy with her suggestion. “Those brutes know nothing about elegance and aesthetics. They even recently submitted a request to remove the elaborate fretwork from their armor and reduce the engravings on their weapons by two-thirds! Those designs were all created by master artists! They truly have no eye for beauty and tastefulness!”

“They are also Sun Astrals, and they just put the safety of our race first. Recently, the world seems to be scarier. Didn’t you hear about what happened recently? The Moon Goddess Church assimilated the Winter God Church,” his wife replied with some fear.

“Only the gods need to worry about those things. With the gods present, there is nothing for you to worry about,” Klipp replied confidently.

“But the gods are very busy. They haven’t answered our prayers in a long time.” Klipp’s wife knew exactly how busy the gods had recently been. She didn’t know what they were doing, but there was an ineffable tension in the air that hadn’t escaped her notice.

Because she was one of the Sun Astrals’ twelve priestesses.

Her ability to perceive the outward situation was higher than that of her husband, who was a pure artist.

And her husband even despised the Sun Astral Guards to boot. How sensitive could he possibly be towards the current state of affairs?

No!

In his eyes, humans were barbarous beasts, while the large-eared dwarves and Scorched Earth pygmies were bugs that crawled through the mud.

As such, he had no heart to care about what was going on in the outside world.

Even so, his wife still loved him.

This was just how the Sun Astrals were.

The Sun Astrals’ single-minded pursuit of artistry came from within. Her husband's fanatical pursuit of the fine arts only further demonstrated his sophistication.

Klipp was still complaining, and his wife listened attentively to his rant.

At that moment, however, a dull thud came from the outside.

“Ivy!” Klipp called out.

There was no response other than a strange cry.

Klipp raised his head in surprise. He looked out of the red crystal window and saw that a group of Sun Astrals had gathered outside, panicking about something.

Klipp stepped outside and walked over to them, confused. Only then did he see his daughter lying on the ground, completely motionless.

“Ivy!” Klipp cried out as he rushed to pick up his daughter.

The young girl’s eyes were tightly shut, and her face was deathly pale.

“Don’t touch her, Klipp!” his wife yelled.

“What did you say?” Klipp stared at his wife in anger.

“Look!” His wife pointed at his surroundings.

That was when Klipp suddenly discovered that he had, at some point in time, been completely surrounded by other fallen Sun Astrals.

“This...... What is going on?” Klipp muttered to himself in shock.

He turned around again to glance at his wife, who was now staring at him with an expression full of fear.

She began to back up.

“Amelie!” Klipp yelled.

He suddenly realized that something was very wrong.

Why?

He could feel his own heartbeat accelerating as his body temperature steadily rose.

Then, he could no longer control himself and tilted his head back as he spat out a large mouthful of blood.